Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 164

At Warwick we are having the joy of seeing people return for further conversations. This is such a blessing to be able to hear how they are doing with the big questions of life. We also get to plant more seeds and to build a friendship and hope they know we care for them.

Please be praying for Colin. He is an aboriginal man who Beth spoke with. She also gave him a tract. Colin says he is believing and just starting to go to Church. He has just come away from a life influenced by drugs. He had to go so hopefully we will get to talk more with him another day.

A lady approached the table last week and she seemed open. She was asked if she knew the message of the Bible and she said she didn’t know. I started with God’s Holiness and spoke how sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and as a result spread to all mankind, our sin and fallen state was explained through using the law to show we all fall short of God's righteousness and how this separates us from God. I went through the comic tract and shared the Gospel with her.

She says her kids tell her things about Jesus. They know some things from RI at school. Pray this mum will share with her children, that they may become a covenant family!  She wanted a Bible. I book marked Ephesians 2 & gave her a Gospel of John booklet as I explained some verses in there too.

Please pray for Cob. Both Beth and I got to talk with him.

As the conversation begun he said he was an atheist but he changed that to agnostic during our discussion. He took the booklet, "Does God Exist?" and a "Questions for Atheists" booklet as well. He said he will read them.

We also got to talk with Aharmid  he is a Muslim. The amazing thing is he knows two Christians from our Church and they have talked to him about Jesus before (Praise God for using Christians in the proclamation of the Gospel). 

These fellow Christians have been praying for him for a long time. He took a “ Who Do You Say I Am"  booklet that explains the deity of Jesus with Scriptures from the Bible. Aharmid said he would read it. 

Pray for Evelyn who has a Gospel of John. Please be praying that she will come to know Jesus and start reading the Bible she has at home.

Pray for all the people we got to speak with and give tracts to. To God be the Glory!
 

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The 2 flip charts were in good demand again today. There was a Christian couple who wanted their child to do the 'good person test. They were appreciative and hopefully will be a further strength in their home church. But many who took the test were those with some ides of the good news but needed more understanding. There was a persecuted Iranian auntie plus 2 young ones who all knew that they could not return as they would be killed. They appreciated the presentation and challenge; the hugs and the parting prayer. 

     A teenager, Ben, had been going to a church and reading God's word until his 16th year. He said that he did not like the thought that God had 'rules for living'. He agreed that if he entered some commercial building, he would have to obey their rules or get kicked out. He saw the point: This is God's world. We can listen to Him or rebel and suffer the consequences. Going through the law he could see that he deserved hell. He thought he was the worst person living! About then a flip chart got blown over and he helped get it set up again. It was open to 'Christ suffering God's wrath for His sheep' so Ryan continued from there. Ben reached the point where he knew today was his day for salvation. He stated that he would attend church tonight. He was urged to read and pray each day and seek grace to serve God out of love for Him.

     Jessica, an English student from Colombia, had thought that she was a Christian. Going through she admitted her sin and that she deserved hell. Now she seems to understand grace and the need to close with Christ today. Also she is aware of her role as a child of God to serve God as a thankful child showing her love for God.

And there is more unsaid plus whatever God sovereignly does with our efforts. We give Him all the glory and praise and are thankful for allowing us the privilege and pleasure of serving Him in this manner.

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Tonight, over 50 Gospel conversations were had! And in the three hours between 7pm and 10pm over 75 people heard God's glorious offer of salvation! 

In this short clip you can hear Kane share about a conversation he had, where he was able to explain the Gospel to a man who had grown up in the Methodist Church.

You can also hear Yasmin, share about a conversation she had with two tourists, a Jew and an agnostic.

Praise God that His Gospel went out and that many were able to hear it!

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This evening hear Natalie share how she is encouraged that so many people are willing to talk about eternity.

Hear Ryan share about a conversation he had with two Indian men, and how he encouraged them to count the cost, to trust in Jesus Christ as more important than family.

Hear Ryan share about a conversation he had with a young lady, who wanted to remain in darkness.

Please be praying for those spoken to, over the course of the outreach that they may come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

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This afternoon there were a team of ten out at Sunnybank. At this location, it is easy to split up to either side of the road and so the team were able to cover more ground and have many Gospel conversations over the course of the afternoon.

One exciting conversation was with a young man named Richard. He had some memory of the Gospel from a prior conversation and wasn't opposed to it but his family didn't go to Church and he didn't have a Bible. A short conversation was had with him and he was given a Bible. In the few minutes before his bus arrived he began reading in the Gospel of John.

Another conversation was had with a man named Mitchell. He had been spoken to on a previous week and shared that he had been going back to Church again. This is great news.

Sadly Mitchell can't read very well, so he was encouraged again to download an audio Bible on his phone. He said he will when he gets his internet connected at home.

A final conversation was with a young woman named Cecily. She had gone to Church in the past but had stopped going because it wasn't that interesting. When asked if she was going to Heaven after she died, she said she wasn't sure. This lead into a conversation about what God expects from us.

Cecily found out that God expects humanity to be sinless and that the penalty for our rebellion against Him is Hell. She said this worried her. Then she said, "Isn't God forgiving? Can't He just forgive my sin, if I ask?"

This is a very common line that people use. Many people think that God can simply ignore sin if asked. This is not to say that God isn't forgiving, but rather that God's forgiveness comes on the basis of His wrath being satisfied. The question was posed to Cecily, "How has God satisfied His justice for your sin?"

Cecily said she didn't know. It was explained that God will either satisfy His justice by eternally punishing her in Hell or that it has already been satisfied by Jesus Christ on the cross. It was also explained that all who trust in Jesus are forgiven on the basis of Jesus Christ and His work.

Finally the question was posed to Cecily, "Are you trusting in Jesus Christ? Or are you trusting in yourself?". Cecily responded, "I don't know if I was before, but I think I am now."

Cecily was encouraged to go along to a local Church and to become part of a local body in which she can grow in Christ-likeness.

Please be praying for Richard that he will fall in love with God as he reads His Word. Please be praying for Mitchell that he will start to find life in God's Word rather than just living from Sunday to Sunday. Please be praying for Cecily that she will have a transformed life in which she wants nothing more than to see God glorified through her actions!

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This afternoon on the public holiday, the team headed into Brisbane city and had a wonderful afternoon!

Hear Matt, very excited, share about one glorious conversation he had about the Gospel with a man named Julian.

Hear Allan share about a conversation in which he was able to encourage a man who struggled with alcoholism, that the solution to his addiction and God's judgement for his sin could be found in Christ.

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On Tuesday afternoon at Woodridge train station the team had a wonderful afternoon. With a scattering of "simple" and straight forward Gospel conversations as well as some tougher ones.

One conversation was had with Genevieve, she is wheel-chair bound but has a very active mind. She declared that truth is relative, that you and I can believe opposite things and neither of us are wrong. It was empahsised that this most certainly is wrong. This was shown by tell her the no matter how hard one believed her name was Jeffery, she could run a 100m sprint in 9.8 seconds and she had recently given birth to octuplets, these things would always be wrong.

It was explained that the only we way can know about God is by what He has told us about Himself, rather than just guessing. She then went on to declare that no one can really know God because everything God has told humanity is "subject to interpretation". She declared that there were hundreds of different Bibles, all telling different stories. 

Sadly the next few minutes before her bus arrived were spent talking about the authenticity and reliability of the Bible. On this day, a conversation about sin and the Gospel was not had. Please be praying that next week Genevieve is ready to hear of God's revelation about Himself and His plan to save sinful humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ.

A very straight-forward conversation was had with two young girls, they came up, asked to do the good person test and happily participated all the way through. The first girl was named Angel and the other Evie. They obviously had gone to Church as they had some simple understanding of the Gospel. They acknowledged they had broken God's laws and that they understood they needed the Saviour. Both girls took tracts and went on their way. It didn't seem to be a revolutionary conversation but it was another reminder of the Gospel.

A Third and lengthy conversation was had with Val. She was born Orthodox, went to "born again Christianity" and then after questioning the Trinity her whole life she ended up as a JW. In this very sad progression, Val missed the Gospel and has rejected God for who He has revealed Himself to be.

She had many common JW proof texts, one from Proverbs 8 about Jesus, another from Revelation 7 about the 144,000, a Psalm again trying to undermine Jesus' deity and on and on. Sadly, she was completely blinded to the testimony of God's Word.

In Revelation 7, when it talks about the 144,000 (verses 1-8), verse 9 then declares that the great multitude is there before John, at the same time. There is no separation between the 144,000 and the great multitude. The point in the passage is that the 144,000 are the great multitude. This is shown as they are the ones serving God around His throne (Check out Revelation 7:1-17 if you have a chance). It was also good to note, that in verse 10, God and the Lamb are being praise and verse 12 has glorious parallel, almost word for word of Revelation 5:12-13. A place in which the Lamb and He who sits on the throne are being worshiped together.

Sadly after a lengthy discussion of ignoring what the text clearly says, Val declared that she knew "too much Greek" and "too much truth" to believe what "born again" Christians believe.

She was left with one final point that Jesus 7 times in the Gospel of John claimed the name, "I AM", the very name that God had revealed Himself to Moses as in Exodus 3. She didn't believe this is who Jesus was claiming to be, or that this title had anything to do with the name, "Jehovah". She was challenged to go and search and find out the answer.

Please come before God, on behalf of a greatly deceived woman, Val, and plead with Him that He would show her who He is, in undeniable clarity, that she may come out of this false religion and find forgiveness and salvation in the eternally existent, second member of the Godhead, Jesus Christ.

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This afternoon, as it was a public holiday, the team headed to Wellington Point to share God's glorious gospel with those having a relaxing afternoon by the water. There was a surprising cool breeze and as a result not many people around. Thankfully, that didn't stop God providing a range of wonderful conversations with people.

One early conversation was had with a young man named Jacob. He goes to youth group occasionally on a Friday night at a local church but apart from that has no real exposure to God. He thought he was a pretty good person and would be going to Heaven. Slowly as the conversation progressed Jacob came to understand that he wasn't the good person he thought he was but rather was a sinner like the rest of humanity. He saw that his sin deserves God's wrath in Hell and that on judgement day, as he currently was, he would face God's condemnation for his sin.

It was a privilege then to share God's offer of salvation, that God has made a way for sinners to be forgiven. Jacob said he understood and was interested to talk about it. Jacob has been encouraged to speak with his youth leaders at the church to ask for a Bible and to ask them more about how he can be forgiven.

A conversation almost on the back of that one was with two Germans who were travelling in Australia. A young man named Leon and his girlfriend, Xena. This couple were a mixture between agnostic and having some Christian background. Both professed that God wasn't important to them and they both had fairly poor understandings of God's revelation about Himself. Both also professed to be good people.

As the conversation progressed, the Gospel was focused on over the next half and hour. Many facets and aspects were spoken about and many questions or challenges to it were answered. At one point, almost twenty five minutes in after all that had been said the question was posed, "What is stopping you from giving up your autonomy and surrendering to the God who punished Himself, so that you could be forgiven?" Xena seemed squirmy at this, from this point onward in the conversation she seemed moved and like she was seriously considering God's call in the Gospel.

Moments later when she was saying, "Maybe if God came and showed Himself to me, now, I would believe". It was at that moment when Leon actually took charge in pointing out that God has. It was even shared that God's revelation about Himself and actions in history were clear. Xena seemed to be left wondering about her eternity. Leon on the other hand, seemed defiant. He tried to defend himself with the same, "we can't be sure" arguments even after they were answered. He acknowledged this and stated that it was because he didn't want God to exist.

These two were left with a thorough understanding of the Gospel and a challenge to find salvation in Jesus Christ.

A final conversation was had with two young Muslims. These guys laughed at their own sin and even tried to play it off as not that bad. They went on for almost thirty minutes declaring how good they were, whilst at the same time being completely apathetic toward the wickedness of their own sin and how angry God is with sinners. They declared that their god just forgives sin, as long as the sinner is "repentant". It was pointed out that the word forgiveness means, "cancelling a debt", in other words, the person whom the debt is against is willing to pay for the debt.

When this was pointed out, the question was asked, "How is your god, paying for the debt of your sin?" These young men squirmed, then declared that he isn't. It was stressed and explained a number of times, that the god they believe in is both a liar and unjust. Firstly, if he doesn't punish sin, when he has declared that it has the penalty of Hell, he has made himself a liar. Secondly, if he has no desire to see justice upheld and will let a guilty person walk free, he is not only unjust, but one who rejoices in and rewards unrighteousness.

These boys were not interested in God being anything other than that which they had been told at their local mosque and it was an extremely sad conversation. Two men, celebrating sin, rejoicing in their lust, lies and pride and completely unable to understand the Gospel as a result. These men, paid little attention to the Gospel and simply mocked at it, even without understanding it.

They also declared that heaven for them was a place where God gave them 70 wives/slaves and that God would reward them by granting them anything they asked for. This is an incredibly perverted view of Heaven, not only is it simply a place to indulge your selfish desires but even worse, it is a place where god serves you. A place where god's best gift to you is that which he can serve you, rather than his best gift being himself.

Please take some time out of your day, to plead with the loving God, that he would justify these two young men by the work of Jesus Christ and bring them to a humble surrender. Please pray that Jacob would come to a saving knowledge of the truth and that Leon and Xena would desire to know God intimately and be willing to give up their sin, in pursuit of the Saviour.

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Hear Ben share how his consistent attendance has enabled him to be bolder in his reliance on the Holy Spirit and as a result he is having many more conversations when he comes out.

Hear Anthony share about a conversation with a Muslim, where he explained the Gospel and encouraged him to trust in Jesus for salvation.

Be encouraged hearing another team member share about a conversation he had with a Mormon preacher, who seemed quite content to just agree that "Christians and Mormons beleive the same thing".

Please be praying for these conversations, knowing that it is God who works in the hearts of those whom He has called. Please also consider joining us one day and see how you can be used for the building of God's Kingdom!

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In Sunnybank on Thursday afternoon the team took out three flip charts and were able to use them in having many Gospel conversations. These simple good person tests have been very effective in reaching people who would otherwise have walked on and it allows them to hear the Gospel. If you have the money to spare, you can pick up one from the online store and use it in your local area. (In the near future we aim to release a video that shows how the flip chart is done).

One conversation with the flip chart was had with a muslim woman named Mah. Throughout the lengthy conversation she declared that the god she worshiped was so big and so holy that he didn't really worry about sin. She declared that humanity was designed to sin and that the god she worships is so loving, that he can just forgive sin.

Sadly, Mah may worship a god like this, but this god is the figment of someone's imagination and not the Holy, Righteous and Just God of this universe. It was explained that God's Holiness and Infinite authority and power is the very reason that sin is so bad. It is the stature of God, that makes rebellion against Him such a problem. 

It was explained that true humanity is without sin. We were designed to know God and be intimate with God, on the basis of being sinless image bearers. It was also shared that sin is what makes us unable to approach the Holy God, because sin is finally and fully against Him. Lastly it was stressed that God loves righteousness and goodness, which is why he can not ignore sin. Because he loves righteousness He must hate wickedness.

Mah, was then talked through the glorious Gospel, that God loves the guilty, vile and helpless. She heard that God doesn't come to save, "nice" or "good" people but He comes to save the most broken and wretched of humanity. This is what displays the depths of His love. He isn't just loving those who are easy to love but loves those who least deserve it.

At the end of the conversation Mah proclaimed that she didn't want or need a saviour and was happy to face God on judgement day as she was. It was repeated a final time, that any who stand before God in their own works of "righteousness" will be condemned as guilty and face God's eternal judgement in Hell. Mah said she was happy to risk it.

A second conversation was had with Tommy. This young man, shared that he was an agnostic on the basis of there being no "evidence" of God and that no-one can "prove" God. In response, it was stated that people don't have to "prove" God and neither has God tried to prove Himself. God, simply by doing things that only God can do and by acting according to His nature has revealed Himself. 

It was about this point in the conversation when a "Christian" woman who had overheard the conversation interjected and "apologised" for such behaviour. Telling Tommy that most Christians weren't like this and that she wanted him to have a really good afternoon, rather than to be stuck talking about sin, God's judgement and Hell. The woman finished off by saying, she hope he knew that God loves him.

In response, it was pointed out that, Tommy was about to hear how specifically God had loved him and then be pointed to the only place where he can find forgiveness, hope and lasting satisfaction.

The conversation flowed a little after that but sadly this woman's intention to "help" out this young man displayed that she didn't really know the importance or value of the Gospel for salvation. 

Lastly there was a conversation that was left almost in tears, not by the one hearing the Gospel but, by the Christian sharing it. Young Jordan stopped to engage. He wasn't and atheist, agnostic or of any other religion. He had an American heritage and was in Australia for a short while. 

He thought he was a good guy but came to understand that we have all sinned. He heard of God's judgement and sentence for sin, Hell. He came to understand the depths of what Hell is and why it will be such an awful place to "live" in and why it is called "eternal death".

Jordan understood the call the Gospel made on his life, why God offered this hope to sinners and despite everything said, Jordan did not even bat an eyelid. When asked why, he said it was because he couldn't ever go to Heaven and therefore was going to live however he wanted. It was explained that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross has the ability to save any and all who come in surrender to Him.

Jordan said he understood this and then changed his reason, "I just want to continue to live my own way". With tears in their eyes, the evangelist pleaded with him to not choose Hell, especially when God so freely has offered forgiveness but Jordan was not moved, he remained resolute in his defiance against God.

Please be praying that Mah reads the Gospel of John she was given and comes to understand who Jesus is and why He is the only Saviour. Please pray that Tommy will be able to remember the Gospel from the conversation. Please pray that the "Christian" woman is convicted by the Holy Spirit about her apathy toward the salvation of sinners and the importance of the Gospel. Please come before our gracious and merciful God and plead with him to give Jordan a hatred of sin and a desperation for Jesus.

If you would like to purchase a flip chart to help you share the Gospel in your local area, you can find it here.

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