Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 213

It was another fruitful outreach on Tuesday at Woodridge. I was wondering who we would have on the team as most of the regulars were unable to make it today. I thought it would just be me. 

But praise be to God, before 2pm rolled around I got a phone call from Jeorge, who has evangelised with us before but hasn't been out for several months, saying he is coming to be part of the team at Woodridge and he is bringing six or so people from his church! God really answers prayer! 

Many of these people he brought along hadn't ever evangelised before. It is great to see God raising up new labourers and sending them out into His harvest field.

The police were positioned near where we were evangelising for a lot of the afternoon, keeping the area safer. It was great even hearing from the officers that they appreciate what we do.

There were plenty of good conversations that were had throughout the afternoon. Just to mention one - please pray for Lilliana and Anna, who attend a catholic school. They thought that trying to do good was going to save them, and so I explained how that wouldn't work because doing good doesn't cover the bad we have done, and Jesus said "you must be perfect" (Matthew 5:48).

As I was explaining how forgiveness is only available by having someone else who can take our punishment for us (that is Jesus), I noticed Anna was quite distracted and looking around the place. But at the same time I saw Lilliana very intently listening and you could tell she was beginning to grasp the gospel. 

It is interesting to see in some ways the two different kinds of soils Jesus spoke about in one of His parables, in the one conversation. Please pray for them both as they have heard the truth and now have to consider how they will respond to it.

We sow the seed and leave the results up to God. To God alone be the glory!

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We had 3 of us on the team on Monday at Capalaba for our weekly outreach there. It is a great place for conversations while people wait for their buses.

Sometimes we see the same people each week and can continue sharing the good news of Jesus with them. We saw one man who we see each week, but usually doesn't want to talk at all, but today it was a different story.

We were able to have decent chat about eternal matters, getting him thinking about what Jesus has done. Sadly, he seemed to want to just live more for the here and now. But he has heard the truth now, and thus will be accountable for it.

One young man we spoke to said he was a Hindu. We spoke of sin, the coming Judgement and how the only way to Heaven is through Jesus taking our Hell punishment for us on the cross. 

After hearing it all, he remarked, "Christianity is more realistic, Hinduism is more imaginary." So when I asked when he was going to start trusting in Christ alone for his forgiveness, he said he wanted to right away.

I wanted to make sure he knew he couldn't just add Jesus on to his existing religion, instead he needed to leave Hinduism and trust only in Jesus. He said he understood that. Please pray for him, his name is Shevam.

To God be the glory for another great outreach!

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Last night, we had a fairly good night of evangelism in Brisbane. We had a good size team. I had decided before arriving at the outreach that I wasn't going to preach, instead I wanted to focus on one to one witnessing.

My prayer was that God would allow me to have good conversations with at least five people. He brought along six.

The first conversation I had was with two young Muslim men from Africa. Both of them had no knowledge of Christianity. We chatted for a bit about Islam and the Justice of God. They told me that they hoped that by doing the best they can that Allah would one day let them into Paradise.

Ultimately, they said they weren't sure if they had done enough. I shared with them that I know with 100% certainty that I will go to Heaven when I die, even though I haven't been 'good enough.'

They seemed intrigued by this answer, so I got to share with them about the Lord Jesus, who He is, and what He has done. Both men said they had never heard such teachings before, and they wanted to learn more. Both took in-depth tracts and thanked me for speaking to them.

During this time members of the team were preaching open-air, or engaged in one to one. It was great to see a number of people from different backgrounds making their way to the Free Bible table and taking literature.

My next conversation was with a group of three elderly Aboriginal ladies. One of them was converted, the other two weren't. The Christian lady was so excited to hear the Gospel being proclaimed in public. The other two also listened closely as I spoke of Jesus and what He did at the cross.

Other conversations I had during the night was with a self-righteous man who thought he had never sinned. I also spoke to an evolutionist who believed that Christians taught that the world only began with the resurrection of Jesus. And, sadly, I also had a conversation with an apostate who use to go evangelising.

Please pray for all those we encountered last night. May the Lord Jesus be lifted high and may He receive all the glory.

SDG!

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There was a heavy Police presence in Woodridge yesterday, which was quite good as it made the area much more peaceful. Sadly, when the Police aren't around there is normally quite a bit of violence, abuse and public drunkenness.

The Police seem to be a bit of a 'band-aid' solution to the problem. However, it must be noted that real community change will not come from laws and legislation, but rather it will only come when Christ is submitted to as Lord.

Our desire for Woodridge is to see Jesus lifted high, and the community transformed by the Gospel. To help achieve these ends we engage in literature distribution and personal witness. Our Free Bible table had a bit of interest yesterday.

I was able to speak to one lady and her son who had just arrived from somewhere in Africa. They were professing Believers, but didn't know where to go to church. I was able to point them to a solid Baptist church just around the corner from where they were living.

During this time, other members of the team were also engaging in conversations with people. One of our team members had a chat to a Muslim girl who had many questions and seemed to be quite interested in Christianity.

One of the wonderful things about ministering in Woodridge is that we often get to see the same people over and over again. Each week we get to build on the foundation which was previously laid. Yesterday, we saw people that we've spoken to in the past, and again we were able to point them to Jesus.

Please pray that the Lord Jesus will rule and reign over this community.

SDG!

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God saw fit to bring in a lot of labourers last night for our weekly outreach in Brisbane city. We had about 20 people on the team, which was great because it was busier night than usual.

The team was in constant conversations with people about Christ throughout the night, as quite a lot of people were happy to stop and listen, take tracts or come up to the free Bibles table to take a Bible.

At one stage of the night an angry man walked by and yelled out some profanities at the person who was preaching at the time, and the preacher responded with a "God bless you". An hour later the man returned with a soften heart and wanted to know about God. He stayed around talking with the team for quite a long time, thinking through the message of the gospel. Praise be to God! Please pray for him.

Another man that we spoke to was Matt. He initially thought he was a really great guy and said he has never ever told a lie before. But as we talked about some of God's other commandments, he had to admit he had failed too.

He was absolutely shocked to hear that sex before marriage is a sin, and that to look at someone with lust whom you're not married to is a sin as well. We explained the gospel to him and called him to repent and believe. He said that he considered the cost of coming to Christ is so high, as he said he loves his sin. He then had to go somewhere but said he would return later in the night.

About half an hour later he came back and we got to talk further. He was beginning to see the urgency of coming to faith in Christ. Please pray for Matt.

We're simply unworthy servants and so to God be all the glory!

 

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It was a great night of evangelism yesterday at the Gold Coast. A good number of people on the team preached, including someone who has only preached in the open air once before.

God drew in people to listen to what was being said and some people stayed listening for the entire time.

At one stage, there was a man who called out that he didn't believe in God. So I gave him a simple apologetic - that just as we know builders have a builder, so must this universe have had a creator. He said that that made sense, and he quickly backed down from his atheism.

I asked him whether he was a good person and he said "Yes". So I started going through the commandments of God to see how good he really was. He admitted his sin but thought Hell was just going to be a party. I explained that the party in Hell has been cancelled due to fire.

By this time, quite a lot of people had gathered to hear the discussion going on. The man then had his friends drag him away, but I was able to keep the discussion going with someone else who was standing next to him listening and he was willing to interact.

I explained the gospel to the crowd and then this man started bringing up objections like "How can I believe in something I can't see?" I asked him, "Did you see World War 1?" He said "No, but we have accounts of those who did." I said, "Exactly, in the same way we have the historical accounts of those who saw Jesus." He conceded the point.

After a couple more of his objections, I asked him, "Is the real reason you don't want to repent and trust in Jesus because you want to keep on sinning?" He said, "Yes." This didn't really surprise me as Jesus says in John 3 that people love darkness rather than light.

So I explained the futility and foolishness of living in sin to him. I also said, "What good is cup of pleasure in exchange for an ocean of pain?"

You could tell he was thinking about what was being said. He said he didn't have a Bible. So I encouraged him to go over to the Bible table and take one. He then did so. Please pray for this man.

Over the past few weeks whenever we have had our Gold Coast outreach there has been showers of rain. We prayed that for tonight it would not rain till we finished our outreach for the night at 10pm.

And there wasn't a drop of rain until exactly as the clock struck 10pm, then it started pouring down rain. Praise God for his answer to prayer, which meant a lot of people could hear the gospel.

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We had a productive afternoon in Sunnybank. Despite the very hot weather, we were able to share the Gospel with quite a number of people.

One of the biggest challenges with minister in this community is that the majority of people speak Chinese (and I don't!). To overcome this problem we set up a Free Bible and Literature table with material in their language. It is always encouraging to see people take God's Word in their own language.

Another challenge in this area is that the Mormons focus heavily on trying to deceive the Chinese speakers. Many of the LDS missionaries are trained to speak the language. Due to this, we make ever effort to reach the missionaries with the Gospel. This afternoon, I was able to have a good conversation with two 'elders.' We chatted about the history of the LDS, their claim of Joseph Smith being a prophet and also the Gospel. Using the Scripture we were able to show them that a Prophet must be 100% accurate (Joseph Smith wasn't) and that salvation isn't something we can earn (as the LDS claim).

It is always interesting that when an LDS missionary gets into a position where they can't answer, they use the excuse of, "I have an appointment; I have to go to." This is a common excuse at Sunnybank. Normally, the elder will leave, walk about fifty metres, then go back to talking to other people. It is clear that they have no problems with breaking the ninth commandment.

Please pray that the Lord would convert the Mormons and also the people of this community.

SDG!

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Glory to God that the gospel went out in Brisbane city.

We had a smaller team at the start, as some of our regulars couldn't make it. So we prayed together at the start for more labourers and also that the council would leave us alone.

God answered our prayers. Not long later, He brought in some more team members and even brought in two new people who have never evangelised with us before! Praise be to Him!

We saw the council hovering around, glaring at us for a while, but in God's providence they did not come up to us at all or fine us!

The fines we have received in previous weeks/months are currently on hold, being reviewed by a different department of the council. Please pray that whoever is reviewing them would realise we are there lawfully and drop the fines. We have been evangelising in Queen St Mall now for over 10 years.

The team had some really good conversations with people, with many saying that they will seriously consider the message. The gospel also went out clearly and boldly through the preaching.

All glory to God!

 

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We had a well spent morning putting about 2,000 gospel tracts into letterboxes in the Wynnum/Manly area (QLD).

We started off with bacon and eggs for breakfast and then split into pairs to distribute the 'This was your life' tracts into letterboxes.

The weather was very pleasant, being mostly cloudy, and at times God brought in some light rain to cool us down.

We praise God that the gospel message could go into 2,000 more homes this morning. Please pray for all those who read the tract.

We aim to do this again later in the year, we hope you can come along then too.

To God be the glory!

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We had a great outreach on Wednesday afternoon in Brisbane city. Despite the opposition we have been getting in recent months, we see that there are plenty of people open to hearing about God.

Throughout the afternoon, the team was in gospel conversations with people, and a few team members preached, while God drew in people to listen.

One conversation we had was with a high school student named Emily. She said "I am a nice person", hoping that that would get her to Heaven. After talking to her about sin, the coming judgement, the cross, repentance and faith, she thought for a moment and said, "I will do that now, you have now convinced me".

I asked her a few checking questions to see whether she had understood the message of grace - that forgiveness is not something you can earn, it's a free gift available through trusting in Christ. She had. Please pray for her, she has a Bible already.

Straight after that conversation, I talked with another high school student named Olivia. The conversation went very similar and she too was open to the gospel. Afterwards she said, "I learnt something today. Wow thank you, I did not think I would learn this today".

She didn't have a Bible, so we gave her a gospel of John to start reading. Please also pray for her.

All glory to God that His word is going out and impacting people!

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