Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 214

On Wednesday afternoon in Queen st Mall last week, the mall was unusually busy when we started, there were many people out in the mall but over the course of the afternoon things quietened down back to a normal level.

We had the opportunity to talk with and share the Gospel with a range of people, the first conversation which was had was with a lady named Vicki, she admitted to have told little white lies but said she had never, not one done anything else wrong, in fact she claimed she deserved to go to Heaven because she, (like Jesus) had been betrayed.

We challenged her on whether or not tragic or 'unfair' events happening to us remove the penalty for breaking the law? (God's law or Civil law). She said in society of course not but she said God was different. We asked why convinced her that was the case and she said she just believed it.

We tried to further expose the guilt of all mankind, us and her included but she denied it all and even said the times she lied weren't wrong as they were being kind to someone.

She then headed off as she did not want to talk about the 'negative' things in life anymore.

We also engaged Robert in a conversation, talking about the way to Heaven, when asked why he was going to Heaven he promptly responded with, "Because I deserve to go there". When asked why he gave the usual response that he thought he was pretty good.

When we started talking about sin, he very quickly wanted to leave, he said he didn't want to hear about God's judgement because he knew his god was a forgiving god.

Soon afterwards we talked with a young man named Vincent, he was one of those special conversations you have, when God has sovereignly bought someone along to speak with us, when their hearts are ready for the seed of the Gospel.

As I started talking with him we discussed sin, "Are we sinners?", "How bad is our sin?", "What are the consequences of sin?", "How do we have sin removed?"

We talked for quite a while, answering his questions with what God has said about sin, death, life and many more things. He heard the guilt of all men, he admitted that he thought he deserved Hell and it worried Him. He asked what he could do to get His sin paid for.

With the understanding that the penalty for sin is death, we briefly discussed that we are damned, on our own merits we cannot fix sin and there is no way BUT GOD LOVES US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US!

We explained that God made a way, God made a way for His mercy and wrath to be fulfilled, allowing Him to be Just and Loving, God came as fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life without sin, died the sacrificial, wrath absorbing sacrifice for sin and then rose from the dead three days later conquering Death and Sin once and for all, that all who believe in Him shall not perish, but have their sins paid for that they can be counted as Righteous before God and inherit eternal life!

Vincent was excited by that and said he would be interested in counting the cost, sadly before we got much further he had to leave but God was able to use us, unworthy servants to allow Vincent to hear the amazing truth of the Gospel!

Please be praying for Vincent, Vicki and Robert, commit them to the Lord in prayer, praying that God may have mercy on their souls and bring them unto salvation! Please praise God that they were able to hear the Gospel, to hear the way of salvation and praise the Lord for being sovereign in Salvation, thanking Him that it is not up to us to save!

Please pray for the team, it is never easy to evangelise, no matter how many times we have done it before there is still a moment of vulnerability as we step out to offer a tract and start a conversation, please pray that we may be BOLD! Pray that we will deny ourselves, deny our desire to please the world, lay off the hindrances of pride and understand that if we do stand for the name of the Lord we will suffer 'persecution'.

Pray that we may be strengthened in the Lord, relying on Him alone and living for Christ.

Please pray that more Christians will consider counting the cost, making the time to join us on the streets, to share in their work places and their neighbourhoods being the light of Christ in the world.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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On Monday afternoon the team headed out to Capalaba, with the normal business of the school term there was a decent amount of people around. Praise be to God for providing people to be able to hear the Gospel.

As always Capalaba is the most interesting place we share the Gospel as all conversations must be walk up. You see someone sitting down and you ask them a question, similar to, "Where do you think you are spending eternity?" Or "Do you know the way to Heaven". And with a high chance of rejection, you curiously wait for their response.

We talked to a young man Lachlan, we have talked to him many times and he says that he denies Christianity based on a lack of evidence.

We discussed with him a range of different things, from Historical evidence to observed scientific phenomena and many other things, he said he stilled denied based on a lack of evidence.

We challenged him on how we interpret facts based on our worldview and how there are things that point to a young earth. He also said some things about the Bible and attacked its validity, the problem is he had never read it.

We have talked with Lachlan over and over, please pray for him, may God convict his heart, bring about knowledge of sin and bring him to repentance and trust in Christ.

Over the course of the afternoon we talked with three different women, Sky, Jess and Jenny who all professed to be Christians, the problem was none of them knew the Gospel, in fact they were still very interested in earning their way to Heaven.

We talked with then each individually and shared the one way to Heaven with them, we encouraged them to consider it as Jesus said the only way of salvation was through Him.

They had different levels of rely on works and were from relatively isolated communities.

Please be pray for these women, that God may use the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change their lives, to bring them to salvation and therefore allow them to preach the truth to those in their communities.

We talked with a lady named Hayley as well, she had a few different reasons to reject Christianity, she said she knows God exists but she decided to choose paganism because the Baptist Church she went to shunned her, rejected her and an deacon/elder abused her.

We were very careful in our addressing of the situation, taking with her that those things are horrible, they are wrong and the Church should not be doing such things but we also explained that we can't accurately represent God based on sinful man professing to represent Him.

We talked a little answering questions but in the end she had to leave, she heard the Gospel, the way of salvation, please pray that she will trust in Christ for salvation and be able to return to church.

We also talked with the usual apathetic people, who couldn't be bothered about Eternity, they were content living for now and whatever may come will come. Please pray that these men who don't care will be struck down with the fear of God in their hearts that their sin will be exposed as a disease and that they shall trust Christ.

Please pray for the team, that they will be able to continue to seek God and His Kingdom, being given the strength to deny themselves, take up their crosses for Him.

Pray that we have more labourers and that many are able to join the team preaching the Gospel, and that others who can't make it out will be preaching and the salt and light in their workplaces, their homes, neighbourhoods and at their sporting events.

Please pray that God may use the Gospel we preached to change lives for His glory and that many may be saved and therefore go out and also share the Glorious Gospel!

Soli Deo Gloria!

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At Sunnybank there is always a range of people, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Atheists, Muslims and some 'Spiritualists' but a serious lack of Christians.

On Thursday we were able to head out and talk to some people waiting at the Bus stop, we had a few early conversations where they would answer the question about eternity, whether it be that they were going to Heaven, or they didn't care or something similar but would very quickly lose interest.

One pair of girls, said they were going to Heaven because doesn't everyone, then they added that they don't really think about it because why consider the future, aren't they still alive.

We asked them if they knew the moment of their death and they said of course not, no one does. Then we said, why does eternity not bother them? If they are living for the now but don't know when they will face eternity, why can they with such certainty ignore thinking about it to scroll down facebook?

Soon after we talked with Rebecca, a young lady who attends a local Catholic school, she said that she was pretty sure she was going to Heaven because she has done Holy Communion and been baptised.

We asked her if those things take away sin and she said she thought they did. We used some analogies, explaining how deeds don't pay for sin and that the penalty of sin must be paid. She said that bothered her because the penalty for sin is death.

We offered her the salvation of Jesus Christ, offered only in the repentance and belief in Him and she said she would consider it because she knew her own sin.

Then we talked with a young lady named Stephanie, a Mormon girl, who professed her works as the way to Heaven, she was adamant that as long as she kept being as good as she currently was, God would have no problem letting her into Heaven.

We asked her how good she was by God's standard and she said that she had never sinned, we tested her with God's law and she admitted to having broken the law and said she didn't know what it was.

She then seemed a little worried that she wasn't as good as she thought she was. We offered the salvation of Jesus Christ, that Christ came into the world to die for sin, that anyone who believes in Him may have everlasting life.

She said it sounded too good to be true but would have to think about it. We encouraged her to read her bible when she went home.

We briefly talked with a man named Shaun who was a practicing Muslim and said as long as his goodness outweights his badness he shall get to Heaven. Sadly he had to catch the bus before we could challenge him on the 'justice' of his god.

We also talked with Kyle, the atheist, who sort of didn't know what he believed but was sure that God didn't exist. We challenged some of his presuppositions but he too had to catch a bus.

Please pray for the local Mormon missionaries, that they will realise the weightiness of their sin, how wretched we are before God and therefore admit that Christ is the only way and therefore submit to Him alone as Lord and repent and believe the Gospel for salvation and as a product desire to share the true Gospel of Christ Jesus!

Please pray for those we interacted with that they will heed the warning on the Gospel, that they will understand their dire need of a savior and turn to Jesus Christ the only way to have sin paid for.

Please praise God that we were able to proclaim the Gospel and pray that many might decide to join us in the labourers of sharing the Gospel, may Christians hearts be stirred up with compassion, desiring to warn the perishing and desiring to share with them the way of salvation!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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On Wednesday at Queen St Mall, Brisbane, it was another scorcher of an afternoon. Thankfully despite the weather many people still flocked to the mall, either leaving or heading to work, finishing uni or school or just generally visiting the mall.

It was quite busy, which was great for bringing a crowd for the sketch boarding and Praise God that we had a team of nine labourers allowing us to cover a good amount of the mall to share the Gospel.

Early on in the afternoon a rather tall man named Arthur came up to us and asked for a Bible, we gave him one and asked him what was getting him to Heaven, he said he himself was, that Jesus died and everyone just has to be true to themselves and they will get to Heaven.

His message was very twisted and skewed, later he said Jesus wasn't the way, that we had to do certain things, then he said Jesus was the only way. He wasn't letting us talk much but was just generally talking about things that didn't make much sense.

His mind must have been damaged by something, please pray for Arthur that he will be able to comprehend the truth of the Gospel, surrender his own attempt and goodness and follow Christ for salvation!

We also talked with Rumel, a young man who has recently stopped practicing Islam, he didn't really have a reason he just got bored with it he said.

We were able to ask him a few questions, firstly we addressed the truth of God, talking about His perfection, justice and holiness. We discussed to a point where he said he understood that God's justice and mercy must be compatible, that to show mercy His justice must be also paid.

We then asked him what could pay for our sin, if God is going to let us into Heaven and knowing that the penalty for sin is death. He said, "I suppose someone has to die". He was right, someone must die.

He talked about that meaning no one should go to Heaven because we all deserve the punishment for sin. I told him he was spot on, not one single person deserves to get to Heaven but thankfully God is loving.

God loved us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God came into this world as a man, and laid down His life so that we, guilty sinners may have a path to Heaven. He said that was great news.

He sadly had to leave but we gave him a bible and he said, he will have to read it!

Please pray for Arthur and Rumel, pray that the message of the Gospel, takes deep root, that their lives can be changed by the repentance and belief bought about by God's sovereign plan.

Please pray for all the others who took tracts, heard the preaching, read the signs, were asked a question and walked away laughing, for those whom we talked to or who too literature.

Pray that God uses this encounter, however small to change their hearts and minds and to allow them to enter the Kingdom of Heaven by their surrender to Christ as Lord and Saviour!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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On Tuesday afternoon it was still relatively quiet at Woodridge Train station, the area had the normal lingerers but there was still less people coming off the train.

The weather though made up for it, with a scorching 32degrees, God knows what heat it, praise God that we have been granted with the ability to have water, clothes, showers and the other wonderful blessings that make the heat bearable!

Woodridge is a very interesting place, one of the very few places where someone can say to you that they are a 'born again' Christian and have no idea of the Gospel, or who Jesus Christ is.

We talked with a young man named Junior, when we asked him if he deserved to go to Heaven he promptly replied that he did because he was a born again Christian. When we asked him what that meant, sure enough he had no idea.

He started to explain that he was pretty good and listing his good qualities and works, like a resume to allow him to enter Heaven. We tested him with the Law of God and sure enough, like the rest of us he had fallen miserably short, just like us his resume before God deserves nothing but condemnation.

We talked about what ways might get us to Heaven, he started talking about stopping sin, doing good things and helping people. We talked about how the debt of sin needs to be paid and how that might be paid, he offered a few suggestions that wouldn't get anyone of us closer to God then explained the Love of God to him.

The amazing love, that God loved us while we were yet sinners, Christ died of us! He said that sounded interesting, he had never heard of Jesus' sacrifice being to pay for sin and he was interested in it.

We left him with the encouragement to read his bible when he got home and to consider where he was spending eternity.

We also talked with Alex, a young man who attended a local Seventh Day Adventist Church. He professed to be also getting to Heaven by his goodness.

We looked at him and in all seriousness asked him, "What goodness?", he tried to give an account of his goodness but like us all before God had nothing to boast in, for our sin always outweighs our good works, infinity to one.

We discussed with him the ways that he might be made good or become perfect in the sight of God. He said he wasn't sure. We asked him if God had made a way did he think he'd want to respond to that?

He answered affirmatively, of course he wanted to go to Heaven, so we offered the message of the Gospel, the salvation of Jesus Christ.

He said he too would have to consider it.

Please praise God that we were able to share the Gospel, that us, lowly servants were given the great privilege of preaching the way of salvation.

Please thank God that there were people who heard the Good News, many who took tracts and others who heard snippets. Please pray for those who aren't yet saved that God shall bring them to salvation. May the Gospel of Jesus we preached on Tuesday be part in their salvation that they may dwell on the truth of it and desire to surrender to Christ!

Soli Deo Gloria!

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On Monday afternoon due to the public Holiday, though the mall wasn't overly busy there were many people who stopped as they had no where to be.

Many of the shops were closed, few people had to work and the majority were just casually strolling through. This was a wonderful blessing from God.

We had a decent sized team out and there were moments when you could look around and see almost everyone in a conversation. Praise God that the Gospel was proclaimed!

We talked with Dugal a young man who hadn't heard the Gospel before but when we started talking he very quickly seemed to admit the reality of it. We discussed what sin was and he admitted to having sinned many times, we discussed the way of salvation, he at first offered a few different suggestions about how to get to Heaven.

But we reminded him that God is perfect and just meaning to get to Heaven someone has to pay for our sin debt. We used a few analogies to explain why sin isn't paid for by works, by prayer, by fasting, by baptism or anything like that but that sin can be paid for by one thing alone, a sacrifice of life, either ours (in Hell) or Christ's on the cross.

He continued asking questions for a little while and seemed interested, it was a very exciting start to the afternoon.

We talked with a young lady Hannah, whom said she had grown up in a Christian family and actually professed to be a Christian, she said she believed in God and Jesus and things like that.

When we challenged her a bit on who would pay for her sin, she hadn't really considered it, she professed that there were probably multiple ways to God and she was just on a different one to us.

We briefly discussed who the person of Jesus Christ was and that if He is God (Which He proved) then when He said, "I am the Way, The truth and The life", He couldn't have been lying.

It is often that we talk to people who profess to know the way to Heaven but don't agree with what God Himself said.

we talked with a young couple, Ella and Ollie, we talked with Ella first, she admitted to her sin and she admitted to the reality of needing a saviour if God exists. We challenged her briefly about the things of eternity and she said she would consider it.

Then we talked with Ollie, he was angry and frustrated, he was very against God and claimed to be all about evidence. He said that the Historical person of Jesus Christ might have existed but that He wasn't God but just a magician.

We looked at him and asked him, what evidence convinced him of that? He said because magicians exist and the can deceive people with marvelous tricks. We continued to press him, what evidence convinced him about this man Jesus Christ being a magician. He had none.

There were numerous occasions in our discussion where he would make a claim to logic, reason, evidence or the like and then make a claim about Christ or Historical Christianity that had no support. He had a hole in his worldview, that he allowed things to be illogical just so he could not submit to the authority of God (for this lifetime).

Please be praying for Dugal, Hannah, Ella and Ollie, please keep them on your prayer list this week, maybe make a point to pray for them every Monday, pray that the Gospel that was preached to them may take root by the power of God and that they individually may heed the warning message and surrender to the truth of God and recieve the salvation offered in Christ Jesus.

Please pray for all those who interacted with the team, took tracts, read the signs, listened to the preaching, took literature, conversed with a team member or anything else. Pray that the truth of the Gospel will deeply penetrated their hearts that they would be given spiritual sight and that their lives would be transformed by the power of the Gospel.

Please thank God that we are still about to publically assemble and preach the Gospel, that we have the options to go out in the Mall and other locations to share the Gospel.

Please pray for the team that we are able to flee sin, in conversations may we be reminded of the truth of from where we came and by whose power alone we were saved, may our sinful roots and the power of God humble us that we might be able to preach the truth in love, with gentleness and respect.

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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Saturday Night in Queen St Mall was a very quiet night, the usual attendance was no where to be seen, the mall was almost empty, we still had a decent amount of labourers and praise God that most people had no where to be and therefore were casually strolling around.

I talked to two young men who asked many questions and bought up many reasons they don't want to believe in God.

The bought up the problem of Evil, the problem of 'science', they also said God wasn't very moral.

 

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At Queen St Mall (Brisbane) on Wednesday afternoon the mall was very busy, many were on holidays doing a bit of shopping.

The afternoon started off fairly normal, we discussed a range of things with a range of people, many briefly.

I had a lot of short conversations with people who would either, say they were getting to heaven based on something and then not want to defend their position, as they just assumed they were right or people who didn't believe God exist, pull out their 'trump' card of a single argument and then when I answered it would deny that answer and walk off.

It was a very sad thing to see, people desiring to not know the truth, just being apathetic. Apathy is worse than holding a strong position. Why? Because atheists have to constantly fight against their knowledge of God.

Agnostics on the other hand, or even partial believers just don't really mind, they drift around saying, 'If God reveals Himself, in a way I consider good enough then I shall follow Him'.

They use it as a opt out clause. But the problem is: God will still judge us all according to our deeds and unless Christ has taken the punishment no one enters Heaven.

I talked to Jarvis and Coby for a little while, they readily admitted sin, had no problem admitting to their guilt but they had no real understanding of its sinfulness.

They didn't think it was that bad, they didn't think there were any real consequences and they didn't really consider it needed fixing.

I started going through the Holiness of God, talking about why sin is so bad because of our blasphemy and idolatry in every action.

They sort of hinted towards seeing its weight but they weren't overly moved.

I shared with them the way of salvation, the love of Christ Jesus that was shown in his work on the Earth and that we can trust in Him alone as the payment for our sin.

I also talked to Chloe and Grace two girls who identified as lesbians, sadly they also were basing their identity off it, it was what gave them meaning and a reason to live. It makes the conversation a minefield to try and walk through but at the same time they need the grace of God as much as I do so we can't try and avoid the tough conversations. Sadly, the conversation went around in a circle, I don't want to follow God and His laws.

Onto why don't you eat shellfish? Back to trying to argue the absurdity of God and His laws. Then finishing with a statement similar to, 'Even if God exists, I don't want to follow His laws, this is my life.'

A very sad conversation. Please be praying for all those that heard the Gospel, please pray for those who caught a snippet, read a sign, took a tract or things like that.

Please pray that God uses the message, plants it in their heart and allows them spiritual sight to be able to see the truth of the Gospel! Therefore coming to repentance and belief!

Please praise God that we were able to outreach in the mall, thank Him for His sovereignty and pray that the team may continue to deny themselves and be able to serve God through evangelism.

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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At Capalaba on Monday, it was a relatively quiet afternoon, there weren't to many around but by God's grace there were quite a range that engaged in conversations.

It is a very interesting location for evangelism as you have to approach people and ask them and talk to them on their terms, which makes for many people turning you down and also quite a few being pretty angry that you'd even ask them about what they believe.

I talked to a range of people, The first guy and listened and discussed the Gospel, he did admit to being a sinner but also said he didn't really worry about it all. I asked him about what he thought Hell was and he really didn't know, I explained to him what it is and he said it didn't really bother him because this world is pretty bad and so he said Hell couldn't be much worse.

We talked about the common Graces of God, things like rain, wind and sun, food, showers and beds and many more things that we take for granted and he still said it didn't bother him.

I asked him why and he said because of the things he gets to do now, it will be worth it. He wants to sin.

I then talked to a lady who pulled up lots of little problems, things like evil, and morality, like 'science' and other things. I answered her questions and she said she wasn't going to believe in God because she didn't want to.

I also talked to a young man (Jake), who I have spoken to a few times, he says he rarely goes to church, he was able to tell me the Gospel but he said he has plenty of time.

I challenged him by asking when he was going to die, and he admitted that he didn't know, so I asked him if he would consider eternity, there is no time like the present.

This week there was a previously angry older lady sitting next to a younger lady, I entered into a conversation with the younger lady and the older one actually joined in.

By God's grace they both engaged and were able to go through the he law, to hear the truth of the Gospel and said they would consider it.

I also talked to two young men, Jeru and Josh, they both admitted to being sinners but when asked about going to Heaven they both said they didn't want to go to Heaven on the blood of Jesus, they were either going to earn it or go to Hell they said.

It was quite sad but our pride is a big reason we don't want to go to Heaven. 

Please be praying for the hearts of those who heard the Gospel, may they hearts be softened and made good soil so that they will desire to trust in Christ alone for salvation and serve God.

Please pray for the team that they are able to surrender to Christ, denying themselves and taking up their cross to follow Him.

Please pray for more labourers at this outreaches, may there be many people desiring to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the way of salvation with the lost.

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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At Sunnybank yesterday the afternoon had a low but steady number of people, we engaged a few as they walked past.

It is a place that has many different people, from Buddhists, to Muslims, to Catholics, to the JW's and Mormons, as well as the skeptics and atheists.

Over all it is a 'spiritual' place, many people think they will be getting to heaven on their own achievement, many people are somehow 'earning' they way into the mercy of God.

Especially the Mormons we talked to, they use many single verses, pull them out of the Bible and use it for the defense of extra biblical doctrines, a previous spirit world, a chance for Heaven after death, baptism being apart of salvation and many other things.

They use the same words as Christians but define them to mean different things.

There are a range of groups of Mormons around and we have spent time talking to most of them on a range of issues but they still valiantly as ever deny Jesus Christ's complete work but have to also show their faithfulness to earn salvation.

I also talked with a young couple briefly about the way to Heaven, they were saying that any God who exists should see their true intentions and let them into Heaven.

I asked them what their true intentions were and they told me, to love and serve people. I looked at them and went through the Law. Then I said why would people who's intentions are good do these things?.

They had no answer, sadly they had to run off before we could finish but may they think about and dwell on that thought.

Please pray for those who heard the Gospel, for the tract takers and those who read the sign, may God use our witness to save lives.

Please pray for the labourers as we continue to evangelise that we will remember from where we came and who our God is that saved us, so that we many humbly preach the truth of God in love!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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