Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 224

It was a productive afternoon in Sunnybank. During the course of the outreach I was able to distribute quite a few tracts (both in English and Chinese) and also have some great conversations. 

My first conversation was with a young Mormon missionary. He engaged me in discussion and wanted to know what I was talking to people about. This was an open-door to share the true Gospel with him. We spent some time speaking about how salvation is all of grace, and how the LDS church pervert the Gospel by adding works to it.

Sadly, no matter what was said to this young man he kept falling back onto his 'feelings'. He claimed that the Bible wasn't always right, but the Book of Mormon was. When asked how he knew this, he kept replying, "I know."

After a while he called a senior Mormon missionary over. This young man was a bit more on the aggressive side. It was clear that his job was to get the junior missionary away from me as fast as possible. However, before they left we examined what the Bible says about a true prophet, and then examined Joseph Smith to see if he fitted the criteria.

It soon became clear that Joseph Smith could never have been a prophet of God. Sadly, the LDS missionaries ignored all the data, and instead said, "We know he is a prophet, you don't" with that they walked away. Please pray the Lord would save them. 

Another great conversation I had was with a 90 year old Scottish lady. At first she wasn't interested in talking, however, I was able to get her talking about Scotland. I shared with her how until recently I was living in Scotland. This got her talking about her past, and her life growing up in the Free Church of Scotland.

Even though this lady had been living in Australia for many years, she was able to recall all that she was taught in her church back in the Highlands. It was nice to encourage this lady as she knew full well that salvation was all of God's grace.

Please pray for all those we spoke to today. May Christ be exalted among the nations.

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It was another good afternoon of outreach at Woodridge on Tuesday.

There was a lady I spoke to named Jo. She said that she had just been 'prayed over' earlier in the day, and so she thought she was definitely going to Heaven. She thought that her goodness was good enough for God.

After talking about sin and the judgement to come, she saw her badness. But then I explained the message of the cross, and she came to understand the gospel. Please pray for her.

Also please pray for David. He thought it was his keeping of the commandments that would save him. But after going through some of them, he realised he hadn't actually kept them.

He too said he would repent and trust in Christ. We also recommended a good local church for him to start attending.

All glory to our marvelous God!

Photo: Stephen witnessing to a young man near the end of the outreach.

 

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During our fortnightly outreach at Wellington Point this last Sunday we had some good conversations with people.

The tide was up and so that meant less people were walking on the sand to King Island, which meant more people were walking past us.

We got to speak to a Hungarian man who spoke little English. But with the aid of Google Translate we could communicate with each other.  He believed that God is everything and that all the religions are the same. After much discussion, we left him with the truth that Jesus is the only way.

Photo: This young man didn't believe in God, even after giving him good reasons, he kept rejecting it off hand. I went through the law and gospel with him. Eventually I asked him what is the real cause of his rejection of God, and he admitted that it was his sin that he loved doing. Please pray for him, his name is Joel.

 

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We were lighter on team numbers this Saturday night in Brisbane, but the gospel was proclaimed nevertheless. 

A number of people were asking good questions as I preached the gospel. There was one gentlemen I noticed was listening the whole time, but he was standing quite a distance away. So after I finished preaching, I went to talk to him. He was a lecturer at a Catholic theological college.

It was very hard to determine exactly what he believed as he wouldn't give straight forward answers. He didn't seem to align himself with the common erroneous beliefs of Catholicism. But eventually he said that he believes that showing love to people is what will save him. He said it is faith and works.

When I showed him parts of the Bible where it says we are saved by grace through faith, he kept dismissing it saying that that was just for that culture. And he didn't think there was any need for a person of another religion to leave their religion and come to faith in Christ, and he doubted the existence of Hell.

So I pointed him to some Scriptures and warned him that he is in a dangerous position, denying essential truths of Christianity. His name is Shane. Please pray for him.

Please also pray for a lady from Norway who has been employed as a youth worker in her Protestant church for 7 years, and still has that job. She had no idea of how to get to Heaven. When I went through the law of God, she said, "Only murderers won't go to Heaven. God doesn't mind the other things we do."

When I quoted Matthew 5:48 where Jesus says we must be perfect, she said that she doesn't believe the whole Bible. Then she asked whether I believed Jesus walked on water. I said "Of course". She said that she doesn't believe that - he was simply standing on ice. She held on to her pride and wouldn't let go of the fact that she is a good person and that's why God would let her into Heaven.

Please pray for a young guy named Case. He is a Muslim. I went through the commandments with him, he saw his sin, but then pointed to his good works. I made clear that justice doesn't work by a judge looking at a person's good deeds compared to their bad deeds. He seemed to understand that, and so I explained how the only way to Heaven is by having a perfect person who can take our Hell punishment for us on our behalf. 

He appeared to get it, but resorted to "We'll find out who is right one day". After reasoning with him further, he was clearly thinking about what he was hearing. And he was willing to take a Bible.

Praise be to God for another wonderful night!

 

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It was raining on and off during our Gold Coast outreach on Friday night. When it stopped raining, we set up the sketchboard and while we were preparing a presentation it started raining again.

So we decided to find an uncover spot where we could move to and set up the sketchboard there. During this time, gospel tracts were still being handed out by the team.

Once we found an uncover spot, I used the sketchboard to preach a message on 'The Way to Heaven'. A small crowd gathered to listen. In particular there were three young ladies on holidays from overseas who listened to the whole message.

So I began interacting with them, asking whether they thought they would go to Heaven. They said, "Yes, because we are good people." By this time, I had already put on the board a few common false ideas of things people trust in to get themselves to Heaven, and trying to be good was one of them. I explained that in reality we are just not good enough.

I then pointed the ladies to the big red cross I had painted on the board and what word the cross was resting on. It seemed to click in their mind. They said that they need to trust in Jesus for their forgiveness. So I made sure they understood grace with the use of a few analogies to explain it, I then told them about repentance, and pleaded with them to come to Christ.

We left the sketchboard up with the message on it for the rest of the night so that people walking past could read it. The team had a few good conversations with people, proclaiming Christ and Him crucified. 

Whenever the gospel goes out, it is always a success! To God be the glory!

Photo: Loren is sharing the gospel with three young guys who were headed to some clubs.

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This is my first report on the work in Hobart CBD so I will give you readers a brief outline of what has happened over the last 12 months. 

After negotiations the council down here has allowed freedom of speech in Hobart CBD in one particular area of the Elizabeth Street mall. This allows preaching and limited tract distribution for 4 hours twice a week. While it is far from complete freedom it is an opportunity that we praise God for. Over 2014 a small group from the church I attend (Cornerstone Presbyterian) have been witnessing successfully in the mall. This has involved preaching, tracts and one to one conversations fortnightly. 

The response to this has been strong enough to merit a longer weekly outreach which will happen each week on a tuesday. We will meet in the mall from 12pm until 5pm to use a bible table and hand out tracts and preach the gospel of God's grace.

This tuesday was quite good, we almost ran out of bibles. Despite a relatively windy day the bible table was quite useful with people stopping regularly from 12-3pm to chat and take bibles. I was able to share the gospel with one man who stopped by and also encourage the couple of Christians that came by to encourage me. 

Preaching this week was a mixed response, I was preaching from Romans. Rm 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. It was a simple gospel message of salvation to all who repent and believe in Jesus, no matter who they are or what they've done. A small crowd gathered to hear and I was blessed with the presence of fellow believers in the crowd praying while I spoke. 

At first no-one interacted with me but then one lady started to protest that what I was saying was nonsense (not the word she used...). I attempted to engage her on this but then quickly her boyfriend chimed in that I should shut up. This quickly escalated into a lot of them shouting and telling me to go away in foul language. I was worried that the guy might try to knock me down as he promised, but it was the lady who took a swing when I wasn't looking and got me on the jaw. 

At that the pair of them took off and I had the undivided attention of a moderate group of people who had just seen me struck! Talk about God sent opportunities! I preached the gospel and pointed out that outside of Christ I and everyone listening were no different from this hate filled couple in the eyes of God. We all have hated God in our own ways and because of this need a saviour. I urged the listeners to turn to Jesus and trust in him and continued in that vein for some time. 

This was made interesting by a gent who wanted me to stop because there were churches for this sort of thing. When I knocked him back on that offer he decided my crowd were all paid and it was all a set up. Just to emphasise the point he then went about offering people $50 a pop to leave so that I would stop! Despite the amusing diversion many stayed and listened as I expounded the gospel.

As the day came to a close the gospel had been preached, and many people had the word of God in their hands. And it don't matter what the proud one's say, because God sits in the highest place! 

Praise His name.

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We had a very productive afternoon in the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane. Both, Ryan Hemelaar and I used the sketchboard to present the Gospel, on both occasions a small crowd gathered.

  

Throughout the day we were able to share the Gospel with people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. We were also able to connect a couple of people to local churches, please pray that they'll start attending.

  

Also, please pray for all those who heard the Good News today. Many tracts, and Bibles were distributed.

  

  

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It was another interesting outreach at Woodridge on Tuesday.

Once the team arrived it was not long before we got into conversations. The first conversation I had was with a Jehovah Witness from Africa. She thought was going to paradise because she door knocks every Saturday. Her name is Telsee.

I showed her that no matter how many good things she could do, God could not overlook the history of her sin. This was very new to her. And she was listening intently as I explained the gospel. I encouraged her to check that what I was saying lined up with the Bible.

At this point a drunk aboriginal man interrupted our conversation saying to her that she doesn't need to worry about any of the things we talked about. He then said to me "Don't you try and convert any of us black fellas with your white fella religion." I pointed out that Christianity is for everyone, for Jesus wasn't even a white person but instead a Middle Eastern.

He walked off but it wouldn't be the last we would see of him that day. For later on there was a group of about 15 aborigines drinking nearby and this guy started a fight with someone else. They were throwing punches and kicks. We had to call the police who came and gave them Move On directions. It didn't stop them though, they continued the fight a little further down the street and more of them got involved. Even by the time we left they had started another fight and more police had to show up to sort it all out.

During this time, Luke and I had a great conversation with two Mormon missionaries who we have never met before. They were 21 months through their mission, one from Hawaii and the other from Tonga.

We asked them why they think they will go to Heaven, and their answer was their works.

We showed them some verses in the Bible about how it is only grace through faith that we are saved. We gave the example of the thief on the cross, did he do good works? Did he get baptised? How then was he saved. The Mormon from Hawaii said, "I guess it was by faith he was saved." They were beginning to understand it.

But the other Mormon was saying that he has a 'feeling' that the Book of Mormon is true because he prayed about it. I explained how that that is a circular argument. For the Book of Mormon itself is setting the 'test' of how you know the Book of Mormon is true. But how do we know that that is the right test?

For example, if I wrote a book and said in it that the test to know the book is true is whether the sky is blue. The sky is blue, therefore my book is true. That's circular because the very book I'm trying to say is true contains the test to know whether it is true. Same with the Book of Mormon. This shows that the test these Mormons are relying on is faulty.

Instead I showed them how the proper test is to compare the Book of Mormon with what came before, that is, with the Bible. And since it contradicts the Bible, it is clear the Book of Mormon is not true.

Please pray for these two Mormon missionaries and for all the other people who heard the gospel today.

To God be the glory!

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The gospel was proclaimed last night at the Gold Coast. We used the sketchboards as we preached, and crowds gathered to listen to the message. Even a police officer came up and said that we are doing a great job and that we should keep it up.

• Glenda was able to have a good chat with a Muslim lady from the University of Sydney named Amin. She met her last year at the Gold Coast, and they have been emailing back and forth about Bible and the Quran since then.

Amin was explaining five different works that a person has to do to get the chance of going to paradise. Glenda was able to show how Christianity is completely different. In Christianity someone has to come to the end of themselves, and recognise that there is nothing they can do in and of themselves to be saved. It is only by trusting in the work of Jesus on the cross that we can be saved.

Glenda really challenged Amin to humble herself, and come to trust in Christ alone.

 

• Rick spoke to a young man named Brian and his friends. They attend Hillsong. Brian seemed to come to understood the Gospel, but he had to go to catch up with his family. 

• Near the end of the night after the last sketchboard presentation, a group of young people came right up to the board and were trying to figure out the message. Rick and Glenda went and engaged them in conversation and shared the Gospel using the visuals on the board. 

We encouraged them to trust in Jesus, just like one would trust in a parachute while jumping out of a plane, so we must trust that Jesus is the only one who can save us from the judgement to come. All three were very interested. Their names are Matt, Yarra & Aynita.

Matt even took a photo of the sketchboard (the one that said "Only 1 answer") so that he could remember the message.

 

Thanks so much for your prayers for these people. God bless and to God be the Glory!

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There were no Mormon missionaries to be seen at all on Thursday during our Sunnybank outreach. That is good news in that thankfully they were not able to spread their false message, but it also meant we weren't able to continue witnessing to any of them, including the one who last week revealed to us he doesn't believe the Book of Mormon is true. We will hopefully see him another week.

When I arrived I started handing out tracts as I crossed the bridge. And one young lady I handed a tract to came up to me only about half a minute after I gave her tract, and she wanted to give the tract back to me.

So I started a conversation with her asking whether she thought she'd go to Heaven. She was a firm believer in reincarnation. 

I explained how reincarnation doesn't fit with reality in that if it were true, you would expect the population of this Earth to be staying about the same - for when someone dies they go into a new body. But the population of this Earth has exploded exponentially, thus showing reincarnation is not true.

She said, "But you could turn into an animal too." I pointed out that that doesn't help her case, as there are more animals on this Earth right now than there ever has been, because humans are mass-breeding them for food.

I said, "Since we both haven't died yet, it would make more sense to believe the words of one who has died and rose from the dead three days later, and that is Jesus. Jesus says it is Heaven and Hell after we die."

She conceded the point and so I went through the law of God, talked about the judgement to come and she said she was terrified of ending up in Hell. She thought stopping her sins would save her, but I pointed out that doing that won't get rid of the history of her sins.

So I explained how the only way to be saved is by having a perfect person take the punishment for us on our behalf, that is Jesus. At this point she exclaimed, "No one has ever explained this to me before! It makes sense."

By this time, it had already begun to rain but she didn't care, she just wanted to learn more. She said she would download the Bible on her phone (for she didn't want to have one made of paper) and she said she would seriously think about trusting in Christ after counting the cost. Her name is Helen.

Col arrived a bit later in the afternoon and was able to hand out lots of gospel tracts to people as they got off the bus.

Some more people to pray for whom we talked to:

• Ivy - a Buddhist, after hearing the full message and my challenge to her of when will she come to trust in Christ for her salvation, she said "This is a very big. I will need several days to think about this. It is really big."

• Victor - Goes to a Catholic Church. Had no idea of gospel. Said he would repent and believe the gospel. Encouraged him to then start reading his Bible daily and to check everything he hears about God with the Bible.

Just a team of two today, but the people we spoke to and those who received tracts will never be the same in eternity!

 

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