Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 231

The city was absolutely packed tonight in Brisbane as we arrived. Thousands of people had gathered to watch the Christmas light presentation on City Hall. 

The Christmas gospel tract that we have was flying out of our hands. I really do praise God for this time of year.

Later on in the night we had several team members open air preach. When Ryan was preaching he was interacting with a man named Dom. He thought he was a good person.

After going through the law of God (to bring the knowledge of sin), he understood he deserved Hell, and so Ryan had the privilege of declaring the gospel to him.

The man then asked, "But is Jesus the only way to Heaven?" Ryan responded with a clear yes, for Jesus is the only person who has lived perfectly and therefore is the only possible substitute for us.

After stepping down from the box, Ryan was able to continue the conversation with him and give him a gospel of John to start reading. Please pray that God would save Dom.

We had a few new team members tonight, which we praise God for. A very successful night indeed, in total we handed out over 4,000 gospel tracts.

Glory to God!

 

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A great night of outreach at the Gold Coast tonight. We handed out over 2,500 gospel tracts and quite a large number of people stopped to listen to the preaching.

One good conversation I had tonight was with a Muslim young man who was interested in finding out about what we believed. He came back later on with his cousin to talk further.

They were clearly presented with the gospel but I could tell pride was preventing them from leaving Islam and trusting in Christ. I explained that only through the cross can God show mercy while not compromising his justice.

These two men have now heard the truth. Please pray for their salvation.

 

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It was a great afternoon of evangelism in Sunnybank today. Quite a number of tracts in Chinese and English were able to be handed out.

Please pray for a Mormon elder who we have been talking with occasionally at Sunnybank. We first met him at the Gold Coast in February. 

Today he said he has some big doubts about Mormonism, but said that his pride is stopping him from leaving the Mormon church. And also because he loves the LDS idea of eternal marriage so much that he wants to cling to the hope that that is true despite Jesus saying there is no marriage in Heaven.

You can tell he is thinking through the things we have been saying to him. Please pray for his salvation

 

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It was a great night of evangelism in Brisbane. The team was able to hand out over 3000 gospel tracts, and also have many great conversations. The Gospel was also preached in the open-air. 

The saddest part of the night was speaking to a man named Will. Will is a seminary student studying to become an Anglican Priest.

Sadly, Will doesn't know the Gospel. When Josh asked him how someone can have their sins forgiven, he replied by saying he doesn't know, and he was still working out how he could be forgiven.

Josh shared the Gospel with him and stressed his need to have faith in Christ. He took a tract and was encouraged to study his Bible. Please pray for Will.

 

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The rain was heavy and constant today during our Sunnybank outreach. But it meant people would congregate under the rain shelters, which provided a great opportunity to talk to many people.

Mostly the people we spoke to today were from overseas, from countries such as China, Vietnam, and Korea. They had never heard anything about Christianity before, and after hearing the gospel, they wanted to know more, so we gave each of them a Bible.

Eight Bibles and many gospel tracts were given out today.

To God be the glory!

 

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Ryan Hemelaar and Josh Williamson spent the afternoon in Brisbane sharing the Gospel. Today, we were able to have some great conversations and many tracts were distributed. Sadly, two Local Law officers from the Brisbane City Council tried to stop the outreach. Even though they admitted we weren't breaking the law, and that we had permits, they personally opposed our message and think that we shouldn't be allowed to preach. 

Please pray for those who heard the Good News today, and also pray for those two Local Law Officers. Pray that their attempts to silence the Gospel will fail.

  

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There were lots of young people about on Friday night at the Gold Coast. Many had gone to Catholic schools, thought being a 'good person' would save them. It was good being able to use the law to bring the knowledge of sin and then share the gospel with them.

One chat I had was with a man in his 50s who called himself a Christian, but had completely rejected all churches. He thought he doesn't need to be under any elders. I warned him that not being part of a local church can often make you go loopy theologically.

And this man was no exception. He hadn't been to church for 23 years, and he had all sorts of bad theology. He believed that Jesus was the Christ, but is no longer. He said that on judgement day we'll be standing before Satan and not God. He said that Jesus is the Father and is the Holy Spirit as well. 

I showed him verses in the Bible which counter his ideas, but he was very hard hearted. He didn't know the Bible very well, so I pleaded with him to start reading it and to come know who God really is, for his salvation depends on it. Please pray for David and his wife Carol.

We sow the seed, God gives the growth! To God alone be the glory!

 

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On Friday, 28th November, the team was out once more in Leicester Square to preach Christ crucified. We were seven strong: Glen, Waithera, Esther, Andrew, Kwadwo, Steven, and Rob.

After meeting in Caffé Nero for a time of prayer and Bible study, we headed over to the Square. It was very loud due to a carnival atmosphere, but I was still able to preach for a short while during one of the quiet periods! 

Due to the ambient noise the open-air did not bring in a big crowd like the week before, however, afterwards we all managed to get into some great conversations! Here are a few highlights from the team...

Waithera: On Friday, Esther and I talked to a homeless guy from Angola called Jose. He had a lot to say against the church, against prosperity teaching, etc, and said early on he wasn't a Christian. Later on he said he wasn't clear on why Christ died and questioned whey the Bible is our final authority. Esther and I are hoping to see him again. We then spoke to a Polish man and his friend. The Polish guy's name is Radek. He was very honest about his sin and about his state before a holy God. I went through the gospel with him and Lord willing he will be meeting up with Esther this Thursday as he goes to the Uni near where Esther works. She should be giving him a Bible and he did say he may come to church sometime so please pray for him. (Waither and Esther are to the left)

Kwadwo: Firstly, I had a conversation with two Muslims, one called Jordan and another I believe called Francesca. Jordan was the most vocal, acknowledged he was a sinner but essentially thought he can always chance it with Allah. In sum he denied the gospel because in his words he couldn't understand it, nor the Trinity. Next I had a conversation with a group of about three to five 17 year olds. They largely heard the gospel, but only one who maybe had a bit of a Christian background seemed very genuine in her questions, and she would have asked more if her friends weren't in a rush to go. Finally, I spoke witha a girl called Irene. She had a very interesting stance on things. She listend as the gospel was explained but wouldn't accept due to not wanting to be a hypocrite... She largely gave up knowledge and seemed content with that. I think an 'experience' of Christianity and of past believers hampered her view on the faith. Please pray for her, because she has heard the gospel and she does know that she needs to repent. (Kwadwo is in picture to the right)

Steven: I spoke to a guy called Daniel who denied the God of the Bible as something made up by "the system." When I pushed him to account for his knowledge of this it basically boiled down to him knowing it because some higher power revealed it, but he couldn't account for the truth of this "revelation" either. He knew because he knew. Also, I had a conversation with a guy called Kan, not sure if he was all there but he was very open to know more about the Gospel so we exchanged e-mails.

I had an encouraging conversation with a young couple earlier in the evening who listened well as I explained the gospel to them. We spoke for some time and it did amaze me how prepared they were to stand and listen to what I had to say. God is so good. Towards the end I asked if they had ever heard anything like it before, and they said no. But then they said that it made a lot of sense, and that there was nothing they could come up with that could rebutt what they had heard. They left saying that they had a lot to think about. Do pray for them!! (the Lord knows their names).

Soli Deo Gloria!

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Praise God the gospel was proclaimed in Brisbane city tonight.

The couple in the first two photos were from Italy. She was about to make the oath to become a nun but had just pulled out. Josh was able to explain the gospel to them and even got them to read the gospel presentation in Italian on the GM28 iPhone app. Please pray that they would come to understand grace.

 

As you can see in the last photo, quite a number of people took the Bibles and other resources we had on our Free Bibles table. 

Listen to the open air message that Josh Williamson preached tonight:

(This audio is raw and from the streets. It gives the listener a taste of what open-air evangelism is like. Due to the nature of this audio there may be some language that is offensive to some listeners.)

God's word never returns void!

 

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Schoolies Outreach 2014

Schoolies is a week long time of celebration for thousands of school leavers who have just finished grade 12. The vast majority of them converge on Surfers Paradise where the government funds nightly dance parties on the beach.

Even though many want to come to schoolies in order to sin, schoolies provides a great opportunity for us to share the gospel with the school leavers, as they are at a crossroads in their life.

Here are some updates from the week:

Day 1

The first night of Schoolies Outreach at the Gold Coast went well. It is such a great opportunity to talk to these teenagers about eternal matters. 

A number of the schoolies came to understand the gospel, and so we encouraged them to count the cost first, but at the same time, to not delay in getting right with God.

Day 2 & 3

The third night of Schoolies outreach has just finished. 

As the week rolls on, some of the Schoolies are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the partying and are very willing to stop and chat.

We have seen again tonight many who love their sin and want to keep going in it, but also some who are really considering the message of the gospel.

Please pray God will draw these Schoolies to Himself. Pray also for energy and strength for the team to continue faithfully making Christ known.

Day 4

Day 4 of Schoolies outreach is complete.

We have been talking to heaps of different Schoolies each day, but it has been great talking to a number of the same schoolies each day, expanding on the message with them, answering their questions, and pleading with them to repent and believe.

We got to hand out a few gospel of John's tonight for those who were really interested. A couple people were even welling up with tears.

This afternoon, we happened to meet Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis who was walking through Surfers Paradise with his family.

It has been a very worthwhile outreach. But one of the saddest things we have been seeing is not the fact that many schoolies are drunk or taking drugs, but that there are a bunch of professing Christians that have been standing nearby us teaching the schoolies a man-centred love-only false gospel.

They would sometimes even interrupt our conversations with the schoolies to say that what we are saying is wrong. One of the them could not control his anger that he threatened to punch one of the team. The police quickly dealt with him, fining him for being a public nuisance and moved him on.

Thankfully, God is sovereign and His word never returns void. So for the hundreds of schoolies we spoke to today, they will never be the same - they have heard the gospel, and are accountable for what they do with it. Please pray that God would save many of them.

Day 5 & 6

This afternoon's outreach at Surfers Paradise was productive with a number of the schoolies being concerned where they are going when they die and are counting the cost of coming to trust in Christ for their salvation.

One sad thing to hear today was from one of the schoolies that we talked to last night who very open to the message and even took a gospel of John from us, after our conversation she was told by another "Christian" group to not listen to anything she heard from us and to not read the gospel of John because it is wrong.

But it was good seeing her today and being able to encourage her again to start reading God's word.

Last night the rain came down very heavily just before midnight, which meant most of the schoolies headed back to their apartments for cover. 

Despite the rain, we still had many fruitful conversations. We leave the results in God's hands.

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Schoolies outreach 2014 has come to a close. Thanks for your prayers. 

10,000 gospel tracts were handed out this week. Praise God! We won't know their full effect until Heaven. We sow the seed but God gives the growth.

These school leavers have been eternally impacted. Whether they come to faith or not, they have been told the message and so they will be even more accountable on Judgement day.

Please pray for the thousands of people we spoke to and handed out tracts to, that God may draw them to Himself.

Soli Deo Gloria! 

 

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