Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 233

There are always interesting characters that you meet out on the street when evangelising, but tonight we had one individual who thought he was an angel.

Take a look at the following 3 minute video from the night:

For our Lord's glory!

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Mooloolaba 

Had a good day and early evening out and about in Mooloolaba sharing the gospel. It was very busy today with many people  enjoying the fantastic weather.  Brad and I met up and following a time of prayer, we set ourselves up on a street corner and started to pass out tracts. I opted firstly for the Stop tracts. I think they are great because many people just automatically stop    as they see the stop sign picture. They make getting into conversations very easy.

The first conversation of the day was with a couple of older ladies. One lady was quite bossy and very unreceptive to the gospel, and she seemed very keen to not let me speak and to stop her friend listenening to anything I had to say, when I did have a chance. She believed their was no God and anyone who did believe had been brainwashed. I felt sorry for her friend because every time she tried to ask a question her friend cut her off. I pray someone gets to talk with the questioning lady soon. I didn't get chance to get her name as her friend dragged her off. 

The second conversation of the day was with Christine. She was a ex-catholic, and had given up on church long ago. She was convinced she was a good person and was definately going to heaven. We had a great chat and it was my priviledge to share the gospel with her. She was convinced her works would get her to heaven, so using the law I showed her that she was in fact a sinner and had fallen short of the glory of God. She was concerned by this but told me God was all forgiving, but I continued and showed her that a just judge would have to find her guilty and judge her accordingly, a just judge could not just let her go. She was visibly disturbed by this, so I went on to share the good news with her. She seemed relieved and was happy to hear the name of Jesus. I asked her when she would repent and put her trust in Jesus and not in her works. She promised me she would think about it.  Please pray for Christine. 

The next conversation was with Lloyd. He was older man in his 70's I would think. He said he was very closed to all religion and was happy to quote many atheists and scientists and generally he would close any avenue of conversation. He suggested I didn't use the bible to speak about God. The conversation was long, and in the end I asked him If I could physically prove the existance of God and that the Bible was his word would he believe then. He said no... I asked him if he would let me prove the reliability of the Bible, he again said no. I expressed for a man quoting so many atheits and claiming so called scientific proofs he was very closed to conversation about such things. I left him with the thought that it was in fact God who was in control and it didn't matter which atheist  had said what regarding God, the fact remained that we would all face judgement and on that day we would be judged by God's standards and not ours. I explained all liars would find themselves in the lake of fire and no thief would inherit the kingdom of God, but he rejected this. I decided not to give him the good news but to leave him with the fact that he faced Judegement by a God he knew in his heart existed. He suggested I read more scientific research... Please pray for Lloyd. 

Later on I met with some of the church I fellowship and evangelise with on Friday evenings. They were baptizing a new convert to the faith called Daniel in the sea.  Its was great to see Daniel baptized and hear his profession of faith.  Praise God indeed. 

We managed to pass out many many tracts and have several good conversations today as well as celebrate Daniels baptism. Many people were closed to the gospel today, but the Lord tells us his word never returns void. Please pray that all that recieved tracts today will read them and all those that heard the message will come to know our Lord and Saviour, and pray some will get baptised on Mooloolaba beach soon.... 

Daniel being Baptised in the Sea at Mooloolaba. 

 

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There were three of us today heading to Nambour and once we met, we spent a good deal of time in prayer, asking that God would allow the gospel to go out today freely in Nambour and that we wouldn't have severe opposition. 

The morning started out spectacularly. The first conversation that Kevin and I was with a lady in a wheelchair who said that she goes to a Brethren Church, but it turned out that she was trusting in her good works to get her to Heaven. So we explained how God's standard is perfection, but we do not live up to that at all. We went through some of the commandments with her, showing that she too had sinned against God and therefore was deserving of the punishment of being sent to Hell forever.

We then had the pleasure of telling her the way in which God's justice can be satisfied and she can be let into Heaven, through the work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus has lived a perfect life 2000 years ago, suffered on the cross as the substitute for everyone who believes. For everyone who trusts in Jesus alone for their forgiveness and repents.

This lady seemed to now understand the gospel and said she wants to trust in Jesus from that very moment. Please pray for her.

We were having lots of great conversations, and we spent some time preaching from the step. As midday was approaching, two council workers came up to us saying we can't preach with an amplifier and we can't give gospel tracts out. They hung around for quite a while, while we just went back to witnessing.

Two very high ranking police officers turned up a little while later, the Senior Sergeant in charge of Nambour Police Station and the Inspector for the whole region. They were very friendly people and we had very respectful conversation with them, they mentioned that they've had no complaints about us.

We had been told that the officer in charge had let all his officers know that if anyone makes a complaint that they should let him deal with it and not them. For today we were protected from the police's move-on direction powers because we were there under an authorised public assembly.

The conversation with the police went very well saying they've got no issue with us and they soon left. The council workers, however, warned that we were not allowed to continue preaching with an amplifier on council land or hand out gospel tracts. We explained that we were preaching from private property, not council land, and we were entitled to use amplification even on council land because we are protected under an authorized public assembly. And the tracts we were handing out advertise no business, commercial or trade activity. They threatened to fine us if we continued.

We then went to lunch, came back and continued witnessing. Despite council workers seeing that we were continuing, they did nothing at all to stop us.

Praise be to God that he allows his gospel to continue to be spread. Please pray for the conversion of many of the people we spoke, even the council workers, who got to hear the message as well.

To God be the glory!

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South-East England (UK) Team

Today was a beautiful sunny day for evangelism in Basildon.  The team consisted of Josh, Chuck and Myself who was fashionably late to the event...  We set up behind the costa coffee store in the open air shopping precinct and prayed.  I preached first from John 3.16 - 21 and attempted to show that as sinful people we don't want to come to God because we hate Him and we love our wicked deeds.

A number of people listened and took tracts and a number of Christians were encouraged by the preaching.  Chuck preached next and this attracted a number of young people to listen. It also opened an opportunity to speak to a young man who had grown up in a Jehovah witness family.  

He was very pleasant to chat with and after we demonstrated from Scripture that Jesus is God we encouraged him to go home and read the Bible by itself and not with the watchtower magazine.  Josh preached last and this attracted the interest of a man and woman who were intoxicated.  

They asked a number of questions which Josh answered but the man was beginning to disrupt and try and stop Josh speaking.  Eventually Josh asked if I would call the police and the man swore a bit more and finally left.  

This event did bring a lot more people to the scene to listen to the Gospel!!!  Eventually two community officers arrived asking about the intoxicated man incident and a council warden arrived asking if we could "move on".  

We were on public land so we have freedom of speech and the particular area we were situated on had the law clearly displayed, which explained that religious services are EXEMPT from noise restrictions!!  After the authorities inspected the law, the council warden actually returned and apologized to us which we were very appreciative of!! SDG!!

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Another wonderful night of witnessing in Brisbane city. There were some very open people to the gospel, especially one couple who were Muslims that remarked "God has brought you to talk to us."

Watch the following 4 minute video report from the night:

For the sake of His name!

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This Friday, one person that was spoken to talked about he had previously been part of a Church but they had kicked him out for practicing homosexuality. He recognised that homosexuality was a sin and said that he predicts that in his 'spiritual journey' he will one day give it up. 

Justin was able to share the news about Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of his sins and he said that he had never heard it explained like that before, despite being part of a Church in the past.

Watch the following 4 minute video report from the outreach:

If you live nearby, please contact us and join us serving our Lord in this way.

To God be the glory!

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South-East England (UK) Team

Today Josh and I went to Southend for outreach.  We found the High St and picked a good spot under the railway bridge so we could use the natural acoustics.  After lunch and prayer I began to preach my favorite sermon from Mark 7.  A number of people stopped to listen and a number of Christians were encouraged to hear the Bible being read on the street.  The commotion began to arise when an intoxicated American named Barry stood infront of me and facing the crowd began to swear and yell, "Jesus never existed" etc...  

This indeed brought many more people to come and listen but it did make preaching a bit more difficult.  It was clear that Barry did not want to dialog, he wanted a cause a scene and disrupt the preaching.  

After a little while, Barry chilled a tiny bit and a woman from the crowd was able to ask "if God exists why do bad things happen" aka " the problem of evil" question.  Barrys disruption made it possible for many more people to hear the Gospel and also for a number of conversations to be carried out after I had finished speaking.  Praise God!!!

After handing out some more tracts Josh preached and then Chuck joined us and he also preached.  The local authorities did approach us but did not infringe on our freedom of speech which was excellent!  

Josh preached once more and this time a number of reactions from the crowd began to happen with a number of explosive dialogs from pedestrians.  Most of the peoples arguments against Christ were arbitrary claims backed up by their own supposed autonomy.  

Many "arguments" consisted of variations of "No!! your wrong" spiced up with foul language.  This was the best the unbelieving world can provide against Christ...  After Josh finished, I managed to speak to a few more people and explain the absurdity of the non-Christian worldview and that "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ!!"  

At the very end of the day a man approached Josh and said he was a Romanian Orthodox but after listening to the preaching, he realized he was not a Christian and went and repented then and there!!  AMAZING!!  

Josh has posted a Romanian Bible to him and some other basic Christian materials for him to read.  We praise God for salvation is wrought by Him!! SDG

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Had a good outreach in Mooloolaba today. Spent some time this afternoon with Brad Joyce from my home church and together we gave out many tracts and had several conversations in and around the "loo with a view" Brad hasn't been out evangelising for a some time and shared that he was nervous, however he was keen to share his faith with others, and thats exactly what he did!! It was a privilege to serve with him, his presence was an answer to prayer for me today. I look forward to our next outing. We have arranged to meet up again next Friday afternoon to do the same, so God willing thats what we will do. 

This evening was very quiet and not many people seemed keen to take tracts and conversations were few and far between. I think I'm going to outreach in Mooloolaba more often during the day time and in the early evening as its much busier and people seem more open to engage in conversation and take tracts during daylight hours. I realise I need to use my time as effectively and as wisely as I can. 

I spent some time talking to two Muslims from Saudi Arabia. They wanted me to watch a video on an iPhone (it was 32 minutes long), it showed footage of a christian convert to the Muslim faith and he gave an explanation of his reasons for doing this. I only watched a few minutes as it was clear the man was never a Christian as his understanding of the Bible was somewhat unbiblical, he also criticised the Christians he had grown up with and lived with. I told the muslims after a few minutes I did not need to watch anymore. I offered to demonstrate my reasons for my stance with scripture but they said they would not listen to me read from the Bible. They had no interest in anything I had to say but just wanted to tell me I was wrong and the bible was wrong.

They also told me that no muslim has ever converted to Christianity. I have heard this before from other muslims. I expressed I knew Christians that were once Muslims but they refused to believe me. I told them of the coming Judgement and why we needed a saviour but they rejected the divinity of Jesus as and the authority of the Bible outright. I quickly realised that they were not interested in hearing what the word of God said, but were only interested in telling me that Christians were wrong. I pray the Lord will soften their hearts and open their eyes. 

Please also pray that all the tracts we gave out today will be read and that the people we talked to will be convicted by their sin and realise they need the one and only saviour and that they will come to repentance and putting their trust in Jesus Christ alone.

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What a day in Nambour. There were four of us on public land in Nambour, Australia and we were getting into friendly conversations with people walking past about whether they thought they were going to Heaven preaching the great gospel of Jesus Christ.

We also were giving out gospel tracts, which sell nothing, advertise no business, instead they simply have the message of the gospel of Christ on there.

Two police officers approached us near the start of the day, asking for our identification. We asked whether we had committed an offence, he said no, so we said that we do not have to give him our personal information.  

This is where the first video below starts. I then asked him about whether he was a police officer because he was not wearing a name badge. I was unsure whether he was. At this point the police officer responds by calling me "mentally retarded". These two police officers soon after just left us alone and said they'd make some inquiries.

After lunch, this is when the Sunshine Coast Council decided to pounce on us. The council law local law officer Matthew Bell said "It is an offence to approach someone and give them the Christian literature".

He then proceeded to say that we would would fined $550 for doing that. We asked him to show us the law exactly where it says we cannot do what we were doing, for we had researched already all the local laws and it says nothing of the sort. In fact, we even contacted the council last week about this, they said that it is not illegal to hand out gospel tracts or approach people to speak about Jesus, nor even is it illegal to stand on public land to preach the Bible. We told the local law officer this, but he refused to listen to us and then called the police on us.

The police arrived and spoke it us saying that they are not familiar with the council by-laws at all and they said that they think we've gone down all the right avenues, seeking out the council about whether it is okay to do this or not.

But then the police spoke to the council local law officer that was still standing around and he convinced the police officers that it is wrong to approach people with Christian literature. We then showed the police exactly what the local law prohibits. Under schedule 3 of local law 4, touting for business and distributing business advertising is prohibited. What we were doing is neither.

The police would not listen, and said they they are giving us a move on direction to leave the whole Nambour CBD for 4 hours for the reason of "handing out literature" - which is not a legitimate reason for a move on direction under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act section 46.

Here is a 4 minute summary of the issues we were experiencing with the police and the council.

Here is the full conversation with the first police officer in the video above (8 minutes long).

But the gospel still went out today to many people. So to God alone be the glory!

Here is a 3 minute clip where each of the people on the team describe their day, including how some of the witnessing encounters went:

To the God who is the King of Kings!

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South-East England (UK) Team

Today Essex OP513 team visited a town called Harlow.  Historically Harlow has had a rough reputation with approximate rates of 10% unemployment along with 30% of its dwellings being council housing.  I have often thought about preaching up there because low socio-economic communities can be impacted greatly by the Gospel.  We found the shopping precinct and was met by Chuck Bosio.  We prayed and I preached first.  People listened and tracks were taken.  

After my address a gentleman asked what my stance was on homosexuality.  So I read Him 1 Cor 6:9 and Rom 1, he then said it was a refreshing to hear a person stand up and endorse the Biblical view, because he was a Christian who has had to leave a church which has begun to embrace homosexual conduct as permissible.  Chuck preached while Josh and I handed out tracts.

 Then Josh preached and began to get into conversations with few different gentlemen.  Slowly the crowd built up until there were quite a number of people looking and listening.  The crowd did get a bit raucous at times with various individuals screaming or being unreasonable to chat with.  

Community Officers and Police arrived but none of them approached us or told us to stop.  In fact a young girl in the crowd screamed out "Jesus is a pedophile" and Josh replied with "that is racial and religious hate speech".  The Police in the crowd quickly pulled the girl aside and rebuked her for saying such blasphemy!  It brought to mind the words of Jesus in Mark 9.40 "For the one who is not against us is for us"  while perhaps my context is not accurate I was still praising God that the cops actually defended our cause!!  

The crowd eventually dissipated and we finished up only to be approached by two Harlow council officers which began to give us grief.  We debated with them about the right to preach whenever and wherever we wished on public land and they got very frustrated with us.  I think a further follow up by our lawyers may be required.  Over all the day was a success with the Gospel preached accurately and boldly.  SDG

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