Battle Log

Thursday, 6 May, 2021

Posted 17 May 2021, 3:08 PM by Matthew Andersen. Permalink

Online evangelism in a joy to be involved in because the conversations are easier and so exciting! It also can be done anywhere with internet and electricity meaning, that even when away from home and the usual locations you can still tap into a mission fields thousands of people strong, with conversations just a click away!

Each day the team has many conversations between them with people from all over the world! One of the encouraging chats had online during the week was a conversation with a man named Mike. He was unsure on what the afterlife would look like but as the conversation went on, he offered suggestions indicating that he was fairly familiar with the Catholic faith.

In looking at his suggestion of purgatory as a punishment, he came to understand that everyone falls into one of two categories, innocent or guilty. Those who are innocent, having done nothing wrong, would not be deserving of punishment. Those who are guilty, having even broken one of the eternal God’s laws, would deserve eternal punishment. Mike was able to understand that since we are all guilty of rebellion against God, the temporal punishment of “purgatory” would not satisfy God’s wrath.

On this basis, he was also able to understand why a simple confession of sin would not clear him of the hell punishment he deserved. Rather, he needed to depend upon the perfect sacrifice that Jesus offered in his place as the only reason that he could be made right before God. After a long conversation going over the problem of evil, God’s character, and other such topics, Mike was given the checking question, “If God asked you why He should let you into Heaven, what do you think your answer would be?”

Answering based on what he had understood from the conversation, Mike replied, “The delivery onto Jesus of, essentially, the entirety of my sins. Acceptance of the gift from Jesus that all of my sins were taken on by him, and because of him I may get to heaven. And only him.”

It was a beautiful answer, demonstrating the clarity with which he had come to grasp the gospel. Whilst he was not sure whether he yet believed it for himself, Mike expressed much gratitude for the conversation, even saying that he had not heard this good news explained in such a way before. He mentioned that if he were ever to end up in heaven, it would probably be because of that very conversation.

Of course, God is sovereign in all things, and it is his will and saving grace that determines whether or not Mike will be seen in heaven. But by his mercy, Mike was able to hear the good news, and received it well - even if he had not yet come to place his trust in Christ.

Another conversation was with a young man who had grown up in the church but thought his requests for forgiveness would be the reason that God would grant him mercy. Upon seeing that asking for forgiveness does not merit salvation and cannot pay for sins, he was led to see that Christ alone can save and was able to understand the good news in its simplicity. It was encouraging to hear him grasp it and the conversation finished with some final apologetics to help him be sure that there must be a God.

He did not profess to believe but did at least say he would consider it and get into reading the gospel of John for himself! Please be praying for the online outreach, that God would be preparing hearts, bringing them across our screens and enabling the gospel to reach those who are yet to hear of it!

Sunday, 2 May, 2021

Posted 16 May 2021, 6:29 PM by Matthew Andersen. Permalink

Due to the daily online evangelism the team in Brisbane only hits the streets on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. But these are some of the most exciting times for the week. The reason being, there is great joy in having conversations with people in real life that you can’t experience online! An added bonus is that each Sunday night from 7:30-9:30pm the team actually pairs up for training. The team goes out taking turns having conversations and seeking to make the gospel known but also to encourage one another in how to make it clearer when they share the gospel!

Some weeks there is a large team out and this week was one of them! A team of eighteen made it out and this was exciting! The first conversation of the evening was with a lady named Sandy who had had a bit to do with the Jehovah’s Witnesses but thankfully was no longer with them but sadly had decided that she was going to fashion a god that suited her own ideas. It was a careful conversation seeking to gently talk through the law and the gospel that she would have the chance to understand why Christ came but sadly she got stuck on the idea that God would dispense justice, any at all! She was left with a tract and was encouraged to read the gospel of John.

Another chat was with a young man named Merica, yes really! He had no push back. He’d had some Christian background and initially hoped that he would be good enough to enter heaven. He listened intently to the law and saw that he was guilty and on his way to Hell and on that basis came to hear of the only hope being found in Christ, who lived perfectly and took the punishment sin deserves on the cross! He heard of this but struggled to believe that it was really a gift, he wanted to do something to contribute to his entry into Heaven. It was stressed that this couldn’t be the case, not only because without Christ all one can do it sin and secondly to think you can contribute to Christ is to not be trusting in Him at all! He took a tract and said he would check it out!

Lastly was a chat with a couple who also were professing Christians but were a bit confused on the gospel and actually by professing were living together despite not being married. They were shown the seriousness of God’s authority and the reality of those who live in defiance against Him but were trying to fall back onto their request for forgiveness. It was shown that salvation was a free gift received by faith and it was pointed out that all those who are saved will be drastically changed and will seek to honour God in all that they do. This was a challenge that left them quite uncomfortable but they said they were thankful for the conversation and were also challenged to read John’s gospel for themselves.

Please be praying for these four that they would see that God is good and must punish evil, that the gospel is good news and that God will come in and save them and transform their lives that they may bear witness to Him!
Also, if you’re interested in learning to engage others in the gospel, why not plan to come out one Sunday night, the team would love to have you!

Saturday, 24 April, 2021

Posted 16 May 2021, 6:25 PM by Matthew Andersen. Permalink

Whilst on the Central Coast, after an exciting day of training the team made the trek down to Sydney, to check out some icons and catch up with some relatives. It was crazy drive as Queenslanders trying to navigate Sydney's roads but we succesfully made it to Sydney City. Then had the fun of finding a park and some food before walking to the harbour area.

Upon arriving at the Opera House, we took a bit of time to admire the architecture and the view of the harbour as you can see in some of the photos, before getting into conversations. Kiera first approached two young boys who were finishing their dinner, perched on the top step leading up to the Opera House, and looking out over the harbour. Even though they had been watching something on a phone, they were keen to engage in the discussion. Whilst initially they were unsure of whether or not they believed in an afterlife, they quickly came to agreement that there must be a creator for the universe, and that said creator would have a right to judge us based on how we have lived. They were hesitant to resign themselves to the fact that we would be helpless to rid ourselves of a punishment they'd already earned, and so she pointed out how we see that playing out in our own judicial system. If someone break's a law and tries to make up for it with good actions, justice does not overlook the broken law, and the punishment is still deserved. Upon hearing this analogy, one of the boys remarked enthusiastically: “That's a good point!” and was following along really well. However, his brother (who seemed to be losing interest in the conversation) reminded him that they had to return to their parents on the hour. Kiera used the remaining five minutes to take them through the solution to their problem. That whilst we cannot avoid our punishment by our endeavours, Jesus offers to take the punishment for us as a gift. They seemed to understand, and left with tracts, after being pointed to the Tiktok and Instagram accounts.

Next, she spoke to a young man and his girlfriend who were sitting further down the steps. The girl claimed to be a Christian, but said she was very tired, and wasn’t very responsive. Her boyfriend, however, was quite engaging. He didn’t want to believe that God existed, and he threw out a few arguments. The main point he wanted to stick on was that we cannot know anything for certain. The argument seemed to be a smoke screen, so it was proposed to could continue the conversation upon the premise (in his case) that God existed. A good conversation about the gospel ensued, and he understood that the only way anyone could be saved would be if they were to rely on Jesus to do the saving. That is, if they were to trust in his death on the cross to save them from their sins, looking to his resurrection as our hope of eternal life. However, it came back to his original argument. We cannot know anything for certain. He was shown that he still manages to go out and live his life well, even without being completely certain of what he believes to be true. He lives as if he knows things to be certainly true, and so lack of 100% certainty would not be a reason to reject God’s existence, our rightful judgement, and the glorious saviour offered in Christ. He seemed to agree on reasoning but not the conclusion, so the question was asked:

“Do you think the reason that you do not want to realise God’s existence is that it would mean you do not get to be in control of your own life, and that you need to be under someone else’s authority?”

Surprisingly (and this happens more often than you would expect) he readily affirmed by proposition. He was warned not to gamble away his eternity for the sake of living the way he wanted to in the short life he has been given, and was thanked for his time and willingness to converse. In return, he expressed his thanks at the conversation. He was left, with a comprehension of the gospel, and hopeful that the conversation would be weighing on his mind in the future - Lord willing!

After talking to several people about the gospel Fynn proceeded to find what would be his last conversation of the night. So far the conversations had been enjoyable where many of the people were open to hearing the gospel. The last conversation was not any different. The two youths that chatted to were very open to listen. Not just open to listen in order just answer the questions and be on their way, but open to listen because they wanted to actually have a chat. Therefore the whole gospel presentation was explained and afterward was followed with questions. This experience was another affirmation that the 5 million or so people of Sydney need to hear the gospel, as not one person spoken to knew it prior to the conversation, and also there are people in Sydney who want to hear of Christ!

Finishing up for the night, an exhausted team, had some McDonalds thickshakes and headed back to Gosford waterfront for some late-night shenanigans on the giant slide before plonking into bed for a big rest before Church the following morning and the beginning of the trek home!

Praise God for these encouraging conversations and please be praying for those who heard this good news! Also if you're interested in having the team come to your Church to help equip you to evangelise, we'd be very interested in hearing from you!

Wednesday, 12 May, 2021

Posted 12 May 2021, 8:32 PM by Hung Kwan. Permalink

Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday May 13, 2021 from 1300 - 1500

Last night there was a big overnight storm after a big sunny day. So, we predicted the weather condition will repeat itself like last week to be a rainy day for street evangelism. Actually, big storm had been forecasted but it came only very late in the evening so we have a fine day for our street ministry. Gary also turned up to day with his big sign set up on the East side of main road while Johnny and Hung stayed at the bus stop on the westside. As normal, we faced many rejections, but still got many chances to share the gospel. Today we came across many Cantonese speaking people many from Hong Kong. Some were people we met before that God had arranged for us to do follow up. Recap below are my chances of gospel conversation: -

1) The first Chinese lady I approached claimed someone talked with her last week and she is readily a Christian. It was a pity the bus arrival deprived me of a chance to check her assurance of salvation. 跟進上週，己信上帝，未遐查確據

2) the 2nd Chinese lady reluctantly accepted the tract but did not want to chat interrupting her to listen to her iPhone. 接單張但不願傾談

3) Then Tom a Hongkonger whom I met before on Mar 24, 2021. He recognized me and prompted that we did not finish our chat last time so he was ready to continue with the unfinished conversation. He identified with me with a welcoming attitude listening to my gospel sharing. I used the HK situation to illustrate that even the younger generation who rose up to fight for righteousness and justice, but no one can claim themselves perfect. So it was established that they are all good and righteous freedom fighter but still imperfect for heaven that we all need Jesus' salvation without exception. He appeared very receptive but I again fell short of leading him to make a conviction to receive Christ as the bus just arrived. Pray and trust that he will be in the good hand of God. He has come to Australia for 4 years and has just graduated. So he will have a good soil here to pursue God.

4) The trend continued that I met again another couples Mr Lee from Hong Kong who came to Australia in the 80s. 李夫婦香港人，They were friendly to chat but again the bus came too quick for a full gospel conversation,

5) Then I was led to chat with yet another Cantonese speaking people from Quanzhou. 廣州，Full gospel 全福音message was shared with result left in God's hand.

6) A man of my same age stood a small distance from the Bus stop possibly avoiding to be approached by us. Yet He was still approached by Johnny and other street evangelists that he persistently waved them off declining to engage in a chat. I nevertheless felt the Spirit still urged me to have a go by a soft approach. I offered to chat about our life in Australia and found out he is on a visiting relative visa yet has been detained here because of the pandemic. 探親滯留 He is from Shan Dong 山東by the sure name of Yu余. I first introduced myself as a HongKonger working for CH Tung in the past. So, I basically shared my testimony how I was led to Christ. He then listened on my sharing of the gospel after my testimony and heard the full gospel. He finally took a tract to have further thought on what I shared with him. And I later found out that his wife was also around and Johnny had chatted with her. So if God destine to get someone to listen to the Gospel, He has his detour method to get them on hook finally.

Toowong (QLD) Team

Tuesday, 11 May, 2021

Posted 11 May 2021, 11:08 PM by Hung Kwan. Permalink

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday May 11, 2021 from 1330 to 1500

Praise and thanks God that He allowed a great test in the form of bullying by robbing the Gospel flip chart out of the blue. The Indian look middle age person possibly thought it was illegal to preach the gospel on the street as such he acted to uphold the righteousness, he thought he had in his hand by sabotaging our street evangelism ministry. He first stripped off the tract from Winnie when she was sharing with someone and then he went further to suddenly grab the flip chart from the hand of Johnny while he was using it to demonstrate to his gospel target. This rough acts readily scared off Johnny's gospel target. Johnny did not want to make a big scene so he did not try to fight with that guy hoping that he will return the flip chart to him when his bus came. That Indian guys did call the police by phone to lodge his complain but obviously his complain was ignore by the police. This possibly had triggered his anger and tempted him to execute righteousness in his own hand by confiscating Johnny's hand held Gospel flip chart and to get on the bus when it arrives. Johnny was shocked that he can rob him of the flip chart as such he tried to grab it back from the hand of that Indian guy but failed. I was sharing with another person while above incidence happened. When the bus came, my gospel target had also to leave to embark onto the bus. So I was free to step up to mediate for this conflict. Initially, I also did not know how to react, but another onlooking lady who rejected our gospel approach a few minutes ago stepped in and advised us to ask the bus driver to stop the bus and demanded that Indian Guy to return the robbed item to us. Actually, somebodies else on the bus possibly the bus driver or other passengers had already acted on this line as such the Indian Guy unwillingly threw the flip chart out from the bus on the ground. God gave me spiritual gut to got on the bus to confront that Indian guy by showing our stand that we did not want to make a mess to delay other innocent passengers, but I made it clear to him that his rouge behaviour robbing Johnny's possession is a criminal act while we have all the legal right to exercise our freedom of speech to share gospel with those who are willing to have a chat with us. I was graceful for the intervention by God moving so many people to stand on our side to say NO to the religious abuse by this uninformed person. This incidence happened more or less toward the latter part of our street ministry so the interruption to our mood was not that big. We continued to serve and wrapped up at the normal time frame. Basically, we all got non-stop chances to share the gospel to people with varying initial reaction status, but still ending up getting the gospel message passed onto the non-believers and those unclear believers. Recap are the battle log of Hung and Winnie as usual: -

1) Jack a local Aussie was all receptive to let me share the full gospel intermingled with my own testimony to demonstrate how I got waken up from the misconception that being a good person is sufficient to qualify for heaven. He admitted there is no reason he should reject this offer of free gift of eternal life prepared by Jesus for him at the expense of dying for us and taking our place to receive the punishment we deserved for our sins.

2) A Muslim girl declined for a chat but God changed her heart to accept the tract when the bus came.

3) Then I approached an India girl who also show no interest initially claiming she got our tract before. But when asked if she read it she was honest enough to said no. So I appealed to her to listen to the nutshell of Gospel to see if she would change her mind to read the tract at home. The bus came to cut our conversation short but obviously God was at work to turn around the situation.

4) Then came Stephen a Catholic boy whom I initial thought was a non believer. But after sharing the gospel to him, he responded that he was a Catholic Christian that was why he appeared like a non believer without assurance to go to heaven. It was good I helped him to establish his full and correct understanding on salvation by faith through grace and that he should have 100% assurance on basis of the redemptive work of Jesus alone. Thereafter, God will continue to transform us back to perfection through Holy Spirit on top of the foundation of Jesus redemptive act. By the way, I thanks God that our conversation took place amidst the confusion stirred up by that Indian Guy but God helped me to remain focus on my preaching and sharing to Stephen even though I clearly heard him calling the police to plot upon us.

5) A hippie girl stood up for righteousness to help us even though she did not share our heart for street evangelism action. It reminded me that God can make all thing and use all person, including a non believer, work together to rescue us from the evil doing of that Indian guy with Satan backing him up from behind. So we should never give up on any person who rejected us initially but keep an open mind to grab hold on any chance of a turn around situation with a changed heart.

6) Johnny approached an Atheist from 阿塞拜彊. Republic of Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, the Russian republic of Dagestan to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south. While around 97% of the population is Muslim, the Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all major political forces in the country are secularist. No wonder this guy can defy the cultural pressure of a Muslim dominant country to have become an Atheist. He showed no interest to talk with Johnny about any religion including Christianity. And their conversation was got blocked when Johnny failed to recognize his country and culture. I stepped in to keep the chat on with that guy by identifying with him my knowledge about his country and culture in a friendly manner. It helped to make him relax and becoming more opened for a longer chat. It was a pity that the arrival of the bus cut our conversation to an end which otherwise would lead to sharing of gospel which he initially avoided. Will pray for a future encounter to get the work of God for that guy being carried on through us.

7) Mia an UQ student from Tsingtao, China showed rare openness to have a long chat with me. It was possibly because I approached her while she was eating waver biscuit as her lunch so that I teased her half-jokingly that she might be too busy for a decent lunch. She was impressed by my empathy with her as such she offered to share eating waver with her which had become the ice breaking point for a heart-to-heart long chat. She let me share with her the gospel first, but she took initiative to switch the topic to why she accepted Buddhism as her religion faith. It was all because of the unexpected early death of her beloved grandfather who was a publicly recognized good teacher. At his Buddhist style funeral held at a shrine, she vowed to Buddha that she will become a disciple of Buddha if she can have a dream to see her beloved grandpa that night which did happen. So, it gave her the conviction that a good person will be awarded with wish coming true in the form of blessing to her life. But I was quick to correct her that being a good person may not necessary always resulted with blessing. Her beloved Grandma was the exact opposite example unless she accepts the logical inference that her Grandpa had done something bad to deserve the punishment of a shorter life. She was speechless to disagree with me and I took on this line to return back to my gospel sharing that no matter how many good deeds we have done but all human is bound to be imperfect with punishable sin for eternal death suffering in the hell of fire. God loves us but he could not let sin unpunished. The only way out is to let a perfect person to take our place to receive that punishment. So Jesus is the only perfect person who is God by incarnated as a perfect person to be the scape goat to sacrifice his life to die for us and shoulder all our sins to set us free from the bondage of sin. It was the work of God to have soften her heart and becoming complete receptive to the gospel message and the offer of free gift of eternal life by Jesus. The bus came at the right time to leave her to respond to God in her private moment afterwards.

8) Three big fellows with lot of shopping stuff got to the bus stop. Two of them rejected outright my approach but the third one accepted my tract when I turned to him. Though I had not time to chat as the bus arrived right away, but I trusted that God’s work on that third fellow is unhindered for a fruit bearing result.

Battle Log of Winnie who had got divine appointment to chat with 10 persons despite of the spiritual evil attack orchestrated by Satan.

今天雖然有撒但阻撓，一澳洲男子不許我們在巴士站傳福音，搶了我手上的單張，又搶了 Johnny 的福音册。他上了巴士，後來得關牧師走上巴士和他理論，取回 Johnny 的福音册。

神 今天的保守和带领下，

，讓我可以遇到十人傳福音的機會。

第一位, Mickle, 澳洲基督徒，不明白救恩，我解释给他。

第二位，Lisa, 印度女士，不願接受單張及聽福音，後來我講及今次印度疫情的死傷無數，跟着引入福音。她聽後，接受單張及想清楚信仰問题。

第三位，Ellen, 中國來的 UQ 學生，福音講了一半，巴士到來。

第四位，Alice, 澳洲少女，不明白救恩，我解释给她。

第五位，Vivian, Singapore 來的 UQ 學生。聽了全福音，會想想宗教問题。a

第六位，澳洲人，不願接受單張及聽福音。我講了簡單的福音，我們是罪人，耶穌基督來到世上，死在十字架上，為拯救罪人。講完，巴士到達。

第七位，澳洲女士，她講出救恩，不想再倾談，不願留下名字。

第八位，Maria, 澳洲女士，相片中。她會想想宗教問题。

第九位，Lay, 澳洲女青年人，基督徒。不明白救恩，我解释给她。

第十位，Ka, 日本來的 UQ 學生，很留心聽我講的福音，她説 會認真想想。

願主 帶领今天聽到福音人士，找到適合教會，永遠跟䜔主。阿們！感謝讚美主！

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Sunday, 9 May, 2021

Posted 9 May 2021, 3:42 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Ok, a weekend of evangelism.  I’m so grateful God gave us two more days to reach people with his amazing grace.  May his patience continue, but it won’t last forever.

Susan and I were in the city on Sunday afternoon - no flip chart, and we paired up to approach people.  There were lots of people out.  Warm weather, but cloud cover to protect from the sun.

Before Susan arrived, I was handing out tracts on Cashel Mall when suddenly three teens came up to me and started peppering me with questions - so fast, that I couldn’t keep up and they started to stack up in my head.  It turns out I had talked to at least two of them before.  The third one was the one with the most questions.  Eventually one of them asked if we could sit down - so we found a bench and the conversation continued.  The first two are professing faith, and so I was encouraging them in the reality of a changed life that will result.  A change of direction, not perfection.  The third, said that those were the clearest answers she had ever heard (glory to God alone).  They all accepted “Who Made It?” tracts and contact cards for my church.

By this stage Susan was with me, so we prayed together and then headed off.  Our first approach was with a young man who said: “I don’t believe in God because I’m a homosexual”.  I think he thought it would scare me off - it didn’t.  I was able to briefly share the law and the gospel with him, without focusing on his homosexuality, but making it clear that it was a sin.  But he didn’t really want to chat, and he received a phone call that rescued him!

In Cathedral Square, I had an opportunity to share the law and gospel with a guy who seemed to be homeless (but I’ve not seen him before).

My last chat of the day was with a guy on the High Street end of Cashel Mall.  He didn’t think about what happens after life, but he was happy to chat.  So I sat down to explain the gospel to him.  I noticed near the end of the chat that I was talking a lot and wondered if I was monologuing.  I asked him a final checking question, and he got it completely wrong.  He then admitted that he hadn’t been listening!  I was monologuing!  My bad.  So, tip of the day: try to communicate via questions to involve the person you are talking to, to aid in understanding.  Want to learn how it’s done?  Check out the daily Operation 513 live streams of gospel conversations on Facebook!

Of course, I was sharing the gospel online over Saturday and Sunday too.  Many gospel chats!

If God wills, may we continue to have many opportunities to share his gospel with people.  Be encouraged to join an outreach team!  And thank you so much for your support - esp. in prayer.
 

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Friday, 7 May, 2021

Posted 8 May 2021, 7:10 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Thursday afternoon I was at the Eastgate bus stops with Andy.  We had a great time telling many about Christ.

By the end of the outreach, I got into a roll.  It started with a chat with three girls (pictured).  They were all in different places with their thinking, but I managed to keep the conversation on track explaining the logic and reality of the true God, God’s law we know by conscience, the logic of justice, and the hope of forgiveness only found in Jesus.  By the end, the one in the middle was asking really good questions!  It was a great chat.

Their bus came just at the right time - the conversation was coming to a natural end anyway, and as they left, I turned and a guy was walking past.  My initial questions pricked his curiosity and he ended up coming back to engage in conversation.

He was Agnostic / Atheist.  He heard the logic for the reality of God, and he initially agreed it made sense, but then he backed up and started arguing the point.  I patiently sparred with him and did my best to gently point out his inconsistencies.  I even stepped into presuppositional apologetics for a minute.  I wasn’t making any progress, so I changed tack.  I simply changed the subject and asked if he was a good person - had he ever lied?  (Moving away from the intellect to the conscience.)  I was able to take him through the law and then the gospel.  He had a question about the reliability of the Bible - “great question, can I come back to it?”  I finished sharing the gospel, and then swung back to his question.  In the end, the guy really appreciated the conversation, he thanked me for what I’m doing on the streets.  He left with a follow up tract.

I was pretty tired by this stage, and I was sitting sipping a coke for a minute when a couple walked past - I recognised the guy from a previous gospel conversation, I even remembered his name.  I turned to the girl with him, and then I recognised her too - her hair was a different colour.  I’ve talked to them both multiple times before.  We fell into another gospel conversation - a long one.  They were both very resistant, but I could see cracks in the guys defence.  He said he would believe when he turned 80 - I told him he wasn’t guaranteed the next 5 minutes, and I gave an example of how death can come quickly.  I had a deep felt compassion for this couple, I pleaded with them to not play games and to trust in Christ today.  The conversation ended well, and they left with tracts (ones they hadn’t seen before).

We have been bringing the gospel to the issue of abortion, weekly, outside Christchurch hospital for two years now.  You can read more about that here.  We were there again on Friday.

After this, a team was in the city.  Andy and I had a wonderful conversation with a young man who has been caught up in the cult: World Mission Society Church of God.  We were able to minister to him from the scriptures.  Lord, please convert this young man.

Over the two days, I also spent six hours reaching people with the gospel online.

Thank you for your prayer and support!
 

Wednesday, 5 May, 2021

Posted 6 May 2021, 12:01 AM by Hung Kwan. Permalink

The weather made a sharp turnaround from a sunny & warm late Autumn Tuesday to a gloomy chilling & rainy near winter Wednesday. If not because of the passion to work with God in delivering our commitment to spread the Gospel to people of all nations, we might be tempted to stay at home for a break. Johnny originally could not come as he had a trade man job appointment to do some renovation job at his home. Yet the job was finished earlier as such he could rush to re-join me at the very last moment. The light drifting rain did not pose difficulty against our street evangelism but rather rendered us help to drive people gathering at the undercover bus stop. Yet our start was not all smooth, or in reality we faced initial rejection or no interest responses most of the time. Yet, in the Spirit and in His strength, we were both given wisdom to find the leeway to soften the cold heart and changing the negative attitude to a receptive gospel sharing happy ending. Recap below is my divine encounter with or without a conversation.

1) An elderly Chinese Diaspora man who was born in East Timor 東帝文 華僑 but with parents from the Plum Province of Quandong. 廣東梅縣，He quickly declared he is an anti-religion atheist and refused to chat anything about religion.反宗教無神論硬心. God gave me wisdom to identify with him as a Diaspora Chinese so as to keep the conversation going. Instead, I shared my testimony to have the gospel message chipped into the story of my life.

2) Then I chatted with a Muslim lady who appeared very friendly 友善回教女子 though initially declining to accept my tract, But as the conversation went on along the line of ""are you a Good Person" she came to the same understanding that no one can go to heaven by good deeds. 知非靠好行為，I told her that is exactly the message of the tract so at the end, she delightfully took a tract from me when the bus came.

3) Then a Chinese lady initially rejected my tract as she claimed she got one from one of us before.中女拒絕，曾接單張，But when I asked her to share what did she get from the tract , she admitted she had not yet read it. So, I offered to brief her about the tract and God changed her heart to listen the full gospel and turned more receptive at the end.

4) A Chinese couples boy and girl friends appeared very fearful when approached by me, They chose to move a distance away to avoid me. It just served as a reminder that people like them more so need the gospel to restore peace and remove all the fears in their lives by receiving Christ,

5) Then an elderly Chinese man mistook me as someone call Elder Ong when I approached him claiming he had got our tract before. Quickly I know he might have been approached by the Mormon æ‘©é–€Evangelist who like to give themselves the title of Elder. This brief encounter also served as a reminder for me to be more diligent in spreading the gospel then those cult group.

6) Then I was greeted by an Aussie Couples Harry and Olivia. I thought we might have chatted before but it was not the case. So I could only give credit to God granting me with this special divine appointment with them. I wasted no time to share the gospel with him and found out a bit later that Harry actually is an Orthodox Greek Christian yet with poor if not no bible knowledge. So naturally he also has no assurance of salvation. I am glad I helped him to re-establish assurance in the redemptive grace of Jesus alone. I encourage him to bring her atheist girl friend to Christ.

7) Then I approached another Chinese lady who also show initial lack of interest to chat. But I did not give up and switch to share my testimony how the gospel changes my life. She ended up deeply drawn by my testimony and the power of the gospel that she almost missed her bus which had come and stayed there already a while and was about to leave. She only came back to here sense at the last moment to get on the bus with a tract she originally rejected.

Crystal is a Griffith University student from HKG. She also chose to refuse to have a chat initially. But when I found out she is from HKG and can identify with her as a Hongkonger , her defense system was disarmed and we have a very good chat on the gospel and my testimony till the bus came.

9) Joey has just migrated from Tasmania to Brisbane and lives in Brown Plain. She check the bus route number at the bus stop but messed up with the direction. God moved me to find out her need for the right direction to go back to Brown Plains. I took this as an analogy for right direction of life in Christ. I ended up walking her cross the bridge to the right bus stop on the other side. I could managed to finish the nut shell of the Gospel and finding out that her husband is a Christian. So I encourage her to take it seriously to read the tract and make the right decision to receive Christ to make her family complete in the grace of God.

10) Wayne a lady from Taiwan who initially also showed no interest to the gospel but ending up agreeing the message and guidelines is good for everyone.

11) Finally, I approached Susan who also said she got the tract but has not seriously read it. So I offered to share the nutshell of the gospel to her in case she forget to read the tract again at home. It turned out she was impressed by the message as well as my passion to testify for God.

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Wednesday, 5 May, 2021

Posted 5 May 2021, 6:33 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

There was a team of four at Riccarton on Tuesday.  I had a couple of highlight conversations.

The first was a follow up (although I don’t remember talking to her the first time).  She remembered the way to heaven with a gentle reminder - it being clear that she has not responded to the gospel with a repentant faith yet.  We fell into a law / gospel conversation where I answered her questions and reasoned with her.  No outward sign of contrition, so I leave her in God’s hands.

The second occured right at the end of the outreach.  A guy skated past and I asked if he wanted to try the good person test flip chart.  He was keen!  He hopped off his skateboard and was instantly engaging.  It became apparent early on that he considered himself a very good person - better than everyone else on the front page of the flip chart!  So as we were going through the law, I decided to turn the screws so he would really feel it.  He admitted he had lied.  So I asked him, “what do you call someone who tells a lie?”  His answer: “a liar”.  So then I asked, “so what does that make you?”  He thought for a bit, and he said: “I’m a liar”.  The tactic worked, because his eyes were subtly shooting daggers at me.  In this way, I slowly took him through the law, letting him feel the weight of his sin.  I was able to then turn to the gospel, and the true hope of forgiveness of our sin found only in Jesus’ sacrifice.  But he was still wrestling with the law - he still considered himself good.

Suddenly he recognised someone he knew and he decided to go.  He took a tract before he dashed off.  To my surprise, he was back five minutes later - he wanted to talk further.  The outreach ended up going fifteen minutes longer than usual so we could do so.  I worked to continue bringing the conversation back to the serious nature of sin - as this was currently his biggest roadblock.  But he really liked to talk, and would constantly talk over me to ask questions.  It was a bit of a tussle, but a good one.  He seemed challenged and impressed.  He knows how to get in touch.

The rest of my outreach time on Tuesday and Wednesday was spent with the team online.  A total of 27 gospel conversations that went for two minutes or more.  The longest of those chats went for 25 minutes.  Here are some of the highlights.

My first chat was with a couple of Muslim guys from Tunisia (North Africa).  Normally the Muslims I talk to will argue.  But these guys seemed stunned into silence in understanding of the gospel - praise God!  At the end, I asked if they had any questions. One said, “not right now, but I will be in touch”.

I interestingly had two separate conversations where the person I was talking to insisted they were perfect people.  That doesn’t happen very often!

A lady started by saying Satan is better than God!  I was able to take her through the law and the gospel and explain why that can’t be so.  Her response was to change suddenly and say: “I think I’d rather stay gay, that’s better”, and she disconnected.

Another lady hears the way to heaven is faith and not her good deeds and is really confused.  I labour with her for a while and she slowly starts to grasp the good news of Jesus!  Sadly, she accidentally disconnected, but not before I could point her to the scriptures to verify what I said.  She is in the hands of the Lord.

I had a very interesting chat with a Christian guy sitting at a set of drums.  I asked him what he had to do to go to heaven, and he clearly pointed at keeping the ten commandments as the reason.  We then had a good long conversation where I was able to gently challenge him on this and explain what the Bible teaches: that we are saved by the grace of Jesus, through faith that will lead to good works.  He had grown up in an environment where the emphasis had been on just being good.  I hope he was challenged enough to search the scriptures on this and examine himself to see what he really is trusting in to be saved.  To finish, he played the song “to hell with the devil” by Stryper for me - him playing the drum part.  It was so good!  I hope he gets in touch so we can discuss further.

The final chat I’ll mention was one with a Mormon in Utah (first time I’ve connected with someone from there).  They seemed to be very knowledgeable, which I found intimidating.  But I went back to the basics, and took them through the law and the gospel, trying to be clear on where and why Mormons differ (based on what I know).  To my surprise, they didn’t argue, they seemed to be challenged, so I became bold and told them to flee Mormonism and the Book of Mormon.  It was a good chat.

I praise God for the support enabling me to get out there and concentrate on talking to so many about the most important questions of life, and the answers to them: Jesus.  Thank you so much.  Please keep praying - so vital - and if you are in Christchurch, join me as you can! :)
 

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