Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 73

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday morning I was online with the Aussie team.  I had seven solid gospel conversations - glory to God.

An interesting chat with a lady who was very interested in the question: “What happens after life?”.  I was able to share the law and the gospel.  And she rejected it.  As I was talking she typed: “I still don't believe in him tho”.  I asked why, and her excuse was that it was all confusing.  So I asked what part was confusing, and she said, “I don’t know man… It just doesn’t add up”.  But then she said, “but your explanation was very well made, I have to admit that”.  Something was missing.  But I persisted by re-explaining the gospel - her response showed that she was gaining clarity.  She then asked me more about hell.  Thank you Lord for the opportunity to share with her, I leave her in your hands.

Later I had a good chat with a young Catholic guy who loved his religion.  He came to grasp the gospel - but he didn’t want to give up his religion.  He was left counting the cost of the gift.

I then joined Andy at Eastgate.

I had an encouraging short encounter with a lady who accepted a Christmas tract from me, I gave her a brief explanation of the gospel emphasising justification by grace alone through faith alone.  She interrupted the flow to tell me a bit about herself - she is currently going to a church, but had come from a background of drugs and alcohol.  She said that she often feels confused, but that my simple explanation had really helped her - she thanked me.  She needed to move on.  Thank you Lord for the brief opportunity!

Andy had a long chat with a lady (pictured) who is getting mixed up by the cult: World Mission Society Church of God.  Andy has learned some really good background information on this cult and so was able to have a good gospel conversation with her.  Oh Lord, rescue her!

We moved to Northlands, I was able to have a long follow up chat with a young Muslim girl among many other gospel chats.

On Friday it was great to have a team of three join us from up north!

We started the day with the gospel + abortion outreach outside Christchurch hospital.  In contrast to last week, where we had a lovely counter protester that we were able to engage with, this week we had one very nasty counter protester.  Rude, insulting, abusive even.  As I write this on Saturday, I’m still feeling the sting of her cutting words - and I didn’t cop the worst of it.  Her words and actions were a glimpse of her world view.  At one point she was attacking the older members of our team saying they were less evolved (probably meaning social evolution).  Later she was abusing my Mother who refused to respond.  The girl ended up by saying my Mum was meaningless.  And this girl ended up stirring up the hatred in two other of the counter protesters.  It was a really tuff outreach.  I lost my cool at one point, and had to work hard to gain it back and continue to ignore the insults.  Later I had an opportunity to tell of my care & love for one who had just told me she hated me.  We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  But, in spite of this - or more likely - because of this, many many opportunities for conversation with members of the public occurred.  I had two great opportunities to engage with people - one of them I was able share the gospel with (he understood the logic, but sadly resisted it).  Andy and Emma were very busy in conversations with people.  Andy ended up staying to well after the outreach was over in conversation with one guy.  We are encouraged to continue to stand against this modern day holocast of abortion and bring the hope of true forgiveness - even for murder - found in the sacrifice of Jesus.

We headed to Cathedral Square where I and a number of others preached before we headed to Cashel mall where the team was busy in one to one conversations.  The weather turned to rain thirty minutes before I was scheduled to finish, so we decided to head for a coffee early.

I made up the time while I was online in the evening.  It was one of the best periods of online outreach I’ve ever had.  Seven solid gospel conversations.

I had a 25 minute chat with a Muslim from the UK (based on accent) who was resistant, but actually came to grasp the gospel.  He then started counting the cost - it was too high for him (for now).  Lord, he is in your hands.

I then had one of the best conversations I think I’ve ever had.  40 minutes.  The guy I was talking to was so open, I wasn’t having to fight, and I could just teach.  He came to grasp the gospel and there was nothing stopping him from accepting it.  He had many good questions.  I leave him in the hands of the Lord, but with pointing him to the Bible and a local church.  He has a friend who is getting mixed up with a cult, I think some of his questions were so he could help his friend.

I then moved straight into a 15 minute chat (almost as good) with a young Christian guy who wasn’t a Christian.  He was not expecting someone to be talking about the gospel - but it seemed to be just the right time for him to hear it.

Oh Lord, please give us strength to continue sharing your gospel with people.  Help us do this in love, in spite of the opposition and hatred we face.  Save people for your glory Lord.  We leave these people spoken to in your hands.
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday Nov 25, 2020 from 1300 -1500

It was an eventful day but also full of wonder and grace. Johnny initially planned to come a bit later but he got a flat tyres on his way to Sunnybank. So I was left alone but God was good to send Andrew to come to partner with me at the Wes side of the foot bridge. It was a very good partnership, starting with a good opening prayer and later on rendering mutual support including the photo shooting.

Today I had a very smooth day, apart from a very first rude rejection by a mainlander woman, all my subsequence approach are friendly, receptive and fruitful proven by three selfies with my three gospel target. ONe of these were a couples who are a known friend of my brother -in -law and heard of my existence in Brisbane as a pastor. So all encounters were really a divine appointment with God's hidden purpose behind.

Here are the recap of my

1) Madam Wong from Guangzhou 廣州 knows Hk very well. I wasted some time to serve as ice breaker and was only able to share the nutshell of the Gospel to her before the bus came.

2) Elle a young lady from Beijing doing UQ study. She was very polite and receptive and listen to the gospel with full attention and great interest. She did not even want to get on the bus that had arrived only after I asked her if her bus had arrived. Certainly, I could see and feel a ripe soil for the gospel to bear fruit in here heart.

3) Tony and Sinfonia look like Chinese from Indonesia. But I overheard them speaking Cantonese so I approached them and found they are also from Hong Kong. They seems to be religious and showed receptive attitude to the Gospel. So I asked if they followed any religion and they said yes and is a Japanese kind of Taoism called 天理教. This is the religion of my brother-in-law who became a pious follower after this Japanese faith organization offered him a scholarship to study Japanese in Nagoya. The couples responded with great astonishment that they are good friend of Perry my brother-in-law. With this miraculous encounter, I wasted no time to share the gospel before the bis arrived. Let's pray if God will give me another divine encounter with this couples in the near future or perhaps in the next visit of Perry to Brisbane.

4) Eric a UQ student from Taiwan who was very receptive to the Gospel. I referred him to Power to Change no matter if he may wish to accept Christ now or not.

5) An Aussie Mum Cherry also appeared very friendly. It was a pity my sharing was cut short by the timely arrival of the bus.

6) Mr Li 李 from mainland China. But he exceptionally taking the initiative to pull me aside to let me share the gospel to him. He admitted the message is very sensible, logical and convincing but I let him make his decision at his private time. I also referred him to join "Power to change. I met him a bit later when he finished his errand and wait for the returning bus. I took his photo there.

7) An old lady from Hongkong who showed half heart at the gospel message. She came to Australia around 80. Pray that God keeps giving her divine encounter before she run out of time.

8) Keane another genuine abc whose parents are from Taiwan. He has Christian back ground and know all Ins and Outs about Christianity. He agreed with the gospel I shared just falling short to let the seed to grow and budding.

9) Nelson an Sri Lanka man who appeared very polite and was positive to gospel. It was a pity the divine encounter was cut short by the bus but I am sure God's work on him will not be in vain.

Battle Log of Andrew: 

On Wednesday at Sunnybank, I initially found the afternoon discouraging, as many people I tried to speak to would not stay and talk, however, as the afternoon progressed, there were two brilliant conversations that left me rejoicing!

One young man whose English was very poor used Google Translate's image software to translate the tract so that he could read it!

Jackson was the only decent conversation of the earlier part of the afternoon. He was not religious at all but listened really well as I shared the message of the gospel with him.

Emily is 20 years old and is here from China studying nursing. She had heard of some Christian ideas before and said that her housemate has a Bible, but did not really know much about what Christians believe at all. She listened very carefully as we talked through the gospel at length and grasped clearly what the Bible says about our eternity. She understood that we are not good according to God’s standard and that Jesus died for sinners like us. The expression on her face as I shared what Jesus had done indicated that this was impacting her deeply. She thanked me for taking the time to share the gospel with her and gladly took a couple of different tracts.

When I asked Carla about where she would go when she died, she said she would go to heaven and that she was a Christian. She joked that she didn’t look like one because her arms, legs and even neck were covered in tattoos! She was going to keep walking, but I asked her a follow up question or two and it quickly became obvious to both of us that there were some really big gaps in her understanding. While she knew many facts about Christianity, her trust seemed to be primarily in her self-identification as a Christian. I stepped through the gospel and she had no issue identifying herself as a sinner but then as we talked through how Jesus’ death on the cross saves us, she seemed to grasp the message. We then talked about how receiving the gift of forgiveness means that we must be willing to surrender rule of our life and place our trust not in our good works or religious activities, but only in the finished work of Jesus. I asked her again where she would go if she died today, and she admitted that she had not understood and that to this point, she had not surrendered and placed her trust in Jesus. I pleaded with her to consider the urgency of being made right with God and she said that this was something that she desperately needed to do. She allowed me to take a selfie with her and told her that I would use it to encourage people to pray for her, so please do pray for her to surrender to Jesus!

Pray for Carla, Emily, Jackson and the many others who heard part of the message or received tracts.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Roger got free treats again!  If I heard him correctly, he gave some tracts to a family that went into SoYo (frozen yogurt place) - the kids came out with some for him!  How nice. :)

This was at the Riccarton outreach on Tuesday afternoon.

When I turned up, there was a guy sitting down eating pizza.  I approached, and I was surprised how keen he was to talk!  He drilled me with question after question.  With him taking the lead like this, I was able to share the gospel with him.  Unfortunately his (late) lunch break came to an end and he had to go, but he had a Christmas tract with a way to get in touch.

Throughout the outreach I had many opportunities to talk to people about the gospel and hand out tracts.  All of whom had some religious instruction but were misunderstanding justification by grace through faith.  The last guy I was talking to was Coptic Orthodox (and who also didn’t understand justification) he seemed to appreciate the good news!

Earlier I was online.  I started with a difficult chat with a girl who dug in and refused to let go of her self-righteousness!  But then moved into a chat with a very cheeky guy who was very upfront about the reality of his deserving of hell (although it was hard to gauge his seriousness).  He seemed to be impacted (even deeply, but I couldn’t work out if he was playing with me or not) by the logic I was sharing - he came to hear the gospel.

Next up I had a guy who claimed to recognise me!  He is a Muslim from Saudi Arabia.  He said I skipped him last time and pleaded with me not to skip - I was happy to talk.  But after fifteen minutes with this guy I could see why he was skipped previously, hard as rocks, not open to reasonable and logical dialogue.  I skipped him.

The weather forecast wasn’t good for Wednesday, so I decided to join the Aussie team online again.  But beforehand I spent a few hours studying the book of Romans - so good!

My very first chat was with a lady from Brazil.  I could tell English was her second language - but she did a great job tracking with me as I explained the law and the gospel to her.  She seemed to grasp the good news.

Next up was a couple of guys who were fairly resistant.  But the main one warmed up to what I was saying.  He came to grasp the gospel before I left him to mull on it.  Lord save them!  Then it was a couple of younger kids who also came to grasp with the gospel.

The next chat was excellent.  Initially I thought the guy would bolt early - he seemed to be an Atheist.  But he also warmed up and really engaged.  It was like he was getting information for the first time ever.  He grasped the gospel, and then launched into questions.  Unfortunately the video link was not so good, so I had to revert to text chat - but he hung in there.  He had a link to needGod.net as well.  Sadly the video link eventually died.  He is in God’s hands.

By this stage I was live streaming, and I fell into a great chat with a guy who really liked to talk.  There was a girl sitting next to him using her phone.  I was just about to get to the gospel with this guy, when the girl found the live stream on her phone!  Sadly, he ended the chat.

My final chat was with a guy who loved my opening question (what do you think happens after life?)  But didn’t like the logic I gave him.  I started working through the gospel with him, and he resisted strongly - avoiding my questions.  I wrestled with him for a while but decided to leave him to it - he wasn’t open to the gospel at this stage.

So grateful for all the opportunities I have to share the hope of eternal life with people.  Thank you so much for your prayer and support - I REALLY appreciate it!  God bless.
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowng Village on Tuesday Nov 24 2020 from 1330 to 1500

It was a very warm Summer afternoon. By the grace of God , Johnny, Hung and Winnie can manage to turn up to serve the Lord as a team despite both Winnie (hearing aid needs adjustment) and Hung (has to avoid scorching sun after having begun the Narrow band light treatment for skin problem). ON top of the personal weakness, Hung forgot to bring his iphone. So only very few photoes had been taken for Johnny and Winnie while both of them had opportunities to take photo for me. The progress and pace of out reach was much slow due to the scorching high noon sun. But we all had managed to get into conversation with around 7 persons as recap below.

1) Tom - after several rejection by several Chinese students, here came Tom who also showed initial resistance to hear the gospel. Actually he refused to take the tract which was offered first by Johnny at the traffic light , then me at the bus stop. But God still softened his heart to let me chat with him as an Alumni of UQ and my life witness how I came to Christ. So gospel was also shared before the bus arrived. Trust he will bre in God's good hand closer to the D day of his salvation.

2) Oliver was once approached by Winnie some weeks ago. I still took the chance to revise and review on his status. I also introduced him to join Power to Change week day physical meeting on the campus.

3)

Sarah

is a Christian, but she failed the test of assurance of salvation by 10%. She only have 90% assurance which is because she though she is still not yet perfect. After my explanation of the 3 fold deliverance as God's package deal for salvation. She now understood after receiving Christ and be saved as a born again Christian, we are yet to be perfect by the work of God through the Holy Spirit. This as this work in progress stage, it is normal that we will be seen not perfect and will failed the test of God committing sin. Yet this is within God's plan as such it will not affect the 100% assurance of salvation by Christ that changed our identity from enemy of God back to Children of God or His heavenly citizen. Sarah was delighted to be able to have 100 % assurance of salvation as the bus came.

4) Lily is an UQ student as well as Migrant from Afghanistan. Winnie first approached her and did the Are you a Good Person Test. I followed up to reinforce the power of Jesus salvation. She did show pressure from Muslim faith that is too hard for her to change here faith from Islamic to Christianity. But I advised her in some Muslin Country, missionary was successful to convert Muslim to Christians with culture of worship remains unchanged but with the God head changed to Jesus. Pray for God's continuous work on Lily.

5) John is a senior person on wheel chair. He is a typical country Aussie with humor. When I asked him as a Good Person, can he go to heaven. He asked me back if General Secretary Xi can go. I took the chance teo say yest if he has a moment to repent in his life time. He switched to a place with more shade to continue with our conversation till the bus came. I stayed with him to get him on to the bus together with the bus driver lady to show him the love of Jesus.

Here is the recap by Winnie for the 7 persons she contacted to day.

感謝主 今天的带领，讓我有機會 傳福音给七人。有印尼的女士，兩位印度女士，中國少女，台湾少女，澳洲男士及少女。他們都聽了全福音和接受單張，要時間想想。願神 打開他們心門，接受主耶稣基督為救世主。阿們！

感謝讚美主！

 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

During the weekend I was with the team in Brissie for online outreach.

My first chat was with a Catholic guy.  It was an odd conversation - he seemed to be following along with the logic of the gospel, but he didn’t seem to be taking it seriously.  Early on he picked up on what I was doing, and mentioned Ray Comfort of Living Waters.  He was distracted, and he would start asking me about my family.  I ended up ending the conversation.

A couple of conversions later and I was connected to a young man from Egypt.  His English wasn’t the best, so we ended up switching to Arabic - me via Google Translate.  It took me some time to get him engaged.  What did the trick was asking him if he believed in God.  He was shocked and offended that I would ask the question at all.  It turns out he is Muslim.  I continued to work through explaining the law and the gospel.  He would read everything I said to his Mum (which was great) - I could listen to them talking to each other to formulate responses.  The guy started getting more and more agitated, but I decided not to back down - he needed the truth.  The conversation ended with me saying I loved him and wanted God’s mercy for him, while he was telling me he hated me!

I was beamed into a stationary car with two Catholic lads.  I was able to work through the law and the gospel quickly.  I was explaining grace, when one of them smirked and disconnected.

Next God brought me to a guy who was getting drunk.  He had friends with him.  They heard the gospel.

Next up I was beamed into the bedroom of a kid who was slow in grasping what I was explaining.  I was determined to slow down and labour with him.  He eventually came to an understanding of the gospel.  He was going through some struggles, I pointed him to the Bible and a local church.  It was a great chat.

On Sunday I was paired with Ryan again.  So good to be sharpened by his feedback, and to listen to his gospel conversations.

Andy was online on Friday, and he was telling me about an hour long conversation he had on Friday.  After the first checking question her answer was: good work.  After the second checking question it was: trust Jesus, but you have to pay him back.  After the third checking question it was: trust Jesus, it’s too good to be true! :)  Andy pointed her to the scriptures to verify what he was saying.  She said, “it’s all right, you have convinced me, but I will look up the scriptures”.  Praise God, Lord save her.
 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday morning I was online.  I often get called grandpa on initial connect, but with the highlight conversation, where I was connected with a couple of Brits, I got called Gary Barlow (a musician in the UK) - I take that as a compliment!  Once they heard my voice, they said I was an Australian - two compliments in a row!  This chat started well and continued that way!  They came to hear and, slowly, grasp the gospel over the period of about ten minutes.

In the afternoon, Andy and I were at Northlands bus stops and then Eastgate bus stops.

The highlight at Northlands was my very first chat.  I approached a young Asian couple.  The girl responded to my approach, and she said she had a long chat with one of us before.  I checked to see if she understood the gospel - it was close.

The guy then became engaged and took over the conversation.  To my surprise, he had a good grasp of the gospel.  It turns out he grew up in a church environment.  By the end of the conversation (when their bus came) he had admitted that he wasn’t a Christian.  His reason: “I want to live my life my own way”.  I touched on the consequence of such a position: justice, punishment, hell.  As he walked off, I said: “you should be terrified”.

At Eastgate, the highlight was a catch up with a young man who we both talked to the week prior (and whom I’ve talked to a number of times previously - both at Eastgate and Northlands).  He is responding very positively to the gospel.  He is now saying that he believes that Jesus died on the cross for his sin.  He reached out via needGod.net and in our initial email exchange I worked to dissuade him getting him to consider the reality of the cost of the gift of Jesus.  I’m glad to say it hasn’t worked so far.  He brought his young son to meet us.  We ended up sitting down at a local coffee shop to talk more.  He has downloaded a Bible onto his phone.  And he continues to initiate contact.  He works Sunday, but he is looking at re-organising his shifts so he can attend a church meeting.  I see so much apostasy and rejection, I’m not getting my hopes up.  But oh to see true conversion!

Friday started with another busy gospel + abortion outreach.  Six of us, and three counter protesters.  The counter protesters like to stand in front of us (pictured).

One of Jehovah's Witnesses that I regularly talk to at Northlands walked past early in the outreach.  We had a brief but great catch up chat.  To my surprise he accepted a “Life is Precious” tract.

Later, Andy got into a long chat with a guy who considered himself “neutral” on the abortion issue.  While that was happening, I noticed three guys across the road, who were obviously very interested in the protest (they were walking back and forth while staring at us).  Eventually, I decided to cross the road to go and have a chat.  They didn’t have strong opinions about the abortion issue - one was religious, one was on the fence, and the other didn’t believe in God.  I was able to share the gospel with all three, before heading back to the main group.

By this stage there was much tension in the air.  A group who were pro choice were having a go at us, while a lady, not part of our group, who is pro life, was responding angrily to them!  I walked over to engage the pro life lady, and thank her for her support, but that we were trying to run a peaceful protest and that it’s best to ignore them in this situation.  She smiled and took my advice.

But then I noticed the three guys across the street were shouting at our counter protesters (and the counter protesters were shouting back).  I signalled to the three guys not to do that, but one of the counter protesters accused me of trying to stop conversation.  I told them conversation was something I was very keen for, just not if it’s yelling across the street.  To my surprise they took my point.  The shouting stopped, and one of the counter protesters went across to talk directly.  Praise God.

Meanwhile, Andy’s conversation was still rolling.  Andy was doing a great job, staying calm even with intense disagreement.  But unfortunately the guy he was talking to was becoming angrier and angrier.  Andy had to disengage the conversation.

A moment of peace finally reigned when one of the new counter protesters decided she wanted to engage me in debate, she was very pleasant and respectful, and I could tell it was going to be a genuine discussion, so I obliged.  We talked about “Black Lives Matter”, and then moved into discussion about abortion.  I was able to touch on the gospel.  It was a wonderful, respectful two way conversation - and the other counter protesters got involved as well.  I was amazed and very grateful for the positive dialogue - even though we still strongly disagree with each other.

The outreach ended with Andy having another opportunity to engage with a lady who was pro choice - it looked to be a very good dialogue as well.  We parted on good terms with the counter protesters - they accepted my goodbye.  In the quieter periods of the outreach I was praying for them, and I will continue to pray for them.  God, bless them!

We moved to Cathedral Square for some open air preaching.  There was a group there who seemed to be advocating for some kind of political change.  I got into a great conversation with one of them who said she was a Christian.  Sadly, the group had to move on, which cut short our conversation.

A number of guys preached, while others handed out tracts, and still others engaged people in one to one conversation.

Later, in Cashel Mall, I had a wonderful conversation with a guy who had talked to someone at Northlands a year ago about the gospel.  He was very open to talk about it again.  He said there was nothing stopping him from responding - even after he considered the cost.  I left the ball in his court - he knows how to get in touch.

I finished the day of outreach online.  The highlight conversation was with a lady with a Catholic background, leaning Atheist who believed in Science.  Going from there, I explained how we know God exists, through the law, and on to the gospel.  She said she had learned more from me in a couple of minutes than she ever had in religion class (glory to God alone).  And yet, there was still a resistance to what I was saying.  She disconnected suddenly.  Lord, I leave her, and all those we talked to over these two days in your hands.
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday Nov 18, 2020 from 1300 -1500

Thanks God for a fine sunny day good for street evangelism. We had Johnny, Andrew and Hung turning up to serve. To me, it started good meeting again with two Pakistanis Muslim Tafe students by the name Shani and Muneeb whom we met two weeks ago. They were serious Muslim but with an opened mind to discuss. It was a pity they were in a hurry to meet their father but promised to come back next week.

Then I had my second divine appointment for today with Kitty who is from TianJin 天津, China. She was at the bus stop sitting on the bench. I initially wanted to approach two high school students but they were busy with their iphone. And Kitty virtually looked up at me. I felt the urge to switch talking to her first. She is rare species of Mainlander that does not avoid chatting with me with a Chinese face. She even invited me to sit down to chat with her rather than standing. She claimed she had received tracts before and possibly chatted with someone else. I asked if she found the message of the tract sensible and logical and what was her response. She got to the point that: yes, she admitted the tract let her see she as well as every one in this world, though called a good person, but all have committed varieties of sin not pleasing to God. Then I asked did she know how to have our sin forgiven. She knew it was through Jesus' sacrificial death to pay for the debt of our sin. But she is not sure if she deserves the grace of Jesus to save her as a sinner. At this point ,her boy friend turned up, checking out what was happening and trying to drag her away from the conversation. But she refused to stop our conversation, so her boy friend was forced to listen by her side. I could feel that she was wide open to receive Christ but then the bus came. I trust God will continue on leading her to the final decision of accepting Jesus as her Savior and Lord of life.

My overall condition to day was not good with body itchiness and swollen limb getting worse because of the side effect of the Psoriasis medication. Dried mouth and frequent toilet needs all posed great interruption to my normal street evangelism. It finally was cut short when I found my Credit card was not in my wallet when I stopped for a while to do shopping. I had to call for the day to rush home to check if I did lose it. Thanks God finally I found the card in one of my vest pocket so I did not have to go through yet another round of reporting lost for replacement which had happened once just two months ago.

Both Andrew and Johnny had many good long conversation with fruit bearing results.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

On Tuesday I had some good chats with Muslims online.

The first was with a guy from Saudi Arabia, but currently living in the UK.  He heard the law and I started to explain the gospel.  My first question was “If someone takes 100% of your hell punishment, how much is left for you?”  And he got stuck on that for a long time.  He couldn’t bring himself to answer the question.  He would throw up diversions - I would politely listen, and then bring him right back to the question.  Eventually he answered the question correctly: none.  I explained that Jesus is offering to pay his hell fine, but not surprisingly he was resistant and disconnected.

The next guy got hung up on the same thing!  He got frustrated and bailed with “I’m [a] good [person].  Your message is wrong”.

But to finish off, I had a great chat with a guy [not a Muslim this time] who came to grasp the gospel.

In the afternoon, I was in Riccarton with Roger.  As usual, we had a busy couple of hours talking to people about Jesus (as pictured).

The weather wasn’t looking good on Wednesday, so I decided to spend the time in online outreach.

To start with I had a string of resistant people where I didn’t get far with.

Although one of those people responded positively to the building / builder analogy - it seemed to open up a line of thinking they hadn’t considered before.  I led her down that line of thinking to the reality of an afterlife.  She sat back and considered and then she said, “you know, you’ve given me an existential crisis…” and she disconnected.  Sadly, She didn’t hear the gospel, but she is in God’s hands.

Another kid followed the logic flawlessly - even heard the gospel, but bailed soon after.

But to finish up, I had two golden conversations.  The first was with two ladies who were being silly.  I thought the conversation was going to be like the previous ones, but I persisted.  To my surprise, they sobered, and really started engaging.  My guess is that they had Christian backgrounds but had never really understood the gospel.  By the end they acknowledged that the conversation had really helped them in their understanding.  I pointed them back to their Bibles.

The last conversation was text based and I’ve decided to include it, lightly edited.  The highlight is that they asked: “What if I’m bi[sexual]”, and at the end of the conversation they said: “I’m 100% sure I'm going to heaven now, ty [thank you]”.  Praise God

You: hi
Stranger: hi
You: what do you think happens after life? :)
Stranger: we either go to heaven or hell or we just stay dead
You: ok, so what do you have to do to go to heaven?
Stranger: hmm
Stranger: believe in jesus
You: Interesting answer. Why does believing in Jesus get us to heaven?
Stranger: because he crucified himself to pay for our sins
Stranger: thats what my mom told me =w=
You: Your mum gave you a good answer! Do you believe Jesus did that for you?
Stranger: yessir
You: So, out of 100, how sure are you that you are going to heaven?
Stranger: maybe like 97%
You: ok... so why 3% doubt?
Stranger: idk in the back of my head i just keep thinking "what is there is no god and everything was just a lie"
You: ok, let me address that.
You: Where did the universe come from?
Stranger: honestly idk =w=
You: ok, look at it like this...
You: Have you met the people who made your house?
You: Assuming you haven't - what is the proof that they exist?
You: The proof is your house - right?
Stranger: yep
You: It's the same with the universe... you haven't seen the maker, but we know the maker exists - the proof is the universe we can see.
You: And we have a conscience - and as the maker made us, the conscience came from the Maker... so God cares about right and wrong.
You: Do you agree with me that people get away with murder in this life sometimes?
Stranger: yes
You: So, logically, there must be an afterlife - with a hell.
You: And a heaven too - a place where God is.
You: But we have a problem.
You: We have done bad too...
You: ever lied?
Stranger: yes
Stranger: everyone has lol
Stranger: hey i have a question,
Stranger: what if im bi
You: Great question.
You: Who makes the rules of the universe?
Stranger: god?
You: Right.
You: Now, Jesus said, if you just look at someone to lust for them, it's like committing adultery with them in your heart.
You: God's standard for sex is perfect purity. And we all fail.
You: But sex is a good thing, within the bounds of marriage, between a man and a women. That's the way the rule maker made the rules.
You: So if you believe Jesus made you, and saved you when he died on the cross - you will want to honour him by obeying his rules... BUT.... it's not keeping the rules that saves you.... it's a gift Jesus paid on your behalf... you accept it by trusting (or believing)
You: What ya thinking? :)
You: needGod.net
Stranger: so i get to go to heaven?
You: If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins.
You: If you were in a burning building...
You: and a fireman came and rescued you...
You: how would you feel towards the fireman?
Stranger: i would love them
You: right, would you turn and punch them in the face?
You: of course you wouldn't. :)
You: It's the same with Jesus. He will change our heart and mind, when we trust that he died for us. We will have new desires. We will want to obey the one we love: Jesus.
Stranger: oooohh okayy
You: There is a bi person, and they trust that Jesus died on the cross for them... then...
You: 5 minutes later, they sin again...
You: Then they die, would it be heaven or hell?
Stranger: heaven
You: Right, why?
Stranger: because jesus died on the cross and got crucified for us
Stranger: to pay for our sins
You: Exactly.
You: But the bi person won't want to sin any more, because they love the one that made them and saved them. :)
Stranger: yes
You: Has this chat helped you? Do you have other questions?
Stranger: nope'
Stranger: im 100% sure im going to heaven now
Stranger: ty lol
You: Praise God :)
You: Do you have a Bible?
You: "ESV Bible" in the app store, or at ESV.org
You: it's free
You: start in John - in the second half of the Bible
You: to find a good church in your area: 9marks.org/church-search/
You: needGod.net
Stranger: okay
You: Thanks for the chat. :)
You: My name is Glen, I'm from New Zealand
You: If you have questions: insta: needGod.net7
Stranger: okay
Stranger: thanks glen have a nice rest of your day or night
Stranger: bye
Stranger has disconnected.
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong Village on Tuesday Nov 17, 2020 from 1330 to 1500

It was a day of grace with storm and rain pouring down in the middle of our way of street evangelism. In the beginning before the storm came, we had relatively very limited chance to stop people for a chat. Some hurried away to avoid the forth coming storm with thundering rooming in a distance. God did not let this happen without a reason. Winnie and I had unexpected fellowship time to share experience and testimony. But when the storm came, many people were forced to gather under the bus station with limited sheltering space. Then all three of us were fully occupied with conversations that we were all too busy to take photo for each others. At the end , we possibly collectively reached out to 20 odd persons.

Team work was also orchestrated by God in a prominent way. Some were first approached by Johnny taking a tract but did not stop yet were followed up by us successfully after they got to the bus stop. Like wise, some failed to have been stopped by us yet got a long chat with Johnny.(*)

(*) æ„Ÿè¬å¤©çˆ¶ä¸Šå¸çš„帶領，今天在街上傳福音的時候，遇到一位女生從南京來UQ 讀書的謝同學，她聽到審判日要下地獄，她笑笑的說：「 有什麼好怕的，」隨後舉起滿是自殺刀痕的左手給我看。我被這舉動嚇了一跳。我便安慰她，告訴她生命的可貴。也將主耶穌的話告訴她。我們談了一會。她聽到了福音，請為謝同學來禱告，求上帝安慰、憐憫、拯救她。

Recap below are the battle log of mine and Winnie.

1) Kale a Korean UQ student who took a tract from Johnny but was approached by me for a full gospel sharing. He was born in Switzerland but came to Adelaide first then to Brisbane for study at UQ. He has no religion but was very receptive to the Gospel.

2) Chatted with a few Beauty school students after they got tracts from Johnny. One of them , an Aussie girl had a long chat with Johnny. The other excused themselves for class in the building behind the bus stop. Many of them were Islanders and from India.

3) Then I caught up with a Mozambique Christian. He only has 80% of assurance of salvation. So I quickly clarified with him that the reason we are saved is by grace through faith in Christ alone. He delightfully thanks for my clarification.

4) A Malaysian Mum Wendy was first approached by Winnie. She told Winnie she is a Christian as such Winnie just let go. But she was detained at the bus stop by the sudden pouring down of rain. So I had chance to approach her again to check here with the two diagnosis questions. She does has 100% assurance for the right reason of the sacrificial grace of Jesus. She now worships at the Hope Church in UQ with ehr son. She actually needed to move on to meet her son at the Toowong Village to ride home together for care and safety sake.

5) An Aussie girl called Egypt was receptive to listen to the gospel. Time was just barely enough to give her the nutshell though the prospect for her to understand and has a repentant heart to accept Christ as her saviour.

6) Hannah ws from America which I only learned as the end. She hd initial reluctance to listen to the Gospel but God moved me to unarmed her resistant attitude and finally turned very receptive to the Gospel. SHe promised to read the tract and ponder deeper in her heart to make this important decision of her life time.

7) An Aussie lady stopped for a brief chat but finally hurried away as she was afraid of the looming storm.

Recap below are the account of WInnie's eight divine appointments: --

感謝主今天的带领，讓我有機會 可以向八人傳福音。

第一位是印度年青人，福音講了一半，巴士到達。

第二位是澳洲女士，Helen, 當我講完福音，她説是基督徒，我運用關牧師方法 測示她 ，她好肯定的回答 一定會上天堂。還接受我给她單張來傳福音给其他人。感谢主。

第三位是澳洲老婦人，初時不想聽，我問她認識耶穌基督嗎？跟着傳福音给她。我從神 創造萬物天地 跟着阿當，夏娃犯罪。道至我們一出生，便是罪人。耶穌降世，死在十字架上 ，三天復活。是為拯救我們，脱離罪。詳细講解给她。她聽了，問我要怎樣做。我叫她去附近教會，找牧師。跟着遲些牧師會為你施洗，聖靈便會進入你心裏，你便是基督徒。當我講完，巴士到達。

第四位是Malaysian Mum，當我想傳福音给她，她説是基督徒，跟着關牧師來到 測示她。

第五位是中國UQ 學生，Alice, 當我講完福音，她願意到教會尋求更多真理。巴士到達。

第六位是印度 UQ 工作學生。願意回教會。

第七位是中國青年，Joe, 佛教徒，我説佛教要行善，積福德。但基督教是講信靠耶穌，便得救。未講完，巴士到達。

第八位是澳洲少女及中國少女，澳洲少女願意聽，當我講了一半，中國少女拖走她。可能他們趕時間吧！

願今天聽到福音人士，打開心門，接受耶穌基督為救世主。阿們！

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Sunday afternoon was hot, Andy & I found a shaded spot to set up the flip chart on Cashel Mall.  There weren't as many people out as had been on Friday, and my “Merry Christmas” while handing out Christmas tracts didn’t work as well as it had on Friday - oh well.  Andy and I took turns on the flip chart, while the other would venture out into the sunshine to start conversations with passers by.

As the pictures testify to, we had a busy outreach.  I had many conversations.  Some were resistant, some were informed - all heard the gospel.

My favourite conversation was probably the last one, it was with two guys from a prestigious high school with a Christian background.  They believed in heaven… and hell, but they were good people so they would be ok… or so they thought!  They heard the law and the gospel.  Their thinking was tinged post modern (“It’s okay, my standards are different”) - so I was able to address that with them.  I challenged them to read John 3, and Romans 3, 4, & 5 - and they both left with Christmas tracts.

I mentioned a follow up conversation I had, during the gospel + abortion outreach on Friday, with a guy I’ve been talking to for over two years who now has cancer.  I saw him again today.  He is still resistant to the gospel.  Today I noticed him focusing on himself in everything he said, so I decided to challenge him on this - “It’s not about you or me, it’s about God”.  I also checked to see if he could still articulate the gospel - he could, but it hasn’t clicked.  I’ll keep praying for him, and leave him in God's hands.  God, give me wisdom if you allow me to talk to him again!

On Saturday, I was with the Aussie team for three hours of online outreach.  I had about fifteen conversations, some longer, some shorter.  Glory to God.

Thank you for praying for Operation 513 and the outreach teams.  We need God’s help desperately.
 

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