Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 79

Christchurch (NZ) Team

On Friday, we had rain in the morning.  So Andy (pictured) & I did some online evangelism.

The weather improved, so at lunch time we headed into Cathedral Square to preach the gospel in the open air.  It was a fascinating time.

I had just sat down when a guy, I’ll call him “Bob” came and sat next to me.  I recognised him as someone Andy & I had interacted with a long time ago - he was very resistant to the gospel.  But I smiled and said hello.  Instantly he started talking about his depression and thoughts of suicide!  I had immediate empathy, and wanted to share hope.  I said that the root of change is in Jesus.

He exploded in rage.

I listened for a while, but he just got worse, I had to move away.

He started loudly proclaiming his hatred of “evangelists”, and how we are not loving (a very false assertion).  The irony was lost on him.

Ari (the younger “wizard”) turned up and managed to get the guy to calm down.  Ari was sitting next to me, and Bob came and sat next to Ari.  Bob was talking to Ari (relatively camly) - but he was really firing barbs at me, which I just ignored.

Andy took the lull in activity as an opportunity to start preaching the gospel and It was going well.

Then one of our newer hecklers turned up and sat down to listen.  I decided to go over and say hello.

Bob exploded in rage again - even worse than last time.

I assume Bob had interpreted my movement as me withering from his “logic” and he went into attack mode against me again!  Very loud and verbal attacks.  Andy had to stop preaching.  And I just had to walk away - it was bizarre.  Amazingly, Bob started verbally abusing the heckler I went to talk to!  Other people had to get the guy to calm down.  Thankfully he did, and Ari managed to hold his attention for the rest of the time.  I stayed away and, thankfully, there were no more outbursts.

All I said was: the root of change is in Jesus (in the context of empathy)!

Andy was able to finish preaching in relative peace, and Marty was able to preach as well.

It was interesting, as one of the “punks” that I’ve had many gospel conversations with, made a comment about the exchange - he understood the irrational reaction was because we are speaking truth - and people don’t like the truth.  Lord, save the punk!  He knows it's true!

I had a great gospel chat with a guy on Colombo street, as I was walking back to my car.  God is good!

And I had some wonderful gospel chats online later in the day too.  God is so good!

Thursday - the weather didn't look good, so I decided to reach out online instead.  Although, the weather did improve and Andy ended up spending his time at the Eastgate bus stops reaching out there.

My prominent memory from Thursday was having difficult gospel conversations with people who were resistant.  But even the difficult gospel conversations are good conversations.  People are hearing truth, in love, and God can use His word powerfully in people’s lives - even when we don’t see it outwardly.  The gospel is the power of God for salvation!

 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday September 9, 2020 from 1300 to 1500.

Today was a sunny day fine for street evangelism, though there were only the two of us , Johnny and Hung working as a team. It proved well later that God made best use of our team work to stop some initial reluctant passers by to the first approach by Johnny but somehow changed their mind to stop by my 2nd approach. It is time and again the witnesses of how God works miraculously amongst us to reach out and touch people as chosen by God himself. We are always a vessel emptied for the service of God as He deems fit. Both of us had almost non-stop consecutive divine appointment to chat. Johnny comparatively had more longer conversation. I recorded below were the 9 divine appointments of mixed results but still serving the purpose of God beyond our full comprehension: -

1) Nadia a Mexican Catholic young girl coming here for one year English learning but has been detained here because of Covid-19. She initially did not want to stop as she is going to meet someone. But I asked for permission to shared the nutshell of Gospel by walking her across the pedestrian bridge. Finally she was moved to stayed for a much longer time allowing me to first shared the basic gospel message then tackling all doctrinal question resulted from her Catholic background. At the ned, she took a selfie with me as a gesture of her great appreciation for my explanation and clarification to her questions. I was able to identify with her because my father was born in Mexico.

2) Rejected to stop by a Chinese girl but God still moved her to take my tract which she initially rejected to take it from Johnny.

3) Zaire is a Filipino Catholic girl. She only has 90 % assurance of salvation as she deems not yet good enough to go to heaven. This is the common misunderstanding by most of the Catholic Christian. She finally got it right after being asked checking questions.

4) A Muslim man excused he was in a rush but still stopped by my questions to have a brief chat. I quickly touched base on the nutshell of gospel on sin and Jesus salvation. Pray that this will serve well for continuous work of God on his life.

5) An Indian lady took the tract but did not want to chat. I could only let go and trust that the tract will do the work of passing over to her the word of God.

6) Daniel and Victoria a pair of Vietnamese boy and girl friend with a cross ear ring but do not know the meaning of the cross. After clarification and listening the full Gospel, they agreed it is logical that we all need Jesus. I use the triangular relationship of marriage with God as the head that in future when they are married, their marriage would become much closer when they individually get a deepen relationship with God towards complete oneness in Christ.

7) Fiona a nonbeliever from Shandong who again claimed to be in a hurry, but she let me walk with her across the bridge to hear the gospel.

8) Mr Li is an old Singaporean of Cantonese speaking background. He initially responded rudely to Johnny's question if he knew where would he go after death. He felt challenged and offended as such he replied rudely that as a person without any religion, he is OK to go to hell. Somehow, God made him feel bad for his rudeness thus he voluntarily stopped to chat with me instead to explain his position against Christianity. He himself is considered a Buddhism follower which he understands well that Buddhism is not a religion but way of life towards self perfection. I gave enough room for him to speak and express his skeptics against Christianity so that I earn in exchange the chance to share the gospel as well as addressing all his questions against God and Christianity. He eventually had to leave after 15-20 minutes chat with his wife left already for a clinic appointment.

9) A Christian by the name of Christian of PNG/Irish mixed blood thought he knows well about the Bible and was proud of his spirituality having seen many vision from God as such he rejected Johnny outright not bother to stop and share. But some how, God moved me to approach him immediately and somehow he stopped to chat. Our conversation last almost over half and hour. He claimed to have faith in Jesus but when asked if he has full assurance of salvation. He answer 90 % but later, I found out that he actually thought his 90% certainty was basing on his action love deeds. God guided me to turn around his twisted understanding of Jesus redemptive grace by not ridiculing him but showing him the right version of real salvation by grace through faith. I complemented his effort of pursuing for deeper spirituality experience in God, but in the mean time correcting his thought that any Charismatic experience has nothing to do with salvation but only serve to boost his love for God. My empathy with his charismatic background earned me a much longer time to share the gospel as long as I wished. Actually I was the one to close the conversation after all queries were clarified and needed advice (warning) were given. May God continuously guide this man by the name Christian to really become a world Christian. 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

On Tuesday I was online sharing the gospel before heading to Riccarton for a couple of hours.  I spoke to a lot of high school students.

The first kid barely stayed initially, but as the conversation continued, he became more engaged.  He heard the law and gospel.  He opened up about being a Buddhist and we were able to talk about that some before he finally moved on with some gospel tracts.

Next up I had three guys stop.  They made it all the way through the flip chart - including the counting the cost page.  One of them said that nothing was stopping him.  They didn’t have any questions, but I asked him to get in touch if he did.

The next guy also made it all the way to the last page of the flip chart.  I used some examples to explain the cost of accepting the gift of Jesus - the examples hit home, and he started to really understand what I was meaning.  I challenged him to respond to the gospel and left him in God’s hands.

The last conversation of note was not with a high school student.  It was with a man originally from Chile.  He was engaged right from the beginning.  He didn’t like “ism’s” (e.g., atheism, communism, Buddhism, etc.)  He felt that it was used by powerful people to control.  Starting from here, I was able to share the gospel with him.  He rejected it, and started fighting against it.

Interestingly, while I was talking with him, four teens sat across from us and started listening to the conversation.  It was like they wanted to talk, but were waiting their turn.  They eventually left - I was able to hand one a tract though.

Wednesday was a nice warm spring day.  I went into the city before going online afterwards.

I headed for Cathedral Square first.  There was a preacher getting severely heckled - it sounded terrible, but quite a few people were hanging around watching.  It ended up being a gold mine of gospel conversations.  There were two other Christians out (from different ministries) as well, so we were all sharing the gospel.  I had about six one to one gospel opportunities.

The first was with a Christian lady who was enjoying the sun and listening to the preaching / heckling.  She was lovely, but when asked why she is going to heaven, she pointed to her obedience!  I explained that we will want to be obedient, but why can we be forgiven - she drew a blank.  I was able to explain the gospel to her, it was like she had never understood it before.

I then shared with a young couple with a young family.  They had been listening to the preaching, but hadn’t understood the gospel yet.  When I explained it, the guy came back with “that makes sense”.  He seemed relieved.  Yet I was careful to help them understand the cost of the gift.

Next up, two young men - one wasn’t interested, but the other was keen to talk.  I suspect he had a Christian background - he wasn’t interested in the gospel that he heard.

A construction worker rejected a tract but was open to chat about the preaching / heckling.  He heard the gospel and seemed very open.  He had to head back to work - he took the tract the second time.

As much as I disagree with the preacher being a lone ranger (not connected with a local church), the heckler was getting really nasty - and demanding evidence.  I decided to take him on and explain why he didn’t need evidence - that he already knew God exists.  He wouldn’t let me speak.

But he did calm down, and started talking directly with the preacher instead of yelling at him and calling him names.  I was grateful for that.

One of the other Christians (who is associated with a local church) took the opportunity to preach (pictured).

The highlight conversations from my time online was with a young Jewish lady who had been through some terrible stuff and was suicidal.  She gently argued with me, but I was able to slowly work through the gospel with her (she wanted to hear it in the end).  Eventually I ended the conversation.  And it was then she changed tune.  She apologised for arguing (she didn’t need to - she was fine), and said she would check out needGod.net.

My last conversation was with a Muslim from Egypt.  I focused on how God can be just and merciful - something that Islam can’t explain and Christianity can.  During the Tell Me Conference, James White had talked about a particular Hadith that leads to the gospel.  This guy brought up this very Hadith!  And I was able to use it in our conversation!  But sadly, he was resistant to the gospel.
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong Village on September 8, 2020 from 1330 to 1500

Today was a warm day . It was also a bit dry despite it is just he beginning of Spring into its 2nd week. The dryness applied also to today outreach. It was rare that all the four team mates persistently face rejection and got comparatively less divine chatting appointment for Gospel sharing conversation. This was particularly a testing lesson for the new members Yan Chang who joined us the 2nd time after a long rest. We all have to learn that , God is in control in all circumstances and there is always a lesson for us to learn to be patience and submit to God's timing and plan.

Comparatively, Winnie had got the most number of conversation. So it also shows that the election of God to be His messenger does not depend on our experience and skill level. It is all the sovereign work of God in operation. All is needed is trust and obey.

Recap below is the four significant conversations I had after being rejected numerous times.

1) A Black Christian did not stop when Winnie approached him. But when he took his seat to wait for the bus, he responded to my approach asking what the tract is. When he found out it is a gospel tract, he declared he is a Christian. I immediately switched to ask him the two diagnosis questions. But it was too late to get a response as the bus just came by that time. Anyhow, the man express His respect to our street evangelism ministry. Hopefully he will be motivated to do likewise.

2) Another Old man also rejected Winnie's approach but agreed to talk while waiting for the bus. The bus came very fast. I could only manged to share the nutshell of the gospel and handed him a tract.

3) A Muslim background UQ student showed initial rejection. I changed tactic to chat on migration policy and finally shared the full gospel before teh bus arrived.

4) Oscar was the only one who show receptive attitude toward gospel. He was very attentive and agreed on whatever I shared. Pray for him to read the tract and touch by God for a fruit bearing conversion.

感謝主今天的带领，讓我可以學到，傳福音给五人。主安排需要福音人士给我們，讓我們可以個别傳福音，對像不是我們㨂選的。

第一位遇上的是澳洲少女，Celina, 她願意信靠主耶稣基督。第二位是中国青年，初時他不願意接受單章，後來當他停下 查看巴士時間時，我行過去 問他認識耶穌基督嗎？跟着傳講福音给他，當我講完後，巴士到達。第三位是 Tegan, 澳洲女士，當她遇見 Johnny時，不願意留下聽福音。當她坐下，我嘗試問她願意查考你是否一個好人。她願意 便傳了福音给她。第四位，澳洲少女，Angella，願意接受耶稣基督。第五位，Leo, 澳洲男士，聽完福音後，他説要詳细想清楚。

留下聽福音的人，不是我們選擇的，是神預早安排好给我們的。有的人不願意留下聽我講的，願意聽關牧師講的。有的不願意聽 Johnny 講的，卻願意聽我講的。所以完全都是神的安排，固此我們要順服神的带领。感謝讚美主 今天學到的功課 是要信靠顺服。

 

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West Country (UK) Team

On Saturday Ed, Laurie and myself planned to meet in Plymouth City Centre for a couple of hours of outreach, and didn't expect to have such a packed time and were so thankful for God already preparing peoples hearts and minds that day. After dropping off the outreach stuff and then trying to find a parking space, I asked two passers by if they could watch the back of my car whilst reversing into a tight spot. I said 'than ks a million' afterwards and gave him a million pound note tract, and he was totally shocked. He said he had seen them before somewhere and wanted to use the idea in his advertising business and had been wondering where he could get one! I showed him the tract on the website and gave him an evangelism card and he was very grateful- I explained this was no coincidence but a God-incidence, of all the people walking past at that time and for him to be the one to be there was amazing.

As I was setting up the flip charts etc in town, 6 lads in their early twenties were sitting on a wall opposite eating their lunch, and looking across inquisitively at what I was doing. I told them it was an intelligence test if they fancied it, and they came across to have a go and then onto the good person test. They really listened and were engaged and for around 20 min listened to the gospel message and why they needed a Saviour. They all listened and at the end one of them asked about purgatory and people spending time there to pay off sins. I tried to explain that this was not in the Bible but made up by the Roman Catholic church a few hundred years ago as a way of scaring people into giving money to the Church to try and get dead relatives to spend less time in Hell, but that it was not in scripture and really a scam. They agreed and all took some tracts and a gave a firm handshake which was really encouraging.

Whilst this conversation had been going on, Laurie had been speaking to 2 Catholic guys from Portugal and Poland that were part of a larger group of Missionaries here from different countries. The conversation was about the role of good works and faith and salvation and knowing we are saved as supposed to hoping we will be. The guys did seem to understand what we were saying and mostly agreed, and took some gospel tracts to look at.

Laurie felt led to read a chapter of John 1 for first time and stood up to share this which was a prompting from her Dad, and she was encouraged and hops to continue to do this again. Ed was handing out gospel tracts to people and stopped to talk to a young guy that was interested in taking a Bible and some tracts which was good, as well as a DVD about Dinosaurs in the Bible and the age of the earth.

That day I had read in my J.C.Ryle devotions book Luke 17 v 26-37, where Jesus talked about Noah and the judgment of the worldwide flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot and his wife, and future judgment to come before Jesus returns. I tried to show people that in these really challenging times we needed security and hope to know where we would go when we died, and the judgment that fll on people before would one day fall again finally.

I was holding a Bible in my hand, and a man stopped to listen and then started to engage with me saying we cant trust the Bible as it was written by men and had been changed lots of times and was written before he was born. He said it couldn't be trusted and was full of contradictions. I asked him to tell me when the Bible had been changed and what the contradictions were. Funnily enough he had never actually read the Bible, but attended a Catholic Church with his daughter, but didn't believe in God. This was a perfect preaching opportunity, and so I tried to show the man the foolishness of his position, how we can trust the Bible, how there are no contradictions, that its the most read and studied book ever and many people who have started off as atheists anting to discredit it, have actually ben saved from reading it and know it to be 100% accurate. 

I spoke about the Dead sea scrolls, and how without God and believing in evolution and the Big Bang, people have no idea where we came from, why we are here and where we are going when we die. The gentleman continued to shout and argue, which drew a crowd of about 20 people, and a man who had stopped to listen asked the man about Shakespeare etc and if he believe he existed before he was born. The mans very strange stance was exposed and people could see his argument was non existent, and the man listened while I tried to show him he didn't want to read the Bible because of sin, and that any excuse not to believe it was being used. He put on his sunglasses and actually became quiet and listened, I offered him a Bible which he didn't accept, but he did take some tracts and the two DVDs and he shook hands before leaving.

A few of the people that had been listening stayed while I finished preaching, which led to some conversations to different people listening; a young lad took a bible and tracts, two women took bibles and tracts that Laurie said were listening intently and looked concerned. She told them it's true and its important to think about and take action on, to turn to Jesus. A man had been sat listing listening and took some tracts, and we managed to speak to the man that was a Christian that had engaged the heckler. We all had a great chat with Steven and his family that were previously from London but now pastored a Church in Exeter. He said he had come away from the Anglican Church and was now part of the Free Anglican Church, and he had been praying to meet others to go out onto streets with, he is reformed, likes Living Waters ministries and we exchanged numbers to meet in Exeter one Saturday to preach which was really encouraging for both of us.

Laurie also had a chat with older gentleman called Edward who had asked questions about channeling spirit guides. She said that the Devil masquerades as an Angel of light, and he said that made sense. She told him the gospel and he said he believed that Jesus is the only way of salvation. Laurie gave him a bible and he said he would read Matthews gospel and digest it well! .

It was a truly amazing day and we prayed afterwards for the people we had spoken with and handed out tracts too, and were particularly encouraged to meet Steven and his family and hopefully team up together soon.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

The end of another weekend of outreach in Christchurch (NZ).

Saturday was a bit slower than normal - I positioned myself in my usual Saturday spot near the Bridge of Remembrance.  I managed to have a few good follow up conversations, and hand out a few tracts.  Even the busker who was near me said it was slow!

I did have two good opportunities.

A middle aged couple walked past.  The wife beelined away from me, but to my surprise the husband walked past and accepted a tract.  I asked him what he thought happened after life, and he stopped to engage!  His wife abandoned him - but he wasn’t concerned.  It was a straight forward gospel conversation where he grasped the concepts quickly.  I challenged him to respond before he moved on to catch up with his wife.  The gospel is the power of God to salvation.

I approached a father and son.  Later it turned out I had talked to the father (a Christian) on a previous Saturday, but at the time he subtly indicated that I should talk to his son - which I did.  The son considered himself a Christian, but pointed to his good deeds as the reason he would be going to heaven (sigh).  He seemed impacted when I explained the gospel.  This is not a judgement, but a plea: Fathers - It’s not the ministers job to share the gospel with your children, it is yours.  You need to be constantly going over the gospel with them!

By this stage, the buskers act was in full swing, and it was loud, I decided to move locations to the Colombo and Cashel corner to finish the outreach.

Sunday afternoons outreach was the opposite of Saturday, it was busy and interesting - very interesting.

I started the outreach on my own, but I had Daryl join me.  I prayed for gospel opportunities.

First up was a conversation with a liberal American Muslim whose son (with her) and husband (who survived) had been shot in the terrible mosque shooting of the previous year.  We ended up talking for about forty minutes.  Her defensive walls to objective truth were very high, and she really liked to talk.  I knew tackling her defenses directly would be futile.  So I just patiently listened, and waited for opportunities to communicate.  Amazingly, I found a way to be able to explain the gospel to her a number of times and then watch her process it and reject it.  Every opportunity I could, I would gently lead her back to the critical issue of how God (who made the universe and has the right to make the rules) can be just and merciful.  And how Jesus is the only answer that makes sense.  When we finally parted ways, I re-expressed my deep sympathy for what she, her family, and community had been through.

By this stage, Daryl was with me - it had been a long while since he had joined me for outreach, and so I took him through the new flip chart we use.

Low and behold, two girls walked up and wanted to give the flip chart a try!  I quickly read it as a set up - they just wanted to attack.  It turns out I was only partly right.  One of them was Wicken.  Like Friday, the issues of why God allows suffering and homosexuality came up.  And also the issue abortion.  They were following the logic of my explanation of the gospel, and picked it up quickly, when one of them suddenly got angry at me.  I asked why, and she quickly calmed down - but it rattled me.  She was deeply resistant.  Later, she asked me why I do what I do.  She even said it annoys her that I’m out on the streets - it was actually a very encouraging thing for her to say.  I work very hard to not be offensive myself, but the gospel will offend!

We got into another conversation with a couple of girls - but it was quickly interrupted by a guy I’ve spoken to before who was in passive intellectual attack mode!  We lost the conversation with the two girls.  I had to work to turn the guys attack mode off - I refused to engage him otherwise.  It worked, things calmed down, we didn’t have the time for a proper conversation so I offered contact details so we could continue the chat.  He initially refused, but then he gave me his email address.  I’ve emailed him, and he has responded!  I will continue that conversation on Tuesday.

Sunday afternoon was exciting, I don’t think my writing has captured it.  We are standing against this culture with the gospel, and I’m seeing little signs that it is having an effect (all glory to God alone).  Please pray for strength and protection to continue the fight.

Excuse the photo, it’s the only one I took over the weekend of outreach!
 

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Redcliffe (QLD) Team

It was another beautiful day at Redcliffe as the team turned up for outreach today. The team was made up of Richard, Penny, Rob, Joy, Alan, Debbie, Andrew and Col. God gave everyone just such a wonderful day of gospel conversations and plenty of tracts and bibles were handed out as well. Redcliffe is just such a responsive location where generally most people are happy to chat and listen to the gospel. We had a great conversation with a Muslim guy by asking him who was going to pay for his sins and he said that God would just forgive him and just ignore his sin. I went through the court room illustration with him saying that a just judge could not just ignore a person breaking the law and similarly God cannot just ignore sin that breaks his laws. Only by trusting in Christ who paid the price for breaking God's law could a person be forgiven. I'm not sure that he accepted what I said but at least he heard the gospel and accepted a tract and I think I gave him a gospel of John. Thank God, for there was lots of similar gospel conversation today and it was just so good to see the Holy Spirit touching so many with the hope of the gospel. By the end of our time everyone was just so much rejoicing in what the Lord had done through the team for his Glory. Our next outreach is in 2 weeks on the 19 th Sept, 11 am til 1 pm come and join us, it would be great to have more believers sharing the gospel with us. Praise God for his goodness and kindness. What a wonderful Saviour we have in the Lord Jesus !!!!

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday and Friday were busy days of outreach, as usual.

I started with a couple of hours online on Thursday before heading to Northlands and then Eastgate.  The highlight was a discussion with a guy from Luxembourg!  And he spoke Luxembourgish - you are always learning things with online evangelism. ;)  But he spoke English well enough for me to be able to share the gospel with him.

Andy and I had a good time of outreach at the bus stops.  And it was great to have Daniel join us at Northlands.

At Northlands, I had people stop to talk who I would never have expected to.  I thank God for the gospel opportunities.

But the highlight conversation was with a lady who said she was already a Christian.  I used the “dagger in my back” scenario to see what her understanding of the gospel was.  Sadly, she didn’t even get close to the central key of Christianity: Jesus.  When I told her - she realised what she had been missing and felt sheepish.  She even said she needs to re-read her Bible.  She seemed to appreciate the brief conversation and gladly accepted a gospel tract with more information.  Thank you Lord.

At Eastgate, I had a high school kid approach me - I remembered talking to him before.  So I asked him what he had to do to go to heaven.  He started talking about the things he needed to do - none of which were the biblical answer.  I gently probed, and then suddenly (and unexpectedly) he said the word “trust”.  I smiled - something from our previous conversation had stuck!  I asked him what he had to trust in, and he said, “Jesus”.  So I said, “Trust that Jesus has done what for you?”.  He said, “that he died on the cross for my sin”.  It was in his head, but did he understand?  Sadly, his bus came before I could talk further.  God willing, I will have another opportunity to talk with him.  Or maybe he will cross your path one day?  Are you ready to share the gospel?

Friday started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside Christchurch hospital.  You can read about it here.

We then moved on to Cathedral Square for open air gospel proclamation.  Our hecklers had already started gathering.  I decided to take a different tack today.  In the past, one of the hecklers had become so aggressive, that we had to institute a policy of completely ignoring this guy.  Sadly, this led to us just having to preach over top of his heckling - to outsiders, it didn’t look good.  So today I decided to start re-engaging, and directly addressing the objections.  It went reasonably well.  A small group gathered.  Sadly, due to the constant stream of questions, I never managed to get to the gospel.  I still have much to learn!  I ran out of energy, and Marty stepped in to take over.  People would stop to listen.  I had at least one follow up conversation with a guy who had listened to Marty preach - he was impacted.

I then had a wonderful opportunity to approach two girls who had been listening.  One of them opened up with “I’m gay”.  So I just responded with, “Oh, hi, well - I’m hetrosexual, nice to meet you”.  We then fell into a discussion about where the universe came from.  But then the other came up with the issue of why God allows suffering.  Homosexuality and Theodicy are the two biggest objections I have to deal with.  I gently reasoned with them and then, suddenly, a lady who had been listening from a small distance interjected into the conversation.  To my surprise, one of the two girls defended me!  We exchanged names, and then she initiated a hand shake.  I sensed that now was not the time to push the conversation, and we parted ways at that point.  They left with tracts, and I told them that anytime they wanted to talk, they were welcome to approach me.

We moved to Cashel Mall - Bridge of Remembrance end.  I had a fascinating encounter there.  I had approached a lady to open a gospel discussion - she was open and we started to wrestle with the deep questions of life when suddenly a guy approached me and said “You made me believe in God!”.  I was a bit surprised, and then he said, “At Riccarton - you talked to me”.  He wanted to talk again, but as I was in the middle of a conversation!

I was able to finish the gospel conversation with the lady.  I went to find the guy and noticed that his friends and he were hearing the gospel from Roger on the flip chart.

Once that had finished, I was able to catch up with him and one of his friends to find out what was happening in his life.  Sadly, his reasons for believing God were experienced based, and he wasn’t believing that Jesus had died for his sin.  Yet, he is interested - and even reading a Bible.  His friend is Bahá’í and we ended up having a conversation where, sadly, resistance to the gospel started to build.  Even so, the gospel is the power of God for salvation - in His timing.

Mike and I finished the day with an evening outreach in the city.  Wow, some fascinating gospel opportunities were taken - praise God!  In Cathedral Square I got into some non standard gospel conversations with various people dressed very alternatively.  People would join the conversations at different times and things would get interrupted and so no conversation flow could really be established.  But gospel plowing did occur!

Eventually Mike and I gave up, and we headed off.  Our very next conversation was with a guy who was really keen to talk to us.  It turned out he had been listening to our conversations in Cathedral Square!  (I never noticed him.)  He was an ex-Christian and was ready for an apologetical fight.  We didn’t give him one - he already knows God exists!  We asked him what he understood about Christianity, and it became very clear that he never understood the gospel.  Eventually his whole demeanor changed - it was a great conversation where Mike and I tag teamed the discussion.

Near the end of the outreach, we managed to have some interesting conversations outside the pubs on Oxford Terrace.  I managed to get into conversation with an extremely drunk couple.  I’m not sure if they will remember the conversation at all - I told one to put the tract I gave her into her pocket and read it in the morning.

All glory to God for the opportunities to be a witness for Him.  Please keep us in prayer.
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday September 2, 2020 from 1300 -1500

After one month of rest, we have resumed serving on the street here at Sunnybank. Even though the Covic-19 community outbreak has not yet been completely over, general reaction of people is still quite receptive as such there were many divine appointments arranged by God for us to share the Gospel.

The team started with just Johnny and me, but God led Gary to join us soon after we did our opening prayer. Then David Loi also joined us at around 2pm. He partnered with Johnny as a learning curve handing out tract. Gary was very active today having many conversation that I had lost count. Seemingly God is bringing up Gary to become more upfront in approaching people for a chat. I had got 11 opportunities of outreach.

1) Annie a school girl possibly of Korean descendent, just heard the nutshell of gospel before the bus arrived though she appeared very appreciative and receptive.

2) A Cantonese speaking Old woman from China was reluctant to take the tract not to mention for a chat. But our common dialect helped to break the ice and I ended up sharing the full Gospel with her and she promised to read the tract to revise on what I shared with her.

3) May a Filipino Catholic Mum with her son Max. She also was reluctant to chat thinking that she is all right as a Catholic Christian, but God changed her mind to listen to my sharing of the full Gospel and realized her faith was not pure not having yet an absolute faith in Christ alone for genuine salvation. There was not enough time to elaborate so I had to let go to leave God to continue His work.

4) A Korean lady Fay with tattoo was welcoming for me to have a chat before the bus came, I could basically touched base on the Gospel apart from just giving her the tract and prayerfully God will lead her to reach a right decision later on.

5) Another Filipino mother and daughter were waiting for the bus. I was able to share with the Mum who ended up admitting she is a Catholic Christian. As usual, she does not have right concept of salvation which I rushed to explained to here before the bus came.

6) Alvin a young Malaysian Christian talked with Col before . I use diagnosis questions to make sure he has teh correct understanding of Gospel as well as assurance of salvation.

7) Nina a Vietnamese school girl who were receptive to the gospel. I was able to share the full gospel to her before her mum arrive to pick her up.

8) A Chinese girl rejected Johnny but took the tract from me

9) Teresa a Taiwanese girl who has no religious belief but her parents are claimed to be Buddhist. Yet she also appeared very receptive to the Gospel.

10) A Korean lady asking for direction. She was in a great hurry so I could not but let go. But trust that the action love will be used by God to lead her to Christ one day.

11) A Muslim lady who could not speak any English but I still manged to show her the love of Jesus and that she needs Jesus.

 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Tuesday was the first day of spring!  I’ve now survived two winters - although, with online evangelism, it is so much easier navigating the weather.  And it just so happened, that the first day of spring was very wet, so online I went.

I had two conversations where I was able to deploy Google Translate to great effect.

The first was with a person who spoke Spanish and ZERO English.  I was amazed at the progress I made.  But sadly I didn’t get past the law with this person before the connection flaked out.

Stranger: Culpable
Stranger: But he would forgive me
Stranger: Creo
Stranger: He forgives me, I'm sure he's my friend
Stranger: I've never sinned and he knows it
You: But you have! You have lied, stolen, and your anger is like murder to God.
You: Do you know someone who is perfect and willing to die for you to receive your punishment from hell?
You: needGod.net
You: Still there?
Stranger has disconnected.

The last conversation of the outreach was with a girl who spoke portugese but could speak a little english as well.  After the chat, I would say she was already a Christian.  The conversation became quite pastoral with focus on justification by faith alone and why a Christian can have assurance of salvation.  And yet I didn’t want her to have a false sense of assurance and so there was talk about the fruit of repentance that will come in a Christian.  Ultimately, I pointed her to her pastors / church / family - as these people know her, where I had only just met her.  She seemed incredibly grateful for the conversation.  And I was incredibly grateful for Google Translate!  If she is not saved, may God change her heart; but if she is, may she continue to grow and be used by God for His glory!

I had an amazing conversation with three girls from Lebanon!  I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone from that country before.  They were Maronites (a form of Christianity) - something I’ve never heard of before and had to do a little research on later.  They looked to their good deeds as the way to salvation, and so I shared the law and the gospel - they came to grasp it very quickly.  I challenged them to respond to the gospel, and showed them why they are not really Christians.  One of them had a question about homosexuality - which I answered.  They seemed to really appreciate the conversation.

On Wednesday I spent two hours in the city before joining the Aussie team for two hours online.

There were four highlight conversations in the city.

Firstly I approached a construction worker who was engrossed in something on his phone - I expected him to not want to talk to me, so I was surprised by his friendliness!  He had a Christian background, but was pleasantly surprised when he came to understand the gospel.  He gladly received a follow up tract.

Then saw a guy coming who I thought would be keen for a chat.  I positioned myself to try to start a conversation when two ladies went past from the other direction.  I offered tracts and was surprised when they accepted them!  I quickly moved into a gospel conversation and they stopped to engage - they both seemed interested.  I could tell they didn’t have much time, so I moved quickly to explain the law and the gospel before they indeed moved on.

I encounter the Unicef workers a lot, who are out getting sign ups.  As I went past one of them, they approached me - not to sign me up, but they wanted to talk about the deep questions of life.  I ended up having a long conversation - and yet there was a deep resistance to the logic I was trying to share.  I was able to share the gospel - but it seemed to bounce off.  Eventually I wound up the conversation.  Apparently she had already received a tract from me.  This time, she accepted a “Which one is right?” and “How we know God exists and why it matters” before I moved on.

I finally made it down to Ara, and managed to get into a good conversation with two guys who were also resistant.  Eventually one of them said, “look, as long as I’m a good person, I’ll be okay” - the perfect opportunity to segway into the law!  The didn’t give me an opportunity to get to the gospel - but they did take tracts.

Online I had some good conversations.  The first was with a guy who didn’t seem to be responsive, and took some time to grasp the gospel.  He just didn’t seem interested, and I was surprised that he hadn’t disconnected.  And yet, to my surprise, it turns out he was very interested.  At the end of the conversation, he opened up about a fear of death - that he now understood the solution to!

I then had a fascinating text conversation with a person who had pretty good answers but was likely a false convert:

Stranger: Hi
You: Hi :)
Stranger: You <can’t repeat>?
You: What do you think happens after life?
You: No, I'm not, and I don't want to be.
Stranger: Ok
You: But, what do you think happens after life?
Stranger: I think that we go to heaven if we accept Christ as our saviour
You: Interesting answer! :) What did Jesus do so he could save us? And what did he save us from?
Stranger: He died in the cross for us and saved us from a lifetime of suffering
You: Right, he saved us from the punishment we deserve for our sins!
You: Have you accepted the gift of Jesus?
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: When I was in 4th grade
You: What do we have to do to accept that gift?
Stranger: It's not that hard you just accept him into your heart
You: The Bible says we are saved by grace, through faith.... we need to TRUST that Jesus died for our sins.
You: And Jesus dieing for our sins is the only reason we go to heaven.
You: Out of 100, how sure are you that you are going to heaven?
Stranger: Honestly I don't know I've accepted him as my saviour but I'm still not sure
Stranger: Why are you here?
You: ok, that is why I'm asking you these questions, because Hell is real and very serious - I don't want you to go there!
You: I'm here because I'm a Christian, and I want to share the good news of Jesus with people :)
Stranger: Well a word of advice don't do it on here
You: We can be 100% certain we are going to heaven, because our forgiveness is not based on how good we are but how good Jesus was - and that he died and rose for our sins.
You: But
You: Our life will be changed if we are trusting that Jesus died for us.
You: There are many false converts.
You: A word of advice - NO ONE should be here. It's a nasty place. But nasty people need Jesus.
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Ok I think I've had enough. Thanks for the lesson that I've heard to many times. Good bye
You: Why did you ask me If I'm <can’t repeat>?
You: Why are you here?
You: Has your life been changed by the gift of Jesus? Are you a false convert?
You: Read 1 John
You: I say that because I care for you.
Stranger: You know God may say that being <can’t repeat> is a sin but it's not it's completely and humanly natural
You: Read Matthew 5
Stranger: And you can't care for me... You don't even know me
You: Jesus said if you just look at someone with lust, it's like committing adultery with them in your heart
You: I care enough about you to spend time here to confront you with truth.
Stranger: Like I said before I've had enough have a nice day good bye
You: Your soul is the most important thing you have. To gain it, you must lose it.
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Good bye
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Stop sending that
You: The fact that you haven't left, shows that you care very much about this conversation.
You: God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud heart. Don't be proud. :)
You: If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer, I'm not your enemy.
Stranger: <expletive> I guess I just wanted the last word which i have good bye
Stranger has disconnected.

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