Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 83

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday and Friday are the busiest days for the Christchurch (NZ) team.  Thursday: two hours online, then two hours at Northlands bus stops, and then two hours at Eastgate bus stops.  Friday: two hours outside Christchurch hosptial for the gospel + abortion outreach, an hour in Cathedral Square, two hours in Cashel Mall, and then a two hour evening outreach in the city.  Tiring, but very rewarding work!  We thank you for your prayer and other support.

Some highlights of the many conversations I had on Thursday:

• Northlands: a group of five teens walk past and I politely say: “excuse me, may I ask you a question, it’s a deep question: what do you think happens after life?”  Three are not interested, but two very much are, and so they all stay for a long conversation.  It turns out that one of them is a Christian and wrestling with unanswered questions.  The focus of the conversation was some apologetics, but also how we are justified before God and the place of good deeds in the life of a Christian.  Of course, the gospel was center stage in the conversation.  Interestingly, the non Christian grasped the gospel quicker than the Christian seemed to gain clarity on it.  I could tell the Christian was really grateful for the conversation - I was greatly encouraged.

 

• Northlands: last week I wrote about a conversation with a satanist that was frustratingly interrupted.  Praise God I got to see this guy again today and was able to have a wonderful follow up conversation where he heard the gospel!

 

• Eastgate: sadly I had some very pastorally focused conversations with two people who had suffered heinous crimes of rape and abuse.  In one of the conversations the person was very bitter, and resistant to the gospel, so I just spent time doing my best to listen.  This lady seemed starved of conversation, and just wanted to talk.  After a long conversation, it came to an end, and this lady smiled, and gave me a hug.  I was honoured.  She gladly took a gospel tract from me.  Maybe what she wasn’t ready for in words, she will accept in writing?  Oh how desperately is the gospel needed in this broken world.  There is hope in Jesus!!!

 

• Eastgate: a conversation with a guy who knew a lot about Christian things, but no understanding of the gospel.  The guy was actually a bit scary, and I’m really glad Andy was with me.  Weirdly, another, very broken looking, guy interrupted the conversation wanting money for drugs!  The guy I was talking to said he could help him, and so off they went.  They both took tracts.  Oh, how unable I am to change these people.  They need Jesus!  We must get out to share the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation!

It was another difficult outreach outside Christchurch hospital.  You can read about it here.

We didn’t open-air preaching in Cathedral Square, there were kids busking.  Instead we spent the time in one to one gospel conversations.  It was great to have the OAC crew there with us.  We then moved to the Bridge of Remembrance end of Cashel Mall.  Sadly, all my conversations in the afternoon were with hard hearted resistant people.  Don’t get me wrong they were good conversations - but they just didn’t see the wonder of the gospel, or wouldn’t even let me get to the gospel.  Oh God, have mercy on the hard hearts of this city and nation.  Raise up labourers, Lord, to plow the soil and sow gospel seed!

Yet I had one highlight from the afternoon, it was a follow up with a young man I’ve talked to maybe three times before over the last year and a half.  He now works on the Convention Center construction site close to Cathedral Square.  He claims he is now trusting that Jesus has paid his hell fine.  I encouraged him to get in touch and to get involved in a local church - I invited him to mine.  I deliberately left the ball in his court.

The evening outreach was, yet again, wonderful.  Lots of people out and about - in spite of the cold and wet.  Mike and I had two stand out conversations.

The first was with a guy who had a Hindu dad, and Lutheran mum, and went to a Catholic school.  He had a real melting pot of philosophies!  But I challenged him; when you boil it all down - what is the truth?  He came to hear the gospel.  But multiple rounds of checking questions and explanations were required for it to really start sticking.  He really appreciated the chat, and left with a follow up tract.

The last conversation of the evening was on a floodlit basketball half court.  Two teens (Catholics, from Invercargill) were sitting on the court, so Mike and I joined them and had a wonderful gospel chat.  The girl said that we have to keep the ten commandments to go to heaven - that was a set up!  They quickly realised that they could never meet the standard.  When the guy heard the gospel, a broad smile of understanding came across his face - it was a precious moment!
 

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Online Evangelism

Friday afternoon's outreach online was exciting a wonderful arvo full of chats! God was very kind in who he bought across the stream!

The first conversation of the afternoon was with Miles, an older guy who had initially rejected Christianity but then saw God's existence, understood that God sets the rules and that he is guilty and that the punishment would be very severe for those who rebel against the God of the universe. Then when asked for the solution he said he had no idea but asked, "Can you tell me? What can I do to not go to Hell?" He came to understand the simplicity of the good news that those we believe that Jesus Christ took the punishment for their sin are perfect in the sight of God and may even Heaven.

He also saw that his primary reason for rejecting the good news prior to this conversation was that he'd never understood it before. He then saw that the reason he was now hesitant to believe it not because it wasn't true but because he wanted to keep living his own way. This was pointed out and he acknowledged that living his own way would not be worth going to Hell for and said he was really thankful for the chat, he wasn't expecting it but said it was very worth thinking about! He was even encouraged to read the Bible and said he would consider starting!

Another conversation was with Amy who initially professed to be a Christian but very quickly saw that she wasn't sure of the way to Heaven, in fact she was hoping in her own performance as the reason she was going to Heaven. She too saw her guilt and that her actions could not be the reason she would go to Heaven, as they were actually leading her to Hell! She then said, "There is no way for us to get into Heaven". She then heard the gospel and came to understand Jesus' offer of forgiveness and was quite surprised at it. She said that today she would believe and was shown how that would impact her life and she said she would consider it.

Please be praying for these two that their response to the gospel in the conversation would be a result of the Holy Spirit's work and therefore that they would believe the good news and as a result would love to serve God and share with other people this good news!

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Friday night in Brisbane City was greatly encouraging! It always is, you should join us sometime!

The first conversation of the evening was with Pravish. He'd chatted to the team a week earlier and not only was he able to explain the way to Heaven and how a Christian would live in light of that he also said he was trusting in Jesus! He had a Bible and said he'd had a little look at reading but was pointed specifically to John's gospel and was encouraged to check out a local church! What an exciting start to the evening!

The following conversation was with Josh. Who right off the bat shared he was very interested to talk and shared about his Christian upbringing and shared that he has aspergers syndrome which caused him to reason a certain way. After an almost one hour conversation he came to clearly grasp the gospel and was able to articulate it back and was mind blown at a God who really is God! He had always heard of God as puny, reactionary and limited by our "free will" and said it made sense that God really would be all powerful and incontrol! He was really excited, was so thankful for the chat and said he would read the gospel of John on his plane flight the following morning!

There is a very sad and continuing to unfold story with one of the other "evangelists" who comes out on Friday night. May you uphold this lady in your prayer! She once lived a life doing whatever she wanted, in total rebellion against God and His rules but upon her "conversion" a little while ago she has now jumped to thinking that cleaning up her own life, asking for forgiveness for all her sins, stopping sinning entirely and other scatterings of good works are the reason that God will accept her into Heaven. She thinks she earns Jesus' sacrifice by all these works. The problem, not only is she in grave danger of judgement, she is telling other people of this as well. Please be praying that God would change her heart. That He would not allow her to continue to spread lies, in His name but instead would cause her to become a great witness for Him!

Last conversation was with three drunk young adults. They were a little all over the place to begin with but by God's kindness they actually came to see that God exists, they are guilty and deserving of Hell and therefore that Jesus taking the punishment for their sin is the only way for them to end up in Heaven. They were challenged by this and said they'd never heard it before and said they really would have to think about it. One was more interested than the other two but they each took tracts and popped them in their pockets.

It was a wonderful time out with many other conversations. May you be encouraged by this report and it is our prayer that it would spur you on to want to come and join us yourself! Why not this weekend?

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West Country (UK) Team

15 July 2020

Newquay is certainly getting busier as the summer tourist season commences. For most of the year our town is small in population, but once the warmer months get here it explodes in size. This means that Newquay is a strategic town for the evangelisation of the UK; with so many tourists coming here we can impact the entire nation without leaving our community.

Just after lunch, four of us gathered at Newquay Baptist Church to pray and prepare for this afternoon’s outreach. When we arrived in the town centre we found that our regular preaching location (if one can have a regular location after a single outreach) was taken by a man who was selling driftwood art. It turns out that one of our team members, Ian, knew this man so he went to chat to him. The man very kindly offered to move his stall so that we could set up to preach. We are so thankful that the Lord’s providence allowed this man to be in the spot that we wanted and that he was willing to move.

The team began to hand out tracts while I set up my sketchboard for the open-air message. It has been over two years since I used my board so I was rather nervous as I got my paints and paper ready. My message was called, “The Way to Heaven", which looks at three wrong ways that people think will help them get to Heaven, then it looks at the one right way; the whole message uses a variety of Scripture but it is mostly based off John 14:1-6.

My nerves were rising up as I got my Bible ready to preach; if I could have, I would’ve happily let someone else take my place as preacher. Even after proclaiming Christ in the open-air for sixteen years I get nervous when it comes time to proclaim. Yet, despite my nerves I had to push forward; I needed to make much of Jesus so I began to speak, “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen…”

A small number of people stopped to listen as I painted and explained the gospel. One man named Simon asked a few good questions during the open-air which I was happy to answer. It turns out that Simon is a school teacher who teaches religion. His questions were good, but they did show a lack of understanding of what Christianity really teaches. We went back and forth for a little time over who is Jesus, and also how we got the Bible. When I asked Simon what will happen to him after death, his response was to say, “I will be worm food.” He didn’t really have any reason for this belief, it just seemed to best fit his current worldview. When Simon went to leave the open-air meeting Ian was able to chat to him and to give him literature which specifically answered the questions Simon was asking.

After my open-air it was time for George of the Faith Mission to preach. He did an excellent job preaching on “Where do we come from?” This message challenged the prevailing mindset of our culture that we are just cosmic accidents; he also clearly preached the gospel to those who would listen.

Next to preach was Nigel, also from the Faith Mission, who spoke on the love of God from Romans 5:8. It was great to hear him expound on who God is and why He loves people. It was a simple, yet clear call to trust in the Saviour.

I finished the day off by preaching from Acts 16:30-31 on the topic of “Are you asking the most important question?” My challenge was that people would consider Christ and then seek Him as the Saviour. I truly pray that many would do just that.

Overall today went very well. A number of tracts were handed out and people listened to the gospel. Please pray that many would come to faith in Christ.

SDG!

 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Tuesday’s Riccarton outreach was busy.  Roger was with me, as usual, but we had little time for interaction due to the # of conversations we were having.

And I ended up talking with a lot of Christians.  Many of whom really appreciated the clarity of the gospel presented.  One conversation that really stands out in my mind is a conversation with a guy (a university student) who was only a year or so old in his faith.

I had a conversation with an Asian guy who was attracted by the good person test flip chart.  This led to a long conversation where I was able to step through all the checking questions.  Yet, he seemed to take offense when I would constantly prompt him to reiterate what it was that would get him to heaven.  He would say, “I know what you mean, but I’m not going to say it”.  Yet, he was keen to stick around and continue the conversation.  I wasn’t able to read what he was really thinking.  Yet he heard the law and the gospel.

I noticed Roger was in a tense sounding conversation across the road.  It happens from time to time.

But then I was quickly into another conversation with 3 teen guys.  They were keen to try the good person test and we quickly fell into a very good discussion.  Roger came over at one point, but I didn’t want to lose focus with the 3 guys - so I did my best to ignore Roger.  But he mentioned he had some frozen yogurt for me!?  He placed it on the seat next to me and left me to it.  The three guys came to grasp the gospel, and to my surprise, one of them said nothing would stop him from trusting that Jesus had died on the cross to pay his hell fine - even after considering the cost!  It was a wonderful conversation.  He wanted to know what church I went to, and indicated that he would be interested in coming along.  He knows how to get in touch.  They are in God’s hands.

I then turned my attention to the frozen yogurt.  It turns out that the tense sounding conversation Roger was having across the road was not tense.  The guy was just passionate.  He and his family are Muslims, and they now own the SOYO frozen yogurt place Roger sets his flip chart up in front of each Tuesday afternoon.  In spite of our significant religious difference, they blessed Roger and I with some frozen yogurt each!

After the outreach I went over to indicate my thanks to them (through the window).  I was beckoned inside, and offered a top up!  I was touched.  I’m not sure what Roger said during that conversation - but they sure like us.  May we be able to get to know them better, may they come to grasp the gospel and only trust only in Jesus to be saved from their sin and the justice of God.  Truly, our only hope!

Wednesday there was rain, so I decided to spend the whole afternoon online - and what a wonderful harvest field it is!

Some of the conversations that stand out include a discussion with a Muslim man living in Chicago.  He heard the law, and seemed to grasp the logic of the bad news, but didn’t seem too concerned.  Yet he did want to hear the good news of the gospel.  He patiently consumed the knowledge I was giving him.  I could tell he wasn’t convinced, and yet he seemed to appreciate what I was doing.  He said he would check out needGod.net.

Later, I had an epic conversation with a young man who thought he would be going to heaven as long as he enjoyed his life, and didn’t murder anyone.  Our conversation was a wake up call that he really appreciated.  He said that he trusted Jesus had paid his hell fine “5 minutes ago”.  And then he thanked me for what I was doing, and told me to keep doing it.  I encouraged him to join me - and he agreed!  I pointed him to a Bible and a local church in his area.

A very encouraging couple of days of outreach, both locally and online.  Jesus, may you receive the reward of your suffering.  Save people for your glory!
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday July 15, 2020 from 1300 - 1500

Praise and thank God moving four persons to serve at this harvest field including Johnny, Col, Allen and Hung. It was a fine Sunny winter afternoon, but it appeared a bit quieter than usual especially on the West side with Col and Allen. For the East side where Johnny and I partnered as a sub-team, there were more chances from both the Bus stop and the Pedestrian Bridge. God again teaches us lesson that we cannot use just human judgement to select or avoid targets. God kept supplying more than average numbers of Chinese mainlanders than normal. Another lesson God taught me today is that Sin must be emphasized despite natural reaction from the gospel target is feeling irritated and tendency to quit the chat. This happened several time to day. Anyway, I had 11 divine appointments as recap below: -

1) Brian a young local Aussie who looks clean and neat or a typical good man look. He politely stopped for a chat. But he was found irritated when I started touching on the issue of sin. He challenged me if I have ever smoke social drug. He became impatient to listen on and tried to escape from my sharing. I nevertheless insisted on walking him across the bridge to finish to full gospel and can only pray that God has His plan and work for Brian.

2) A Girl from Mainland China happily stopped listening to music from her iphone and prepared to chat. Yet it was cut short by the bus. God just wanted to show me, never ever stereotype and target group as it was God who stop persons for a chat.

3) While still around at the bus stop, I approached Marty an Indian high school girl from Mansfield state high. Again she stopped her music listening to chat with me yet again it was cut short by the bus after a nutshell of the gospel was shared.

4) Then yet another Chinese lady willingly took the tract but could not stay for a chat.

5) I chatted with the old Mainlander Grandma with her grandson after she finished chatting for over half an hour with Johnny. She did not feel love from her own daughter who takes her for granted summoning her to come to do child minding. She belongs to a typical community group of parent from Mainland China that actually feel lonely with no meaning in life as such is supposedly an ideal gospel target. I followed up to have a few chat to let her feel being cared for. At that time, Andrew a tall local Aussie interrupted our conversation to greet the cute grandson. He actually can speak a few mandarin greeting phrase. So I followed up on sharing the Good Person tract with him. He showed interest and actually asked for a few more tracts for his friends.

6) Carmen is a Filipino rare "Fair dinkum Christian". She is the rare Christian who has accurate understanding of gospel with full assurance of salvation.

7) Jackie’s the local Aussie Mum and daughters who initially stopped pleasantly for a chat but when touched upon sin, she also felt uneasy and turned impatience as well as unwilling to listen on.

8) A pregnant Vietnam woman willingly took tract. I on the contrary did not stop here in case my cold will pass on to her.

9) Grace and Rebecca are Danish and Scottish cross breed Grandma and grand daughter. They also appeared very polite and willing to listen to the gospel. Again they showed same reaction of getting irritated when touched upon the issue of sin. They nevertheless still let me finished the full gospel sharing.

10) Jimmy is a familiar gospel target that both Johnny and I had many chats before. But after causal greeting words, I still felt urge to check on his understand of the gospel and if he has secured full assurance of salvation. To my surprise, he gone back and thought his Christian parents got part of the credit for him to become saved. So I was glad God used me to explain to Jimmy which hopefully will help him to have his misconception clarified.

11) A Koran couples initially stopped for a chat. The wife was willing but not the husband again when the issue of sin was touched upon. He dragged his wife to leave right away.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong Village on Tuesday July 14, 2020 from 1330 to 1500

Today was windy and chilling cold but our passion for Christ to be the light and salt of the city were not dimmed an iota bit even I was not at my best with a minor cough. Since we only have three regular members as usual, thus I still felt the urge to join Johnny and Winnie and see how God would lead me. God's grace was really sufficient. I was able to have two full and complete conversations with other minor tasks of tract handing out and short conversation. God knew my situation of having a dried mouth after talking a while as a result of taking Day and night cold tablet, so I was given just two conversations. Both cases showed His sovereign grace as both persons Gary and Rachel the mum had initially declined the invitation of Winnie to stop and chat. I was not aware of that and was moved nevertheless to make an approach yet with success. So our street evangelism work have all along been in direct control of God's hand.

In the mean time, both Johnny and Winnie had numerous opportunities with many mainland China students that normally would reject to talk. But today, God used Johnny and Winnie to touch and reached many Mainland Chinese UQ Students all with very fruitful result.

Winnie had 7 divine appointments of which 4 were with UQ students from mainland China. Others was one from Brazil, and two were local Aussie students. Among them many claimed to be Christians but all do not have assurance of salvation. I spent some time to pull Winnie aside to teach her how to help those nominal Christians to establish their assurance of salvation instead of just asking them to sin no more and ask for forgiveness from God. We must direct them back to establish their trust in Christ and Christ alone for taking our place to receive the hell punishment of our sins, as such we do not need to wait for our own self perfection effort to become a better person first. The deal is done at the moment we repented and received Christ as our saviour that we are reconciled with God right away and be justified as His people. This immediate change of our eternal identity in Christ is crucial to let God start His life re-engineer work through the Holy Spirit to make us perfect and becoming an unique masterpiece of God. During the process, God allows us to make mistakes but learn the lesson by asking God for forgiveness and seeking His strength to stand up from where we fell to sin no more next time.

As for my two divine encounters, they were not less of God's grace and miraculous work.

Gary is a local Aussie UQ student, he initially had a skeptical facial expression to reluctantly let me start our chat but at the end found the gospel message logical, sensible and relevant to his life situation.

Same for Rachael the mum of two lovely kids. She declined Winnie initially perhaps because they were still walking towards the Bus stop. It is not settling for her to talk with two kids running around on the road. I did not see that , so I approached her when they took their seats at the bus stop. Even with initial reluctance because of the distraction minding the kids , God soften her heart to let me share even with herself facing the early afternoon sun. When I noticed this, I used by body to form a shade to protect her eyes which she was grateful about it. Under this kind of interaction, she appear completely receptive to the gospel which she claimed she heard it for the first time. I asked her the checking questions to find that she completely has got the points and was willing to consider to receive Christ may be at a more quiet and private time free from the interruption from the children and after reading the tract again.

感謝讚美主 今天的带领，謝謝關牧師的教導，今天我又上了一課，學到確實得救的確據。求神憐悯今天聽到福音的人士，讓…

他們認罪悔改，回轉歸向神。亦求神醫治關牧師，他患有感冒，仍然出來傳福音，值得我們學習。希望他能早日康复。

今天神讓我遇到很多尚未有得救確據的基督徒和未認識主耶穌基督的朋友。

第一及第二位都是中国來的男學生，可以與他們講廣東話。第一位講了一半，巴士到逹。第二位，楊明義，願意到UQ 大学的教會，寻求真理。第三位澳洲學生，也是講了一半，巴士到達。希望他們在巴士上看看福音單張。第四位Loren, 中国來的學生，基督徒，不確實得救，沒有返教會。我和她談了很久，她願意重返教會。第五位是基督徒，也是一様未有得救確據，傾談後，願意傳福音给他朋友。第六位是Brizil 來的基督徒，Renee, 願意悔改，傳福音给朋友。第七位是Emily, 中国來的學生，基督徒，她説她很多罪，每周她都返教會，願意悔改，傳福音给朋友，我给她福音單張。

感謝神！希望神能赐福及帶領今天得到福音的人。

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West Country (UK) Team

On Saturday 11th July Simon, Ed and myself met in the City Centre to start up outreach again since our last one in March due to the Covid 19 restrictions that have unfortunately been placed on all of us. It was a glorious Sunny day and were thankful it was pretty busy with lots of people out shopping and enjoying the weather. We prayed for Gods protection and freedom to speak to people and for fruitful conversations and opportunities. We acknowledged that we could potentially be nervous or apprehensive of what people may say or if the authorities were called from the local shops, but God gave us strength and fortunately encountered no problems.

We spread out to hand out tracts to the many passers by, and managed to hand out quite a few million pound note and good person comic tracts without anyone complaining, making sure we had a big outstretched arm. I managed to 'apprehend' two young lads from a local school that were just out shopping, and managed to start a conversation with them using the intelligence test questions, before reading through the back of the tract I had handed them. They were age around 14 and so were a bit taken aback and listened to the gospel message, but I tried to make the conversation as interactive as possible to keep them interested so it was not just a monologue without them understanding the implications of what I was saying.

They appeared to understand and knew some things about what Christmas and Easter really stood for, and hopefully they could see the link I tried to make between the two, and why they needed a Saviour. I tried to show using different analogies that even though they were only young and had perhaps not committed major crimes or 'big' sins yet, that it was not the size of the sin that mattered, but who our crimes were against, and I believe this helped them acknowledge whey they would be guilty before God. 

They left after around 10 minutes saying they understood what they had heard and what they needed to do, and took some tracts and were pointed to some good websites to learn more about what we had discussed. 

After Simon and Ed and I had been handing out tracts for around 30 minutes, I apprehensively stood up to preach, after having not done so for so long knew I would have lots of doubts and thoughts from the enemy contrary to it, but thankfully managed to preach without amplification on the huge array of things that had happened in our society these past weeks, including why Seagulls scavenging for our food on Looe beach the other day was a picture of humanity running towards sin, and Jefferey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's love of sin, underage sex and money had led them to commit suicide and now be locked up to potentially put many famous names under the bus in what they had done, including Prince Andrew, and how sin leads all of us into wrong situations and never satisfies. 

I also spoke about the apparent incoherence between BLM supporters, and their views on abortion, and how many people standing up for what they thought was right in one area of society, could not be backed up in their views of the killing of innocent lives in the womb, and why certain statues of people were taken down for their crimes in the past, however Charles Darwin and Margaret Sanger statues were still on show for all to see. Four older teenage girls had come to listen when I mentioned abortion,a nd folded their arms in disgust, along with a University student called Joseph. I tried to tell people that with the ever shifting sands of society and the instability of the News and media in what was right in life, people needed to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the same yesterday, today and forever, and that although this virus has made people very fearful of death, there was a hope in a real Jesus that historically lived, died and rose again for the forgiveness of sins, no matter what they had done or where they were at, Jesus promised he would give rest to all that came to him in a humble repentant faith.

Unfortunately without amplification and having drunk the last of my water, rather than sound any more like Barry White, we spoke to the people that had been listening. I went to speak with the student who we found was called Joseph, but he was dismissive and so I went on to speak with the four young women while Ed and Simon spoke with him.

The girls were very adamant that the pro choice view was correct and that as a man, I had no right to say that a woman was wrong for getting rid of a 'clump of cells' in the womb, and that rape and underage pregnancy was a legitimate reason for a woman to have an abortion. I tried to show from their point of view that Biblically and Scientifically life starts from conception, a 'fetus' can have a heart beat from six weeks, that over 95% of abortions are due to 'convenience' and the rape argument they used was only a very small percentage, and even then, it ws not the babies fault of how it was conceived, it was still made in the image of God. The girls listened and we exchanged points of view, one girl walked off, the others stayed and I tried to explain the reason we were out that day and shared the gospel with them again. One girl didn't speak and was listening the whole time and they took some tracts and I tried to point them to some good pro life websites for more information, but from their body language and words I believe had already made up their mind their point of view was right.

In the mean time, I went back to listen to the conversation Simon and Ed were having with the University student who was called Joseph, and he immediately stuck out his had to shake mine, and after speaking to Simon had a great change of heart and had a conversation about his Christian upbringing and University life in Plymouth where he now lived as his parents had recently moved to Cyprus! It turns out he had been brought up in a Christian home, would have maybe aid he was a Christian, and at first when listening to me preach had a preconceived idea of what we were doing, but when he listened and understood he was right on board with what we were all doing and was very happy to be given websites and details of what Church we met at and a bit more about why we were out sharing the gospel that day. He was a real encouragement to us all and Simon gave him a gospel DVD that he had produced to watch and hopefully we hear back from him again. 

It was a great day in the end after a slow start, with different people coming to listen and stop at times, others could be seen in the background waiting in the que to McDonalds or Taco Bell listening o our conversations etc. We hope to go out again every 2 weeks and to plan joining up with Josh in Newquay high street which gets very busy, as well as Exeter City Centre which is always seems to have a very positive reception. 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Today was outreach Sunday for Redemption Church in Cashel Mall, Christchurch (NZ).  I was told there were over 20 people out sharing the gospel today!  Praise God for that!  Some of the younger ones handed out tracts, while others paired up with mini-flip charts to strike up conversations via walk up, and still more others used large flip charts.

At the beginning, I wanted to show some of the team the new, extended flip chart with its multiple layers of checking questions and great art work.  There was quite a crowd of Christians gathered round in a semicircle.  Early on, a bystander, wondering what was going on, joined the semi-circle and ended up hearing the law and gospel!

We then split up and moved into the harvest field.  It was a warm day for winter, and there were lots of people about.

I was paired up with Chris.  Our first encounter was with a blind man, who had had cancer.  Sadly, he was angry at God because of this.  He was barely giving us his time, so I had to go quick to try to keep him engaged.  With God’s help, I was able to address his objections, and start delivering information this man needed to consider.  Amazingly, I was able to hit on the law, and the gospel at different moments in the exchange.  He moved on with a tract to read.

I then turned around and noticed a group of six teens standing right next to the flip chart I was supposed to be manning.  I approached them and asked if they would like to try the good person test - they were keen!  It was a wonderful conversation where they were engaged enough for me to be able to take them all the way through the presentation (pictured) - including the checking questions.  And then answer some of their objections to boot.  I challenged them to respond to the gospel, not just leave it as intellectual information to store away.

I spent a lot of time during the outreach trying to encourage the team.  It’s so much easier when I’m on my own, or with an experienced team.  But oh, to see more labourers raised up.  I was overjoyed to see Christians growing in their confidence as God gave them success in delivering the gospel!  The extra work for me was so worth it!  Glory to God alone.

Later I paired with Anna.  We spied two ladies across the road, who looked to be in a position to talk - so we decided to approach.  Praise God, they were open to chat.  One was a Christian, the other not.  The gospel was proclaimed while Anna and I sat on the pavement in front of them.

So wonderful to be able to work with the Church in this way.  Well done Redemption Church family!  It’s a pleasure to be a part of you, and serve our Lord next to you.  :)
 

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On Saturday, the weather forecast reported that there is high chance of rain fall so we have initially decided to do 1 on 1 evangelism but as I was spending time in Starbucks I started to see sunlight in the city instead of thick dark cloud. So, I decided to bring the big flip chart, praise God although there was bit of drizzling we had wonderful chats with many people with different thoughts and background. 

Before we started I had privilege to share a quote in the new book called PROVIDENCE by John Piper, John Piper said "The providence of God is His purposeful sovereignty by which He will be completely successful in the achievement of hIs ultimate goal of the universe". We were greatly encouraged by reminding ourselves of GOD'S providence as God is the one who faithfully works through this unworthy vessels. 

By God's grace, I had numerous interesting encounters. I met a person who was slightly drunk who claimed Himself to be catholic but when his wretchedness were exposed in the light of the law of God he started to get little angry and upset. He started to defend himself that he is not that bad person still so I had to share the gospel with him that Jesus Christ died and rose again for guilty sinners like us because we are NOT good and we are hell deserving people. I pray that when he is sober he will realise his hopeless state in his sin but at the same time see the glorious hope that is in Jesus Christ ! 

From Huy Do:- 

This evangelism showed much grace and providence by the Lord. As the flip chart was set up, we were there for about 20-40 minutes before it started to drizzle. Brother Martin packed up the tables to prevent the tracts from being wet, we actually thought about packing up the flip chart as well, but refrained from it. This was until the man from the evangelism on the 20th of June showed up to interrupt what we were doing. I addressed him accordingly but I had not wanted a big crowd, I rather just addressed him on a personal one to one basis, yet that proved not to be the plan of God. That as I addressed him, even on a one to one basis, people actually stood by to listen to the conversation and eventually the bubble bursted, he got so angry that he grabbed his backpack and pulled out a little megaphone to speak over me.

I saw this and the Lord placed within my mind a godly quickness to immediately seize the opportunity to get up on the soap box and address him. This drew a relatively large crowd, I recall around 10-20 people, but I have to recount if there is a photo. Now the weather was gloomy, it had drizzled, yet people still stood to watch, I praise God because it appeared that we were not in a favorable spot, as gloomy weather is a deterrent, but the Lord had mercy, in His providence He guides us and helps us and provided. I addressed the man, each response with the Gospel of course, until he had to go out for a nicotine hit. I looked and saw a large crowd just standing around, so I just preached to them that they have sinned yet Jesus died for sinners, to save them. This was a huge opening and was seized and the Gospel was preached with great ampleness.

During this, several members of the crowd also asked me “have you also lied, and stolen...etc…” I said “absolutely, yes, I don’t deny that at all”, they said “then why did you tell us this?” I said to them that I go there to tell them of the fact that I’m no different than them, I myself have lied, stolen and done heinous things, hence the only difference is that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that I’m saved by His blood as a free gift. Some didn’t understand so I preached again the message, thus the Gospel was preached more, one lady said “I have no idea what you are saying”, then I said “what is your life?” she was stunned in front of the crowd, then I said “your life is a vapor, you live, you work and you die, and you leave it all behind, and you will face God for your sins, and I’m saying that Jesus died to save sinners, you’re a sinner, so come to Him and be saved”.

I asked, during which, the crowd to examine themselves, test themselves if they’ve lied, stolen...etc… that if they have then God gives them what they deserve, but that Christ died for sinners so that all who come to Him will be forgiven. The Lord placed scriptures upon my mind also that I might say unto the crowd “come unto Me, you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest”. Several people tried to prevent and stop us for the homosexuality issue, but I addressed them accordingly, the police showed up, some people called them because they felt offended, but the police were gracious, I managed to preach the Gospel to them as well, they did not get angry, which I appreciate.

Yet the amazing thing about all of this, was that a young asian man in the crowd had stayed and watched for the entire preaching. Afterwards he came to me to speak to me personally, I don’t know if he is saved or not, he said that he thinks that he has believed, but he feels that it is almost as if he believes and then he still feels like he lives in the world. I don’t know if he is a new Christian struggling with assurance, or if he is a false convert, but explained to him biblical repentance and faith and the fruits that accompany them. Yet the amazing thing was that he said that the day before he had slept and dreamed about Jesus and asked Jesus about repentance and he said that in his dream, Jesus told him to repent and thus he cried (though whether he cried in the dream or woke up crying I didn’t know) and right after that, the next day he runs into us and hears the preaching of the Gospel. I hear these things and I praise God for His providence, the young man’s name is William, do pray for him, that he would come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ if he is not saved, and grow in assurance if he is saved.

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Overall, it was joy filled day as gospel went forth !! SOLI DEO GLORIA 

 

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