Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 85

On Saturday, God has faithfully sent 6 labourers. I am always greatly encouraged by these brothers who have great zeal and passion for the gospel. I praise God for sending faithful labourers for His glory and for lost souls. As Victoria's restrictions have become stricter, we have decided to buy whiteboard and write 1.5m social distancing. 

As usual, we have set up 2 flip chart and one table with gospel tracts. By God's grace we had plenty of good encounters and a person who said he will believe in Jesus Christ. 

I encounter couple who graciously gave me chance to do the good persons test with them and as I began to ask them questions, people around them started to show interest and one lady was listening to the chat so I asked her if she wants to join and she said "Okay, you got me" and smiled. I asked ten commandments and as I brought up about how we deserve h*** as God's standard is perfection for us to be innocent and suddenly the lady that joined good person test as she finded interesting in the beginning said "you lost me there" and walked away (please pray for this lady) but other people stayed and I could share the gospel about Jesus being only perfect person, truly man and truly God that became sin for us, died on the cross and rose again from the death so that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish and go to h*** but have forever life. In the middle of the chat one guy questioned the authority of the scripture and I could see that he was not asking that question to heckle me or make fun of Christianity rather with real curiosity so I have explained about the large number of manuscripts of old and new testament and coherency of scripture. I finished the conversation by pleading them to believe as if they die in their sin they will go to h*** and that there is possibility of dying today. please pray with us as you read this report 

I met a guy (I just cannot remember his name..) as I shared the good news of Jesus Christ, by God's amazing grace he said that he wants to believe now that Jesus Christ died and rose again. Praise God for this and I pray that what he said was genuine. I gave him the gospel tract and explained importance of being part of local church. 

From Dave Knight :- 

We did some flip chart ministry in Burke St Mall and Swanston Street. We set up 2 flip charts on opposite corners. A lot of people presented and many great opportunities for the team. A couple of interesting conversations I had are as follows...

A Greek man who said he was Greek Orthodox. We spoke for some time about the good person chart which he went through with me and failed on each question. However he stated that being good was acceptable and that he was always good enough and hardly ever broke any of the 10 commandment we had just looked at. He didn’t need Jesus to die for him because he was “good enough” with his own merits. He agreed that Jesus died for all the bad people but wouldn’t accept that he was one of them. He wouldn’t listen to reason and went away quite sad. 

A woman named Helen came at me saying she was enjoying heaven here on earth. This sounded strange, especially during this Covid 19 pandemic, so I asked her what she meant. She explained that Jesus was already here and we were going through the New Millennium now and everything was peace and fulfilment in this wonderful new and heavenly kingdom. I was I intrigued as to what caused her to think in this way at this difficult time and with what authority. She stated that the new millennium began in 60AD and we are still in it. I explained how it’s nearly 2 thousand years since then so it can’t be the same millennium but she insisted that it didn’t mean a thousand years literally and the peace wasn’t literal and neither was anything else. It all depended on what one saw with their heart’s eyes. I told her she needs to read her Bible a lot more and ask for God’s Spirit of discernment and she will discover the difference between the spiritual and material world and that the Lord would reveal himself through His Holy Spirit in wisdom and truth. She said she never reads the Bible literally and wasn’t interested in its “so-called” truth. On this I said I differed from her and so she headed off. There were a few other conversations but these were two of the interesting ones.

From Huy Do:-

The evangelism on the 27th of Saturday proved not as fiery and intense as the last but still quite blessed. Though last weeks’ evangelism has many listeners and aggressive crowds, this week the Lord has provided many who listened. The first encounter was with a young Jewish lady, she was very resistant to the Gospel, she objected at every point to the preaching of the forgiveness of Christ, and His abundant grace. She referred much to the past wrongdoings people have done to her, in which she demanded that they be punished. I stated that they will be punished by God, for God is just, but that God will not only punish those heinous crimes, but also lying, stealing...etc… I referred to her the story of Corrie Ten Boom, how after ww2, she found her former persecutor, who has found Christ and thus, forgiveness and forgave him. I told her that the point was that if the blood of Christ can cleanse even the sins of Nazis and murderers and thieves, then it can wash away the vilest of sinners. During this, though she was very resistant, a small gathering still took place, where as I observed several onlookers had chimed in where I could see their facial expressions as I preached Christ’s blood being able to wash away the guilty stains of guilty people. I observed one lady who was listening nodded her head and smiled slightly, I know not if she was Christian but only do hope that she had realized the depth of His atonement.

Another encounter that impressed upon my memory was that pertaining to a couple who walked passed us, who stayed to go through the test. I asked them, after taking them through the law “if God is good and you and I are not, where should God send us, heaven or h***?”. To my amazement, I watched as his face turned slightly, indicating a sense of worry or confusion as he replied “I want to go to heaven” I stated “I know you do, but the objective reality still remains, where will God send you? Of course, if God is just, then He should send guilty people to h***”. As I took them through the atonement, that Christ died for sinners and satisfied the wrath of God so that God can forgive and still be just, I watched as the lady slightly lid up her eyes. I remembered that she was wearing a facemask, but I need not see her entire face, only her eyes as they lit up when I told her that the extent of Christ’s death. She said that she was Christian but never really understood what it was all about, even now as I write this, I still do not know if she was Christian, but only pray that the Lord uses this according to His good pleasure, that if she is Christian and never understood the basis of the Gospel, she would now understand and grow in Christ, if she was never a Christian that the Lord convicts her, now that she knows the Gospel, unto salvation. I pray the man would also be regenerated and be saved. I pleaded them to turn to Him and be saved, they took the tracts at the end and went on their way.

The last encounter that impressed greatly on my heart was that of another lady, she went with what appeared to be either her friend or sister, she appeared to be Vietnamese, but I took her through the Gospel in English. The law was taken through, and when the tensioned question arose “how can God forgive and not compromise His justice?” her faced was once again lit up with confusion and a sense in which I could tell that she was thinking, that she did not just sit idly by to hear the presentation, but she actually thought about it. She said that she didn’t know how God could forgive and still be just. As I took her through the Gospel, as the way in which God satisfied His own justice, her eyes once again lit up, she was also wearing a mask, but her eyes lit up as she knows how God could forgive and still be just. I will pray that this would not go in vain, that the Holy Spirit would work her heart unto salvation. I called her to repentance and accept the free gift of forgiveness and everlasting life by faith in Jesus Christ.

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On Saturday, We met in front of H&M as always after short time of fellowship and prayer we set up 2 good person test charts. I thought there would be small group of protesters but there wasn't any. Praise God! 

There were lots of people in the city who were willing to engage in the chat. I remember, group of young girls who confronted me and Huy about what the bible says regarding homosexuality. Those young girls came after they had intense chat with Huy Do so I had to tell them that bible clearly says that homosexuality is a sin and that those who practice homosexuality will go to h***. But I explained further that even lying and committing adultery (looking someone with lust) is a sin so it is not only homosexuality that lead man to h*** but other sins. So, I pleaded to those group of young girls to listen to me very carefully (as they were making noise and did not want to listen to my response rather lashed out their anger against the bible) and I had to tell them earnestly that I do care about their eternity and as a loving person we do not want to lie to them about what the bible says. Then, those teenagers actually became quiet and I could share the gospel with them. Please pray with us as you read this report. 

I spoke to one homeless man that had broad idea about Christianity so I shared about salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. He seemed to understand and agreed with it. He had some genuine questions about Christianity. please pray for the homeless man as you read this report. 

 

From Huy Do:- 

On Saturday the 20th of June, we set up the flip charts as usual. There were people at first, they came, but it was in relatively small groups. I preached to them using the flip chart, but found that it was with little power, though I perceive they understood the message, I perceive also that I had no power. I prayed the entire time we were there, I just stood and prayed that the Lord would draw those whom He wills to draw, and that we must not trust in the arms of the flesh, for only if He acts then we will prosper, if not, we will fail. I prayed and prayed and prayed until I had a group of young girls came and take the test, in going over the test with them, another group of young girls came, and they were homosexuals, the second group that came had heard the Gospel last week as well, so they came and stood again, but this time, not with passivity to hear the Gospel but in active opposition to it. I addressed their objections, one thing led to another when an old man came and heckled at us, he was extremely angry, accused me of hating homosexuals, and of using scare tactics. I addressed him accordingly until I looked around and saw the biggest crowd I had ever seen, he kept yelling over me until at one point I could not hold it in anymore and preached as loud as I can the grace of God, that Christ Jesus died on the cross to save sinners and fervently called people to repentance, and faith, to receive this free gift of everlasting life in Christ Jesus and be forgiven of all their sins. The crowd was large, but very hostile, nonetheless, I ended with a plea to repent and believe, and offered tracts to all that are willing to come and take it. Some came and took it, but not as many as I had thought. But the work was not in vain, for I would rather have not many come and take it but that those that came and took actually read and were saved by the grace of God, then would have many come to take and they all threw it in the trash can. We also had a table set up with tracts and bibles to give away, but during the preaching one of the girls from the homosexual crowd took it all, to which I presume she threw away, a fellow man even knocked down the flip chart and yelled at me more, afterwards a homosexual girl came and talked to me on a one to one basis and got so angry that she tried to tear up the flip chart. This great opposition to the Gospel of grace and the crowd therefrom shows me that I am on the right track. A fellow laborer, Daniel, took a picture, I had looked at it afterwards and counted more than 40 people were gathered in the crowd to hear the Gospel and many stayed afterwards to hear what further I had to say, and heard more of the Gospel. Furthermore, even after that intense street preaching session, several more smaller crowds were gathered by God’s grace and heard the Gospel. Even afterwards, about 30-35 minutes after that intense encounter, a member of the crowd came and said that he saw how intense it was and left but he actively came back to speak to me and received a tract. Praise God for this evangelism encounter, how He used this poor frail soul to do a mighty work.

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All glory to God for amazing work He has done through unworthy servants like us ! 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday July 1, 2020 from 1300-1500

What a wonderful day of grace with the work of God through us be manifested through each and every divine encounter in particular the one with Emma and Ah Shing.

Basically, God provided us the team of three including Johnny, Allen and Hung with many quality gospel sharing opportunities with many high school students who are free to come in group with friends during that School Holiday period. I bet Johnny had lost count how many persons and groups he had shared them the gospel with the Good Person flip charts. Same apply to Allen, he had many long conversation with or without using his Intelligent Flip Chart. As for me , I had about 10 divine appointment as recap below with two high light with Emma and Ah Shing as mentioned.

1) A Catholic background ABC girl politely let me share with her the Good Person tract. NO surprise she has NO assurance of salvation when I asked her the two diagnosis questions. Then a phone call from her mum cut short my conversation and she had to leave in a hurry. Just pray that the tract will do the unfinished job of mine.

2) Then I was led to chat with a mum and her daughter from Hong Kong. They are Christians but lacking assurance of salvation. I hurriedly clarified with them and asked about their church life yet to find out that they are not attending any church but happy to find one in the Gold Coast where they live. And it was found out that GCCCC is the nearest one with Cantonese congregation suitable for them. Pray that their knowledge of Bible will be deepened once they have regular church life again.--張太(mum)黃小姐(daughter)，找教會，介紹黃金，欠缺確據

3) Jade , a nonbeliever Uni student from Korea which has been transformed from a Buddhism to Christian country. I thought he might be a Christian when he showed openness to chat yet finding out he has no faith. I barely had enough time to share the full gospel to him before his Korean friend arrived to meet with him. Anyhow, he admitted the gospel message makes sense and is logical that he will consider after reading the tract.

4) Aggie a Middle East man and his Korean wife was stopped by the spirit to have a brief chat originally. The Korean wife declared she is a Catholic Christian thus did not think she needed to hear the gospel. Yet when asked the two diagnosis questions , she failed to answer clearly and show a bit of impatience to listen anymore of my explanation. But to my surprise, her husband gave me the perfect answers that a Christian should have 100% assurance of salvation because of the faith in Lord who died for our sin. What shocked me more was that his wife told me he is not yet a Christian implying that he might not be able to answer correctly. How sarcastic it was for a Christian wife who know ot the true way for salvation but trying to lead her husband to become a Christian. Form this instance, we can give glory to God that He can make all thing work together and bestowed salvation to His elected person.

5) 阿成 is a close friend with a Christian wife and lives on the same street of mine. There were many attempts by many Christians including his wife to evangelize him without success. He suddenly turned up in front of me so I ask the Spirit to use me to have another go to share with him the Gospel. He listened attentively and said yes when I asked if he would like to receive the free gift of eternal prepared by Jesus readily. Perhaps I should have stop there, but to ensure he is not saying yes out of courtesy, I repeat the questions again. Yet this time he said perhaps he need to think it over. Anyway, God has His perfect timing for Shing. Today encounter was not by accident but part of his long term plan for Shing.

6) A woman delightfully took my tract but our conversation was cut short by the bus. 婦人接單，車來

7) Another young lady from Taiwan Miss Li was also receptive to the gospel and ready for a chat. Again it was cut short by the arriving bus. 李，台灣，車來，

8) Emma was wearing a mast as such I did not recognize her when I felt the urge to stop her for a chat. She hastily told me I talked to her some time ago and as a result she has received Christ and has started attending a church which however was paused by the Covid-19. I congratulated her and give glory to God who was the real cause of her salvation. Then God moved her to ask if I could help to baptize her and of course I happily gave here a BIG YES. I will pick her up on Sunday to attend our church and will start the Baptism Class for her afterwards. May all glory and praises be to God and Him alone.

This instance also reinforced by trust in God that He will pick the best timing for Shing to receive Christ that may give God the greatest glory.

9) A Sudan family of three kids led by the mum was stopped by the Spirit to listen to the gospel. They were into some business but still had the patience to let me share with them the full gospel. She politely thanked for the message and appeared receptive. Pray that God will further lead the whole household to Christ in His time.

10) Michael a young Aussie Christian who has no assurance of salvation. It was because he is still struggling in living a life with known sinful habits. I first helped him to re-established the 100% assurance of salvation by faith through faith in Christ alone. I further explained to him that receiving Christ only let God reconcile with us and grant us the lost heavenly citizenship. Our life is yet to be transformed back to perfection by the power fo God through the work of the Holy Spirit in our born again life. So he should not feel shameful but keep trusting in God to finish His life re-engineering work in us. I was glad God used me to give comfort and encouragement to Michael to lead a positive life in Christ trusting in God's sufficient grace that once and for all saved us from the eternal death punishment and also will continuously save us from resisting temptation to sin and have the gut to repent and stand up from where we fell to trust God for a better self towards perfection and full maturity in Christ.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Rain, and rain.

"Christchurch had just 12 minutes of sunshine on Monday last week, and hadn't seen the sun since, MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan said.” - Stuff.co.nz

Thank goodness for the fruitful harvest field of online evangelism.  I spent most of my outreach time on Tuesday and Wednesday there.  But, there was enough of a break in the rain on Tuesday that I was keen to get to Riccarton.  For a change, I set up my flip chart on the corner of Rotherham and Riccarton roads.  It was cold!  And one of my regulars said, “you won’t get many people stopping to talk today!”.  But if you are prayerfully patient, the fish will come - and they did.

And the first to come along was a follow with two high school students I saw a week ago in the city.  They looked really surprised to see me.  I started re-engaging them, but one of them in particular really didn’t want to talk again, and so they moved on.  They had a third friend with them this time, and they received a tract before moving on.

A kid on a bike went past, and then five minutes later he was back with some sushi.  He stopped at the flip chart and the fish was on the line.  He was quite engaged and open, so I was able to pull out my mini (detailed) flip chart and take the time to thoroughly explain the good news to him.  Sadly, it turned out his uncle had died a month ago, I was able to express my sympathy.

Later I had a Polynesian guy go past.  I offered to take him through the good person test.  He said he needed to go to the bank, but that he would come back.  And he did.  This guy had “good deeds as the way to heaven” deeply ingrained in him and I had to labour with him through the checking questions - the idea of justification by faith alone was very foreign to him, and not surprisingly it turns out he was catholic.  As foreign as it was to his thinking, he started to grasp the good news of the gospel.  He took a parting tract, and I left him in God’s hands.

My next conversation started with a type of guy that usually doesn't stop to give me the time of day.  So I initially went fast to try to capture his attention.  I was surprised when it worked.  They guy was actually very intelligent, and it turns out he is a medical student.  We got into a deep conversation where we disagreed on pretty much everything.  I didn’t understand why he was giving me so much time.  At one point it started raining (very lightly, I didn’t even notice), and he backed up to go under the shelter of the shop front.  He looked at me and said, “I don’t want to get wet” - he was inviting me to join him under shelter - which I promptly did.  I normally finish the outreach at 5pm, but that conversation went till 5:30pm!  It was dark before he finally moved on.  I was deeply frustrated - I felt like I made no progress with him.  And yet, I realised he had heard the law (one of the only things he didn’t argue with) and he did get to hear the gospel.

Earlier in the day, while online, I had some frustrating conversations with people who I really had to labour with on the law.  One eventually slowed down to actually listen through her Christainess hazy and started to grasp what I was saying - and I was able to share the gospel.  But the other just said, “you’re starting to make me feel mad”, and she disconnected.

Oh to see people changed by God!  I don’t often feel like this, but I came away feeling a desperation for it.  To see God move.  This came out in our weekly team prayer meeting at Andy’s.  I sobbed crying out to God to have mercy.  I’m tired of the stubborn rejection, oh to see people respond to the gospel and make Jesus their Lord.  Impossible; but possible for God!  (See Mark 10:17-31.)  That was a good time of prayer.

Wednesday saw the heaviest rain of all (pictured)!  I didn’t attempt venturing out, and spent the afternoon online.

My very first conversation and I was connected with a guy in tears!  He was so relieved that I was willing to stay to talk, and he just poured out his hurts!  I did my best to listen - I nearly came to tears myself early on!  But I also started to point him to the hope of Jesus.  He eventually came to grasp the gospel.  I’m going to be praying for this young man.

Later, I had two separate conversations with Catholics who were trusting their good deeds and came to grasp the gospel - although one of them I had to really labour with - checking questions to the rescue!

The highlight conversation of the afternoon was a conversation with two girls.  One who was bisexual, and the other lesbian.  But unlike a recent difficult conversation, these two girls were very open hearted, and seemed to really understand what I was saying.  They understood the grace and love of God, but that God would not leave them as they are but would change them, and help them in their war with sin if they trust that Jesus paid their hell fine.

As I’m writing this (Wednesday evening), the rain is lashing down on the roof!  But the forecast is saying we might get some sun by Friday.  Thank you for your prayer and support.  God bless.
 

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Online Evangelism

Tuesday on Omegle was an exciting outreach! It was an extended outreach from usual, but this just meant more time for people to hear the good news about what Jesus has done to save sinners! A day with nine team members over six hours was wonderful!

The first conversation of the day was with Evan. He was initially a little silly pretending to be someone he wasn't but then came to understand the good news and was so excited at the end of the conversation that he was moved to tears! He was even asking questions about how he could bring the gospel to bear on the ears of his friends, family and neighbours!

The next conversation was with Jenelda. There were so many good quotes of things that she mentioned through the conversation but basically as she saw the simplicity of God's existence, her guilt and the solution she was greatly impacted and she too was blown away, even shedding a tear at one point as well!

One outstanding comment she made was, "I feel like a different person, you've changed my mind totally and it makes sense and I feel like I will wake up tomorrow and everything will look different and feel different". She could not thank me enough and was so keen to live for God thinking through all of the implications of the gospel acknowledging that it would definitely change her life and the way she lived!

She finished the conversation by saying, "I thank you for this chat but I think there are some other people that God has for you to talk to, I shall let you chat to them".

Next was a conversation with Carlos who took a while to grasp the gospel but once he got it he too said, "it really meant a lot". He had been struggling with Christianity for a while and was greatly encouraged by the gospel1 It was exciting to see his comprehension and a privilege to see the moment that he grasped it for the first time!

Then an unusual conversation took place with two Australia girls, Zoe and Kelsey. It seemed as if they should disconnect but despite rejecting God's existence and wanting to live their own way they came to see how we know God exists, how rejection of God is based on love for sin and then the good news that God offer guilty sinners a full and free pardon on the basis of Jesus taking the punishment they deserve. This meant that they could be forgiven this very day and on their way to Heaven if they would simply believe that Jesus took the punishment for their sin!

They didn't want to believe but they did understand it. Lastly a great encouragement came as a pair who had previously talked to the team remembered the way to Heaven, professing to believe and were encouraged to open up their Bibles and read the gospel of John!

Praise God for such a wonderful day, may those who grasped it be changed because of the conversations that took place and the Holy Spirit applying the truth to their hearts!

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday June 30, 2020 fro, 1300-1500

Praise and thank God that the three of us Johnny, Winnie and Hung continued to be called to serve faithfully at Toowng being a mission field opened up by God for us to work with Him. Our original aim is to target mainly the overseas students in particular those compatriots from mainland China. But by past experience, their atheist up bringing and tight surveillance by the CCP official have put full bondage on their freedom and openness to listen to Gospel. On the contrary, God let us easily approach people of all other nations with or without other religious background. There was no exception today, we continue to have good divine appointment and conversation with variety of people. For me, I had seven chance to share the Gospel as recap below: -

1) Peter, a nominal Catholic background Christian appreciated my sharing of the gospel and explanation of the real meaning of salvation by grace through faith but not depending on our good deeds. Pray that this divine appointment will serve the purpose of God to re-engage Peter's life for continue upwards growth.

2) Michael was a Returned Service Man with Christian faith but fell away from God due to a lot of harshness in life especially the late illness happened to his daughter. I walked with him for a long way to express my empathy but stressed again that God is sovereign and cares for the eternal well being of his life and his family members' life.

3) Nancy a lady from PNG, gratefully thanked my sharing which was cut short by the bus. It was short but it helped to clarify her assurance of salvation was in Christ and by Christ alone.

4) A young lady from Brazil let me walk with her to share the gospel to her. Though Brazil is a Catholic country, she has no religious belief but she admitted that the gospel message is logical and sensible and promise to ponder after reading the tract at home.

5) A lady took the tract but rushed the red traffic light to cross the road as such I can only let her go.

6) Channel a Filipino UQ student had a long chat with Winnie already but she thought she is an indigenous people . On his returning from the Toowong Village, I caught up with him checking out his country of origin and found out that he actually is a Christian of Catholic background yet without full assurance of salvation. Thanks God that I helped to have it clarified before the bus came.

7) Ken an UQ student with cross blood of Brazil and Romania is from a pious Christian background family but he himself has not yet received Christ. He found the sharing of Gospel very appealing and touching that he voted to make commitment to receive Christ like his parents. I introduced him to get connected with Power to Change for spiritual growth and recommended him to join CCCB St Lucia.

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Online Evangelism

Marvellous Monday's on Omegle are wonderful! 7 hours of outreach means across the team around 100 gospel conversations take place! 100 people come to see the simple message of the gospel (or at least the law) in just one day! The majority of those also are able to explain why Jesus taking the punishment for sin is the only way to get to Heaven and can explain why a Christian will want to obey God's rules.

This Monday was no different and as usual was filled with exciting conversations. The afternoon started with a chat with Eva, a young lady who struggled with mental illness and had some bad experiences with the Catholic church and as a result had used that as an excuse to live her own way. She came to see her guilt and that she was in trouble without Jesus and was able to understand the gospel but remained hard against the offer of forgiveness because he love for sin remained.

Then there was a really exciting conversation with Isain. He was a bit slower to grasp the gospel but upon understanding it was so thankful for it and said he would read the Bible for himself to find out more.

Then there was a chat with Gauge who also grasped the gospel and said he was glad we'd chatted, he already had a Bible app on his phone and said he would start reading John this week! He also saw that believing the gospel would transform his life and he acknowledged that.

Next was a conversation with two late teenagers from Sydney. They at first (after saying they'd gone to a Catholic school) said they rejected God's existence but then surprisingly heard the good news, grasped it and said they would think about it. They did say they weren't sure they'd believe it because they didn't want to (sin is more fun) but grasped it none the less.

A final and very exciting conversation was with Samantha and Stephen. They at first were talking about reincarnation and some other weird things but they acknowledged that God exists but thought they were pretty good. Then they saw that they were like the rest of us, guilty and deserving of Hell and that no good deeds, requests for forgiveness or any attempts to fix one's life could stop them from going to Hell.

Then they heard the good news of the cross and although full comprehension took a little while (at first they were still talking about trusting in Jesus to pay for their sin and their own goodness) but when they grasped it, really quickly afterward the understood that love for God and obedience would be a natural overflow in the life of a Christian and they were also encouraged to read their Bibles!

Some final words were shared by them, Stephen said, "Wow this was like one of my Bible lessons but now I understand it, it was so helpful" and Samantha said, "Yeah, this has been really awesome, thank you for sharing this with us". They were both encouraged greatly and said that today they would start trusting that Jesus taking the punishment for their sin was the only reason that they would enter Heaven!

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Saturday and Sunday… more rain in Christchurch (NZ).  And I praise God for it - honest! :)

But it did mean the team stayed indoors and reached the lost online.

Four hours on Saturday.  My first conversation of note was with an intelligent young guy from Kazakhstan (he was an ex-Muslim).  It was quite a long conversation where sadly we didn’t even get to the law let alone the gospel.  But it was still a very good conversation where he was challenged on how he knows God exists.  He could see the logic of it, but he didn’t like it.  He changed the subject and just wanted to talk about other stuff for a while (which was fine), but there's nothing more important than talking about what happens after life, and so I did switch back to it.  But he just didn’t want to talk about it.  So I respected that.  I left him with a link to needGod.net.

My next conversation was with a guy from Africa (I presume; he was an ex-Christian).  He was also resistant, but for some reason it worked out that I persisted with sharing the law and the gospel even though there was resistance.

Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don’t - and it’s hard to say why.  We must respect people, yet they need the gospel!

But the stand out conversation of the day was with a Hindu lad from Florida, USA.  He was open to the conversation and seemed resigned to the fact that he deserved hell.  But I shared the good news with him.  I said: “So, if Jesus has paid your hell fine, where does that mean you go when you die?”  and he responded with, “heaven”.  So I said, “So what’s the reason why you go to heaven?”  And he said, “if I’m a good person”.  Wow - I knew I was going to have to labour with him on this, and I did, and he finally came to grasp the gospel: the gift of Jesus.  Yet he also came to understand the cost of following Jesus, and he admitted that his culture would make it hard for him.  I was very encouraged by this conversation; I leave him in God’s hands.

I finished the outreach with a great conversation with two Catholic lads.  The conversation started with them accusing me of being a pedo, and so I asked them, “What do you think happens after life?”  And then they quickly apologised for calling me a pedo!  We had a great tussle of a conversation where I worked through their objections and explained to them the truth of the good news of Jesus.

With the rain Sunday afternoon, I joined the practical online training outreach run by the Operation 513 Aussie team.  With this outreach we pair up and take turns sharing the gospel online, but we pause after each conversation to do a retrospective.  I was paired up with Trinity - and she gives marvellous feedback!  It’s so good to be challenged in this way.  It was also wonderful to be able to just listen to how someone else shares the gospel and deals with the different objections that come up.  A very worthwhile exercise!  And for anyone new to sharing the gospel in this way, it’s a great way to observe and learn.  I really encourage you to give it a try - whether you are experienced or not!

Trinity had a conversation with a young man who seemed a bit disconnected, and yet continued to respond to the questions asked.  He admitted that there wouldn’t be anything stopping him from trusting that Jesus died on the cross for him!

Before that, I had a conversation with a girl who said you have to keep the 10 commandments to go to heaven.  So I tested her on a few of them and she realised the dilemma.  Her defence was to ask me what day I go to church!  I sidestepped that, and proceeded to show her the way to heaven.  She seemed very appreciative of the conversation.
 

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Redcliffe (QLD) Team

We had a team of 5 people this morning. Pastor Hung, Richard, Robert, Alan and Col. Some members of the team had other commitments and weren't able to join us. It was great to be out and about on the streets again. The shops and restaurants were full and it appeared that most people were enjoying their time out together.

Initially it was difficult to get a conversation going but after about 20 minutes and as the team spread out up and down the street everyone was enjoying gospel conversations.

Redcliffe is a good location for outreach because people aren't generally in a rush to go anywhere and have the time to chat.

God blessed our time today, and as a team we are always grateful when God chooses to use us.

Our next outreach is on Saturday 11 th July 1100 to 1300 if you would like to join us

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Saturday night in Brisbane city was an absolute blast! The evening started with a conversation that left a Muslim challenged and hopefully realising that he should be an awful lot less sure about what he proclaimed, seeing many arguments that show his current belief to be problematic and hearing the good news that Jesus has to offer.

There were a scattering of conversations, a few people hearing the good news, others rejecting it outright but the night finished with three awesome conversations in a row!

The first was with two PNG men, Emmanuel and Andy who said they hoped they were going to Heaven but weren't sure if they would based on how they had been living. (This initial answer was a good sign that the didn't really grasp the gospel). When asked the way to Heaven sure enough they talked about the things they think they must do to be forgiven.

Over nine minutes, they were asked some checking questions, saw their predicament and came to understand the good news of the cross and Emmanuel was on top of the world in fact he said, "This conversation has absolutely made my night! Thank you so much!" For the first time in over twenty years of attending church he actually came to grasp the good news and was blown away by it!

During this conversation a group was standing nearby and seemed interested to talk. It turned out that three young ladies had been out with the desire to share the gospel themselves and had started talking to a man who they didn't feel adept enough to share with so had bought him over to engage with the team.

The man, Drew, turned out to be very hard hearted. He declared that he prays to Jesus every night but had very wrong ideas of the gospel and had basically made up a god of his own design that doesn't judge and really is much less like a god and a lot more like a squishy childs toy. Drew was left with a tract and challenge to read the gospel of John as he was quite offended at the thought that he could be on his way to Hell.

This turned into getting to hear the girls share a bit and they were so encouraged. One had run into the team on the Gold Coast around two years ago and at the time was professing to be an atheist and had just yelled things instead of engaging. The others had seen the team around at times as well!

They wanted to join again and were excited to hear some encouraging stories of evangelism, mentioning that they would like to come back sometime in the future!

This also lead into one final gospel conversation with Pedram an Iranian man who was on drugs but in less than 5 minutes grasped the gospel! He saw God's existence and at hearing his guilt and that simply asking for forgiveness won't fix it he was stunned and silenced responding, "Tell me there is a way to Heaven!?"

He then grasped the good news, understanding that trusting that Jesus has paid for his sin is the only way to Heaven and grasping that this will cause his life to drastically change. He saw that he'd made decisions for himself up until this moment but that upon trusting that Jesus paying for his sin is the only thing getting him into Heaven he'd desire desperately to honour Jesus with all that he is and has.

Please be praying for those who heard the good news tonight that they would respond in faith to the gospel and for those who at this stage had rejected that God would be kind and not leave them in that state! Praise God also for bringing other Christians who are keen on evangelism across our path and be praying that God would encourage them, embolden them and equip them to be greater witnesses for Him!

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