Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 86

 On Friday night the team headed into Brisbane City again with the desire to preach Christ to those who otherwise would perish. The night started with the encouragement of having many labourers out and people joined in pairs or on their own and went out into the CBD. 

The first conversation was with a man named Michael, he excited said that he was sure he was going to Heaven and that he knew the way but when he was asked what he was trusting in as the reason God would let him into Heaven he said, "I repent for all my sins". When asked to define what he meant by "repent" he went on to explain, that he would ask for forgiveness, try not to do it again and feel really sorry for it. In other words, Michael had said basically, "I am trusting in what I can do to be the reason that God will accept me". Although he had used a Bible word he'd been taught a faulty definition and one that showed he was actually trusting in his goodness to be the reason God would let him into Heaven.

He was shown the law and the seriousness of his predicament and then when the gospel was explained and he was shocked and exclaimed how surprised he was by it. He said he would have to think about it further and said, "Do you have anything I could read and check out! He was left with a tract and the gospel of John and said he would read them!

The last conversation of the evening was with Braydon a man who had some experience with Christianity but had substituted God for his own ideas in pursuit of living his own way. It was pointed out to him continually that this conclusion he'd reached wasn't an intellectually based position but simply not want God to be God and instead wanting to live his own way. He did acknowledge this and he did come to grasp the simplicity of the good news of the gospel and was glad for the conversation.

Late in the conversation Andre, a man who had previously been spoken to (a proud JW) came over and interrupted. Then monologued for around twenty minutes and left with a scathing rebuke, "Anyone who preaches a false Gospel will be condemned". The irony was astounding as he had declared that it is the feeling of guilt and shame that saves someone and their desire to fix it, not trusting in Christ alone.

Braydon was shocked at this display and it further confirmed the kindness of the 513 team who had spoken to him in comparison to the pride and disrespect of Andre. Please be praying that Braydon would take the challenge to consider what God has actually said, to read the Bible for himself and that God would humble him, show him that his desire to live his own way is unwise and that instead he would trust that Christ taking the punishment for his sin is the only grounds of his right standing before God.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday and Friday saw a lot of rain in Christchurch.  This led to more online evangelism than usual - but we still headed out as well!

On Thursday I started with online outreach before heading to the Northlands bus stops and then being forced back online due to the weather.

With the first stint online the highlights were:

• A conversation with a guy who turned out to be on drugs.  He was giving me answers that led me to think he wouldn’t appreciate the gospel, but I kept labouring with this guy and to my surprise he opened up (that’s when he admitted to being on drugs).  There was loneliness in this guy, two of his friends died last year.  He did hear the gospel and at the end of the conversation he thanked me, and he said something interesting: “because of this conversation, something changed in my head”.
• A girl who was atheist.  I gave her the logic of how we know God exists.  She responded with: “ok, I believe in God now - well done”.  Then, sadly, she disconnected.  If we just get people to believe God exists (something they already know), but don’t get to share the good news - well, that’s sad.
• A guy with an interesting mask on and who used filthy language.  He believed in Norse mythology.  He heard the law, and for my third question, instead of asking if he had been angry, I asked if he ever used bad language.  He smiled - I got him!  Sadly, this guy didn’t want the good news.  He freely admitted that he wanted to live his life his own way - in spite of his knowledge of the true God.  He received a link to needGod.net.
• I then had a conversation with a girl wearing some kind of beauty mask!  You get all sorts online.  I patiently took her through the law and the gospel.
• A conversation with two girls, who heard the logic of why there must be a hell (a place of perfect justice).  One of the girls agreed with the logic, thought about it for a second and then said, “but I’m an atheist” and disconnected.  I just shook my head - suppression of the obvious is so tragically sad.
• A conversation with a kid who understood (I could tell by his good facial expressions) and was open.  After hearing the gospel, he admitted that he went to church last Sunday, but only because a friend wanted him to.  He now seemed to have a much better understanding of why someone would want to go to church: the gospel.

It was raining when I made it to Northlands.  I was confident I would be able to use the bus shelters to stay dry and have conversations.  But the rain was falling in such a way that it came in under the shelter.  And there weren’t many people around.  In fact, when I turned up, there was only one!  So I approached this guy, and to my surprise he was very keen to chat!  We discussed apologetics, with an emphasis on why God is the only answer to the universe existing - this led to a discussion about evolution.  Unfortunately his bus came, but he had really enjoyed the chat.  He received a tract and invited him to get in touch.

I ended up having two more conversations before Andy and I decided to head back online.

Two interesting conversations from my second stint online:

• I had a long conversation with two guys from the USA who had already been indoctrinated with Christianess they didn’t seem to understand.  I had to wrestle / labour with them to get them to understand faith and repentance.  They became quite engaged, which was encouraging.
• I had a conversation with a guy who turned out to be a rapper and a Christian who believed following the 10 commandments would get him to heaven.  He seemed genuinely impacted when I explained the law and gospel and that we are saved through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus - not our good deeds.  I also told him to check out the rapper Shai Linne.

With the rain on Friday morning, we did online evangelism instead of the gospel + abortion outreach.  But I still felt like I was outside the hospital because my first conversation was one of the hardest I’ve had in a long while.  She was a deeply hurting lesbian with an intense hatred for God.  It was more difficult because she didn’t want to hear logic - and yet she fiercely argued with me and wouldn’t give up.  I did manage to switch from intellect to conscience by taking her through the law - she didn’t argue with that.  And I was able to talk about the gospel a few times.  But in the end, I had to finish up the conversation, she was so angry - and the argumentation wasn’t helping.  I felt grieved and helpless afterwards - desperately wanting to help her.  But God knows - I leave her in His hands.

My mornings online outreach finished with a wonderful conversation with an ex Muslim - now atheist in London.  She was fascinated that I was on Omegle to share the gospel.  In fact, she had received Christian literature only two weeks prior on the streets - she showed it to me, it included a copy of the gospel of John.  She was open to me sharing the law and the gospel with her, and she really appreciated the clear explanation.

The weather forecast was for improvement in the afternoon.  Sure enough the rain stopped, and Andy, Binu and I were able to head into the city for a few hours of outreach.

We started with open air preaching - and it went really well.  No hecklers (a nice change).  Andy went first.  There were quite a few people walking past who got to hear snippets.  And as I looked around the Square I noticed at least two people standing still and listening from a distance (it’s funny how you can tell).

I preached after Andy, and to my amazement, people actually came over to sit down and listen!  When I finished, I approached one guy, and Andy approached two girls to follow up.

The guy was a first year uni student studying engineering.  He started peppering me with apologetical questions.  I answered his questions, and then challenged him to respond to the gospel.

Andy then got into a wonderful conversation with a guy with a Muslim background, while I had a walk up conversation with three guys who had just received tracts from Binu.  It was a short conversation, as they were resistant.  One of them made a snide remark about standing outside the hospital with signs - he wanted to let me know he knew who I was.  This only encouraged me.  They heard the clear logic of how we all know God exists, why there must be hell, the law, the gospel, and why we stand outside the hospital with signs.  One of them could clearly see the reasoning, and the smile came off his face.  I hope they read the tracts that Binu gave them.

We moved to Cashel Mall and I got into a conversation with a guy who just wasn’t sound in the mind.  He started talking about how he had the power to kill people.  I told him if he keeps talking like that I’ll call the Police.  Gratefully he left me alone after that, but then about ten minutes later he assaulted a homeless guy!  Andy witnessed it, and called the Police.  Before the Police came, there were some intense follow up exchanges that was causing quite a scene.  I was very grateful when the Police arrived!  Andy had a great conversation with one of the other witnesses (pictured).

Once the guy had been arrested, things went back to normal, and we were able to continue our outreach.  It finished with a great conversation with a Tibetan Bhudist.

The rain returned in the evening, and so I finished the day with some more online evangelism.  It was actually a very frustrating string of conversations.  I had one conversation with a girl who said: “do you know how the Bible has ruined my life?”.  Afterwards I shook my head in frustration - it was the true God of the Bible that gave her life!

I finished with an urgent conversation with a young man who was going to leave, but I desperately wanted to hold him so he could understand the gospel.  When he “got it”, a light cast across his face - which was wonderful.  I tried to move into checking questions, but he disconnected.  But he did have a link to needGod.net.  I leave him, and all the people we talked to over these two days in God’s hands.

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Online Evangelism

Friday afternoon online outreach was a great outreach, even though it has been shortened slightly to make room for the evening outreach back in the city, it was full with wonderful conversations! Seven team members over the three hours had many conversations. Three specifically exciting ones took place as well! (There were many more) as well!

The first conversation of the afternoon was with Louis, a young man who said that he "grew up Christian" but slowly drifted away and now he considers himself angostic. He was shown God's existence and saw that it made sense and was pointed out that his rejection was on the basis of a desire to live his way being incompatible with God's existence and so he had rejected God so that he could do his own thing.

After seeing this, going through the law and the gospel Louis was shocked! He said, "This is good news and I want to believe today". He was then asked, "After growing up in Church your whole life, is this the first time that the news that Jesus died on the cross actually makes sense?" and he said "Yes, thank you very much!"

He saw the impact it would make on his life and said that he would start reading the Bible and would consider further the things he learnt and even said he would look for a Church that prizes the Bible!

This was followed by a really quick conversation with three young men. They professed to be Christians but when asked the way to Heaven said, "ask for forgiveness, be good and repent (which they defined as confessing and trying to improve their lives). Over less than 3 minutes these men came to see the good news about Jesus Christ as the one who had taken the punishment for their sin and why it is actually good news. They were shocked! In fact one guy said, "Oh that makes sense now!" 

They were encouraged as to how it would make them live differently, not because they needed to do so to get to Heaven but because their gratitude would motivate their obedience. They were also encouraged to start reading the gospel of John for themselves and seeing who Jesus displays himself to be!

The last conversation was with a lady who similarly had a Christian background and hoped she was going to Heaven but she too though it was her decent life that would be the reason of her entry. She came to grasp the gospel and also was very thankful sharing that she was glad she'd had this chat because without it she would never have known.

These three conversations were very encouraging, seeing God open peoples eyes to the truth always is! But it was also a good reminder, just because someone names the name of Christ doesn't mean they actually understand the good news. Why not take this opportunity to ask your own friends, even the ones who say they are Chrsitians what they would say to God if He asked them, "Why should I let you into Heaven?"

You might be very surprised at the answers you get and may be very glad you asked because your conversation may change someone's eternity!

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Operation 513 Battle Log of Sunnybank for Tuesday, June 24, 2020 from 1300-1500

Praise and thanks God that Allen rejoined Johnny and Hung after a long absent today. He took position on the West side with his Intelligent Test flip chart attracting many long and meaningful Chats. Johnny and Hung took position on the East side and were also blessed with many divine appointments. Many showed positive desire to humble themselves to receive Christ with of course many showed indifferent attitude or even rejection. God is sovereign and will save all who are elected even before they are born.
For me, I had 12 divine appointments as recap below: -

1) Daniel a Taiwanese who was willing to chat but cut short by the arrival of the bus. At least nutshell of Gospel was presented.
2) A couple of Cantonese elderly , took the tract but declined for a chat even though I did manage to share them the key issue of sin that no other religion have addressed except Christianity. (老人家,廣東人)
3) A middle aged lady from mainland China let me to chat along and walk with her across the bridge for a nutshell of the Gospel.(大陸女人,邊走邊聊)
4) Kimberly and Kim are two Filipinos young ladies of Catholic background who have no assurance of salvation despite they believed in Jesus. I found it took me a hard time to straighten their misconception that they have to earn eternal life by doing just good deeds after they have received Christ. Can only let go to let the Spirit to do the unfinished work on them.
5) Mr Ng from Quang zhou claimed he had listened to the gospel before but of course showed no real understanding of the gospel. Anyhow, just repeat the gospel sharing while we walked across the bridge. (吳,廣州,聽過，再澄清)
6) Another Cantonese speaking couples with the husband accepting the tract and started reading it. Yet the wife appeared very unfriendly and impatient to stop for a chat. (另一廣東夫婦，夫接單張馬上看，妻婉拒)
7) A young man by the name Chan from Tsun Man , HKG. He is a non-believer but appeared open to the Gospel. He let me walk with him across the bridge as he was in a hurry to report duty for his part time work though he is a student. He was convinced that no human are good enough for heaven and everyone need redemption by Jesus. I testified that this might be the best moment in his life to receive Christ when he found the helplessness of human as a sinner. He promised he will ponder deeply to see what is in store for him by God. (陳屯門，非信徒，認受學生，party time)
8) Monique is an Aussie with a Vietnamese foster daughter. She has no firm religious faith background and believes in being a good person is good enough and all that we human can do. But after my gospel sharing, she was rejoiced to come to the sense that actually there is a way for her to have firm assurance of salvation through Jesus paying a price for our sins in the past and in the future once and for all. She can now answer my checking questions clearly and confidently.
9) Sam a student from Kenya with a friend but only he stopped for a chat. His friend went ahead but called to urge him to go. I nevertheless still managed to touch base on sin and salvation by grace through faith. Sam was soft in heart and willing to stay longer if not otherwise urged by his impatient friend. God has his sovereignty of election of some such as Sam.
10) Some one rejected Johnny but took a tract from me and read it in his car. Pray that it serves the purpose of God.
11) Sean an Uni student and a big fellow from PNG but with a humble heart. He had to rush for an appointment with a friend near by, but still let me share the full gospel while walking across the bridge and appeared very receptive to the gospel and all agreeable to accept Jesus as the only way to be saved for heaven. He was happy to take a selfie with me at the end.
12) A Chinese guy took a tract but declined my invitation to talk.
13) Vanessa a Taiwanese lady with a delightful character and open mind willing to chat but it was cut short by the bus.
14) A young man by the name of Xiao Chang from Jiangso China found common ideology against he communist regime. It helped me to gain creditability to share Gospel to him and he was convinced by me that only God can fix the evil and crooked world and cast out all evil power manifested by the anti human criminal gang of CCP. I am sure God will have His follow up work on Chang (小張江蘇，反共, 欣賞基督教信徒的普世價值)

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

After a wonderful week's leave, it’s great to be back on the streets of Christchurch! :)

On my first day of leave, I had a very encouraging email.  It came from a guy I had talked to on the streets a few times and we had been emailing, but the conversation petted out.  I’d last heard from him about a year ago.  Yet, I still pray for this guy regularly.  And his question couldn’t have been better: “Essentially, what does someone have to do to get into heaven.”  So we have been emailing back and forth again dealing with that question and also the question of why God allows evil to exist.  He is still resistant as ever, but he is genuinely trying to understand the Christian worldview.  With God, all things are possible - even a change of heart in this young man!

While I was away, Andy was still on the streets and he shared with me some very encouraging reports of follow up conversations with people who seem to be responding to the gospel!  Praise God for that.

On Tuesday I spent two hours online before doing two in Riccarton with Roger.

Some highlights from the online outreach were conversations with Muslims: one from Algeria, the other from Morocco.  The guy from Algeria seemed pretty stunned as he saw the logic of how only Jesus could solve the problem of justice & mercy at the same time - which was encouraging.  The guy from Morocco was more resistant.  It’s interesting that often these Muslims will point me to YouTube to get “answers” to questions they can’t answer.

I also had a fascinating chat with a 10 year old kid who was playing Fortnite (a computer game) while talking to me.  I took him through the law.  He admitted to lying and stealing, but when I explained that Jesus said that God sees our anger like murder of the heart.  He stopped and stared at me, then he just disconnected.  He either thought I was crazy, or he understood what Jesus was meaning.

The highlight from the Riccarton outreach was a follow up with a young man from a local high school.  I started with a checking question, which he got right!  And then the conversation went down a track I didn’t expect.  He started talking about how one day after sports he came home and would normally sleep, but this day he had an urge to read the Bible, which he did for about an hour.  He was trying to explain that something had changed in him.  And then he sat me down, and the conversation turned very pastoral.  I really didn’t know what to say, but I just listened, and prayed.  Earlier, he told me how (on a previous outreach) some girls had been telling people not to talk to me.  And he confronted them, and stood up for me!  I was touched (both that people would take enough notice of me to tell others not to talk to me, and that this guy stood up for me).  It was a very encouraging conversation.  He is opening up.  Something in me wanted to uproot him, and plant him in my local church so I could really start discipling him.  But I knew I couldn’t do that.  We have to be patient, water the seed, and let God bring the increase to his glory.  I hope to see him again.  I’ll be praying for him.

I had a touch of the “fear of man” - I get it often.  I was walking towards a lady, and thinking, she’ll reject me.  But I swallowed my fear and as politely as possible, interrupted her and asked “what do you think happens after life?”  I was surprised by her response, she smiled and said, “oh, I think about that all the time”.  She wanted to chat!  Sadly, her phone rang early in the conversation and then her ride came.  But she gladly took a tract.

Today I spent two hours in the city, and then two hours online.  It was raining lightly when I headed out, and I nearly decided to do the whole day's outreach online.  But I’m glad I didn’t as I had one of those days where you just go from conversation to conversation.

It started with a follow up with one of my regulars.  This guy instantly went on the defensive and was talking about his performance as the way to heaven (and the lack of it that would lead him to hell).  This coming from a guy who had cried at the understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus in a previous conversation.  It amazes me that no matter how many times I talk to people they just don’t grasp the gospel (I shouldn’t be amazed, as the Bible says this, but…)  I patiently listened, and tried to explain that performance is not the way to heaven.

I then went on to have another four sets of conversations - all with surprisingly open people, two of them even approached me rather than the other way around - very encouraging.

The online outreach ended with a very interesting conversation.  It started with the guy I’d connected to accusing me of being a pervert!  Normally when that happens, they instantly disconnect, but he didn’t.  I was able to explain why I was online - by sharing the gospel with him.  And he was floored, during the first checking question he said, “whoa - I get it now”.  With a Catholic background he went from understanding that his good deeds would get him to heaven, to understanding that it was only Jesus' sacrifice for his sin (through faith) that would get him there.  He was deeply appreciative - quite a contrast to the start of the conversation!

I thank God for the wonderful rest from last week, and for the opportunities of these two days.  Thank you for your prayer and support (and that you actually made it to the end of this report! ;) )  God bless. :)
 

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Bribie Island (QLD) Team

On Saturday the team was happy to be back at Bribie Island after a long break.  We met at the Bongaree Jetty for a time of discussions, distributing tracts, and for some, street preaching.  A combination of cold and corona meant that the area was pretty quiet.  Although there was much rejection and hardness amongst those who had braved the beach, a number of tracts were given out and letter boxed, the Gospel was preached, and the good news proclaimed. 

  When one of the men was preaching the Gospel, a woman began shouting angry verbal abuse, which we expect, knowing that God’s Word is offensive to some unbelievers.  She left to call the police, but God gave us opportunity to continue until our appointed 4pm without any police interference.  Please pray that the message she heard would sink in and turn her life around for the glory of God.

  Sam and Lewis, two young men, also heard the Gospel.  They had been listening at a distance to the preaching from the sidewalk, but as they were walking away, they bumped into another team member and stopped to talk.  Sam was an atheist, Lewis completely unconcerned, but both stayed to listen, while others of their group wandered off to find a table.  Sam in particular listened carefully and asked logical questions.  He said that he didn’t want to “do good things just to get to heaven.”  The Gospel was explained, and while Lewis kept checking his watch and eyeing the rest of the group, Sam seemed to understand what was being said.  Both of them took tracts when they left, as well as Gospels of John.  “This is not a chance meeting,” they were told.  May God do a work in their hearts.

  Near the end of our time there, a family approached the literature table.  The three little children helped themselves to some of the Gospel literature, and they took the book of John for “Nanna" to read to them.  Both the parents and grandparents seemed very friendly and open which was an encouragement for us.  We must now pray that the Word of God works on their hearts and brings fruit to their lives.

  Please pray for a softening of hearts in our local area.  Pray that those who received the Gospel would ponder over it and be brought to faith by the grace of God.  May God do a great work here at Bribie Island.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log of Toowong on Tuesday June 23, 2020 from 1330 - 1500

Praise and thank God for a fruitful afternoon with the three of us i.e. John the captain , Hung and Winnie to team up to serve in windy condition. Yet, the wind did not stop our work paved by God as such we all had almost non-stop divine appointment opportunities. The three of us actually represents three generation of OPN 513 ministry. Johnny joined first since 2014 and introduced me to join in 2018 than Winnie was introduced by me to join in 2019. Pray that God will continue to use us to mobilize more World Christian to join especially those who have done Kairos and are on the life integration journey to develop apostolic Passion for the mission of God.

Johnny had several significant chats with several local Aussie and a UQ students fro China. Especially the last one that the chat last over 40 minutes. Trusted God has wonderful work on this young fellow. (*1)

Winnie had three full gospel sharing opportunities to two local Aussie and one older lady from New Guineas. They all were receptive to the gospel and Winnie even referred them to Power to Change and the Chinese Church near by. For details, please refer to her sharing in Chinese.(*2)

As for me, I had 7 significant chats as recap below: -

1) My first gospel target was Michael, an Aussie of Catholic background. He was wearing a T shirt too thin for the windy condition. But he willingly stop to chat with me by removing to a less windy spot. We had a long chat that helped clarify all the misconception in his Catholic upbringing that he is saved by grace through faith alone in Christ. He was so appreciative for our talk that willingly he agreed to take a selfie with me.

2) Then I caught up with two girls from mainland China. Normally , the mainlander tend to reject for a chat. These two were no exception. One even tried to discourage my approach by claiming that she believe in ET rather than God as such just save my gas to bother them. But God was gracious enough to let the other girl to remain holding a more open attitude to let me share the full gospel with her. At the end, the rejective girl was kept silence to listen the full gospel as well before the bus came just right at the end of my sharing.

3) Neda an UQ student from Qatar. she quickly declared her Islamic faith. I rightly assured her that all regions including Islam are not bad but they only serves to moblize people to become a better person. Yet none if them address the issue of sin and punishment that without Jesus we will all be condemned to suffer eternally in the hell of fire. She found the gospel very logical and sensible as such she appeared quite receptive at the end and promised to ponder further after reading the tract at home to make her decision of the life time to trust Jesus as her sole means of salvation.

4) Kim is also an UQ student from Philippines of Catholic and Buddhism mixed faith family background. She anyhow was very open to gospel and also appeared very receptive to be saved by grace through faith in Christ.

5) Linda another UQ student from Canada is also of Catholic background that does not have clear understanding and assurance of salvation. Our chat helped her to have all the misconceptions clarified.

6) Li the the 2nd last is an UQ student from Malaysia. He was reluctant initially to chat but God moved and changed her attitude to become more receptive later. He has no clear profession of faith. The gospel appears logical and sensible to him but at the end of the day, only God can do the final touch in his life.

7) The final one was a local Aussie listening to music with head phone. God still made him stop to accept my tract and stop for a brief chat of hte nutshell of the Gospel before teh bus arrived.

(*1) Johnny's Sharing

感謝天父上帝的祝福和帶領，下午在Toowong 的街頭福音事工Operation 513有三位参加關牧師,Winnie,和我。下午有不錯的福音對話，有兩位年輕人Alice and Manny他們聽完福音後決定要信靠耶穌成為他們的救主。另外有一位自稱是佛教徒的昆大學生Gery 黃，與我談了約四十分，他今天應該會想想如何面對上帝公正⚖️的審判。

(*2) Winnie's sharing

感谢主 今天的带领，傳了福音给三人。Lee, Mimi 及 Vivian. Lee & Mimi 是本地人, 他們願意信靠主，接受免费救恩，到教會尋求真理。Vivian 是 New Geinea, 來澳，基督徒，不太清楚自己是否已经得救，担心她先生在那處。我長细解释她聽，她聽後，放心交給主。願主譲今天聽到福音的人，繼續㝷求主的話語向前走。感谢讚美主。

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Online Evangelism

Monday and Tuesday online were exciting! There were many good conversations but a few highlights will be recounted. It is good to note though that, evangelism is always about learning. Each conversation that doesn't go as planned is an opportunity to consider, "How can I better bring the good news of the gospel to people's ears". Sometimes it's about reading a situation better and getting there faster and other times it is about slowing down and letting the challenge of the law sting more. There will never be a point at which you've mastered it because there is always a new person to speak with who is slightly different from the last.

Often in evangelism you can find yourself get into a rut. You have two or three conversations in a row with hard hearted people and you end up with a soft and gentle person and can push too hard, losing the conversation because you were in the habit of not being as gentle as you could. Or alternatively you're with gentle people and then you get a hard hearted person who runs away with the line wasting time because you let them have a little too much freedom in their answers.

One conversation almost ruined by a little to much intensity was with Derek. He had a Catholic background and was willing to chat but was a bit of a dawdler with his words. A couple of times he was cut off and an apology had to be issued for not letting him speak. He initially was insisting on "asking for forgiveness" which is easily the most common answer that is heard from professing Christians about how they think they gain forgiveness and get to Heaven. Thankfully at the end of the conversation Derek said, "I want to thank you man, I really appreciate what you've had to say and it has changed my mind. I know properly understand the faith I once said that I had".

He was encouraged to read Romans 3-5 and to consider it further. Next conversation was a harder one, Callan was self assured, ironically so. He said he didn't want to trust anything a human said (which was pointed out as untrue, showing that he trusts his drivers license and the like) but also that he simply wanted to trust himself over and against anyone else. It wasn't about the humanity of the person, it was just that he wanted to be his own God. This was pointed out time and time again. He was able to grasp the gospel but was adamant that he wanted no part in it.

Callan is from Christchurch, NZ and Operation 513 has a team there. Please be praying that he would have a second opportunity in person to speak about Christ and that God would be kind to draw him to Himself!

A shorter conversation was with Brenda who is Brazillian. She had some Catholic background (expected in South America) and she too saw the good news of the gospel and really quickly understood and said that she wanted to trust in Christ this very day! She was encouraged to start reading her Bible (which she hadn't in over two years) and had some questions about things she had struggled with regarding Christianity. She was left with some simple answers and the ability to contact the team via needGod.net if she had any follow up!

Please be praying for all those who heard that God would be kind in drawing them to Himself, for His glory and their good! Lastly, why not come join us yourself! Now is easier than ever, with the ability to have live feedback and encouragement as someone basically can be a fly on the wall in your conversations!

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On Saturday night the team headed into Brisbane City and again (as I hope you've noticed if you read this battle log reports regularly) it was a great night! It's always a great night! Every single attempt to opens one's mouth to talk not just about morality and policitcs but to consider God's law, man's sinfulness and guilt and the good news that God Himself entered history taking the just punishment for those who believe, is a great conversation!

At the beginning of the night the first hour flew by, it was filled with five conversations in a row where either the person or the couple spoken too saw God's existence and their guilt and when asked the question, "So how do you not end up in Hell?" they left. There was a moment of reflection upon this and a moment of mourning, people who would prefer not to hear the solution because that would require them to acknowledge their problem. As this was being considered a timely reminder came from a team member, "Knowing how few people are out to proclaim this good news, it is not possible that God in His providence would cause any conversation to be a waste"!

Following this, there was a man who had been dawdling around most of the evening. A quiet prayer had been prayed earlier in the night that an opportunity would arise to be able to converse with him, as he had walked past around 6-8 times with different people. He was asked, "What do you think happens after we die?" and he stopped and engaged. As he was beginning to comprehend the gospel two of his friends stopped by and tried to drag him away but he even said to them, "Nah, you go on, I want to hear this!" In the next little while Jonathon came to understand the good news, saw that it was a free gift and therefore as a result he would desire to obey God out of gratitude.

Jonathon was grateful for the conversation said that he would really think about this and took a gospel of John saying that he would read it for himself! This was backed onto by a conversation with Ahmed. When he was first approached it was expected that he would be a little more argumentative but in less than ten minutes, he came to grasp the gospel, said he was thankful for the chat and said that he too would check out a Bible sometime. This was then followed by a conversation with Raat and Nepalese man who likewise grasped the good news and was challenged with the importance of the timing of the response, not knowing when would be his last day.

The finale conversation was with Andre a professing Christian who was struggling to articulate the gospel clearly but came to be able and was warned that his previous profession was a false one on the basis that he wasn't trusting in Christ alone for His forgiveness. He also shared that he isn't really attending a Church and has just sort of finding his "own way with God". He was challenged about what a Christian life will look like and was shown the seriousness, that anyone who professes to be a Christian will love Christ and obey Him.

Please be praying for those who heard this good news tonight, that they would respond in faith to the gospel, trusting that Jesus taking the punishment for their sin is the only reason they're going to Heaven. Please be praying for those who heard of their guilt and ran that God would cut them to the heart, leaving them feeling guilty, desperately looking for the solution so that next time God provides an opportunity for them to hear that they would listen, hear and believe!

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Melbourne team could not go out on Saturday as I have done the COVID -19 and realised that I have to legally quarantine myself till the result comes out..ha..ha.. but praise God ! I got my test result the next day. And in God's providence, the following Monday was Queen's birthday so we still could go out for street evangelism. 

God faithfully sent 4 labourers, we had many wonderful conversations with 1 on 1 evangelism and also flip chart evangelism. We ended up staying late than normal times as we met brothers and sisters in Christ who wanted to chat with us about evangelism! 

I pray that they will step further from just being encouraged by other Christians sharing gospel to actually sharing gospel themselves for God's glory and people's soul's salvation

From Dave Knight:- 

A lot of people around because of the holiday. We set up the flip chart on the corner of Swanston and Burke streets. After one of the flip chart presentations I had the opportunity of speaking with a young man who said he was an agnostic atheist. His explanation of this was to be somewhere between the two. He talked with me at length for about 40 minutes and at the end I left him my email address. A few days later he sent me an email asking if we could meet for a coffee and chat. I wrote back stating that I would be happy to do that and I’m praying he will respond and we can set up a time and place to meet. Please pray for this young man.

From Huy do: 

This Monday's evangelism proved quite productive. The Lord was gracious to gather crowds after crowds after crowds. I perceive many of the people in the crowds had that realizing facial expression when Christ was preached as the one who satisfied the wrath of God for all those that believe. Many were illuminated as to what God did to forgive and still be just. I ended the encounters with a call which I intend to focus more on, that Christ is a saviour who can save the uttermost of sinners, and will wash away all the sins of those that come to Him by faith that He died for them and rose on their behalf. That He will separate the sins of those that believe as the east is from the West. I praise God that He has illuminated many minds as to the extent of the Gospel and only pray that He will save them.

 

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