Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Woodridge (QLD) Team
• Page 9

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Woodridge Team (QLD)

Meets 2-5pm every Tuesday afternoon at the Woodridge train-bus interchange on Station Rd.

Contact Ryan Hemelaar for more information.

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There was a heavy Police presence in Woodridge yesterday, which was quite good as it made the area much more peaceful. Sadly, when the Police aren't around there is normally quite a bit of violence, abuse and public drunkenness.

The Police seem to be a bit of a 'band-aid' solution to the problem. However, it must be noted that real community change will not come from laws and legislation, but rather it will only come when Christ is submitted to as Lord.

Our desire for Woodridge is to see Jesus lifted high, and the community transformed by the Gospel. To help achieve these ends we engage in literature distribution and personal witness. Our Free Bible table had a bit of interest yesterday.

I was able to speak to one lady and her son who had just arrived from somewhere in Africa. They were professing Believers, but didn't know where to go to church. I was able to point them to a solid Baptist church just around the corner from where they were living.

During this time, other members of the team were also engaging in conversations with people. One of our team members had a chat to a Muslim girl who had many questions and seemed to be quite interested in Christianity.

One of the wonderful things about ministering in Woodridge is that we often get to see the same people over and over again. Each week we get to build on the foundation which was previously laid. Yesterday, we saw people that we've spoken to in the past, and again we were able to point them to Jesus.

Please pray that the Lord Jesus will rule and reign over this community.

SDG!

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It was a windy, yet, productive outreach in Woodridge today. We arrived at just after 2pm and began by setting up the "Free Bible and Literature Table." We then proceeded to hand out tracts and talk to people. At one point the Police came by; they were quite friendly and chatted to us. They even helped us pick up all our resources when a strong gust of wind flipped our table.

I was able to chat to one man whom we've spoken to several times before. He was looking for any excuse to justify his unbelief. We chatted for sometime, and he admitted that he was more concerned about his children and his children's children than he was about his own soul.

I quoted to him from Deuteronomy 6 about the responsibilities of parents. I stressed to him that if he was truly concerned about his children then he would be seeking to instruct them in the ways of the Lord. He admitted that this was true.

After talking to him, I was able to chat to a man who had just finished talking to Mako. This man wanted to know how he could be sure that God exists. I pointed out to him that he already knew that God exists (Romans 1) and then proceeded to use the cosmological argument to confirm this knowledge. The many very readily agreed that God does exist.

During this time, Ryan and Pastor Luther were talking to two people from Iran. Both of them have arrived in this country as refugees. It was great to have a local Pastor with us as we ministered, as he was able to get their contact details and will be meeting with them tomorrow.

It was great to get back out to share the Gospel in Woodridge. Please pray that the light would dispel the darkness in this community.

SDG!

 

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Over the past few weeks we have had opposition for our Gospel work in Woodridge. So, today we headed there not sure what would happen. Unfortunately, in the past few weeks we have even experienced opposition from Police Officers who have acted unlawfully in regards to our rights and freedoms. 

However, our concerns were unfounded. The afternoon turned out to be an awesome time of evangelism. We had twelve team members join us, so we were able to reach many people with the Gospel. 

On highlight was that Matt was able to talk talk again to a man that he first spoke to 8 weeks earlier. When they last chatted, they were professing Jehovah's Witnesses. They believed that their works was the method of salvation and they believed that Jesus was fully man but not god.

Arthur mentioned during the conversation  that he had been thinking about the last time they had spoken. In particular he had been thinking about how Matt had shown him some Bible passages showing that Jesus is God. Arthur said at the time he wasn't sure but he went home and considered it and today he told Matt that he was certain that after reading some of the Bible that Jesus must be God, that the events of His life could not have happened any other way. Better yet Arthur told Matt that he was trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

We thank God for the wonderful account of Arthur coming to the truth. Please pray for him and also the people of Woodridge. May the Gospel continue to go forth. 

Soli Deo Gloria! 

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At Woodridge on the 20th of October we had a rather eventful afternoon, before we had even started some young teens broke out into a fight with everything from hair pulling to punches. It was a sad display of the state of humanity but by God's grace it was broken up and dispersed and people were able to head off and calm down.

There was the normal busy rush of school children on the way home and around this time Josh started preaching out near the bus stop area; sadly there was some hostility from a few local drunks which got a few people stirred up, but amazingly it bought a massive crowd of school children who stood around and listened to the preaching, many of whom took literature or stayed around to talk afterwards.

There were also some other incidences where a late teens girl didn't want to hear the Gospel and yelled at Josh to stop and sadly she caused a big fuss, also getting her parents down who took a full fledged aggressive words war assault on the team members, making many false claims. 

Thankfully Queensland Police were diligent in sorting out the issues and the afternoon went on as normal, with many people hearing the Gospel.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Pray for the woman, her daughter and husband who are hostile to the Gospel, pray that God will drastically and dramatically change their hearts and minds that they will by God's grace be changed, surrendering their lives to Christ and desiring to come out and preach the way of salvation alongside us!

During the business of the shenanigans many young men wanted to stop and talk, we were able to share the Gospel with, we talked with a young man named Hikim, he had a little bit of Catholic exposure and was the normal stereotype, he thought he was a decently good person and would most likely get to Heaven.

We were able to discuss what God's standard is and that in reality because God is perfect we all fall short. Hikim said that this was a bit worrying, what would he do. He asked if he work hard could he regain God's favour and we talked about the implications of that.  "Do good deeds pay for wrong deeds?" we asked him and he had to conclude that they couldn't. He then asked if we thought we were going to Heaven, to which we responded "Yeah but not based on our own goodness".

We were able to discuss that God came into this world to lay down His life for sinners, just like us so that we could be counted as righteous and go to Heaven. Hikim said this was encouraging, we talked a little more but he had to leave, we gave him a Gospel of John.

Please be praying that God will use the conversation and His word (The Bible) to transform Hikim's life!

There was another group of young men, Michael, Jermaine and, Twong who were there for the shenanigans and started talking with us but our conversation was interrupted by some loud accussations and threats of violence from the lady and so we stopped talking but amazingly, after it had all died down they returned to continue the conversation!

We discussed, the Law, Sin, God's perfection and what that means to us, that we had all fallen short. We discussed what we can do to be saved but after the conclusion of the conversation all three said it makes sense and that they would have to consider eternity and where they would go when they died.

We gave them each a Bible and they left. Please pray for these young men that the truth of the Gospel would penetrate their hearts and minds and they will turn and trust in Christ and Him alone for their salvation!

Others we talked to included a young man Marcy, who professed to be good and wouldn't back down on that claim, even after hearing God's standard, also Harrison who original admitted he wasn't sure He would make it to Heaven and heard the Gospel. Also another young man Olivia who goes to a local church but does really understand the salvation of Jesus Christ so we talked about how he would get to Heaven and we strongly encouraged him to read the Bible. 

Pray for these young men, may God open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel and that they will come and join us to share the Gospel with others, starting a Gospel based trend in Woodridge!

Please pray that through the "persecution" we are receiving that many will see the light of Christ in us and that those who are currently against God and the preaching of the Gospel will be changed to the Glory of God and trust alone in His son becoming slaves to Christ and desiring all that He desires!

Please pray for labourers as well, that many more people will desire to join us on the streets, that many will take the time God has given them and honour him with it by preaching Christ and Him crucified!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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On Tuesday afternoon it was still relatively quiet at Woodridge Train station, the area had the normal lingerers but there was still less people coming off the train.

The weather though made up for it, with a scorching 32degrees, God knows what heat it, praise God that we have been granted with the ability to have water, clothes, showers and the other wonderful blessings that make the heat bearable!

Woodridge is a very interesting place, one of the very few places where someone can say to you that they are a 'born again' Christian and have no idea of the Gospel, or who Jesus Christ is.

We talked with a young man named Junior, when we asked him if he deserved to go to Heaven he promptly replied that he did because he was a born again Christian. When we asked him what that meant, sure enough he had no idea.

He started to explain that he was pretty good and listing his good qualities and works, like a resume to allow him to enter Heaven. We tested him with the Law of God and sure enough, like the rest of us he had fallen miserably short, just like us his resume before God deserves nothing but condemnation.

We talked about what ways might get us to Heaven, he started talking about stopping sin, doing good things and helping people. We talked about how the debt of sin needs to be paid and how that might be paid, he offered a few suggestions that wouldn't get anyone of us closer to God then explained the Love of God to him.

The amazing love, that God loved us while we were yet sinners, Christ died of us! He said that sounded interesting, he had never heard of Jesus' sacrifice being to pay for sin and he was interested in it.

We left him with the encouragement to read his bible when he got home and to consider where he was spending eternity.

We also talked with Alex, a young man who attended a local Seventh Day Adventist Church. He professed to be also getting to Heaven by his goodness.

We looked at him and in all seriousness asked him, "What goodness?", he tried to give an account of his goodness but like us all before God had nothing to boast in, for our sin always outweighs our good works, infinity to one.

We discussed with him the ways that he might be made good or become perfect in the sight of God. He said he wasn't sure. We asked him if God had made a way did he think he'd want to respond to that?

He answered affirmatively, of course he wanted to go to Heaven, so we offered the message of the Gospel, the salvation of Jesus Christ.

He said he too would have to consider it.

Please praise God that we were able to share the Gospel, that us, lowly servants were given the great privilege of preaching the way of salvation.

Please thank God that there were people who heard the Good News, many who took tracts and others who heard snippets. Please pray for those who aren't yet saved that God shall bring them to salvation. May the Gospel of Jesus we preached on Tuesday be part in their salvation that they may dwell on the truth of it and desire to surrender to Christ!

Soli Deo Gloria!

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On Tuesday afternoon at Woodridge we had a team of 6 members which was a blessing to be able to split up and talk to people in a larger area was great. There was much conversation had and we were able to share the love of Jesus Christ despite our sinful state.

I spent the first while talking to some Mormons and they are very adamant in what they believe, they take many singular verses from the Bible pull it out and use to to justify and defend things like a previous spiritual world, the option for salvation after death and different levels of Heaven.

It breaks my heart that they are convinced of their falsehood and greatest of all the blaspheme God in saying that we can please Him with our deeds and that Jesus Christ's death was not sufficient, we must also earn it by works.

Please pray for the many who believe this, please pray that these two and many others can hear the truth of the Gospel and walk away from trusting in Jesus + Themselves and turn to trust in Jesus ALONE and His perfect work for their salvation.

We also talked to some of the usuals, there was a young man who we had talked to a few times who has been reading the Gospel of John and we have invited him to a local youth group to encourage him in the faith.

I finished off the evening by talking to two young men who were relatively drunk, they kept pulling up problems, throwing out many objections they had but wouldn't accept this answers, they wanted to live in unbelief so that they could do what they wanted to do

I challenged them about the reason they didn't want to believe, was it because of their desire to live for themselves and they both admitted to that being the reason.

This breaks my heart, for Christ has died for sinners such as us and they still don't want His salvific work.

Please pray for those who took tracts, there were many who left with tracts, many who we had short encounters with and some we talked to and discussed the things of God with, please pray that God changes lives, that he changes the hearts of the many people in the area.

Please pray that the fruits of this evangelism become widely shown, that many want to be saved, that many people hear the good news and turn in repentance trusting in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness and payment of sin.

Please pray for those who are damaged by the effects of alcohol and drugs that they may desire to turn from these harmful ways and live a life Holy and blameless because of a miracle of salvation worked by the Power of the Holy Spirit!

Please keep many in prayer.

Also please keep the team in prayer, I found myself getting frustrated yesterday as I talked to two different groups, I lost sight of the fact that we all need the Gospel, I lost sight of the Grace of God in my own life that I didn't deserve salvation just as much as they and I had got into argument winning mode rather than Gospel sharing.

Please pray for the team that we can stay vivigilant in remembering the place from where I came and it is only by God's power that we are who we are!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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A Woodridge station it was a different afternoon yesterday, a lot of the 'usual' people around weren't there, many were off somewhere else, allowing for some new and less known people to hang around.

We started off the afternoon with scattered conversations and few interactions, just with those who were around. 

We talked briefly to some young men sitting on chairs near us but the three of them even though the knew they deserved Hell, they didn't want Christ. Why? Because they wanted to live in sin, one of them literally said "I don't want it, I like what I do at the moment too much". Absolutely heart breaking, that though they have cognitive understanding of the Gospel, they still don't want Christ.

Soon the school children started pouring off the trains. It wasn't long before I was having a conversation with three young men, who professed to be Jehovah's Witnesses. As we talked two of them were bringing up every possible objection to Christ being God.

They bought up many verses and many times said that Jesus is God's son not God. Which got me thinking it was a misunderstanding of what Christians mean when we say Jesus is God. I explained to them I didn't mean they were the same person but Jesus is God the Son, God is God the Father and the Holy Spirit is God the Holy Spirit. Explaining the 3 but 1.

And we discussed things a little more but the two who were very quick to try and pull holes soon left. The middle young man continued to ask questions and continued to listen and at the end of the conversation he said, I understand the Jesus must be God.

We gave him a Gospel of John and encouraged him to read it as many times as he could before next Tuesday were we'd bring him a bible.

We also encountered a few men we occasionally talk to one who claims Christ returned in the first century and another who claims Jesus isn't God. We have talked to these guys many times, please pray that these two men consider Christ and His kingdom and that they may be saved before they have to stand before God.

A late conversation we had was with Krystal and Yasmin, who heard the Gospel but decided that they too wanted to live for themselves, it didn't matter what the consequences were they were just happy to live to gratify the desires of their flesh.

I also had the opportunity to catch up with Richard who I had talked to the week before, last week was the first time he had heard of Jesus Christ and he had started reading his bible, may God continue to change his heart!

Please thank God for those who heard the good news that their hearts may be pierced and their lives changed submitting to Christ as Lord and being Saved by His blood.

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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On Tuesday afternoon we headed to Woodridge train station, where there are many people who hang around and many that flow through coming or going from the train.

This is one of the most heart breaking locations, firstly because many people have very little, many of the things we'd take for granted they don't have and many are slaves to trying for fulfilment in things that don't satisfy such as alcohol or drugs.

But even more heart breaking, something that brings me to tears is that even though they are in this state, stripped of many human 'dignities', most men and women here don't want Christ, apart from being drawn by God we in our sinful state will never bow to Christ as Lord.

 

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Many good conversations were had today during our outreach at Woodridge. I first spoke to a guy named Hayden, he said, "I don't believe in God, I only believe in what I can see!" I responded, "Can you see the air?" He said, "Good point!"

I then explained that just by looking at a building we know there must be a builder, even though we haven't seen him, so when we look at this universe and realise it had a beginning we know there must be a creator, even though we haven't seen Him.

He agreed and changed his mind about God's existence. So I then proceeded to talk about sin, the judgement to come, Heaven and Hell, the cross, repentance and faith. After hearing it all, he said "I have never heard it explained like that before. That actually makes sense."

Please pray that God would save him and for all the others who heard the gospel today.

The police were around on horseback for most of the afternoon nearby our outreach location. It is great having them there, people are much more well behaved.

To God be the glory for another great outreach!

 

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It was a rainy day today, yet, despite the weather we still had our outreach in Woodridge. When we arrived today we saw that Police had a strong presence in the area, and also there was a large group of Maori Wardens (community support group). This had a positive impact in the area as it kept crime down. 

Today, for the first time we set up the Bible table in Woodridge. We had free copies of the Gospel of John, colouring books for the kids, apologetic material, and other evangelistic literature. We weren't sure how the table would be received, but to our surprise people loved it. Many people came over to take resources and to chat. We were even encouraged by a Police Officer who encouraged us in our work and said it would only be the Gospel which changes this community. 

Throughout the afternoon we had good conversations and many tracts were handed out. In particular, I had a great conversation with a young New Zealander who is a local drug dealer. He had never heard the Gospel before, so for the first time in his life I had the honour of telling him about Jesus. This young man acknowledge the truth of Jesus and the fact that he needed the Saviour. However, he openly said he couldn't come to Christ as that'd mean giving up his drug dealing. I stressed to this young man that sin, while it may look good for a time, will actually be the death of him. We agreed, yet he still held onto his sin. At the end of the conversation the young man couldn't stop shaking my hand and saying thank-you. Even though he wanted to continue in sin, you could see that he was seriously thinking through the issue. He took a Gospel of John and also an evangelistic leaflet. Please pray for him. 

Please remember to pray for all those we spoke to today. May the Father draw many to Christ. 

SDG!

 

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