Battle Log
Wednesday, 23 October, 2019
Posted 23 October 2019, 2:24 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
The spring weather in Christchurch (NZ) has been very variable. On Tuesday I started the Riccarton outreach early to avoid rain. And on Wednesday, I had to deal with all four sessions: heat, cold, wind and rain!
The Riccarton outreach wasn’t as busy as the previous two outreaches there, but the Lord did bring people to hear His gospel.
The highlight conversation was with two teen guys. I was surprised to see them out of school so early, but they said something about exams. Anyway, they were very open to the logic of the law and the gospel. One in particular seemed deeply impacted when discussing the serious nature of sin. It was encouraging to see them concerned about this, and it was a pleasure to share the antidote: Jesus!
Two other conversations involved an Indian couple who didn’t seem to be very interested, and a Maori couple. The girl became very resistant when I started by talking about how we know God exists. Sadly, they left before I could even take them through the law, let alone the gospel.
On Wednesday, as I made it to Cathedral Square, the temperature was warm, but I noticed that the sky was very dark (pictured). Sure enough, a minute later, it started to pour with rain, and even some hail! This matched my mood, and it was really tempting to just give up and go home. But I couldn’t even do that, as I would get soaked walking to my car. So I did my best to shelter under a tree. I wasn’t the only one trying to get shelter and amazingly, an easy conversation got started with a young man on holiday from Thailand. I didn’t get to talk to him for long, and was only able to share the gospel via a tract, which he gladly received and said he would read. But this “random” encounter encouraged me.
Within no time, the rain had passed, and the sun was out. So I set up my flip chart and started handing out tracts to the few passers by. Not too long later, a man approached me and wanted to know what the flip chart was about. So I was upfront and said I was a Christian wanting to share good news. He was instantly engaged and a wonderful gospel conversation got underway. Oddly, he wanted to take photos of us together - which was fine with me. Then he wanted to take photos of the flip chart. And then he asked permission to video me. Again, fine by me - I have nothing to hide! So he recorded me for a while as I explained how we know God exists, how we know His standard, and then proceeded to get him to examine himself by that standard - all this in response to his key question: how do we know which religion is right? He videoed me right up to the point where we were talking about anger being murder of the heart. But I was still able to take him through the gospel and then talk about his original question before he said he had to go. It turns out this man was a Muslim from Bangladesh. He wanted me to pray for a personal issue he was struggling with, but I instead prayed for his most serious issue: his need to know God as his father, and to accept the gift of Christ’s sacrifice for his sins. He left with the tracts: “Which One is Right?”, and “How we Know God Exists”. I was again encouraged!
I then had a follow up with a young man who remembered the way to heaven correctly! I challenged him on the urgency of response. I had a number of other opportunities to talk with people before the end of the outreach and heading off to have lunch. The second photo shows the contrast in weather from the start of the outreach!
The weather stayed sunny for the afternoon outreach, where I focused on walk up conversations on my way to Ara. God blessed me with a long conversation outside Ara with a young man who was open and curious. He understood the logic of the gospel, but his biggest hang up was in knowing that God created the universe. Evolutionary thinking was so ingrained in him. So we spent some time talking about this. He left with a leaflet from CMI that provided some challenging questions with links to more information, as well as gospel tracts and a challenge on the urgency to respond to the gospel.
On the way back from Ara, I had a follow up opportunity with a young man who I’ve talked to many times over the last year. We are becoming quite friendly. He was also challenged on the urgency to respond to the gospel.
What about you? Are you trusting that the sacrifice of Christ has paid for your sins?
