Battle Log

Tuesday and Wednesday saw the Christchurch team in outreach to Riccartion, in the city, and online.

I had some wonderful opportunities online.

My very first gospel conversation was with a classroom of high school kids!  I could only see a few of them, but I could hear many more.  Their teacher must not have been there.  With so many of them commenting on the conversation, it got quite chaotic.  I wasn’t sure if anyone was really following.  So I mentioned needGod.net early.  I managed to get through the law and the gospel.

I got into a conversation with a guy with a strong accent.  I thought he was putting it on and that he was making fun of me!  But I persisted.  He considered himself a Christian, but was trusting his good deeds to get to heaven.  The conversation was a real wake up call for him, he seemed genuinely impacted.

I also had a couple of conversations with Muslims.

Heading to the streets of Riccarton, I had Roger join me.

I had four high school girls stop to chat.  One of them was a Christian, and had a fairly good grasp of the gospel, and yet she didn’t.  She thought some people would be good enough for heaven - even without Jesus.  What it boiled down to was that she didn’t want her friends to go to hell, and rather than tell them the good news of Jesus, she’d come up with her wrong conclusion.  I was able to use the flip chart to demonstrate the serious nature of sin, the severity of God’s justice, but also the amazingness of his mercy and grace.  She was challenged, and she didn’t like it.  Most of them took tracts - including the Christian girl (eventually).

I had a great gospel chat with some Phillipine kids - they seemed deeply impacted by the law of God, which is encouraging - and they heard the gospel.

I then had a guy stop who was very keen to chat.  Long story short, it seems he was converted about six months ago, and has been avidly reading his Bible but is in some desperate need of some sound discipling.  The conversation turned quite pastoral, but I had to be careful, as I don’t know him.  He took my contact details - I hope to hear from him.

The outreach ended with a frustrating conversation with a philosophy student from the university.  He wouldn’t take the conversation seriously, to his detriment.  I can only hope the law and gospel was hitting home behind a facade.

Wednesday’s first outreach was in the city.  Andy preached in the Square, which led to me being able to have three wonderful follow up conversations.

The first was with a construction worker I talked to last Friday.

The second was with a young man I’ve spoken to at least twice before.  He has been thinking about what he has learned about the gospel.  And he has been reading the Bible.  But he is not converted.  I gave him my contact details, he said he would contact me.

The last one was with a young couple who weren’t going to stay to listen to the preaching, but one on one they stayed to hear the law and the gospel.

The final outreach was online & I was able to join the team from Aussie.

The conversation that really sticks with me is one I had with a young Catholic guy who I was able to challenge on how we are justified.  He considered himself good, and it was a real shock for him to hear me explain why he was heading to hell.  I hope his conscience is activated and that he is truly converted, to the glory of God alone.  Afterwards he played some piano for me!  Pictured.  I will never see him again in this life, I hope to see him in heaven.
 

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