Battle Log

Sunday, 31 May, 2020

Posted 31 May 2020, 3:03 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Saturday was a lovely sunny day, and there were LOTS of people in Cashel Mall.  It was great to have Andy Bell join me for the first outreach in the morning (before lunch), and I also ran an outreach after lunch.  If you live in Christchurch, I’d love to have you join me and get involved on a Saturday outreach - get in touch! :)

We set up our flip chart down by the bridge of remembrance, where we were in the sun rather than the shade, and after praying together, we were instantly rewarded with someone curious enough to start a conversation with us.  The guy was very smart, and it felt like God’s providence, cos Andy Bell is very smart too - and it led to a wonderful, long gospel conversation.  The guy was smart, but he liked to take his time to explain what he was thinking, it was very tempting to cut him off knowing what he was going to say, but I did my best to be patient and respectful.  Presuppositional apologetics was a powerful tool in this conversation.  The guy ended up offering to buy as a coffee!  But instead, Andy went with him and bought him one!

I stayed with the flip chart and marveled at all the people about.  By this stage, two other religious groups had set up on either side.

I had a group of polynesian guys go past who were keen to try the good person test.  I quickly learned that they were catholic.  I had a wonderful opportunity to challenge them on how they are justified before God.  If Jesus has 100% paid their hell fine, what role does works have in it?  (Answer: none; works come after.)  They understood after I used the fireman analogy.  I then challenged them, if they were trusting in their good works in any way to be justified before God - it hit the spot, and they really seemed to appreciate the chat.

It was nice to be out on Sunday afternoon in Cashel Mall after finally being able to gather as a church in the morning for the first time since covid-19 lock down!

I had to be patient to get into conversations, in spite of there being lots of people walking past.  In the first half hour, I had only had one conversation.

But my patience paid off, and I was able to have many good conversations for the rest of the outreach.  At one point, 3 young people, one of whom was a satanist stopped to talk.  Suddenly I had another 4 ladies stop with curiosity.  I invited them to join the conversation and suddenly I was sharing with 7!  And I noticed this big group was causing others to stop wondering what was going on.  I was able to share the law and the gospel with all 7, before the 4 ladies had to go.  I was left with the 3 original young people and I was able to continue with checking questions.

To my surprise the satanist said, “you’ve convinced me, I’m going to become a Christian”.  So I challenged her to count the cost of doing so.  After explaining, I challenged her, if she was willing to trust that Jesus had paid her hell fine, knowing the change this would bring in her life.  She agreed that she wasn’t - yet - but I could tell she understood and was challenged.

I give God all the glory for the wonderful gospel opportunities this weekend! :)