Battle Log

Well, I came down with a cold end of Friday, so I took Saturday and Sunday off (as well as my usual Monday) to recover.  It was nice to have some rest post all the recent special outreaches.  Not fully recovered yet, but I’m back to work (online only at this stage).  This report covers Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday's Riccarton outreach went ahead with out me, led by Roger - he had a newbie with him, praise the Lord!

Pictured is a summary of my online chats.  Interestingly I had exactly 2 hours 21 mins in “decent” chats for each day.  (A decent chat is one that went for longer than 2 minutes.)

The first chat, with a guy from Scotland, was great.  His mind was blown when he first started grasping the gospel (his words)!  But I had to labour with him to get his understanding to stick (checking questions to the rescue).

A guy goes from thinking his good deeds will save him to Jesus will save him.  He then started talking about an addiction he was struggling with.  Honestly, I don’t think this guy was impacted at all - sadly.

A guy from India heard the gospel, but just wasn’t interested, he had to go after a fifteen minute chat.

The chat with the guy in New York was fascinating.  Jewish, he thought he would be going to heaven simply because he was Jewish.  He was deeply resistant, but using the examples of Abraham’s faith and Passover I was able to explain the gospel.  Sadly he bailed - not interested.

A girl in Texas who just didn’t care.  I was able to show how I knew she did care, and interestingly she didn’t bail from the conversation.  She heard the gospel.  Her key question was about LGBTQ+ which I addressed.

The second to last chat was with a guy from Morocco - he was lovely.  He had good English, and was keen to chat.  I think he understood what I was sharing, but he was resistant to it.

A Brazilian guy didn’t have good English, but came to hear the gospel via Google Translate.

By the way, I know I say “resistant” a lot - this is not necessarily a bad thing!  The gospel is the power of God for salvation.  The gospel can cut through resistance.  Salvation is from the Lord, in his timing!

On Wednesday, the Lord connected me with a lot of younger kids.  Sad, there are much much better places for them to be than talking to strangers online.  But, at least they get to engage with the gospel.

The first kid, from Canada, seemed to have a Catholic background (I later learned).  So he was familiar with some of the lingo, but obviously looking to his “goodness” to save him.  He really struggled to grasp the gospel, but he was willing to talk (by typing) so I laboured with him.  I lost motivation, because he just didn’t seem interested - bored even - I wondered what was keeping him in the chat.  After pointing him to needGod.net, I eventually moved on.

The chat with the next kid went faster - she seemed to grasp the gospel quickly.  But there was no penny drop and she suddenly disconnected.

My third kid in a row had a Christian background, and felt “caught out” when I pointed out what he thought would get him to heaven at the start of the chat, and compared it to what he now knew.

Next up was a DJ!  A Catholic background, deeply resistant to the gospel.  He kept cutting me off before I could finish a sentence.  He insisted that he would be going to heaven.  I slowly broke down that wall with the law.  But then he insisted he could never let anyone else take his punishment.  I gave up and left him to deal with his punishment himself.  I dropped a link to needGod.net a second before he bailed on me - I wonder if he saw it?

The chat with the guy in Brazil was frustrating, he would respond very slowly (via text) and insisted he was perfect.  I left him with the gospel, via text, before moving on.

Another kid!  This one: quite self righteous, but lovely to talk with.  He clearly went from thinking his good deeds would save him to clearly articulating that only Jesus death on the cross would save him.  He professed faith.  I pointed him to a Bible, and a good local church.  In the end he said, “I gotta go; have a good day and stay positive; I will remember this talk forever; bless you”.

The guy in Georgia, I had a delayed connection with, which made it difficult, but I slowly worked through the gospel with him.

The last chat was good.  Whoever it was was very intellectual (text only).  They came to hear the gospel, but they really enjoyed the conversation and started asking many questions.  Eventually I decided that they understood the gospel and it was time to move on.  I pointed them to the Insta DM if they wanted to continue the conversation.

So, a great couple of days of online gospel proclamation.  Glory to God alone for any fruit!
 

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