Battle Log

Page 139

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Thursday was hot in Christchurch (NZ).

The day started with some letterbox dropping, before heading to the city.  It is wonderful to have Andy enabled to join the Thursday outreaches due to the support of the Redemption Church Christchurch family - thank you!

I needed to get a document signed in front of an official witness, so I went to the court for this (1 street over from Cashel Mall).  As I went in, I noticed a young construction worker sitting down and enjoying his lunch.  As I was leaving, I noticed he was still there and decided to approach him to offer him a tract.  This opened the door to a wonderful gospel conversation where we wrestled together discussing the important questions of life.

In the late afternoon we headed to the Eastgate bus stops.  As usual, it was a fruitful ground for gospel ministry - with pretty much constant gospel interactions occurring.

A stand out conversation was with a young high school student.  He was waiting for his bus, but was open to a conversation.  I only had 5 minutes before his bus arrived, so I had to go quick, but he seemed to understand the law and gospel message I presented to him.

I moved to the other side of the road, and had another gospel conversation.  And as that wrapped up, and I moved on, I approached another high school student.  But it turned out it was the same guy!  He said he missed his bus - so I took the opportunity to follow up.

I was explaining the paradox of salvation being a gift, and yet it having a great cost.  To my amazement, this young man understood this, and confessed that, effectively, he wanted to trust in Christ, but only after he had done something that he knew Christ wouldn't want him to.  He was wrestling with the cost of following Jesus!  I pleaded with him not to follow through with whatever he was planning, repent, and trust in Christ today.  He gladly took a Bible, and other literature from me.

I could see Andy further down talking with another young man who had just hopped off a bus (pictured).  The outreach was about to finish, so I wandered down to wait for Andy.  To my surprise, the guy I had just finished talking to, wandered down as well.  It turns out these 2 guys were friends!  They both heard the gospel this day and were challenged by it.  May they count the cost, and then trust in Christ.

On Friday, in contrast to Thursday, the rain came.  Not ideal for street evangelism.  But the gospel still went forth.  I donned my wet weather gear and plodded the streets putting tracts in letterboxes.  Andy decided to go into the city anyway, and the Lord blessed him with 4 solid gospel conversations.

In the late afternoon, the rain stopped and the temperature increased.  So the evening outreach in the city went ahead.  And even though the foot traffic was light, many gospel conversations occurred.

One inquisitive young man (in the background of photo), with a Hindu or Buddhist background, seemed to understand the gospel and asked many questions trying to reconcile the information I was sharing with him.  I offered him a Bible and he gladly took it, along with other literature.  He seemed so blessed to receive it as a gift.  May God show him his sin, and the great grace of Jesus our Lord - may he repent and trust in Christ.  May I see him again.

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On Thursday the team headed to Sunnybank and although some members were away, seven labourers still came out. As usual this enabled many conversations to occur over the course of the afternoon. The afternoon due to the bus schedule was mostly shorter introductory conversations.

First was with Ohanlina. She said she believed God exists and that God will judge each person but then went on to declare that God is so good, so he won't have to punish. It was shown that it is actually God's goodness that means He must punish evil.

Next conversation was with Nancy. She was pretty sure she'd be going to Heaven because she said she'd never done anything wrong. She was asked if she'd ever told a lie and admitted that she had but without a moments hesitation she then proceeded to explain why the lies she had told were required and not that bad.

Later a conversation was had with a Sikh couple. The lady did most of the talking and said she too was good and deserved Heaven. She was shown her guilt via the law and then proceeded to say, "I don't think you will be helping us by keeping on talking, we're not at a stage in life to consider this".

In response the absolute seriousness of death and the reality of its possible timing was stressed and they were left with the challenge, "How will you be made right before God?"

A more encouraging conversation was had with Ben. At first he was hesitant to chat but then what ensued was an almost twenty minute discussion where Ben came to understand much of Christianity and instead of being dismissive and not listening he happily engaged and was willing to be challenged. He saw God's Holiness, his own sin, the penalty his sin deserves and the only hope for sinners. He didn't get to be challenged fully as his bus arrived at the end but praise God that a man who originally was dismissive and uninterested was willing to talk and be challenged.

A short conversation was also had with Anna who was willing to chat and saw that God must exist, that He will hold us accountable for how we have lived and therefore that each person is in trouble as long as they are trusting in themselves to get to Heaven. Then her bus arrived.

Lastly the afternoon was finished off with a sad conversation. A young Chinese man was being lead through the Gospel and after hearing a simple apologetic for God's existence was being shown God's law. As the law was being used as a mirror another man who had tried to interrupt earlier made a stronger attempt to stop the conversation and then began to slander the team member. His efforts successfully stopped this other man from hearing the Gospel.

Sadly this man, went on to share how he was a "Christian" but it turned out that he believed baptism and speaking in tongues were required to be saved. He proclaimed to be an evangelist himself but had not only stopped a Gospel conversation from taking place and thwarting a persons opportunity to hear, said that he preferred to just "heal" people and let God do the rest. He was very sternly warned, that as long as he continues to trust in his "good works" to save him, he will be held accountable for wrong deed he has ever done and that happened to include stopping a man from hearing the Gospel.

Please be praying for those who today had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. Please be praying that God would use these tracts, the short conversations had or the questions asked to bring some into His family! Please also pray for this false teacher, that he would either come to know God truly or that God would remove his opportunity and influence. Praise God that he is sovereign and that no events occur that are apart from His plan!

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As the Wednesday outreach began the team were reminded that summer in Australia hasn't quite left yet. Meaning it was a nice and warm day where many people remained in the square to talk and engage. Due to some team members being away on holiday the team started mostly in the shade near the road, where conversations are harder to start as usual, despite many rejections the team were able to get into conversations and and early conversation was had with an older gentleman.

This man asserted that he would be all okay on judgement day because he was a nice guy. He was shown God's law and tried to brush off his guilt by arguing that God forgives all. He was shown God's utter hatred of evil and that therefore someone must pay. He wasn't keen to talk and hear the good news and was very seriously warned of his current eternal destination, Hell.

There were two similar conversations had with Trudi and Elaine. They both were seated in the square in the shade and were approached and asked about eternity. Both had very little idea about God and then slowly but surely heard piece by piece of who God is and what He has asked of us, how we have failed and what the solution is. Both seemed to be understanding, at least in part and were able to articulate back a simple Gospel.

Please be praying for these two that this exposure to Christianity would lead them to search out more, that they would read a Bible, talk to a Christian friend or even come to a saving knowledge simply through this conversation and want nothing more than to trust in Christ alone for their salvation!

Oppositely later in the afternoon two other conversations were had with Andrew and Brendan. Similarly they knew very little about Christianity but instead of listening, engaging and seeking to understand every time a point was raised or they were shown something that made sense they both simply said, "I don't believe that" or "I think that's just true for you". Instead of humbling themselves to hear what God had said they proudly declared their own foolish ideas and to their loss neither of them came to understand the Gospel.

Please be praying that God would graciously show them their pride and show that their are trying to numb their consciences hiding behind their faulty arguments. Please pray that God may open their eyes and enable them to be willing to listen next time an opportunity is provided for them to hear His good news of salvation for sinners.

An interesting conversation was had with Maree an older lady who wasn't able to chat long, said she had a Catholic background but at the same time said no one would know what would happen after we die. She was shown God's law quickly and therefore it was pointed out that no one can get to Heaven based on their goodness. She had to run to a meeting but was encouraged to read the Gospel of John to see who Jesus really is.

There were other conversations where people responded positively, another lady named Marie, who heard the Gospel and asked for a local Church she could attend and Katie who also was so interested she asked for a contact number for a local pastor so she could find out more!

Please be praying for those who heard that they would remember, reflect and want to know more. Please be praying for those who rejected before hearing that God may do as He pleases but that if it is His will He would graciously let them hear the Gospel and for those who responded positively that they would begin to read their Bibles and start attending local Churches coming to know God more and more each day!

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Today saw the team try a letterbox drop!  Many tracts were distributed to a local Christchurch neighborhood.  May it bear much gospel fruit.

Later in the day, the regular Riccarton outreach occurred with two stand out conversations.

The first was with a Pilipino man who couldn't understand why a Christian would be standing on the foot path trying to talk to people about Jesus.  He was asking questions trying to understand my motivation.  And he seemed to be impressed when he realised my motivations were sincere.

He wanted to know what church I went to (which I told him), but he couldn't stay long enough for me to get into a gospel conversation.  He took tracts, and wanted my contact details (which I gave him), and then we parted ways.  I hope he does get in touch.

It's not unreasonable to believe he might.  Just the other day, I was talking to someone who had to leave, and I said "If you have any further questions, my name is Glen, and you can contact me via the web site (operation513.com) on the back of the tract."  Well, that someone did just that.  We are now in email communication to continue the conversation!

The second conversation was with a young man who had been thinking deeply about the important questions of life just the night before.  He said that our meeting was no coincidence (it never is).  He was keen to stick around and have a deep gospel conversation.

After at least one checking question, I was confident that the gospel message was sinking in.  I challenged this young man that today was the day of salvation, he might not have another.  I pleaded with him to repent and trust in Christ alone.

An encouraging days outreach.  Thank you for your support and prayer.  Get in touch if you'd like to get involved.  :)

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The first weekend of March saw 3 outreaches: Philippine day in the city, Sumner beach on the Saturday, and our regular Sunday afternoon outreach in the city.

The focus of the Philippine day outreach was handing tracts to all the people coming and going from Cathedral Square.

One very encouraging conversation occurred.  A young couple walked passed as I was handing out Eternity tracts, but the girl came back.  She took the tract, and said: "My friend gave me one of these last week".  I was curious.  I asked if her friend was a Christian.  "No", she said, "she is an atheist, but someone gave it to her last week, and after reading it gave it she gave it to me".  She went on to say that her atheist friend had appreciated it - something about not needing to be perfect.

Well, this gave me an opportunity to build on the knowledge presented in the tract.  I made it to talking about how hell is reasonable in light of a holy and just God.  She agreed, acknowledging the logic of it!  But at this point, she had to go, as her boyfriend - who didn't want to talk - was anxious to go.  I gave her another tract as she parted.  But I was so encouraged to hear of how a simple gospel tract had led to pondering the important questions of life for multiple people.  Oh that they would trust in Christ!

At the Sumner beach outreach, in the afternoon, some good gospel conversations were had.  One of them started as people were watching a World War 2 British fighter plane flying overhead (see picture).  As it flew past, I asked 2 guys on bikes if it was a Spitfire.  This led, eventually, to a gospel conversation!  They both received follow up tracts as well.

Sunday morning my wife told me, as I was about to head off to church early to help with sound set up, that my eldest child was keen to join me on the streets sharing the gospel. I was thinking of taking the afternoon off, but that put some wind in my sails! Outreach on! ;) After church, my wife tells me all 3 of our children are joining me. :)

And what an awesome afternoon it was. There was a team of 9, and there were many good gospel conversations happening.

There were some with less experience, and a fair amount of nerves... but they all handed out some tracts.

God is good. Some real encouragement was received.

May those that heard the gospel come to faith in Christ - for His glory.

Come join this motley crew of fishers of men, out where the fish are! ;)

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One of my favorite outreaches is at the Eastgate bus stops.

On Thursday, In just 3 hours, I:

• Sat down next to a guy who ended up deliberately missing his bus as he wanted to talk about the important things of life (my very first interaction of the outreach).

 

• Talked with 2 very thoughtful young high school students who had just hopped off a bus but were keen to stay for a chat and seemed very open to the gospel.

 

• Offered a tract to 2 young ladies, 1 of whom was very intent on talking as she was investigating the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses. After explaining the gospel with a special emphasis on the hope of forgiveness that's not based on works, and why Jesus had to be God, she gladly accepted a Bible, gospel booklet, and more tracts. Sadly, I only had 10 minutes with her, as a friend came to "rescue" her from the crazy religious guy (me).

 

• Re-encountered a young man who I had shared the gospel with at Sparks in the Park a couple weeks ago. He had a friend with him who he had discussed what I'd said with. I had a chance to follow up with both of them.

 

• Had a wonderful conversation with another young man who claimed that it wasn't obvious that a building had a builder! He quickly moved the conversation to evolution as his reason for the denial of the obvious. We discussed this till his bus came, but he left with some tracts - including a special one with an emphasis on evolution and God.

And those are just the highlights, I can think of at least 7 other interactions, not including the tracts handed out.

And Daniel was with me, who was talking with people as well.

Why am I saying this? Not to toot my horn - that's for sure. But to show that there is a massive opportunity to minister the gospel in Christchurch.

The laborers are few. And good conversation days like this are exhausting.  Please continue to pray for the laborers that are out where the fish are.

On Friday, the team were in the central city.  Air NZ were having a give away in Cathedral Square and this attracted many people to also have gospel conversations.

Later, there was some open air preaching happening and our "favorite" heckler was there (pictured).

The outreach finished in Cashel Mall with flip chart gospel conversations.

Please consider joining the team! :) Even once a fortnight can mean many more are reached with the precious message of Jesus.

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The first person who God brought along this week was a man who has a carer that I have spoken with several times. They had parked close to the Bible table and the Carer said to the man that he could stop with me for chat while she went in the bank. It was a wonderful time to share the news of our need for Jesus to save us from our sins and how Jesus helps in our every need. I don’t know how much he understood but he nods his head and seems to be agreeing he has been given tracts before. Today I asked if he would like a new testament pocket bible, he was so happy to receive, we opened it to look at the Lords prayer because that had been knitted in to what I had spoken to him about today. Pray for L as God can do all things that seem impossible to us and we know His ways are abundantly more than we could ever imagine.

God has His people praying for this work and we are so thankful for the connections to people in different denominations here in Warwick and other towns close by. Today a couple from Stanthorpe were encouraged to see the work of God through this ministry. We had a good chat. Then another lady from a local Church had told me that they pray every Sunday for the ministry work. How beautiful is that to know so many others are a part of this work. The church we attend are faithfully praying also and through people reading these reports we write. Thank God for the blessing to share in prayer it even crosses the oceans. We are most grateful to know that Jesus makes perfect intercession to our Father in heaven as we pray. 

I got to talk with J again from 2 weeks ago. He is the older gentleman who says he won’t believe. But again the Lord was able to challenge him through a cracked vessel like me to turn from unbelief. God helped me with speaking to J,  he always wants to stop and he says that it is good what I'm trying to do and he respects me. I think he knows that I genuinely care for him but I tell him I’m just a sign post pointing him to his greatest need. We have explained sin by the law and the grace of Jesus to him and continue to remind him with this truth in love.

Then I got to talk with a young man who said he is an Atheist. He was challenged to make sure what he believes is true. He took a “Are you a good person”  comic tract and a “ What is more important than water” tract. He told me he is from out of town for his grandfathers funeral and cut the conversation off saying it wasn’t a good time for this. As he was walking up the street he was reading the tract, he was walking slowly and I prayed to God for him to be stirred in his heart and given truth. I also prayed he might come back. So I grabbed two booklets ready to offer him just in case.  The booklets were “Where did the races come from” and “carbon dating” we had a short conversation on both these topics.

Not long after Rick and Dale arrived this man came through again! He was with another man, Rick gave the other guy a tract and found out they were from Darwin. I was able to offer the young man the booklets I said, Please look into these things, this is what we were talking about," He received them gladly, Praise God. Lets pray he will read them through carefully and check out what he believes and not just go on what the world says as it is a big lie. There is no proof at all in evolution and there is so much evidence in creation science. The great thing in these booklets from Creation Ministries is they clearly share the Gospel in with the teaching of creation. This is vital as we know the Gospel is what saves sinners not knowledge or in anything we can do. Only the work of Jesus. We pray people will be saved and given a new heart, then they will begin to understand God’s Word and know it to be true because God’s Spirit will bring understanding for the believer. Some things are stumbling blocks though and giving answers from the Bible best. We pray that this may be the way God draws them to believe.

We had a older man who lives out of town stop and hear the message of the Gospel. He was open and wanting to know the way to be made right with God to be able to enter heaven. He acknowledged his sin and hell punishment we all deserve. We explained the court room analogy about the payment of sin, justice and grace. Also the parachute analogy to the trust in Jesus alone to save us. Please pray for D he took tracts and has a Bible at home, we encouraged him to open and read the Gospel’s. We challenged him not to put off salvation as we don’t know when our last day will be and that we need to respond to God’s grace before we die.

We hope for rain in the dry places but more important we pray for the gentle washing waters of the Holy Spirit bringing life to hard and stony hearts.

Thank you for praying. To God be the Glory.

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On Saturday 2nd March we had arranged to meet again for outreach in Plymouth City Centre, and as I was a bit early had a coffee and bacon bap at Gregg's. A Christian lady I knew walked past and asked me a question about the book of Job which we discussed, but a man sat next to me heard the conversation, and so when finished chatting to the lady I managed to have a conversation with this man called John.

He said he was a Christian and had been to Church before etc, but didn't like religion and people trying to force their views on others. He said he watched some Christians on TBN (not best examples) and said that he had quite a past in the forces, working in clubs as a doorman etc, and with his big beard and tattoos said he had quite a few fights before he was a Christian, but now openly told people about his faith. He said that as long as someone believed in Jesus they didn't need to get into religion etc, and so we managed to have a great chat for around 15 minutes about which Jesus people believed in, wrong views of who Jesus was (JW's and Mormon's etc) and what the Bible said were the consequences of us believing another gospel (Galatians 1 v 8-9)

It was a great conversation and was able to give him some tracts to read and think about, and seemed thankful we had spoken which I believe was a great 'God-incidence' being there at that time.

I later met with George and Harry from Faith Mission, and George preached while Harry and I were the 'rent a crowd' and trying to hand tracts to people as they walked past. I ahd an interesting chat with a man from Arizona called John who had come to the UK with friends but had come to the Southwest to explore but in doing so had lost his passport, and was killing time until meeting friends at coach station tomorrow. He had to call the American embassy etc and fortunately had a copy of his passport and hoped things would improve tomorrow when he met back up with people. He was desperate to try and find an American pastor down her to speak to, but as I was unaware of any in the churches here, managed to give him some tracts to read which he was again thankful for and said would be great to remember his journey and travels here.

I later open air preached from 1 Corinthians v 8-9 which I prayed about as is quite a contentious verse among unbelievers-

'Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

I tried to show that all of us can be deceived in different ways, through used car salesman, dodgy scams online or being short changed, but the worst thing would be to be deceived about where we were spending our eternity and that living in constant, unrepentant sin would show that we were actually not saved, but that many of us try to be religious while continually living in our sin. Christians are sinners that have been saved by grace and have also formally lived in sin and now as believers can still struggle with sin, but know that is no longer their lifestyle or desire in life. God however can wash us from the inside, forgive us, cleanse us, give us a new heart with new desires and a brand new start, IF people would admit their sins and humbly come to Jesus in repentant faith to be forgiven.

I was worried a passerby may try to pick up on the verse about homosexuality, but was fine and a few people had stopped to listen who we tried to give tracts to and speak with afterwards, one older man in particular whose brother had formerally been a street preacher but who himself did not believe in a God due to all the wars etc around us.

Ed and Laura came later after I had left and had another interesting and fruitful outreach, with Harry enduring a little bit of heckling when he preached, with I believe the same guy I had spoken with earlier interrupting with the familiar "what has caused all the wars throughout history?" question before walking away not being interested in the answer.

Laura, Ed, George and Harry spoke with many different people, but in particular ask for prayers please for Hannah, a philosophy/ psychology student (can't remember which), Muriel (ex Catholic) whom we've seen before and Finn, young guy who listened for a good while while his friends hung around.

The weather was kind to us and many tracts were handed out to passers by, with us hopefully planning to go to Plympton and Exeter next week for outreach which will hopefully be good, as well as Simon and I making some new A2 posters for people to read and a 'good person test' flip chart.

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At Woodridge this afternoon the day was filled with a range of shorter conversations.

Early on an older couple were approached and asked questions, the lady had her own ideas about god and the husband was a Sikh. The lady was trying to stop the conversation at first by saying it was rude to try and tell someone else (even implicitly) that they're wrong by seeking to show them the truth.

Some simple explanations were given about the seriousness of getting God wrong and trusting in the wrong way to him, there literally are eternal consequences. They ended up hearing a brief gospel presentation and taking a tract but the lady Terri seemed only to listen out of politeness and the husband Malchus didn't seem moved by the seriousness.

Next a conversation was struck up with Lacey a young single mother who had no idea about God, eternity, sin or Jesus. It was actually extremely sad to see that someone has grown up in Australia a country where around one in twenty-five people are Christians and she seemed to have heard nothing more than the names of places and people. It wasn't even that she was willfully disinterested she just seemed to know nothing.

Explaining the Gospel was hard work but she seemed to understand. Sadly some friends came by and she was unable to continue the discussion as she was waiting to spend some time with them, so she headed off. She did take a tract though. Please pray that God would be working on her heart, drawing her to Himself!

The afternoon also had two very similar conversations in content but very different reactions from the two guys. The first was with Mitchell the second with Will. Both responded with, "Nothing", when asked what they think happens after they die. Both men where asked why they believed this and gave simple answers that could be summarised as, "Just because". Then posed with the buildings require builders analogy both saw that the universe too must have a Creator.

Will responded positively saying that is made sense and was willing to continue talking. On the other hand Mitchell all but ran away. As he saw the point coming and realised he interrupted and said, "Actually, I don't think we should talk about this, I am not the type of person you want to talk to". He saw that he was wrong and clearly so and tried hard to suppress the truth.

He was challenged slightly and was shown his motives. He realised the implications of there being a God and wanted to as quickly as possible avoid the scary reality that after death there would be a day of judgement. He was left with the seriousness of the decision he was making. It was pointed out that whilst he may be able to leave this conversation in an attempt to avoid thinking about the reality of judgement, there would come a day when there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide and his only hope will be if he has taken refuge in Christ before then.

Oppositely Will heard this and acknowledged that it made sense, he was then shown that just as the owner of the building has authority over how one should act whilst in their premises that God will hold us accountable for our actions in His world. Will was shown God's law and saw his guilt and as he was posed with the question, "What is the solution?" his bus arrived and he took a tract.

Please be praying for these two that God would use these conversations, despite the different initial responses to bring these men to a saving knowledge of the truth and not to let them try and ignore reality until it is too late.

A quick check in was had with Jay-Cee who dropped past again this week and was reminded of the Gospel and with Rachel (a young man) who had spoken to the team around a month ago and was also briefly checked in with. Please be praying for these two that God may graciously work in their hearts and cause them both to trust in Him, rather than their own ideas or abilities.

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This afternoon at Capalaba the team set out early in the afternoon to have some conversations. Upon arriving it was noticed that some JW's had set up their stand at one of the bus stations. The team prayed and split and the first conversation was had with these two ladies, Lauren and Dena.

Lauren did most of the talking. It was very sad to hear what she had to say, she didn't really have many answers to the questions posed. The first question asked and most important and central topic was, "How can someone be made right before God". Lauren listed five things, "Getting baptised, trying your best to obey God, reading your Bible, trying not to do the wrong thing and being sincere in asking for forgiveness". It was pointed out to Lauren that these were all based on human efforts.

It was pointed out to her that God's standard is perfection and that the best we can offer even in her list is a long way short of perfection. It was so sad to see that she mentioned nothing of Jesus Christ. The good news was briefly shared and she was challenged to read Romans 3-5 and to see what Paul has to say about how someone is made right before God.

Two exciting conversations were had with Damien and then Taylor.

Damien at first said that he thought there was no God. Upon being challenged with the building, builder analogy he admitted their must be a God but said it couldn't be the God of the Bible. When asked why he gave a few reasons and answers were given. It was pointed out at this early stage that it isn't primarily intellect that stops people from being Christians but rather a desire to sin. Damien then mentioned that he once was a "Christian" and that he did at one stage believe in God.

He was shown God's law as to his sin and was pointed to the penalty, the eternal Hell that he is headed for. Damien became quite sober in this conversation and wasn't being so dismissive but rather seemed to listen to what was being said. Just as the Gospel was about to be shared his bus arrived, he was given a tract and was encouraged to read and and the hope of a future conversation was mentioned. Please keep Damien in your prayers that he would read the tract and come back next week with questions!

A lengthy conversation was had with Taylor who at first seemed uninterested in talking as she mentioned that she had spoken to the team before. Taylor said her primary reasons to disbelieve in God were experiential. She had been forced as a child to learn about God, She had seen some "Christians" do some evil things and she had been mistreated by someone who claimed to know God. She was taken through God's law and saw her sin but kept trying to minimise it.

She was playing the usual game, jumping between trying to reject the existence of God and trying to argue that she wasn't that guilty. This went on through a few Gospel presentations and she seemed to understand the Gospel well. But her issue remained a love for sin. She talked about things she wanted to do that God disallowed. Then as the seriousness of the issue was being stressed another young man, who knew her came by and took her away to chat with her, which ended the conversation.

But by God's providence he hopped on his bus and she actually willing and came back over to continue chatting. She was challenged on a few more things, had the Gospel re-iterated and was strongly challenged on the seriousness of the decision she was making. Please keep Taylor in your prayers that she would heed the message proclaimed and turn to Christ as her Saviour and Lord.

One final conversation was as the afternoon came to the end the team of JW's swapped and so what was planned on being a short conversation was started with Patrina and Teagan. The conversation was initially intended to simply encourage them to have a read of the letter to the Romans, chapters 3-5. They shared that they had just read it the week before and so the question was posed, "How does Paul say we are made right before God?"

Patrina responded, "By exercising faith (doing the things the WT says one must do) and by doing good works". It was pointed out that Paul actually says the very opposite of that. The beginning of Romans 4 was read, and verse 4 and 5 were emphasised; "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness".

But Patrina then tried to argue that this simply meant that God opens the door to the ungodly by letting them enter but then they have to show worthiness through their actions. Patrina kept saying directly contradictory things, "No one can earn their salvation, God gives it as a gift to those who do good works". Sadly she couldn't see the contradictory nature of this and she tried to take the conversation elsewhere. The pair were encouraged to read their Romans 1-5 and spend some time trying to see what Paul was saying about how one is made right before God.

Please pray for the four JW's spoken to today that God would use His word to lead them away from the deceptive false teaching of the Watchtower.

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