Battle Log

Page 176

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On Friday night at the Gold Coast, God brought along both a large size team (over 20 people) and large crowds who were listening as the gospel was being presented.

During the preaching, we had few hecklers that were Muslim who started debating about Christianity and this drew large number of people to listen. As the preacher was answering their questions and responding with Bible verses to give a clear understanding of the gospel, we found the crowd attentively listening to the gospel message being preached. We praise God for a general openness towards the gospel.

The team also had many fruitful one to one conversations. One such was with a young girl about 12 named Ann, who asked for a gospel tract for her younger sister. When one of the team asked her if she has heard about Jesus, she replied with, "yes, from school". Upon being asked what she remembers about Jesus, she said, "he is so big and made everything". We then started to talk about sin and how every person must stand before God and that, sin separates us from God.

With simplicity, we also began to share how God has sent his Son Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sin. She said she has heard about how Jesus paid for our sin. We told her about receiving salvation through faith, that she must trust in Christ completely for salvation, surrendering her life to him to be saved. We encouraged her to read the gospel tract at home and pray to God for salvation. She joyfully received the gospel before running off to her parents.

Please pray for this young girl so that she will put her trust on Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

Please also pray for the team and for the gospel to go forth until every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:10,11). Amen.

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It was 36'C with high humidity as we made our way to Redcliffe for today's outreach. Upon arrival we set up the Free Bible and Literature table, and before we could finish setting it up properly a man stopped to take a Bible and DVD.

Shortly after the outreach began we had three young men come up to the table to ask for resources. They went to a local church, but they had no understanding of the gospel. I was able to share with them, and they said it made sense.

Towards the end of the day I also got to speak to two Baha'i members (seems to be a week for them!) This couple had been members of the Baha'i religion for thirty-six years. They told me that all religions are true, and that it all comes from one God. They then told me that they were former Baptists. When I heard this I said, "So you left the Christian faith to become Baha'i?"

Upon hearing this the lady flared up and said, "No, we took Christianity with us. Baha'i completed the teaching." I pointed out that Jesus didn't allow that option as He is God and He alone is the way, and the truth (John 14:6). At the words of Jesus the man then became angry. Through clenched teeth he started to seethe about how he wouldn't speak to me and that he has peace. I though the whole thing to be inconsistent; if you truly believe that all religions are true, then you really shouldn't get angry at the words of Jesus. Their anger simply revealed the hatred these apostates had for Christ. Please pray for them.

SDG!

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How wonderful to be entrusted with telling forth God's good news. How good is God to keep equipping us and using our frail efforts to glorify Himself. Today was another day of great and varying responses to the gospel:

- a young man Andrew said that his Dad was a Christian but he was not. As I took him through an overview of the Bible's content, he kept supplying facts such as our first parents' names, Adam and Eve. He seemed to understand how God's justice and mercy are perfectly satisfied in Christ's life & death. Pray he is thinking deeply about what he has heard because his bus arrived before he could be challenged to forsake all for the sake of knowing Jesus as his Lord and Saviour - forever.

On the other hand, there was Lyn: After  getting her agreement to certain facts, she started to disagree with Lee-Anne. She has heard the truth that can set her free.. Pray that she will be tormented by the thought of having to pay the price for her own sins - forever - and flee from the wrath to come!

Another young lass didn't want a tract but when asked, replied that she was a Christian. On being asked if she worshiped the Lord Jesus Christ, she said "Occasionally". Then she indicated that she did not want to talk anymore. Pray that if she is converted, she will fall deeply in love with the Lord and commit fully to following Him.

The spiritual battle rages. The Prince of Peace is Victor. Let us serve Him with thanksgiving and keep on giving the glory to our great triune God through the one Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

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Over the last couple of months, we have had some fantastic opportunities in our region.

Our monthly Saturday outreach continued and we were blessed by the presence of Michael, a seasoned evangelist who has returned from Brisbane and is in our neck of the woods for a few months completing his medical training. We also have had Christopher with us, possibly our youngest member of the team (he turns one this year)  who tags along with Mum and Dad (Sarah and Paul) as they share the eternal Gospel on the streets of Toowoomba.

Outside of our regular ministry, we prepared for the two biggest evangelistic opportunities of the year- The Carnival of Flowers Parade and the Toowoomba Christmas Wonderland.

The Carnival of Flowers outreach was rather unusual this year. In the lead-up to the parade, there is normally thousands of people on the street in the hours before. Not this time. It was very quiet in comparision to other years. We did, however, encounter a number of national and international tourists and their families and as such, it was a joy to share the Good News with them through tracts and conversation.


The seeds of the Gospel often lay dormant for a time and travel far and wide and so we ask you to join us in praying for the salvation of these families and that they would bring the Gospel to their hometowns.

The Christmas outreach was completely different.  Tens of thousands of locals eagerly flock to enjoy a stunning display of local food, culture and Christmas lights display in Queens Park.

Over three nights our team ministered outside the main event and were able to give over one thousand Christmas themed tracts to the many families in attendance.  There was little time for conversation or discussion due to the busy nature of the crowd but we were blessed by the encouragement of fellow Christians who were attending the event itself when they saw us sharing the true message of Christmas with others.

In large events like these (and even in more “run of the mill” outreaches), it can be difficult to point to tangible results for God’s Kingdom. As Nik Ripkin has pointed out in his excellent book, The Insanity of God “ God [has] never promised to reward obedient sacrifice with measurable success”.

Nevertheless, our trust is in Him and in His good timing. He is perfectly faithful to us.
We are imperfectly faithful to Him...and we trust not only in His disposition of loving grace towards us day by day but also in His heart for reconciliation towards the many who we will believe in faith will soon to enter His Kingdom in our region.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How encouraging is our God and so gracious to us in our weaknesses! Lee-Anne was having a great conversation to a couple in their 20s who seemed to be receptive. A couple of us noticed this as we finished our own conversation and in one of those rare instances we prayed out loud, "Lord. Help Lee-Anne speak to their hearts."  Their bus arrived and Lee-Anne comes to us saying that she wished she had longer. Look again! The couple is not allowed on that bus so Lee-Anne returned and resumed their conversation. We thank the Lord.

There was Remiole who thought he would get to heaven because he went to his R.C.church.After going through the gospel, he correctly answered the diagnostic question. Then he said that he would go to Church for His sake.

Rebecca had recently been to a friend's baptism. She has heard the truth and has a gospel of John to read.

God gave us many more conversations and perhaps a seed was planted in some of thos young lives?

Whatever the result, it is glorious because it is God's work and displays His character. To Him be all the glory, thanks and praise!

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Some of the more in-depths conversations from today's outreach:

     - Raman, a Muslim man who was trying to work his way to heaven was challenged with the Biblical injunction to not add to it but the Quran is a blatant attempt to be added as the latest word from God. He was shown the way of salvation by grace. He was urged to read the Bible asking God to reveal Himself to him.

     - Robin has a background of various non-Biblical sources. He had reached the conclusion that we sin because of the environment. This would make a drastic revised interpretation of Gen. 1-3 necessary if it were true. He does have a Bible and now he has heard the truth - in the course of about one hour! 

Most others willingly received tracts and some 'seed-planting' conversations were had with attentive teenagers.

The crew went home rejoicing and we give all the glory to God for the pleasure of serving Him and what He does with those we engaged with.

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"One sows, another waters, but God gives the growth" was evident during our outreach on Thursday at Sunnybank.

We talked with a man named Lee from China who was taught in school that there is no God by the teachers. And so he had never given any thought about God until he visited Hong Kong just before he came to Australia to study a masters at university.

In Hong Kong he encountered a man who shared with him about God and the story of Jesus, but he didn't become a Christian. Lee himself described that it was like that man planted a seed.

So when we met Lee on Thursday, he already knew there was a God and knew about what happened to Jesus (that ground work had already been laid), but he still didn't quite understand the gospel. So as we explained what Jesus' death on the cross achieved, he said, "Wow I have never thought of the story of Jesus that way before" in regards to Jesus paying our fine for us, satisfying the justice of God so that we can be saved.

He was extremely thankful and said that he would have to carefully consider trusting in Jesus for his forgiveness, for he knew it would change his life. Lee said he was returning to China in 3 days time since he has finished his study here. What amazing timing. We gave him a gospel of John to start reading, which he gratefully accepted.

Whenever we share God's truth with people, God will use it for His glory, and can send someone else who can further witness to that person to water the seed that has been sown. We are nothing, but to God alone be the glory!

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Yesterday for our outreach in Brisbane city we set up our "Are you a good person?" flipchart and the very moment it was set up, a group of six teenagers said, "I'd like to try the good person test". After going through it, explaining about sin, the coming judgement and salvation through Christ alone, they were appreciative of the chat and left counting the cost of placing their faith in Christ.

Throughout the afternoon, we took dozens of groups of people through the flipchart, including atheists, agnostics and even an elderly man who belongs to the cult called "Christian Science" (which is neither Christian nor scientific). He said that his religion denies that Jesus is God, and he said that only spiritual is good, all material things are bad. Apparently we created our own body through our mind and our aim is to rid ourselves of our body.

He denied the existence of Hell, and so we spent some time showing him verses in the Bible which showed that Hell is a real place, also verses that show that Jesus is God and how Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins (which he denied too, and instead said Jesus died for our healing).

After hearing the Scriptures he said, "I am just too old to change now." We expressed that it's not too late, by the very fact that his heart was still beating.

Please pray that this man (Wallace) comes to salvation, plus all the others we spoke with or gave a gospel tract to.

To God be the glory!

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Last night for New Year's Eve we had an outreach in Brisbane city. It was a great way to finish a year and begin a new one with 9000 gospel tracts going out into people's hands.

God also provided some great conversations with people, including with some people that the team had spoken to years past, and even some who we've spoken to at other outreach locations through the year. Quite a few times throughout the night, people walking by would say, "Oh I remember you spoke to me at Woodridge".

Please pray for all those who received a gospel tract or that we got to speak with. God's word never returns void. To God be all the glory!

PS: This is the tract we were using and it worked really well: https://www.operation513.com/happynewyear (works well throughout the whole month of January too)

 

 

 

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Warwick's Carols in the Park

This event at Leslie Park Warwick has been organised by local churches in the past but has gradually changed the focus from Jesus is the reason for the season to more about Santa... and although the event is called Carols there is mostly music that is taking away from the true meaning of Christmas.

Thankfully there were still Christmas Carols like - Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels, O Come All Yeah Faithful, The First Noel, & Little Drummer Boy!  But there were more secular songs such as Jingle Bells, Six White Boomers, All I Want For Christmas, Santa Is Coming To Town, Here Comes Santa Claus,  more songs I haven't mentioned were middle ground songs such as this one... Happy Christmas (War is Over)  that was the last song to end the night.

On a radio announcement for this event it was said that the guest of honour would be Santa. So all the more reason why we need to go into these events to share the clear message of Salvation in Jesus, what Christmas is about.  These are opportunities that we as Christians have been given to go to the crowds and share good news that will be the solution to the bad news we all face without forgiveness of sins.

We need to always be kind and compassionate as we share but never compromise the truth, if we do this with Gods Spirit we know that people will have opportunity to come to know Gods Grace.  Even if we go for one person that is Gods heart to go for that lost sheep. 

Praise our Lord we had a great time handing out the Christmas tracts to the people of Warwick, we had 5 workers and around 800 tracts went out.

We had two really good one on one chats and one of those we will follow up. Please pray for Robert & Ron.
We always come upon other Christians at these events and it is a blessing to receive encouragement from them. 

Also the prayers of those who can't make these outreaches are so precious, Thank you for praying, you are the backbone of the feet that go out with this work. Please pray for more feet to take the Gospel, keep praying for all things.

Jesus is our King who has come into the World to Save us sinners...All Glory, Honour and Praise be to our Lord Jesus!
 

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