Battle Log

Today at Woodridge, many seeds of the gospel went out. Even though it was school holidays, we found heaps of people were happy to talk about eternal matters. Our common starting question was, "Do you think you'll go to Heaven when you die?"

When Cliff was asked that question, he said he would because he thought God will forgive everyone. So we explained to him God's character, that is holy and just and cannot just ignore the sins we've done, otherwise he is no longer just. That is why we need someone who is perfect who can take our hell punishment for us on our behalf.

Even though he said he already goes to a local church, he said he now finally understands the way to Heaven, and was going to place his faith in Christ alone for his salvation. He said, "I really needed this. I think God brought you here today and placed the idea in your head to stop me and talk to me."

Another man named Jordan said, after hearing the gospel, that he doesn't want to trust in Jesus is because of "Christians" who have done bad atrocities against him. I asked, "Would it be right for me to say to you 'You are a horrible person' if someone who claimed to be your friend did some bad things to me?" He replied, "No." I said, "So in the same way, we shouldn't judge Jesus based on some of his supposedly followers." He agreed that made sense and as a result was happy to take a gospel of John to start reading. To God be all the glory!

---

God gave us another great afternoon of evangelism at Woodridge yesterday. We had 7 of us on the team across the afternoon.

We have some people to pray for:

- Jonathan, thought he was a good person and therefore going to Heaven, came to understand grace and took a gospel of John.

- Caleb, not sure about whether he'll go to heaven, but thought he was good. After hearing the news of Christ and the need to repent and trust in Christ, Caleb said, "I need to do that now." Gave him a gospel of John.

- Mainitor, knew the gospel already, but said he is living his own way at the moment. Stressed need for him to take this all seriously, and also recommended a local church for him to start attending.

- Lucky, a Muslim student, after hearing the gospel said, "Can I believe both?" So explained to him the exclusivity of Christ being the only way and the fact that He is God. Gave him a gospel of John to start reading.

Seeds have been sown, thankfully God is in charge of the results. To Him be all the glory!

---

After each outreach we go home rejoicing that the gospel went out and that each of the people who heard the gospel will never be the same again in eternity, whether they come to faith or not. It's never a waste!

Yesterday at Woodridge, we got to speak to a bunch of different people, including a man named Walter who said he wanted to have a fight with God on the day of judgement as to why God let some bad things happen in his life.

We explained that we can never charge God of doing anything wrong because if you think about it, everything we have is from him anyway. God gives and can take away as He sees fit. We didn't even make our own arm, in fact our whole body is from him. Even our very mouth that we might be using to accuse God of wrong, He made it!

We encouraged him to look at the book of Job, and in particular God's response to Job who wanted to have his day in court with God (Job 38-40). For example, God says in Job 38:4 - "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?"

The law and the gospel was explained to him, please pray that Walter humbles himself and realises that what he so desperately needs is to come to faith in Christ.

Also pray for others we spoke with throughout the afternoon including George, Micky, Tristan and April who in separate conversations were intently listening and were each happy to take a gospel of John home to start reading.

To God be the glory!

---

We were blessed by the Lord on Tuesday to have 8 labourers on the team at Woodridge, including 3 new people. One of the new people had never done any street evangelism before and as was expected, he was were terrified. But it wasn't long before he was handing out gospel tracts and got into numerous gospel conversations.

At one point, he remarked, "I am so happy I just got to share the gospel with a Muslim lady!"

Please pray for all those who received a tract or got witnessed to, including an Chinese man named Leo who had never heard the gospel before. After hearing of the news of Christ, he was happy to take a gospel of John to start reading.

Also. pray for Omar who thought it was his 10 Commandment keeping that would save him, but then came to grasp the gospel by the end of the conversation.

God is always faithful, to Him be all the glory!

---

Thank you to everyone who prayed for yesterday's outreach in Woodridge. We had 6 people on the team.

The man in the red in the photo is named Tristan. He initially didn't care about eternal matters, but as the conversation went on, he opened up a lot more. He thought Christianity was about doing religious activities in order to find forgiveness, and so it was a big eye opener when he heard that forgiveness is a free gift that Jesus offers because of His sacrifice on the cross. Please pray for him.

Please also pray for Nora who right from the start of the conversation thought she was going to Hell. She listened intently as she heard of the message of the cross, and she is now going to count the cost of whether she is prepared to repent and trust in Christ.

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." (1 Cor. 3:7)

To God be the glory!

---

On Tuesday at Woodridge we had a team of 5 of us as we sought to make Christ known to whoever happened to be there.

One person on the team got chatting with a guy named James who had just been kicked out of his home and had all his stuff stolen and given away by his housemates. So the team member took him to the local Kmart to buy some clothes for him, and got to share the gospel with him.

Later on, James returned to where he had met us, and some others on the team got to chat further with him, further explaining the gospel to him so that he came to grasp it. Please pray for James that he would repent and trust in Christ.

Please also pray for a man named Lyle who wasn't sure whether God would let him into heaven. Even though he knew about Jesus' death on the cross, he thought his good deeds had an essential part in him getting to heaven. We spent a bit of time looking at a few passages of the Bible that speak of salvation being a free gift, nothing that we earn, but one that we receive by faith alone. Good works will simply naturally follow if we are saved.

Hundreds of gospel tracts went out, and Christ was honoured, so to God be the glory!

---

We thank the Lord that he brought in plenty of people to chat to during our outreach at Woodridge on Tuesday. From those with a religious background to even someone who had never heard of Jesus before.

Two on the team spent quite a bit of time speaking to a Seventh Day Adventist who was confused about whether law-keeping was what will save him. We took him to passages in Galatians and Romans which make clear that by keeping the law of God no one will be justified in the sight of God (as we can't keep it perfectly), but that it's only through faith in Jesus. However if a person has faith, it will evidence itself in good works and obedience to God.

One chat later on that we had was with a Chinese man named Joey. He thought that he would go to Heaven based on his goodness. So we took him through the law of God, and he began to see his sinfulness, so we then explained that Jesus lived on the Earth 2000 years ago and died on the cross, rising three days later. He said he had never heard of Jesus before. But what surprised us is that he came quite quickly to understand the message of grace through faith.

By this time, we had already run out of the Bibles that we had brought that day, giving them out to others who wanted to take one. So Joey said, "I know what I can do, I can download one on my phone, and I am going to start reading it tonight!"

To God be the glory!

---

Hundreds of gospel tracts went out yesterday in Woodridge and some really great gospel conversations were had. Plus God raised up a team of 6 of us.

One conversation we had was with a man named Uzzi. I remember chatting with him in Sunnybank a month or two ago, but I couldn't remember exactly where he was at with God. So he gave me a recap by saying:

"On that day in Sunnybank you asked me if I was going to Heaven when I die and I said I would because of my good deeds. You then explained to me that our good deeds have nothing to do with us going to Heaven, and instead it is only through trusting in what Jesus has done by dying on the cross for our sins. Now I understand that and believe it for myself."

He was overjoyed to see us again and he said he has been reading his Bible everyday. That was wonderful to hear. I encouraged him to now make the most of every opportunity to share his newly-found faith with others and I mentioned to him the various outreaches we have on different days of the week. He said he would love to come along to our Saturday night outreach in Brisbane city, so we exchanged numbers.

Glory to God that He is saving a people for His name's sake!

---

At the end of our outreach at Woodridge yesterday we were rejoicing that God's word never returns void, but accomplishes everything He wants it to. We had a team of five of us and God brought along dozens of people across our path throughout the afternoon who were open to talking about spiritual things.

It is interesting to see three examples yesterday of people coming from different stages of belief - Firstly, Troy, he was a man who said that he knew God existed but said that he loves sinning. After he heard the gospel yesterday, he said he would count the cost of coming to faith in Jesus.

We also talked to a young man named George who thought he was already saved, but turns out he was trusting in being a good person to get him to heaven. By the end he realised that he needed to trust in Christ alone for his salvation.

And later on, we talked with a man named Elijah who hadn't really given much thought to the things of God, but was quite open. He said he would really think about what he heard.

We sow the seed, but God gives the growth. We are nothing, but God is worthy of all praise. So to God be the glory!

---

We have much to praise God for from our outreach in Woodridge this afternoon. We had 5 people on the team, and it was really encouraging to see a newer person on the team having his first full witnessing conversation with someone. He finished that conversation rejoicing!

Bundles of gospel tracts went out throughout the afternoon and some meaningful gospel conversations were had. One young lady we spoke with was named Vitooma. She thought her goodness would save her, but after going through the law of God, she realised that she too hasn't lived up to it. So we went on to talk about the cross and how forgiveness is only available through faith in Jesus.

Vitooma responded by saying that she is a Muslim. I replied, "I understand, but it doesn't matter what religion you grew up in, or what religion your parents are, if Jesus is the only way you can get to Heaven, you need to place your faith in Him no matter what. For isn't it more important to obey God rather than man if they disagree?" She agreed. So I went on to explain that Jesus was more than just a man, He is God in human flesh. He actually said that with His own lips. Plus He said that He had the authority to forgive sins and He even let people worship Him.

She was clearly thinking through all that she was hearing and said that she is trying to get her head around everything she is hearing. She asked a few questions and was happy to take a New Testament. She asked whether she could return in a future week if she has any questions as she is reading through the Bible we gave her. We said absolutely and also recommended a good local church for her.

Praise God that He does draw people out of darkness. Please pray that God would do that for Vitooma and for all the others who heard the gospel today. To God be the glory!

---

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

---