Battle Log

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Hear Andy and Thomas share about encouraging conversations they had with men in Myanmar during the recent mission trip.
 

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The trip in Myanmar so far has been a blur with some many conversations and excitements. The days have been busy and the team goes to bed tired, ready to be rested for another day.

This morning many of the men will be preaching at local Churches, bringing encouragement from the Word of God.

In this video you can hear Grace share about a Buddhist who had some Hindu ideas and how He responded to the gospel.

You can also hear of a conversation Martin had with a homosexual couple about the way to Heaven.

Please be praying for the team that they may be well rested and ready to serve God as they awaken this morning.

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The team in Myanmar have had a flying start in the outreaches. With a team of twenty six, there are so many stories to share and conversations that have been had.

The team has been spreading across three locations each day and through translators or with people who speak english having lengthy and indepth gospel conversations.

Most days have been raining for more than fifty percent of the time so conversations are moved under cover. This has limited the amount of tracts that are able to be distributed but the conversations have been valuable and exciting.

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Toowong Village Thursday 1/10/2019
It was another day of the Acts of the Spirit at the Toowong Village Street Evangelism ministry spot.
Initially, I was expecting only Winnie to join me from the Gold Coast by train. My first surprise by the Acts of the Spirit was meeting Winnie's husband who though not yet a confessed Christian but just a church goer, took the trouble to escort Winnie to come by train from the Gold Coast for the first time. He left us behind to do street evangelism and did our opening prayers. We was ready to go to our spot at the foot of the pedestrian foot path bridge, but Winnie out of the blue prompted me to go to the toilet first. As a result of this delay, Chi Ming and his wife who were only 2 minutes late were able to sight Winnie first alone waiting for me and then reunited with us as a team of four for today street evangelism. (Hung Kwan, 关子鴻, Winnie Choi 蘇慧英, Chi Ming Lin林志明; &曾棣旋

After the 1.5 hour street evangelism time, they came back a bit later then the target time but actually this left me a window of 5 minutes to share the gospel to Vincent Choi 蔡毅雄, the husband of Winnie. Pray that he will receive Christ ultimately in His time.

God answered my opening prayer to give Winnie the boldness to do her first sharing on the street. She got hold of an UQ student from China called Huge. He stopped very willingly to let Winnie to share the Gospel with him with the "Are You A Good Person" flip chart. He even allowed Winnie to take a selfie with him. He is a Christian but a infrequent Church goer. The Gospel sharing may have aroused his passion to pursue God again in Christ.

Winnie almost immediate had another opportunity to stop another UQ students from China. Her Mandarin was not as good as her English but the student was willing to let her to communicate in English. After she finished, I chipped in to give a bit supplement. Unfortunately, it was cut short when this person noticed Winnie was attempting to take photo of us. This anyway was a good lesson for Winnie to never take photo in front of the target, but always from behind not taking their face but ours. It by all means was a very fruitful and effective day of training for Winnie by God that helped her to have alleviated her fear replacing with boldness to share Gospel in random to people stopped by God.

As for me, I have 7 conversations today amongst which were three Indian Christians and non-believer inclusive. So I take it as my Indian day.

1) Joshua from India, Christian without assurance of faith but now clarified.
2) Howard, a local Aussie Christian who turned down my tract as he is a Christian. He passed my diagnosis test of 2 Questions showing 100% assurance by faith in Jesus alone.
3) Mary, an Aussie old lady claimed to be a Christian but again has no assurance of salvation faith.
4) Kyla an UQ student from Zimbabwe who claimed herself a Christian but again have no assurance of salvation faith. She was in a hurry so I had to walk her to the bus stop to gain just enough time to build up her 100% assurance of salvation faith.
5) Alvin James, a UQ student who is a Christian but also have no assurance of salvation faith but now clarified.
6) Luke, a middle aged French Christian of Catholic background. He also does not have 100% salvation faith. Yet he was humble enough to listen and thank me for clarifying the right way to get 100% assurance of his salvation faith.
7) Daren, an UQ student from India. He has no religion or faith back ground. But he appeared to have a very positive grab of the salvation by faith in Christ alone. He admitted we are all sinner and will bound for Hell as the punishment of our sin. And the only way out is to accept the finished work of Jesus dying on the cross to take up the punishment of sin on our behalf as such we can be justified to reconcile with God. Pray for God's continuous work on him to convict him to be converted to Christ.

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Over the last couple of weeks, we have been blessed in the mall by the local Korean Church coming to preach the gospel. It was wonderful to see Hana, a missionary from South Korea, preaching the gospel in multiple different languages. My heart thrilled to see so many people from China stopping when they heard the gospel in their heart language.

The first day that Hana came into the mall to speak, there was a number of us in the mall supporting her including her husband, son and her senior pastor and his wife. This group was fantastic because a crowd always attracts a crowd and people gathered to listen.

Of course, when this happens there is always counter moves by the enemy. Who should turn up in the midst of things, but Mr S. my old heckler and another repeat heckler. Mr S. immediately went on the attack with all sorts of slander and demands that I answer his questions. In one way I was pleased, he left the gospel preaching alone and targeted me (which I duly ignored). At the same time, it was very sad to see the hardening that has been taking place in Mr S.’s life. At one point the other heckler exposed herself at me and the other Christians present and Mr S. was not even troubled by this. It appears that despite years of hearing Christians proclaim the gospel he has only hardened his heart in rejection of God and embrace of sin. Please persist in praying for Mr S. he is lost in the darkness of sin.

Despite some small opposition there have been a number of great conversations happening also.

Mr SA – he was listening as I preached and came over to chat after Keiran approached him. His was a very sad story of alcoholism and estrangement from family. He had liked my bad jokes about the coming football grand finale, but as an atheist disagreed with the message of the gospel. He liked us as Christians and was happy for us to believe and speak on faith, but sadly believed he could not have faith in or help from God due to his demons and sin. We offered to pray with him but he would not let us. He left and we prayed for him afterwards and will continue to pray for him.

Miss S – she had stopped by another day while I preached and spoken at length with Keiran. She is a nurse in training and a Christian, and was very happy to see the gospel being proclaimed in the mall. Keiran had encouraged her to be faithful to God in her studies and work. She came after we finished talking to Mr SA, and was wanting us to pray for her to have greater faith. We talked about how powerful God is and Jesus who has her in His hand, and encouraged her to look at Him not at how small her faith might seem. We all prayed together that God would strengthen her faith in Him (and ours too!).

Mr T. – he had listened as I preached and came up to ask a number of questions. The biggest was “How do I reconcile the existence of evil and the goodness and power of God”? Five others gathered to listen to the discussion which lasted for almost an hour. There were many opportunities to point people to God and the Bible and provide good reasons to trust in Jesus. At all points Mr T. was very polite and the discussion went back and forth smoothly. It was a joy to share these things with people engaging openly with what the word says.

Praise God for all His goodness to us!

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As the days in Hobart warm up people are becoming more likely to heckle the preaching in the mall. Praise God this brings people in to listen and the many good conversations have continued afterwards and there are many opportunities to share the gospel.

Recently there was a climate change protest/strike by students, unfortunately on this occasion there was much anger in the teens that gathered in the mall after the march. So many of these young people are fearful and confused by what is happening around them. Tragically they have been taught climate activism but also rejection of God who gives us the planet we call home and are commanded to care for.  This overflowed in anger at the gospel being preached publicly.

One group of young men repeatedly swore at me as I preached and told me that no-one was listening. When this didn’t appear to be working, they began to make threats but thankfully left before anything happened. As this is so often is the case, anger is the go-to option for people who are badly scared. These young men were very scared of the future and climate threats and so their anger was natural. God save them and us all from wicked people who frighten children into protests to achieve what they can’t with normal persuasion.

As I continued preaching a young man who has stopped before to heckle came. My heart breaks for him, I continue to pray for him, he is lost in the darkness. He claims to be both a sociopath and an atheist. As had been the case last time he came to heckle again. He came trying to disprove God. He came with as many arguments as he could find. He came with pride like armour around his heart and mind. He came, unwilling to listen to any reason or persuasion to trust Christ, leaping on any excuse for unbelief. As I said, my heart breaks for him, I tried to move him to see all the evidence for God and Christ Jesus.  I preached the gospel but I fear in vain, I just pray that God will soften his heart.

While this was happening the group of young men returned and surrounded me making threats and trying to disrupt the preaching. After a few short interactions it became clear that they were only seeking to “troll the preacher”. So, told them that I would preach over them if they were unwilling to be civil. As I continued preaching the police arrived and the young men quickly took off. Praise God He looks after me so often.

The rest of the afternoon was similarly tense with other teens likewise aggressive and threatening. It is tempting to think that all the outreach was a waste, casting pearls before swine. That would be forgetting to look around the people at the front of the crowd and see the large number of people listening behind them. There is always a double crowd in the mall. The questions and answers and heckles and responses and gospel preached goes through one ear and out the other of some hecklers, true, but it then hits the hearts and minds of more responsive people behind them! God’s Word never returns to Him without achieving His purpose in any situation. Praise Him there is always many who “overhear” the word preached or discussed.

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Sunday was a very hot day in Christchurch (NZ).  From now on, I’ll be putting sunscreen on every morning before I head out on the streets! :)  There were three people out sharing the Gospel at the corner of Cashel & Colombo in the afternoon.  I had two interesting Gospel conversations.

The second conversation was with two young Muslim girls, originally from Afghanistan, but now Kiwis.  As they walked past, I asked if they would like to try the good person test - and they were keen.  Very early on, we agreed that the ten commandments were the standard of good to measure against, and with that common ground, I proceeded to adjust the mirror of the commandments so they could clearly see their own reflection in it.  They agreed that, with God being just, then they would deserve hell.  But they appealed to the mercy of God.  And this is always the hinge point of all my discussions with Muslims: how can God be both just and merciful?  If He is merciful, then that would mean He isn't being just.  And so I explained how God can be both through the cross: Jesus being both perfect and willing, was able to take our justice and give us his righteousness through our faith in Him.  While I was explaining that Jesus rose again, I respectfully mentioned that Budha, Kirshna, and Mohummed were not perfect and had not risen - but only Jesus had, and so He was our only hope.  And it was at this point that I was challenged - as I had, understandably, hit a nerve.  But out of my love for them, I wanted to challenge them on this.  We parted on good terms.  They had known people who had died in the Mosque attacks earlier in the year, and for what it was worth, I expressed my sympathy.

The first conversation was fascinating.  I had five young teen guys walk past, and I had the energy to engage them.  I boldly challenged them to try the good person test, and they all stopped to see what I was talking about.  I had them on the line, and I had to use all my energy to engage them enough to get them to try it.  Three of them turned to walk away - I had two left.  So again I challenged them to try the good person test.  One of them then turned to his mates who were walking away and said, “Hey guys, I want to try this, come back”.  And they did, praise God!  But I had to fight for their attention.  Then five of their friends turned up and their attention was completely gone.  I now had the work of gaining the attention of all ten of them!  All glory to God, I succeeded at this, and I managed to get all ten of these guys to realise the importance of what I was talking about.  While I was taking them through the law, a lady joined the group.  I think she was attracted by my animation in working to keep these kids engaged.  I glanced at her, not knowing her motives and hoping she wouldn’t derail things.  Luckily she didn’t, she eventually peeled off and left - it was a pity there weren’t more Christians with me to be able to engage her separately.  But it wasn’t over yet.  I managed to get through the law, and most of the way through the Gospel, when yet another lady suddenly entered the fray!  She started saying things like: “you need to listen to this guy”, but it wasn’t helpful - it was just distracting the flow of the conversation.  I managed to hold their attention long enough to share the Gospel with them, when the lady decided to take over the conversation!  I decided not to stop her, knowing that it wouldn’t look good to these guys.  I left her to it for a few moments while I handed each of the guys a tract, and took the attached photo.  Before coming back to take back control of the conversation.  I found the right moment to say to the guys that I really appreciated their time, and if they had any questions they were more than welcome to ask.  I intended to have a chat with the lady, but as soon as the guys had left, she left too.  What a battle!  But it was worth it.  I know some of those guys were resistant to what I was saying, some seemed to be thinking deeply, but all heard the Gospel!

I was also in Cathedral Square on Saturday where God provided opportunity to plow and sow.  All glory to God for any increase that comes from our feeble effort.
 

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Arthur Pink in the 1974 p/back "Practical Christianity", p.32 gives us food for thought, "...only by the blood of Jesus we can be saved. That is true Godward, but it is not true manwards. The work of the Spirit in us is equally essential as the work of Christ for us." - Titus 3:5

     It was another interesting time of serving our Lord. As we gathered for prayer, it was preceded by a display of carpark road rage where we observed man's fallen nature in a pathetic public rant and rave session. Thankfully, the 'accused' did not reciprocate and it eventually fizzled out. Once we got going, the Lord gave us:

     - a long chat with an older Irish Roman Catholic man  who could not listen because he had his own version including this: If he got to heaven and saw someone there he had a grudge against , he could not forgive them.He heard the good news.  

      - 3 young lads who heard the gospel for the first time. One was more open than the other two were.

     - Sisters R. & M, church-goers.who were weary of trying but failing to live the Christian life. Their faith was on a dodgy foundation and they were getting nowhere. They left rejoicing as they grasped God's gracious gift of salvation. May God get them discipled now so they can grow to maturity of faith.

     - T. a young lad who came asking what the flip chart was all about. He seemed to 'get the message' but then revealed in further conversation, that he had not. Ryan had another 3 to 5  reviews with him before he seemed to grasped it. He had not any concrete concept of God to begin with. Please pray that he God will speak to him savingly as he reads John's gospel. 

These last two chats were our last for the afternoon. But regardless of what we might think, we went to be used of God whose work always reflects His glorious nature. So we give thanks for the privilege and pleasure of serving Him in this way, 1 Jn. 5:3.

We give Him all the glory and we (you probably guessed it) went on our way rejoicing.

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Providence on Display in Redcliffe

In Psalm 37:23, we are told that the steps of a righteous / good man are ordered by the Lord. Today, I saw a very practical outworking of that biblical truth; the Lord’s providence was clearly displayed in Redcliffe.

We arrived a little earlier than usual this morning, and after having a time of fellowship we set up our literature table and began our outreach. Before too long, we had people taking tracts and stopping to chat about the Lord Jesus.

The first person I spoke to this morning was a man who identified himself as a deist. He believed that God existed, but that we can discover God on our own and without the special revelation of God’s Word. He also told me that he didn’t like Christians, since all the Christians he knew were hypocrites. This objection of hypocrisy is a common claim, so I spent a little time addressing it. I stressed to this man that the standard we need to test everything by is not what people do, but rather by the Bible. If someone says they are a Christian, but don’t follow the example of the Lord Jesus, then we have grounds to question if they are really a Christian or not.

This line of reasoning seemed to strike a note with him, so he asked me to explain more about how someone actually becomes a Christian (I was more than happy to do so!). We chatted about how all of us don’t follow God’s standards, so we all need a saviour. The man told me that if everyone just loved each other, then the world would be a better place. This gave me a perfect opening to talk about personal sin. Using the command of Jesus to love one another in John 15:17, I asked if this man had always loved people in the way that Christ commanded. He admitted he hadn’t. I then asked, if he had loved God perfectly throughout his life; again, he admitted he hadn’t. I was then able to explain to him that none of us follow God’s commands, but Jesus loves sinners. This man listened as I shared about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. He also listened attentively as I shared with him the command of God to repent and believe in Jesus. At the end of our conversation, he shook my hand, said he had much to think about, then headed off down the street. 

I went back to handing out tracts after this, but I noticed Col was engaged in a discussion with a Muslim man who worked at the kebab shop next to where we were evangelising. I listened into the conversation, which by now was about the veracity of the Scripture. The Muslim man believed that the Bible had been corrupted, and that only the Quran was correct. When I heard this I was reminded of an apologetic booklet I had placed in my bag, it was written to address such claims. At this stage I joined the conversation; I greeted the Muslim man and began chatting to him. I have spent time studying Islam, so I really enjoy talking to Muslims. This man was friendly, but was using the common arguments against Christianity. I addressed his claims about the corruption of the Bible, then I offered him the booklet as a gift. He very graciously received the gift and thanked me for being prepared to talk to him. Col and I were also able to share the gospel with this friendly Muslim worker. After our chat, he went back to the kebab shop, and we went back to witnessing.

Since it was quite a hot day, I thought it would be wise to take a break and go buy a cold drink. This is where I saw God’s Providence on display. I walked passed the kebab shop, to a little cafe which sells a Scottish drink I really like. I went to purchase it, but they said they couldn’t accept my card. So, I placed the drink back in the fridge, and walked down to a bakery to purchase a drink from them. Upon arrival at the bakery, I noticed a line of people out the door. I wouldn’t have time to get a drink from there, so I started to head back to the outreach. As I walked back, I decided just to buy a drink from the kebab shop, even though it wasn’t the type of drink I wanted, it was hot, so I needed something to cool me down.

When I walked into the kebab shop, the Muslim man I had spoken to earlier greeted me. He then had to rush off to do something. I took my drink from the fridge, then went to the counter to pay. A lady was standing at the counter, and when I put my drink down she said, “I’m glad you are here; perhaps you can help me in a debate. Myself and the other worker have been debating about if the Bible is true or not, and if Muhammad is mentioned in the Bible.” This was not the conversation I was expecting!

Since there were no other customers in the shop, I was able to explain the gospel throughly to her. I also happened to have a booklet in my bag that addressed the question of if Muhammad is mentioned in the Bible. This whole experience reminded me that the Lord orders our steps, as I had no intention of buying a drink from that shop, yet, the Lord wanted me to be there to proclaim Christ to the worker behind the counter. God’s Providence is a wonderful thing!

By now our outreach was beginning to draw to a close. I had a brief conversation with a pagan who said she was nothingness and that God indwells here. She wasn’t overly friendly towards us. I was also able to hand out a number of tracts. It was also during this time that we saw children come and take copies of a free Bible colouring book that we were giving away. We rejoice that God’s Word keeps spreading!

The team from Operation 513 and OAC Ministries did a great job today. Please pray for all those we encountered.

SDG!

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It was good to be back at the Northlands and Eastgate bus stops, on Thursday afternoon, after a few weeks away due to the Myanmar mission.  Although, having gotten used to being able to have long conversations, I struggled to readjusting to the fact the buses would come and suddenly end conversations!  In spite of this, many good Gospel conversations were had - including some good follow ups.  I even had an opportunity to follow up with some high school kids I had apparently had a long Gospel conversation with at the Sparks in the Park outreach way back in February.

In Myanmar, you often get taxi or bus drivers stopping, and wanting a Gospel tract from you.  Well, I was very surprised to have a bus driver at Northlands move his bus up, and open his doors wanting to know what I was giving away, and indicating that he wanted one.  It was my pleasure to step aboard and hand him one, with a brief explanation of what it was.  He looked very interested, so I decided to caution him: “please read it, but not while you are driving”.  He laughed!

On Friday it was wonderful to be able to unfurl our new banner, outside Christchurch hospital, that read: “Thinking of suppressing the TRUTH about abortion?  Please chat with us, we care about you both.”  It was very encouraging to have a team of seven involved with this morning Gospel outreach.  And we had some wonderful opportunities to chat.  One young man, who had previously been involved with the JWs, heard the Gospel of grace.  He gladly received a Life is Precious Gospel tract, and wanted to know about the churches we were involved with (three were represented).  He was encouraged to get in touch, and told he would be welcome.  After he had left, one of the team reported that he had tears in his eyes!  Oh that those tears would be in understanding of the serious nature of sin, and the amazing grace of Jesus.  Praying that he indeed gets in touch.

In the afternoon, there was a climate change protest in the central city.  But before that got started, Andy had a wonderful opportunity to open air preach with the support of the heckling of the Wizard (pictured).  There was a good crowd around who got to hear the exchange, and also the good news of Jesus!

The protest provided a very busy afternoon of constant Gospel conversations for a team of four.  I was very encouraged to have a number of follow up conversations too.  After a long conversation with two guys who didn’t know each other but were wearing the same t-shirt - I offered a follow up tract to one of them, and I was very encouraged to hear him say, “no I’ve already got one - someone gave it to me at Eastgate”!  I also had a wonderful conversation with two girls where I was able to use all of the analogies I had learned on the Myanmar mission.  They both clearly understood the Gospel, but when I challenged them on what was stopping them from trusting in Jesus to pay for their sin, they sadly answered with: “because I want to live my life my way”!  This led to a wonderful follow up discussion about that, and they also asked me about what my thoughts were on homosexuality.  They never denied the truth I was speaking - they knowingly rejected it.  Don’t be like them!  The pleasures of sin in this life are not worth an eternity of just punishment in hell.  Trust in Christ. 

PS, the odd selfie is of me and one of our hecklers Adam.  He likes to try to unsettle you by getting into your personal space.  I again had the opportunity to share the law and the Gospel with him - and to tell him I care for him, and that I'm praying for him!  
 

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