Battle Log

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We praise God that the gospel went out in Brisbane city yesterday for our weekly Wednesday afternoon outreach in Queen St Mall.

I had prayed earlier in the day that it wouldn't be raining much in the city. God answered that prayer as later on when I looked at the rain radar, a long band of rain was heading towards the city but kept dissipating before reaching the city! This meant we could do some open air preaching. It is great hearing the word go out in public, with people stopping and listening.

I had a great conversation with a scientist who came up to the free Bibles table. He said he believes that all the religions are true, and said he had read the Qur'an and the Bible. So I reasoned with him for a bit, showing that it is impossible for all the religions to be true at the same time. He came to acknowledge that. Then I was able explain Christianity's message of grace compared to every other religion's message of work righteousness (doing more good than bad and hoping that it will save).

This man was beginning to grasp the gospel, and said he really needs to think more about what he heard. He commented at the end, "This has been so helpful. You have made my day!" His name is Larry. Please pray he comes to repentance and faith.

The rest of the team throughout the afternoon were busy handing out gospel tracts and getting into gospel conversations. We leave the results in God's hands!

 

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Many good conversations were had today during our outreach at Woodridge. I first spoke to a guy named Hayden, he said, "I don't believe in God, I only believe in what I can see!" I responded, "Can you see the air?" He said, "Good point!"

I then explained that just by looking at a building we know there must be a builder, even though we haven't seen him, so when we look at this universe and realise it had a beginning we know there must be a creator, even though we haven't seen Him.

He agreed and changed his mind about God's existence. So I then proceeded to talk about sin, the judgement to come, Heaven and Hell, the cross, repentance and faith. After hearing it all, he said "I have never heard it explained like that before. That actually makes sense."

Please pray that God would save him and for all the others who heard the gospel today.

The police were around on horseback for most of the afternoon nearby our outreach location. It is great having them there, people are much more well behaved.

To God be the glory for another great outreach!

 

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We praise God that the gospel went out in Brisbane city again today. As soon as we arrived in Queen St Mall, the busker who had just finished up his show in the area we were able to set up in mentioned to us that there was a guy sitting nearby who tried to start a fight with him during his show. So he said that this man might do something to us, especially because we'll be talking about God. We thanked him for the warning and kept an eye on this man.

At one point, this aggressive man put something in the bin and as he was returning to where he had been sitting, a young child accidentally got in his way. He then started continually cussing at this child and wanted to fight him. His parents quickly whisked the child away, but this man kept swearing and trying to start a fight with the child.

He ended up taking his seat again after a while. He sat there just staring at us, and I knew that I was about to start preaching. So the team got together to pray for the situation, particularly that this man would not disrupt the preaching. But to the team's amazement, as soon as I said my first sentence, the man simply walked away and we didn't see him again the whole day! We praise God for answering our prayer.

God drew in a good size crowd to listen to the preaching with the sketchboard, particularly when I mentioned the cross and what we must do to be saved. Afterwards Norm got up to preach and interacted with a group of young guys, explaining the gospel to them.

Not long after, Gerhard got up to read the Bible. He started off with Isaiah 53. There was a lady who stood listening to most of the chapter and after he had finished that chapter said, "Keep reading! I want to hear more of the Bible." This was great to hear, as God's word is powerful. So Gerhard then read from Romans chapter 3.

There were a number of really good gospel conversations that the team had today. From atheists, to those who believe in reincarnation, and even to former Christians. Please pray for all those who heard the gospel.

To God alone be the glory!

 

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Amazing night of evangelism last night in Brisbane city! God brought in large crowds to listen to the preaching of the gospel, with some in the crowd staying for at least an hour.

There were three main people from the crowd who were asking questions to me while I preached. The first heckler had some good questions about the gospel, what it means to trust in Jesus, and why there is a Hell. After interacting with him for a good length of time and pleading with him to come to saving faith, he came up and shook my hand, saying to the crowd that everyone should listen to what I have got to say. 

Soon after, I had a heckler who was a Muslim who was advocating that there are many paths to God. This allowed me to stress to the crowd that Jesus is the only way, and I spent quite a bit of time trying to get this man to come to understand why his works won't save him, but only by having a substitute for his sins can he be saved.

It was great to be able to focus on this topic, because I knew that I'm not just speaking to this man when I answer his questions, but to the whole crowd who is listening as well. And there is nothing they need to hear more than the message of grace and the cross.

Later on, another Muslim heckler was asking questions about Bible translations and whether Moses spoke about Jesus. I pointed out to him that even the Old Testament points to the coming of Jesus many times.

After I finished preaching, one young lady named Ashley who had been listening for over an hour came up to me, thanking me for what I said. She mentioned that when she was young she used to go to Church, but had since left it. So I reiterated the gospel to her, answering some of the questions she had. And by God's grace, she seemed to come to understand the gospel. Please pray that she will truly repent and trust in Christ. She said she has a Bible and is going to start reading it daily.

We had a group of students with us last night from Malyon College, a local Bible college join us. Some of them mentioned that it was great to be able to speak to people on the sides of the crowd who were willing to hear of news of Christ.

The seeds have been sown, thankfully the results are in God's hands.

All Glory to God!

 

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This last fortnight in Hobart has been a wonderful testimony to the fact there is a large number of people who support the gospel as opposed to a very vocal and sometimes powerful minority that wage war against it. I have many times spent space discussing the latter group and I could mention the  opposition of folks like Mr S., hostile professing Christians, homosexual activists, angry local builders or shop owners. To be frank though I think they get enough airplay as it is. 

In this report I would like to give a grateful thank you to all the many people who have stopped to encourage the team and I over the last weeks and months. Some of you have stopped to speak with us each week. Thank you Graham, Angel, Bobbie, Ewan, John, Michael and the many others.  Others have stopped time to time and helped and encouraged us. Thank you Yodit, Sam, Freddie, Joel, Paige, Michael, Peter and the many others. 

Also to the many of you who's names I've never found out, you pass in and out of our work like regular gusts of fresh air.  Thank you to the lovely lady last week who prayed and spoke so graciously from her mobility scooter. Thank you to the very tall young man who stood up for me when things looked a bit out of hand during the preaching. Thank you to the charity worker who encouraged people to be respectful even if they differ from Christians. Thank you to the Christian school kids who gathered to show their support.

I cannot forget the faithful folk who minister with me as a team. Thank you Karl, Mitch, Gail, Jim, Taylor, Michael, Lauren, Adam. You give so much of your time and energy so selflessly and I praise God for you all. Keep doing what you do so well and trusting in the Lord.

In any given month I see hundreds of these folks who encourage the team and I immensely. The gospel goes out steadily week by week and in the end it doesn't matter what the proud ones say because God sits in the highest place, ruling over all that happens. This last fortnight the gospel has been preached, almost thirty bibles have been taken and hundreds of tracts given out. There have continued to be vocal opponents but God is faithful and brings with them the many voices that speak more quietly but more encouragingly.

Praise God in the Highest

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It was another great outreach in Brisbane city last night. We had a good size team with many gospel conversations had.

After I preached with the sketchboard on the subject of "The way to Heaven", I noticed there were two young men who had been listening for almost the entire time that I preached and they were still hanging around afterwards.

So I went up to one of them, his name was David. He said he was a Mormon. When I asked him how he thinks he will get to Heaven, he said he was hoping that following the Mormon process of repentance would save him - getting baptised, confession to the bishop, asking for forgiveness, trying to do better, etc.

I pointed him to Matthew 5:48 where Jesus said you must be perfect. That means trying to do better will not undo the sins he has done before. Nor will merely asking for forgiveness get rid of his sins because God is just and will by no means clear the guilty.

He was beginning to understand that and asked what he can do then to be saved. So I pointed him to the cross, that the way to Heaven is only by having a perfect person take our Hell punishment for us on our behalf, that is Jesus. He replied, "But I already believe Jesus died on the cross."

I said, "Yes, but you're not trusting only in His death on the cross for your forgiveness. You think it is Jesus plus your good works." David realised that and as I explained it further, he was coming to understand the gospel. But he also realised his family wouldn't let him leave Mormonism to trust only in Jesus.

So I asked him, "What is more important, pleasing God or pleasing your family?" He replied, "Pleasing God." Please pray for David that he will take the bold step of leaving Mormonism to trust only in Jesus for his forgiveness.

To God be the glory!

 

 

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It was a great afternoon in Sunnybank. Throughout the day we were able to hand out many tracts, and also witness to quite a few people.

The highlight for me was running out of Chinese Bibles as people showed their hunger for the Word of God.

Please pray for all those who heard the Good News.

 

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Wow it was busy in Queen Street Mall today for our weekly Wednesday outreach. The team was in conversations with people almost the whole afternoon, sharing the gospel. More than 30 gospels of John also went out.

Good sized crowds gathered to listen as I preached the gospel using the sketchboard, which then lead some people in the crowd to ask me some questions in the open air. People were asking about homosexuality, why there is a Hell, suffering in the world, and questions about certain parts of the Bible.

God used that to draw people in to listen to the preaching, with some people staying the entire hour and a half of preaching, as they heard of the message of the cross.

In fact, one guy named Dan was listening the whole time and asking all sorts of questions. He said he was an atheist, and after showing him why we all know God exists, he kept refusing no matter what evidence I presented.

So I put it to him, "I think that no matter what evidence I present to you, you will reject it because you don't want God to exist. You would rather live in sin, correct?" He responded, "Yes, that's right. I do love my sin." I thanked him for his honesty. My prayer is that Dan would be converted. Today he heard the gospel many times.

It is always a privilege to speak God's word. We are nothing but unworthy servants just doing what God has commanded us to do. So to God alone be the glory!

 

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God raised up a lot of labourers for our outreach in Brisbane city last night, which was a great answer to prayer! There were some really good conversations that the team had, with some people even taking a Bible home to start reading it.

About half way through the night, Andrew, Tom and Jason read out aloud the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). It is a great set of chapters which prepare people to hear the gospel. I then got up to preach, proclaiming Christ and Him crucified. Afterwards, a bunch of the team started singing some hymns together which clearly present the message of the gospel.

Overall, it was a very good night with many people coming to hear of Christ. Some of the gospel conversations the team were having were very long. In fact, one team member continued in a conversation even after the team had left for the night! Glory to God.

Please pray for all those who heard the gospel.

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We would like to thank all those that helped on Saturday for the OP513 Letter Box Drop.

After a good hot breakfast and even better fellowship, 24 willing saints divided over 6 areas around Holland Park, Brisbane, to distribute more than 7,000 Gospel Tracts.

We praise God that all returned safely a few hours later.

The tract we were distributing was the Eternity Postcard.

Please be in prayer for each household that received a Gospel Tract.

Pray that God would have mercy and open the hearts of those lost in darkness so that they would see the glorious light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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