Battle Log

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After long discussions with the council and deliberations by them we have been banned from witnessing in the Elizabeth Street Mall on threat of arrest if we persist. As I wrote previously we are looking for advice currently on options for challenging this ruling and what the implications for a court challenge are. Please be in prayer for us and all Christians in Hobart as the government here is becoming increasingly belligerent in its opposition to public expressions of Christianity.

This Friday I obtained a permit for witnessing in Franklin Square, a small park bracketed by the two major roads through town. It was a rainy day and quite cold so I was expecting to have little success with conversations but I hoped that I would be able to hand out some tracts to the people in the bus station. With many faithful Christians appealing to God I was also hoping that God would act to exceed what I thought would naturally tend to happen.

On arriving I decided rapidly that preaching would be out of the question for the day, the only audience I would have is the local seagulls and pigeons. As they have no need for a saviour I went to the bus station and handed out tracts and tried to speak to my fellow dying men and women of Hobart. For the following two hours I had a constant stream of people who took tracts and one or two short conversations with people in the bus station. A couple of Christians from my church stopped to say hello and encourage me in the work, this is always a great lift to my spirits.

At the end of the time I bumped into two friends who also identified themselves as Christians. We had an encouraging talk and I urged the young man in particular to consider carefully the particulars of our faith and make sure that he was walking faithfully with the Lord.

There were encouragements today but I am hopeful form more people to hear the gospel and for there to be an opportunity to speak to more people and possibly gather a crowd to preach the gospel to them. God willing we will be able to build this area into a Speakers Corner that people come to to hear the preaching much like in London.

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It was a wet and windy Friday afternoon as Adam, Andrew, Paul and I gathered to share the eternal gospel with the lost of Hobart in the Elizabeth street mall. I was expecting that there would be opposition today from the Hobart City Council just as there had for the previous six months. I was not disappointed on that count and even the Hobart police force became involved in attempting to prevent us preaching the good news.

Previously we have been harassed by the council who informed us that we need a permit to preach and hand out tracts in the mall and we were breaking the by laws. I investigated this thoroughly and the only relevant law that could be construed this way was one forbidding political meetings in the mall. There are several laws relating to religious activity in car parks around the city, but as the mall does not count as a car park I disregarded these laws. In spite of this the council persists in pointing to their conditions of use document which explicitly forbids preaching, one to one witnessing and tracting in the mall, the conditions of use document then points back to the by laws as a basis for the restrictions. This circular reasoning is used regularly to restrict freedom of religion in Hobart.

We began the day with handing out tracts and talking with people in various places in the mall. I always rejoice to see tracts in the hands of people and often seeing them reading or showing them to friends.

I found a convenient place to preach from behind a wind break which thankfully also acted as a sounding board and allowed me to project my voice down the mall. I began to preach using the recent budget and other financial concerns globally. From this regular concern for most people I turned to what God’s word says on the matter, in particular the comments in Mt 6 on money and the other common modern preoccupation - worry. The Bible is plain on this count, greed is only another form of idolatry and worry is distrust of God at best and practical atheism at worst. We are commanded to worship God only and when we refuse to do this we become guilty. Judgement/Gospel/Appeal

Adam preached for first time – death and certainty of judgement and need of the gospel.

Council officers approached Adam when preaching – need a permit. Referred to me, tried discussion but not interested, they called the police. Left saying we were God-botherers

Police arrived after Adam finished and we were talking and handing out tracts. Told complaint had been made and we were breaking the bylaws. Also told were breaking the public disorder laws by preaching/making noise/offending people. Discussed laws and police became very antsy and upset with this and I was told to become a police officer if I wanted to know the law so much.

Clarification sought at the Police station, inspector informed us that the same things apply

• Council by laws should be upheld

• We were breaching public order laws – contradictory

• We were not being discriminated against as it applied to all “not just you”

We are seeking legal information and political approaches to resolve this matter quickly

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Operation 513 Olympic Outreach Video Blog - (Day 6)

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Operation 513 Olympic Outreach Video Blog - (Day 5)

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Operation 513 Olympic Outreach Video Blog - (Day 4)

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Operation 513 Olympic Outreach Video Blog - (Day 3)

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Operation 513 Olympic Outreach Video Blog - (Day 2)

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Operation 513 Olympic Outreach Video Blog - (Day 1)

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From Rob Hughes, London team leader, currently on mission with JeremiahCry Ministries in Glasgow, Scotland:

Yesterday was a real blessing witnessing with the team. It's truly wonderful to labour with so many faithful men of God in the proclamation of God's Word. 

Here are some of the great conversations I had...

I spoke with a chap (David) who beats himself up over the wrong he has done in the past, and so he labours to "fix" the past through many good deeds. This is ultimately a self-righteous pursuit to justify oneself in the eyes of God. 

I explained to him that forgiveness found in Christ sets us free. We are saved and transformed, the evidence of which is seen by the good deeds we perform. When we receive salvation our desires change. The born again man wants to perform deeds "...in keeping with repentance." It doesn't mean he never sins, however the new desires born in him propel him to exalt the Lord with his life. 

R.C. Sproul explains it like this: 

"We are covered in an alien righteousness, a righteousness that is not our own, but under that covering we are still inclined to break the law of God. Justification declares us righteous, it does not make us sinless. 

We are granted citizenship in God’s kingdom based only on the righteousness of Christ, but good works are not an optional part of the Christian life. In fact, believers must do good, not to secure justification but to evidence their justification."

There is great freedom found in Christ. We do not live under a heavy burden with regards to living a godly life. As new born believers we do not live godly lives in order to receive favour with God, rather we live godly lives out of gratitude and praise to God because we have already received favour with Him. 

This is why we read in Galatians 5:1: "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

I explained this as best I could to David. He did listen and appeared to get what I was saying, although it seemed that he was more concerned with earning favour with God, instead of humbly receiving the grace that God offers. He left with a tract and a New Testament. Do pray for him. 

Together with others on the team, I also spoke with two young men who had grown up Catholic. They appeared quite nominal and were very open to hear the gospel. As we shared with them it definitely appeared that the light came on. They really seemed excited to understand and know why the Son of God lived as a man and why He died on a cross for the sin of the world. 

~ Jesus lived a sinless, perfect life, in order to be the perfection we can't be, and then He died on a cross to pay the penalty for the sins we have committed. As a result of what Jesus has done, when a man repents and trusts in Him, God treats that man as if he lived Christ's life, and He treats Christ as if He lived that man's life. 

Amazing. 

It was a blessed day indeed. Do pray for all those who heard the gospel. 

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The temperature was cool, as the team met beforehand for prayer together. This evening, we had a very decent sized team ready to speak to people about Jesus. After reading Romans 10, concerning how “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ”, and that “people cannot hear without someone preaching”, the team moved over to Queen St Mall to begin our outreach.

Luke was keen to kick off the preaching for tonight, and so once the free Bibles table had been set up, he stood up on the soapbox and begin to preach.  Luke is a new-ish open air preacher, and he did well this evening in presenting the gospel. It is good to see him grow in confidence and zeal for open air preaching. He did not have any hecklers and after about 20 minutes he concluded his message calling for people to repent and believe the gospel.

After this, Blake stood up to preach and started off by preaching about the parable of the Prodigal son. By this time, a bunch of guys from the Brisbane Atheists (really, agnostics) group had arrived and started debating with Blake. They discussed issues such as evolution and whether it is true. Blake argued that it isn’t because of the extreme lack of evidence.

He then preached about the coming judgement and that the fact that we’ll all stand before the creator God one day to give an account of our lives. This then lead to him preaching about sin, and about the only way of forgiveness of sins, by faith in Jesus Christ – his death and resurrection. He preached probably over an hour, answering all the various questions people had.

After this, Josiah and then Alex faithfully preached the gospel, calling all who were listening to repent and trust in Christ alone for their salvation. One of the people listening to Alex asked the question, “How can God send people to Hell forever for a finite crime?” Alex responded by saying that it is up to God the judge to define the punishment, and he has defined it thusly.

But he also mentioned that it’s not as though those who will be sent to Hell, will instantly stop sinning. It’s likely they will keep on sinning, and therefore keeping extending their sentence there. Alex then pointed out that because the punishment for sin is so severe, it really shows how important it is to have your sins forgiven.

Meanwhile, Luke and a few other team members reported to me that this evening they had been having some great witnessing encounters with people. Tonight quite a number of Bibles were given out to all those who were interested including a bunch of teenagers. This group of teenagers had been hanging around for the whole time we were there, at first being really immature in the things they were saying and doing, but a number of the team were able to witness to them throughout the evening, and it appeared that a lot of them were having a change of heart. They wanted a Bible and said they were going to start reading it. Please pray that God will draw them unto Himself and grant them repentance and faith.

To God be the glory for another great night!

 

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