Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 147

Myanmar (Burma) Short Term Missions

As the team gets back into full days of outreach you can hear encouragements from Trinity, Hung and Glen about how their days went.

Hear Trinity share about a conversation she had with an ex-Catholic, considering JWism, at the restaurant where the team had dinner. Praise God for his providence and timing, allowing the conversation to take place before this lady was sucked into the lies of JWism.

Hear Hung share about the wonderful experience of participating in the gathering of the saints almost 8000km from his home. Also hear his encouragement to others to consider taking this journey with the team on a future trip.

Hear Glen share about the wonderful day of outreach had, including some exciting conversations with locals who knew English and hear how you can be praying for the team over the coming days.

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Queen street, Auckland

Our brothers from the North Shore had invited us to this outreach on Queen Street, thank you to our brother Patrick Gailer for the invitation. There were many of our Op513 tracts that were distributed, and also by God’s grace I was able to go through the flipchart first with a group of exchange students thanks to brother Ronji, and also with a young German couple.

There is a concern as it seems that we need more Christians who are passionate about Biblical Evangelism to work this street, Queen street is a long street, and it is the busiest street in the country pedestrian wise – so many other Churches/cults and false religions work this area. Please pray that the Lord will provide more opportunities for us to come here more often & to grant to us more laborers. We worked from around 7.30pm – 9.30pm said our goodbyes to the brothers, and headed to our cars. 

On the way home Stewart and I thought we should stop at Speakers Corner as it was on the way. I had never preached there in the night, I remember vividly that the last time I was in Albert Park in the late evening I was unconverted & getting drunk with some friends. Praise God for his work of grace in my heart.

We stopped by and it seemed quiet with no one around. I thought I’d stand up and preach a short message and out of no where people were walking by in small groups as I was preaching. Seeing that it was in the evening and that there was no competing noise, from the traffic or construction, this made the sound of the open air preaching louder in that area. As I came midway into my message I had noticed that there was actually a group of around 10 or more people who were all sitting under a tree facing speakers corner drinking. They were actually there the whole time and I had not noticed until now.

We praise God in the assurance of knowing that His Word never returns to Him void. May those who received tracts, as they read be given eyes to see, may those who were spoken to or heard the preaching of the word be given ears to hear.

SDG

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Myanmar (Burma) Short Term Missions

On Friday the team split up again and head out to four different locations and as a result many conversations were had and any tracts were handed out!

Hear Andrew share about a wonderful providential moment when a man who had been asking God to teach him more for the past two years and ended up hearing the Gospel.

Hear John share about a man who was waiting for a taxi and heard the Gospel from the team.

Hear Harry share about the day they had at the university and how it turned out!

Please keep the team in prayer as they have another full days evangelism tomorrow.

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Myanmar (Burma) Short Term Missions

As the first full day out on the streets the team were prepared for a long day of outreach, including conversations and tract distribution. God choose to bless the team with the encouragement of three people responding positively when asked if they wanted to trust in Christ.

Hear Glen share about the conversation he had with a bike delivery guy, who despite the fact that his friend wasn't that interested was willing to even declare that he would trust in Jesus even if his friends and family would forsake him.

Hear Trinity share about a conversation she had with a man who attended a Catholic church because he had no where else to hear or read the Bible and how he responded to the Gospel.

Hear Harry share about a conversation he had with a man who had some english ability but also heard and came to understand the Gospel!

Please be praying for these three, as well as bringing the team before God in prayer and also asking that God would continue to use the team through the rest of the week.

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Myanmar (Burma) Short Term Missions

As the January 2019 Myanmar Mission begins, you can hear Andrew and Matt encourage you in a Gospel conversation that has already been had as well as other simple things that have occured at the beginning of this Myanmar Trip.

Hear also how you can be praying for that team over these comings days!

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On Tuesday at Woodridge the team had many conversations. It is often that when there is less traffic flow from the train stations that people are more willing to stop and chat. The first man to stop was Michael.

He was a past drug user, who had recently returned from prison and was actually quite interested in talking. He did struggle to concentrate through the conversation but chatted as we talked through the law and saw his sin. He mentioned that upon his grandmother passing a few years back his whole family (other than him) had started going to church.

This conversation turned toward explaining the Gospel as the solution to sin and its penalty but sadly he didn't get to hear it in full as his bus arrived. Please be praying that Michael wouldn't just desire to go to Church to it in with his family, but would take to heart the Gospel upon hearing it and desire to know God as a result.

Through the rest of the afternoon a range of other conversations took place. King an Aboriginal talked about how he had gone to some JW meetings but in the end had left quite quickly because he didn't think they were telling the truth. This also meant that he was very skeptical about talking with the team and didn't stay around long enough to hear the Gospel.

A conversation was also had with Matthew, a Muslim. The primary issue that he had was that he was so ingrained in his Islamic worldview that he couldn't even comprehend the Gospel. This was really hard to deal with. The team tried many different ways of explaining it, trying to use pictures, different analogies and yet he was unable to understand that we aren't saved by our good works.

Another JW and Mormon were spoken to and they both sadly said, "I don't want to believe in a God like that".

The last conversation of the afternoon began almost an hour after usual pack up time. The team were having many good conversations and so a few members had decided to stick around and keep talking. This enable a conversation with Tea.

She was a young lady who had a background in an atheistic family but had gone to a large church during her teen years but had subsequently left. She had a long and in many ways sad story through her life but the big point focused on was her leaving the Church.

She was actually really upset over it. She was moved to tears on three occasions as she reminisced on how distant she felt from God. Through the course of the conversation it came out that she had slowly drifted from God. At first she missed a few Sundays here and there and slowly became more and more distant from the Church.

There was a range of reasons that she mentioned as to why it occurred by it boiled down to a self-indulgent sin issue. Over the course of a lengthy conversation she came to understand why sin separates us from God, what the solution is and she was challenged strongly at the end to consider counting the cost of forsaking her sin and trusting in the Saviour.

Please be praying for all those who heard the Gospel or were challenged even briefly in what they believed, that God would be working in their hearts.

Please also specifically pray for Tea that she would come to know God and start attending a local Church, worshiping God in the gathering of the saints.

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The outreaches in King George square are usually filled with less conversations but longer ones.

The first one of the night was with three Muslims. They were challenged by God's law and the need for a Saviour. The struggled with Muslims is to keep the Gospel the centre of the conversation. It can often be lost in rabbit trails and other discussions.

In an attempt to keep the conversation on tract the attempt was to ask them to answer the question, "What has God done, to pay the penalty for sin, so that sinners can be forgiven?"

This question was bought back over and over and the reason it was focused on is clear, the "god" of Islam hasn't done anything. Where as the true and living God has acted in history and taken the judgement for sin on the cross, for those who trust in Him.

Jam, Yas and Wassim through this conversation were openly lusting after girls that walked past, pointing each other to look. In the end they left saying they would search out what had been said and would talk with the team another day.

Another conversation was with Cody, who said, "three people have spoken to me about this in the last three days". It was pointed out that God was clearly trying to God his attention. He was taken through the law and its penalty and through the Gospel and its beauty and then left with the very serious thought that God had now given him three chances to hear the message of hope and to respond and God may never ever give him another chance.

Lastly, the team was about to speak with Yance, a European Doctor, who lives in Australia. He mentioned that on Sunday of the previous week at Wellington Point a kind gentleman had given him a tract, talked with him briefly but he had to leave. (This was another 513 team member).

Yance noted at the end of the conversation that he was very grateful. He now understood the Gospel, had many of his questions answered and even noted that the conversation was not intrusive and he was happy to have had the conversation.

He said that he would seriously think about what had been said!

Please be praying for those who were challenged by the law and heard the Gospel this Saturday that God would use this to draw them to Himself!

 

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At Sunnybank the conversations are often short and sharp so there isn't much time to "waste". Thankfully due to the seriousness of the question people are often willing to engage.

A few quick conversations were had with Lai, an African lady and Catherine.

Lai, acknowledged after the building, builder analogy that there is a God but he said he didn't know what came after death. Sadly his bus arrived and he left with the tract.

An African lady said that she "was" a Christian back in her home country but when she came to Australia didn't want to be religious anymore so she has just started living however she wants.

Catherine an older lady believed that God exists but seemed to use her lack of knowledge of what came after as an excuse for her actions.

One extremely sad conversation was with a man named Josh, he was on some sort of drugs and was struggling to converse well. He also had a girlfriend with him who really wanted to leave. He spoke with the team for a short while about how monks, who had great control over their body proved they had "super"-natural power. Ironically, the very fact that they had achieved it by their own effort, showed that it was just natural power.

Josh was shown the mirror of the law and left with the very serious consequences of breaking it. Sadly at this point his girlfriend dragged him away.

On the other hand two Asian ladies, Eden and Maria, by accident missed two busses! Firstly at the beginning of the conversation they missed a bus and then were able to talk. Just as they heard the law and the penalty for breaking it another bus they could have hopped on, drop by without stopping and so they got to hear God's offer of hope.

It was pointed out that God had kept them at the bus stop long enough to hear the peril that they were in and the solution to it. They were thankful to hear and took tracts, hoping on their bus on the third attempt.

Please be praying for those who heard small amounts, those who had lengthy conversations and those who came to intellectually understand the Gospel for the first time. Please be praying that God would use the conversations and the tracts to save many!

 

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At Woodridge on Tuesday the afternoon was filled with as usual, a range of interesting people. The first conversation of the afternoon was an extremely sad one.

An elderly Albanian gentleman named Zem talked to the team and mentioned that he had tried to commit suicide four times and yet every time God had stopped him. He had faced some tough life situations, including losing his wife and he said he couldn't stand living anymore.

What made it even worse was that even though God had kept him alive, (through quite unexpected means), he did not want to hear how his greatest need could be solved. This was a sobering start to the outreach.

An exciting conversation was with Georgia. She had traveled all the way from New Zealand and was hanging out with her friend. As they walked past she stopped and whilst her friend went on and did some shopping she talked with the team. She said that she had stopped because she knew very little about God and actually wanted to hear what we were sharing.

Georgia heard the Gospel and said she would seriously think about it. She was also encouraged to find a local Church to attend when she made it back home.

Joe on the other hand, although he wanted to talk was much slower to understand the Gospel. He desperately wanted to hold onto the idea that his goodness would be able to save him. Using the picture on the back of the "How we know God exists" tract, Joe finally came to understand what Jesus had done and that we must trust in Him alone.

A final sad conversation was with Claire, a Mormon who couldn't understand the Gospel. She was sure she had to earn Jesus' forgiveness by her actions. After a lengthy conversation she was sent on her way with the challenge to read Romans 3-5 that evening.

Please be praying for these souls, that God may use these conversations as a vital part of them coming to understanding the Gospel and subsequently trusting in Christ for their salvation.

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As the outreach started on Monday at Capalaba, an older lady was engaged. She started talking about things that the JW's believe and it became clear that is what she believed. Whilst the conversation was going on with her there was another lady sitting near by who didn't want to have to listen to the discussion. She made some comments under hear breath to try and gain some attention but then after almost fifteen minutes she got up, walked over and yelled, declaring, "Stop talking to this lady, she doesn't want to know what you have to say".

The rude interrupter, was simply asked if she knew if God would send her to Heaven or to Hell after she died. To which she responded that God didn't exist but at this she walk a few metres away and then remained silent.

Sadly through the discussion, even opening up the scriptures with the JW lady, she was unwilling to acknowledge what God had said. She read some passages and yet would simply say, "It can't mean that". Saying basically, "The text doesn't mean what it actually says. This was a very sad moment, she was so committed to her pre-conceived ideas that she was not interested in what God actually had said.

The afternoon was filled with a mixture of other conversations. Jean said she didn't know what happens after we die but thought she was good. She tried to use her, "I don't know" as an avoidance at first to talking futher but then was happy to talk and heard the Gospel.

Puneema and Rista, two young indian ladies were being silly in and attempt to not be serious about God. The heard the law and the Gospel and left with tracts.

Daniel, loved his sin and his primary attempt to defend his sin was to claim that Jesus wasn't really God. He took a tract but didn't hear the Gospel.

The afternoon finished with some more exciting conversations,

A young man Lachy, had no arguments, he seemed to be affected by the law and the Gospel and was very interested in talking. He left with a Gospel of John.

Also a lady named Samantha, after hearing the condemnation of the law struggled to understand the Gospel. Using the pictures on the back of the tract she seemed to understand but only time will tell.

Please be praying that God would continue to work in the lives of these men and women. God has graciously provided them all with an opportunity to hear His offer of salvation, please pray that He would also change their hearts, that they may know Him.

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