Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Sunnybank (QLD) Team
• Page 33

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Sunnybank Team (QLD)

Meets 10:30am-12pm Wednesdays at the Sunnybank bus stop on Mains Road.

Contact us for more information.

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This afternoon in Sunnybank we had the opportunity of having a some new team members who spoke a range of languages, which was a blessing and we had people engaging with Chinese, Thai and Korean people.

A lengthy conversation was had with a young man who we had talked with before, his name is Tom. He is a professional gamer and has quite a number of sponsors and as a highschool student is spending a large percentage of his time playing this game and is really enjoying the money it earns him. He was challenged whether he would count the cost of being a disciple of Christ and put Christ first ahead of his video gaming and he replied with 'But can't I just keep Jesus as second?'.

Please pray for this young man as he is challenged to consider what 'dying to self' truly means!

A conversation with some local mormons was had, it was quite a lengthy conversation where they were challenged on their view of the infallibilty of scripture, what it means to be 'saved by grace, through faith alone, not of works', as well as being challenged with the truth of the Gospel, with the fact that Christ's atoning sacrifice is the only 'work' needed for salvation. They were against the fact that salvation can't be with Faith + Works but were sure that salvation required works. After a long discussion these two young men left still denying the singularity of salvation by faith. One young man was hearing the points and seemed to be considering them.

This week consider 'Elder Wood' and 'Elder Zou' and may God convict their hearts of their twisting of scriptures.

Around Sunnybank there are many mormons that spend the time talking to the locals and sadly are preaching a man centred, Christ + works gospel. Please pray that these Mormons will read their bibles and come to know the power of the true Gospel!

There were some wonderful opportunities this afternoon and a decent amount of conversations were had, please keep in prayer all those that took a tract, heard a snippet of conversation, were talked to or even saw our presence, please bring these people before God in prayer that they might be convicted with their sinful lives and may surrender to Christ as Lord, through repentance and faith!

Soli Deo Gloria!

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It is really exciting seeing people seriously consider the claims of Christ and say they want to start reading the Bible. That happened a couple of times yesterday at our outreach in Sunnybank.

One extensive conversation I had was with a Chinese man named Carter. He said that he had just finished his university degree in Australia and is heading back to China on Tuesday. He knew that God exists. When I asked him why he is going to Heaven, he said it was because he is a really good person.

So I went through the law of God, showing him how we aren't good enough on our own merits to save ourselves, and explained how it is only through Christ's sacrifice on the cross that we can be saved.

Carter replied, "A friend gave me a Bible when I first arrived in Australia about 4 years ago, but no one has talked to me about God since. I have been waiting to hear from God, but now I think this is God speaking to me."

After initially thinking he had to just 'try harder' from now on to be saved, he came to grasp that all of our sins - past, present and future - were atoned for on the cross if he comes to repentance and faith in Christ.

I also talked with him about the cost of coming to faith in Christ. That Christ is not a mere add-on to our life, but that He should be the centre of our lives. We should love Him more than we love anything else.

He said, "I do not want to make a quick decision here. Because this is really huge. This will change everything. I need to seriously think about this and start reading the Bible for myself."

I love seeing that he saw that this is something he needs to count the cost on first. For we don't just want 'decisions', we want people to be converted. Please pray for Carter.

Team member Johnny mentioned to me that at the same time as this conversation, he was speaking to another Chinese university student who was about to head back to China after finishing his degree, and he was very open and had lots of questions.

To the King of Kings be the glory!

 

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It was a great outreach at Sunnybank on Thursday.

We set up the Chinese Bible table and a number of people took Bibles. It was great having Johnny on the team who spoke to those who could only speak Chinese.

One really good conversation that I had was with a young man named Bobby. He comes from China and is nearly finished High School. He thought he would be going to Heaven because he respects God.

He didn't know anything about Christianity and so after explaining the message of sin, the coming Judgement and the cross, he said he wants to trust in Jesus today for his forgiveness. He came to grasp the gospel and wants to submit to Christ.

I got his number and have asked a local pastor who lives near where he lives to disciple him. Please pray for Bobby.

Glory to God!

 

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One of the most encouraging things from today's outreach at Sunnybank was chatting again to a Chinese man whose English name is Butters.

Just over a month ago (see 11th June report), we met him at Sunnybank and on the day we met him he said that one day earlier he saw us preaching in Queen St Mall and even showed us a picture he took of us preaching. Being a university student from mainland China who had only been in Australia for several months, he said he was an atheist. After a bit of discussion, he came to acknowledge the existence of God and after hearing the gospel, said that he wanted to trust in Jesus that day.

Now a month and a half later, it was great to catch up with him and see how he was going. He said he has been reading the gospel of John that we gave him and said he wants to get the rest of the Bible too. He has a hunger for the word of God, and still has a good grasp of the gospel.

Today, I had Johnny along with me to help evangelise, and glory to God, Johnny knows Chinese! So he spent over an hour explaining to Butters further from the Bible in Chinese. Johnny commented that Butters was listening really intently to everything he was saying. We are going to continue disciple Butters in the coming weeks.

God's word never returns void!

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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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Thank-you to all those who prayed for us today as we ministered in Sunnybank. We were able to set up the Chinese Bible table, and we were pleased to see that native Chinese speakers availed themselves to the Scripture and literature.

Our hope is that this table will be used to reach those who speak little, or no English.

Throughout the afternoon we were able to have many talks to people, and distribute quite a number of tracts. In particular, I spoke to one man who identified himself as an English gentlemen, however, by his unkept appearance, poor hygiene, and bad manners it was clear that he was no gentleman.

This man declared that he was a man of evidence, and that he carried Heaven around with him. He also maintained that whatever you believe to be true is true.

I challenged his worldview and then asked if he had any evidence to support his claims. He admitted that he had no evidence. The conversation was rather difficult, but I did manage to present Christ to him. Sadly, this English gentleman responded by yelling out "Hail Satan!" as he walked away.

Please pray for all those that we spoke to today. May God's kindness lead them all to repentance.

SDG!

 

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After a week of rainy days, it was good to experience warm sunny weather on Thursday at our weekly outreach at Sunnybank (QLD).

One of the first conversations I had was with an elderly man who attends a Uniting church. After asking him why he would be let into Heaven, he quoted John 3:16 to me. 

But then after probing a bit deeper into what he believed it turned out he denied the fact that Jesus died on the cross or experienced any suffering whatsoever. Instead this man said he picks out the nice things of the Bible and only believes them. 

So I spent a bit of time explaining how Jesus said he came to give His life as a ransom for many, and that forgiveness is available only because He died. But not long after, his bus arrived. However it is my prayer that this elderly man would seriously consider what he heard.

I then got into a conversation with a high school student named George. He didn't believe in God, but soon conceded that he would be happy to believe in a deistic God - that is, one that doesn't tell him how to live. I could tell then that it was a love of sin that was the reason for this young man's rejection of God. 

But he had a lot of questions. So I spent the next two hours reasoning and sharing the gospel with him. Please pray that God would convict him and save him.

Meanwhile, George's friend named Taneegee was listening for most of the conversation and so after speaking with George I turned my attention to Taneegee. He said he goes to a True Jesus Church, where they don't believe in the Trinity and instead think that God simply takes different forms at different times. So I asked him, "Who was Jesus praying to on the cross?" He couldn't respond.

The discussion went on to about how we are saved, and Taneegee thought it was baptism that saved him. I showed him Ephesians 2:8-9 and a few other Scriptures - that it is only by faith alone in Jesus alone that we can be saved. He said he is going to go home and study the Scriptures I showed him and come back to chat with us another day. This discussion with Taneegee actually helped George who was still listening, as from this he appeared to come to grasp the relationship between faith and works.

During this time, team member Col was handing out hundreds of gospel tracts to all the people getting off at the bus stop.

It was another very worthwhile day sharing the glorious gospel. Soli Deo Gloria!

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God's providence was on full display today in Sunnybank! At the commencement of our outreach we offered a tract to a Chinese gentleman who was walking by; he took the tract then looked us. As he looked towards us a expression of shock crossed his faith, he said, "You were preaching Queen Street yesterday!"

This man had stopped to listen to me preach on Wednesday, and he even took a picture of me preaching. Now, 24 hours later Ryan and I were able to talk to him in Sunnybank. The background of this man was atheistic; he had grown up in mainland China so that was all he was taught. However, after talking to him his atheism soon crumbled.

He listened intently to the Gospel as we shared it with him; and before he left he said nothing was going to stop him from repenting. He took a Chinese Gospel of John from us, and also a tract in his language. Please pray for this man.

Today, was also the first time we tested out our new Chinese literature table. We were able to set it up between the rain showers. The purpose of this table is to help reach the Chinese speakers of the community. I can't speak Chinese, but I can offer material in their language. One elderly lady came by and took a Bible. The smile on her face was priceless. There is something special about being able to read the Bible in your own tongue.

Despite the rain many great conversations were had, and many tracts handed out. Please pray for all those we encountered.

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Wow. It was a surprising afternoon of outreach at Sunnybank today. One Chinese man that I was attempting to share the gospel with, couldn't speak much English at all, so I encouraged him to get someone else to translate for him the gospel tract that I gave him.

So after walking a few metres up the pedestrian overpass, he encountered some Mormon missionaries who he had obviously spoken with before. He asked them to translate the tract for him. One of the missionaries quickly grabbed the tract out of his hand and threw it over the edge of the railing.

We saw that these Mormon 'elders' had done that, so Col walked up to the Chinese man to give him another tract, which he gladly received. The Mormons then tried to convince the man to give back the tract. He was reluctant at first, but after their earnest pleadings, he gave the tract back to Col.

I then said to the Mormon missionaries, "Do you remember what Jesus said to the Pharisee's in Matthew 23 - you go across land and sea to make one convert and when you do you make him twice a son of Hell as yourselves."

I then said, "How bad will it be for you on the day of Judgement that you would prevent this man from coming to know the gospel." At this, one of the missionaries started swearing at us and was flaring up in anger. He said, "How can you say I'm going to Hell, you can't say that, only God knows that. You're going to Hell!"

We pointed out the hypocrisy in his statement there. He then angrily came right up very close to our faces, still swearing at us, and appeared as if he was going to throw a punch at us. He said, "I hope someone kicks you guys really hard."

Soon after, he walked away. You'll know them by their fruits. I think the Chinese man saw a difference today between Biblical Christianity and Mormonism.

There were also many open and receptive people whom we spoke with today, so please pray for them.

To God be the glory!

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It was an interesting afternoon of evangelism at Sunnybank today. There were no Mormon missionaries about (they often hang around the bus stop), but one of the people I spoke to was a lady named Eva.

As I was explaining the gospel to her, she asked me what I thought of Mormonism. I thought she was wanting to make sure I wasn't a Mormon, but after I said "Mormonism is not Christian", she exclaimed, "What? Really?"

It turns out some Mormon missionaries have been speaking with her and so she has been reading the Book of Mormon and plus some of the Bible. They told her Mormonism is Christianity.

So she asked me what the main differences are. I explained the difference of salvation by grace alone through faith alone which the Bible teaches, compared to a salvation by works that Mormonism teaches. She was beginning to understand that.

I also spoke of how Mormons believe in many gods and that one day you can become a god of your own planet. She said, "They haven't told me that!"

So I encouraged her to visit carm.org to see some more of the differences between Christianity and Mormonism. I said, "Because like most cults, the Mormons won't reveal to you all the strange beliefs they have until they have gotten you into it." 

Then she asked, "There are so many religions around, how can I know which one is true?" I explained how the Mormons will say it's based on praying and waiting for a feeling. But I mentioned how feelings are not the way we find out if something is true or not, feelings will change based on whether we are hungry or full, healthy or sick. They are not a test of truth.

So instead I took her to Acts 17 where Paul commends the Jews in Berea for examining the Scriptures daily to see whether what Paul was saying was true. That is what I encouraged her to do. I said, "Everything you hear about God, check it with the Bible."

She was so thankful that I explained all this to her. She said she had no idea about this and said she is going to have to start reading the Bible a whole lot more. Please pray she doesn't get caught in the Mormon cult but instead will come to saving faith in Jesus.

Lots of gospel tracts were handed out today by the team, and we got to encourage a struggling Christian in her faith. 

To God alone be the glory!

 

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