Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Brisbane (QLD) Team
• Page 24

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Brisbane Team (Night) (QLD)

Meets Fridays (7-10pm) & Saturdays (6-9pm) & Sundays (7:30-9:30pm) in King George Square.

Contact Ryan Hemelaar for more information.

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We had a good sized team, which was great because it was busy. 

There were many great conversations that were had by the whole team. There was one young lady I spoke to for a long while named Pippin. I noticed that she was standing listening for basically the whole time while I preached with the sketchboard.

Afterwards she came up to the free Bibles table and I started a conversation with her. She said she grew up Anglican but had made the choice of leaving Christianity a number of years ago. She said that she came to deny the existence of God. After briefly explaining to her about how things made must have had a maker, so must the universe then have a maker, she said, "That makes sense."

But she didn't really want to acknowledge God. I asked her why, and it boiled down to that she wanted to live life her own way. I asked her, "If a friend of yours was going to make your favourite meal for you, and they said to you that it will taste very nice, however there is a little bit of poison in it, and so you'll be dead in one hour's time. Would you still eat it?" She responded, "Of course not." I said, "That's like sin, it may be enjoyable for the moment, but it's ultimately killing you and leading you to Hell. It's really not worth it."

I could tell she got the point. I talked with her about sin, the judgement to come, Heaven and Hell, the cross, repentance and faith. The love of sin was the big barrier of her coming to repentance and faith in Christ. She was very appreciative of the chat and said she would think seriously about it.

Pippin has heard the truth now, please pray that God will save her. Praise be to God the results are in God's hands!

To God be the glory!

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On Saturday night at the OP513 Brisbane Outreach, some of the team members were able to speak to a young women named Sally. They spoke till about 3am and afterwards invited Sally to a local church near where she lived. Sally did go to that church and found that the sermon passage that morning was exactly what she needed to hear.

The passage: Mark 7:1-30. The message: "Targeting Sins Power - The real power of sin lives within and our hope is a new heart."

Little did the preacher know that as he spoke of the misunderstanding the Jews had regarding external cleansing rather than internal cleansing of the heart, that this young women was an ex-practicing Jew that was currently fasting to gain God's approval.

What Sally was told by the faithful witnesses on Saturday night was that she could find true freedom and peace in the finished sacrifice of Jesus, and what she heard the next morning from the faithful preacher caused Sally to be amazed at Gods love and patience with her despite her many sins.

Sally didn't go home from church after the morning service, but instead stayed to hear the evening message. Please be in prayer for Sally as she considers deeply the cost Christ paid for all those that would come to Him, and also the cost Sally would have to pay to die to herself and finally be free in Jesus Christ.

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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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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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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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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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It was a cold wintery night in Brisbane city last night, but there were still lots of people around who heard the gospel.

At one stage two young men came up to me saying they wanted to help evangelise. They said they attend an Anglican Church in Brisbane. I knew that that kind of church in Brisbane is often quite liberal and so I asked them what they think would get them to Heaven.

One responded, "I don't think I'll go to Heaven because I have done too many sins." The other said that if he "tries his best" he hopes it will get him to Heaven.

So I explained to them the message of grace and how it is by faith in Jesus alone that we can be forgiven. After a few analogies they came to understand the gospel, and they then realised they had never been Christians yet. One said, "They have never explained this in church to us. This has been massive eye opener. Thank you so much."

We had a good size team last night, and many great evangelistic conversations were had.

To God be the glory!

 

 

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When we arrived for our outreach in Brisbane city today, we checked out the rain radar and saw a large rain band about to hit the city. So we decided to set up the Bible table undercover.

After praying and starting to hand out tracts, we met two new ladies who said they wanted to help us share the gospel today. The funny thing is that one asked the other, "Do you know where the Christian group is who share the gospel here?" The other lady replied, "That's exactly who I am trying to find too!" Their names were Grace and Emily.

We are always praying for more labourers to help us so this is an answer to prayer!

There were a lot of good conversations today with a bunch of different people. A few conversations were with atheists, but when I gave them a simple argument of - just as a building must have had a builder, so must this universe had a creator - they backslid from their position of atheism and acknowledged God's existence. This meant, I could go on to talking about sin, the coming Judgement and the gospel.

Also there were a few people after hearing the message said that that they wanted to repent and trust in Christ alone for their forgiveness today.

This included a guy named Jon who was sitting nearby where we were for most of the afternoon. He professed to be a Christian, but didn't understand the gospel. After talking with him, he came to understand grace and stayed around us till it was time for us to leave, and then mentioned to me that he wants to come next Wednesday afternoon to help us share the gospel with us!

Glory to God! He said, "I want to do something with my life now that is of eternal value."

Thirty minutes to go, the rain ceased and so this enabled Norm to get up on the step ladder to share his testimony in the open air (this is the testimony he is going to share this Sunday when he gets baptised). Afterwards Gerhard got up and read in public from John 3. It is great to hear these guys breaking the sound barrier and unashamedly making Christ known in the open air.

It is never in vain when God's word goes out. So to God alone be all the praise!

 

 

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