Hi Everyone

Present today: Pastor Jarryd, Simeon, June, Daniel, Peck. Gideon, Phoenix, and Mary met us down at the shops. It dawned a beautiful late summer morning in Naenae!

I opened in Ephesians 1, the longest sentences in the Bible:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Eph 1:3-13).

Down at the market there weren’t as many vendors, but still plenty of people coming and going to keep us busy.

I still had a few conversations, though:

Rangi – outside the cafe, this was a friendly dude who didn’t mind chatting about the afterlife. Everything was going well, until we got to the point where someone else taking his hell punishment for him. He didn’t like that, as he always owns up to his own mistakes. This can be an annoying hurdle to overcome when witnessing. It’s a cop out, but a hard one to get through, as they use it as an excuse to put you off your stride. It’s a form of pride. At first I tried to explain how good Jesus was to save him from hell. That didn’t work. Then I tried a different approach – I asked him what sin he was enjoying that he didn’t want to give up, but was worth going to hell for – usually that gets their anger and offence going. But it just bounced off him. He didn’t get angry, he just said that he wanted to take his own punishment. So I told him what hell was like. He said it sounded scary, but if that was what would happen, he would accept it. He started to walk off, but he did take a couple of tracts with him, so praying God will change his heart!

Fraser – This was another hard conversation. Fraser was steeped in his Maori (indigenous New Zealanders) spirituality. He said he was going to heaven based on his whakapapa (ancestors). I think how it went that if he accepts the previous generations’ sacrifice (who accepted theirs etc), then he could trace it all the way back to Adam, the God will accept Adam, meaning he would go to heaven when he died. I don’t know enough about whether he was telling the truth regarding the Maori tradition or not, but knew enough to know that it was a false religion. So I asked him what happens to all the bad things he has done. He said nothing. I asked him if he believed in justice. He said yes, but it didn’t matter because if he believes in the ancestors, then it all goes away. This went back and forth for a long while – me telling him that getting away with crimes isn’t justice, and him telling me that it all goes away because he follows his ancestors. He started getting sarcastic with me and saying things like I should accept Maori culture, trying to shame me. When he left I said I would pray that he comes to a knowledge of who God really is. He refused to take any tracts off me.

I passed Peck, who was chatting with a woman. She was very loud, and very vocal, so I thought I would stick around to give her some support. Peck said this lady is a Muslim. The lady said out loud “I used to be a Muslim, but now I don’t care anymore”. I asked her where she was going when she died. She kept repeating that she didn’t care, at a very loud volume. I asked her why she was yelling at us. She just repeated the last line over again. So I asked her if she was a good person. She said yes, she was good and did good things. I asked her if she lied. She yelled “Why are you asking me these questions?” I said that we were concerned that she would not make it to heaven. Again she yelled “I don’t care! I used to be a Muslim, and pray and do everything they wanted, but now I don’t care!” I had to walk away, but not before telling her that I hope God lets her live long enough to hear the truth. Later on I secretly dropped a tract in one of her bags, so I am praying God brings her to her senses.

Cookie & Foal (yes, that was the names they gave me!). Mary joined to tag along with me. Two ladies were sitting outside the cafe waiting for their food, so I thought I would engage them.  They were a crack-up, so it took all my concentration to keep the conversation flowing without them bursting out into fits of laughter. They both realised that they would end up in hell due to their lying, stealing, and bad language. I asked them how they could avoid hell, and they said to go on tell us, because we aren’t going anywhere until our food arrives. So I explained that the only way to avoid hell was if someone else took their hell punishment for them, as a free gift. They both listened silently while I spelt out the Gospel to them. Then I asked them on a scale of 1 to 100 how sure they were that they were going to heaven. They said about 50%. But just then their takeaway food arrived, and they both got up to leave, so I gave them good person tracts, and explained that they needed to be 100% sure of where they would go. They both said they would read them. I pray they do!

Wasa – this young man was with a younger guy. He said he would go to heaven because he was a Christian. So I asked him what that meant. It may seem silly asking someone who is a Christian what a Christian is, but you would be surprised how many have no idea, or just say they are Christians because they follow Jesus’ morals. He said Jesus died for his sins. When I asked him on a scale of 1 to 100 how sure was he that he would go to heaven, he said about 95%. He said he was a Youth worker. I asked him when was the last time he read his Bible. He said a few days ago. A few alarm bells were going off for me. He didn’t want to stick around, and he wouldn’t let me talk to the young guy with him. He did take some Gospel tracts off me, so I pray he reads them! Mary was learning fast that not all Gospel conversations go to plan! 

Boyd – I made a note of this person’s name, and that it was a long conversation. The fact that I recorded his information meant that I made it as far as the Gospel – but to be honest, I can’t remember anything of the conversation. If I do, I’ll update this post!

{EDIT} I remembered who Boyd was now! When walking with Mary, looking for people to talk with, we saw him sitting on a park bench by the cafe. He looked like he was about in his late 20’s or early 30’s. I asked him about the afterlife. He said he would go to heaven because he was tidying up his act. I asked in what way. He lifted up his trouser leg and showed me an ankle bracelet that the Dept of Corrections use to track some parolees. Since he knew about justice first hand, I decided to go straight to the law. I asked him about lying, stealing and blasphemy. He admitted to all of them, so I asked him if these are some of the things God will hold him accountable for, would he be guilty or innocent? Guilty. Reward or punishment? Punishment. Would that look like heaven or hell? Hell. So I asked him if he knew how to escape going to hell. He said by turning his life around and making up for all the bad things by doing good. I asked him to consider that in earthly terms. If I did a serious crime, and then did some good things – would the police still arrest me for the crime? He said yes. So how much more would an eternal God punish me? He got the idea. Then he said he could just ask for forgiveness. I gave the same scenario – that a judge wouldn’t let you off a crime if you asked him to forgive you. If he let you off, he would be a corrupt judge for not upholding the law properly. A payment for the crime would have to be made. He understood. I asked him where he got these ideas, and he said from his church back in Nelson, a JW church. So I went back to the earlier point to stress how our good works change nothing to take away the punishment for the crimes we had already done. He said he understood that now. I asked him on a scale of 1 to 100, if he died now, how likely he would get to heaven – he said about 80% So I told him that the only way he could get to heaven was if someone took 100% of his hell punishment. He asked what I meant, so I told him the beautiful good news about Jesus taking our hell punishment for us. He said that it made sense. I went over a few checking questions with him, then asked him what the chance of him going to heaven was, and he said 100%! I asked him what the difference was, and he said that  trusting that Jesus took all his punishment. I left him with a couple of tracts, and showed him how to find a good church, and to keep clear of the JW’s, because they don’t tell the truth. He thanked me for the chat! I don’t know how I forgot about this chat, but I’ve done quite a few over the last wee while, and sometimes they all meld together!

So it was a mixed bag of conversations, some frustrating, and some good. But I always resolve myself to this mantra; that: “No chat is in vain!”. So for this, I give God all the glory for this awesome opportunity we have, right on our doorstep!

Next outing will be our Easter Saturday Outreach at the Hutt Riverbank Fruit & Vege Market on 8 April. We’ll be there from 9:30a.m. to set up the marquee and the tables. Please come along, and help us to spread the best news anyone can ever hear!

Blessings

Craig.