Hi Everyone.

Present today: June, Mike, Peck, Pastor Jarryd, Erica, Di, Maree. Daniel, Isaac.

I opened with portions from Ps 37:

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand.

I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread.
He is ever merciful, and lends;
And his descendants are blessed.

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom,
And his tongue talks of justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
None of his steps shall slide.

Wait on the Lord,
And keep His way,
And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. (Ps 37:23-26, 30-31, 34)

I also read an excerpt from ‘The Secret of Guidance’, by Frederick Meyer:

We often make the great mistake, thinking that God is not guiding us at all, because we cannot see far in front. But this is not His method. He only undertakes that the steps of a good man should be ordered by the Lord. Not next year, but tomorrow. Not the next mile, but the next yard. Not the whole pattern, but the next stitch in the canvas. If you expect more than this, you will be disappointed, and get back into the dark. But this will secure for you leading in the right way, as you will acknowledge when you review it from the hilltops of glory.

I made a comparison towards an evangelistic encounter. Sometimes we think way too far ahead of ourselves, causing us to panic and get anxious. Encounters don’t normally go the way they planned. But we have nothing to fear. Just like the rest of our Christian walk, we only see the next step that God has shown for us. We just need to take that next step, and trust that He has the next one lined up ready for us to take. This is the Christian life, and this is also the evangelists life. If we feel prompted to speak with someone, we can take that step confidently, and trust that the Lord has pre-prepared the next step/ word/ action.

 We prayed for guidance, the skill to trust Him one step at a time, and boldness to step out and share.

Today’s outreach was a little different in that it was an opportunity to distribute fliers for our fellowships’ school holiday program in October. Some did a letterbox drop in the area, and sharing the Gospel with all those they came into contact with. The rest went down to the market for one-on-one chats, and handing out fliers down there.

The $1m tracts were flying out, but people seemed too busy to stop and talk. I gave program fliers to all the families that had young school children with them.

I spotted a man named Colson sitting in the sun. I offered him a tract. He laughed and wanted to spend it immediately. I asked him what happens after we die? He said it depends on how good we are. So I gave him the good person test to see how good he actually was. He failed miserably, and didn’t like his chances when faced with God on Judgement Day. I offered him the glorious gospel, and I could see what was like a physical weight coming off his shoulders. He said it was good to talk about these things, but I said that talking doesn’t solve the problem – he had to believe by faith that Jesus took his sin punishment for him. He understood, took a good person tract off me, and shook my hand. Please pray for Colson!

I engaged a group of 4 high school boys with the tract printer. They loved it. The tract had an IQ test on it. None of them were able to read it properly. I showed them the actual answers, and they felt like idiots. I told them that it was easy to trick people like this, and that there was another thing that people can be tricked easily about – that if you are a good person, you will go to heaven. 3 of the boys wandered off straight away. The other one stood, struggling with having to face me on his own. But he stayed for a while – maybe he felt sorry for me or something! He didn’t really want to talk, but he did admit that he would go to hell when judged. As he was pulling away, I gave him a good person tract, and he promised to read it, as it was the most important news he could hear.

So it was a good but quiet day today. The weather is just starting to warm up for spring, so hopefully there will be more vendors and shoppers out there to engage with next time. Either way, God gets all the glory!

Blessings

Craig