Hi Everyone

Present today: Mike, Di, Peck, David, Josh, Frances.

I opened with 2 Cor 6:1-10:

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says:

“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

We discussed that being as ministers of Christ, we expose ourselves to all manner of pressures and persecution. But we have the words of eternal life to share with the world, and that is more important than feeling sorry for ourselves.

We prayed for Gospel boldness today, that whatever the worldly pressures, we would be loyal to sharing the Gospel!

It was a sunny day today, but quite cold to begin with. There were only a few stalls going at the market, probably due to it being winter.

Lots of people took tracts off me (Living Waters NZ Million Dollar), but I really wanted to engage people. One guy flicked me off when I asked him what happens after we die. He said “Don’t ruin a good day!”, and walked away. I could only shake my head and whisper a prayer for God to spare him, other wise his day will be ruined forever.

 I decided to go around the back to the bus stop to try there. I spotted a lady waiting for the bus. As there were other people there as well, I decided to engage her. I make it a rule not to approach women on their own, for two reasons: 

first, women can get a bit nervous having a man approach them when they are alone; and 

second, it is good to have others around for my sake for accountability purposes in case I am accused of something.

She was eager to talk. She told me she would go to heaven because she does good things. I asked her how many good things does she need to do to tip the scales enough so that God would give her the OK for heaven? She said if she tried her best, then God can overlook the things she had done wrong. I asked her for a Bible verse to back up what she was saying. She couldn’t provide one, so I gave her one that refutes her belief, Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”. I told her that no amount of her good works will get her into heaven. She didn’t like that verse, so kept referring back to what she believes. I asked her what was more important: firstly what we believe, or secondly whether what you believe is true? She just kept repeating herself over and over. I decided to test how good she really was by asking her if she had lied, stolen, blasphemed or hated anybody. I asked all 4 commandments at once, because I thought I wouldn’t be able to string this out with her. She said she was not perfect, just like anyone else. I told her it was worse than that, quoting Heb 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment”. I told her the things she would be judged on were lying, stealing, blasphemy, and murder of the heart. Judges don’t care how much good you have done, because they only judge on the crimes you have committed. She listened to what I said, but then switched back to her good works. She put her coat on and told me she had to get the bus. I managed to give her a ‘Good Person’ Tract, which breaks down the 10 Commandments, and a ‘The Way to Heaven’ Tract, which explains how good works and asking for forgiveness gets us nowhere with God. I pray she reads them, and changes her mind before it’s too late! 

I walked past a gentleman coming out of the library. I asked him where he would go when he dies. He said to heaven because he was a Christian. I asked him how he knows he’s a Christian, and he got angry with me, saying ‘I’m a Christian, that’s all you need to know!”. He went to walk away. I told him “But I have a knife in my back and have 3 minutes to live, and I need to know how to get to heaven!” He said he didn’t have time to tell me! What??!! Maybe he thought I was in a cult or something. Later on I saw Frances talking to him and his wife. They seemed amicable, so maybe it was just me being me.

I chatted with Mike and Di, who told me they had a conversation with someone steeped in their Maoridom (Maori spirituality), with all the false spiritual and demonic influences they bring. They could not sway them from their beliefs. I have come across this before, and have also found it difficult to break through. We can only pray for God’s intervention, that something we have said will trigger a heart change for them.

I walked past Frances, who was chatting with a Samoan gentleman named Jack. I overheard him saying he was a Christian. Every time I hear this, I never take their word for it. There are lots of ‘Christians’ out there – people who really, really believe they are going to heaven, but in reality are really, really not. I asked him why he is a Christian, and he said because he had given his heart to Jesus. I asked him why he would do that. He said that Jesus took his sin away. I asked what sin that was. He said he had done a lot of bad things, and Jesus had set him free. Sometimes peoples’ profession of faith can be a bit sloppy. It can be hard to tell if the person is faking it, or if they are a genuine believer and just can’t articulate it properly. 

So I asked Jack what sort of bad things he had done, if he didn’t mind me asking. He said he was a smoker, heavy drinker, and a womanizer. I added to the list by asking if he had lied, stolen, blasphemed, or been an adulterer. He said yep, those too. I said that those are some of the things that the Bible says we will be accountable for. Did he think he would be innocent or guilty? Guilty. Heaven or hell? Hell. So I asked him how does he avoid his hell punishment? “Jesus washes my sins away”, he said. I asked Jack how that makes everything OK. He said he knows but his English was not good enough to say it in words. I wasn’t sure if that was the case, or he just didn’t know. I asked him if Jesus took 100% of his hell punishment, how much would be left for him to take? He said zero, nothing. “So where do you go if you have no hell punishment to take?”. “Heaven”, he answered. “So based on that, what’s the only reason you go to heaven?”. “Because Jesus took 100% of my sins”. Bingo, he got it! I’m not sure if he already knew that, or if it was new to him, but he understood now. Jack thanked me for explaining it to him, and he left with a couple of tracts to help him out.

I made a decision to finish off the tracts I had already taken out of my carry bag. I was a bit exhausted to talk anymore. I then realised the rest of the team had left already, so I went to put the bag in the car, and buy some lunch. On the way over, I passed a young man sitting on one of the garden planters, smoking. I decided to offer him a tract, and engage him. His name was Pe’a. He was hoping he would make it to heaven. I gave him the scenario that if he was standing before God on Judgement Day and He asked him why should He let you into heaven, what would he say? He gave the usual answers in that he tries to be good, and has changed his ways. I took him through the law, and he turned out to be anything but good. I explained that all our good deeds count for nothing when we are on trial for breaking the law. We are still guilty regardless. He understood that he would be in big trouble with God. I told him that there is a way to get to heaven. He asked what it was, so we went down the path of Jesus taking 100% of his hell punishment, and faith in Him – and Him alone –  would mean he would go to heaven when he died. This was a lightbulb moment for him. We went through some checking questions, which he got right! I showed him how to download the Bible app on his phone and gave him a church card.

I’m so glad I ignored my tiredness and engaged Pe’a. Please pray for him!

So it was an awesome outreach, and we pray that God receives all the glory for all our endeavours. 

No chat in vain!

Blessings

Craig.