Hi Everyone

Present today: Maree, Helen & Mike. Due to the church conference, we had to change the week of the outreach. Many had already made alternative arrangements, hence the low numbers. God can still use us mightily, though!

I opened with 1 Cor 1:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

(1 Cor 1:18-25)

This is an often-quoted, popular verse. However, it encapsulates the simplicity of the Gospel. We can get very haughty and try and portray the Gospel in huge intellectual terms. But the reality is, it is easy enough for a child to understand, and we do both ourselves and the Gospel an injustice by trying to make ourselves seem smart.

We prayed that we would be able to communicate the Gospel in a clear, concise, and easy to understand way. We also prayed for open and fertile hearts to receive it.

It was a changeable day weather-wise, with heavy showers coming and going. Mike gave me a lift down to the shops, so we decided to team up together. Unfortunately I only took one photo, so here it is, of Mike talking with Ted the Mormon:

Tuitu – as soon as Mike & I jumped out of the car outside the mower shop, this gentleman walked passed. Mike immediately sprang into action and offered him a tract. A Gospel conversation quickly evolved. Tuitu thought he would make it to heaven because he was good. Mike challenged his goodness, and it turned out his standard of goodness was feeble compared to what God required of him. We used the concept of justice and a court fine to show Tuitu how Jesus paid the hell punishment for us, and this can only be received by accepting that gift. This made complete sense to Tuitu. He thanked us for the conversation, and said he had to go. Was a great way to start the outreach, and get some confidence up for Mike! 

Daniel – we were walking through the mall in the rain, and Mike went over to engage a guy sheltering under a tree. He had a hoodie and cap on, and when I got closer I recognised Daniel. Daniel is the volunteer organiser of the market. I have spoken with Daniel before, going through the whole Gospel, but without any show of contrition from him. Today he told Mike that he had spoken to me before, which I suspected was a fob-off attempt. It didn’t work, as Mike started from the beginning, creation proving a creator. Daniel said he knew all that. When the conversation swung towards his goodness, Daniel had nothing to say. So he was able to share how Christ offers to pay his hell punishment but only if he transfers all of his trust from himself to Christ alone. Daniel was quite silent, and we could tell that he was being convicted. He said he understood exactly what he needed to do. We weren’t sure if he was prepared to do anything about it, but at least the seed was both sown and now watered. It was up to God to bring about the increase!

Sala – this was a good chat also. Sala was very open and personable, answering all our questions respectfully. I noticed he was using humour to distract us – nothing offensive, but using that Pacific Island giggle to try and brush off the seriousness of what we were trying to portray. Thankfully we were able to keep focus enough to get him to agree that he would not end up in a good place on judgement day based on his own goodness. From what we could tell, God did not soften his heart, but we pray that the seeds of doubt would claw at his heart. We passed Sala later. I threw a checking question at him, but he was back to his giggly self. All we can do is keep him uplifted in prayer.

Ted – Mike stopped this guy with a tract, and he was keen to talk. He knew all the Christianese. but something smelled off. He said he had started going back to church, because he loves fellowship. Then he let slip that it was a Mormon church he was attending. This surprised us. So I started throwing checking questions at him: Do we need to do good works to get to heaven? He said no, not necessarily. Do I have to have a Mormon baptism? No, even though he had been baptised in the church. Mike asked him then how do we get to heaven, and he said faith in Christ’s death on the cross. He said he doesn’t really believe all of the Mormon doctrine. We were scratching our heads. I said that you  disagree with Mormon doctrine, but still go to the church – if they found out they would throw you out. He said he only went to church for the fellowship with all his loved ones that he will accompany into glory, and didn’t want to rock the boat. He had to go, but I asked him if  he died tonight, how sure was he that he would go to heaven? He said no one could know.  All we could do was convict him that he was playing with fire. He thought he was good to go. Mike suggested afterwards that he was sucked into ‘community’ of church life, and not really concerned for his own soul. We could only lift him up in prayer and leave him in God’s hands.

That was our last chat for the day. It was an awesome day out, and as feeble as our efforts may have seemed, God was glorified today!

Blessings

Craig.