Witnessing in November

This post was meant to come out in November but I was too busy to write it and post it. Here is a short report about my exploits.


1. I live with this Indian Australian bloke who taught me to watch cricket.

One Thrusday he asked me what happened at CCM the week before. I had the privilege of explaining what I knew about the history of Israel, God’s people, how three religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all branched out of father Abraham. I guess you don’t always have to talk about Jesus like a broken record all the time. Occasionally, mixing it up and talking about Israel is good. Who know? God could use the history of His people to lead someone to salvation. We just don’t know, we are just called to proclaim.


2. One Sunday night, I was on a train home and some dark skinned guys (the kind of guys your mom would ask you to stay away from) asked me for some change. I said I had none. As I walked away, I paused because I realized I had some in my bag. Then I remembered what I told God I wanted to do. To give away tracts to people who asked for money.

As I paused, another one of those guys, like a vulture sniffing out rotting flesh, swooped on me. Before I could count my money he was upon me. I asked him how much he needed and what he needed it for. He said he needed 3 dollars for some food because they missed the last train and had to spend the night at the station. I said OK and said, ‘but you have to take this as well. Take it and have a read’. Its not like they are in a position to say no. God only knows what happened in their hearts, whether they read the tract or threw it into the bin. But I rejoice because I was faithful and obedient to the call of God.


3.I got hired by Myer so I had to go for my induction session which was all the way in the city because there weren’t that many Christmas casuals at Frankston so I had to join the city induction session. There were mostly Australians.

There were a couple of Australian Chinese and there was this huge, hulking guy next to me who looked like The Great Khali.

I found out he was from Bangladesh. He was a gentle giant, speaking kindly and courteously. His name was Hasham. God presented an opportunity to talk about religion and I dived in. H was interested and open to know what Christians think. He spoke reverently about Jesus, talking about Him with an admiration one would think a Muslim would reserve for Muhammad. He even told me something I never knew before, that Muslims believe that Jesus, not Muhammad would return as judge on judgment day. How cool is that? But I knew I had to get to the point. To let him know that however wonderful he thinks Jesus is, its not enough. He has to call Him Lord. So I used my opening gambit, the ‘did you know that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God?’ which he heard before and countered with ‘but nowhere in the Bible is it written that Jesus explicitly said ‘I am the son of God’ ‘. I wasn’t armed with a Bible but I knew there would be plenty of conversations where its apparent that Jesus is referring to himself as the unique son of God. Quite a few in John, I think. But the Spirit quickened me to the passage where Jesus calmed the storm.

After he did that, the disciples worshipped him. I told H that in the Bible, no character would ever accept worship from another person. Even angels ask people to stop worshipping them for it is a sin. The only instance of a guy accepting worship that I know of is in Acts where Herod acknowledges the worship of people calling him god. Immediately, the angel of the Lord struck him dead and worms proceed to eat his corpse. How incredibly gory and awesome is that? I don’t know if H will be saved. I think there is a chance as he is open. I will probably never see him again but I am confident that I played my role in his journey and I praise God for using me and making me obedient to His call.

The Need To Get Your Heart Broken

Its funny. I just wrote another post about a broken heart for my other blog. But that was a more worldly and carnal post. Right now, I’m talking about witnessing to our friends. I was witnessing to a friend who I’ve been trying to reach all year. Her heart is cold as stone and she’s pissed off with God who she doesn’t believe in because her greatest sin is ‘not believing in Jesus’. I think I made a big mistake by trying to explain things to her in a certain way, it just made things more confusing. Well, I’ve tried so many ways so I just kept trying different ways to explain things. Maybe I’m not in tune with the Holy Spirit enough. Maybe my prayer life sucks. I don’t know. I just try my best.

What was good was that she finally revealed her ‘secret blog’ to me and I read what she really thought about God. It was a no holes barred, full-on catharsis. Quite frankly, it was heartbreaking. I guess its just a small glimpse of what prophets like Jeremiah felt as they mourned the unbelief of their hearers. The danger is that it would drive some Christians to discouragement and inactivity because they lose hope and think their actions are futile. Instead, what we should feel is deep compassion and concern about the doom that people are facing.

It may sound simplistic but the greatest tragedy is dying without Jesus. Many of your friends, hundreds of people you know are heading that way. Do you care enough to at least warn them?

Sharing with Friends

Sharing your faith with friends isn’t something that is so difficult that it is untenable. Think about it. You recommend good places to eat to your friends all the time. You recommend good movies to your mates all the time. Is it really so hard? In a sense it is, but in a sense, its not. One of the main deterrents is probably the fear of man. Fear that others would think you are weird. But that is pride. That is like saying that the work that was done by the apostles and Jesus himself is beneath us. It is like saying the work of evangelism is not worthy of our time.

Another main deterrent that is equally horrible is apathy. Ray Comfort calls it ‘depraved indifference’. As Charles Spurgeon once put it, God save us from living in comfort while sinners are sinking into Hell! Our compassion for others should overwhelm our apathy and pride so that witnessing becomes something we do on a constant basis! Not once in a blue moon! If we pray, sing, read and do church regularly, why do we not witness regularly?

I have set myself the goal of witnessing to as many friends and acquaintances as possible in Frankston by the end of the year. I had to start in my own home. I have two housemates who are open to listening about Jesus but yet to receive him. I ‘reasoned with them about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment (Acts 24:25)’ but as of yet there is no fruit. Hope springs eternal. I just found out an acquaintance of mine listens to indie music. Maybe that can be a springboard to a witnessing opportunity.

Conversations with Buddhists

God blessed me yesterday with an opportunity to witness. I've been challenging myself to witness weekly and as long as I've been writing this blog, by God's grace it is working so far.

The key is really to make time for it in your schedule and turn any openings you find in conversations with people towards God.

Yesterday I was in a car with a Buddhist friend of mine who comes for life group but is reluctant to stay during discussion. So she comes for life group but never hears the gospel preached.

From my experience, one important facet of sharing the gospel to Buddhists, Muslims or people from other faiths is to first ask them about their faith and be genuinely interested in their faith.

Which is exactly what I did last night. When the time came my friend was fully ready to hear what I had to share about the work and person of Jesus Christ. I brought up the Lewis' Trilemma argument. I didn't have time to go further but I believe I did it right last night with the opportunity that presented itself. Praise God.

Buddhists can be really nice and moral people. But let us not fall into the trap of admiring their morality lest we forget that they are still sinners.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Let us remember that all have sinned and all sin is despicable to a holy and righteous God.

Who is Jesus Christ?

We just had campus evax(evangelism) today. Promoting the Alpha course for CCM, Sam, Hannah and myself went forth into battle while other soldiers were sidelined by class, placement or assignments. I don't condemn them one iota as it is a Christian's duty to attend class and do well. I was inspired by this interviewer who went around asking people "Who is Jesus Christ?" and taping their response. I decided that this could be a good conversation starter as we handed out fliers.

Its always better to have a plan or system when you do public evangelism unless you are a seasoned veteran which none of us are. So this is the plan of attack that I taught the troops.

Stephen/CCM Member: Hey, how you going?

Stranger: Not too bad.

Step/CCM: We were just doing a simple survey around campus asking for students' opinion on a matter. Can I ask for your opinion?

Stranger: Sure

Step/CCM: Who is Jesus Christ?

Stranger: Some religious dude.

Step/CCM: I think that is the most important question that everyone has to answer. Who is Jesus Christ to them. Would you be interested in finding out more about him?

Stranger: Not really

Step/CCM: Well, I'm from a club on campus called CCM and we're doing this course to help understand more about Jesus and the Christian faith. If you ever feel like finding out more, we meet near uni. Here's a flier.

Stranger: Cheers

Step/CCM: Have a good day.


After a few role plays we were good to go! Our work today didn't bring any obvious results but our confidence is in Christ. We only obey his command.

Alms for the Poor

An issue that sparks some debate among people. When a beggar comes to you and asks for money, do you give? The argument for not giving is that they will never learn how to find a job, they will use the money for drugs, alcohol, etc...

The argument for giving is that God only commands us to love people and be kind to the poor (as opposed to overanalysing every moral action we take). What the poor actually do with the money is between them and God. Just like in Les Miserables where Bishop Myriel actually protects Jean Valjean, the man who just robbed him of his silverware, from the authorities. (Actually, that doesn't apply to this scenario. But its a cool story.)

An idea came to me awhile ago but I haven't actually put it into action. The idea is: whenever people ask me for change, I would first give them a tract, ask them to read it and then give them the money.

Hopefully their consciences would lead them to read the tract and God would use the tract to speak to them.

I just stuffed two of the Navigators' 'Bridge' tracts into my wallet. Lets see how we go.

Soldiering On

Nothing very interesting to report. In the time I haven't blogged I have witnessed to a bunch of different people in different ways.

• I spent an afternoon with a strong atheist friend having a constructive argument (debate?) with him about the validity of Christ's claims to be God and defending Christianity's relevance.
• I failed to share Christ much with my friend's mom but I suspect others already have. I didn't feel led to share with her at length, strangely enough. I may have missed the Spirit's leading. I won't know. I ended up giving her a tract my good ol' dad wrote as I drove her to the airport.
• I continued witnessing to a friend I have been witnessing to all through the year. Defences still strong. The apathy of this person humbles me. It reduces my best arguments to dust. Yet I am confident that whenever Christ is preached, God can use the words I've spoken. His word will not return void.

Have you witnessed this week?

Healing & Campus Evax

At lifegroup we just wrapped up the book of James. A favourite of mine. Lots of key scriptures in there including...

James 5:
14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

One of my favourite passages, it talks about the power of prayer in healing. It has worked for me before. God has actually used me to bring about healing in a way that to me is amazing. A minor miracle. I have prayed for people with limps and they no longer limp after prayer.

So it was really interesting what happened yesterday. I was on the way to buy food for LG (KFC Wicked Wings! The bomb!) when I met an acquaintance of mine who was on crutches. She was a Muslim girl. Now I haven't actually done much evangelizing to Muslims before but I boldly asked if I could pray for her. I told her God had healed people before through my prayers. She allowed me to and I prayed.


Nothing tangible happened. She still walked with a limp and she wasn't healed.


Amazingly, I wasn't discouraged. Previously, I would always be discouraged when people weren't healed. But this time I wasn't. I knew in my heart that I had obeyed and that was enough! I knew this in theory ages ago but to actually experience it was novel.

Later that night Kelv and I prayed for Jake who had back and knee injuries. Despite our wholehearted prayers there was no change.

Twice in a day eh? It matters not. The Lord is sovereign. He heals when He wills. All we are called to do is pray. And I will keep on doing that even though I see no fruit till the day He calls me home.

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Campus Evax (Evangelism) is something that has been dead and buried in HOPE Melbourne. While the campus evax scene has been thriving in Brisbane, universities under HOPE Melbourne have not been 'campus evax-ed' to for ages.

So we started again this week, merely handing out fliers for a CCM (Campus Christian Movement) event. I wasn't there. It was a team led by the capable Hannah! Incredibly, first time in ages doing campus evax and God brought fruit out of our labour! A new guy (Christian) came to the meeting! Let's hope he stays and that he joins HOPE Frankston as well.

Witnessing in the Workplace: Ginseng Boss

There are many Christians out there who don't evangelize because they think its too hard or that God can't use them. Well, the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few so I'm quite sure God wants to use every Christian cause there's a lack of Christians working in the field. Evangelism isn't rocket science. Furthermore, evangelism isn't just sharing the full gospel message... BAM... Holy Spirit moves... people realize they are sinners... tears... full on CONVERSION! Obviously that is the desired outcome. But that doesn't happen all the time. In fact it doesn't even happen often. Many an evangelist will tell you that. Pastor Bill Hybels is very candid about his evangelism and many times he doesn't even go into the gospel presentation (Bill Hybels - Walk Across The Room). Personally, it has only ever happened to me ONCE! Amazingly that was when I was just starting to evangelize and was a nervous wreck with no composure. Which goes to show that any conversion that happens is God's doing and not ours! That is a story for another post but really, I feel I am a lot better at evangelizing now but that wonderful, glorious scenario has not occurred ever since.

Let me tell you, I have only (knowingly) brought 3 people to Christ, but I only prayed the sinner's prayer with the first guy. Does that mean I didn't bring those other people to Christ? No. I would say I played a significant part in those 2 other people's conversion. However, each conversion that happens is the work of the Holy Spirit and God uses MANY people to bring about a single salvation. I personally believe that there can be dozens or hundreds of people that God uses to bring one single soul to salvation. So even though you don't see it now, what you sow into a person's life can reap salvation later on! I can say this because I have seen it happen in friends I have evangelized to! It can be done! There's evidence from my life to back me up!

Anyways, I just wanna praise God for a divine opportunity that he gave me to share with my boss at work. Hopefully this will shatter some misconceptions about what evangelism is all about. I personally believe that the basic building block of evangelism is to just get people to think about God and eternity.

I work at this restaurant in Frankston called Ginseng. Wes from church told me that he was going to bring his lovely wife Julia to Ginseng for her birthday dinner. I asked for permission and my boss kindly allowed me to spend a few minutes talking to them at dinner in the middle of work! The restaurant was almost empty so he could afford to let me do that. The boss' cousin talked to me asking me about them and I told him that they were friends from church. He then told me that he and the boss used to go to church when they were kids.

As I was collecting my pay I started talking to the boss about the restaurant business. I told him that my housemates and I talked to Wes about Ginseng and he decided to come for the Peking duck. Boss man was grateful and continued talking. I could sense that he was interested in talking to me and not just making polite conversation. Armed with the knowledge that he was a former churchgoer I brought up the topic of church and God. I found out that his sister and many of his friends are strong Christians but he didn't think that church was essential for him anymore. He thinks (like many others) that all you have to do in life is be good to people. I brought up eternity and the conversation was progressing. Then we both got calls on our mobiles. After that a bunch of boss man's friends showed up and I knew the evangelism time for today was up. I said my goodbyes and praised God in my heart for giving me the opportunity to share about Him. I was glad that I obeyed His promptings without any hesitation. Hopefully this will be a springboard to more evangelism opportunities and that boss man might be saved!

See, not too hard isn't it? Plus, God can indirectly use other people as well to create openings! If Wes hadn't come yesterday night I would not have had the opportunity to talk about church and God! Wes was unknowingly used by God to create an avenue for me to share about God! How glorious is our GOD! The whole earth praise Him!

Weekly Update 060709: Tract Mission and Jakey makes a Power Play

For those of you who know me, I've been working at a telemarketing company, Telesynergy owned and operated by Indians. I'm not exactly the best at it and have contemplated quitting it for ages. Will probably do so in the near future but that's not the point. The point is I was convicted that I can't leave my workplace without having reached out to some people. I can't just talk about evangelism and not do it. I'd be a crummy hypocrite, the type Jesus hates. From my conversations with several nice and intelligent Indians, I singled out two gentlemen.

1. Sanjay - Incredible gentleman. He gets scolded by the boss numerous times but still carries on cheerfully. In the end the fruitlessness took its toll and he left the job. We had a few conversations about God. Sanjay is a religious man, surprisingly not an out and out Hindu. He is (unknowingly) a subscriber to pluralism, believing in "all gods".

2. Anhkit. An Australian born Indian although he has Iranian or Persian blood or something like that. He has expressed an interest in Christianity. Very loud, boisterous and friendly.

I have acquired the contact numbers for both gentlemen. So I can reach them without having to go to work there. My mission: to give them a tract each. I will acquire their address and send them a tract together with a letter and see how they respond. Maybe I can invite them to church but they do live miles and miles away.

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A powerful mate of mine, Jake sent me a very exciting and encouraging text a few days back. He said from conversations with a mutual friend of ours, said friend is close to salvation! I don't know the details yet. Gonna find out soon! Not sure if I should reveal the person's identity yet. Have to ask Jakey.


Till next time,
Sayonara!

In Christ,
Step