Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and two African American students, Nia and Kemonie, prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Nia was sitting in a large sofa chair on the edge of the lounge where we have Bible study on Tuesdays. She was dressed in black leggings and a black zip neck fleece. She had a smaller nose and her straighten black hair was pulled back into a medium pony tail that fanned out behind her head, wide pretty eyes. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven when she died she said, “B/C… I… That’s a good question.” She thought some more and said, “I had faith in Him my whole life.” She thought she had a 90% chance of going to Heaven and went to Church. I went through the gospel with her and her arms were folded across her chest nearly the entire time but she seemed to be agreeing with me. She knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world so I explained His imputed righteousness and the blood that cleansed her. The first real smile I got out of her was when I said, “Say you got a boyfriend for about three weeks, you thought he was pretty cool but then it turns out he was cheating on you and stealing your stuff, so you cut him loose.” She nodded at that. “He comes around in about a week and says, ‘Nia I know I did you really wrong. I was even stealing your stuff and selling it for drugs, but I just want you to know I’m gonna be nice to my next 3 girl friends.'” Then she grinned. “You’d be like, ‘Yeah that doesn’t help me at all’. ‘Cause you can’t do good things over there to fix your bad things here. But that’s how a lot of people think. They’re like, ‘I’ve done some bad things but I’ve done some good things too, my good stuff’s gonna fix my bad stuff with God.’ But your bad stuff still out there kicking people around and there’s not much you can do about it. But God says He’ll turn you bad things into good things. It says in Romans 8:28 That all things work together for good for them that love God and are the called according to His purpose. So God can change the trajectory of something bad that happens to us or we do and turn it into something good. Because He controls all future events.” I asked her then if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her or if she thought something else. “Forgiven with God inside,” she said. So I asked her if when she was asking for forgiveness for her sins if she hoped God would forgive her because he was forgiving and she was trying to do good or if she thought, I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me. I know you knew the story but were you placing your trust in that?” She thought for a while and said, “I don’t ask for forgiveness for selfish purposes.” I wasn’t completely sure what she meant so I repeated the question saying. “I’m not really asking what your motive for forgiveness was but if you believed you were going to be forgiven because Jesus had died for you, what were you thinking?” She thought for a moment and said, “I didn’t really think about that before.” So I said if she wanted to ask God for forgiveness trusting in Jesus and that He had died for her there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it and said if she would want to be forgiven she could pray it silently in her heart. Not that I would hear her but God would hear and she would know she was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said very softly and I gave her the booklet and she prayed to receive Christ. When she was done she said, “Thank you.” “You’re welcome,” I replied. “Thank you,” she said again. I said, “You’re welcome.” I told her the likelihood now she would go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the righteousness of Christ. Then I showed her some of the stuff in the back of the booklet on living the Christian life in the power of the Spirit. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her a Bible study and told her I would keep her in my prayers until Spring next year. She thanked me again and headed off quickly down the hall to her class.

I found Kemonie sitting in the PE lounge on the counter by the exit doors. He wore a purple jersey of some kind and black nylon sweats, white trainers. He had thin ringlets of curls thinner than a pencil. Good looking kid, nice skin, small feature oval face, barley a mustache, a little like Michael Jackson with a smaller pug nose than the original version. All the seats at the long stretch of tables were filled and he sat alone so I asked if he’d want to do a student survey, he really didn’t want to but agreed to answer the one big question about being killed by a bus and standing before God who asks why should I let you into Heaven. He thought for a bit and said it was a good question and said, “I don’t know.” So I asked if he would want to know what the Bible said about how he got to Heaven and he said, “OK.” I wrote his name down and began to go through the Gospel with him. I explained that God wanted to live inside him but first had to make him “His type” so that like a blood transfusion He could infuse His life into him by the Holy Spirit then living in him. I asked him the big thing Jesus had done to take away his sins but he didn’t know. So I told him how Jesus had died for him and rose from the dead and His righteousness could be to his credit, His blood cleansing him and that God wanted to adopt him making him his child. I asked if he’d want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. “Be forgiven!” he said emphatically. I told him there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and talked him through it asking if he’d like to pray it. He said he prayed every night. I said this prayer was specifically placing his trust in Jesus to be forgiven. He read it through and I asked again if he’d want to pray it and he said, “I just did,” smiling. “Amen?” I said. “Amen,” he replied and I said, “Your sins are forgiven.  He thanked me and shook my hand. I explained the Christian life living “Inside Out” to him saying the Christian life was ‘Just Ask”. He had a Bible on His phone so I gave him the book Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside. I told him I would be praying for him and he said, “Thank you, appreciate it.” and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance today. God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you walked in real joy. I had a good day on campus and Jan [pronounced Yan] prayed to receive Jesus today. And I got a couple good seeds planted too with a Jewish student named Cory who took a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. His family was both Jewish and Christian. And a Hindu who also took The Case for Christianity Answer Book.

Jan was sitting in the Science building in the hall on the North side. I had seen him before but he’d been talking with someone I think so I did not want to interrupt.  But today he was alone. He is an interesting looking guy. He has a handsome face with sharp features and straight, light brown hair down to the middle of his back. He did welding and so had black motorcycle boots on with his straight leg jeans tucked into them, he wore a black short sleeve t-shit with a biker eagle across the front in white.  His voice had a marked Polish accent and he said he was Catholic. I asked him one thing he’d like to do before he died and he said, “Make up for my sins.” I asked him what he would say to God if he died and He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” he said, “Perhaps you shouldn’t.” Trying to figure out a bit more what he thought I asked what he thought it was that go you into Heaven and he said, “The ability to forgive and be forgiven.” I asked how likely it was he would go to Heaven and he said it depends on what happens over time but he said, “Let’s be optimistic, 70%.”  I began to go thought the Gospel with him and he was in a bit of a hurry as his class was going to start, as I finished explaining the imputed righteousness of Christ to his credit he a abruptly said,  “Ok, I get it, continue.” I got to the end of going through the Gospel saying that he could be adopted by faith and become a child of God and be saved by Grace. I asked if he would want to be forgiven and he said that he felt that he would get to that place eventually but there were some things he had to do, almost to merit it. So I turned to the back of the booklet and explained living “Inside Out” with the quote, “Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow him to do in and through you… empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do by your own self effort.” I explained everything he thought he wanted to do or God wanted him to do, God wanted to help him do by His power inside him. I said something like, “You think you need to put your socks on after your shoes but what really matters is the man you are that puts on the socks and shoes that God can make you to be.” I explained that in other religions you do good things and god is pleased with you and takes you to Heaven or the Universe is please and you don’t come back as a cow or something, in Christianity you ask God to transform you on the Inside and you become a good man who has the power to do good things.  “Yes that is what I would say I just did not know how to put it into words,” he replied. I took that as agreement so I said that if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it the last line of it says, “Make me the kind of person you want me to be.” I explained that he would be asking for God to transform him and change him so he could do what he thought he should do. I said that if God did not give him enough power to do it, He would probably be keeping him from something that would be bad for him in the future that only God could see. I asked if he wanted to pray it silently and he thought for a moment and said, “OK.” And he prayed to receive Christ. I offered him a Bible but he said it would be hard to find one in Polish but his parents had one. I encouraged him to read the book of John showed him the fruit of the Spirit and he said he had to go to class (the door of which was 5 feet off my right shoulder). So I quickly gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining God would give him the power to do anything conditional he asked of him. I wrote “Just ask By the Spirit’s power”. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside and he took it and quickly headed into class.

So thanks for your prayer for the ministry and for evangelism today if you have a chance. God blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope God blessed your weekend. I had a good day on campus on Friday and Syed, a Muslim prayed to receive Jesus. I got a good seed planted in Miles too whose girlfriend and best friend are Christians. He did not want to give up control of his life. I explained control was nothing but an illusion anyway and that without God partnering with him he could not know and do the good. I explained using some illustrations that eventually life forces you to accept that you can’t do it alone.  I Asked him if he had ever hear the Beatles song “Help”. He said it was his favorite Beatles song so I quoted the lyric, “When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybody’s help in any way But now these days are gone and I’m not so self assured (And now I find) Now I find I’ve changed my mind, I’ve opened up the door.” I said the writer of the song was pointing out that as ya get older you realize you cannot do life without help, man that was my favorite song he moaned. His countenance had fallen as we talked and he said his girl friend’s family had told him he needed God in his life. We left amicably and I talked him through the booklet and prayer. Please pray that the illusion of his independence would “vanish in the haze” and he would turn to Jesus.

Syed was sitting on the small lounge attached to Starbucks. He had on a black shirt on with two parallel white stripes across the chest, sweats and a black Adidas ball cap. He was not a big guy, a bit on the thin side and average height. He had a chin beard and a couple days’ worth of beard on his cheeks, his mustache was not thick. He wore black box rimmed glasses. When he told me his name I assumed he was Muslim, and he said, when I asked, that he went to a mosque. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into heaven he said. I would say that I cared for animals and humans more than myself. He thought he had a 50/50 shot at going to Heaven. I explained the gospel then to him explaining the need for Jesus to be God and a perfect sacrifice. I said that if he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead he could be forgiven. I contrasted Islam with Christianity at the end pointing out that their god did not live inside people. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else and he said, “Obviously I would want to be forgiven for my sins.” I said that if he wanted to trust in Jesus to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray explaining he would be appealing to Jesus as God to forgiven him. I asked if he wanted to pray to be forgiven and he said, “Sure,” and he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life was living inside out and I offered him The Case for Christianity Answer Book. He asked if the Library might have the book and I said they would not since it was a religious book. I thought he might want a shorter booklet he could keep on the down low, though he said someone else on campus had given him a Bible. And he did take “The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet which is thin enough to stick in your jeans pocket. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and he took that to read. I explained that trusting in the Righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. We said goodbye and he was thankful. So I hope I will run into him again and ask how he is doing. He had some interest in our bible study. Please pray he comes.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and evangelism on campus. God blessed and I am hopeful Syed will find fellowship or come to ours on campus.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your life was blessed today with all good things. I had a good day on campus and   Jackie, Gabby and Brendan, each prayed to receive Jesus today.

Jackie was the first person I talked to today just down from the locker I use sitting on some chairs in the hall. She is a Latina and attended a Roman Catholic Church. She had jeans with stylish tears across the front long straight brown hair past her shoulders and a large face with soft features, nice looking girl, kinda wholesome look. She wore a blue hoodie. I asked her if she wanted to do a survey but she wasn’t sure. So I asked if she wanted to answer one question, she agreed. So I said, “You’re walking down the road you get hit by a bus so you’re dead, and you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “Because He loves me?” she guessed. “He does love you,” I replied but that’s not the only reason you go to Heaven. Would you like to know what the Bible says about how you get to Heaven, or not so much?” “OK,” she replied. So I began to go through the Gospel with her. She was very attentive. As I went through I explained how the Mass was symbolic of some of what I had explained to her and when she took it she could just say, “Thank you”. When I asked her what Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world she said, “He died.” So she had recalled some things from Catholic Church. As I finished I asked her if she would like to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else and she said, “Be forgiven.” So I said that I knew she knew some of the story before but in the past when she were asking for forgiveness for her sins “were you hoping God would forgive you because He loved you” or was she trusting in Jesus. “I didn’t know the story,” she replied.  I said if she’d like to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it asking if it was the desire of her heart. “Yes,” she said. I said if she’d like to pray it silently receiving God’s forgiveness she could. Would she like to and she nodded saying “Yeah.” And taking the booklet she prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life was living “Inside Out” asking for God to change her inside and by the power of His Spirit becoming a good woman who did good things. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside. I wrote “Just Ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front too. I gave her a Bible Study and explained it to her. She said she’d been invited to a Bible study today, her friend had just texted her before I walked up, but she was unsure if she should go. I asked if she knew the name and she said she didn’t. She did not know much about it but her friend went. I warned her there were some cults on campus and so if the group met in a room with a larger group of students and if the group was not asking her to attend their Church it was probably fine. But if it was a small thing with just two other women and her friend she should probably avoid it. She was grateful for the guidance. I also encouraged her not to give her phone number to people but just an email. If they started sending her emails she did not want she could just mark them spam and she would not see them anymore. So hopefully it’s one of the good ones on campus. I told her I would be praying for her until spring next year each day. She thanked me and I headed out.

I walked into the Cafeteria and at the other end sitting at a table by a post I found Gabby. She had lighter brown hair and fair skin. I would not have guess she was a Latina. But ended up talking for 2 hours and sometimes she said, “I don’t know how you say this in English,” when expressing a feeling or a thought and then she’d say it in Spanish. She had on a black v-neck shirt and round glasses, black pants. Her hair was pulled back tight back from her face. She was a sweet kid, cute. She knew who I was because I’d walked past her and I guy I knew on campus (her relationship with him was who we spent most of the time talking about). When I’d briefly met her he’d kind of sang my praises, he’s kind of a flatterer so I dismissed it with a self-deprecating joke. I asked her if she’d like to do a student survey for a Bible Study group. She said she already went to a group (that a friend in InterVarsity teaches, Jeff) I said I knew Jeff and asked if she’d like to just answer the one big question or words to that effect. So as I had a half-hour earlier I asked So I said, “You’re walking down the road you get hit by a buss so you’re dead, and you stand before god and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” She had a longer answer and I wasn’t in a position to write it down. But basically she said she worked with the youth at her church and youth were the future (a bit ironic coming from a young woman of 19 years). It turned out there was not much she did not do at her Catholic Church where a lot of her family attended.  “So basically you are trying to do good things, that please God, and He wants you to do so you think that will get you into Heaven,” I replied. She agreed. I said that was good but it really did not get you into Heaven and I began to explain knowing God by being one with Him by the Holy Spirit. I asked what Jesus had done to take away her sins. But she heard the question existentially and told how she had been in a dark place of depression and had been offered anti-depressants but she turned them down and God had brought her up out of it. I think she’d had a lot of relationships fail and there was some depression in her family. She’d been in process for about 2 years but now felt healthy. I explained that was great and that God had obviously been working in her life but that did not save her from her sins I used the illustrations I always use and as I explained that she did not go to Heaven because she was good but because Jesus had died for her, his blood had cleansed her as was symbolic in the mass and His righteousness was too her credit. “Oh!” she exclaimed seeing for the first time. As we talked more about her life I explained how God could live inside her and give her strength by His Spirit if she asked for forgiveness trusting in the work of Christ. I said it seemed like God was around her and guiding her and she agreed. But there was a next step of forgiveness it seemed like she needed to take. I explained the prayer and said if she thought this was something she still needed to do it seemed like she had not yet trusting in Jesus as her savior from sin. “Unless you don’t think so and I’m misunderstanding something?” I said. She said, no she thought that was right. And she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained more of the Christian life living “Inside Out” and telling her the Christian life was really, “Just ask for God power to do anything He is asking you to do”. I gave her a bible study then and gave her a copy of Bible Promises for You and wrote her name and the date and ‘forgiven” and she said, “Oh!” liking that I had written “forgiven”. Then we talked a lot about the boy who had expressed feelings for her on the weekend but told her he felt God was leading him to something far away geographically. He saw me as I walked away from her and walked up but she was right there waiting to speak with him so I said hi and that Gabby had prayed to receive Jesus. He thanked me and I said it was God’s work but “yeah sure”. So I will be praying for her, I already pray for him and it would seem I’m going to have to take him aside at some point and tune him up. He came to our Bible study 3 times in Spring 2019. Then he left on a 6 month mission trip and goes to her Catholic Church working with the youth under her. His dad is not around and I think that is creating some issues but it seems he has a sincere faith and had been a good influence on her so far.

I walked over to the MAC arts building and saw Brendan sitting on a bench by the elevator. So I went up and road the elevator down so I could easily walk past him and ask to talk. He said Yes. He had a black Levi’s jean jacket on and a grey hoodie under it. He had a mustache that did not touch his beard on his jaw line and his hair was receding but he had to have been no more than 20. Had rectangular glasses with brown thin rims and a face like a regular guy. Wore jeans and black trainers. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I been raised in a Catholic family, always believed in the scriptures and always lived by the scriptures even if it was not 100% perfectly.” He thought he had a 90% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. He listened and said, When I explained the righteousness of God Christ had earned that was to His credit like extra credit in a class with a story I tell he said, “That’s a good example.” “Right?” I said agreeing with him. I explained all I say usually and asked if he wanted to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he said. So I explained other was a prayer he could pray talking him through it and asking if it was something he had not done as an adult asking God to forgive him because he was trusting in what Jesus had done for him on the cross. If he hadn’t he could pray that now so only God would hear if he thought it was something he needed to do. “I could continue to do that,” he said. So I took that as the idea he felt he needed to do so and just said, “Wanna do it.” He said, “Yeah,” and nodded and taking the booklet he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to Him living “Inside Out” by the Spirit’s power. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible, he did not have his own just a family Bible and then wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. He thanked me as I got up to leave, glad for the talk. I said I’d see him in Heaven and show him where all the cool places were since I’d get there first and he liked that and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

in Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day has been blessed today and yesterday and God’s has filled your times with all good things. I had a good day on campus and Alex prayed to receive Jesus. I got some good seeds planted in Ryan, (square chinned, sharp featured guy on the third floor who said he’d think about it, did not think he deserved to go to Heaven when we began); Katia, (Girl in the science building lounge who said she went to lutheran church and said the prayer was the desire of her heart, might pray later I gave her Case for Christianity Answer Booklet) and Will (who took the Case for Christianity Answer Booklet to think about it some more, he was a far off though) I think each got closer anyway. 150 students have prayed to receive Jesus after hearing the Gospel from me at school this year.

Alex was up on the third floor of the BIC just a short toss from the lounge we have Bible study in on the floor below. (We had 9 students this week so it is growing.) He had an oval head medium build a couple days growth of beard struggling to show up here and there, had a black hoodie on and sweats, medium brown hair that came down on his forehead in bangs. He was raised Lutheran and looked like he could have been related to the founder. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven if he died he said, “I never thought about this before.” Thinking more he said, “Probably say…” but then he was stuck. I asked what he thought the Church he’d gone to as a kid would say and he said, “You pray and repent of your sins.” So you wanna say that, “I pray and I repent of my sins?” “Yeah,” he agreed. He thought he had about a 70% chance of going to Heaven. He knew Jesus had died to take away his sins but hadn’t put the entire gospel together but he was engaged as I went through the Gospel with a look of realization. So as I finished I asked if he’d want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else. “Ah… forgiven.” he replied. I said there was a prayer he could pray and I explained it in the context of what I had told him. I asked if it was the desire of his heart and he said “Yeah.” I said he could pray it silently so God would hear and forgiven him would he want to and he said, “Yeah,” and nodded. He prayed the to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life to him then. He said he had a Bible someone had walked up to him and given him on campus. “But they didn’t tell you what it meant?” I asked.” “No,” he said and grinned. “Yeah, bad plan,” I replied. I explained now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven is 100%. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside along with “Just Ask By the Spirit’s Power”. I gave him a Bible study too inviting him again to ours. “Nice to meet you,” he said shaking my hand as I made to get up to go. “I’ll keep you in my prayers,” I said telling him I’d be praying through nest year. “‘Cause I don’t know if I’ll see you again.” “You probably will,” he replied. “Thank you, see you around.” “See you around,” I said and headed off down the hall.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism Tuesday if you had a chance. God truly blessed. I’ll be headed over again tomorrow and each day until the end of public gatherings if this Coronavirus stuff is for real. Hey it started in China and they basically lie about everything so…

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you are happy it is almost Spring. I personally like baseball and equally enjoy not feeling freezing air getting to my truck. May God provide a warm Spring.  I had a good day on campus and Lucas, Robert and Alex each prayed to receive Jesus today. I’ll be praying they grow in faith.

Lucas was sitting in the first set of couches as you exit the lounge. He had an oval face and light brown short hair had a jacket and jeans on, he looked like the actor Aaron Paul. He had a slight speech impediment. He was raised Catholic and had grown up in the Church but did not seem to be in regular attendance any longer. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I lived a happy life.” I think he meant he had made others happy. He thought the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 90%. He was affirming of every point I made concerning the Gospel often saying, “Exactly.” Though he struggled with what Jesus had done to take away his sins, not remembering. When I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else he struggled a bit thinking at first saying he thought something else saying, “I think… it’s tough.” So after a moment I just asked, “Do you think you would like to trust in Jesus and be forgiven for your sins?” “Yeah,” he said in a tone of voice as if to say, For sure. I think he had misunderstood my first question, possibly thinking I was asking him to add something to what I had said.  I said if he’d like to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He thought for a moment and said, “Yeah.” I said he could pray it silently, not that I would hear him but God would hear and forgive him and live inside him giving him strength. He nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He said he had a Bible and I explained living “Inside Out” asking God to change him and give him strength. I said Christianity was just asking God for help in all things. He was grateful and I explained that if he trusted in Jesus’ righteousness to be his, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He did not want a book of any kind, so I said I would keep him in my prayers and headed into the cafeteria. I will look for him and chat him up in the future. He was a bit of a strange bird but really nice.

Robert was sitting inside the Cafeteria at the counter looking outside. He had a couple days’ growth of beard on him and a Doughboy face. Real nice guy, stick straight dishwater-blonde hair. He wore black sweats and brown t-shirt. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “That’s a fantastic question, pretty loaded…” and then, “very good question.” He continued thinking and finally said, “I tried my best to honor the Church in life. I tried to honor my neighbor and parents. I tried my best to observe what is right.” He had gone to Church as a kid but it had been a while. He thought he had a 60% chance of going to Heaven. He listened closely to the Gospel and he knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. When I had finished explaining that He had died as a perfect payment to God for what we owed Him and His blood cleansed us and his righteousness was to our credit he said, “OK.” With an I get it now tone of voice. I explained God wanted to adopt us and make us his Children and we did so by faith.” “So it’s faith?” he asked and I said, “Yep.” I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins, trusting in Jesus, or thought something else he said, “A life entrusted to Christ,” choosing that line reading it as the description of the circle with God inside written in the booklet. I said if, as an adult, he wanted to place his trust in Jesus to be forgiven, there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it, asking if it was the desire of his heart and he said, “Yeah.” So I said he could pray it silently so only God would hear and he said, “OK.” And he prayed to receive Jesus. He thanked me a number of times saying “Thank you so much. “ I explained the Christian life living “Inside out to him also and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” along with “Just ask by the Spirit’s power.” I gave him a Bible study too and explained that now trusting in Christ’s righteousness to be his, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Thanks for this. I’ve been thinking about it lately,” he told me. I told him I would pray for him and he said he’d pray for me too saying God would know who he meant. I thanked him. “You have a wonderful day,” he said as I got up to go. “You too,” I replied and headed out.

Later in the day I returned to the Cafeteria and found Alex sitting at the same counter about 25 feet further down. He had on a black shirt and jeans, well groomed mop of hair combed back on top of his head and a high forehead. His head was round and face was puffy, another nice guy. He said he’d attended the Greek Orthodox Church but the one near school he’d gone to had closed from lack of funding. But he attended church with his mother still. I don’t think the ones he attended now were the same denomination.  When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven if he died he said, “That’s a tough one.” Then he said, “Pretty much be myself, treat people how I like to be treated, no point in spreading hate.” He was sure he’d go to Heaven 100%. When I asked him what the big thing Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world he said, “He forgives?” I said He did forgive but the reason he forgives is because He is just and He gets paid. I explained that we owed God something perfect for anything we had damaged in life or hurt since everything belonged to Him. We could not pay, so God became a man and lived a perfect life for us. Then when He dies, His perfect life pays God back for all we owe Him. So our sins are forgiven and He can live inside. He had a wry smile as we talked that seemed to say, “Oh I get this now and I should know this.” As I finished, I asked if he’d want to be forgiven, trusting in Jesus or thought something else. “Definitely this one over here,” he said, placing his finger on the circle with God inside. “It seems like you hadn’t had a chance to put all this together before?” I asked. He agreed.  So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray accepting God’s forgiveness. I talked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart and he seriously said in an affirming soft tone, “Yeah sure.” I said he could pray it silently so only God would hear and asked if he’d like to. He nodded silently and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. That was great. I explained the Christian life to him, suggesting he read the book of John and also explained the Fruit of the Spirit and living “Inside Out.” I explained that now, trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was in fact 100%.  I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” along with “Just Ask by the Spirit” in the front. I gave him a Bible study also explaining it a bit. I said I’d keep him in my prayers and since I was old and would get to Heaven first, when he got there I’d show him where all the cool places were and he laughed. I got up to go and Alex said seriously, “Thank you.” “Yeah God bless you man,” I replied. “Likewise,” he said and I headed out happy.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you’ve had a great weekend walking with the Lord and if you are in Chicago are blessed today with a break in the cold weather. I had a slow day on campus on Friday, finding few conversations. But Christian prayed to receive Jesus with me. So God had that for me to do. He was sitting at the cafeteria counter as it bends around, looking to the west. He had a boyish face, with a square chin and brown hair with bangs swept to the left, black sweats and a grey workout jacket. He looked pretty worn out and it turned out he had studied all day the day before for about 12 hours, trying to get enough information down to understand his logic class. It turned out he went to Willow Creek Church up in Barrington. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven if he died and he said, “That’s a tricky question.” Then thinking for a while he settled on, “It depends on what I did in life. What good I did in life.”  He thought he had an 85% chance of going to Heaven. As I went through the Gospel with him, he knew Jesus had died to take away his sins and agreed with everything I said. So I asked if he’d want to be forgiven and he said, “Yeah.” So I asked, “When you ask for forgiveness for your sins, have you been trusting in what Jesus did for you or were you hoping to be good enough?” He seemed unsure saying “Yes and no” after thinking a bit, though he had just said he was hoping he’d do enough good things to get into Heaven. I run into this pretty commonly, but I just talk students through it. Some will decide to pray to receive Christ then, some feel sure they must have been trusting in Him though they seemed not to be by the answer they had given. “It’s an either/or question,” I replied. I hoped that reading through the question might help cut through some confusion. (What I later realized might have been a bit of the fog of war from his previous day of study.) So I read through the prayer and asked him if he felt like this is something he should say to God. He said “Yes and no,” again saying he thought he could pray that sometimes. “It’s kind of like being married,” I replied. ”If you were married and I asked you, Are you married? and you said, Yes and no, your wife would hit you in the head with her purse.” I explained the prayer is if you would want to be forgiven, having a relationship with God where you trusted in Him to forgive you and have a relationship like that. “Would you want that?” “Oh yeah,” he said. And he decided to pray to receive Jesus. After he finished I explained living with God inside, where he would trust in His strength and ask for His help by the Spirit’s power. I said that trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining how everything the book said he should do he could do simply by asking for God’s power. When the book said, “God cannot withhold His forgiveness if you forgive others” he could simply ask for a spirit of forgiveness from the Lord to forgive. “Everything in Christianity is Just Ask,” I said, writing that in the front of the book with “By the Spirit’s Power” and his name and the date and “forgiven.” I also gave him a Bible Study and told him I would keep him in my prayers. “Thanks for talking with me,” he said shaking my hand. I said, “Sure,” and that I would probably see him around. And I headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism on campus.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking in joy and ya had a good one. I had good day in as much as Erin prayed with me to receive Jesus. She was a sweetheart and great to talk to.

Here’s a bit of what happened with Erin. She was sitting in the ground floor lounge of the BIC on the south side in a connecting hall with skylights near some vending machines. I sat in an armchair beside hers when she said she’d do a survey. She seemed to be killing time before a class. Her afro was pulled up in a puff on the top of her head. She wore square-rimmed glasses with some red in them, a puffy coat, jeans and sneakers; her long narrow face sloped a bit to a squarish chin. Cute kid. She wanted to start a Veterinary sanctuary for animals and we talked about the dogs in the John Wick movie.  I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Oh that’s a really interesting question,” she replied and thought for a bit, softly saying, “I don’t know.” I asked if she had been to church and she said it had “been a while.” But I asked what she thought they might say would get someone into Heaven? She said. “To fulfill my duty to serve.” She thought she had about an 80% chance of going to Heaven. She listened to the Gospel attentively, leaning in. I asked her what the big thing was Jesus had done to take away her sins. She thought a while and could not think of anything so I started to go on and she made a start so I stopped, asking, “Got a guess?” And she said, “He was crucified.” I said, “Right.” And I went on to explain how that worked and the righteousness of God and the cleansing blood of Christ.  When I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven with God inside or thought something else she said, “Have God inside me.” So I said there was a prayer she could pray to receive forgiveness. Walking her through it, I said she could pray it silently if she’d want and she said, “Yeah.” And prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do  and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “Just Ask By the Spirit’s Power.” Having explained living “Inside Out” by the Spirit. And she thanked me for the book. I gave her a Bible study and she thanked me again. I told her if she wanted she could email me and ask me for the link with a sermon explaining how Animals go to Heaven. As we got up to go she said, “Thanks for stopping.” “Thanks for your time.” And I told her I would keep her in my prayers until spring and one year after and she thanked me and headed out. It was a real joy to talk with her.

Later I had an interesting discussion on campus with a 35 year old African American liberal “Christian” who was not a joy to talk to at all.  He condemned the 5 churches around the downtown area of the town he lived in for failing to be in the community and help the poor. Of course they were very large churches and he’d have no way of knowing what the people in them were doing in terms of private giving (or the staff). Nor could he know the benevolence budget of those churches. But the real problem was how badly he disregarded the teaching of Scripture and Jesus, saying He was a socialist and did not keep the law. The latter of course would have been brought up at His trial, which I pointed out. I tried to suggest Jesus did not break the law and said He did not come to do so but that they had misunderstood the Law. He said Jesus said we needed to do things for “The least of these.” I said, “You need to complete the verse, it says the least of these My brethren (Matt 25:40).” “That’s everyone,” he replied. I said it wasn’t everyone and that Jesus was the first born of many brethren, (Romans 8:29), which means Christians. In the passage, Jesus is condemning fake Christians for not serving real ones. He said the early church broke bread together. I said that was true, but at the Lord’s supper the rich brought more food than the poor and (Paul actually tells them to eat at home 1Cor. 11:34) so breaking bread was not a time they fed everyone and they did not do it every day anyway. I pointed out that in John 6:26, Jesus condemns those who follow Him to get a stomach full of bread after feeding the 5,000. He asked why people would come to church if the church was not doing things for them, “For eternal life,” I replied. But neither this nor anything else I quoted to him got through to him. He just ignored what I said and said something else. It was important to him to insist that the Jews had killed Jesus and not the Romans, saying Pilate had washed his hands of it. I said the Romans still killed him and this was a political show for Pilate that did not assuage his guilt. I asked if the Jews were in control of the crucifixion, why would Joseph and Nicodemus have gone to Pilate for permission to take down His body? He suggested all sins were the same to God. I pointed out Jesus told Pilate that those who turned Him over to him had the greater sin (this also points clearly to the shared responsibility of Pilate for Jesus’ death). I said that the Levitical law code has greater penalties for some sins than others; you don’t get stoned for everything. I said it would not have been possible for the early Church to care for the poor outside the Church, as they were poor people themselves for the most part (1Cor. 1:26). I said ministries like Samaritan’s Purse do so all over the world to share the Gospel afterwards, but it is not a Biblical requirement for local churches. Oh well, I could go on; it would take too long to share all the verses I spoke to him. The perspective he took required he disregard exegesis.

So thanks for your prayers for the Bible study and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your morning has been blessed so far and you had a blessed day yesterday. My sciatic nerve pain in my legs is really bothering me today so I’m going to take a day off from walking around campus with a backpack full of books. I’m pretty tanked, long day. But yesterday Dan and Mel each prayed with me to receive Jesus so that was great. Though only one girl, a Christian, had been willing to hear me go through the Gospel for the first 2 hours I walked round school. I squeezed in a bit of the Justice of God and answered a question as to why God would become a man with Suleiman, a Muslim, and gave him a tract, black African guy. The last 3 conversations were great though.

I went through the Gospel with Laz in the cafeteria and he really understood his faith better for the first time and received what I explained with Joy. As I headed out, Dan was sitting waiting for his ride. He was a clean-cut sandy brown haired GQ looking guy, sharp jaw line and features, conservative 1970’s hair cut, wry smile he wore through most of the Gospel as I told it to him. He was Roman Catholic. He had on Blue tweed narrow at the ankle sweats and a winter ski lodge print on the shoulders, zip up sweater. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I tried to live my best life; I haven’t always gone by the Bible.”  He thought he had a 50% shot at going to Heaven saying, “I tried to have good values.” I knew the time would be short so I stayed narrow in illustration and I could see he was interested but he was suppressing a smile here and there. Finally when I explained the imputed righteousness of Jesus, he tipped his head back and grinned with a short laugh, understanding he could be forgiven. I explained this was true symbolically in the Mass that commemorated that Jesus had died so he was forgiven. I then explained he could be forgiven by faith. When I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven with God inside or something else he said, “I’d pick God inside.” I explained there was a prayer he could pray to trust in that and explained it and said he could pray it silently so only God could hear. I saw he had begun to read and pray as I held out the booklet. When I saw he’d finished I said, “Your sins are forgiven,” cheerfully and fist bumped him. He smiled. I quickly explained living inside out by the Spirit’s power so I hope he got the picture of the fruit of the Spirit as his ride had showed up. So I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front along with “Just Ask By the Spirit’s Power.” He stood up and said, “Thank you.” ‘Thanks for your time,” I replied. “Thank you,” he said again and headed for the doors with the Holy Spirit now in him to sanctify him entirely.

I walked down the hall, planning to head to my locker and go home and edit my Bible Study for the evening. I looked back from 15 feet past the corner of the hall that goes down to student activities to see a guy with his head down toward his phone in his lap, sitting on the corner of a row of chairs. From a distance he had the same hair as Byron a guy who’d come to Christ last year and I thought it might be him. As I approached his afro wasn’t in 4 or 5 inch braids but more kind of thin rolled narrow tubes. So I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey about God and stuff and he said ok. Mel had on quilted jeans and a jacket and had a beard and mustache that grew in a little inconsistently but about par for the course for 18 years old. He was thin, 140 6’2”. His nose was like a wide flat pyramid. Good looking guy. Later he said he’d gone to jail and been in some trouble but had recently decided he was done with that, which he credited to his mother’s prayers and being a bit scared straight by the bad food and conditions in jail. He’d first been in juvi and more recently in Cook County and somehow his record had been expunged and he’d worked at Target and Walmart saved some money was living with his mom who was out in the suburbs with his stepfather. He’d been impressed with how nice COD was, like he’d just walked around for the first time so I don’t know if he’d just begun a midterm class. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “Because I’ve forgiven a lot of people in my life.” He thought he had a 50/50 shot of getting into Heaven. He went to a small church in the city. As I explained the Gospel he was engaged and we hit it off. I explained Jesus had lived a perfect life for him and that His blood cleansed him so God could live inside him and give him Eternal Life. “And this perfect life Jesus lived you need that,” I said. I explained that if he wrecked someone’s car he had to pay the deductible and it went to a body shop and they made it perfect again. I explained if we damage someone’s stuff we owe them something perfect in return. Everything belongs to God. “So if I damage you or me or something else I the world I owe God something perfect in return, but we can’t do anything perfect, so were screwed.” He laughed at that in acknowledgement. “So God becomes a man and His life is worth an infinite amount because He is God. When He dies it pays God back for all the things we’ve done that we owe God something perfect for. God forgives us then because He gets paid and He is Just and can forgive us.” “That was a really good explanation,” he replied. “Thanks,” I said, “God tells me stuff and I tell it to people.” He laughed again. I explained the imputed righteousness of Christ saying, “In God’s eyes you get an A.” “A+,” he responded. And that he needed to receive Christ by faith. And that God then could turn his bad things into Good things over time. “So,” I asked, “Would you want to be forgiven with God inside or do you think something else?” “Like Islam doesn’t believe God can live inside people or that he is knowable, they got a different god. Or the Buddha he left his wife and kids to go seek enlightenment, but he’s not looking for God he’s just trying to get his head straight.” “Option A,” he said definitively. “Ok Option A I said writing it on my hand (it was a good response I didn’t want to forget it). I offered him the prayer and walked him through it; he acknowledged it was the desire of his heart. So asking if he’d want to pray it silently he said “Yeah,” and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life living “Inside Out” and by the Spirit’s power. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I invited him to Bible study and he said he’d think about it. We talked some more and he asked which way to was to where you could get something to eat. I told him it was just around the corner behind him. I asked if he had any money and he said he did, saying he was a good saver and he told me he’d been working. I gave him a Bible Study we said good bye and he was grateful and we both headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism Tuesday if you had a chance God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

… Corrie ten Boom

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Hey Brothers and sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you found the light and life of Christ. I had a good day on campus since Sam prayed to receive Jesus today which was great.  I got a good seed planted with Matt; white kid with brown hair friendly clean cut future small business man type also who was Methodist as a kid. I offered him a book when he said he’d think about it and he said, “Whatcha ya got.” I gave him the case for Christianity answer booklet; I think he was very close to trusting in Christ.

Sam was sitting in the cafeteria and it had been about 2 hours since I had found anyone to go through the Gospel with, though I’d chatted with some who’d received Christ and was just spending some time encouraging a Christian I know who wanted to sent me up to talk to some friends who he thought needed Christ without that knowing he was behind it. So we conspired a plan for later in the week. As I headed out I saw Sam. He was sitting at a table by the doors and said he’d do a student survey.  He’d been born and reared in Nigeria but came here as a kid about 11 years ago. He was wearing a winter cap and round plastic rimmed glasses. He wore a pullover gray fleece, had a neatly trimmed beard, wider nose, cheerful good looking guy. He identified as a Christian and said “I tried to live a life close to Jesus,” when I asked what he would say to God to get into Heaven. He thought he had a 50/50 chance to get into Heaven. When I asked what the big thing was that God had done to take away the sins of the world he said, “He gave His Son.” He knew the Gospel but had not thought much into it in his personal life, particularly concerning the righteousness of God earned by Christ that Paul said he had by faith. As I’d finished the Gospel I asked if he’d want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus he said he did. I said, “Well, it seems like you knew this stuff pretty much.” He agreed, so I asked if he’d been trusting in it. “I know you knew the story. But when you were asking for forgiveness, were you thinking you would try harder next time or were you thinking I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.” “I was thinking I would try harder,” he replied. I didn’t think I would just be forgiven because that is BS.” I explained the righteousness of God again then by the illustration of the parable at the beginning of Matthew 22 where the guy is sent to Hell for wearing the wrong clothes to a party. I explained he was trusting in his own righteousness and not the robe the King provided who is God. That robe of righteousness is being clothed with Jesus (Romans 13:14 NIV). “Where is that parable? Can you write that down?” I said sure and wrote Matt 22 in the margin of the booklet. Then I explained that without faith it is impossible to please Him. So if you tried to do good things without trusting in the Holy Spirit’s power to do those things, you were just doing them in the flesh. He saw my point and so I showed him the prayer, walking through it and added writing at the bottom, “I trust in the righteousness of God” and asked if he thought he needed to trust in Jesus for his forgiveness and the righteousness of God not his own to enter to Heaven. He agreed that he needed to do that saying, “Yeah absolutely, sure.” Then he took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. When he finished he said, “This is perfect timing that you came by.” He was grateful. I explained living “Inside Out” trusting in God’s transforming power by the Holy Spirit. “First you ask God to make you a good man, then you do good things.” I said, “Now this is 100%,” writing that by his answer about the likelihood he would go to Heaven. “Of course,” he said, now understanding that the righteousness of Christ would be his righteousness. I gave him a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” and “Just ask By the Spirit’s powers” in the front. I also gave him a Bible Study. He again said how it was perfect timing I came by. I said I would keep him in my prayers each day and he said, “Thank you,” as I made to go, shaking my hand happily. “I’ll pray for you too.” I thanked him, saying if he thought of me that would be great. “Have a good one,” I said standing to go.” “You as well,” he replied and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob