Hey sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you have joy and peace in believing. I had a good day on campus. Will, a black guy with a thin mustache and a low afro was close to receiving Christ. He said he would pray tonight. And Brenda prayed to receive Jesus today.

Brenda was sitting just past the exit from the tunnel into the MAC in the BIC building and she was waiting for someone and said she’d do a survey, saying, “Why not? I’m just waiting.” She had long, dark hair and grey leggings on and a fleece pullover, cute kid, petite small face, chatty. She seemed very young. When I asked her if she went to church at all she said she did a bit, saying she did not understand much of what went on there. Her mom was very religious, as was her grandma. “My mom says we’re Catholic.” When I asked her what she would say to God if she died and was asked why He should let her into Heaven she said, ‘I don’t know,” and then quickly, “don’t write that.” But then thinking a moment she said, “I can’t really tell you what I strongly believe. There’s got to be a Heavenly place.” I agreed there had to be. She thought she had about a 70% chance of going to Heaven. As I went through the Gospel with her she was interested and remarked, “Sounds beautiful,” as I explained that Jesus had died for her. “Yeah it does,” I agreed. She listened to the explanation of the perfect payment of the life of Jesus for her sins, having not known about it, it seemed. That His blood cleansed her so God could live inside her and God could justly forgive her, having been paid for her sins. I explained she received it by Faith and Grace saved her by faith not by works. Her good stuff didn’t fix her bad stuff. I asked if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else, “That one,” she said pointing at the right circle with God inside, “Be forgiven.” I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Yes. I’d like to believe that.” I said if she wanted to she could ask for forgiveness and I walked her through the prayer addressed to the “Lord Jesus” and asked if it was the desire of her heart.” “Yes,” she said. So I said she could pray it silently, not so I would hear her but God would hear and she’d be forgiven for her sins. She took the booklet from me and prayed then to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life to her living “Inside out” where first God transformed her and then she would do good things because she had become a good person. I said everything in the Christian life is “Just ask” and wrote that along the end of the booklet along with “By the Spirit’s Power” saying God would give her the power to do anything He was asking her to do. I said that by trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She did not have her own Bible, but did not want to take one or a book to read. But said that she might be ready to take one later. If she saw me she’d get one from me. I did get her to take a Bible study on the Deity of Christ, different ways He claims to be God. She had to run then, so we headed our different ways after I told her she’d be in my prayers each day.  I said my email was on the back of the booklet and she said “OK,” and headed out the tunnel. Sweet kid.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with all good things and you had joy in serving Jesus. I had a good day on campus and Seth, Jana and Marco prayed to receive Jesus today.

Seth was sitting at the big table were we have Bible study. He was about to study but decided to talk with me. He had light brown hair and a youthful clean shaven face, even had rosy cheeks. Looked a bit like the speed racer cartoon image. He was wearing a blue zip neck fleece and khaki pants. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “That’s a hard question. I tried my hardest. I believe in You. You shouldn’t have to let me into Heaven, you should earn it. I think I earned it because I stayed true to You. I didn’t let anyone sway my opinion. You’re my savior and I’ve continued through persecution.” It seemed like he had been pressured in his life not to believe in God. I began to go through the Gospel with him and it turned out he had been in Young Life in High School. I’ve met several students who went to young life and somehow never understood the Gospel. I think they go through it on retreats, but on a regular basis it is just a moral hang-out club and it does not always lead to faith. I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins, but he had no idea. As I explained what Jesus had done for him and how His blood cleansed him, he exclaimed “Ohhh!” He began to realize that Jesus had paid it all and what he needed to do was ask for God’s transforming power, and even to ask Him to help him trust in Him more. Not put effort in morality but put effort in dependence that would make him different in his soul. Then the moral strength and behavior would follow naturally by the Spirit’s power. He was so grateful to understand everything. “Can I keep this booklet?” he asked. With all my notes and extra Bible verses now in it explaining the righteousness of God and the Blood of Christ, the booklet had become a complete presentation of the Gospel. And I said sure and finished. He said “Ohh!” again as I explained receiving Christ by faith and how his good things could not pay for his bad things. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else and he said, “Be forgiven.” So I offered him the prayer he could pray silently so only God would hear. I said he could pray it and be forgiven for his sins and God would live inside him. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said enthusiastically and he silently prayed to receive Jesus. We talked some more and he was enthusiastic and grateful and I explained the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power, “Inside Out.” “Thanks for taking time to talk with me,” he said and I said, “Thanks for being willing to talk.” I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave him a Bible study and said I would be praying for him each day one of the prayers of Paul, which I had encouraged him to look for online to see in reading Paul’s prayers the Christian life was about what you asked God to do to you to transform you not your own efforts at transformation. “Thanks you so much!” he said, shaking my hand and I said sure and headed off.

I went over across the lounge and tried to write down some of what was said, sitting in Starbucks. What Seth was wearing so I’d remember and when I finished there was a lovely Asian girl, Jana sitting next to me who had been listening to some people speaking loudly in a language from the other side of the Earth. I wondered if it was a language she understood. I was going to get up and go, but I decided to ask her if she wanted to do a student survey for our Bible Study group. “Sure,” she said cheerfully. She was wearing blue cotton sweats and a blue t-shirt with some writing on it I couldn’t easily make out. She had a nubby fleece beige jacket on and her hair was pulled back from her face into a ponytail. She looked Filipino to me. She was American in all her mannerisms and from a catholic church. She had a pretty smile and lips and fair skin. (Her boyfriend Joseph showed up at the end and was Asian. I’d spoken to him before. He was Catholic and wore a rosary around his neck.) I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven if she died and she thought a long time. She finally settled on, “Because you forgave me.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance of getting into Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with her and she seemed really engaged and laughed at the analogies and quips I made. I said that God wanted to live inside her and give her eternal life, and asked what the big thing was that took away her sins. She couldn’t think of anything so I clarified, “that Jesus did.” But still nothing came to mind. “It’s symbolized in the Mass,” I tried, but that did not help so I said, “well I’ll just explain it to you.” I explained how Jesus had lived the perfect life she owed to God and died shedding his blood that cleansed her from all her sins and that the Righteousness He earned was to her credit. I said we were adopted by God and given the blessings of His family, “He gives you the sacrifice for your sins, the blood that cleanses you and the righteousness that surrounds you. So it’s like you got someplace to go, Heaven, and something to wear when you get there, the Righteousness of God.” I explained the way you hooked up with all God had done was by faith in Him, and Grace by faith saved her. I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else. “I want to be forgiven for my sins,” she replied. I talked her through the prayer to be forgiven, asking if it was the desire of her heart. “Yes,” she said brightly. I said she could pray it silently so only God would hear and be forgiven and God would live inside her and I asked if she would like to do it. “Yeah,” she said with a cheerful laugh and she prayed to receive Christ. Her family had a Bible but she did not have one of her own. So I gave her one, showing her the “Where to Turn” section and the Messianic passages list. I told her Jesus’ words were in red, and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “Just Ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I told her now, that trusting in the righteousness of Jesus, the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100% and she let out kind of a happy surprised sound. She was grateful. Joseph had walked up so I sent them off with a friendly goodbye.

I went over to the Science buildings then and in the southeast corner lounge (they call them commons areas) I found Marco sitting alone. I think he was just straightening things in his backpack before heading home. He looked like the boxer DeNiro in the ring, if you ever saw “Raging Bull”. He had a couple days growth of heavy beard, his hair short on the sides and a half inch of tight curls on the top. He was a nice friendly guy, Roman Catholic. He wore gray sweats tight at the ankles and a red hoodie sweatshirt. He was a bit shorter than me. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven and he answered, “I would say I feel more than anyone You’d know I’m not such a bad person. I have a pretty good moral code. In my life I’ve not done anything that you’d say that I could not be forgiven.” I began to go through the Gospel with him and asked what was the thing that happened that took away his sin. “Confession?” he said, uncertainly. I said, “Confession is like buying insurance from an agent for your car. When you wreck your car, the agent does not pay, the company pays. The priest is telling you God forgives your sin, and the reason he can do that is God is just. He pays. Like if you borrow a friend’s sweater and then take it off at your other friend’s house and his dog chews it up. Now you owe the first guy a perfectly new sweater. You can’t just go to Goodwill and grab something off the rack. God owns everything, so when we wreck anything or hurt someone or ourselves we owe God something perfect back. But we can’t do anything perfect. So we’re screwed. We can’t pay. But God knows that, so this is how He gets paid.” And I explained how Jesus had died for his sins and all the rest I say to the peeps about blood, righteousness and forgiveness. He understood and tuned right in and I said he needed to trust in that Jesus was God, had died for his sins, and rose from the dead to be forgiven and the mass was symbolic of it. I said he was forgiven by Grace. He wanted to be forgiven and I explained the prayer to him and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded and so I said he could pray it silently if he wanted and he said, “Yeah,” and prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I also wrote “Just ask by the Spirit’s Power” on the title page, having explained the Christian life was asking for God’s power to transform him. I gave him a Bible Study and explained it a bit and told him I’d be praying for him. “Thank you. I really appreciate it. I’ll be praying as well.” It was really good to meet ya.” I said as we parted ways and headed out opposite doors of the commons. “Likewise.” he said.

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 was blessed with all good things coming down from the Father of Lights. If you are in Iowa for the Caucus vote, feel free to vote twice, as eight counties have registration rates higher than the eligible population. So hey, you should get your fair share of the count. lol. 🙂 I jest, you still should only vote once. I had a good day on campus, and Joe and Michael each prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Joe was sitting in the hallway in the BIC between classes on the ground floor and said he’d do a student survey. He went to a Bible Study back in High School at his coach’s home. (In the face he looked like my 2nd cousin Joe.) He had a great smile and conservative cut dark brown hair, stereotypical Italian, good-looking guy. Wore grey sweats tight at the ankles and a runners zip up jacket. He was shorter than me by a bit. He asked really good questions. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’ve been going to Church pretty frequently my whole life. I’ve done my best to follow His teachings as they’ve been told to me by my parents.” He thought he had a 95% chance of going to Heaven. He knew Jesus had died for our sins. I said that if we did not live a perfect life we could not be in Heaven. “I don’t know if it’s that binary,” he put in. I said that Heaven wasn’t just a place, it was the presence of God. The real problem was ontological. Our being did not match God’s being, so it really was in or out, since we could not live a perfect life. But God loved us and wanted us to be in His presence. So Jesus lived the perfect life for us and became the perfect payment for our sins to God so He could be both Just and Forgiving. His blood cleansed us and His righteousness was to our credit. “So that’s what the New Testament is about,” he said. I agreed. I explained receiving Christ by faith. He asked if the works we did played a role at all and I said that they did if they were done in Faith, asking for God’s power to do them. By themselves, living a moral life by Christian standards saved you a lot of pain and grief and kept you from wrecking your life. So it was a blessing to be raised that way because you know how to live. But this would not save you. I explained how our good things could not make up for our bad things and he agreed. I said he had to receive Jesus by faith, trusting that His work and power saved us. I asked if he’d want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus and he gave this kind of frank yeah obviously kind of nod. So I walked him through the prayer and said he could pray it so only God would hear and he went “hmm” and nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. We talked about the blessings of living a good life. He agreed, saying he watched his roommate last year at IL State basically self destruct with partying every weekend until he had to drop out of school. “It made me want to do the opposite,” he said. And I thought about the verse in scripture concerning the lost. “Vessels of wrath fit for destruction” God used to perfect the elect. I explained living “Inside Out” asking for God’s power to do anything he thought God wanted him to do. We talked about how dark and shallow the world had gotten. “This is the most meaningful conversation I’ve had in weeks,” he said. I gave him a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and “forgiven” in the front and “Just Ask By the Power of the Spirit.” I gave him a Bible study and he said he’d try to make it out sometime to ours. He was thankful and I told him I would keep him in my prayers. Really solid guy.

I came across Michael in a chair in the hallway outside the bookstore. He had swept back hair just slightly receding and a warm, youthful face. He had jeans on and an athletic sweatshirt that had some white printing on the front. Good looking kid. He led a youth group and went witnessing at Woodfield mall. But I don’t think he understood the Gospel enough to do so. He knew Jesus had died for our sins, but he was not trusting in that but instead hoping he would be a good enough Christian. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “That’s a tough question. I would tell him that I’m not the perfect Christian. I love Him. I know I’ve done wrong. But I love you. It’s not an easy question.” Based on this answer I have no idea what he was telling people at the mall. It kind of seemed like he was having what he considered interesting discussions. I asked him what the likelihood was he would go to Heaven. “There’s a chance,” he replied. “What does it say that the wages of sins is death or something, then something about eternal life. I would like to be forgiven for my sins and have eternal life with Him. Hopefully it’s a good chance.” So I explained the Gospel to him. As I said, he knew Jesus had died for him. I asked if, when he asked for forgiveness for his sins, he had been trusting in what Jesus had done on the Cross or had he been hoping that being a Good Christian would get him into Heaven. He said a little in Jesus but mostly he had been hoping in being good enough. So I said if he wanted to be sure and place his confidence in Jesus, there was a prayer he could pray. I told him how he could be certain he was going to Heaven, turning in the righteousness of Christ and he could ask God to know Him personally– live inside him with His Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit would seal him and he would be sure he was forgiven. After I walked him through the prayer, he prayed with me to receive Christ. I suggested he could explain some of this now to his youth group he was leading at Willow Creek. He agreed that would be a good idea. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and forgiven in the front and “By the Spirit’s Power” and “Just Ask.” I said now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, the likelihood he was going to Heaven was 100%. We talked about his church then and I told him I had gone there when it met in the theater. “Oh, with Hybels,” he said. I expressed my opinion that Hybels had turned out to be less than a good person and he agreed and we headed out. So I hope it sinks in that he was off track and he comes to a better understanding and passes it on to his students.

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

In Him,

Bob

http://revolutionradio.org/2020/02/03/eight-iowa-counties-have-total-registration-rates-larger-than-eligible-voter-population-more-than-18600-extra-names-on-voter-rolls/

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was well spent in Joy. I had a good day on campus, though very few of the students were interested in talking to me.  But Maria and Lasar each prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Maria was sitting on a bench outside her classroom in the Science building on the second floor just east of the lounge. Her teacher seemed to be late and everyone was sitting around or milling about as the benches filled. She had a warm kind face and thin, long brown hair. She was Latina, short, and wore a fleece and leggings, fair skin. She was very nice and thought she’d like to travel to Cuba and I assumed she had family from there. I asked her what she would say to get into Heaven and she was unsure. So I asked what she thought it was that got you into Heaven. “All the kind acts one does,” she replied. She thought she had a 50% chance of going to Heaven when she died, and she said she went to a Catholic Church called “Church of the Holy Spirit”. She listened carefully to the Gospel and she wasn’t sure how she was forgiven for her sins. I explained that Jesus had died for her and His blood cleansed her. That we owed God something perfect for anything in the world we misused or damaged, as everything was His. We could not pay because we can’t do anything perfect. So God becomes a man and lives a perfect life, which is worth an infinite amount. And when He dies, it pays for all that we owe. So all our sins are forgiven. I explained that His righteousness was to her credit and that the Mass was symbolic of Jesus’ Body and Blood, reminding us He had died for our sins and so we were forgiven. So in taking it, she should just say thank you. I explained she needed to trust in this by faith and her good things could not pay for her bad things. She said, “No,” agreeing they did not. I asked if she would want to be forgiven with God inside or thought something else. The crowd around us was growing and was pretty loud, waiting to get into class and it kind of helped as no one seemed to be listening to us. “I would want to be forgiven,” she replied. So I said there was a prayer she could pray to be forgiven and having explained I read, “Does this prayer express the desire of your Heart?” “It does, yeah,” she replied. So I said she could pray it silently so only God would hear. Would she like too? “Yeah,” she replied and she silently prayed to receive Jesus. Suddenly the area around us emptied as the teacher arrived. I quickly explained living inside out and gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “Just Ask”. I said the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100% trusting in Jesus and His righteousness. And I told her I would pray for her.  I said if I saw her around I’d wave and she smiled at that. “Thank you so much,” she said getting up to go. And she ran into the classroom, the last one in the door.

I felt prompted to go to the PE building from about half way through the BIC building and somehow knew not to stop. So I went right there and found Lazar sitting upstairs on the couches. He said he only had 3 minutes so I said “You wanna just answer the big metaphysical question?” He agreed. I said, “You are walking down the road and you get hit by a bus–so you’re dead. You stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” He had black cotton sweats on, teenage skin problems but was a good looking kid, kind of looked like James Dean. He thought for a bit and said, “I don’t know.” He said he went to church on holidays.  I said, “Well, Christianity is like a blood transfusion. I got A+ blood, so if you fill me full of B- I would clot up and die. God wants to fill you full of His Spirit but He has to make you His type and live inside you. But the problem is your sin. So He takes away your sin and then you match God and He can live inside you. Then it’s like you’re the Energizer Bunny and God is the batteries. You keep going and going and when you die it’s like ya don’t die ‘cause God’s inside.” I grabbed a booklet and without reading the verses, expecting to leave it with him and he’d read them later, I flipped through the points of the pages saying, “God loves you. He wants to know and live inside you but He can’t ‘cause of sin,” turning through the pages. So Jesus dies for your sin and His blood cleanses you and He rises from the Dead.” I explained that he needed to believe in this and receive it by faith. “You know when someday you get married. What are you going to want most from your wife and what will she want from you? You want to believe in her and she believe you. Faith.” He nodded, agreeing. “And that’s what God wants. To have a relationship with you too and forgive you. Faith.” I explained his good stuff did not fix his bad stuff and then I said, “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins?” ‘Yes,” he replied. I read through the prayer with him, saying if he wanted to he could pray it right now and be forgiven and he said, “OK,” and prayed to receive Christ. He had to go, and my 3 minutes was up. So I wrote his name, and the date and “forgiven” in the front and got to quickly explain everything in the Christian life was by the Spirit’s power. I gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet saying he might like to read some in there. I let him go and he said, “Thanks.” I said I’d keep him in my prayers. “What kind of Church do you go to when you go to Church?” I asked as we parted ways. “Orthodox,” he replied. “Ok so this all makes sense to you then.” “Yeah,” he replied. And I headed out. He heard the Gospel in the lightening round, but having all the categories already he was ready to trust in Christ and God brought him to Himself.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today. I know God was at work.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day walking in God’s love. I had a good day on campus and Ashley, James and Priscilla each prayed with me to receive Jesus Friday. I got a good seed planted with Ian, a bearded guy by the tunnel over to the PE building who took The Case for Christ Student edition to read. He wanted to be forgiven but was a little unsure about Jesus but said it was a good presentation. We hit it off so I hope he’ll read the book. Priscilla’s sister, Joann who thought she was trusting in Jesus but had to think hard about if she was trusting in her works, was near the truth I think she got it I hope her sister will guide her into prayer and will suggest it to her in an email. It was a good day.

I found Ashley in the MAC arts building at the top of the front stairs sitting at a counter height table looking out over the lounge. On Friday almost no one is around and no one was in earshot of us. She is a pretty Filipino girl, pretty skin, (which I seem to notice more as mine gets older looking in the mirror) high cheekbones, pretty almond eyes and long dark hair just past her shoulders. She wore a sweater, mostly black with colored thin horizontal stripes and high-waisted jeans, slight build. She was interested in listening to the Gospel though she did not have much experience at all going to Church. She said there was a Bible somewhere in her house she wasn’t sure where. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven and she was struggling a bit on how to respond. So I said well the God wouldn’t really ask because He knows everything. The question is really what it is you think would get someone into Heaven. “I feel like what you’ve done to give back to the world so I would list things like that.” She thought she had a 50/50 shot at getting into Heaven saying she’d never thought about it before. I began to go through the Gospel with her and read and explained Bible verses and she did not know any of it. But she saw how everything worked, that God had paid for her sins living a perfect life in Christ, the righteousness He earned then could be to her credit. In the end I asked if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” she replied so I asked if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Do you think that’s true when you look at your heart?” I asked. She thought for a moment and said, “I think so, I don’t see why not.” So I said if she wanted to place her trust in that there was a prayer she could pray and be forgiven. I explained it to her and asked if it was the desire of her heart. “Yes,” she said. So I said she could pray it right now then, so only God would hear and she said  “Oh, Ok,” with a bit of a laugh. She prayed to receive Jesus and thanked me and then said, “My life really sucks right now,” and she broke and could not speak for a while trying to compose herself. I waited as tiny thin tears began to roll down her cheeks. She picked up a napkin from lunch and dabbed each one away and then another would roll down from the other eye. She apologized but I said that was OK and “Take as long as you want”. She explained finally her dad was sick and mom had a lot of bills. They must be an immigrant family because she said she did not feel like her vocabulary was very good, but she had no accent I could detect. She said she’d been trying to think what she could do to make things better so had prayed and the tips she got waiting tables as a server doubled that night and she felt that was a sign God would help her. I said God would help her but it might not be in exactly the way she wished but I knew how to pray for her now and would. I encouraged her to think about the ways she was blessed, her family and the prosperity of living in these times and that though I was old and tended to think everyone seemed attractive just for looking young she was pretty and that was a blessing. Though frankly for some women it isn’t. I gave her a Bible showing her the “Where to Turn” section and the messianic passages. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining she just needed to ask God and that anything He wanted her to do He would give her the power to do. Jesus said we needed to become like children and to ask God for help in everything. I said that now, trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I said the Holy Spirit now lived in her and would help her. I wrote her name, the date and forgiven in the front of the Bible and “Just ask by the Spirit’s Power” in the front of the book. I gave her a card for Compass Church saying she could listen to sermons on line there. We talked some more. I gave her my contact information saying she could text me a prayer request and I would be praying for her until spring of 2121.  I asked if she had any questions and she thought a moment. “No, just thank you, this really helped,” she replied. “I think things are starting to come together.” I think it helped to have someone listen and help a bit and just to vent and to come to know God in Christ will begin to bless her more than she knew. Please pray she asks and God visits her with comfort and relief. I can only hope to be a piece of God’s plan in the moments he gives me with people if they do not contact me again. Many I do not see again or for some time so I pray.

James was sitting in the Science building on a bench; He had a brown curly mop of hair on top shorter on the sides some tortoise shell colored rectangular glasses on. He wore a plaid flannel jacket with a grey hood, which zipped up the front with a wind flap, grey sweats and trainers. He had a few weeks growth mustache only over his lip like a caterpillar and a chin beard. He was a really upbeat, good natured guy. He said he went to Church regularly. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and He asked: Why should I let you into Heaven? He said, “Because… that’s a hard one.” Then thinking for just a moment more he said, “I’m a good person.” He thought he had a 50/50 shot at going to Heaven. So I began to explain the Gospel to him. I asked What Jesus had done to take away his sin so He could live inside him and he said, “He forgives you.” He didn’t seem to understand the process of how. I explained everything to him with illustrations. As I finished each one he said, “Of course,” agreeing with everything I said. I asked if he’d want to be forgiven with God inside him or thought something else and he replied “With God inside,” pointing at the circle with Christ on the throne of one’s life. I said then if he wanted to place his trust in that to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I walked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. He agreed it was what he wanted. I said he could pray it silently and God would forgive him and live inside him. He said OK and then when I handed him the booklet he looked at me and said, “Thank you,” and then said, “Now I have a prayer I can pray every night,” as I wrote some things down he’d said. I looked up and said, “So did you pray it?” and then, “Oh sorry,” seeing he hadn’t and he prayed to receive Christ. He thanked me a few more times after he’d finished and I said he could keep the booklet and explain living the Christian life by the Spirit’s power “inside out”. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside. I explained the Mass as the wafer being symbolic of His body and the wine symbolic of His blood and that it was commemorating that Jesus had died for him and so he was forgiven and so when he took it he should just say, “thank you”. I said that now, trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I gave him a Bible study and he was very grateful and I headed out saying I would pray for him each day. “Thank you very much,” he said as I got up to go and I said I would see him in Heaven.

I was headed out through the Seaton Computing Center as you can park there near the door. There is a lounge you walk through by the entrance with tables and seats against the wall. Once in a while I can find someone to talk to on the way out. Priscilla was sitting there in a pink fleece her hair up in attached braids. She had a zip up jacket on underneath. She wasn’t wearing any eye makeup but had an attractive face with a wider nose classic to some African Americans, full lips. She gave me her email as we parted having told me she didn’t attend COD but drove her sister and sat and studied. I don’t know what program she was in, last year she’d been at Southern Illinois. Her email had her last name so I glanced at her picture on Facebook to help me remember her face later. What some girls can do with makeup finds it parallel only on a Hollywood set. I don’t think I would recognize her at Church based on our encounter. She regularly went to church and knew the Gospel. She was smart and articulate and I enjoyed talking to her and hearing her perspective as a black woman. She came to conclusions based on race I simply would not have come to and we agreed on most things. I can’t be certain she was wrong about anything she said I just had not thought of it from her angle before. I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven and she said, “I think I tried to live by His law everyday and even when I don’t I ask for forgiveness.” When I asked her the likelihood she would go to Heaven she said 80% saying, “I’ve got some things to work on.” After I had explained the Gospel I asked if she thought she’d been trusting in what Christ had done for her. “I know you knew the story but when you asked for forgiveness do you think you were thinking you would be forgiven because Jesus had died for you or hoping to be good enough.” She thought for a moment and said, “Hoping I’d be good enough.” So I offered her the prayer explaining it and saying she could pray it silently she smiled and said, “I just prayed it.” So I said, “Amen?” and she said, “Amen,” smiling warmly. She asked for a booklet for her sister then. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I gave her a Bible study on the deity of Christ saying it was like what we talked about in Bible study and she asked me if I could send her the notes each week. I said I would try to remember and if I forgot she could email and ask me. Joann her sister showed up as we talked, she was pretty with her own long curly hair past her shoulders. Joann had similar features that would have made them sisters. I asked Priscilla if I should ask her the big question. She said, “If you want,” and Joann agreed to listen. Her answer was similar. She basically said she’d used her gifts and worked on her Christian life. I reiterated that to her and she agreed that was what she thought got her into Heaven and added she believed in “Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit, The Trinity.” I said, “James says the demons believe, and they shudder.” That gave her pause. I explained the righteousness of Christ and she had a bit of pride I think blocking her conviction so I began to tell her the parable of the wedding feast in Matt 22 and she tuned in. I summed it up, “So the guy gets thrown into Hell for wearing the wrong clothes to a party.” I said that seems crazy until you realize that if you stand before God claiming your own religious righteousness and not the robe of righteousness of Christ that’s what happens. I quoted Jesus words concerning those who did miracles in His name, cast out demons in His name and prophesy in His name saying, “I’ve never done any of that stuff, maybe you have but Jesus says to them, ‘Depart from me you lawless.'” We locked eyes across the table and I explained she needed to trust in the righteousness of Christ. “You feel me?” I asked. “I feel you,”  she said with a touch of a smile. I reached across the table and shook her hand. The three of us more or less walked out together then and about a third of the way to my car I walked back to them standing outside and gave her the only copy I had in my backpack of Bible Promises for You and said she could care it with her sister and wrote her name in the front. She wanted me to guess at the spelling by writing it until Priscilla said, “It’s permanent!” She spelled it for me and I said she was right I would have guessed wrong. And I headed back to the truck.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism on Friday if you had a chance. God truly blessed and did a lot of good things.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord. I didn’t get much sleep and was a little phased out from the pain medication I took in the middle of the night (musta been something I ate). But I prayed God would be strong in my weakness and David and Tatiana prayed with me to receive Jesus today. I gave a book to Laura who was wearing a camo hat and had a camo backpack, had gone to Awana as a kid but was now “Into Science and evidence” I asked her if I gave her some evidence for the faith if she’d want to read it and she said “yeah” so I gave her The Case for Christianity Answer Book. She was really into it and immediately started reading the chapter titles in the front. Had a kinda cute round face and light brown hair, tomboy. I gave her the booklet I’d gone through with her telling her to email me if she wanted to talk.

Tatiana was sitting in a chair, back against the glass wall looking out to the south in the Science building lounge and I sat at her feet as there was no seat near her. She was a pretty girl, kind of had an elegant quality to her but she was nice. Her hair was up in kind of a random bun. She had a Martha’s Vineyard sweatshirt on and gray slacks. She had the perfect eyebrow thing going on and a pretty mouth slightly wider face and sharp features.  She was kind. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven if he died she said, “Like now?” “Yeah today,” I replied. She thought for a while and said, “I feel like I was trying to find my purpose and do good while I was here and just tried to help everyone that I could.” She thought she had a 60-70% chance of going to Heaven. She went to a Roman Catholic Church pretty far from School. She listened to the Gospel and I asked her what Jesus had done to the way her sins so God could live inside her with His Spirit. “He forgives you?” she tried. I said something like, “Well he does forgive you but this is how it works,” and I began to explain how Jesus lived a perfect life for us He died as the payment for our sins paying God perfectly and his blood cleansed her, His righteousness was to her credit. I explained receiving Christ by faith. She was attentive and I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven or thought something else and she said, “Be forgiven.” So I walked her through the prayer and asked if expressed the desire of her heart. “Yes,” she said. So I said she could pray it silently so only God could hear, “Wanna do it?” I asked and she nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. She handed it back to me and said, “Thank you.” “I said sure and that she could keep the booklet and began to explain the Christian life. She had her own Bible and I explained living “Inside out” by the Spirit’s power. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside and “By the Spirit” and “Just Ask”. I explained the symbolism of the Mass, commemorating that Jesus had died for her and so she was forgiven and that she should just say “Thank you”. I told her I would keep her in my prayers and that now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. “Thank you so much,” she said. I gave her a Bible study too and said goodbye.

I found David sitting on the other side of the lounge. He had khaki’s on, work boots and a stiff flat brimmed hat on that said LA with a palm tree. He wanted to make movies. His brown curly hair was completely under it but in front it curled up making a curly awning straight out from his eyebrows against the underside of the cap. He wore a grey hoodie and a puffy snow vest and work books. He had a doughboy face. Really nice guy. He hadn’t understood the Gospel at all or that Jesus had died and so he was forgiven. When I asked him what he would say to God to be forgiven he said, “I would say I asked for forgiveness.” He thought he had a 60% chance of going to Heaven. He interjected a lot of questions as we went through the Gospel together, how much we could sin doing the same thing and be forgiven. I explained that he could ask to be transformed by the Spirit if he received Jesus as his savior, that God would give him the strength to do everything in the Christian life living ‘inside out”. I went back and forth to the Gospel and finally explained through his various questions that he needed to trust in what Christ had done for him on the cross. That God did not forgive him because He was magnanimous but because He got paid by a perfect life only He could provide in Himself. I explained that Jesus had died and his blood cleansed him. “Yeah, yeah I see now,” He said. I walked him through the prayer and he said, “I could pray this every night.” I agreed he could pray it as often as he wanted to if he felt like he’d started to drift and needed to be forgiven but he could pray it right now silently and be forgiven knowing he would go to Heaven. I asked if he would want to do that. “Yeah,” he replied and prayed to receive Jesus. “Thanks so much,” he said when he was finished praying. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the inside with “Just ask” and “By the Spirit”. He asked some more questions about the afterlife in the Old Testament and getting up to go to class after about 25 minutes he said. “Sweet, thank you very much.” I said he was welcome and we headed our separate ways.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

How’s the life over by you and yours? We are doing good and my aspirin has not worn off yet so I hope I can write this in an hour or so. I had a good day on campus and  Amber and Geet Each prayer to receive Jesus today.

I felt prompted to go to the third floor of the BIC today when I first arrived and I found Amber sitting in the far northeast corner lounge. She was sitting alone at a table and said she’d do a student survey. She seemed a tad reluctant in part it seems because she thought her church so boring. She went to a Methodist church and the pastors were all replaced (the Methodist Church does to keep control in the hands of the Hierarchy) with other pastors that her brother and her decided could not even tell a story. I kept her entertained, telling some word pictures and tales I use to communicate the Gospel and got her to laugh but I was prompted to pray and ask God to work in her heart as I approached the end of our conversation so she would be genuinely believing and not sold on something not in her heart. She was a big girl with a pretty face, long semi-blonde hair to her shoulders a low cut shirt and a black fleece like coat with a brown faux fur collar. She thought for a bit after I asked her what she would say to God if she died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” She finally settled on, “I did the best I could with what I got.” She thought she had about an 80% chance of going to Heaven. I said if God lived inside her it would mean she knows Him and would have eternal life. I asked what Jesus had done to take away her sins so God could live inside and she knew Jesus had died. She was pretty engaged whenever I kicked in with a word picture to illustrate a verse and said, “I guess I would wanna be forgiven” when I asked her if she wanted God to live inside her or thought something else. So I said there was a prayer she could pray if she wanted as no one would hear her and she said. “Sure, and she smiled.” She finished praying before I looked up again. I explained the Christian life to her then saying it was 100% she would go to Heaven if she trusted in Christ’s righteousness to be her righteousness. I gave her the book Bible Promises for You which she agreed to take with bit of hesitation until I wrote her name and the Date and :forgiven” in the front and “By the Spirit’s power, just ask” having explained that she lived the Christian life by asking for His Spirit to give her power to do everything. Then I think she was glad for it and I gave her a Bible study too. I told her I would keep her in my prayers each night until 2021 spring and she thanked me. “It was nice to meet you,” I said shaking her hand from the opposite side to the table. “Nice to meet you too,” she replied. “God bless you.” “God bless you too I replied and I headed out.

Geet was sitting on the second floor overlooking the MAC Arts building lounge at a counter height table. He was visibly Filipino though all that was visible over his black mask over his nose and mouth was his eyes and hair. He was slight with a flannel shirt on that had an attached grey hood and jeans on. His voice sounded somehow familiar but I knew I had never talked to a guy named Geet before even if I could not see his face. The black mask he wore was like a surgical mask and he said he wore it because it was cold outside, but of course he was inside so I’m not absolutely sure what was going on.  He reached out and shook my hand as I left so he wasn’t a germaphobe. His hair was short and stick straight. He was fair skinned and said he was half French his eyelids were darker as it they had eye shadow his eyes not classically Asian.  I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven and he said, “I don’t know. I guess… ah… that’s a tough one… Because I believe.” He thought he was sure he would go to Heaven, 100%. He attended a Catholic Church sometimes. He knew Jesus had died for his sins but as I went through the Gospel it was like he was hearing it all for the first time. I explained we owed God something perfect for anything we had damaged or misused in this life even if we only hurt ourselves. I said Jesus lived a perfect life and his righteousness was to our credit.  He was really turned in based on the changing movement of his eyes and he verbal expressions. As I finished what I usually say to communicate the Gospel and said, “So there’s basically two kind of people,” beginning to point at the circles. “People who want to be forgiven for their sins…” and then he cut me off, “I definitely want to be forgiven!” he said suddenly and firmly. So I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and I began to read through and explain it then saying he could pray it quietly in his heart. “I actually just prayed it,” he said. So I went on to explain the Christian life and he did not have a Bible so I gave him one writing his name and the date and forgiven” in the front. I showed him the “Where to Turn” section and the one with Messianic passages. I gave him a Bible study and talked to him about praying and asking God for help in everything he did. “Just pray, that’s what I like to do.” he replied. He was upbeat and happy and I talked to him about some other things and said he could email me if he had any questions. “I’ll shoot you an email,” he said. He was grateful and I said, “If I don’t see you again I’ll see you in Heaven.” “Yeah, I’ll see you in heaven,” he replied in a happy tone of voice. And I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for evangelism and for the ministry. God truly blessed today.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day. Noah and Jeo each prayed with me to receive Jesus today and I bought some N95 masks incase the Corona virus comes to town. Hey they sell them at Home Depot. I can always use them in the shop if the end of the world passes us by unscathed.

Noah was sitting in a first floor lounge that is on the corner on the North side of the BIC just down the hall from where I use a locker. He was wearing grey sweats and a t-shirt with a designer name on it, glasses and a 3 day growth of beard with a mustache that gapped at the beard line. He had really short brown hair like a military look. Not a big guy. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “Because all through my life I believed in you. I believe that having a belief in life is important as opposed to not having anything to look up to.” He had been going to a Catholic church but his family left over too many guilt trips he said. He thought he had a 90% chance of going to Heaven and his mom was very spiritual and he asked her a lot of questions. He was very receptive to the Gospel and knew Jesus had died for our sins. When I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else he said, “Yeah be forgiven.” So I said if he wanted to place his trust in Christ there was a prayer he could pray and I walked him through it and said he could pray it silently so only God could hear, “Wanna do it?” I asked and he nodded yes and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. We talked some more. He was very interested in spiritual things and he thanked me. When I asked him one thing he wanted to do before he died he’d said, “Get in touch with God, more understanding, more understanding of the Bible.” So I was grateful God called him in. I gave him a creation magazine and a Bible study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. He said he’d had a hard time understanding the Bible but I said the Spirit would help him now to understand things if he would ask, By the Spirit’s power, explaining the Christian life to him. We talked for a while and as I got up to go I said something like good to meet ya he said, “Nice to meet ya too, thank you again for all this stuff.” “You’re welcome,” I replied and I headed out.

I was walking on the third floor of the BIC a couple hours later passing a vending machine lounge where a few kids have prayed to receive Christ on the southeast corner. I felt prompted to go back and talk to a black guy who was buying something at one of the machine. As I walked back up to him he returned to his backpack and picked it up to leave with his orange soda across the room, so I just walked up asked him if he wanted to do a student survey and he said sure and sat back down. Jeo (pronounced Geo) had mostly a chin beard for facial hair, kind of scraggly and thin on the cheeks a slight mustache. He had a wide angular nose and was wearing a winter cap. He had grey sweats on tight at the ankles and a light blue runners zip up jacket. He said he did not go to church anymore but read the Bible on his own and prayed regularly, I think he said each day. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven and he said, “Because my entire personality, my being, is for helping others. God’s way is to help others not just help yourself.” I said that was true. He was sure he was going to Heaven. I explained the Gospel to him and he knew Jesus had died for his sins but had not been trusting in it. He liked the illustrations I gave him and he said, “Are you a pastor, you should be a pastor if you were my pastor I’d go to church but they talk so slow and are so boring.” I told him I was a pastor but I like doing evangelism because I could say whatever I wanted and not get grief from people who listened. Then I finished doing through the Gospel with him I asked if he wanted to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else and he said, “I’d rather be forgiven,” with a grin. So I walked him through the prayer explaining it and I asked if he wanted to pray it silently and he said, “Trust me I just prayed it.” So that was great we hit it off and I explained the Christian life to Him asking for God’s help in everything and living by the Spirit’s power. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven’ in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and “Just Ask”. He took a Bible Study and we talked for a while, about 25 minutes. He was a solid guy, played rugby and wanted to visit New Zealand. He got up to head to the Library and said, “God bless you.” I said, “you too,” and gave him directions he’d asked for 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 Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your weekend is being blessed by the presence of God and you are in a warm dry place. I had a good day on campus Friday reconnecting with some students I had not seen in a while and Ian Prayed with me to receive Christ. Clare a girl with long, mostly blonde hair and wire glasses, with an in your face kind of way about her saying she could be annoying and a water polo sweatshirt on said she would pray later. We talked in the Cafeteria. I gave her a Bible Promises book she liked. She’d been in 3 different Roman Catholic schools for 12 years of her life. It took some skills to talk to her but I think she believed Jesus had died for her when I asked and she thought about it for a bit so I said she could then place her trust in that and know she was forgiven. Maybe I’ll run into her again and see if the seed sprouted.

Ian was sitting up on the third floor of the BIC in a lounge with some vending machines toward the Southeast side of the building. I’d been prompted to go up there when I first got to school. He had a pull over, heavier button neck shirt on and jeans. He had sandy, darker hair and wire rimmed glasses, just looked like the classic regular guy face in a crowd. Like Matt Damen’s cousin or something akin to that.  I asked him if he wanted to answer some questions about God and got his name and he began to talk saying, “I’ve put a lot of thought into this over time [when he got older]. My parents and all my siblings have gone to church through the years and when you are young you just go through the motions.” He said he had thought about his family’s beliefs and thought, “I believe in God and that Jesus died for our sins. For me the hardest part is our daily lives, to make it part of your daily life. Over all I believe in God, I think it is important you can talk to someone about it.” He had gone with his family to a big Church in a former office building on the highway on the northern most edge of Naperville but they had then switched to the Compass Church finding the pastor more relatable. I said I had met the pastor there and knew his brother a bit. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven and he said, “I was not a truly bad person, but I’m not probably up to the standard He’d want everyone to reach. There’s not much else to say.” I asked him what the likelihood was he’d be in Heaven and he said, “I hope it’s above 50%” I began to explain the Gospel and to talk then about the righteousness of God that Christ earns by perfectly fulfilling the Law. I said that because His righteousness was to our credit it was one of the best things about the Gospel but really the most important to realize. (I was thinking at least in your case, because you are just weakly hoping in your own righteousness.) I told him the verses Isaiah 61:10 that predicted one day we would be wrapped in a robe of His righteousness and clothed with His salvation and then in Romans 13:14 that we are clothed with Jesus. “So you don’t go to Heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good and you are connected to him.” I explained we were adopted and these things were a gift to us. Nothing we did was perfect and we owed God a perfect life and were in debt for all we had done, only Jesus perfect life which is of infinite value because he is God can be a payment for our sin. I told him the Parable in Matthew 22 where the King has a wedding feast and one guy that comes in who does not have on a wedding garment gets thrown into Hell for wearing the wrong clothes to the party. I said that if you try to get into heaven on the basis of what you have done you’ll get thrown out. You have to put on the Robe of Christ’s righteousness. After I explained everything was through God’s power he said he’d want to be forgiven so I walked him through the prayer. We were sitting side by side and I was holding the booklet open explaining the prayer and said he could pray it silently so only God would hear and he would know he was forgiven. “”I’ll take a moment,” he replied and began to silently pray reading the prayer as I held the booklet so I looked down and then he said, “Amen.” I reached out and shook his hand and said, ‘Your sins are forgiven.” And he seemed moved by that. I explained the Christian life to him walking by the Spirit and said, “This is 100%.” Writing that next to his previous answer hoping for over 50%. “Because if you’re trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be your righteousness; How righteous is Jesus? 100% righteous. And what’s his righteousness worth? An infinite amount so there’s enough for an old cuss like me that’s done a lot of stuff wrong and a young guy like you that hasn’t even done hardly anything yet.” He was grateful I could see to know he was going to Heaven. I gave him the book Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. He said his dad had a few books like it. I gave him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ. And encouraged him to ask for God’s help in everything.  I invited him to the Bible study again but he lives pretty far from campus in southern Naperville near a new campus that Compass is about to open. I told him I would see him in Heaven and if I saw him around I’d say hi. And I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism on campus. God truly blessed this week as 6 students prayed to receive Jesus.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you are walking in the joy of His salvation. I had a good day on campus and Sean, Veronica, Yesennia, and Erik each prayed with me to receive Jesus today. Thanks for your prayers and for your help.

Sean was sitting on the floor on the second floor of the BIC in the east most hallway. He said he’d do a student survey so I sat on the floor and began to ask him some stuff. He had a stick straight Sergeant Carter hair cut, dishwater blond hair. He had the occasional freckle for a birthmark. Good looking kid. He wore straight leg jeans, cuffed above the ankle and had on a black pull over fleece. He wore kind of a surprised smile the whole time I went through the Gospel like “this is great”. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “I would say I lived my life with pure intentions despite the wrongs I’ve done.” It turned out he went to Knox Presbyterian Church and I could see he was absorbing the Gospel as I went through it and I thought, “John Knox would think this was great.” He thought he had a 70% chance of going to Heaven. I explained God wanted to live inside him with his Holy Spirit and first had to take away his sins. He knew Jesus had been the sacrifice for sins. He took it all in and when I asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else he smiled with a look like it would be the obvious choice and said “Probably be forgiven.” So I said if he wanted to place his trust in Christ there was a prayer he could pray to know he was going to Heaven and I talked him through it and ask if he would want to pray it so only God could hear and he said, “Yeah,” in an upbeat voice. He prayed then to receive Christ and when he was finished he thanked me and I said, “Yeah, you’re welcome” and went on to explain the Christian life living by the Spirit. I gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “By the Spirit’s Power” explaining how to live. I got up to go after giving him a Bible Study and told him I’d see him in Heaven and he said, “Thank you, thank you.” “You’re totally welcome,” I replied and headed down the hall, happy.

I feel like I look pretty old these days, but God can still get kids to talk to me. Maybe I’m a grandfather figure . I found Veronica sitting in the PE lounge waiting for her ride. She had an eastern European accent and was dressed in workout clothes, a v-neck t-shirt and leggings, pulling a pink hoodie over her head as we talked. Sweet kid. English was obviously her second language so I let her see the writing I was reading as I asked her questions and then later read her verses. She leaned in paying close attention. She went to church once in a while with her mom. She was pretty, had a full figure and round cheeks and a pointed nose and her thick curly brown hair was pulled up by a 6 inch wide black band around her head. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she thought for a moment and said, “Well, I’m not a bad person.” She listened closely to the Gospel and I could tell she was receptive. When I asked she said she wanted to be forgiven for her sins pointing at the circle with Christ inside. She was getting a text and I knew she was going to get picked up by her ride soon. So I quickly explained the prayer to her and asked if she’d like to pray it silently and be forgiven. “Yes,” she replied taking the booklet. “I can take the paper?” (meaning the booklet) she asked and I said sure. Then she prayed to receive Christ. I quickly gave her a Bible Promise Book and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven in the front and gave her a Bible Study. I did not have time to explain the Christian life to her, living by the Spirit, as she had to run so I hope I will bump into her again but the last line in the booklet reads, “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 for Him by your own self effort.” Now she is in the capable hands of the Holy Spirit living inside her. “Thank you, nice to meet you,” she said getting up to her to her ride. “Nice to meet you too,” I said, and she ran off.

Later in the day I headed over to the Health and Science Center buildings and in the northwest corner lounge of the first floor Yesennia (Yess En-ya) was sitting at her laptop at a round table. She’s a cute brown haired girl, wore black half round glasses, and an off-white sweater. She had a pretty kind smile, fair skinned, really nice kid. She described herself as Mexican, though she was born here and we talked about being bi-lingual when she said she’d like to travel to Spain. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said. I always put others before me; I never say no to anyone who needs help, I help everyone. She thought she had an 85% chance of going to Heaven and went to a Catholic Church where she did volunteer work. I began to go through the Gospel and she was really receptive, her face looked really tuned in, she knew Jesus had died for her sins but I could tell what I was saying was novel to her and she ate it right up. It’s really great to tell someone the Gospel when you can see they are being called by the Lord to believe. I explained everything to her and the imputed righteousness of Christ and that she did not go to Heaven because she was good but because Jesus was good and she was connected to Him. “Like if you marry millionaire you got a million bucks or if you get adopted into a Billionaires family you get to live in the mansion and drive the cars. So God adopts us into His family, we become his children and He gives us the blessings of His family. Her gives us the sacrifice for our sins the blood that cleanses us and the righteousness of God that surrounds us so it’s like you got someplace to go, Heaven and something to wear when you get there, the Righteousness of God.” I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus or if she thought something else. “Be that person, yeah,” she replied putting her finger on the circle with God inside her. So I said she could pray a prayer asking for God’s to forgive her and I walked her through it and asked her if she’d like to pray it. “Yeah,” she said and she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life living “Inside Out”, first asking God to change her on the inside by His Spirit and then becoming a good person who did good things on the outside.  I talked to her about the Mass saying, “The wafer is symbolic of His body right?” ‘Right,” she agreed. “And the wine of His blood, so it is commemorating that Jesus died for you and so you are forgiven so when you take it you can just say thank you.” She liked that idea. We talked some more and I told her I would be praying for her until spring of 2021. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study. She thanked me and I said she was welcome and headed out.

Right down the hall I came across Erik. He looked like a college version of Alfalfa from the Little Rascals to me a bit but it was just the hair. He had a narrow face with a barbell pricing through one eyebrow and a narrow nose. He wore a red and black lumberjack plaid puffy coat with a hood and blue jeans. He checked to see how long the survey would take and then said he’d do it. He was extremely soft spoken and I took on his demeanor as I spoke with him. When I asked him why God should let him into heaven when he died he said, “I’m not a criminal. I’ve not murdered anybody. I protect those I love. (Then he paused, thinking to himself saying what else?) I do my best. I never did drugs. I never harmed anybody at all.” He thought he only had a 35% chance of going to heaven. I said something like, so you don’t think it is very likely? “Well maybe 45%,” he said then changing his answer. “Barely passing,” I said and he agreed. He listened closely to the Gospel and had gone to church regularly and then stopped a while back, but he didn’t give a reason why. He knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. I told him all that I usually say as clearly and evenly as I could, he seemed a bit frail, though he wasn’t a small guy at all. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else and he said he would want forgiveness. So I said if he’d like to ask God for forgiveness there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it asking him if it was the desire of his heart. “Yes, I think so,” he said meekly. So I said he could pray it quietly in his heart if he wanted and God would forgive him. He took the booklet then and prayed to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life to him living “inside out” as well. He did not like to read so I gave him a different publication that I had of  Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name and the date and ‘forgiven” on the inside and he was grateful. So I said I would see him in Heaven and he seemed more at peace and I headed down the hall.

So thanks for your prayer for the Ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob