Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a tough morning dealing with the dishonest concrete contractor working on my porch, I know God will do him as he has done me, since he repeatedly lied. But hey once I got some peace about it I had a great day on campus as 4 peeps prayed with me to receive Jesus a girl Jalissa and 3 guys Chamar, Ryan and Patrick.

Jalissa was sitting in the hall of the BIC waiting to go to class and said she would do a student survey for the bible study group. African American she had dyed her hair red and it was straight and falling past her shoulders. She had a nice face and her long nails were seriously blinded out with rhinestones and polish. She wore Jeans and a flannel shirt and had what looked like an off the shoulder blue print peasant blouse under it. She wore red lipstick, looked like a girly girl, she was really nice. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I mean you can repent and stuff. I know I’ve made mistakes… we’re supposed to do that as humans. So if you repent I know God is really forgiving.” It turned out her grandparents were both pastors but she didn’t like going to church which she described as something of a fashion show. I gave her a card for the Compass church saying she could watch on line and see if she liked it. I went through the Gospel with her explaining that God was forgiving because of Jesus. I explained how everything fit together, His death for her sins, blood to cleanse her so God could live inside her and the righteousness of God to her credit. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven or thought something else, “Be forgiven,” she said. “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rose from the dead?” “I do,” she answered. I said if she wanted to receive Jesus forgiveness there was a prayer she could pray to begin trusting in what He did  to forgive her and walked her through it saying she could pray silently and she said, “Is this the kind of prayer you can pray in the morning when you get up and before bed?” I told her I had a couple books that would help her pray, giving her Max Lucado  Pocket Prayers and showing her in Bible promises for You how she could pray a Bible Verse. I guided her back to the prayer and she said, “OK.” And prayed to receive Jesus. She had a Bible so I told her about the Christian life and gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” under it. She thanked me for things as we talked about how if she would trust in the righteousness of God to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100% and I invited her to Bible Study again.  As she got up to go I told her I would keep her in my prayers and she said, “Thank you so much!” And headed to class.

Chamar had been playing basketball last semester at North Park in the city but he might have said Northwestern (possible he seems pretty sharp). He said things had kind of fallen apart there but he would be returning second semester. He played forward. He was a big solidly built black guy with a mustache and thick beard, which grew longer in an oval at the chin. Had his hair short on the side and a mushroom top. Good looking guy, big. He wore a sweatshirt and athletic shorts. He was sitting on a bench in the hall that goes to a door that empties out to the outdoor Amphitheatre by the MAC. He said he was busy at first and so I asked him if he knew how to get into Heaven. He was sure he did. So I asked him how God took away his sins, he didn’t know. I explained Christianity was like a blood transfusion where God has to make you His type so He can live inside you. So He has to take away your sin to make you His type, and if you do not know how He takes away your sin you cannot trust in that by faith to be forgiven and go to Heaven. That grabbed his interest and he let me sit down explain the Gospel. Since he wasn’t stopping me I covered everything, used some sports analogies too, pulling out a booklet so some of the verses I quoted would be in front of him. So I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else. “Yeah the one on the right,” pointing at that circle with God living inside him. So I said he could pray to trust in Christ and walked him through the prayer asking if that was the desire of his heart and he said yeah and I told him he could pray and he nodded and took the booklet and did. He told me then he’d had a “Tough day, this is great.” I guess his mom was upset but then he talked to his Grandma who seemed to be a Christian and she told him of a vision she had had of his infant brother (who had died) doing flips in front of her and he had seen it in his mind. I took him to mean that there was an afterlife and everything would be ok. I told him the Bible teaches that if his brother had one believing parent he would be in Heaven and sometimes God took people very young to spare them an awful life but that God also was asking him to sacrifice as he had lost his brother. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” under it and “by the Spirit’s Power” in the front. Also gave him a Bible study and explained the Christian life inside out and if he now trusted in the righteousness of God to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. And I told him the parable of Matthew 22 about the wedding feast where one dude is sent to Hell for wearing the wrong clothes (he wasn’t clothed in Jesus Galatians 3:27). Telling him I would pray for him ‘til a year from spring he said he would pray for me to and I thanked him and headed out. He was a great guy.

Ryan was sitting by the bagel shop in the MAC on a bench. He had on a black and white knit sweater, white t-shirt and jeans. His afro looked like Chamar’s but a hair band shaped it. Sharp features, good looking guy. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “That’s a hard question… I don’t know. It’s honestly up to Him or her or whomever it’s not my place to say.” It turned out his family went to the Kingdom Hall and I explained that really wasn’t Christianity after going through the Gospel with him. I said, “Jesus had to be God to take away your sins or His life was not worth an infinite amount and he could not earn enough righteousness to cover all of us.” I explained the Trinity to him as I had to Chamar saying he was like a trinity in a small sense, he had a body like Jesus a will or a mind like the Father and emotions like the Holy Spirit, there was sort of three parts to him. Like when he talked to himself while alone driving, it was like there was another guy inside him. When I had explained all I typically explain about the Gospel to him I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else and he said, “Be forgiven,” emphatically. I asked if he thought Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead and he said, “I do.” Explaining how he could tell God he wanted to place his trust in that to be forgiven, I walked him through the prayer and barely audibly as Chamar had done he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life “inside out” gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and “forgiven” and “by the Spirit’s Power” in the front saying if he would trust in the righteousness of God to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I gave him a bible study and I told him a parable from Matthew 22 and talked him through a lot of stuff. He thanked me for the “great information dump”; I think is how he said it. I told him I would pray for him and he thanked me and getting up to go to class (we’d talked for 35 minutes) he said, “I’m really gonna look at this (the book) I really enjoyed that talk.” I thanked him for talking to me and blessed him and he said, “Thank you God bless you too.” And I said, “Thanks” and headed out.

Patrick was half Irish and half Filipino, he kind of looked like a boyishly handsome Sgt. Carter from “Gomer Pile USMC”, same hair cut, couple day’s growth of beard wearing shorts and a windbreaker. His mom had grown up very poor in The Philippines. He had been back there and was grateful for the life he had here. He went to a Church of God Church where they do not use instruments in worship (theirs used an organ a bit). He knew Jesus had died for his sins but had not been trusting in it saying when I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven, “For the good deeds I did. I’m born a sinner so…” He was 100% sure he would go to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him explaining that he had to be perfect and that was the symbol in the sacrificial system animals had to be without blemish. But nothing he did was perfect so he had nothing to offer to God. After explaining everything to him I asked if he wanted to be forgiven and he did. So I asked if when he asked for forgiveness if he knew God was forgiving and would just forgive him, or was hoping to be good enough or didn’t really know. He said he wasn’t really sure if he had been trusting in Christ. “Well, if you are not really sure it seems like you couldn’t have really been trusting in what Christ had done.” “Exactly.” He replied thinking the same thing. So I offered him a prayer he could pray and he prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him  Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name in the front and “forgiven”. Since he liked to read he took The Case for Christ which he seemed really interested in. I told him everything God was asking him to do He would give him the power to do “inside out”. We talked for a while about some other things. I got up to go telling him I would pray for him. “Thank you for the knowledge and everything. I appreciate that.” “Thank you for being willing to talk to me,” I replied and I headed out to the truck.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and evangelism today if you had a chance, I really felt the power of the Lord. Ellen’s cold is a bit better she had to skip Bible Study.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Tamera prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Tamera was the first person I talked to she was sitting at a counter high table in the back room of the cafeteria. She is a petit 4’11” Black girl. Today she had her hair up in an afro bun with a 3 inch hair band around her head. She wore a bright colored tie-dye with some anime characters on the front and black jeans. Cute kid, small features. She was friendly and used to go to Church with her Grandma in Rockford. She lives locally now. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said. “Umm… I feel like I’d say like, I don’t know… I did a lot of bad stuff in my life but I did more good than bad.” She thought she had an 85% chance of going to Heaven. She listened to the Gospel closely and she knew Jesus had died for her sins. I explained the imputed righteousness of Christ saying she was saved by faith. “You should do good things to please God but your good stuff does not fix your bad stuff.” I went on to tell her the tale I often tell. “Like say you had a boyfriend for about 3 weeks, you thought he was pretty cool but then it turned out he was cheating on you and stealing your stuff, so you cut him loose. He comes around in about a week and he’s like ‘Oh Tamera 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 three girl friends.’ You’d be like, ‘Yeah that doesn’t help me at all.’  ‘Cause you can’t do good stuff over here to fix your bad stuff there. But that’s what a lot of people think. They’re like, “I’ve done some bad stuff but I I’ve done some good stuff too. My good stuffs gonna fix my bad stuff with God’. But your bad stuffs still out there kicking people around and there’s not much you can do about it. But God says He’ll turn your 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 called according to His purpose. So God can take the trajectory of even bad things that happen to you or you have done and turn them into good things–because He is all powerful and knows the future.” I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else. “Probably forgiven,” she replied. So I said if she wanted to there was a prayer she could pray to receive God’s forgiveness and I talked her through it and said if she wanted to you could pray it, not like I would hear, and God could live inside her. “So what do you think I said holding the booklet before her and I waited a while, as she thought (I think reading it silently through again, praying God would penetrate her heart. “Maybe,” she finally said. “It seems right.” So I waited a few moments more and she reached out and took the booklet and I said, “Just pretend I’m not even here.” She prayed to receive Christ. She had a Bible so I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “by the Spirit’s power” in the front and her name and the date and “forgiven” saying she could remember. I told her anything God asked her to do He would also give her the power to do. I gave her a Bible study and asked if she had any questions and invited her to Bible study again as she lived in town. She gave me her email. I headed over to talk to some other black girls, both from Africa who had said hi while we were talking, I’m the godfather for the little boy Eli, one of the girls had recently. I chatted with them and then headed out. I was a ways down the hall almost to the book store and remembering Tamera hadn’t a church I walked all the way back and gave her a card for the Compass church. I hope she will come to Bible Study.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed though I slept very little last night. I got a couple good seeds planted too with Johnny (nation with a broad down the center of his head) whose dad has been taking him to church and Ryan (strawberry blond, stock kid) an atheist in the Mac.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord; I had a good day walking with the Lord and even had a painless dentist appointment. Christina and Demya each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Christiana was sitting in the Cafeteria. She had a hooded shirt and running shorts on and a big tattoo that came out from under the edge of the hem of a life size hand on a bolt that said “Strength” Another tattoo I could only see the edge of was up under the leg of her shorts. She had a brown pony tail and square rimmed glasses, pretty narrow face. She said she regularly went to Church in the city. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why she should be let into Heaven she said, “Cause I’ve been faithful.” She thought she had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven. As I went through the Gospel I asked her what the big thing Jesus did that takes away our sin so He can live inside us. “He forgives you.” she replied. I said God did forgive us but God is just. So because everything in the world belongs to God if we damage the world in any way, it belongs to God so we owe Him, even if we damage ourselves because we belong to him also. So God has to be paid for the damage of our sin, He knows we can’t pay so He does so with Jesus. So I began to explain how Jesus had died for her sin, His blood cleansed her and His righteousness was to her credit. I explained she needed to trust in this by faith. She really had not seemed to have understood any of it before as when I would finish making a point she would say, “OK” like she was understanding it for the first time.  When I asked her if she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus where He could live inside her or thought something else she said, “Forgiven with God.” So I explained if she wanted to trust in that she could pray to receive or believe in Christ and be forgiven and walked her through the prayer. “Pray this out loud?” “No it is not my business just between you and God pray it silently.” “OK,” she said. She finished and thanked me and I explained living the Christian life to her. She did not have a Bible so I gave her one, writing her name and the date and “forgiven” under it. I showed her the “where to turn” section, she liked it. She said she had not read the Bible. I said through a lot of Church history most of the Church was illiterate and they did not read the bible either but they still went to Heaven if they trusted in Jesus. I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I Gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “by the Spirit’s power” in the front explaining that whenever there was something the book said she needed to do for God to do something she needed only to ask for His strength to do it. I also gave her a Bible Study. She asked me about Second City, a cult group on campus that teaches you are saved by your good works and your baptism and also Jesus. I think they had approached her so was glad to steer her away from them. “Thanks for all this” she said putting her hands on the little pile I had given her. I said she was welcome and I would pray for her each night until spring of 2020 and headed out.

Demya had long pretty dark hair on that made her look almost Indian as her features were smaller though she had African American skin tone. She had a drop off the shoulder sweater on showing a shoulder tattoo on her arm of some kind of flowers. She had skinny jeans on and over the knee boots, pretty girl. She was sitting just around the corner down the hall from the cafeteria. She had turned me down for a survey before but I believe she saw me hanging with the Black Student Association or Union and praying with them over their food earlier in the day. They had kind of a picnic by the outdoor music stage and one of the girls, Jasmine, had prayed to receive Jesus with me last year and said hi. I just bowed my head and prayed silently as one of the girls blessed the food in Jesus name and left them to their food thanking the girls for letting me pray with them. So this time she said she’d answer a question. But when I asked her what she would say to God if she died and he asked her why he should let her into Heaven she said, “I’d have to think about it.” So I asked if she would like to know what the Bible said got her into Heaven I could show her some verses. She agreed and I went through the Gospel with her. She was sure she was going to Heaven and regularly went to Church. She was not sure how her sins were taken away so I again briefly explained God’s justice and Christ’s payment for her sins and blood that cleansed her and righteousness to her credit. After explaining John 1;12 I said so if someone said to you why should God let you into Heaven you’d say Because Jesus died for my sins” she looked me in the eyes as I said it like she was trying to remember the answer to a test. She followed everything so she also wanted to be forgiven. I said something like it seemed like she hadn’t put all of this together before and she said “Not all the details”. I explained that when she prayed for forgiveness if she had not been trusting in Jesus she could do that and after I talked her through the prayer she took the booklet from me and prayed to receive Jesus. I talked to her about living “inside out” and “by the spirit’s power” writing that and her name and the date and ‘forgiven” under it. I gave her a Bible study too. I told her I would pray for her also. She checked again when the Bible Study was and said she might come and then said, “Thank you” as I got up to leave. “Sure, I’ll see you in Heaven.” I 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 and you can see God at work by faith. I had a good day on campus trying to walk off the Jet Lag from the bad headache that sidelined me yesterday. Mike & Derick prayed to receive Jesus today and Bridget trusted in Christ understanding the atonement for the first time saying she will pray later. She just joined the woman’s Bible Study at her church so hopefully her understanding will continue.

Ellen’s presentation went well she said she could tell people were praying.

Mike was sitting on the edge of the Science Buildings lounge with his friend Sam. Sam had a smaller version of Pete Townshend’s nose (guitarist for The Who) his hair combed back neatly oatmeal long sleeve cotton shirt and long black pants. His friend Mike had the classic GQ features and dimpled cheeks, wore gray shorts and a tan polo shirt, same standard haircut shorter on the sides. Mike was up for doing a student survey and Sam jumped in. Sam went to an Evangelical Church and had gone to a Christian school and said he’d say to God, “Because I’m saved by His Grace.” Mike went with “’Cause I never doubted Him.” Both listened to the Gospel and knew their sins were forgiven by Christ’s sacrifice. They tracked well with the Gospel and it all kind of came back to mind sort of for Mike. Both wanted to be forgiven. I said, “So have you been trusting in what Jesus had done or did you just know the story? Like when you do something wrong and you think about asking God for forgiveness have you been thinking you’d ask for forgiveness and try to do better, or were you thinking you know you’d be forgiven because Jesus had died for you. I know you both knew the story but did you trust in what Jesus had done?” Sam felt like he was trusting in Christ. Mike was thinking about it and it seemed like he had never thought about it before so I said to Mike something like, “You know you grow up in the Church and it is part of your identity but then you go to College and you are a man and you have to think about things and which way you will go with your faith or whatever.” “Yeah that sounds like that’s about it,” he said. So I walked him through the prayer and said he could pray like we weren’t there and he nodded and said, “Sure.” He prayed to receive Jesus then. I chatted them up and gave them both a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing their names and “forgiven” in Mikes. I gave them a Bible study too. They were great guys. We talked about some differences in Catholicism and Protestantism most have which have dropped off since Vatican 2, which teaches all sincerely religious people are children of the Church. We talked about the Beatles a bit, since I had this tie-dye Guitar shirt on and own a guitar by the copy cat Beatles group American English which Mike had heard of.  I told them I would keep them in my prayers, they were appreciative and I headed out.

Derrick was up on the Third floor and said we had talked over a year before but we’d both forgotten each other’s names. I could not place him. Thin face and features, he had a very short afro, and trimmed facial hair his beard and mustache cut just so. He wore black track pants and a V-neck zippered hoodie. So I plopped down next to him to reintroduce myself seeing if he remembered much of what was said. He answered the question what he would say to God with, “You do good deeds and be a good person.” I said Christianity was a little different and talked him through the Gospel. He either had just “been there” when I chatted up someone else or had not followed at all. He only remembered I gave him a piece of paper but he had not gotten a booklet, which I give to everyone I talk to unless they refuse it (which happens with the occasional atheist). So I jumped back and forth with the points of the Gospel and he said his sister and brother had gone to Christian school but it was too late for him. “You got ripped off,” I said. He agreed but said he could talk to them about things. I had to go over and over some details; he couldn’t get on my first try. I told him Jesus was God, “Wait, He was God? I thought he was just God’s son?” he replied. I showed him a Bible study with the Trinity in Isaiah 9:6. I asked him if he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. He seemed to agree then said, “What was that you said again?” I wrote it out on the top of the Bible study I had given him. “Jesus is God. He died for your sins. He rose from the dead.” He then said, “Why do you have to believe He rose from the dead?” “Because death was what Satan had over us so He had to rise again to show he had defeated Death, He had won.” I read the verse 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 to Him again from the booklet explained some things again. He said something like there was so much to learn, he’d have to think about these things. I said, “Well you begin to learn by asking God to forgive you trusting in Jesus and to live inside you.” I talked about how when I first began watching football I just understood you try to attack the quarterback and throw or run the ball for a touchdown. I did not understand the routes they were running or the lanes they rushed the quarterback through. But I still could basically follow the game. And you understand enough to believe in Jesus and begin to follow Him. I walked him through the prayer and made notes next to the phrases in a different booklet. He read through it with me then again on his own. “So would you want to pray a prayer like this?” I asked. “I just read it,” he said. “OK Amen?” “Amen,” he said. I gave him a bible early on in the conversation and he really liked it thinking it was really nice and they are nice ones I found cheap that friends have paid for (thanks guys). I took it back and wrote “forgiven” under the date. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “by the power of God’s Spirit” in the front explaining some things to Him. He was really grateful thanking me and telling me how nice it was of me to help him understand stuff and got up to go I gave him a hug and said I would be praying for him and he left happy.

Bridget was sitting in the Science building lounge and was the last person I talked to. She had streaks of blond in her dishwater blonde hair down past her shoulders. Real cute, curved face, rounded high cheekbones, wearing braces and velour leggings. She said she was athletic and looked like a softball player and her v-neck washed out reddish t-shirt had a Boston Red Sox “B” on it. She said she just started going to a woman’s group Bible Study at her Church. So I asked her if she’d like to do a survey anyway and maybe learn something and she agreed. When I asked her what she would say to God she said, “Well I follow Jesus, I try to follow His rules as best I can. I obviously made mistakes with imperfections. I feel I’ve a good life, what He wants for me.” She thought she had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven. As I began explaining the Gospel to her adding to the booklet as I went I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins. She said she wasn’t sure and didn’t have all the details down well. As I began to explain it she said, “Didn’t he rise from the dead?” I said He did and she took it all in enthusiastically. I told her there were two kinds of people, those who had asked God to forgive them trusting in Jesus and everyone who thought something else, ”But you’d say you wanted to be forgiven I guess right?” She agreed so I showed her the prayer and she felt like she might have done something like that already. “You explained this so well I have had other people explain this before but this really made sense,” she said. I encouraged her to tell God she was trusting in him through prayer and she said she thought she would pray later. She seemed reticent to pray in front of me so I said that was fine and asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God he died for your sins and rose from the Dead?” “I do,” she replied. And do you trust in that now understanding it better?” she did. I gave her Bible Promises for You and explained how she could read and even pray the verses. I wrote the date and “forgiven” in the front. She said her dad had moved recently to Canada to study to become a pastor. I talked to her about living the Christian life inside out. She was grateful. She asked if I was involved with teaching the Bible study and I said I was and she said she’d try to come sometime but she lived far away. I said no worries that if she had any questions she could contact me. She was grateful.

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 Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today with some good things. I had a good day on campus and Luis Prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Luis was the first person I found to talk with me and he was sitting on the corner edge of a BIC on the 1st floor that looks into the hallway going to the Cafeteria. He had on gray dress slacks and a sweater with his company name on it, and he said he worked there on the side (his main thing was school). He was Latino had a nice face, kind of Hollywood lips like the actor Austin Butler. His hair was parted at the side and swept over.  I think he probably went right to work after school.  He went to Catholic Church occasionally with his parents. When I asked him what he would say to God if he asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven,” he said, “I never really did anything bad. I treated everyone with respect; I give back to people sometimes.” He thought he would have an 80% chance of going to Heaven. As I went through the Gospel I asked him if he could remember from Church what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away his sins. He could not think of anything and said he really didn’t know. He gave interested acknowledgment to the Gospel and when I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins and have God live inside him or if he thought something else he said, “I’d go with God,”  So I said, “Do you believe Jesus is God he died for your sins and rose from the dead?” “I do,” he replied. “So would you want to place your trust in that to be forgiven?” He said, “Why not?” So I said if he wanted there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and he could pray it quietly so only God could hear. He learned in as I explained what each phrase meant and he took the booklet and said, “How often do you do this?” I said, “I walk around and talk to a few people each day.” He nodded like that seemed reasonable. And I asked if he still thought he would pray and he said something like “Oh yeah.” and he prayed to receive Jesus. I talked him through the Christian life living “inside out”. He said he thought they might have a bible around somewhere so I gave him one. He asked if it was a catholic Bible and I said there are a couple historical books left out that the Jews did not include but the New Testament and Old Testament were basically the same. I said I could not name them all but the books of Maccabees were some of them and that I did not think they changed any doctrine that we had just talked about, I was pretty sure they were not passages quoted at Church. (At the time I hadn’t remembered there are prayers for the dead in the Apocrypha and a couple verses on monetary payment for sins through alms giving. I have never met a Catholic who believed you can buy away your sins, though Rome may still offer the option. I have not seen it offered on Catholic websites. In my experience few students believe what the Catholic Church taught or never picked up on it.) I said that if he went to confess his sins to a priest the priest was basically telling him that God forgave his sins and the Bible teaches that, “If we confess our sins He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(1John 1:9) But that if there wasn’t a priest around he could simply confess to God. I said the Mass commemorated that Jesus had died for his sins, the wafer representing Christ’s body and the Wine his blood so he could use that time to thank God that His sins were forgiven by what Jesus had done. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front of the Bible. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “by the Spirit’s power” in the front also giving him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ. I told him I would pray for him each night for over a year until Spring of 2020. “That is really nice of you thank you. Nice to meet you,” he said shaking my hand. I said it was nice to meet him too and headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you are enjoying some late summer weather. I had a good day on campus and Christian, Joaquin and  Dylan each prayed day to receive Jesus today.

Christian was sitting in the hall on a bench in the BIC leaning against the wall. He looked Latino, slight in stature short neat cropped hair same length like a cap on his head, he had black athletic pants on and a white shirt. He had a small version of the roman nose, good looking guy. I asked if he wanted to do a student survey and he said, “How long is it I have to go to class in 5 minutes.” “You want the cliff notes version?” I asked. “Sure,” he said. What I told him took closer to 10 minutes than 5 I asked what he would say to get into Heaven and he said “I haven’t done anything bad.” I said I get that but it’s a little different and then I walked him through the good news that his sins were forgiven by Jesus dying for him. He said he would want to be forgiven so I said he could pray a prayer if he wanted to tell God as a man (having had his families catholic religious practice) he believed in Jesus and trusted in him. If he did there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it, “You could pray t silently not like I hear ya but God would hear and forgive you.”Got ya, thank you,” He said talking the booklet he prayed to receive Christ. He had a bright up beat spirit. I explained a symbolic view of the mass and a bit of other stuff concerning religious practice. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining living inside out. I wrote “by the Spirit’s power” in the front, his name and the date and “forgiven” He had a Bible but I gave him a Bible study. “I appreciate the time, thanks again,” he said. “You’re welcome. I’m glad it went so well.” We shook hands and he headed off to class.

Joaquin (Wakeem) was sitting in the cafeteria eating a sandwich he brought from home. He had a Harley patch on the back of his jean jacket (that drew me in). The Jacket was loaded up with other rectangle patches up and down the sleeves; the collar was completely loaded with buttons. He was marching to the beat of a different drummer. Turned out he did not ride a motor cycle but he was enthusiastic to find out there was a class he could take at school in the summer. He said he’d answer some questions. He had a drivers cap on had a beard and mustache, slight build skinny jeans, wore glasses. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “Because all through my life I’ve wanted to do good and I’ve provided great examples of it.” He went to a Roman Catholic Church. When I asked how likely it was he would go to Heaven he said, “10%, possibly lower.” I began to go through the gospel with him and asked how God took away his sins. He said you had to “Reverse every sin, do not have any conflict unresolved… Do good deeds commit the right actions and hopefully those sins will be long gone.” As I continued through the Gospel I explained that he was right that you needed a good deed to take away sins but it was necessary for God to do it and die for him as he could not do anything perfect. As I finished the Gospel I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else. “Forgiven for my sins,” he replied. So I offered the prayer to him saying he could pray it quietly and he nodded with his mouth full having been working on his sandwich and then I gave him the booklet looked away to write something, looking back he hadn’t prayed so I asked him and he said, “Oh, I will,” I guess planning until then to pray later. As he finished he said “There it’s done.” I explained the Christian life to Him living “inside out” and gave him a Bible Writing his name and the date and “Forgiven” under it in the front. I showed him the gospels and the “Where to turn” section for questions and gave him a bible study. He was grateful and I said that if he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness and not his own good deeds the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. That made him happy and as I got up to leave he said, “Thanks I’ll try to make it by the Bible Study.”

I left the cafeteria and found Dylan sitting on a stuffed bench and he said he’d do a student survey. Turned out his parents named him after Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan. So I said I’d seen Bob in concert twice and I recommended my favorite albums “Blood on the Tracks” and “Oh Mercy” and he said he’d check them out. He is a heavy set guy, pretty big, clean shaven mop of wavy hair. He had black shorts on, long sleeve gray shirt, kind of a pointy chin a little like a statue I have seen of Julius Cesar (the one with his arm out front holding a scroll). He said when I asked him what he’d say to God, “I think that I have dedicated my life to making the world a better place however I can do it. I dedicated my being to be as good a person as I can be.” He went on to say he always tried to do little things to be polite and help people, “You are a terrible person if you don’t do that kind of stuff, you gotta be helping people.” He was pretty certain he would go to Heaven 90-100% he went to catholic school as a kid and went to a church in an office center kind of area as he described it with a friend now. He had an easy short laugh and he listened closely to the Gospel. He seemed to know Jesus had died for him but had not put it together before I explained he did not go to Heaven because he was good, even though those kind of things pleased God and when I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins he said “Um hmm.” I offered him the prayer then going through it and he took the booklet and prayed. He had a bible and I gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name in the front and the date and “Forgiven” and also “By the Spirit’s Power” giving him some examples. He was grateful and headed out and seemed glad.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance God truly blessed. I also gave the student edition of The Case for Christ to a dark haired girl in a flannel shirt and leggings who just wasn’t sure about Jesus after hearing the Gospel. Natalie was really interested and grateful so I’ll be praying for her.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you were walking’ with the Lord. I had a good day and Sam and Irima (Ear ree ma) prayed to receive Christ with me.

Sam was sitting on a bench after class with his backpack on, about to head out when I came across him and he said he’d answer a few questions for our Bible Study group. He wore black athletic shorts, shoes and socks. His hair was swept back short on the sides, and he had on a green shirt. He was short with a roman nose and a day’s growth of beard. Not very tall, stocky build. When I asked him what he would say to God to if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I… I don’t know… I tried to make everyone happy I crossed paths with.” He thought he had about a 70% chance to go to Heaven and went to church on holidays. He listened attentively to the Gospel and seemed interested right through. He didn’t know Jesus had died for his sins and hadn’t known about the blood of Christ cleansing him or the imputed righteousness. When I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins, trusting in what Jesus had done, or thought something else, he said, “I would want to be forgiven to lift the burden off.” So I asked if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead. “Yes,” he said. I asked, “Would you want to place your trust in that to be forgiven for your sins?” “I do,” he replied with some enthusiasm. So I talked him through the prayer and offered it to him and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He did not know where the Bible was he thought they might have at home, so I gave him one, writing his name in the front and “forgiven” beneath the date. I showed him the “where to Turn” section and encouraged him to read in the book of John. I said if he was trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I explained the Christian life, living inside out, showing him some examples in 20 Things God Can’t Do where that might work out. I gave him a Bible study and a card for Compass church (as I had given Nick yesterday) saying he could check it out online. (I think Nick lived near and might visit). He was enthusiastic and said “Awesome” in response to things I continued to explain to him. “Awesome this is so kind of you,” he said, thanking me and getting up to go. I told him I would keep him in my prayers and he left happy and changed, his burden gone.

I talked to a couple professing Christians who could not really tell me how God had taken away their sins but claimed to be trusting in Christ as I finished the Gospel. So I hope they then believed and hadn’t quite realized it.

I found Irima after kind of a habit trail. I somehow thought I was supposed to go up to the third floor at about 20 minutes to 3. Being on the ground floor (1) and feeling tired, I got an elevator and went up to 3. Exiting, I turned left, went a couple steps, and then I felt like I was supposed to go to the corner lounges in the other direction, so I did. The first guy said “No thanks.” The next guy was eating across the room and turned me down. So I headed down the hall three steps, and then felt like I was supposed to ask everyone else in the lounge who had looked busy. So I went back, got a sip of water and walked back into the 3-wall lounge, the windows of which looked out to the outdoor theatre. I got 3 more “No thank you’s” from the 3 kids sitting there. So I walked out and headed down the hall and in the next lounge there was one student asleep. So I headed right around the corner down the hall and asked a guy against the wall. He was not interested. I kept walking, before me was an empty hall, to the other end of the building and walked past a connecting hall a couple steps. I felt like I was supposed to go down it, so I turned around and walked down that hall and there was an older woman studying on a set of benches who looked older (staff I thought). No one else was there except a black girl who walked up as I did, standing in front of the vending machines 15 feet from me. I usually talk to people who are sitting down but I though it seemed like I was being led. So I asked her if she’d do a student survey and she agreed. I said I’d sit over on the bench and wait until she was done at the machine, the older woman got up and left. Irima walked up saying something about the machine not working. “I was not trying to get away,” she said. She wore a ball cap and had her afro pulled back behind her head, nice looking girl, full lips. Cut solid athletic build sort of with a black and white thin horizontal stripped shirt on. I said something like “no worries” and told her my name and began to ask her questions. When I asked her what she might say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I had stuck with this religion even through my doubts.” She thought she had about a 50/50 chance to go to heaven. She had an accent and said when I asked that she was from Nigeria. She listened to the Gospel and did not seem to know how Jesus had taken away her sins so I explained the Gospel and how God wanted her to believe Him. Specifically that He had become a man and died for her sins rising from the dead. (Having explained the Gospel and the righteousness of Christ and His blood to cleanse her so He could truly be known by her living in her.) I asked if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins and she nodded. So I said “It doesn’t seem like you had ever put all this together before, right?” and she nodded she had not. Saying there was a prayer she could pray and explaining it I also said this would mean God would live inside her and give her the strength to live the Christian life “inside out.” I asked if she would like to pray to receive Jesus and she nodded again.  I handed her the booklet saying she could just pretend I was not there and she bowed her head not looking at the booklet and prayed in her own words to receive Jesus and be forgiven. I got her email and gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. It turned out she was Catholic (so I gave her a symbolic view of the Mass, saying she could just tell God at that time thank you knowing Jesus had died for her and so she was forgiven.  I said if she was trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%, which gave her some joy. She said in Nigeria everyone was religious, either Muslim or Christian and when you expressed your doubts they “”Shamed you”. I said that was not what God did to Peter when he sank (we’d take about the miracle in the bible study I had showed her). He floated him (and put him in the boat). That is what God does He lifts us up. I encouraged her to ask God to simply take away her doubts showing her again the verse saying faith was a gift as it was in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. I gave her the student edition of The Case for Christ. I also gave her the Rose Publication, “Following Jesus”. I told her how God had seemed to lead me to her, which she liked and I would be praying for her. She was grateful. “I appreciated it thank you,” she said as we parted. “You’re welcome thanks for being willing to talk.”

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

In Him,

Bob

I also was led to a Muslim girl with a lot of Christian friends and she appreciated my explaining the Gospel clearly and took “Jesus and the Quran” from me her name was Safa.

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed, I had a good day, and Nick prayed with me to receive Jesus.

He was sitting in the hall of the BIC wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Classic clean cut kid hair wept back looked a bit young, kind of like the kid in “Monster House” the Movie without the bangs.

Monster House Trailer Where I Do Every Sound

When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “I would say… I don’t know.” He had been to church a couple times with a friend growing up. The last time he remembered was one Easter he thought but he could not remember the name of the Church at all. He thought he had maybe a 70% chance of getting to Heaven. He had few expressions as I went through the Gospel with him, barely cracking a smile and I was afraid he was bored but it turned out he was simply quiet and had been taking it all in as I explained how Jesus had died for him. He said he liked scuba diving and wanted to do that in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef. So I said Heaven was not just a place it was the presence of God and our problem is our being does not match God’s being, we are not perfect without sin. It is kinda like you are breathing air and you need to be able to breathe in the water, like the Gillyweed in Harry Potter (that magically gave him gills to save his friend). We need to be transformed so God takes away our sin so he can live inside us and transform us for Heaven. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins when I asked him and so I asked if he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. He said, “Yeah.” So I said if he wanted to trust in that he could be forgiven, telling that to God in a prayer. I talked through the prayer and asked if he would like to pray and he said “Yeah sure.” I gave him a Bible, he did not want to take one but I explained they were bought by people for me to give away and they would want him to have it. So I wrote his name and the date (which he questioned but I was sure of it) and “forgiven” by it showing him the “Where to Turn” section. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote, “By the Spirit’s Power” in it explaining living the Christian life, “Inside Out”. Also gave him a Bible Study.   I told him if he was now trusting in the Righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness the likelihood he would get into Heaven was 100%, he seemed to have some visible joy at that and I told him I would be praying for him until a year from Spring. “Thanks,” he said with a big smile. “Nice to meet you,” I replied. “Nice to meet you too.” and he headed across the hall into class.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sister in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you are feeling the blessing and presence of the Lord. We survived the replacement of our crumbling front stairs, though barely, and feel we can disguise some of the gross misdeeds with landscaping and forgive it. I know, my growth in basic Christianity would be stunning were it at all remarkable.

Sebastian and Celeste prayed to receive Jesus today so that lifted my heart. I was in danger of being like Jonah over his vine, but I repented and prayed for the owner of the company this morning on the phone (about his painful foot and bone spurs, his name is Harold if you’d feel like praying for him he is 81) He previously shared with me his very difficult life. He said he was going to come over and we’d talk more about religion. Seemed making an issue about my concrete might be an obstacle to him hearing the gospel so I mostly let it go, he’s Catholic.

Sebastian was sitting in the PE lounge, about noon. Good looking black guy with a nice complexion looked like he got a lot of sun, nice features, a kind, oval face, nice smile, not real big in stature. He wore a black and white knit zip up the front open cardigan sweater and black straight leg jeans, white shoes and a white t-shirt.  He was playing a game on his phone and was willing to answer some questions. 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, “”Umm I don’t know, ahh…I don’t know that could tell Him one solid reason why.” He thought he had about a 50% chance of going to heaven. He’d been going to a church on Rt. 59 called Calvary until about a year ago.  It’s a good church and I have meet quite a few Christians through the years who went there and also had several students who went there pray with me to receive Christ. I went through the Gospel with him and he’d remembered that Jesus had died for his sins. He had not really put any of it together except that Christ died for sinners and he had not been trusting in it. When I finished explaining everything related to the atonement of Christ and imputed righteousness. He wanted to be forgiven when I asked if he would want to trust in Jesus dying for him so God could live inside him he said, “I would want God inside.” “It seems like you hadn’t really put all this together and nailed it down yet putting your trust in it?” I said. “Yeah,” he acknowledged. So I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and talked it through with him. I asked him, “It says does this prayer express the desire of your heart so does it? He agreed. I said he could pray it silently so only God could hear, “Wanna do it?” Yeah he replied and prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible Study and the Book 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining living by the Spirit asking for Him to transform us, Inside out. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in it so he could remember. He had a Bible so I said he could begin reading in John if he wanted. He did not use email. “Thanks,” he said. “Yeah sure,” I replied.  He’d said he was athletic. “What do you play here?” “Soccer,” he said. “We got a game at 4 but I have an earlier class.” He was just waiting around. “Well maybe that was God’s providence for you,” I said. He thought about it and I said, “God bless ya brother.” “Have a good one, “ he said.

Celeste was sitting in the upstairs PE lounge a couple hours later. She looked Latina; solid athletic frame had shorts on and a 4 inch recent scar on her knee. She was pretty, broad faced, sharp nose, long brown hair falling off her shoulders, She wore her eye make-up coo brushed points at the corners of her eye. She played soccer.  When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I think I would say it’s up to you, I think it’s up to him to let me in or not.” She thought she had about a 50% chance of going to Heaven. When she told me she went to a Catholic church I said that the last part of the survey was “What she thought about Christianity and I had some verses in this little booklet to show her.” She listened to the Gospel and took it all in; she knew Jesus had died for her sins. But I explained everything to her about the blood of Christ cleansing her from her sins and the imputed righteousness of Christ and how Jesus had paid our debt to God. I asked her if she’d want to be forgiven with God inside her or if she thought something else and she said, “I’d want God inside.” I said something like, “You know you grow up in the church and you really have your parent’s faith and there is nothing about it that bothers you when you go there and it is part of your identity but you don’t think about it much. But then you become a woman and you have to decide for yourself what you will believe.” I said she would have to believe Jesus was God He died for her sins and rose from the dead but also to place her trust in that and asked her if she was trusting. She thought she was because when she damaged her knee and had to have surgery she thought she would like to play soccer again but if she couldn’t because her knee did not recover she would trust God for that too. But then her knee recovered. I said, “That’s actually a great story,” impressed with her faith.  But I am asking something a bit different if you had been trusting in Jesus to take away your sin and make you right with God. She said no she’d really never thought about that. I said, “What God wants most from you is what she would want most someday in a guy she married, “You’d want him to believe you, and you’d want to believe him. And that what God wants most to be in a relationship with Him, He wants you to believe Him and what he has said he did to take away your sin.” I said that if she wanted to have a relationship with God like that there was a prayer she could pray and ask God to forgive her and the Holy Spirit would live inside her. I talked through the prayer and asked her if she wanted to pray it and she said, “Yeah it was nice.” So he took the booklet and took what seemed like a long time and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained living the Christian life by the power of the Spirit inside out and that everything God was asking her to do He would give her the power to do. I explained a symbolic view of the mass where she could thank God for dying for her knowing she was forgiven. I gave her the same Bible study and book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. She liked that and was thankful.  I said maybe I would “see her in Heaven someday, there was a lot of people there but who knows?” She seemed happy and that and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. We had a good day at the book table, got some affirmation and went through the Gospel with some peeps.  Stephanie received Jesus as her Savior today.

I was talking to an older student who I used to know from Africa, Mariah, who had just finished up at Southern IU in Physical therapy. She was visiting school and dropped by to ask for a prayer request that she would pass her boards (please pray she does) and say hi. She paused our conversation over her prayer request as Stephanie had picked up  Evolution the Lie and was looking at 20 Things God Can’t Do. Mariah said to her, “I know I saw that too.” I used the break to explain the book a bit and then asked her if she wanted to answer a question. She agreed and I asked her if she died and stood before God, what would she say to get into Heaven. She did not know, but said I could tell her what the Bible said. I went through the Gospel with her, having to blow off Mariah but she understood. Stephanie was a slight tiny girl , a pointed chin small face, cute with glasses and long light brown hair, several inches past her shoulders. She was wearing one of the balloon hats they were making for students on clubs and activities day. I made sure I didn’t rush since she was so hard to read, very quiet and reserved. She had a mostly pink multi colored shirt on with some white and blue. She wore a couple necklaces. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sin, but had seemed to be hoping she would be good enough. She was attentive but did not say anything as I explained the Gospel to her. She said she went to a Roman Catholic Church. When I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins, she looked up at me in the eyes and nodded. So having finished the Gospel I walked her through the prayer and read, “It says here: Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? So would you say that it did?” She nodded again and I said if she wanted she could pray and ask God to forgive her, trusting in what Jesus had done to pay for her sins on the Cross and His Spirit would live inside her. She said she would pray it later when she was alone. I explained living by the Spirit’s Power inside out. I gave her a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and “By the Spirit’s Power” explaining how everything God was asking her to do He would give her the power to do. I explained a symbolic view of the Mass as remembering Jesus had died for her sins and she was forgiven and when she took it she could just say, “Thank you”. I think she also took a Rose publication handout called “Following Jesus.” She had some other things in her hands. I also gave her a Bible study. I apologized for taking so long and she said “No, I needed this.” So I said something like, “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rose from the Dead? And do you trust in that to take away your sins and bring you to Heaven?” And she said she did. So I said “All that is left then is for you to pray and tell that to God.” She was grateful. I put her balloon hat back on her head for her she’d left on the table to straighten her hair as she’d almost forgot it and she headed out. So that was great. I had some great discussions too and got some affirmation from staff people. A black Christian man running the Diversity department had a table beside ours and said, “You are doing a great work here” after listening to me go through the Gospel with several students. We had some good conversations with Christians too and got some peeps who might come to the Bible study.

So thanks for your prayers for the Table today and for evangelism if you had a chance God blessed us. Ellen, my volunteer staff person, blessed me all day with her help.

Blessings,

Bob