Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you felt the nearness of the Lord. Yesterday seemed kind of taxing, I was a bit sick a dizzy frankly, came home and had a big headache latter.  I did go through a ton of apologetic stuff with Aziz a Muslim. He had no answers and kind of clandestinely took the Gospel with him that I had used to show him one verse slipping it into his folder from where I had set in on the table. So that was cool. Otherwise it was kind of rough day.

Today I had a good day on campus encouraging some Christians and got a couple good seeds planted and it turned out. Karen prayed with me to receive Jesus but I did not know it at first because it happened after I left her. Also 3 of the students who have prayed with me to receive Jesus this semester were at the Bible study tonight, Hope, John and Rebeca so that was great.

Karen was sitting in the ground floor of the Science buildings in the SW corner lounge at a table studying. She was up for going through some questions with me. Her hair has mostly light brown highlights and she had a wide gap-toothed sweet smile, wider face. She was Latina and at COD in the Nursing program though she lived closer to Tinley Park south of us. She was wearing a blouse and jeans. She was friendly (though she described herself as hard headed) and when I asked her what she would say to God if He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” she said. “Overall I try to do good where I can, try to follow His word as close as I can.” When I asked her the likelihood she would get into Heaven she said, “I don’t know, that’s a good question.” So she did not seem to know or be trusting in her salvation through Christ. So I went through the Gospel with her and she knew Jesus had died for her sins. She listened carefully and I explained that unlike what she had said she needed to be saved by faith in Christ and that His righteousness was a gift to her by faith. She realized all this so I asked her she wanted to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else and she said to be forgiven and insisted that she had been in the church her entire life and believed the Gospel already. She was adamant about it so I said, “OK. Well, maybe I just caught you off guard with the question. So this booklet is a way you can share your faith if you had a friend in the Hospital of something and they were afraid they might die, like if they had to be unconscious for a procedure. Then you could show them the verses and lead them to Christ and if they wanted to be forgiven there is a prayer they can pray.” I talked through the prayer and said, “It says here, ‘Is this prayer the desire of your heart?’ So if it was you could have them pray that and then take them to Church maybe.” She liked that idea. So I explained living “inside out” where we ask God to transform us on the inside and they we become good people who do good things on the outside. I gave her a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and she thanked me. Then I said, “So now if I ask you why should God let you into Heaven you’d say?” “Because Jesus died for me.” she replied. “Good girl,” I said affirmingly and she smiled. I got up to go and said maybe I would see her around. Then I talked with a girl just across the lounge, I know, whose name I can never remember, who I always bump into at school. She is a Christian and showed me a book for a class she was taking at Church on mission work and we chatted for a bit. We were only 6 steps away from where Karen was still sitting at another table. I encouraged her and talked about the Holy Spirit guiding her life a bit and left for the truck to head home. I was shot and had to write part of the Bible study yet on Eschatology and never glanced back at Karen. Then tonight, David, the president of our little group on campus mentioned this anonymous girl and neither of us could remember her name, but she’d been sitting near the table before Bible Study the other night. He said, “Yeah, I ran into her and she said a girl prayed to receive Jesus you went through the Gospel with after you left.” “What was her name?” I asked David. “She said her name was Karen” he replied. So I high fived him and said, “Cool.” So I think my nameless friend encouraged Karen a bit after I left, or herd her pray and she decided she had not been trusting in Jesus and now she has! So pretty Great. I wonder how often that has happened before. It is pretty common a student will give the “works saves me” response and then claims to be trusting in Jesus. It must happen at least a dozen times every year. But this time my Christian friend was there to discover it and God found a way to let me know. It actually happened with another guy, Gerardo, earlier in the day. I hope he genuinely trusted Christ too.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope Friday was blessed for you and you sensed the leading of the Lord’s love. I had a slow day on campus and only found 2 people that I did not know, to go through the Gospel with but each of them prayed with me to receive Jesus. A girl Laila who attended a Methodist church and a corner-back on the football team Torre who was from St. Louis each came to Christ yesterday. This got pretty long but if you are up for their storied here they are.

Laila was sitting waiting for her ride in the corner of the BIC building by the doors closest to the MAC arts building where I had just come from cutting through the sunshine. She was wearing a black ball cap with a J on the front, her brown shoulder-length, fly-away hair pouring out from underneath. She had on a long sleeve, aqua blue, t-shirt and black sweats. Her face lit up with a bright smile when she laughed and she wore round glasses with brown frames (large, sort of Harry Potter like). When I asked if she’d like to do a student survey on God and stuff she said she only had 5 minutes so I said, “Well you wanna just answer a short version?” She said OK. So I asked her what she would say to God if she died and God asked her why He should let her into Heaven. “Honestly I’d probably say you shouldn’t. I don’t deserve that.” So I asked what was the likelihood she would get into Heaven and she said 20%.  I said, as I have to hundreds of students this year, “Well Christianity is like a blood transfusion, I have a+ blood so if you have B- blood and you give me a blood transfusion I would clot up and die. So God wants to transfuse His life into you, to live inside you with His Holy Spirit, but first He has to make you His type. But we all have sin in us. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. So sin kills ya and God give you life so God takes away your sins so He can live inside you.” I took out the booklet then and turned to the place with some verses on Sin to scribble in it as I talked. She seemed to be tracking with that so I said, “What’s the big thing Jesus does to take away you sin?” She knew Jesus had died to take away our sins and said something like, “He was crucified.” “Right,” I replied. “This is how it works.” I explained she had to live a perfect life from what Jesus said, “You are to be perfect as you heavenly Father is perfect.” She could not do that so Jesus lived a perfect life for her. I explained how Jesus had died so she did not have to die in Hell and when He poured out His blood he poured out His life on the world and His Blood becomes a life force that makes life, all the places we’ve made death. There’s death inside us from our sin and the Bible says, ‘The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, it turns death into life.’ So now you are alive inside And God can live inside you, it’s like you’re the Energizer Bunny and God is the Batteries, if He lives inside you, you keep going and going and when you die it’s like you don’t die because God’s inside.” That made her smile. I explained then that the perfect life Jesus lived was too her credit. I went on until I had told her she needed to receive Christ by faith and asked her if she would want to be forgiven. She said she would. So I said I know you knew the story but when you sinned were you hoping you were good enough and would try not to do it again and God would forgive you or did you think, “I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me?” She said she had just hoped she was good enough. So I walked her through the prayer and asked if it was the desire of her heart. “I’d like it to be,” she replied. Then I explained living inside out asking God for His strength to do everything and that God would give her the power to do anything He was asking her to do. So I explained the prayer again and asked her if she would like to pray it silently and she said, “Yeah.” Then she prayed to receive Christ and she was happy. That was great. I Gave her a Bible Study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside. Saying she could remember this was the day she had been forgiven. I also wrote “By the Spirit’s power” illustrating again that she only needed to ask for God’s power and strength, having told her about the fruit of the Spirit. Her ride had been waiting a bit by then so as she got up to go I gave her the Rose publication “100 Prophecies fulfilled by Jesus” told her that now the likelihood she would go to Heaven trusting as she was in Christ’s righteousness was 100% and encouraged her to email me. “Thank you so much.” She said. “You’re welcome,” I said cheerfully. So hey 7 minutes can change your life.

Torre was sitting in the PE lounge by himself at a table just chilling waiting for a ride. He had an inch high rough afro and a bit of a mustache and chin beard. Good looking kid. He said he went to St. John Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis and he kind of seemed superficially like a Baptist. His plaid shirt with small collar was buttoned up to the top, had jeans on and a black backpack separated us when I sat at the table. He seemed really conservative and reserved. Sometimes the Black students get really serious on me, which is better than the opposite effect. He’d come up here to play football saying it was the only community college in Illinois with a team. He had thin lean build of a defensive corner or a receiver. I asked him what he would say to God get into Heaven and he said, “’Cause I believe that I have learned why He put me on the earth, the reason I was there, like what was my purpose.” I asked him what that was and he said, “To help people and teach people what I know.” So I asked what he knew. “Just like many things how to help people and help people have a better life and why you are here on Earth.” He was 100% sure he would go to Heaven. Not hearing the Gospel in there anywhere I was reasonably certain he was not trusting in the work of Christ on the Cross to save him. I went into the Gospel and there did not seem to be any recognition of the verses as I began so I asked him what the big thing that God had done to take away his sins. He didn’t follow me asking a clarifying question and I said, “Well in History what was it that God did to pay for your sins?” He still wasn’t getting the question so I tried, “What did he do for you personally that took away your sins?” thinking maybe I should be saying “Jesus” and not “God”. But then he responded, “Being at gun point and Him reaching out to that person not to make that decision made a big impact on me. Being closer to death He opened my eyes up more.” He later said he had kind of talked the guy out of it a bit saying he was going to get out of the city and make something of his life. It seemed like someone with a gun, possibly in a gang, had thought Torre was following him when he’d circled around to get into the back of a commercial building, the front door being locked for some reason. “Well, I can see how that would have an impact on you. So you are kind of saying that made you feel closer to God.” He agreed. So I said, “Yeah that’s not what I am talking about,” and I went on to explain the death of Christ to pay for his sins His blood to cleanse him and His righteousness imputed to him. He tracked with me through that so I asked if he would want to be forgiven with God living inside him. “I believe God lives inside me.” He replied. At this point I was completely certain God had not been living inside him since he seemed to know nothing of the Gospel and was not trusting in Christ to save him. So I said that God had to take away his sins by faith in the work of Christ and that it was true that God was with Him as He is with everyone as their creator that this was taking the next step with God where he would be forgiven for his sins and live inside him. It took a bit more explaining and I explained the prayer to him and offered to him asking if it was the desire of his heart. It was. I said that he could pray it silently like I wasn’t even there. “I like to pray personally,” he said. The table was up against the wall of the Gym so I offered to go for a walk over to the other side of the lounge, which is a good 40 feet long, to give him privacy and he agreed. I walked off past the staircase and around it and he took quite a while to pray. I idled away by the vending machines until when I glanced over he had looked up and had finished and I approached him and said, “Amen?” and he acknowledged he prayed.   I showed him living the Christian life by the Spirit’s power. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do. Writing “By the Spirit’s power” and “forgiven” and the date in the front and explaining asking for God’s help in everything and that if he trusted in Christ’s righteousness, as Paul did by Faith in the Bible, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was in fact 100%. His ride was leaving but he said he’d get a ride with another guy and we talked some more. His Grandmother had given him his Bible, his parents were not together but his dad was in the picture. I gave him the book Bible Promises for You to give to his mom. He did not know if he’d come back next fall due to money. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” I asked finally. “No thanks I think you did a lot for me,” he replied. I said I would keep him in my prayers and got his Email to send him stuff and headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and filled with Life. I had a good day on campus in as much as Nick prayed with me to receive Christ. Over the course of over 3 hours however he was the only one with which I was able to get through the Gospel. A lot of it was taken up with a couple of guys I have spoken to before. One has prayed with me to receive Christ this year and needed the guidance, Cole. The other, Carson, is a 36 year old on again off again addict, who struggles with anger and is back at school taking classes. Vary short-cropped strawberry blonde hair; he has some ink on his neck up to his ear in back and in front just over the t-shirt line. He wears hard rock T-shirts; today’s had a clear death theme. Many of those bands are doorways to Spiritual forces, at least in some people. I warned him about that when he said he struggled with control, and he seems to wrestle with some personal demons and some actual ones. We talked about feeding the wrong dog in you, he said he had a black one and a white one and the black one he was feeding premium food. At the end of a very long discussion sitting out on the sidewalk at the base of the waterfall where he had been struggling to study I prayed over him (I’m not sure he liked it). I also gave him the book Bible Promises for You. He was genuinely grateful for the book. I just felt like he needed to dwell on good things, he prays and knows Jesus is real, doesn’t know Him. He finally took off to meet a girl at school. I’m not sure if there is a way to extricated myself from long conversations at times but they don’t happen that often so I think that was supposed to be part of the day. Wore me out though.

Nick was sitting in the Science building had cargo shorts on and a ball style cap with a mesh back, reddish brown hair mustache and goatee, wore a jacket. Seemed a little less than average height. Nice guy disappointed with the Catholic Church he had left it and was kind of on his own in a relationship with God. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “”Because I lived my life the way I thought You would like me to have lived.” I asked him what the likelihood was he would go to Heaven, 10% low 100% high or 50/50 he’d have a shot and he said, “I don’t know that’s not really my call right? If it’s following the teaching of Jesus might be closer to 100% if it’s what the Catholic Church teaches it would be lower.” I went through the Gospel with him and he knew Christ had sacrificed himself to take away his sins. I talked to him about the difference from what he’d been taught growing up was that Christianity was inside out not outside in, That first we asked God to change us on the inside by the Spirit’s power and then we did good things on the outside as changed men. “It is different that the teaching of Jesus you thought you knew, ” I said, he agreed. He needed to have faith to receive Christ believing He was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. “Why does God care if you believe He is the Son?” He asked. I explained that Jesus fulfilled the statements of the Old Testament and appeared there and said He was God and it was prophesied he was God, I then showed him some verses in the Old testament in a Bible Study I had in my Pack. I told him Christianity is a historical faith and Christ fulfilled History so we would know He was the one, and this was really God’s love, knowing we would have to know which Guy to believe in. “Doesn’t that make God arrogant that He wants everyone to believe in Him?” he asked. I explained God wants this because of His love; everything He does is to express His love so that some will join His family and be given the power by His Spirit living in them to declare His love in the world. I said there was a school of thought in Theology (reformed theology) that says God does everything for his glory. But the Bible says God did what He did because He loved the world (quoting John 3:16 to him again as I had already done). He does not need us to add to His glory and says he will share His glory with us in heaven, even serving us (Luke 12:37, Mt 20:28). I explained that Jesus said (John 16:23) of being in Heaven with Him, “In that day you will ask Me no question.” I said I’d had people tell me they had questions they thought they would ask God when they got to Heaven but I always tell them I don’t think they will bother. Once we are surrounded by His unmitigated unmediated love, we will know without a doubt that was what it was really about and the explanation of how everything worked together will not seem important. “OK that makes sense,” he said. He began to see the kingdom of God and his part to play guided by the Spirit in him on earth. I talked about how God might use him in retirement to have a fishing boat and take people out to go commercial fishing, as he’d said that was his dream. In that context he might be able to tell people of God’s love whom a pastor would never talk to or reach concerning the love of God. I said God might have something else entirely for his life too but would lead him by the Spirit. “I could sign up for that,” he said, “You should have started with the boat.” I told him I would remember that for next time but everyone hears things a little different. Then I went through the prayer again (I had explained it in the conversation at one point already) and he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the day and “forgiven” and By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and he said, “Thank you.” And I said “You’re welcome.” As we left I gave him a Bible study he gave me his email and said he’d like to have some conversations like this again. We shook hands and he told me to have a good one and I headed out telling him I would pray for him each night until next spring.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry today and for evangelism if you had a chance. God did some good things.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking by the Spirit. I had a really good day on campus David, Dan and Frank each prayed with me to receive Christ and Andres was very interested to think about committing to Christ, he did believe he was God and had died for his sins.

David was sitting in the second floor of MAC lounge overlooking the bigger lounge beneath waiting for his girlfriend to get out of class. He was a polish immigrant who had come here as a child. He worked on cars buying them and fixing them up or having them fixed up. He showed me a picture of a Porsche convertible he was working on and a Toyota he’d bought. He wore braces that were bringing all the gaps between each tooth together. Looked like the typical American, nice looking guy. He had a fireman’s t-shirt on and a baseball cap, shorts, not very tall, dimples in his small face when he smiled. He went to a Polish Catholic Church. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “I’ve been a pretty good person.” He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven. He listened to the Gospel and the look on his face was a bit like he wasn’t that into it, so I put a bit more energy into it making him laugh. I was trying too hard to keep him engaged with illustrations. He seemed to be a word picture guy. But then I realized what I was doing and silently asked God to work. As I went through the Gospel we stopped and started as he told me about his cars and showed me pictures on his phone, we had a good conversation going. When I asked him how God took away his sins he thought for a bit and said, “Baptism.” I said that was what Augustine said took away his original sin but what about his everyday sins that he’d done, “How does God pay for that? You know because if you do something wrong you wrecked God stuff, if you damage yourself, you belong to him, if you drive slow in traffic you stole time for the guy behind you. So you owe God for that, how does God pay for it?” He couldn’t think of anything so I said it was with Jesus and I explained the Atonement and the Imputed righteousness of Christ, saying the mass was a symbolic illustration of that showing Jesus had died and so he was forgiven (he was remembering everything by then). He said he would want to be forgiven for his sins and so I said that I thought he knew the story but had he committed to trusting in Christ to be forgiven. I said I knew growing up in the Church as a kid it had probably become part of his identity but when you are grown you have to decide if you are going to commit to those things. I asked if he’d been trusting in that he was a good enough person to be forgiven of had he thought that because Jesus had died for him he’d be forgiven. “A little of both,” he replied (I think that is sometimes a way of saying you haven’t been trusting in Christ but you knew the story so it must have played in to your thinking somehow). So I said, “If you thought you wanted to commit to these things there is a prayer you could pray,” and I walked him through the prayer and said, “Is that something you think you still should do?” “I could commit more,” he replied. So I said he could pray silently in his heart and God would hear and he would know he was forgiven. “Yeah, I’ll do it,” he said, and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him the booklet and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the side explaining walking by the Spirit and also gave him a Bible Study. He was appreciative and I said I would keep him in my prayers and he thanked me. I headed out.

I came across David on the floor below after walking outside where I bumped into the girl who is living with us until semester’s end, Hope. So I walked her to class in the MAC. Then going outside towards the PE building I felt like I should turn around and cut over to the hospitality building through the MAC. As I cut through the lounge again I found Dan. He looked like he could be Indian or Pakistani. He asked if the survey took place somewhere else and I said I had it with me and he said “Alright lets go.”  He had a full beard and dark straight hair, just over his ears, combed back on top, wore print shorts and a T-shirt held his phone with one ear piece in and toyed with it from time to time. It turned out he went to a Lutheran Church near his house. He wanted to travel. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “Well, I’d say I tried my best in my life to be a generally good person. I try my best not to lie, I don’t steal. I balance my regular life with my religious priorities… that’s it.” He thought he had about an 80 percent chance to get to heaven. He listened to the Gospel and knew Jesus had “sacrificed Himself” for our sins. I explained we don’t go to Heaven because we are good but because Jesus is good and His righteousness is to our credit. He said he would want to be forgiven with God living inside of him so I asked if when he asked for forgiveness he thought God would forgive him because Jesus died for him or had he been thinking he had been basically a good person and was religious and so God would forgive him. “More so the latter,” he replied. So I said if he’d want to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray to ask God to forgive him and live inside him I talked him through it asking if he would like to pray silently and he nodded yes. I waited while he prayed. I told him he could keep the booklet and he said, Alright I’ll keep it.” I gave him a Bible study talking to him about it a bit. I gave him the booklet and 20 Things God Can’t Do also writing his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside explaining that anything God was asking him to do in the book He would also give him the power to do if he just asked. I told him if he would trust in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He shook my hand and said, “Thank you.” “God bless you man,” I said. “Alright you too,” he said, happy.

I found Frank sitting in the hallway of the Science building on the first floor. He had a brown suit jacket on and jeans, short sleeved t-shirt blonde hair combed back Clark Kent style. He seemed professorial, but he was not that old. He was a nice guy who had left the Catholic Church he had grown up in at the age of 15 or 16. He said he believed the teaching of Jesus but the Catholic Church seemed too dogmatic and had lost the message. He said he worked on having a positive relationship with God without being tethered to one denomination but missed having community. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Oh man, I never really thought about that before.” He thought a bit and said, “I’d say I did everything within my power to be the best person… without any expectation of reward.” I went through the Gospel with Him and he seemed to track with everything well, he knew Jesus had died for his sins. He wanted to be forgiven.  So I explained, trying to describe the relationship he seemed to have with the Lord, that everyone had a relationship with God, because He was their Creator, but not everyone was in a relationship with God where He lived inside them having forgiven their sins. I talked about a friendship he might have with a girl compared to dating her. He understood that. So I said that if he wanted to be forgiven trusting in Jesus to be in a relationship with God there was a prayer he could pray. He was a very amicable person and after I talked him through the prayer he said, “That’s something I’d be open to.” So I said he could pray silently if he wanted to do so and he said, “Cool.” And he prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do too writing his name and the date and “forgiven” and gave him a Bible study. And I explained a life in Christ living By the Spirit’s Power which I also wrote in the book explaining it by illustration. He gave me his e-mail so I could explain some more things and had to go but I gave him a card for the Compass Church as we parted saying the pastor there was good. He said he knew right where it was in Wheaton and walked his dog right past it. I think he’ll visit so that was great.

So Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance today God truly blessed and it was a great day to walk around talking to peeps about Jesus.

In Him,

Bob

Hey sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was great and filled with the Lord’s blessings. I had a good day on campus and Rebeca prayed with me to receive Christ. Two other girls were close to accepting Christ it seemed too, Natalie, a Latina girl and Shannon, a short blonde girl both were in the science building.

Rebeca was sitting out on the lawn between the MAC arts building and the PE building where they have outdoor concerts. The trees all along there are just beginning to flower and it was a breezy, warm, sunny day. I sat on the mulch beneath a tree without leaves. She had running shorts on and a hoodie, long brown wavy hair that was blowing across her face as we talked. She had an oval face, not very tall. She was really nice. I walked up and asked her if she wanted to do a student survey. It was getting into the afternoon a bit and I still had to write the Bible Study for tonight on homosexual marriage and LGBT stuff so she was going to be the last person I talked to.  “I’m not very religious but OK”, she replied. It turned out she went to a church once in a while where some friends of ours used to go. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked why should I let you into Heaven she said, “I would say… because I believe in the Lord and um… I would apologize for the sins and everything, and [say] that I’m not a bad person.” She was sure she was going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and she understood everything and followed right along. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sins. And so I asked her if she would want to “be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her or thought something else. Islam teaches God’s a mystery that can’t be known, his spirit’s in the world but does not come inside people so they have a different god, or the Buddha, he left his wife and child to go search for enlightenment, so he’s not looking for God he’s just trying to get his head straight.”  And she said, “The first one you said.” So I asked if when she asked for forgiveness for her sins if she’d basically been thinking she was a good person who would be forgiven or if she thought, “I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.” She began to think about the question so I told her if she thought she’d want to be forgiven and hadn’t done that there was a prayer she could pray and I read through the prayer explaining it and asked. “So do you think that something you still need to do or have you done that?” “I think I still need to do that,” she replied. So I said if she’d like to she could pray silently in her heart so only God could hear and He would forgive her sins and live inside her to give her the strength to live the Christian life. “So would you like to do that?” I asked. “Yeah,” she replied. And she prayed to receive Christ. She was happy when she finished and I told her she could keep the booklet and explained living “inside out”. I gave her a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” under it. I explained how everything God was asking her to do He would give her the strength to do if she would ask writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I got her email to send her some more verses and such and asked her if she had any questions. She didn’t. She thought she might be able to make it to the last Bible study next week. “Well, it was really nice to meet ya,” I said. “It was really nice to meet you too,” she replied. Standing I gave her a card for Compass church saying she might like the pastor’s teaching there to listen too since she was not making it to Church much and showed her the email. I knelt beside her and then gave her a light hug across the shoulders and said, “God bless you.” “God bless you too,” she said happily. And I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. I had a good day on campus and Rachel prayed with me to receive Jesus. Ariel took the student edition of The Case for Christ, uncertain she wanted to give her life to God since she wanted to do things on her own but was interested and wanted to talk things over with her boy friend, Joshua, as well. When I asked her if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead she said, well yes because the Bible says that, but she was not ready to trust in Christ by faith. So I’ll pray for her and Joshua for a while.

Rachel is friends with Justin, a guy on the track team who received Jesus this semester. She’d asked me to pray for her since I’ve seen her walking around the PE building a lot this semester, so I said I would. She was sitting in the PE lounge today where I usually see her at the long table with some guys. She took a break from her math homework to talk. When I was going through the Gospel with Justin she could not answer “the big question” as she walked by so I’d been praying I would have a chance to go through the Gospel with her. She is tall, long legs, runs and jumps for the track team. She wore a blue workout jacket and runners shorts today. I think she is from Nigeria originally. She has a oval face rarely wears make-up, has an inch and a half afro she sometimes dyes brown, wears near round oval glasses, cute kid. She is usually kind of gregarious (described herself as Hilarious) but by the end of our conversation was somewhat reserved. When I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked “Why should I let you into Heaven?” she said, “Because I feel like… ah… I lived a pretty God-fearing life I guess. I know my faults and acknowledge them.” She thought she had about a 70% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and she knew John 3:16 and 14:6, she knew Jesus had died to take away her sins. She said she’d want to be forgiven but had “gone through a lot”. “I feel like He owes me.” she said. “Because of all you went through.” “Right,” she replied. I talked to her about the way the world worked and that because sin had entered the world sometimes God allowed a bad thing to happen so a worse thing would not happen talking. I illustrated with a story where she was making all the stoplights going to work and then end up missing the last one because someone was driving slowly in front of her and it made her late. Later you ask God why He couldn’t have just let you make one light, but what you didn’t know is you have to cross the railroad tracks one more time before you get to work and the crossing gates are broken. While you were stopped at the light, the train went by, so you missed the stop light, but didn’t get hit by the train, but you never found out about the train because you were stopped at the light. I talked with her about the complexities of the world more and she seemed to accept it more. I said her knowledge needed to become faith and told her she could ask for more trust and faith. I walked her through the prayer and she decided to pray to receive Jesus. She was still a little somber after. I explained the Christian life to her where everything God was asking her to do He would give her the power to do. I explained living “inside out” and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside of 20 Things God Can’t Do and I gave her a Bible study and explained if she was trusting in Jesus righteousness to be hers the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She gave me her Email and I said I would send her something. “Thanks for talking to me for so long,” I said as I got up to go. “That’s cool, anytime,” she said getting back to her math. So I’m glad to know her better and know how to pray for her and hopefully I’ll be able to connect with her some more.

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 day was blessed, it is a beautiful day here, just over 60 but sunny which is great. I only had a few conversations on campus, some with peeps I know. It is close to exams and kids are studying and it is hard to find someone sitting around with free time to talk. But Nick prayed with me to receive Christ so that was great.

He was sitting in the PE building at a long table that’s in the lounge as you walk in the ground floor doors off the parking lot. He had tight twisted lengths of hair that from a distance looked like thin braids; they were pulled back on his head. African American, he had a wide nose and full lips with just a fraction of a mustache and a chin beard, good-looking kid. He wore black sweats and a black fleece. There are so many black athletes in the PE lounge that I kinda assume if you are sitting in there you are at COD to play a sport but he wasn’t, he said he just played around. He said he’d answer some questions. I asked him what he would say to God if asked if “Why should I let you into heaven?” The answer came out in fragments, he said, “It depends [on the] case… about… repented before maybe. Honestly don’t know what I would say.” He thought the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He listened to the Gospel and knew Jesus had died for his sins. He went to church every week. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven where God could live inside him after finishing the Gospel and he said he did want that. I then tried to find out what he was trusting in, we went around a bit. I asked if he thought God would forgive him because he was doing the right things and went to Church. “Well it’s not just going to Church my mom says you need to do good and speak in a tongue and be baptized.” I pointed out that those things were fine but they did not save him. “I know you knew he died but that is just knowledge, but knowledge needs to become faith.” I could not tell if he followed entirely so I said do you think, “I’m a good man and go to church and that’s why God forgives you or have you been thinking I know God will forgive me because Jesus died for me.” “The first thing you said,” he replied. I thought for a second he meant something I had said at the beginning of our discussion which had gotten long but he meant the last sentence I said, I guess I’m a bit tired by this point in the semester. I talked him through the prayer then and said he could pray it silently and he did. When he finished he began rereading the Bible verses on receiving Christ by faith and then handed it back to me. I told him he could keep it which he was grateful for and walked him through the Christian life, having already explained living “inside out” I clarified it again. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do. Explaining everything God was asking him to do He would given him the power to do.  I wrote “By the Spirit” in the front then wrote his name and the Date and then ‘forgiven” in the front also. “I’ll show this to my mom she’ll like this,” he said. So I gave him a copy of Bible Promises for You for his mom who he said was very religious. I explained how we trusted in Christ’s righteousness to be ours again and told him I would pray for him and invited him to Bible Study. “Thank you Bob,” he said shaking my hand. “You’re welcome. God Bless you and now you can know you are forgiven by the Blood of Jesus.” And I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope your day was really blessed. I had a good day on campus and Johnny prayed with me to receive Christ. Cat a pretty American/Chinese girl (long straight hair parted on the side she had a bright smile and a wide nose and long yellow finger nails and a bad cold) wanted to be forgiven but her father was Buddhist and her mom Catholic and she’d never gone to Church. The Gospel was completely new and she was not sure what to think about Jesus. But she happily took the student edition of The Case for Christ. She also took a Bible study on the deity of Christ so that seemed like a good seed planted.

Johnny was sitting in a lounge on the first floor of the BIC and said he’d answer some questions for the Bible Study group. He had a Clark Kent hair cut and was wearing a zip up hoodie and gray sweats, clean shaven. He was very fair skinned; my skin hasn’t looked that nice since I was 16. LOL! He said he’d like to go to Mexico and see the town where his parents had grown up. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and He asked, “Why should I let you into heaven?” he thought for a second and said, “That’s actually a really good question. I think I’ve done… I went to a Catholic school when I was a kid, so I have those morals. I’ve been a pretty active follower in my religious community.” He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven. When I asked him what the big thing was that had taken away his sins he thought for a while and said, “Baptism?” I said Augustine would say that had taken away his original sin but the sins you commit each day God takes away with Jesus. I explained the Gospel to Him and the imputed righteousness of Christ and he said he wanted to be forgiven. So I asked if when he had done something he was asking for forgiveness for had he thought he was a good religious person and God would forgive him or had he been thinking, I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me. He said something like, “I really should be thinking that, I’m more thinking I should try…” and then he trailed off realizing he wouldn’t be trusting in God if he was trying somehow to justify himself. I said what God wanted from him was the same thing he would want in a relationship with a woman he would marry, for her to believe him and him to believe her and be faithful. I explained living inside out asking God to transform him on the inside so he would become a good man and do good things on the outside. I suggested growing up in the Church it all works for you well enough when you are just a kid in your family but when you are a man you have to decide on your own where you will land. So I said that if he wanted to be forgiven he could ask and talked him through the prayer and we talked a bit more and I offered the opportunity to pray and receive forgiveness and he thought for a moment and said, “Yeah, for sure.” And he prayed to receive Christ. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside of 20 Things God Can’t Do and then explaining that everything God was asking him to do He would given him the power t do I wrote “by the Spirit’s power” on the inside too.  I explained the Mass was commemorating that Jesus had died for him and so he was forgiven so when that part of the church service came he could just say to God, “Thank you.” He took a Bible study and I said I would pray for him the next year and said, “God bless you.” “You too, thanks,” he said and we each headed off.

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 and you have joy from the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Aiden and Alisha Each prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Aiden was sitting at the counter in the cafeteria looking out the window, just finishing his lunch and said he had a few minutes before class to answer some questions. He was a nice guy, not very tall had a curly afro that touched the top of his ears, the sides were shaved in a bit of a fade. He had a blue track jacket on and grey sweats, small nose, mustache and chin beard, good looking kid. He said he went to Church a few times a year, to a “Christian Church”. When I asked him what he would say if asked by God why He should let him into Heaven he said, Because…ahh, hmm “Even though I might not have always done the right thing, I always try to do the right thing.” He knew that Jesus had died to take away our sins. He thought he had a 90% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him and the imputed righteousness of Christ explaining that he needed to receive Christ. He had kind of a wry smile here and there but I could not really get a read on him. I then asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done or if he thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he said. So I said if he wanted to he could ask for God’s forgiveness and He would live inside him. I talked him through the prayer to receive Jesus and asked if he’d like to pray and he said, “Yeah sure.” and he prayed to receive Christ. He was going to class soon so I hurriedly explained living “inside out”. I wrote his name and the date in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and “forgiven” and “By the Spirit’s Power” telling him everything God was asking him to do He’d give him the power to do with His Spirit. I said that if he trusted in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness he could be 100% sure he was going to Heaven.  “Paul in the Bible did many wonderful things,” I said. “But he said that it was not by his own righteousness but by the righteousness that is by faith that he would go to Heaven.” I got his email; I gave him a Bible Study too and said, “You’re forgiven,” shaking his hand. “Have a good one man.”Thanks you too.” he replied.

Alisha was sitting at a table in front of the conference room at the top of the stairs about 40 feet from the entrance to the bridge over to the Science building. Almost no one has been around the doorway at the base of those stairs it has been closed for construction that seems to have stalled. Alisha has long brown hair that did not looked straitened, more Filipino, fair skin and a pug nose, cute kid. Her skin tone and facial features seemed in part African American. Petite, she was dressed in a red hooded sweatshirt and black sweats and described herself as athletic. When I asked her what she would say to God to let her into heaven she said “Because I’ve helped… I’m a nurse; I’ve helped many people in the world. I made an impact in a positive way. I did more positive things than negative things.” She thought she had an 80% chance of going to Heaven. She said she went to Church sometimes with her mom. I went through the Gospel with her and she knew Jesus had died for her sins. I explained more thoroughly how Christ’s blood and cleansed her and allowed God to live inside her. And (if she believed) His righteousness was too her credit. I said she “had knowledge of these things but her knowledge had to become faith” and she agreed right away that was true. I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven with God living inside her or if she thought something else. “I would want God inside me,” she said earnestly. So I talked her through the prayer and asked if she would like to pray to be forgiven and she said she did with an, “Umhum.” She thanked me after she had prayed and I explained living “inside out” and by the Spirit’s power. I forgot to put a bible in my pack and took out my bin of extra stuff when I went camping on the weekend. But I had a Gideon NT to give her and I am hopeful she will make it to Bible Study tomorrow to give her a complete Bible since she said she shared one with her mom. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven’ in the front of the pocket bible. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit” in the front. She thanked me again and I said something like, “Sure, maybe I’ll see ya around.” “I’ll probably see you tomorrow, thank you,” she replied and I headed off. Then I went back to give her a Bible study and took off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry on campus and for Evangelism today of you got a chance, God was truly with me to bless my steps.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you are doing great and life in the Lord is sweet. I had a good day on campus. Maria prayed to receive Jesus Thursday and I went through the Gospel with a guy Abdul a guy from a Muslim family who took a copy of the Gospel with him and a pamphlet, “Jesus and the Quran”.

Maria was sitting in one of the cubbies that look down out over the lounge in the Science building. She had straight brown hair past her shoulders; she has a pretty Latina face, was petite and was wearing a tan coat with a broad collar and a double breasted front. She wore jeans and white Converse All-stars. She wasn’t sure she had much time, 10 minutes she thought, (or maybe wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to me for long) so I said she could just answer the couple main questions and she said OK. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked why He should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I’ve done nice things on Earth I’ve helped many people in different ways.” She said she went to Catholic Church each week. When I asked what God had done to take away her sins she kind of guessed Baptism so I said that took away her original sin. (As an aside here: This is according to St. Augustine, but I am not an Augustinian I am a Baptist. I don’t believe that the Scripture teaches original sin but just a propensity toward sin [sin nature] so we do not have Adam’s guilt. So for the purposes of a Romanianist belief about the condition of infants it is usually too complicated to get into in contact evangelism. This is the Baptist Position if you wish to look at it http://peterlumpkins.typepad.com/peter_lumpkins/2013/09/baptist-confession-of-1679-all-little-children-dying-in-infancy-saved-by-the-grace-of-god.html  I went on to talk about the sins that you commit that God takes away so I said, “This is how it works,” And I began to teach her the Gospel, the imputed righteousness of Christ. I told her that though we should do good things to please God or we would be hypocrites, our good things can’t fix our bad things. But Jesus had to die so we would not have to in Hell. She had thought she had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. She listened and took it all in and so I suggested as an adult she needed to say to God where she landed, if she trusted in Christ to save her. She said she wanted to be forgiven so I talked her through a prayer and asked if that expressed the desire of her heart. “Umhum,” she replied so I suggested she could pray that prayer and God could forgive her because she was trusting in Jesus. She prayed silently then and I explained living “inside out” writing “by the Spirit’s power” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and since she did not have a Bible I gave her one showing her the “Where to Turn” section to help her and wrote her name, the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained that if she was trusting in the Righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was not 100%. I gave her a Bible study on “Doubt” and said I would keep her in my prayers. She thanked me and I headed out to a chiropractors appointment to try to get rid of some of the tension in my neck causing my headaches.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism Thursday if you had a chance, God truly blessed. Today we are meeting a student for a late lunch and then I am going overnight on a camp out with 3 of our godchildren, upon which it will be my privilege to freeze. Please pray it remains warmer than expected tonight.

Love ya,

Bob