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

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you are walking with the Lord in Joy!  I had a good day on campus and Jada prayed with me to receive Jesus. And Mark, who committed to Christ yesterday saying he would pray later, showed up at Bible Study tonight and had prayed the prayer I showed him. So that was great. Thirteen students have prayed to receive Jesus this fall, and tomorrow we’ll have a book table for the clubs and activities day.

Jada was sitting on the edge of the lounge in the BIC, just down from the big lounge where we have Bible Study.  She was an athletic, African American, (a Cheerleader/gymnast). She had been out of the Church she’d grown up in for a few years, but had just started to go back to Church. She lived in Naperville but went into Maywood, attending Rock of Our Salvation.  She wore black leggings and a black t-shirt with gold letters on the front that I never quite got the right angle on to read. She had her hair up in a bun with a hair band around it just over her forehead and fuzzy sandals with black and white stripes of fake fur. She had a cute nose and face, sweet kid.  Looked a little like her favorite athlete Gabby Douglas the Olympic Gymnast. She really seemed to have no knowledge of salvation however. When I asked her why God should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I’m gifted.” She was 100% sure she would go to Heaven when she died. When I asked her, “What’s the big thing that happened to take away your sin?” she hesitated, thinking a bit and said, “God does it.” So I said that was true and that He does it with Jesus. I explained how she had to be perfect and she agreed she couldn’t be. Then I went on to explain that God is just, and we damage His stuff as everything belongs to Him. So seeing we could not pay for our sins, Jesus dies for us. “He does both things?” Jada asked, meaning He is the judge who lays the sentence of death and also the satisfaction of the sentence, dying for us to give life. “Yes” I said. “He does it all.” And I said He offers it to those who believe and want to follow Him. When I explained what God had done, and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, she said, “That makes sense.” I said that God wanted from her what she would want in a man she might marry one day, “You want to be able to believe him and he believe you. You want trust. If you will put your trust and faith in Jesus and what He has done, God says then He will forgive you and you can begin a relationship with Him.   Then His Spirit lives inside you and gives you the strength to live the Christian life.’ She wanted to be forgiven and so I offered her the prayer she could pray and tell God she believed, so he could live inside her. Asking her if she would like to pray and she said “Yes.” And Jada prayed to receive Jesus. So that was great. She thought she might be able to come to Bible Study every other week. I explained living the Christian life “Inside out” by the Spirit. I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven “ in the front, telling her she could remember. Then I showed her a couple chapters and said, “Everything that this book asks you to do, you do by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.” As I would make another point with her she said a few more times, “That makes sense.” I also gave her a Bible study and got her email so that was great. “Thanks so much,” she said. “It was nice to meet you.” “It was nice to meet you too,” I said shaking her hand 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 walking with the Lord. I got home to find they had turned my front side walk into a big a asymmetrical mermaid tail. I called them and they reshaped the forms and the sidewalk after I got pretty upset with them, maybe needlessly. But everything turned out ok and I went through the Gospel with the guy who came out to fix it while I helped him dig out the new path. (Man, am I glad I do not dig earth for a living, Luke 16:3). The stairs were visibly out of square too so hey at least they didn’t pour it yet because I’m pretty sure I’d have to live with it. But Justin & Nick prayed with me to receive Jesus today and Mark committed to Christ saying he thought he would pray the prayer after class.

I got a bad night’s sleep and got up early to greet the concrete demo team and then left them to go to School (unwisely it turned out). When I started walking through the building I had a thought I should head over to the science building (it turned out God just wanted me on the road to there). I kind of thought I would take the short cut outside so I looped around finding no conversations and went out the doors at the Cafeteria seeing some students on benches on the path over to the Science building crossing the road. I headed to them and found Justin who had a shirt with something about cows on it I could never really read. He wore tan cargo shorts and had sandy hair kind of swept up on top of his head like if Superman’s hair was curlier, had freckles. He was thin and looked a young 17. Justin said he would talk with me and answer some questions. It turn out he had gone to his grandparents church in the city most of his life. When I asked him what he would say to God to let him into Heaven he said, “Because I feel like I’ve lived a good life, grown up Christian, went to Church, I always give I never take. I tried to live my life as it is.” Maybe he meant he didn’t complain? He thought he had a 70% chance of going to Heaven saying as a qualifier, “I don’t go to Church all the time.” It was obvious as he talked a bit he thought his good religious behavior was all God wanted. I explained to him that his good stuff couldn’t fix his bad stuff. “Like say you got a girl friend for about 3 weeks and you thought she was pretty cool then you find out she’s cheating on you and stealing your stuff, so you cut her loose. She comes around in about a week and she’s like, “Oh Justin I know I did you 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 boyfriends.’ You’d be like that doesn’t help me at all because you can’t do good things over there to fix you bad things back here.” When I personalized it he saw that was true I explained we couldn’t be perfect but Jesus was perfect and His righteousness can be imputed to us. I explained the rest of the Gospel to him and he hadn’t thought about it. He wanted to be forgiven. I told him something like, you know you grow up in the Church and you have your parents faith and you agree with everything but when you get out on your own you have to decide for yourself what you will believe. I asked him if telling God he wanted to trust in Christ to be forgiven for his sins was something he had done or something hadn’t done yet. He said, “As I mature that’s something I want to do.”  So I read him through the prayer in the booklet I used part of and said if he wanted to he could pray that silently and he would be forgiven and God would live inside him. “So would you like to do that?” Yeah sure,” he replied and took the booklet from me and prayed to receive Jesus. He was glad when I told him he could keep the booklet I had scribbled in and I showed him some verses on living the Christian life inside out. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and “forgiven” and the date inside. I also showed him a couple chapters and explained everything God was asking him to do He would give him the power to do by the Spirit. I had taken longer than I had told him and he gratefully ran off to class.

Mark was sitting on the floor in a north/south hallway in the BIC. He had dark blonde hair and was wearing a button down short sleeve shirt. Had a smattering of facial hair. He had an interesting voice a bit like he was talking with a mouth full of lettuce and an Eastern European accent to boot. I struggled a little to understand him but followed ok. He described himself as an “Eastern Catholic”. When I asked him what he would tell God to get into Heaven he said, “Because I prayed the rosary every day.” He also said he went to confession and was getting into his faith the last year of high school more even driving himself to Church when his mom didn’t go.  He listened to the Gospel closely and I helped him understand he would have to be perfect. I explained the Catholic Priest as a representative who was telling him God forgave his sins, because God was just and Jesus had paid for his sins. He wanted to be forgiven saying he was a Catholic and so he of course would believe everything I had said. When I walked him through the prayer he could pray he was very interested but said, “I have a half an hour after class I will pray this then.” So I said I had a book for him and gave him Bible Promises for You. I told him the parable of the King and his feast where the guy gets thrown into Hell for wearing the wrong clothes saying that was the righteousness of Christ he was not wearing the garment given him by God. But that if he trusted in the righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Do you believe Jesus is God died for your sins and rose from the dead and do you trust in that to make you right with God and go to Heaven?” I asked. “Yes,” he answered so I shook his hand saying then his sins were forgiven. He gave me his email and I gave him a Bible study so I’ll be able to ask him if he prayed after class as he intended. I talked him through a symbolic view of the mass for Sundays too. He was thankful.

Nick was sitting in the hallway on the south side of the BIC. He was wearing a pretty prominent steel cross and a T-shirt with a dove symbol on it. He had an inch high afro, wore glasses, looked and talked like a smart kid, a kind face, good looking guy with green pants with a lot of quilted stitched lines straight across the legs. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Ooo I never thought about that ever before. I’m not gonna lie to you, I don’t know. The good things you do don’t outweigh the bad. So it would be tough to answer. You can’t say you’re a good person.” He thought his chances of going to Heaven were 60-40 saying he was the least terrible person of all his friends and then more or less saying that didn’t count for much. “You can’t do anything perfect,” I said agreeing with him. “See what I’m saying?” he replied. He followed closely with the Gospel as I launched into it conversationally and then took out a booklet so he would have some Bible verses in print. A guy came by and asked what we were talking about and I said Jesus and he gave Nick 4 chapters to read in the Bible on a scrap of paper so Nick took them and the guy walked off without introducing himself. I guess he did not realize I was sharing the Gospel. I finished explaining how Christ had lived a perfect life for him keeping the law and told the story in Matthew 22 again about the King that throws a guy into Hell for wearing the wrong clothes to explain imputed righteousness. “That’s a great story,” he said liking the explanation. And I said it was one of Jesus’. He wanted to be forgiven and so when I offered him the chance to receive Christ and pray he wanted to and prayed to receive Jesus. We talked some more. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front along with “By the Spirit’s Power” explaining the Christian life. He talked about his mom a lot saying he did not have a father, just a twin sister. She was very religious but the advice she was giving him seemed to suggest he needed to cling to faith (try harder) and pray but not really the right details. And he had not understood the Gospel. She also had not mentioned walking by the Spirit. He said he was going to ask his mom the question I had asked him and he planned it out saying he was going to wait until she got home and had her feet up. He took an extra booklet and I gave him a Bible Promises for You book for her and he said he kind of wanted to keep it. I gave him a Max Lucado book on prayer for her then too, since I didn’t have another copy with me. I got his email, gave him a Bible Study and taught him about living the Christian life, “Inside out”. He was grateful and I got up to leave and said, “God bless you.” and he said, “God bless you too.” “Thanks,” I said and headed down the hall. I’ll pray for his mom when I prayer him. Really a great conversation.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed real good. 🙂

In Him,

Bob