Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with all good things. I had a good day on campus, Jane and Zeke prayed with me to receive Christ and Bridget who had told me on September 12^th she would pray later told me today when I bumped into her she had prayed to receive Jesus, and her mom really like what I had told her when she told her about it.

Jane was sitting on the second floor of the BIC on a pair of stuffed chairs with a circular mini desk on the armrest. She said she’d do a survey and I sat on the other side of the desk. We were in a smaller side lounge half way between the halls. She had an oval pan face and sharp features natural blonde hair down past her shoulders. Nice looking girl, low top Keds on her feat.  She had athletic shorts on and a Marquette T-shirt and came from a Roman Catholic family. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven and without much conviction she said, “I tried to be a good person.” She thought she had a 75% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and I could tell she was very interested. She knew Jesus had died on the cross to take away our sins so I explained that His blood cleansed her and so God then could live inside her and that His righteousness was to her credit. She wanted to be forgiven and I asked if when she asked for forgiveness for her sins she was thinking she knew she’d be forgiven because Jesus had died for her. Or if growing up in the Church she identified with it and just didn’t think much about it but was kind of just hoping she could be good enough. “Yeah more that,” she replied. I asked her if she would want to place her trust in it and pray a prayer to that, she listened and when I asked if she would want to pray silently she said, “Yeah, why not.” I explained living inside out and the work of the Spirit. I told her that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%, “Sick!” she said enthusiastically. I gave her, Bible Promises for You and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven”. She gave me her email to send her another Bible Study. I explained when she participated in the symbolism of the mass she could remember it was to remind her Jesus had died and so she was forgiven. I gave her a Bible study on the deity of Christ too. “Do you have any questions?” I finally asked. “No you’re good at explaining,” she said with a smile. “Thanks, God bless you,” I said.  “God bless you too,” she replied. And I headed out.

Zeke was sitting across from the student activities offices. He had on a red and blue ball cap, jeans and a hoodie, had a cub round face. He looked Filipino and went to a Roman Catholic Church, good looking kid. When I asked him what he would say to God if He said, “Why should let you into Heaven?” This is what he said, “I wouldn’t know. Why would you? I know I’ve committed some wrongs in my life. Can you forgive me for what I’ve done?” He still thought he had a 100% chance of going to Heaven if God forgives and accepts. He listened closely to the Gospel too and said he would want to be forgiven. So I offered him the prayer to receive Christ that expresses thanks to Him for dying for his sins and asking Him to make him the kind of person He wants him to be and asked him if he would want to pray it silently so only God would hear. “Yeah I would pray it silently,” he said and he prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him a Bible study explaining how Jesus claimed to be God. I gave him a Bible explaining why some of the books were not in it but had at one time been added by the Catholic Church. I showed him the “Where to Turn” section and he really liked it.  I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” beneath it. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. He was grateful and I got up to go saying, “Nice to meet you.” “It was a pleasure,” he said sincerely reaching out to shake my hand. “Have a good semester,” I said walking away. “Have a good one,” he called after me. “Yeah you too,” I said and headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today. I was dragging when I first got to school as Tuesdays are a long day but God picked me up.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you had peace in the storms of life. We saw a double rainbow outside, the brightest of which was 180 degrees as the Bible study ended tonight. We have just a few kids. Alyssa prayed with me today to receive Christ.

Alyssa was sitting on the floor in the hallway on the ground floor of the PE building that leads out to the Mac arts outdoor concert area. She was wearing a white and blue pullover and rolled up jean shorts. She had long brown wavy hair a pretty full face and was still tan from the summer. She told me her mother was a priest. I asked her what church and she said Episcopal. She was a nice kid. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she laughed a little nervously and thought a bit and said, “Honestly I don’t know what I would say.” She was certain she would go to Heaven however, 100%. I began to go through the Gospel with her and she knew the story that Jesus had died to take away her sins. I mentioned at one point the Holy Spirit could live inside her and she said, “You mean after you die?” “No, now in this life,” I replied. But I don’t think she had known that before. She accepted what I taught her about the Gospel, sin, atonement and that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and the imputed righteousness of Christ. I quoted; “God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” I have a tattoo that says that,” she said something like “Light comes out of Darkness”. She explained it was on her hip sort of lower so I did not ask to see it. I said that was part of what that verse meant. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven and she said she would. I asked if she was trusting in Jesus for forgiveness. “I definitely believe God is the one [who forgives]. I know if I’ve done something bad I can talk to God.” She said she believed God forgave her but that being human she couldn’t always believe she was forgiven. She talked more about trusting in God. So asking a couple different ways I asked again: When she asked for forgiveness was she was thinking that Jesus had died for her sins and trusting in what He had done for her forgiveness. “No I never thought about Jesus dying,” she finally said. I explained that everyone had a relationship with God as their creator, but not everyone was in a relationship with God trusting in Jesus as their savior. It was trusting in Jesus dying for her that would take away her sins and allow His Holy Spirit to live inside her. If she wanted that relationship then the prayer I had already explained to her was something she needed to pray. Then God could give her the strength to live the Christian life inside out. She decided to pray then to receive Christ and she did. I wrote her name, the date, “Forgiven” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I gave her a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and thinking she might not have much exposure to the Bible given her denomination I gave her a copy of Bible Promises for You writing her name inside. She thanked me and we said goodbye and I invited her to Bible Study.

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

In Him,

Bob

9/24/18

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. I had a good day on campus and Cody prayed with me to receive Christ. I had a good apologetic discussion helping Dustin see all the lies in his religion class and gave him the Student edition of The Case for Christ.  He wasn’t sure about Christianity and he said, “Well you answered everything I asked you I’m glad I told you I would talk. I told you know the first week of school when you asked me.” I said that God probably wants him to wait until he had some questions from his religions class and he agreed. So I hope and I’ll pray he reads the book and lands with Jesus trusting in Him. I gave Kevin a searching student he Student edition of The Case for Faith. One other girl Alexis was close to trusting in Christ.

Cody was sitting in a side lounge in a connecting north-south hallway in the BIC. It turned out his grandfather was a pastor in Elkhart Indiana. So I told him he was probably praying for him and he agreed. He had stick-straight, shortish, dishwater blonde hair. He wore a white hoodie and ripped up jeans and a bit of an overbite, looked like your average Joe. He was into cars and had a 1969 Chevrolet El Camino he wanted to fix up. I talked to him about some stuff I had to do to my Harley exhaust and he’d had a bike with same thing he’d worked on.  When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, ” Oh my g… I don’t know. You ask for forgiveness I know that much.” He listened closely to the gospel and was interested all the way through. He said he’d want to be forgiven for his sins so I said if he wanted to trust in what Christ has done for him on the cross for forgiveness there was a prayer he could pray and I explained it to him asking if he thought it expressed the desire of his heart, “Yeah,” he replied. So I said that if he wanted to be forgiven he could pray silently and asked if he wanted to do it and he hesitated a couple moments thinking and then said, “Yeah.” and he prayed to receive Christ. He had a Bible. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do I explained the Christian life to him living inside out “by the Spirit’s power” writing that in the front. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and I explained everything God was asking him to do He’d give him the power to do. I told him to tell his grandfather I said hi and he said he would. I gave him a Bible study and too and told him I would pray for him. He thanked me and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today God truly blessed, I had a productive day.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and life is good walking in the Spirit. I had a good day on campus and will enjoy the cooler air tonight for sleeping (had to take the AC out of the windows early to stop the stink bugs LOL). Today Sydney and Adi (add e) each prayed with me to receive Christ.

When I got to school, walking in from where I usually park I had a prompting to go to the 3rd floor of the BIC and the elevator was right there so I went up. Most of the school is a ghost town on Friday’s there are fewer classes and kids don’t hang at a commuter school as much being the last day of the week. Walking down the hall Sydney was sitting in a lounge wearing a nursing uniform, matched pants and top in light blue, she had a slight thin stature. Her hair was tiny ring curls down to her chin and she had sharp pretty dark features and an alto voice. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I confess Jesus is the son of God.” I said, “Great.” But she said she had a 75% chance of going to Heaven so I assumed going through the Gospel with her would give her some assurance. As I went through the Gospel with her I asked what Jesus had done to take away her sins she said, “I repent and try not to repeat my sins so I will be forgiven.” I said that was true and quoted 1John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “So that verse says God is just to forgive us,” I said. I explained God could be just in forgiving us because He got paid. I explained that everything belongs to God even us so when we do something wrong we damage His stuff and we owe Him for that, He has to be paid for this damage, and asked, “So how does Jesus make that payment to God?” She didn’t honestly know, though she knew John 3:16 by heart when I quoted it earlier. So I began to explain how Jesus says we have to be perfect (Matt. 5:48) “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  “So if you stood before God he’s be like, ‘Sydney, welcome to heaven, you’re supposed to live a perfect life, did you live a perfect life? Where’s my perfect life?’ And you say ‘I didn’t live a perfect life.’ Then God could say, ‘Well everything here is perfect, I’m perfect everyone here is perfect and this is a perfect place, you don’t fit in here so you have to go to Hell.’ But you’d say that’s crazy then everyone would go to Hell.” I explained Jesus lived a perfect life for us, had died so we do not have to die in Hell and His blood cleansed us so God could live inside us and then I told her God wanted to wrap her in a robe of His righteousness (Is. 61:10). After I had finished she wanted to be forgiven and I explained that it was good that she believed Jesus was God’s son but she needed to add, “Who died for me” writing it next to her answer. I said she was just a couple clicks away. But if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I walked her through it and handed her the booklet, “You want me to read it?” I explained she could pray it silently. She looked down to begin and then looked back at me and said, “I am going to take some time [to pray].” I said I was in no hurry that was fine and she prayed to receive Jesus. She had a Bible and gave me an email address she shared with her sister Samantha. I told her if she trusted in the righteousness of God to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I gave her a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s power” and her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her Bible Promises for You for her 15 year old sister encouraging her to tell her the Gospel and we talked through some other things. “Thank you, I needed this.” I said I would pray for her and I gave her the Rose publication Following Jesus as she expressed some questions it answered. I blessed her and headed out.

I had a couple other good conversations explaining the faith and gave one girl Chloe who was on the edge of belief The Case for Christ student edition.

Adi was wearing a school football jersey and sitting alone at a table in the big lounge where we have Bible study. There were some other students across the lounge socializing dressed the same way. It turned out they were all cheerleaders. She had been asked to start a squad and wanted to get a scholarship in that at her next school. She had very pretty features and (looked like the actress Apollonia who received Jesus as her savior later in life) had fair skin, her hair was straightened down past her shoulders. Seated beside me she seemed pretty tall and had a big white bow in her hair. She went to a Pentecostal church. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “For me, I’ve never been greedy. I’ve always helped others out with what they need. I’ve even put others before myself.” She thought she had an 85% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and she said, “I would be that one,” pointing at the circle with God living inside her. I asked her if she thought she had trusted in Christ as her savior. She had known Jesus had died for her sins, or is that something you still need to do? “I know I might have caught you off guard and this isn’t a trial or something but your answer seemed like you were hoping to be good enough to go to Heaven.” I said if she had not trusted in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray and talked her through it and read the line, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart.” “Well mostly,” she said slowly. I asked if there was a part of it she did not think was true and she seemed unsure what that might be saying “I don’t know…”. So I went on to explain living “inside out” with the Spirit living inside her. I explained there was a difference when you HAVE a relationship with someone or are IN a relationship comparing a friendship to a marriage. “Everyone has a relationship with God He is there creator but not everyone is in a relationship with God where they are trusting in Him as their savior and He lives inside them with His Holy Spirit. So do you think you have just had a relationship with God or have you trusted in Jesus where you are in a relationship with Him and He lives inside you? If you want to be in a relationship with Him and haven’t been that is what the prayer is about.” She understood then and wanted to pray to receive Christ and did. She had “a lot of bibles” she said at home and I talked her through the Christian life and gave her a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s power” and her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I told her the parable from Matthew 22 about the guy who gets thrown into hell for wearing the wrong clothes explaining how we needed to be given Christ’s righteousness. She was grateful and I told her I’d pray for her and headed out as her friends came over to the table. I walked through the lounge a little later and she was still sitting there and waved at me and I waved back and talked to Patrick who had come to Christ recently about life and then went around the school for a bit but it was really empty and I’d been there several hours so finding no one else to talk with I headed home.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. I had a good day on campus and Angelo prayed with me to receive Jesus.

He was sitting in the MAC arts building lounge at a countertop high table not up to much with his phone. He had the short classic Superman hair cut short on the sides. His eyes looked classically Asian, nice smile. I knew from looking at him he was Filipino and he said he wanted to be a Nurse Anesthetist; many Filipinos are nurses in the US. He was raised catholic. He was wearing a wind breaker had a narrow face, slight build. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “That’s a good question…I’m not really sure, I’m not a very religious person. I have my moral values I go by. I’d just be a good person but if you don’t want me in that’s fine.” He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. When I asked him if he’d want to be forgiven for his sins and trust in Jesus he wanted that so I asked if when he, if ever, asked for forgiveness if he thought he would be forgiven because of Jesus. “That’s a really tough question. I usually depend on myself and if I need an outside force to help me, AKA God I ask.” I said if he wanted to be forgiven and be in a relationship with God there was a prayer he could pray. Then I walked him through it but right away went on to explain living the Christian life by the power of God’s Spirit living “inside out”. Then I explained how God provided the fruit of His Spirit to give us the strength to live quoting them and saying these were all things that would be helpful in being a nurse and he agreed with that. “Anything God is asking you to do is when is best for you and He gives you the strength to do it.” I explained.  Then I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins, and rose from the dead?” “Yeah, I do,” he said. “Well if you wanted to place your trust in that and pray to be forgiven God can live inside you and help you with all of the tasks of life wanna do it?” “Yeah,” he said nodding emphatically. And he prayed with me to receive Jesus. I gave him a Bible showing him the “Where to Turn” section writing his name, the date and “forgiven” and a Bible Study. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I told him I would keep him in my prayers and explained that if he would trust in Jesus righteousness to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He was grateful and I thanked him for talking with me, “You made my day, God bless you” He grinned at me and said, “God bless you too.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

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

Tamera was the first person I talked to she was sitting at a counter high table in the back room of the cafeteria. She is a petit 4’11” Black girl. Today she had her hair up in an afro bun with a 3 inch hair band around her head. She wore a bright colored tie-dye with some anime characters on the front and black jeans. Cute kid, small features. She was friendly and used to go to Church with her Grandma in Rockford. She lives locally now. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said. “Umm… I feel like I’d say like, I don’t know… I did a lot of bad stuff in my life but I did more good than bad.” She thought she had an 85% chance of going to Heaven. She listened to the Gospel closely and she knew Jesus had died for her sins. I explained the imputed righteousness of Christ saying she was saved by faith. “You should do good things to please God but your good stuff does not fix your bad stuff.” I went on to tell her the tale I often tell. “Like say you had a boyfriend for about 3 weeks, you thought he was pretty cool but then it turned out he was cheating on you and stealing your stuff, so you cut him loose. He comes around in about a week and he’s like ‘Oh Tamera I know I did you really wrong. I was even stealing your stuff and selling it for drugs, but I just want you to know, I’m gonna be nice to my next three girl friends.’ You’d be like, ‘Yeah that doesn’t help me at all.’  ‘Cause you can’t do good stuff over here to fix your bad stuff there. But that’s what a lot of people think. They’re like, “I’ve done some bad stuff but I I’ve done some good stuff too. My good stuffs gonna fix my bad stuff with God’. But your bad stuffs still out there kicking people around and there’s not much you can do about it. But God says He’ll turn your bad things into good things. It says in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good, for them that love God and are called according to His purpose. So God can take the trajectory of even bad things that happen to you or you have done and turn them into good things–because He is all powerful and knows the future.” I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else. “Probably forgiven,” she replied. So I said if she wanted to there was a prayer she could pray to receive God’s forgiveness and I talked her through it and said if she wanted to you could pray it, not like I would hear, and God could live inside her. “So what do you think I said holding the booklet before her and I waited a while, as she thought (I think reading it silently through again, praying God would penetrate her heart. “Maybe,” she finally said. “It seems right.” So I waited a few moments more and she reached out and took the booklet and I said, “Just pretend I’m not even here.” She prayed to receive Christ. She had a Bible so I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “by the Spirit’s power” in the front and her name and the date and “forgiven” saying she could remember. I told her anything God asked her to do He would also give her the power to do. I gave her a Bible study and asked if she had any questions and invited her to Bible study again as she lived in town. She gave me her email. I headed over to talk to some other black girls, both from Africa who had said hi while we were talking, I’m the godfather for the little boy Eli, one of the girls had recently. I chatted with them and then headed out. I was a ways down the hall almost to the book store and remembering Tamera hadn’t a church I walked all the way back and gave her a card for the Compass church. I hope she will come to Bible Study.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

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

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

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

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you can see God at work by faith. I had a good day on campus trying to walk off the Jet Lag from the bad headache that sidelined me yesterday. Mike & Derick prayed to receive Jesus today and Bridget trusted in Christ understanding the atonement for the first time saying she will pray later. She just joined the woman’s Bible Study at her church so hopefully her understanding will continue.

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

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

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

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

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

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

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

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

In Him,

Bob