Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with God in Christ. I had a good day on campus and the Bible study was well attended we had 14 students. And LaTerrance prayed with me to receive Christ.

LaTerrance was the last guy I talked to headed over to the locker I used for my coat on my way out. African American, big guy here to play sports I assume. He had on designer jeans with zippers sewed into the legs below and above the knees and distressed denim in stitched crimped rows. I’ve seen a couple guys with jeans like them at school. His hair was short on the sides with an afro lose and rough on top, had a mustache and some bushy beard across his jaw line. Good looking guy. When I asked him what he would say if God asked him why He should let him into heaven he said, “I really wouldn’t have anything to say at that point… I kinda like get what I deserve at that point. You listen to some type of word, help people out and stuff [you’d] probably be doing pretty good.” He had gone to church some but did not know what God had done to take away his sins saying, “Why don’t you explain that to me.” So I did and told him how Christ had died and “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, it turns death into life, there’s death inside us from our sin so how you can be alive inside and you match God and He can live inside you. Christ becomes a life giving Spirit.” I explained how the earned righteousness of Christ was to his credit and the Bible says in Isaiah one day we will be wrapped in a robe of Christ’s righteousness and in the New Testament it says we are clothed with Jesus. If he received this he could be forgiven by faith. “God’s not like a bad girl-friend that says when you apologize, ‘We’ll see how you do.’ He forgives you because Christ has already paid for your sins. He saw the future and knows how He will turn it into good.” I asked if He wanted to be forgiven for his sins and he said he did. I asked if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead and he said he did. “So would you want to place your trust in that to be forgiven?” I asked. “I think I would,” He said in realization. I talked him through the prayer and asked if he’d like to pray it silently in his heart. “I already did,” he replied. “I did it while you were reading it.” I gave him a Bible as he only had a copy of “The Message” and wrote his name in the front. I  gave him a Bible study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do to read, writing “By the Spirit” in the front, already having explained that the Christian life was living inside out, asking God to change us on the inside by his power.  He gave me his email to send him another Bible study and thanked me and I shook his hand and told him I would pray for him for the next year. He was grateful.

I got a couple other seeds planted CJ took the student edition of The Case for Faith to read and was really appreciative so I hope he will be lead in, I’ll pray for Him.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed and we have a new brother in Christ in LaTerrance.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you day was blessed today, hey April showers bring may flowers as they say so we got some [popping up from the bulbs in front already but it is opening day at Wrigley so I hope it stops. I had a good day of sharing on campus, (in spite of my limited ability to use a pen having gouged my finger on a saw on the weekend) and Chad prayed with me to receive Jesus.

He was sitting on a corner lounge as you exit the first floor of the BIC. He had a grey Chicago Fire t-shirt on and a Cubs hat turned around backward. Light brown hair. He said he’d help me out and answer some questions, and he blessed me by coming to Christ so he did. He had a beard trimmed medium short and a mustache. He said he went to Catholic Church his whole life and went through confirmation but hadn’t gone to church in a while. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died, stood before him and was asked why he should be let into heaven he said, “I did right by everyone in my life and lived for others.” He was a nice guy, thin, about my height. He zeroed in on the Gospel as I went through it and when I said God transfused His life into us like a Blood transfusion by making us His type, taking away our sin, he said, “Nice.” And when I finished the idea of imputed righteousness he said, “Awesome.”  He said he’d want to be forgiven so I talked him through a prayer he could say. I then said, “Or is this something you think you’ve done trusting in Christ for forgiveness?” “No I haven’t done this,” he replied. “This is a whole different way of looking at things, cool new insight.” And he took the booklet from me and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him the Book, 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Power of the Spirit” in the front. He didn’t have a bible and so I gave him one writing his name in the front with the date and he said, “Awesome.” I mentioned it was opening day and he said he’d felt tingly all day. I said it was great to see one more cub fan come into Christ. He thanked me and I said no problem and headed out as he had to run to class.

So that was great, Right after that I talked with Daniel (long hair to mid bicep and beard wearing a black rock band shirt Latino). He raised Catholic thought the Gospel was too good to be true. So I gave him a Rose publication on blessings for courage and hope. He felt like when you did things that were wrong you had to carry it through life. I said hey I could be wrong I’m just a guy but I believe God can make all things into good and he might pray and ask God for guidance about it.  I hope he sees what is true. I had a couple other seeds I planted with a couple kids (Eugene and Sadie) who were not sure.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in the Lord. It is warming up here. I had a great day on campus encouraged a doubting Christian kid and gave him some materials, encouraged another budding shy leader type gave him some stuff too, got a guy tracking towards the biblical view of antiquity in another conversation and Josephine prayed to receive Christ.

Josephine was sitting on the second floor of the BIC on some chairs in the hall across from a lounge. She had brown curly hair, very short boyish cut on the sides. She wore straight leg jeans (not the skinny stylish kind) green athletic shoes and a zipped up hoodie with a black and white striped shirt on. There was not a trace of make-up on her face, a kid, tom-boy cute like if Lyle Lovett had a cute daughter, which he might not be able to do. She was up for doing a survey, though it turned out she had only been to Church 3 times in her life 2 times to a catholic church I think for weddings and one to a Baptist church for a baptism, “The only other times were for funerals. I liked the Baptist one because they sang,” she said. She thought she had maybe a 50% chance of going to heaven. When I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into heaven she said, “Ah… I’m not a good Christian. I do think kindness should get paid for… I guess that.” She listened closely to the Gospel, often repeating softly the things I said right after me, took it all in and when I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven she shook her head yes. I asked her if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead and she said, “I’d have to, there’s lots of pretty things here.” Which when you think about it had He not died for sins there might not be many pretty things left on earth. I explained the prayer she could pray and when I asked her if she’d like to pray it she nodded and as I glanced over she was first reading it then looking away and praying the words. I explained the Christian life to her living “inside out” and since she did not live far away I gave her a card for the Compass Church in Wheaton telling her my folks used to go there and there was singing. She took that and a copy of 20 Tings God Can’t Do and a Bible study to go through. She had a Bible passed down to her from her Uncle Diago who was a pastor, he seemed to live in the south west somewhere. She didn’t look the least bit Latina, but hey. I shook her hand and said good bye and she seemed content.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you felt the presence of the Lord. I had a good day on campus and two girls Amber and Cydney each prayed to receive Jesus.

Amber was sitting in a lounge on the NW corner, 2nd floor of the science building. Her friend had just walked off and left his stuff so I thought I could get her to chat. She was up for doing a survey. She had her hair up and had very fair skin with African American features, full lips and the occasional freckle, cute sensitive girl. She had a light blue pull over and grey yoga pants on with her legs tucked up on the couch beside her. I sat on the end table on her left. When I asked her what she’d say to God if asked why God should let her into heaven she said, “Because even though I did sin in the past, I did things appropriately. I help others, that’s why I am going to school to become a respiratory therapist and help my family out when they have a health condition.” She thought she’d have a 90% chance of going to heaven 10% on the down side. She gave words of affirmation to each break in the Gospel narrative I laid out for her as I went through it, which was great. When I asked her if she knew what Jesus had done to forgive her sins though she just said, “Yes” the way you say it when you don’t really know the answer, and I could see she didn’t know.  I explained all of it to her and she wanted to be forgiven.  I asked her if she had been trusting in Jesus knowing she’d be forgiven or if she thought God was merciful and He’d forgive her. “I knew I’d be forgiven.” So I asked again, “Because you were trusting in Jesus or [just] because God was merciful.”  Pressing to find out if her heart matched her original response listing her good intentions as we began. “Because he was merciful.” she replied. It turned out she hadn’t been trusting in Jesus. So I talked her through the prayer and she said, “Thanks, this really hit me. I appreciate you giving this to me!” I offered her the prayer again and she said, “Right now.” I said yes and she said, “Oh OK.” and prayed silently to receive Jesus. I gave her a Bible because she did not have one of her own and wrote her name and the date in the front. She seemed thrilled to have her own Bible having said she just had a family Bible at home. She took the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study which I explained through the miracle of Jesus walking on the water but it did not seem like she had heard the story. I got her email to send her some stuff too so I’ll send her a link to a church also. I told her I would be praying for her and she said, “Thank you so much Bob!” And I headed out.

Cydney was waiting for a friend sitting on some hall chairs in the BIC building and did not want to do a survey. She had a pretty, round, soft-featured face, kind of a pug nose, cute. She was wearing a trench coat looking short jacket and looking at her phone. She looked like another girl I know and that threw me, not placing that at first I thought we might have talked before. I would pay a lot for total facial & name recall after talking to so many peeps. “I get these all the time,” she said. So I asked her if she’d answer just one question and she reluctantly agreed so I asked her if she died why God should let her into heaven. “What would I say…” she said but she could not think of a response so I asked if she’d like to know what the Bible said about it or just read a little booklet on her own.. “I’ll take a booklet.” she said. She said she went to church so I started slipping the Gospel in as I gave her the booklet, she was open and as I got to the end I showed her a prayer she could pray and then paged back reading the verses about receiving Jesus and being saved by faith. I offered her the prayer then asking her if she’d like to pray to be forgiven and her countenance changed a bit and she just softly said, “Yes.” Then she prayed silently to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her a bit and asked if she’d like a book, I was delaying her a bit. But I explained the power of the Spirit and offered her 20 Things God Can’t Do talking her through a bit of it and writing “By the Spirit” in the front. “I’ll actually take that book,” she said interested. I apologized for sneaking stuff in on her and she said she didn’t mind, “I was actually waiting for my friend to get out of class but now I’ve missed her,” she said looking at her phone. So I said I was sorry again and she was fine. “God bless you,” I said getting up to go. “Thank you,” she said sweetly, “God bless you too.” Sometimes being sweet gets ya saved.

My day ended as I found one more girl Tania (tanya) who said she would think about praying later, bumped into one of the bible Study peeps who prayed to receive Jesus a couple years ago who is from Africa, Felica and gave her a ride to Jewel where she works. Ellen and I had been steering her away from a bad boy-friend and now she has a new guy interested in her from Africa she has been messaging who is a Christian, we talked a bunch about that so the day ended quite well.

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 yesterday and today has been a good day.  I’ll be headed out to campus today, though it being Friday before Spring break if it is a ghost town I may not find anyone to talk too. 🙂 Kallie prayed with me to receive Christ on Thursday.

Kallie was sitting on a bench by the elevators on the ground floor of the MAC arts building. She had a winter cap on reddish brown very short hair. She was dressed kinda artsy had wild patterned sweats on and an oversized green fatigue jacket, no make-up, sweet young kind of face. She did not want to do a survey for the Bible study group at all and informed me her dad worked with the youth groups at her church. So I asked her if she wanted to answer the million dollar question and she said, “Yes”. So I asked her if she was hit by a bus and dead what she would say to get into heaven. She said she had done good things. I asked her if I could tell her what the Bible said and that it was different, and she was cool with that so I sat down and began going through the Gospel. She really liked the word pictures I used to explain the Gospel. She wanted to be forgiven with Christ living inside her. So to try to find out what she was trusting in I asked her about when she asked for forgiveness, if she was thinking she was a pretty good person and God being good and gracious would forgive her or if she had thought, well I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.  She didn’t really answer the question directly but said, “Well I know I was forgiven but I think you have to do good things too.” So I said that is not what I was asking I was asking if she was trusting in what Jesus had done for her forgiveness since based on what she had said when I first asked she said God would look at her good actions. “Well I guess I really wasn’t trusting in that since I didn’t say it when you asked.” She decided to ask for forgiveness she didn’t think she had every really asked God to forgive her based on what Christ had done for her.  So she prayed quietly and seemed bright and happy afterwards.  I explained living the Christian life “inside out” by the Spirit and gave her things to read. I gave her the book  20 Things God Can’t do writing by the Spirit in the front. I gave her a Bible study and a rose Publication pamphlet 100 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus.

Evil in the world

I went through the Gospel with a Girl named Kaitlynn who was losing her faith in one of the world religions classes that attacks Christianity at school Thursday as well.  So I will be praying for her. I gave her the student edition of The Case for Faith showing her the chapter on the problem of evil which the teacher had really leaned on saying Christians had to have an answer for all who died in the tsunami that killed so many in Indonesia and a Rose Publication on the veracity of Scripture. I explained that all the people who died in the tsunami were going to die at some point and though it was sad so many had died on one day, no more people had died that day that were going to die. The real issue is death and where you go afterwards. I told her that the problem is often stated that there is evil in the world and God is not good or He would do something about the evil or he is not all powerful and can’t stop it. “You just add time to this.” I said. “God is doing something about the evil in the world and is powerful enough to do so He just is not doing it right away or in the time you want Him too. If He stopped evil immediately he’d have to kill everyone.” I said the real answer for me if someone asked me this ‘Why is there evil in the world?” Is because I am not doing enough about stopping it. But God wants to live inside us and heal the evil of the world. I hope it helped some. She took the materials with her. I explained the problem of evil was also a problem for every other world view, atheists do not have an explanation for the evil in the world either. In fact they struggle to say what goodness is without God. Someone has to be all powerful and all-knowing to know and do the good based on outcomes.  You have to be all knowing to know what action you do will actually result in good when you’ve done it and you have to be all powerful to continue to insure a good result from your action henceforth. So only God can know and do the Good. I hope I helped her some but the conversation left me sad that college destroys the fiath of so many.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism Thursday if you had a chance. God blessed in Kallie and I hope some seeds were planted.

Blessings,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed.  I had a great day walking with the Lord. Stephanie, Lexy and Blexendi Each prayed with me to receive Jesus today at school.

Stephanie was sitting on a bench with some time before class and was happy to do a student survey, she went to St. Mary’s Church. She looked Latina, pretty had kinda square framed glasses and sharp features, long brown hair past her shoulders. She wore a white knit sweater and a jacket, warm smile. When I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into heaven she said, “I’ve always tried to follow God, when I had times of doubt I would… do my best. She thought she had about a 60% chance of going to heaven.  We had a nice talk since she wanted to go to Australia and I went there once, she wanted to swim with jellyfish on an Island called Palou. Ginger Zee Travels to Palau’s Jellyfish Lake

I almost ran out of time before her class talking too long bout travel things. i finally got back to the Gospel. I explained how God lived inside her by talking away her sins making her His type. So He died for her and poured out His blood, that poured out His life on the World (giving us life by His Spirit 1Corinthians 15:45) and He made life all the places we made death, ‘There is death inside us from our sin so the bible says the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, it turns death into life. So now you are alive inside and you match God and God can live in you.” She said, “Wow, I have been going to church my whole life and I never understood this and you just explained it in 10 minutes.” I went on to tell her about the imputed righteousness of Christ. Then she said she had to get to class since she had a test to take.  So I quickly explained a few more verses about receiving Jesus by faith and she said she wanted to be forgiven for her sins and I offered her a prayer and she prayed it to receive Jesus.  I gave her the booklet quickly explaining living “inside out” buy the power of the spirit and Zwingli’s view of the symbolic mass, remembering when she took it she was forgiven because Jesus had died for her, which she liked.  She seemed kind of happily taken aback by what she had learned. I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness she could know that she would go to heaven, 100% [Philippians 3:9 ]. I gave her the book Pocket Prayers, Bible Promises for You and a Bible Study and encouraged her if she wanted another one to email me. She shook my hand as she stood up to go and warmly said, “Thank you.” Then ran to class.

Lexy was sitting in the Mac Arts building, she seemed to be studying looking at some flash cards but I chatted up a Christian girl I knew for a bit and then took in the Gallery display. She was sitting idly then as I walked out of the gallery so I asked her if she wanted to do a survey. She had 10 minutes or so and agreed to talk. I made sure to stay on point and get through all the verses. She described herself as “Artsy” and she looked it, she had on yoga pants with a colorful pattern on them and Ugg boots, light sandy hair kind of a diamond shaped face, pretty girl, seemed shy. She had gone to Catholic school but did not go to church lately and was sure she was going to heaven. When I asked her what she would say if God asked her why He should let her into heaven she said, “‘Cause I’ve been looking out for people, I never lost sight of that.” “Love your neighbor,” I replied. “Yeah,” she said. “Jesus said that” I responded. I began to teach her the Gospel and she responded with short words of affirmation all through it like “wow”. She knew Christ had died but had not trusted in Him to be forgiven. So I explained how she could pray a prayer accepting God’s forgiveness and thanking Him for dying on the cross to forgive her and give her eternal life. I asked her if she would want to pray to be forgiven and she said, “Yeah… for sure.” and she prayed to receive Christ. I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name, the date and “By the Spirit” having explained the Christian life living “Inside out” transformed on the inside by His Power to live. I gave her the book Pocket Prayers and a Bible Study she liked.  I told her I would keep her in my prayers each night through the spring and then for a year after and she said, “Thank you that’s so sweet.” I said goodbye and headed off.

Blexendi’s name was a combination of his parent’s names. He is from Haiti. He had a strong face, mustache and a beard with jacket on, he was sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria. “They call me Blex” he said. He said his parents were Roman Catholic and Baptist. He had many questions about reincarnation and History and we talked for about an hour. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and were asked why He should let him into Heaven he thought for a while and uncertainly said, “I guess because I have a good heart, I suppose.” When I asked him how likely it was he would go to heaven he said, “I have no idea.” As I went through the Gospel he asked me many clarifying questions. I explained the Bible was validated by prophecy and some of what Jesus had fulfilled. (I got his email at the end to send him a Bible study on fulfilled prophecy.) I explained that God was not in everything or even everyone in answer to his queries. He said he had not felt a closeness to God in prayer and I explained that though God was with him he was not in Him unless he had trusted in Christ to pay for his sins by faith. He asked if God couldn’t be in everyone and I said he could not unless they were made like Him. (Later in thinking about this God could be in them, at least for the microsecond it would take for them to be destroyed as ontologically they could not contain Him if still in their sin, God cannot be one with sin.) He wanted to be forgiven and I said it hadn’t seemed like he had trusted in Christ and he reminded me of his answer to my question about what he would say to God pointing out he had struggled with an answer having not known. I explained faith was a gift and asked if deep in his heart he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead, he thought just a moment and said, “Yes.” So asked if he would want to place his trust in that to be forgiven and talked him through the prayer. He took up the booklet and then asked me another question. I answered (I believe one about prayer) then he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him Pocket Prayers and 20 Things God Can’t Do. I also gave him a Bible study on Jesus claims to be God and the Student Edition of The Case for Faith. He was grateful and thanked me and I headed out.

So Thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism Thursday if you had a chance. God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had another great day on campus talking with students. I encouraged some Christians before class and Jamelle, Theresa and Ymari (E-mari) each prayed with me to receive Christ today after I got out of my class at 3 PM.
Jamelle, an African American with strong dark features, was sitting on the couches just outside the cafeteria. I asked him as I headed in if he wanted to do a student survey for our Bible Study group.  “I’m not a student here,” he replied and I said, “Well would ya like to do one anyway and learn something about God?” He said no. So I headed into the cafeteria and said hi to some peeps I knew but couldn’t find anyone new to talk to. When I came out, I walked by Jamelle again. He was wearing stone washed jeans and a puffy coat with thin horizontal stitching a red t-shirt and had his hair in braids with the ends dyed multiple bright colors. I walked past 10 feet, but I felt like I was supposed to talk to him, so I went back and offered him, “a booklet that would tell you how to get to Heaven.” He said he’d take one and as I handed it to him I began to explain Christianity to him a bit to see if he would listen a little. He kept listening, so I kept talking until I had gone through the Gospel a bit and I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven if God asked him. He said something like he tried to do good things, “though I do some bad”. “So you hope your good things will out-number your bad things?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied. So I explained more of the Gospel to him. It turned out he lived in Rockford and went to church out there, though he was originally from Chicago. I explained Christ’s imputed righteousness to him and how God could turn bad things into good in his life, that the real answer to the question why he should be let into Heaven is “because Jesus died for me.” I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven and have God live inside him or thought something else. “I’d want to be forgiven,” he replied. So I walked him through the prayer and asked him if he would want to pray to receive Christ quietly in his heart. That if he’d like to, God would hear. ‘Yeah,” he said and took the booklet from me and prayed.  I then explained the Christian life to him a bit more and offered him a book. He did not want one to read but the Bible Promises for You book looked good to him and he took that to have. “Thanks for letting me tell you some stuff. I know you don’t go here and some freak walks up and wants to talk to you about God. I understand how you’d have some reservations.” He shook my hand and I walked down the hall. I had been at school for several hours already, but I had thought I’d do evangelism for an hour after class. I was only about a half hour in, so I headed over to the MAC with no success as the school had emptied out. I passed Jamelle again through the tunnel coming out and he was really friendly, so that was good. He was looking for a friend who was taking “Music arts” classes.  I told him “Well this is the MAC arts building so that’s where he’d be.” I asked him a question about where he was from and said, “God bless ya man.” “Alright, you too.” And we headed in opposite directions like the Ethiopian and Philip.
I felt prompted to go to the PE building and had 20 minutes left on my plan not to run myself into the ground over much. Theresa and Ymari were sitting at the same table two girls had come to Christ at earlier last semester.  They said they’d do a survey with me. I sat beside Theresa and Ymari sat beside her.  They both had their hair up in two buns like mouse ears. Theresa had a longer, slightly squared face and her hair was in a lot of braids which she said took her 2 hours to put up herself. Ymari had straight hair in her buns. She was a bit smaller in stature with a red and white jacket on. Both were cute kids. Theresa answered the question of what she would say to God if she died and He asked her why He should let her into heaven, “I’m saved, baptized.” She said later she went to church and followed God, (she also recited John 3:16 as I read it). Ymari said, “I’ve left a positive mark.” But they both thought they only had a 50/50 chance of going to heaven. “You know you follow but then you stray sometimes,” Theresa said. I let Ymari answer when I asked what the big thing Jesus did that took away their sins and she said “He died on the cross.” I explained how they had to be perfect to go to Heaven (pointing out Theresa had said she wasn’t) so Jesus earned the righteousness of God and died for them. They both were very attentive to the gospel though Theresa looked like she was under conviction a bit. I asked if they would want to be forgiven and they both said yes. I said I know they both knew the story of what Jesus had done but they had to trust in Jesus and not just “leaving a good mark”. I asked Theresa if when she asked for forgiveness if she had been trusting in Jesus or in being a good enough person. At first she said “a little of both” and then got a smirk on her face and I said, “So not really trusting in Jesus at all.” She laughed a half laugh then and said that was right.  So I offered them a prayer they could each pray and got out another booklet offering them to each that they could pray silently to the Lord and be forgiven. And each of them then did. I explained the Christian life was living in the power God gave them and the fruit of the Spirit always asking for God’s help.  I gave them each a Bible study and a copy of the book 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining how anything God asked them to do He gave them the power to do.  I wrote their names in the books and the date and they liked that and told them I would pray for them each night.  They each gave me their e-mail and thanked me and then one of the black guys pulled me aside to chat me up about some girl for a while. I finally left at 5:30, worn out, having talked up several other students with questions as I headed out but I thought, man I have a great job.
 

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and evangelism on campus today God truly blessed me and the work.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I got tied up in conversations with several people I knew on campus and only got to go through the Gospel today with 2 people. One guy was a Christian, and Shanice prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Shanice was sitting alone at a set of tables, eating a salad, in the big Student Services center Lounge where we have Bible Study.  She had a V-neck t-shirt on and a button blouse pulled over it. Her straight hair was pulled back tight upon her head back into a pony tail. African American, she had an oval face and pretty skin. She was nice and went to a Christian Church. I asked her what she would say to God if asked, “Why He should let her into Heaven?” She thought for a minute with a “Hmm…” so I wrote that down and she said, “I’d say more than that.” And I laughed and said I was just kidding.  She laughed too and then said, “‘Cause I believe in God.” She thought she’d have about an 85% chance of going to Heaven.  She listened closely to the Gospel as I presented it to her and knew Jesus had died for man’s sin. At the end she wanted to be forgiven, so I asked her if, when she asked for forgiveness she was thinking she’d been pretty good person and God was merciful and forgiving or if she’d been trusting in Jesus. At first she thought it was a little of both. “I think when you do something wrong you try to do something to make up for it,” she said. “Yeah to try to balance things out. But you really can’t do that,” I replied. She agreed. “But there are times when things happen [for your benefit] and I know it had to be God,” she said. “I’m not really asking you that,” I replied. “You are right that God is with you. Everyone has a relationship with God because He is their creator, but not everyone is in a relationship with God where He lives inside them because they are forgiven, trusting in Jesus.” She thought about that and decided she had never really trusted in what Jesus had done on the Cross to be forgiven. So I offered her a prayer to accept God’s forgiveness and explained it to her, talking her through it. I told her she could pray it silently like I wasn’t there and she said, “I was kind of praying as you read it,” but she took it from me and prayed. I explained the Christian life, living “inside out” to her and gave her a Bible Study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do. She liked the book and thanked me and was happy. I stood up to go and shook her hand and said “Nice meeting you.” She said, “Nice meeting You!” with an exclamation on the you. So I was really glad to have talked with her.

So that was my day.  Tonight we had Bible Study and an Islamic guy Micheal who has been coming heard most of a presentation on Islam.  He took the notes and asked for some outline pages I had on the Quran from Jay Smith, who is a polemic debater at Speakers corner in London. He wants to develop an apologetic for these things, but the notes from the Bible study were comparative facts with Christianity for the most part. Hopefully Jesus will be able to break through to him when he sees the weakness of the Quran.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and 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. It is supposed to be sunny tomorrow in Chicago and warm, so I am looking forward to it.  I was blessed on campus today and Isaiah prayed with me to receive Jesus. He was sitting at a table by himself in the Student Services Center lounge where we meet for bible study.  He’s African American and had a rough topped afro and a neatly trimmed mustache and bit of a goatee. He was wearing a multi colored blue and black hoodie.  Nice kid. When he told me his name I said, “Did you know the first black guy who came to Christ in the New Testament was reading the book of Isaiah?” He said he hadn’t, so I told him the story quickly and started asking him some questions for our survey. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “I don’t know… What would I say if He asked that?” thinking a bit. “I go to church and pray. I pretty much have an active relationship.” I said, “Of course going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.” I think I heard that at camp as a kid. He nodded in response, but he did not seem to know what I was talking about. He thought he had about a 60% chance of going to Heaven. (I later told him that since he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus this was 100 %.) I began to go through the Gospel with him and said God had to take away his sin to make him God’s type, like a blood transfusion where you have to have the same type of blood to have life transfused into you. “So what is the big thing God does to take away your sin?” I asked. He thought for a bit and said, “I don’t know.”  So I went on to tell him the Gospel and about the righteousness of Christ imputed to him.  He wanted to be forgiven so I said, “It doesn’t seem like you have had a chance to put all this together before,” and he nodded. So I explained he could pray and receive the forgiveness of God by faith and walked him through the prayer, explaining it to him and saying he could pray it silently and be forgiven. He took the booklet from me across the table and silently prayed to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life to him, living “Inside Out” [walking by the Spirit] asking for God’s power to live the Christian life.  I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study to read through on his own and he gave me his email to send him some stuff. He did not want a Bible saying he had one on his phone. “Do you have any other questions about anything or do you feel like you got this down now pretty well?” “I got it” he said. “Yeah I think you do,” I replied and for the first time he got a big smile on his face (he’d been really focused). So I shook his hand and said I would see him in Heaven and headed off glad.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you felt the nearness of God.  I had a good day at campus and got a few conversations going and seeds well planted. Ciara (See AR AH) was a black girl with multiple braids and a pink snow coat on, sitting across some chairs with her legs up in the hall.  She did not want to do a student survey but I asked her if she would like to read a booklet on her own.  She said yes. So in handing it to her I began to go through the Gospel quickly. I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven. She said He’d look at her heart and the things she had done. “So you believe if you do good things you go to heaven?” I asked. “No, not just that but God also looks at your heart,” she replied.  I went through a short version of the Gospel, leaving her the booklet and showing her the prayer and told her how she could pray to accept God forgiveness.  “Oh thank you!” she exclaimed. I also gave her the book Pocket Prayers, and got another enthusiastic “Thank you!” She began to read it as I walked away, encouraging her to pray and tell God she wanted forgiveness, trusting in Jesus.  I went back and got the spelling of her name, telling her I would pray for her.

At the end of the day, Diana, who was a Latina girl, was sitting by the locker I used today.  She had long hair and a cute face. When I asked her what she would say she said “Honestly I would say ‘I regret everything I’ve done and I’m scared to go to Hell.'” She thought she had a 50% chance of going to Heaven, expressing that she had done bad things.  She took in the Gospel and I asked her if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead. She seemed uncertain, but then said she thought deep in her heart she did and wanted to be forgiven.  She had only been to Catholic Church a few times with an aunt as a child. I gave her the Pocket Prayers book and then went back to give her the student edition of The Case for Christ, which I knew to give her (and then had a lapse at the end of the conversation. Just over tired I guess).  So she took it from me cheerfully, thanking me. She was going to think more about it and decide.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry today if you had a chance.  I feel like God led me to a couple peeps who might soon pray to receive Him and seemed very close to the Kingdom of God.

In Him,

Bob