Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your Monday was blessed and you enjoyed the unseasonably warm air in IL and elsewhere, they are bracing for sub freezing temps and snow in England, so I’m grateful to live here. Andrew prayed with me to receive Jesus today, He was a nice guy sitting on the third floor overlooking the SSC Lounge where we have Bible Study on Tuesdays. His eyes swept me off and on like he was reading a 5 foot sign I held up against my face, so it was hard to tell if he was listening.  But it turned out he was and wasn’t bothered at all. He wore a red hoodie and khakis had a curly sandy head of hair with a beard trying to come in semi-uniformly. Regular looking guy nice features. When I asked him what he would say to to God to get into heaven he said,”Because I’m forgiven.” He thought he had a 90% chance of going to Heaven. He hadn’t been to the Catholic Church he’d grown up in in a while in Winfield near where I’d grown up. He knew Jesus had sacrificed Himself to forgive sin. After I had explained the gospel and imputed righteousness of Christ, I asked if he wanted to be forgiven and he said he did. So I asked something like if he was trusting in what Christ had done for him on the cross or if he’d though God was cool and would forgiven him because He was magnanimous. “The second one,” he replied. So I said if he wanted to trust in what Jesus had done for him on the cross to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray. I walked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. “Yeah,” he replied so I said he could pray it silently right then and he took the booklet looked at me and said, “Thanks.” and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him a Bible since he did not have one putting his name the date and “forgiven” under it. I showed him the “Where to Turn” section in the back. I also gave him a Bible Study and 20 Thing God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and explained living the Christian life “Inside Out”. I gave him a symbolic view of the Mass saying when he took it if he went back to church at Christmas he could remember Jesus had died for him so he was forgiven and say “Thank You”. I explained  that if he was  trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Thanks a lot.” he said as I got up to leave and I said he was welcome and headed out.

I got some other seeds planted as well giving an atheist Olivia sitting with her Christian friend Leah I’d spoken to before the student edition of The Case for a Creator. I gave a Rose Publication hand out “Bible Promises for Hope and Courage” to a shy girl who thought she’d think about praying to receive Christ later alone, she had nominal belief though. Julia was from a catholic home so I was hopeful when we parted, really tough to read her [Julia] though.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are feeling grateful for the blessings you had this past year and for the Grace He gave through suffering you had to bear. I had a good day on campus on Tuesday and Tom prayed with me to receive Christ. An agnostic Chad took The Case for a Creator and the Rose Publication, “Why Trust the Bible” from me to read and seemed earnest in his desire to believe, long face nice features had his hoodie up the entire time we spoke sitting in the MAC by the elevators.

Tom was sitting in the PE lounge upstairs where you enter the workout area. He was dressed like and had the build of a distance runner. Long mop of curly hair parted down the middle almost to his shoulders, he had a broader nose, fair skinned good looking Latino guy, had a faded red hoodie on and a gray jacked and sweats narrow at the ankles, gray running shoes. He was kind and used my first name when he replied to me or addressed me, seemed like a sensitive soul. He said his family had recently stopped going to Catholic Church, he didn’t directly say the issue but that they had gone because his mom wanted to go, now she didn’t go. I thought at first that meant something for him but it wasn’t his issue but hers. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “I feel like I haven’t done something so terrible that I would not be let into Heaven,” I’ve gotten that kind of response a few times, it seems more often this year for whatever reason. Almost like Heaven is a border crossing, if you are not a felon or wanted for anything serious they let you cross. You don’t even have to do anything good, just not be real bad. Secret of success: Low Standards. He said he thought he had a 65-70% chance of getting into Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died for his sins. He listened to everything I said engagingly. He seemed to accept everything I said and so I offered him the possibility of being forgiven for his sins trusting in the work of Christ on the Cross and His blood to cleanse him. “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins or do you think something else?” I asked. “Oh are you asking me?” he seemed lost in listening a bit. “Yeah that’s the last question,” I replied. “Yeah, sure why not?” “Do you believe Jesus is God died for your sins and rose from the dead?” I asked. He thought for a moment and said he did so I said, “Would you want to trust in that to be forgiven?” He responded almost as if I was asking the same question and said emphatically, “Yes.” So I walked him through the prayer and asked if he would want to pray silently in his heart asking for forgiveness and for God to live inside him. “I’ll do that right now,” he replied and took the booklet to pray and did. He expressed he wanted to keep the booklet so I said he could keep it (I always leave it with students.), He did not have a Bible so I gave him one. “How many books do you carry with you, giving people Bibles..” he asked. I said there were a couple more I’d give him and I pulled out Pocket Prayers explaining it shows how to pray referring to a Bible verse, I showed him the “Where to Turn’ index in the Bible and I wrote his name on the Presentation page and the Date he’d been forgiven. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s power” in the front and explained the Christian Life walking by the Spirit. Then that the likelihood he would go to Heaven, if he was trusting in the Righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, was 100%. He thanked me a few times, I told him I’d pray for him and he gave me his email. “Thanks very much for the talk Bob,” he said shaking my hand. I said he was welcome and got up and thanked him for being cool in talking with me and he said sure and I headed off.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope your day was blessed we had some mild weather for this time of year so a spent a 3 hours doing yard work until an hour or so after dark, wish night didn’t come so early. But I had a good day of work on campus bring some light there and Frank and Mathew each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Frank was sitting in the hall leading out of the cafeteria against the steps. He looked like a young W.C. Fields might look. in his features, mop of blonde hair, smattering of facial hair trying to come in, a self described nerd, sweet guy wearing tan pants and a shirt. He was in some sadness and seemed very serious. He is the first guy ever to list a computer game achievement “level up every piece of gear in Warfare” when I asked him one thing he wanted to do before he died. When I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven he had a lot to say, “That’s a very good question, umm… It’s ironic, well It’s coincidental that you asked that, I been thinking about that for a while, been in a rocky point regarding my relationship with God. I’ve been angry about that, that’s the reason I don’t have an answer because of the way I feel. I didn’t know if I deserved to go to Heaven because of my feelings. I know the whole bit about if you receive God in your heart but the way I feel…” Of course you don’t go to Heaven because you “receive God into your heart”. You receive Christ when you believe on His name, His name or reputation is that He is God has died for your sins and rose from the dead, this is His power and the power of His name, it pays for your sin and defeats death. Receive means believe on, but on very specific things. I knew he was feeling some hurt so I silently prayed God would give me the right thing to say but felt I needed to go through the Gospel with him first. He thought he had a 50% chance of going to heaven. He told me later (when I asked him if there was something specific I could pray for him over) about his grandpa.  His Grandfather had taken some falls and had such bad dementia he could not be part of their Holiday times as a family as he was in a care facility. It used to surround around going to his grandparents house. The joy of the holidays seemed spoiled to him with the grief surrounding his grandpa. As I went through the Gospel he knew that Christ had died for sin. Right after I explained His imputed righteousness I told him a word picture I’ve told many times to other students about how I could never solve the Rubic Cube and had a roommate who could do it in 18 seconds. I worked for a while on his pestering to get one side blue, then disregarding my work he began to solve it. I asked if there was anything I’d done? Could he use my done side? And he said no you have to do the whole puzzle all at once. I told him God is running the universe and has a Rubic Cube with billions of squares on every side. We get our little corner of blue and think “I got this” Then God in fixing the world messes up our corner and we ask Him, “Couldn’t you just leave my corner alone the way I wanted it? Why did you have to mess with it? And God says, I am doing the entire puzzle all at once, to understand what I am doing you would have understand the entire cube.” And you’d have to reply, “I could never understand that, I didn’t even get the one I tried back in college.” (Frank had said he didn’t get it either). Then God says, “Yes that’s My point.” “Can I write that down, that really speaks to me?” Frank replied. I said here “I’ll write it” and just wrote God’s Rubic Cube Billion sides and corner of Blue and dong the entire puzzle all at once on the front. I went on to explain how he needed to receive Jesus trusting in Him. He said he would want to be forgiven so I asked, “I know you knew some of this but were you trusting in Christ and that He died for your sins to forgive you or did you just know the story?” “I think I just knew the story,” he replied. So I said he could receive God forgiveness trusting in Jesus by asking and talked him through the prayer, and he prayed to receive Christ. We talked for a while after that (I read him the beginning of 2Cor. about comfort) and I gave him the student edition of The Case for Faith, a Rose pamphlet “Bible Promises for Hope and Courage” I explained the spirit filled life writing “By the Spirit’s Power” the date and his name in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I also explained that, if he was now trusting in Christ’s righteousness to be his, the likelihood he was going to Heaven was 100%. He was going to a Bible study that is Semi-Pelagian in some measure (wiht the Chicago Church of Christ, kind of a cult) so I encouraged him to try a different one, explaining again how all the things we do to please God we can only do by the power of His Spirit. He was Methodist. He was in class during ours so I suggested CRU as it is lead by a Free Church pastor, Nate at COD so they have some good things happening now and meet during the day. We talked for some time. “Thanks I think I really needed to hear this.” He said at the end of our conversation. And I blessed him and headed off.

Mathew was sitting in the same place a couple hours later. He had a perfect beard, looked about 21, smallish guy from India with an reasonably heavy accent to match. Nice looking guy his pretty cousin who he ignored came in during our discussion and took her back pack from between us. Then standing about 10 feet away giving the signal she wanted to go, he ignored her. But I checked and he was unconcerned and wanted to hear all I had to say. In the end I gave him the Student edition of The Case for A Creator asking him to tell her I was sorry, hey it has a pretty cover. He was from a Roman catholic background and thought of himself as helpful and that he really wanted to help others. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he smiled warmly and said, I don’t know. I asked what he thought his church would tell him and he said, “Like you know, doing things to help people, even to your fierce enemies to love them and to help them.” I asked if he thought you went to Heaven by doing helpful things. He agreed somewhat but was unsure. He also thought he had a 50/50% chance of going to Heaven. I’m not sure he knew what Jesus had done to take away his sin, when I asked he just nodded so I went on to finish the Gospel and then to to asked if he wanted to be forgiven with God living inside him or if he thought something else. “I would want God inside me,” he replied. So I explained the prayer he could pray asked if he would like to receive forgiveness trusting in Jesus and what he had done on the cross. “Yeah,” he replied. So I said he could pray it silently in his heart and he said, “OK.” and did. So that was great. I explained that if he trusted in Christ’s Righteousness to he could be 100% sure he would go to heaven. I explained a symbolic view of the Mass too. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do also writing his name, “By the Spirit’s Power” and when he was forgiven and explaining the idea of living “Inside Out” with God giving him power. He gave me his email to send him some stuff and thanked me and I headed out.

I had some other conversations giving Quinton a sandy haired agnostic, in glasses, with a bar piercing through 2 places in the top of his left ear, the student edition of The Case for Christ. I left him in good spirit’s having said he was “Presently Undecided” about Christianity so hopefully the book with help remove some false obstacles. I’ll pray for him for a while.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance. God blessed today. There is one day left at school before thanksgiving.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you day was blessed. I had a good day on campus. Hira prayed with me to receive Jesus. Also David a Latino guy took the student edition of The Case for a Creator saying, “I’m kinda confused about religion at the moment. I want to believe there is a God. I might just stick with Roman Catholic that’s what I am.” I encouraged him to ask God for Faith since it was a gift. I also bumped into Justin again who I’ve been praying for since last year and who took Pocket Prayers from my last I saw him after he said he’d enjoyed The Case for a Creator. He is moving in faith no longer believing only in scientific materialism and I gave him two Rose Publications, “100 Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus” and “Why Trust the Bible”. We talked about world events and faith for about 35 minutes today. His brother was at the concert in Las Vegas where nearly 60 were killed, but his brother escaped unharmed. He seems to be very interested in the Truth and brought to a conclusion through the Holy Spirit I hope this will lead to saving faith. So I will continue to pray for him. I told him I had been praying for him since we first spoke and he said he thought, “That’s what got me here.”

Hira was sitting at a counter high table overlooking the MAC lounge. A pretty girl with a tiny diamond in her right nostril, she looked like and was from India in heritage. But she had obviously grown up here from her conversational use. She had fair skin wavy hair, a black and white knit sweater on. She loved Castles and wanted to go to see them in Ireland. She’d sung in a lot of Cathedrals when she was in a Choir. I asked her why God should let her into Heaven and she said thinking at first, “Hmm that’s a great question. Because I’m a good person I guess. We all make mistakes but I’ve tried to learn from them.” Her family was interested in other religions and she seemed like she might have been raised religious as they as a family had visited Churches and Mosques but mentioned going to Temple first. She said they had about 3 Bibles at home. She thought she’d have a 70% chance of going to Heaven. She seemed to enjoy listening to the Gospel and said she would want to be forgiven for her sins when I finished. So I asked if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead. She said she did. So I said if she would want to trust in that God could live inside her and would forgive her by prayer and I talked her through the prayer in the booklet. I offered to her and she prayed to receive Jesus. I explained Christianity was living inside out asking for the Spirit to transform her. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit in the Front” explaining that also giving her a Bible Study. I told her I would keep her in my prayers until a year from Spring. She had to head to class but I hope I’ll get to see her again and possibly give her more materials if I am the person God wants to use in that way. She thanked me and we both headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you walked with the Lord by the Spirit.  I had a slow day trying to find people to talk for the last hour or so towards the end but the last person I spoke with Liam prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Liam was sitting on the bench of NW corner lounge of the BIC on the ground floor facing the hall. I had just been tied up in a conversation with an older Chinese christian student for 20 minutes or so that kind of seemed to drag on and was headed out for the locker where I stowed my coat. I passed him as I turned the corner, stopped and went back and tried one more request. Liam said he would do a student survey. He wore a red flannel jacket and straight leg jeans had a days growth of beard, shorter hair. Not as tall as me and friendly. He was just waiting for class to begin. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven and he said, “I tried my best.” He had gone to the Lutheran church but stopped going sometime in High School. He thought he had an 80% chance of going to Heaven. When I asked if he knew what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away his sins he said, “Yeah.” So I’m not sure what he thought i that moment but when people answer vaguely like that I don’t press them. I feel like they sometimes think they ought to know and I don’t want to corner them. It is also possible they misunderstood the question. But I know the Holy Spirit will convict them if they are truly led to Him. I went on to explain the Gospel and he didn’t give any clues as to if he was accepting it. But he listened closely and tracked with everything and I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven and he took the booklet from me and looked at the circles for a moment and seemed to be reading about a life centered on Christ. And then looked at me and said he would want to be forgiven. So I said he’d probably known the story a bit from growing up with it but if he would want to place his trust in what Christ had done there was a prayer he could pray. I talked through it saying he could pray it silently and God would hear his thoughts. I paused and it was almost like he was thinking still and said, “Do what…pray?” I said if he wanted to and he said, “Yeah.” He prayed to receive Jesus then and I told him he could keep the booklet and explained the fruit of the Spirit and living Inside out. He didn’t have a Bible so I gave him one writing his name inside and the date he’d been forgiven. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do and I wrote “By the Spirit” in the front. He got up to leave and shook my hand and said, “Thanks for everything.” I said sure I’d keep him in my prayers and see him in Heaven.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today. I had a good day on campus and David [or Dawit as I think he later said his name was in Eritrea] prayed with me to receive Jesus as his savior.  I’ll be going out to teach the students the Good News of Jesus and His sacrificial love for us later today and I’d be grateful for your prayers.

He was sitting in a ground floor lounge on the North side of the BIC. He was wearing Jeans and a jacket and killing time before class. He had a thin build like me and was as dark as I am pale this time of year. He had kind of a rough afro. Nice and friendly his accent was a bit heavy. I was not sure how well he could understand, so I spoke steadily. It turned out that like many where English as a second language speakers he could understand what was spoken better than he could speak it. He seemed to have all the right answers. When I asked him one thing he wanted to do before he died he said, “Serve God.” And as to what he would say to God to get into heaven he did not think long and said, “Because I already accept God, I believe in Jesus, I hope He will let me into Heaven.” “100%” was his response as to the likelihood he would get into heaven. This almost lead to the rookie mistake of assuming he was a Christian breezing through a bit of the booklet and hitting the road with friendly greetings with another believer. But I’ve learned since the first couple years of contact evangelism. Even when people would get the answers wrong and or say they had believe in Jesus I take the opportunity to go through the Gospel with people, I know from experience some realize what I was talking about later after God’s Spirit percolates it in them for a while (when I speak with them after some time has passed). But in David’s case I thought I would just teach him a bit and let him hear the verses in English so he could communicate them, I thought he was redeemed. So though it was close to class time I went pretty slow and he took it all in. But pretty quickly I realized he did not understand the Gospel. I asked what was the big thing Jesus had done to take away his sin and he did not know at all. So I explained the atonement to him and he stopped me just before I could illustrate Christ’s imputed righteousness and said he only had a minute to get to class. So I stopped using illustrations and said it was not enough to believe in Jesus and that He would kindly let him into Heaven, he had to believe Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead and trust in that, this is what it meant to receive Him reading him John 1:12. Then I explained he could be saved by faith, reading Ephesians 2:8.9. He kept listening and said in explanation for why he had not understood and trusted in the Gospel, “I do not read my Bible. I go to church every week but I do not read my Bible.” I said if he wanted to trust in Christ there was a prayer he could pray and I read it through with him explaining as I went. “This is good!” he said as I finished. “Do you want to make this your prayer as you were reading it through with me?””Yes,” he replied. “Amen?” I asked. “Amen!” he replied confidently and with visible joy. It was great. I hurriedly gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do and the booklet I had used some of the verses from. I explained everything God asked him to do He gave him the power to do “By the Spirit” writing that in the front saying, “If God asks you to forgive ask Him for a forgiving spirit, if He asked you to trust Him so He can Guide you ask for more trust.” He smiled and shook his head standing to leave. I had just written his name and the date and “Forgiven” in the front. He very happily thanked me I said he could email me he said OK ran off to his class. I thanked God then that I had decided to go through the Gospel with him and not just leave him a booklet.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and yesterday for evangelism and today if you have a moment. God lead me to another who needed to hear.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day waking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Richard and Sal each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Richard was sitting just inside the corner lounge in what is effectively the NW corner of the BIC building on what is the ground floor on the North (the south side goes another floor down). He looked like James Franco with dark brown hair swept back, kind of classic features. He said he wanted to have kids, which is always a good sign a guy will be sympathetic to the Gospel. He wore a light colored zippered neck pull over fleece and tan colored skinny leg pants. Not a very big guy. He said he went to church maybe once a month and “All the holidays”. When I asked him what he would say to God if He asked why He should let him into Heaven he paused for a moment thinking like the question kind of threw him and said, “I mean… I’ve always tried to live my life according to God’s will so…” He thought he had a 70-80 % chance of going to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him saying God loved him and wanted to transfuse His Spirit into Him but had to take away his sin first, I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sin. “Breaking the bread?” He guessed. So I explained a symbolic view of the mass, saying that he could use that time to be grateful. I said that represented what Jesus had done and began to explain Jesus had died for him and His righteousness could be a gift of God to him when he was adopted. He wanted to be forgiven and believed so I said he could trust in what Christ had done and pray. I asked if he wanted to do that and he shook his head (yes) with a frank look I handed him the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do and explained all the power he needed to live the Christian life was had by the Holy Spirit living in him. I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of the book and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” under it. I explained that if he was trusting in Christ’s righteousness to be his the likelihood he would go to heaven was 100%. He gave me his email to send him some stuff and brightly said, “Alright, thank you,” shaking my hand. I told him I would be praying for him and he thanked me again and I headed off.

Sal was sitting in the hall of the science building facing the North waiting for class to start. He wore jeans and black rubber one strap sandals with black socks and a white nylon pullover hooded jacket. He had sandy blonde swept back hair and a couple days growth of beard, kind of an old school wrestler look to his features, tough looking. But that wasn’t him at all he had a folksy voice and used some of the “country” verbiage. He wanted to buy his mom a house. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said “I don’t know… I was a good person… I don’t know.” He said he’d never gone to church at all but had gone to a youth group once a week, “mostly for the games”. I asked him how likely it was he was going to Heaven and he said, “100% doesn’t everyone that believes in God go to Heaven?” “It depends what you believe about God.” I pointed out, saying the Bible says demons believed and they tremble and they are not going to Heaven. That gave him something to think about for a moment. He was smart and half a step ahead of my explanations processing the conclusion early after that as I began to go through the Gospel. He didn’t remember anything about the forgiveness of sins so I bean to explain the atonement and he said, “Oh is this the blood of Jesus thing?” I said it was and explained how, after dying for his sins, Christ’s blood became a power in the world that cleansed him from his sin and then that Jesus had earned the righteousness of God and it could be given to him. I finished and explained the option of being forgiven by trusting in Jesus or believing something else. He did not take it as a question so I asked if he thought he believed that Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead, he hesitated kind of discovering that he did believe that and then saying he did. I asked if he would want to trust in that he could pray, and walked him through a prayer. He said he felt it wouldn’t be authentic since they were not his words so I suggested he could take the ideas and pray them in his own words and he said, “I don’t really know how to pray, do I just think it?” I said that would work. He accepted that and read and then closed his eyes and prayed a couple times. I gave him a Bible showing him the “Where to Turn” section which he liked, saying, “I never saw a Bible like that.” I wrote his name on the presentation page and the date and “forgiven” beneath it. I explained walking in the Spirit to him gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s power” in the front. He gave me his email to get some more verses and I began to get up to leave and he said “Thank you bob I appreciate it.” shaking my hand. I told him I’d pray for him and see him in Heaven and he said. “Alright have a good day” I said, “Thanks you too. I walked out of sight and wrote down a couple notes and then remembered what he’d said about not really knowing how to pray and walked back to give him Pocket Prayers by Lucado. He flipped through it right away and thanked me and I said, “Sure.” And I headed back down the hall.

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 are getting hunkered down for the colder weather unless it is always warm by you and then you are remembering us and our cold feet in prayer. I had a good day on campus and Destini prayed with me to receive Jesus.

She was sitting by the doors exiting the south side of the BIC building wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans looking at her computer, her brown hair was pulled straight back into a pony tail. She has a sweet kind round face, cute kid. She said she’d do a student survey. When I asked her if she died what she would say to God to get into Heaven she gave a bit of an expression of surprise and said, “I don’t know what I’d say, I don’t really know if I’m deserving… It’s up to him so, yeah.” She thought she had a 40% chance of going to Heaven. She’d gone to Catholic Church every week when she was younger and some kind of youth group each Wednesday. She listened closely to the Gospel and when I asked her if she’d want to be forgiven she said, “I’ve always kind of been on the fence.” She believed Jesus was God and had died for her sins she said but she had doubts. I told her faith was a gift from God showing her the verse again and said she could ask for more faith from God. We talked more about faith for a bit and I walked her through the prayer and talked about how God would give her the strength to live the Christian life. Asking her if it was the desire of her heart, she said it was. So I said she could pray it silently in her heart so only God would hear and He would forgive her and live inside her. “So what do you think, wanna do it?” “Yeah,” she said and laughed and took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. I explained living by the Spirit’s power where God gives her all the strength she needs to live the Christian life living “Inside Out” and told her a story I made up to illustrate it about selling fire alarms. I gave her a Bible Study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and write her name and the date and “Forgiven” under it. I explained anything the book suggested she needed to do she could simply ask God to help her to do, if it said God would give her guidance if she’d only trust Him, but she thought, “Great but I am having a hard time trusting him.” She could simply ask God to give her more trust. She took a Bible study too. She had her own Bible so I showed her the 100 Bible verses good to know in the back of the book saying she could look them up in her own version if she wanted. Then I gave her Bible Promises for You and she really likes that saying “This will really be good thanks.” “God bless you Destini,” I said getting up to leave. “Thank you so much,” she replied happily.

I also had a long talk for about an hour with a girl, Sydney, who was 6 feet tall and played softball. Pretty girl with dark hair wearing a pullover jacket and leggings. She’d said she was not sure there was a God and was not religious at all and had never been to Church. I answered a lot of questions for her and refereed her to a book for Alfa females and gave her a Rose Pamphlet “100 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus”.  I left her on good terms and I believe God had gotten her thinking. She’d had some real struggles and had experienced some unkindness for Christians. So I’ll be praying for her.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with good things from the Lord of Hosts. I had a great day on campus and Conner and Alexus each prayed with me to receive Jesus. Also, Cole said he would pray later so I am hopeful he will.

Conner was sitting at a table in the big lounge where we have Bible study. He had on an Illini hoodie with a big “I” on the front and blue jeans, he had a close trimmed beard and mustache. His thick brown hair was parted at the side and combed back in a sweep.  Block features good looking kid. He wanted to know how long it would take to do a survey and he wasn’t sure he’d have the time but I said, “How about the short version?” and he agreed. The main question is “Say you are walking down the road and get hit by a bus, you stand before God and he asks, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” He wasn’t sure at all but thought the church had said it was about, “The good that you do.” So I began to explain the gospel to him and then bounced into the booklet so he’d be able to see some of the verses. i explained to all to him and he said, “I went to Catholic school for 4 years and no one ever explained this to me [clearly] this was good.” He wanted to be forgiven then and so I said he could pray to receive God’s forgiveness and talked him through the prayer. He wanted to trust in Jesus. So when I suggested he could pray he did. He gratefully kept the booklet and I explained living “inside out” with God first transforming us on the inside. I had already given him a symbolic view of the mass saying he could use the time to tell god thanks that Jesus had died for him and so he was forgiven. It had taken longer than I thought and I apologized but he said he’d did have to leave as soon as he thought. He’d gotten a text while we were talking I guess it was to that effect. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s power” in the front his name and the date he was forgiven. “One of the questions I did not ask you on the survey was “What is the likelihood you will go to Heaven when you die?” “Well now I’d say it’s 100%,” he replied with a grin. I agreed that was true since he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus. He asked what the main differences were between Catholic and protestant. I said the primary difference was basically that the sacraments act on you to give you power from God. But that I would say even if that were true it is still the Holy Spirit that is at work. So I would say the Spirit works without the sacraments and they would probably say He works through them and it is the way you request the aid of God. I said I did not think the Bible really taught that, “But it is an interpretation.” he suggested. I agreed. I said that the Catholic Church just like all other Christian churches would teach that only God can forgive sin. So when you confess to a priest he is saying God has forgiven your sins and that is only true because Jesus died for you. That seemed to make sense to him. I realize there are other differences in the Roman Church but he asked me for the main one and my experience in talking to kids on campus is many of the teachings of the church they simply do not agree with and many priests do not teach them anymore. He gave me his email and said, “Thanks man.” “I’ll see you in Heaven” I said shaking his hand. “I’ll see you there.” he said smiling and I was off.

Alexus was sitting on the floor under the elevator by the bookstore behind some book bag cubies. She was a pretty black girl with a button nose and thin lips her hair pulled back and into something of a bun. She was wearing a pink jean jacket and blue jeans tucked into her boots. I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey and she said, “I already did that.” so i asked her if they’d asked the question I asked Conner [above]. They hadn’t and so I asked what she would say but she wasn’t sure what to say to God. I walked her through some leading questions but she didn’t land on the truth. I said, “Would you like to know what the Bible says about how to go to Heaven?” “You can tell me sure,” she replied saying she went to church. As I went thrugh the Gospel she could not remember how God had taken away her sins. I thought it might be how I was asking the question so I tried some leading questions but they didn’t trigger the right answer. I continued with the Gospel and it seemed to come back to her somewhat. When I asked her if she’d want to be forgiven with God inside her or thought something else she said, “I’d wanna be forgiven with God inside.” I said I thought she’d probably known the story but did she think she’d been trusting in Jesus. “I knew I was supposed to trust in Jesus, I knew but I’m not sure…”  I explained there was a prayer she could pray if she thought she had not trusted in Christ and she was anxious to pray it after I explained it and did. She was grateful to be able to keep the booklet too and gave me her e-mail. I gave her a Bible study and 20 Thins God Can’t Do and explained living by the Spirit’s power Writing that in the front along with her name and the Date. I told her I would pray for her each night and I got up to leave and she said, “Thank you.” “God bless you,” I replied. “God bless you too,” she said. And I headed up the stairs.

Cole was sitting at a table in the hall leading into the SRC. He had a few minutes. I got through the Gospel with him and he said he believed but I think he wanted to think it through and be alone. He had very short hair on the sides and the mop on top was dyed blonde. He said both his parents had been raised catholic but hadn’t done much more than take them to Church and make them aware of Christianity. He wasn’t sure why but said if he had a family he would want to raise them going to church. He really liked that idea and said it all seemed true to him. “It resonates with you,” I suggested and he agreed. He asked what I thought he should do. I said he should pray to receive Christ and begin going to a church and look for a wife there. “Do you think I could find someone and change them telling them what i believed?” he asked. I said it was a bad idea to marry someone with the idea he could change them and that never worked but God could change them and he could pray for that before he married someone. I encouraged him to pray to receive Jesus again and I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Tings God Can’t Do saying that each of the reading were short and he could get his feet wet. I gave him my contact info and asked him to text me and I would pray for him. He took it but was late for something and had to head out. So I’ll keep him in my prayers for a while and hope to hear from him.

A Jewish guy Eric with a sharp features and a winter cap pulled down low to his eyes was not interested in the booklet but when I offered him  the Rose pamphlet “100 prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus” he said, ‘Yeah, let’s do that.” He took a Bible study about Jesus claims to be God by appealing to the Old Testament. The Old Testament connections appealed to him as a Jewish person. So he’s another to pray for this year.

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 you had a blessed week and the world is still up and running around you. We met with a student today giving some guidance. Yesterday’s Evangelism at school was great and Olivia prayed to receive Jesus.

Olivia was sitting on a cushioned bench in the hall of the science building waiting for her class to begin just down the hall. She had a small sweet face and a charming African accent, tall girl. I didn’t have a chance to ask her her country of birth. Her hair was up in multiple tight thin braids, she wore brown slacks and a Jacket. She was sure she was going to Heaven and when I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her in she said, “Because I’ve helped a lot of people. I’ve forgiven people who are not supposed to be forgiven”. She listened to the Gospel then and knew Jesus had died for her sins. I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven and she did when I asked her if she was trusting in Christ she said, “To be honest up until now I was hoping I was good enough and that would get me into Heaven.” Then she said, “I don’t want to cut you off but I am late for my class.” I said “Ok well if you want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus there is a prayer you could pray and I read the first line and she began reading it with me so I stopped and let her continue on her own, praying, and she finished, smiling a big smile at the end and hurriedly getting up. I wrote “inside out” and told her she needed to trust in God for anything he asked her to do. I quickly said, “Let me give you a book.” as she stood up to leave taking the booklet from me. I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and quickly handed it to her. “I’m sorry I made you late,” I said. “It’s OK it’s only 3 minutes, It’s right here.” and she ran a few steps and entered the room. But I’ll probably bump into her again waiting for her 2 O’clock class to begin in the hall there and can give her some more stuff.

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

In Him,

Bob