Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in the Lord. I had a very good day on campus and Savannah, Grace and John each prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Savannah was sitting looking at her computer in the hall of the BIC building and said she’d do a survey with me for our Bible Study Group. She was wearing a Green College of Du Page hoodie and leggings. She wore black-framed glasses and had her curly brown hair up under a baseball cap. She was tall and slim, narrow features, nice-looking girl, looked Latina in coloring. She had not been to church in several years, in part it seemed because her mom had converted to Mormonism and she didn’t believe their teachings. I mentioned that the Book of Mormon all took place by 400 AD in our area of the world, and yet it said there was metallurgy, so coins and swords, as well as horses and chariots. None of these things were here until a thousand years later, arriving with the Conquistadors. So we know they just made it all up. Savannah agreed. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I’d probably say  my life on earth, I tried to live a pretty positive, equal life, fair to everybody, wasn’t judgmental, tried to be nice to everyone. Of course no one’s the perfect person.” She thought she’d have a 60% chance of going to Heaven. She listened closely to the Gospel and hadn’t remembered Jesus had died for her but she wanted to be forgiven for her sins. “Do you believe Jesus was God He died for your sins and rose from the dead?” I asked. “Yeah most definitely,” she said. So I showed her the prayer in the booklet and talked her through it, saying she could pray right then silently and God would forgive her.” “Now?” she asked. “Yeah,” I replied, “as if I wasn’t here if you want to.” “Yeah” she said with a shy smile and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained living by the Spirit’s power and she seemed thrilled that God would give her all the strength necessary to live the Christian life through His Spirit, simply by asking for it. I explained that if she was trusting in Jesus righteousness to be her righteousness, that she could be certain she was going to Heaven, 100%. Knowing she needed a good church and she lived in Naperville I asked her if she had heard of Compass, and it turned out she lived right near the campus of their church on Hobson. She thought she might check it out. I also told her Charles Stanley “In Touch Ministries” was good on Sundays on TV as she had antenna TV. She had a Bible but I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do  and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” along with the date and “Forgiven” in the front. We talked for a bit more. She was really nice and I got her email to send her some stuff. She is busy tomorrow but was interested to come to Bible Study, so I hope she’ll come next week. I gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and Bible Promises for You. She thanked me and I said, “God Bless you,” getting up to leave. “God Bless you too. Maybe I’ll make it some Tuesday,” she replied cheerfully.
I sat and wrote down some notes and ate a few bites of an energy bar around the corner and down the hall from Savannah. Grace was sitting a few chairs down from me then on the corner, so I asked if she’d do a survey for our Bible Study group. She said sure. She had really curly blonde hair, was wearing black leggings and a heavy knit black cotton sweater. Nice friendly smile, cute kid, not very tall. She said she hadn’t gone to church but she prayed a lot and was reading a book on trusting God by Joyce Meyer, (who has written some heretical stuff, but in my experience most people don’t pick up on it). When I asked Grace what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven, she thought for awhile and finally said, “Because I love God.” She thought she had about a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. She’d heard Jesus had died for her sins and she listened closely to the Gospel. As I finished going through everything with her, I asked if she’d want to be forgiven with God living inside her and she said, “Yes.”  So I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead, and said she did. I asked if she had had trusted in that to be forgiven or if it was still something she had to do. “I still have to do that,” she replied. So I talked her through the prayer, offering it to her and she silently prayed to receive Christ. I explained walking by the Spirit’s power, which she was enthusiastic about too and wrote her name and the date and “Forgiven” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do along with “By the Spirit’s Power”.  I gave her a Bible Study and got her email to send her some stuff.  I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. “Awesome!” she said. She thanked me and I headed off.

At the end of the afternoon, I was talking to a guy, Cristian, who said he believed but had had no assurance. So I encouraged him, going through the Gospel with him. I gave him a copy of the student edition of The Case for Christ as some insurance, since he’d been going to some Kingdom Hall bible studies and warned him about the JW’s. At the very end, John walked up asking to join in the conversation saying he’d overheard us talking about theology. But I had kept Cristian for awhile and said I was gonna bounce. He said OK and headed to the next table down in the MAC Arts lounge. Cristian headed out to the parking lot so I struck up a conversation with John. He had kind of discovered some of the truth of Christianity. He’d also been into what had been explained to him as Buddhist meditation. Fortunately he had been doing it wrong (I did not correct him giving him the right way to do it however) it didn’t make any difference as his ‘Meditation” had content and was not an emptying process like what can lead to demonic possession. He just thought through metaphors he said. So I explained that was fine as long as the metaphor was not twisted into something wrong, he needed to have a foundation of truth. He had shoulder-length sandy hair and a canvass jacket on, was a head shorter than me, with a mustache and something of a beard, nice friendly smile. He said he’d been reading some prayers in what had seemed to be a catholic prayer book. He occasionally had a hard time connecting his thoughts. I gave him the book Pocket Prayers by Lucado and went through some of the Gospel with him. He seemed unsure of what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven. So I talked with him more and went through the rest of the Gospel. I asked if when he asked for forgiveness if he’d been trusting in what Jesus had done for him on the Cross or if he’d hoped he was good enough to be forgiven. “I never really asked for forgiveness,” he replied. I explained he needed to do that and trust in what Christ had done so that the Spirit could live inside him and guide him. I walked him through the prayer then and he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and explained walking by the Spirit. I gave him my contact information and got his email to send him some follow-up stuff. He had to go then, but thought he’d like to come to the Bible Study so I hope he will. I’ll be praying for him and Gracie and Savannah too each night.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. I got a few other seeds planted with students  who thanked me and said they’d enjoyed talking with me ( Jade, G-G and Anthony).  So I am hopeful God will continue to work in them as well. God blessed today.

In Him,

Bob

Third Watch Ministries, NFP                                               Bob & Ellen Bollow

P.O. Box 1283                                                                      December 13, 2017

Wheaton, IL 60187-1283  

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hey Merry Christmas! I hope you felt the blessing of the Lord so far this holiday season. School finished up for the semester for us and we are still decorating a bit for the upcoming Christmas party for the students. I’ve been sick, and a relapse slowed the works down a bit.

The world is full of a lot of turmoil and yet we have peace because we know God’s promises and that He is in control. The greatest blessing, of course, is the forgiveness of our sins. Psalms 32:1 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”  It has been a great semester to preach the greatest promise ever given to mankind.

We have so much to be grateful for. So I often, when praying for all the students who come to Christ each night (from this year and the last), will pray for an attitude of thanksgiving to be in them. There are so many to pray for each night, and I cannot often know more than their first and foremost need – to be strengthened in their lives in Christ. So I often pray the prayers of Paul, or pieces of them, as I mention each name. There are so many good words Paul has prayed for others (God’s words to us now) that it really helps in knowing what to pray. In 1Thessalonians 1:2 (and other places) Paul talks about making mention of them in his prayers. One might easily assume Paul had a long prayer list and so he mentions many people to God. I was talking with a friend (I was helping do some painting) and I said I was praying for him and his family. I also said I thought that churches should pair people up to pray for one another and preach more about being steadfast in our prayers. I said I thought it was possible there were people in the Church for whom no prayers were being said at all. Many churches these days are so big that there is no realistic possibility your pastor could be praying for you regularly, unless you personally know him pretty well. But if a church would even randomly pair people up, all could be prayed for each day. This could be done without even sharing their needs but only a first name (anonymous other than this) and the suggestion that people pray one of the prayers of Paul for them each night, or even the short wish from 3John 2 “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”

 Here some of the passages I pray for the peeps each night:

Colossians 4:2, Ephesians 1:15-19, Romans 15:13, Ephesians 3:14-19, 2 Corinthians 12:7,1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, 2 Corinthians 13:7 2, 2 Corinthians 13:9, Phil. 1:9-11 Colossians 1:9-10, 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 2 Thessalonians  1:11, 1 Timothy 2:1
We know that so many people are praying for the work of Evangelism and Discipleship that we are doing on campus. Each night Ellen and I, in the time we pray together, pray for many of these we know who are praying for us by name. And we also pray for God to bless in return all those who are praying for us and the Ministry. We know these prayers for the work are why so many have trusted Christ after talking with me as I go around campus. This semester, 87 people have prayed with me to receive Christ (157 since January). Two were off campus (Joe and Mikaela) and one (Larry) prayed later and let me know.  Here are their names listed and an * means they said they would pray later and do not know if they did so.

Dante, Alex, Xavier, Josh, Samantha, Kayla, Korin, Maria*, Ruben, Nicole, Emrah, Aristaia, Lisa, Phillip, Alex, Brigitte, Razy, Oni, Thomas, Daisy, Caitlin, Joe, Mason, Tom, Jimmy, Luis , Felix, Dan, Jordan, Abby, David, Katie, Stephanie*, Remy, Issac, Tae, Zay, Shannon, Kyle, Jocellyn, Jay, Michelle, Brian, Taylor, Samantha, Jasmine, Zac, Jared*, Walter, Jenee, Annalisa, Nick, Mark, Celine, Peter, Deionte, Zach, Miracle, DeAnte, Kaylin, Chris, Juan, Imani, Honey, Sherin, Mike, Axel, Khardajah, Jenna, Olivia, Conner, Cole*, Alexus, Destini, Richard, Sal, David, Liam, Hira, Mikaela, Frank, Mathew, Tom, Andrew, Larry, Cole, Alexis, Jennifer, Marcus, Christina and Joseph

We are so grateful for your partnership in ministry with us. We could not do it without you and truly need your continued help. If you are still contemplating giving at the end of the year, we would be grateful if you would prayerfully consider Third Watch.

Thanks again. We love ya.

Bob & Ellen

bob.thirdwatch@sbcglobal.net

www.thethirdwatch.org

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you are feeling Jolly in the Spirit of the Lord. I had a really good day on campus for the last day of classes this semester. Christina and Joseph each prayed with me to receive Christ. 86 Students and a one guy Joe seal coating a parking lot prayed with me to receive Jesus this Semester.

Christina was sitting in a lounge on the South side of the BIC on what is labeled the first floor. She was just kind of paused there on her way out. She had a puffy quilted calf length black coat on and leggings. Warm friendly looking girl, she was Latina with a broader nose hair long hair had tight curls like a teased out afro, it was wound up and pulled behind her head. She wore rectangular framed glasses. It came out as we talked she had a Spanish Bible but she did not read it and was Catholic. Seemed like she was basically waiting for a ride she was going to meet at a door, (we were not near any) and had stopped to look at her phone, so I had walked up at just the right time having just got to school. She asked how long my survey would take and I said 6 or 7 minutes. This is possible and happens sometimes but students often get interested and ask questions and it goes longer.  I asked her what she would say to God as to why she should get into Heaven. “Because I’m you child.” she replied a little uncertainly. And when I asked her how likely it was she would go to Heaven when she died she said, “I have no clue. I feel like that’s up to Him not me.” She listened to the Gospel with some realization and wanted to be forgiven. So I said if she wanted to be forgiven all she had to do was ask and walked her through the prayer and said she could pray it silently in her heart. It was good we were completely alone in the lounge (most of the school was a ghost town on a Friday). She took the booklet and took some time praying. When she finished I told her she could keep it and explained living “inside out”. Trusting in God to do the work in her. I gave her a symbolic view of the mass saying she cold simply remember Jesus had died for her and so she was forgiven when that time of the service came. I gave her Bible Promises for You and quickly gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” and she had to run for her ride. As we go up to go I said, “When you stand before God He won’t ask you why he should let you into Heaven because He lives inside you and knows you so He’ll say ‘Oh Christina, I know you.’ But if some Angel were to stop you and ask you why you can say, ‘Because Jesus died for me and I have the Righteousness of Christ.” She smiled at that and I gave her a quick side by side hug and said “I’ll see you in Heaven.” She smiled again and said “I’ll see you.” and headed off down the hall.

Joseph was sitting outside my advisors office (Eric Hauenstein has helped me out at school for 15 years) on the third floor of the BIC.  He’s a math teacher and helps students during his office hours. But I had just past him and wished him Merry Christmas by the Gym, he was trapped in conversation and still dressed in clothes he had been playing ball in. So when Joseph said he would talk with me I prayed Eric would be delayed further as we bean to talk. Joseph was in appearance a white guy. He had very long flowing dark hair down past his shoulders, had jeans on and a hoodie. Kind face he was really interested in the Gospel and every time I read again a verse or explained something he concentrated intently. He said he had grown up in a church that was kind of “like Baptist” asking what that other big church was that began with P. I guess Presbyterian but that wasn’t it so then I guess Pentecostal. He said that was it and it is what he had attended in Puerto Rico. When I asked him what he wanted to do before he died he said, “Be like a Dad, have a son.” That is always a good sign someone will be sympathetic to the Gospel if they want to have a family. Asking him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I guess I’d just tell Him I did my best and it’s up to Him to decide… Just see where the chips fly.” He listened closely to everything I said and agreed saying “Oh,” after I explained what Christ had done not understanding it before. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus and he said he would so I walked him through the prayer and he said. ‘You’re the boss, God’s the boss of Heaven.” And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible showing him the “Where to Turn” section he could read and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the front page. I gave him Bible Promises for You to help him find things in the Bible and got his Email. I explained the Christian life where first God transforms us on the Inside we become good men then we do good things on the outside by His power. I wrote By the Spirit’s power” on the inside of 20 Things God Can’t Do.  Eric had silently slipped by going into his office so I ended and he shoved the books into his pack.  “Well good luck with your Math. Math’s a tough thing here.” He smiled in agreement and extended his hand to shake mine, “Have a good day Bob,” he said as I took his hand. “Yeah you too.” And I headed off down the hall.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.
Merry Christmas!

In Him,

Bob

Hey Friends in Christ,

I hope your day yesterday was good and blessed I’m a bit late with this. Marcus prayed with me to receive Christ though it took a while to help him understand he was not trusting in Christ for salvation. He was a good looking guy who went to Willow Creek, sharp square features looked Latino had on a hoodie and jeans, he was sitting at one of the bar height tables overlooking the MAC arts lounge. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “There’s not really a reason. I’ve made some decisions that are not representative of You and what I’m supposed to stand for as a Christian. But I do believe he is a God of mercy and grace… but I’m not counting on it. It’s all up to Him and His time.” So I began to go through the Gospel with him saying God had to take away his sin to live inside him. When I asked him what the big thing was that God had done to take away his sin he thought for a bit. “Adam and Eve?” he guessed. “Well, God does it with Jesus,” I replied and began to go through the Gospel on the page with a cross on it saying, “God sees you can’t come up to Him because of your sin, so he comes down and becomes a man, Jesus, and he lives a perfect life.” He then said some thing about remembering in a “What was I thinking” kind of way. I thought, fine he had a moment he’d forgotten, I can provide some assurance. Some students who don’t seem to be trusting in Christ later say they were and I can’t see their heart so I accept it. And he agreed with everything I said of the death and resurrection of Christ and His imputed righteousness as if to say Yeah isn’t that great that’s what I mean, yet he had not know what I told him based on my interaction with him as we spoke. He said he would want to be forgiven for his sins so I asked if he had truly been trusting in Christ, since everything he had said he’d thought contradicted what I’d said of the Gospel. He insisted he had been trusting in Christ at one point saying happily, “I was baptized for this, I took communion for this.” That sounded a bit Roman Catholic, though he went to Willow Creek, possibly he’d been raised catholic. I said that was not what I was asking him and explained a bit more. Finally I said, “OK fine well then this is a way you could share your faith,” and I flipped through the pages of the booklet with a half sentence summarizing each one. “And if someone said they wanted to be forgiven trusting in Christ there is a prayer they could pray,” and I walked him through it. “Possibly this is a prayer you could pray telling God what you are now truly trusting in?” I suggested. “Yeah I’ll pray that tonight when I pray,” he replied. I hoped he would as I was reasonably sure he had not trusted in Christ before. I really couldn’t see from what he had said that he had. I explained living “inside out” by the Spirit. He’d thought he knew of the fruit of the Spirit when I explained that. “So if someone were to ask you now why God should let you into Heaven what would you say?” (I had already said the answer to this exact question 4 minutes earlier.) “That I am trusting in God.” “Well, yes but specifically that you are trusting that Jesus died for you.” I think he said “Oh yeah right” or words to that effect. “How would you feel about asking God to forgive you right now? You could pray silently in your heart like I wasn’t even here.” He wanted to do that and he did. He seemed like something had lifted, visibly relieved. I gave Him the Book Bible Promises for You. And encouraged him to pray the Bible verses in it for anything he needed. He had a Bible. He was happy and I said Merry Christmas and he said Merry Christmas and I was off. So I will be praying the Eyes of his heart may be enlightened and is filled up with the knowledge of God.

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. I had a good day on campus and Jennifer prayed with me to receive Jesus. Also Nicole, a tall, pretty, round-faced, Asian girl said she would possibly pray later. I gave her the student edition of The Case for Christ to read. She said she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins but also said she had not been to church. I had gone through the Gospel with her before (over a year ago) so I did again and she seemed a bit closer. She hadn’t remembered much from before, so hopefully the Lord is drawing her in. When I first got to school and spoke with Nicole and my voice didn’t work from being sick. I wondered if I’d made a mistake coming to school. I had to ask her three times if she wanted to do a student survey before she could understand me as my voice was gravely and breaking up. it came back a bit as I spoke with her. I drank some energy drink and took some vitamins and sucked on come vitamin C in the hallway afterwards, prayed and went on my way.

I got to the PE lounge after finding no one in the MAC arts building. I thought I could look for a break in the conversation two black guys were having so I walked across the lounge. I watch a guy miss two shots very badly on the gym floor. When the second missed everything going under the rim  I turned away and saw Jennifer sitting there beside where I was standing, whom I hadn’t seen at all before. So I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey about God for our Bible Study group and she said sure. She was Latina with long hair cute round face no make-up, soccer fan. She wore leggins and a hoodie. She wasn’t sure what the the likelihood was she would go to Heaven.  When I asked her what she would say to get into Heaven she said, “I was never mean to anyone.” In explanation she said she had been fat when she was a kid and bullied but lost the weight as she got older. Then she noticed people treated her different, so she befriended the kids who were outcast because she empathized with them. She listened to the Gospel asking me questions through out and said she would want to be forgiven. We talked more, she asked if anyone in the Bible study group had had weird experiences. It turned out she had experienced sleep paralysis (their was a weight on her and she could not move) but her mom had told her Jesus had died for her sins so she instinctively called out to Him and the paralysis lifted. Then she saw a bright light beside her she thought was Jesus because she had called out to Him. But as she tried to focus intently on the light, the light vanished. I said that often sleep paralysis was demonic and the Name of Jesus forces those powers to flee. She had not been trusting in Jesus in some sense to forgive her sins and bring her to heaven, though she prayed for forgiveness. So she prayed to receive Jesus after I explained the need to do that having explained the Trinity a bit. But she had asked God for guidance and felt like she was directed at times. I explained that was the Holy Spirit nudging her. We talked for a couple hours.She was not sure what prayers to pray so I gave her Pocket Prayers. Then she asked if there were prayers she could pray for healing and so I gave her Bible Promises for You showing her the verses for healing that she could pray and explaining how she could pray them and that if healing would be good for her God would heal. I explained Paul’s thorn in the flesh. She’d said she had a Bible but when I took one out to show her some verses it turned out she did not have an Old Testament so I gave her that and wrote her name and the date she was forgiven in the front. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing by the Spirit’s power in the front and explained the Christian life living “inside out”.  As I left  she reached out to shake my hand and I did and gave her a little side by side hug as she sat in the chair. I got her email and am hopeful she will come to Bible study. She was happy to know people would pray for her that read about her. I told her I would be praying for her until a year from spring.

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. One guy Alexis prayed to receive Jesus so that was great. However I had a slow day on campus. I had a some time talking with some peeps I knew already. But otherwise only 2 students would talk about God with me for about 3 hours of walking around, and both were Christians. One I kind of gave a lesson to about sharing her faith. The other was a more mature Christian, Peter, looked in his early 20’s and had come solidly to Jesus about a year before out of agnosticism. So that kind of lifted my heart chatting him up. I left him at about 10 after 3 having gotten a late start, Wednesday is tough.  (Tuesdays are a long day with Bible study.) So I figured I’d head out but had a bit of a strange second wind (after which a day of 20 or so replies of “Not interested” were lifted). I came across Alexis siting on the edge of a lounge in the BIC.

Alexis had a black ball cap on with a green frog on it wore a button up the front mostly black shirt with some pattern on it and jeans. He looked Latino, smaller in stature friendly boyish face clean shaven good looking kid. He went to a nondenominational church it turned out. I’d thought he was Roman Catholic as when I asked him what he would say if God asked him why He should let him into Heaven he said, “I’m baptized… right now I’m truly serving to expand his kingdom. I’ll just wait for my judgement.” He thought he had about a 60% chance of going to Heaven. So I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to take away his sins. I explained the imputed righteousness of Christ and that he didn’t go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good and he was connected to Him. “So I hate to say it but what you said here is wrong,” I said pointing at his response. He acknowledged that it was good-naturedly and I thought it would be a conversation that ended refocusing him on Christ’s work. A lot of Churches fail to teach the Christian life is only possible walking by the Spirit. So many feel they are saved by Grace but stay saved by works. I asked him if he was one of two circles where where He’d trusted in Christ to be forgiven and He was on the throne or the drivers seat of his life or thought something else. He said he’d want to be forgiven. But as we talked more he talked about “not being there yet”, there was “more he had to do”. I explained that the Bible talked about 3 different ways of being saved, one was from harms in this life and obedience would save you some from that, one was ultimate salvation in Heaven and one was the process of sanctification (where we are becoming more like Christ). I explained living inside out by the Spirit. He said he wanted to be in control to achieve the things he wanted to achieve. “I’d just say in response then that being in control is not the way to achieve what you really want,” I replied. I gave him some word pictures about God doing the work, quoting, ‘We are His workmanship created for good works that He has prepared beforehand that we might walk in them.” He only needed to do what God was asking him to do and He would give him the power to do what that was–he wanted to have his own family and have”lots of kids”. I walked him through the prayer and said that he needed to ask God by the power of His Spirit to live the Christian life. I showed him some sections in 20 Things God Can’t Do. The 4th one is that you must forgive others to be forgiven by God but that is impossible sometimes when someone has really hurt you without asking God to give you a Spirit of forgiveness. The 13th I showed him also was “God can’t withhold his guidance when you trust in Him”. “But what if you are having a hard time trusting God? Ask Him to give you more trust.” I said that if he hadn’t done so he needed to trust in Christ to be forgiven for His sins, then the Holy Spirit could live inside him and give him the power to live the Christian life. “Everyone has a relationship with God as their creator but not everyone is in a relationship with God where He is there savior and lives inside them,” I said. He felt he still needed to do that (having been trying to earn it) and prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible study and Bible Promises for You book. He seemed relieved. I wrote his name and the date he’d been forgiven in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and “by the Spirit’s Power”. I explained that now the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100% now that he was trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness. We both got up to leave. He said there was just so much he had to do in his life and for his family and he was feeling the crush of it all. I encouraged him to ask God for His strength and let His power carry him to do his best and after that it would be enough. We parted at the stairs and I told him I would be praying for him having got his email. He thanked me and I 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, pretty warm here when the sun was out, almost 60 but when you are sitting in the overcast preaching the gospel to a guy it gets cold in the breeze. Cole prayed to receive Jesus today–outside, so that’s why the fall has been warm if you were wondering. And I bumped into Larry (who said he said his prayers at night and would pray then, when I went through the Gospel with him on September 21st) and he said he had prayed to receive Christ too so that was great.

I went out the northeast most doors of the BIC building having a flannel shirt on I kidded myself I could dash across the sidewalks to the MAC Arts Building without a coat. Then I saw Cole sitting looking at his phone next to his gallon jug of water (turned out he was very health-conscious about water much like Ellen and I). He had on polyester workout pants and zip up jacket (Under Armour) with a shinny shirt under it. Big, thick guy, same height as me. He had a backpack and was sitting looking at a phone in a slice of the sun between the building and the stone wall he sat on. I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey and (when he said yes) hoped the sun would stay out and it would be quick. Neither happened. He had dark blonde hair with an occasional strand of light blonde here and there like he’d recently cut off the summer bleach, a days growth of beard, oval face, pink from the cold. He went to a nondenominational church but could not remember the name, “I just remember how to get there,” he said. Churches have such strange names now-a-days I think he can be forgiven for it. Possibly it was named after a tree or a directional tool for navigation. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I would say… Because I’ve given all of myself to Him.” He thought he had about a 50% chance of going to Heaven.” I began to go through the Gospel with him and he tuned right in listening and saying, “OK” here and there. When I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sin he honestly didn’t know. “Well, this is how it works,” I said and explained the atonement and resurrection and imputed righteousness of Christ. I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins with God living inside him and he did. So I said, “Well it doesn’t seem like you have put all this together before and he agreed he had not. So I said he could ask for God to forgive him based on what Jesus had done and walked him through the prayer asking if it was the desire of his heart and and he said, “Yeah.” Then saying he could pray right there silently and God would hear his thoughts, “Wanna do it?””Definitely.”  he replied. and he took a bit of time reading it then looking away from the booklet to pray. Finishing I gave him a Bible study and some stuff. I’d explained living “inside out” already and he took 20 Things God Can’t Do and I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” under it in the front and also, “By the teaching of the Bible by the Spirit’s Power” I gave him a Bible study and “Bible Promises for hope and courage”. He began talking about how it had been a really hard week and last night he’d been praying for guidance and then said, “I was sitting here in the sun and you just walked up to talk to me about God.” He began to tear up and wiped them away several times, “Yeah it’s really powerful,” he said. As we talked some more, we were into some of the same political theories and I got his email to send him some verses and gave him this one Christian guy’s website for alternative news. It turned out he did not have a hard copy of the Bible but intended to buy one so I said I’d give him one (having failed to ask already). I wrote his name in the front and the date and showed him the “Where to Turn” section.  We ended with him even getting a bit cold but in bright spirits and Heading for the MAC. I headed back into the BIC to warm up, never getting past the wall we sat on. So that was really great.

So Thanks so much 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 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