Author Archives: Bob_Bollow

Results of the Work – 9/11/17

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Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a good day walking by the Spirit’s powers through the trials of today and could rest in Him. I had a good day on campus and two guys Mason and Tom each prayed to receive Christ.
Mason was sitting in the southeast corner lounge of the second floor of the BIC killing some time until his class. I asked him if he wanted to do a survey for our Bible Study group and he agreed and got up to go wherever the survey was and I said it’s cool right here, “You just tell me what you think…” He had dark hair slicked back short on the sides, he’d grown a couple days of a beard and had shaved the mustache. Good looking kid wearing cargo shorts and a red shirt and sandals. He said he like to be “classy”. It turned out he was attending church and a Bible study a couple times a week. Unfortunately he was attending “Second City” which is the college group of the “Chicago Church of Christ”. They are a works salvation cult effectively, though some genuine Christians may be in the Church. The teach that you must be baptized and do good works to go to Heaven. Only secondarily if at all in my experience talking with them do they mention the atoning work of Christ. When I asked Mason what he would say to God if asked why he should let him into Heaven he said, “I wouldn’t have a reason because I’m not baptized yet.” He thought the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 0% saying as if it was God talking, “You can’t join Heaven if you have not pursued My work.” I imagine that is something they say at meetings. But of course the work of God is not limited to categories one would typically think of as a ministry. And being a good employee, or parent, sibling, student whatever are not the works of righteousness unless the Christian does them in the power of the Spirit. I went through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died for his sins and wanted to be forgiven. When I showed him the option her said, “The one on the right.” Which was a circle with Christ living inside him, but he had not been trusting in Christ for forgiveness. I walked him through the prayer asked if he wanted to pray and he said, “Yeah.” And he prayed to receive Christ. As he finished I said, “Your sins are forgiven. Not because I say so but because God’s word does.” It was then I found out what Bible study he went to so I cautioned him against the legalism of Second City.  I said I had gone through the Gospel with some of the leaders i the past.  They had answered the question of why they went to Heaven appealing to Baptism and their own good works.  Only when I finished going through the Gospel with them did they agree saying, “Well of course Jesus had to die to take away sins.” I told him the parable of the Wedding Banquet [Matthew 22] explaining the wedding clothes were the Righteousness of Christ which we are clothed in not our own righteousness [Gal. 3:27]. I told him how Christ said “I never knew you.” to people who had appealed to their religious works of casting out demons prophecy and miracles. I generally helped him see that yes he should be baptized, but if he walked out in the parking lot and was killed by a car he would go to Heaven though he was not yet baptized. He was saved by faith and should do good works but only those done in the power of the Spirit please God, not those done in our own strength. We had a long conversation about how we sometime failed in trying to please God and I explained to him that now he could ask God to change him and the Christian life was not just trying hard but living “Inside Out” by God’s power. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date he had trusted Christ in the front and “By the Power of the Spirit”. He gave me his phone number and got up to head to class and I said, “I’ll see you in heaven.” “He turned and smiling said, “There’ll be a big banquet too!” “And we’ll have classy duds,” I replied. He laughed and went off to class.
Tom was sitting at a table in the downstairs of the PE lounge. He was a big dude with freckles and strawberry blonde hair, mustache and beard, said he wanted to play in the NFL. He had a ball cap on shorts and a hoodie. He’d been to church in Georgia and Wisconsin when he lived there but now just read the Bible on his own. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven if he died he said, “I would say, ‘I know I’ve sinned in my life. I’ve also helped my community, [and] pushed people to do their best.'” He thought he had about a 95% chance of going to Heaven. He understood that Jesus had died to take away his sins and seemed to be familiar with the Gospel. After I finished explaining everything to him I said, if he wanted to trust in what Jesus had done, there was a prayer he could pray.  I walked him through it and said. “Say for some strange reason I had to take a class here and you were in it and some girl in it said to me that she thought you were good looking and asked me to give you her number. So I did. And you got to know her, studied together, had coffee together in a group but you never called her up. You’d have a relationship with her, because you were friends but you would not be in a relationship with her. A lot of people who go to church are like that with God, they believe He is their creator, they know the stories in the Bible and believe them, but they have never trusted in Him for forgiveness. So I know you knew the story [of what Jesus had done] but were you trusting in it to be forgiven or is that something you still need to do?” I had pointed out earlier that his answer to the question had been an appeal to his good works. “I still have to do that,” he replied. So I offered him the prayer and he silently prayed to receive Christ. We talked about how there was a Bible study with one of the coaches and I encouraged him to go (turned out it is Monday nights. This year Football practice is in the morning so I said we had pizza and he could come to ours too but no pressure. He gave me his e-mail and I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date he had trusted Christ in the front and “By the Power of the Spirit” explaining the life in Christ and the fruit of the Spirit. I said that he could ask God to give him skills on the field and even ask to play in the NFL and if it is not something that would be bad for him God might give that to him and that I would pray that for him too for the next school year and the year after. I suggested somethings he could read in the Bible. I explained that if he was trusting in Christ’s righteousness to be his it was 100% he would go to heaven. He smiled at that and as he got up he should my hand and said, “Thanks for the talk.” And he headed into the meeting.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.
In Him,
Bob

Results of the Work – 9/8/17

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Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you day was blessed. I had a good day at school and had an opportunity to plant a few seeds though no one came to Christ.
Gucleen looked Indian with ripped jeans on wearing a black baseball cap turned backwards had a cute smile who is from a Sikh family and Anma a Muslim girl from Pakistan were sitting on the steps by the book store. I got to go through the Gospel with Gucleen who originally said she did not believe in God saying she could not see Him. “There are other things you cannot see, have you ever been in love? Going through life only believing in things you can see won’t work very well.” This seemed to provoke her into listening to the gospel and at the end she said she thought she might like to be forgiven with God living inside her and she took the student edition of The Case for Christ to read. I talked Anma (who hadn’t heard much of what I’d said busy on her computer, sitting beside us) through some issues in the Quran. The description of Mohamed’s home town is of ancient Petra not Medina I explained and the Quran endorses the NT. Mohamed tells his followers to check his teaching against the Bible and Gospels. I told her I believed the Mohamed’s teaching had been changed not the Bible telling her we had the entire Bible in ancient manuscripts and knew it had not been changed by the time of Mohamed. She misstated that the Quran taught the Bible had been changed and I explained to her the Quran does not hold up to western academic scrutiny and that 20% of it was unintelligible in Arabic which would suggest it had been translated from another document in another language. She also had long dark hair but her head was uncovered, she wore all black, jeans and a black shirt. She was deceptive about the reason why women cover up in her country unwilling to say it was dangerous for Christians in Pakistan. I pointed out how a Christian based country treated women better and protected the weak. She seemed to be given pause over my statements and I said many students of Muslim background I had met were searching after watching YouTube stuff on the Quran. I don’t know how much I got through to her but she took a pamphlet Jesus and the Quran.
Later Patrick a guy in the Hall way of the BIC  sitting on the floor heard the Gospel and took The Case for Christ. He had sandy hair parted on the side, chin length with sideburns wore Jeans and a t-shirt. He was well informed and knew the faith pretty well and was open to learning more.
Saleh (sa-lay) Heard the Gospel, a Muslim he had thinning hair and braces, a round oval face, nice guy he also took Jesus and the Quran. He was sitting in the Cafeteria and hopefully he’ll read more.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance I had some good conversations and felt God’s blessing.
In Him,
Bob

Results of the Work – 9/7/17

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Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope your day was blessed i the Lord. 3 students prayed with me to receive Christ today. An Indian guy Thomas and two Roman Catholic Girls Daisy and Caitlin. 21 peeps have prayed with me to receive Christ this school year.  Counting Joe, the guy who was seal coating the parking lot last Friday around the deck I was staining at Mission Eurasia in town.
Thomas was sitting in the hall of the BIC building at the end of one of the bench seats. He wore a polo shirt and tan pants, wore glasses and had his hair combed back (both Clark Kent style) and had a beard that did not meet his mustache. Nice friendly face, good looking guy on the small side. If an Indian guy is named “Thomas” there is a pretty good chance he came from a Christian background in southern India where tradition holds the original Thomas the Apostle brought the Gospel, probably arriving by boat. Thomas was from a Christian background and knew the Gospel. He wanted to help others in life. When I asked him what he would say to God if He asked ”Why should I let you into heaven?” he said, “I wouldn’t say anything He’s the one that chooses. It’s my actions that determine (my eternal destiny). I would probably unintentionally lie [If I tried to say I was good] because I would want to go to heaven but He would know that I did unknowingly.” When I explained imputation and went through the Gospel he was in agreement and knew Jesus had died, but I pointed out that though he knew Jesus had died for him it seemed like in his answer he was really trusting that his own righteousness would carry him, not the righteousness of God by faith. He suddenly realized that had been true and he decided he wanted to pray to receive Jesus. I explained the life in the Spirit living Inside out and that if he was trusting in Christ’s righteousness and not his own the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date he had trusted Christ in the front and a Bible Study. He was interested to come to our Bible Study so I hope he will come. He seemed like a nice guy. As I got up to leave he shook my hand and said, “Thanks very much. Nice to meet you.” And I said he was welcome and it was nice to meet him too.
Daisy was sitting in the Science building lounge in one of the built in benches that overlooks the floor beneath. She had long dark straight hair parted in the middle, wearing black plastic framed glasses with an oval, kind face. She went to Catholic Church most weeks it seemed. Dressed in black she wore yoga pants and a fleece. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked “Why should I let you into heaven?” she said. I would say I haven’t done anything wrong that wouldn’t let me go up to Heaven. I wouldn’t want to say I deserve it but I kinda feel like I do.” But she still only thought she had about a 60% chance of getting into Heaven. We talked a bit but her class was going to start so I quickly made the points I like to make in explaining the Gospel saying that she did not go to Heaven because she was good but because Jesus was good and she was connected to Him. I hoped I was not rushing too much but she wanted to be forgiven with Christ inside her so I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rise from the Dead?” She said she did and so I asked if she would want to trust in that and be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray.  I offered it to her after explaining it saying she could pray it right then and be forgiven. “Now,” she replied. “Yes just in your heart where God can hear you though not so I hear.” “OK,” she replied and prayed to receive Christ. She did not have her own Bible and so I gave her one putting her name and the date saying that she could remember that was when she had been forgiven. I showed her the “Where to Turn” section in the back that lists verses for specific questions. I also gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing By the Power of the Spirit” in the front having explained to her the power by which we live the Christian life. She thanked me and we parted.
I went to the truck to get some books then and got another Bible. I was pretty tanked but thought I would look for one more person and headed about with no takers until I got the PE building lounge 20 min. later. Caitlin was sitting on a bench seat facing the downstairs railing, turned a bit to the wall having plugged in her phone there. She had blonde hair in a flip ending in tube curls like horizontal pipes resting on her shoulders, parted on the side with bangs swept across her forehead, cute kid. She might have just finished working out as she had layered on a couple tank tops and wore running shorts. She did not want to do a survey and I said that’s cool and turned away and she asked, “What sect (of Christianity) is this? .” I said it was christian and offered her a booklet and began to explain the Gospel a little saying God wanted to live inside her with His holy Spirit and take away her sins. Then she asked something like, “How would you say that happens?” I guess God knew how tired I was and was helping me with promptings. So I sat down and explained how Jesus died in her place for her sins and His blood was like a power in the world that cleansed her from her sin and the death it had created inside her. I explained that then God could live in her as she matched God having become His type. “Do you understand what I mean?” Absolutely,” she replied. “My problem is that I don’t reach out to God enough,” she said. She said she did a reading each day and meditated on it. It unfortunately turned out she was reading Jesus Calling which is a popular devotional book. The author claims she is looking for something more than the Bible and has used channeling like in the new age book God Calling which uses occult practices of automatic writing.  I warned Caitlin that she should not read Jesus Calling but read the Bible instead and that the author, Sarah was letting a spirit communicate to her but apart from the Bible she could not know who that Spirit was and that she had gotten some things wrong. I explained living by the Spirit inside her and asked if she had trusted in that Jesus died for her sins so that God could forgive her and live inside her and give her the strength to live the Christian life. “I never thought about it that way before,” she replied. Then she could pray for God to remind her to call on Him and it wasn’t so much reaching out to Him but more reaching into Him inside her where she could ask him to transform her. I held up my hand showing her my wedding ring explaining that I was in a relationship with my wife, that I could have a relationship with her–we could meet up and have coffee once in a while or something but I could not be in q relationship with her as I already was married. You have a relationship with God but you can be in one if you trust in Jesus for forgiveness. I said if she would like to trust in Christ there was a prayer she could pray and walked her through it and she prayed to receive Christ. I gave her a Bible showing her the “Where to Turn” section in it. I wrote her name and the date saying she could know that was the day she was forgiven. She looked at her phone and had to leave so I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and explaining that to her. I had to let her go wishing I could say more and told her I would keep her in my prayers and she said, “Thank you. Bless you, you did a good thing.” I said she was welcome and maybe I would see her around and headed out the doors into the sunshine.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.
In Him,
Bob

Results of the Work – 9/6/17

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Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope your day was blessed in the Lord. I had a good day on campus, One girl Oni prayed with me to receive Jesus. I gave the student edition of the Case for Christ to Anthony who was struggling with doubts and gave him some new perspective, encouraged some Christians in their faith, prayed over Morgan who had suffered ongoing pain from 2 surgeries from a broken neck, and went through the Gospel and gave a copy of The Case for Christ to Flamur who had departed from his Albanian parent’s Muslim faith and was searching.
Oni is a very petite black girl. She had straightened hair just to her shoulders and was wearing black lace boots, ripped jeans and a powder blue jacket, her eye glasses had some splashes of blue on the black frames, cute kid. She had this little cleaver closed mouth smile on her face all while I talked to her. She was sitting in a lounge in the BIC not far from where we have Bible Study. She came from a Christian background and went to church and when I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into heaven she thought for a moment and said, “I would say He should let me into Heaven because I’ve done my best to use my gifts for His glory.” She thought she’d have about a 55-60% chance of going to Heaven. She knew Jesus had died for her sins, though she had not seemed to understand the righteousness of God to her credit by faith. As I finished going through the Gospel with her I asked her if when she asked for forgiveness she’d thought she would be forgiven because she was a good person or if she knew she’d be forgiven because Jesus had died for her. “I know you knew the story but had you been trusting in Jesus to be forgiven?” I asked. “I don’t really know.” she replied. “If you don’t really know it seems like you probably were not trusting in Him right?” I asked and she agreed. I offered her a prayer were she could trust in Christ and thank him for dying for her sins and giving her eternal life. She decided to pray it and she did. I explained the Holy Spirit in the Christian life to her and gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do Writing “By the Spirit’s Power”, her name and the date she had trusted in Jesus in the front. I also gave her a Bible study and got her e-mail to send her more information. I explained that if she was now trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be her righteousness she could be sure she was going to Heaven 100%. “Because how righteous was Jesus?” “”100%” she replied brightly with a smile. “And what is His righteousness worth?” “A lot,” she said smiling. “An infinite amount,” I replied “so there is enough for you and me and everyone really.” She was happy, a really nice kid and as I got up to leave I said, “God bless you Oni.” and she said “God bless you too,” cheerfully. And He had.
So thanks for your prayers for te ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance God blessed the work.
In Him,
Bob

Results of the Work – 9/5/17

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Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and 3 students prayed with me to receive Jesus, a guy Alex and 2 girls Razy (rhymes with crazy) and Brigitte.
Alex was the first person I talked to sitting by the door outside the cafeteria on a row of chairs. He had a green flight jacket on and an afro with a fade on either side, jeans nice looking kid narrow face. He said he had already done a survey so I explained this was different and asked him what he would say to God to get into heaven if he died. He replied again that he’d done a survey so I said, “Well do you know how to get into heaven?” He admitted he didn’t. ‘Well do you want to know how the Bible says you get to heaven or not so much?” Alex kind of begrudgingly admitted he wanted to know so I said we could skip the survey and I would just tell him the verses. The first verse in the booklet I used was John 3:16 and he said, “I know that one.” I explained God wanted to live inside him with His Holy Spirit and that was what it meant to know God, “But first God wants to take away your sins so what is the thing Jesus does to take away your sins?” “He does a lot of things.” he hedged. Ok but what is the most basic thing Jesus does that forgives your sins.” He said a a couple lines about things Jesus did and finally said, “Well He just forgives you.” “”Well, when you sin you mess up God’s stuff” I said. “Because everything belongs to God, even you belong to God, so even if you hurt yourself. So you owe God for messing up His stuff and someone has to pay to make that right because God is just.” I explained then how Jesus died for him and paid it all and that his righteousness was to his credit. “I get it.” he said. I finished going through the Gospel with him and said, “Well it doesn’t seem like you had put this together before.” He agreed he hadn’t so I explained he could pray a prayer to receive Jesus and he took the booklet and silently prayed to receive Christ. He had a bible so I gave him the Book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date he had trusted Christ in the front and a Bible study explaining how the Christian life was inside out by the power of the Spirit. I explained that if he trusted in the righteousness of Christ he could be sure he would go to heaven and he thanked me and I headed out.
Razy was sitting outside in the sunlight in a bench at the top of the waterfall/fountain, the stonework I was told by the mason (that built it) was a 100,000 dollar job (my tax dollars at work). It is pretty cool looking frankly. Rezy was from a Roman catholic background. Latina she had stick straight hair, laid tight to her head parted on the side above her ears, and block eye brows, round face and a flannel shirt on. She also told me she had already done a student survey–but said when I asked, “I could read a booklet.” In giving it to her I began to explain the Gospel and she kept listening so I kept explaining. She said she’d seen me around. I showed her some of the verses and explained the entire gospel to her. “I never had this explained this way before,” she said. She’d been hassled by the “mother-godess cult” at the mall and had to block them when they harassed her on her phone so I knew God had moved her heart to listen. She wanted to be forgiven for her sins and so I said, “When you’ve asked for forgiveness from God before you probably thought that you were a pretty good person and went to Chruch and so God would forgive you.” She agreed that was true. She said she believed Jesus was God and had died for her sins and rose from the dead saying, “I’ve been taught that my whole life.” So I asked if she had been trusting in Jesus for forgiveness or if she still need to do that. “I need to do that more,” She said and wanted to pray to receive Christ. And after I walked her through the prayer she did. I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study and a Bible writing her name and the date he had trusted Christ in the front as she only had a family Bible. In it is a section in back listing verses on topics called , “When you” It lists verses for fear or needing peace and so on and she liked that. I explained a symbolic view of the mass saying she could use that time to thank Jesus for dying for her knowing that her sins were forgiven.  I got up to leave and she thanked me and said, “When I see you I’ll say hi,” and she waved thanking me again. I smiled and said I would see her around. She was kind and sweet.
Brigitte was tying the laces on her pink workout shoe with one foot up on the bench seat just inside the doors of the southeast corner of the BIC building. She was dressed in black a fleece and workout clothes. She’d been headed out the door so I just caught her. She said she’d do a survey and we stood and talked. She thought she had about a 50% chance of going to Heaven and had been raised Catholic but hadn’t been to church in a few years. She had shoulder length brown wavy hair and a kind friendly face. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I’ve been a good person despite my sins.” I began to explain the Gospel to her and she remembered Jesus had died to take away her sins. She listened closely to all I told her and wanted to be forgiven so I asked her if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the Dead. She paused and she thought she did. I asked her if she wanted to trust in that to be forgiven and she said she’d thought she would, then when I walked her through the prayer she decided to pray to receive Christ. She brightened some afterwards. I gave her a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study and I got her email to send her some more information. I gave her the website for Compass church to take in some sermons explaining the speaker was pretty good, “Is it a Catholic Church? I’m not into the Catholic church at all.” I told her it was a free church and would seem nondenominational. I thanked her for talking with me and she said, “I actually kind of needed it.” I said I would see her in heaven and she said “OK!” and her face filled with a smile.
So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed the work and we had a nice group of kids at the Bible study.
in Him,
bob

Results of the Work – 8/31/17

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Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

 

I hope your day went well and you sensed the presence of the Lord. I had an abnormal day. When I first got to school I had this sense I should go over to the science building. I had a bad headache and the science building was on the other side of school. But I began to head over there to see if it was God leading. No one would talk with me on the way there, and when I got there only one student was willing to talk. Ethan turned out be a Christian and we talked for 2 ½ hours, overlooking the science building lounge. He had a military cut (buzzed on the sides with a mop on top), a goatee, sandy hair, wearing shorts, nice guy. I answered a lot of questions and he was very well read in some fringe Christian stuff and some scholarship I had also read. One of the scholars we talked about has the wrong view of ancient influences on the Bible. I believe the Bible is the true story and other ancient religions, inasmuch as the myth resembles the Bible, are channeled by cenobites controlled by demons. There’s a resurgence today of paganism and the old gods. [1Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” ]  In as much as an old religious pagan worship resembles Christianity, it is simply a demon mimicking the truth to make the lie sound more real. The Old Testament Bible is not responding to these lies. It does not have to, it is simply the original true story. I talked to Ethan about the nature of scholarship, certain translations of the Bible and so on. We talked about a dozen different issues including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the original languages of the NT, several different sources of information and a couple other issues. I told him perspective in each of the things he brought up that were outside what he had considered. So I guess that was what I was supposed to do at school today. He already knew a lot, but I told him some different ways he could think about it that he had not considered. I imagine, by the time he is my age, he’ll know twice as much as I. I walked around another 40 minutes but could not get anyone else to talk about God, and the school had cleared out. My headache came back after the few minutes’ respite some more aspirin had bought me. I had someone I had promised to help with a piece of equipment in the late afternoon and headed out. I guess it was a day of discipleship.

 

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed. 13 students have prayed to receive Jesus this year so far.

 

In Him,

Bob

Results of the Work – 8/30/17

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Hey sisters and Brothers in Christ,

 

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. We had a good day at the book table. We had about 8 peeps interested in coming to a Bible Study and two students, Lisa and Phillip, each prayed to receive Christ.

 

Lisa walked up and said she might be interested in going to a Bible Study. She went to a Vineyard Church that is not too far away. I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked her why He should let her into Heaven. “What?” she asked. So I repeated the question and she began to talk about doing religious things that seemed good. She mentioned reading the Bible among them.  She also said that she struggled sometimes to be faithful in all of it. She has sandy reddish-blonde hair pulled back and braces, very slight build. “What is it that happened to you though that allowed God to let you into Heaven?” She seemed a bit lost, so I asked her if she wanted to hear some Bible verses. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sins as I questioned her more. I finished talking her through the Gospel and talking about the power of God inside her by the Spirit to be faithful in the Christian life. I offered her the option of being forgiven with Christ inside and she said she wanted to be forgiven. So I said, “Well I know you knew the story of Jesus before, but it seems like you had not been trusting in Him but instead trying to do good things to be forgiven and be accepted by God.” She said that was true and so I offered her a prayer she could pray to trust in Christ. She prayed silently and was really happy. I explained more how she could ask for God’s transforming power and that Christianity was living “inside out” where God transformed her on the inside and gave her power to live the Christian life. “Like say you go to church and they say, ‘You should do this and you should do that’ and you think, ‘This is great but I’m going to forget this by Wednesday.’ But, if you wanted to, in that moment you can pray to God and say. ‘Lord make me this kind of person.’ Then if you have forgotten by Wednesday, it does not matter because God began to work on Sunday when you prayed for Him to transform you.” She liked that idea. I explained the fruit of the Spirit to her and gave her Gal. 5:22&23, saying she could pray for any of what was listed there and God would give her more joy and peace by asking, or faith if she had doubts because faith is a gift. I showed her that verse again. I gave her the booklet with some of the verses I mentioned and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing her name and the date she’d trusted Christ in the front. She gave me her email and I gave her a Bible study and she happily walked off.

 

Phillip had drifted by earlier and left his contact information. I could not talk to him then as I was talking with Jacob, who was a theist.  We’d been talking a long time about some of the absurdities of the materialistic view and political correctness in gender issues. Jacob took Darwin’s Black Box to read and The Case for Christ, so I hope those will bring some fruit. Phillip wandered by again as we were packing up. He was tough to miss as he had a black t-shirt on with bright lettering that said, “I ALSO BELIEVE IN UNICORNS” He had a back-pack on and was wearing a fedora 1950’s style had some brown curly hair poking out and has gotten some face painting done at one of the other tables. He looked pretty trippy, frankly. I thought he might be an atheist.  Since he had given us contact info I wanted to know more about him, so I asked if he really did believe in Unicorns and he said he thought it was possible. I agreed. He was wearing a pretty big cross around his neck and it turned out he considered himself spiritual and had gone through Catholic education his entire life. I also asked him the “Big philosophical question” about death and what he would say to God. He said he wouldn’t really know what to say. He thought about it more, and so I asked him what he thought it was that got him into Heaven. He listed some things including reconciliation, but it seemed he had not thought about what that meant. I asked him what the big thing was that Jesus did that took away his sins and he listed some religious works, so I continued to go through the Gospel with him and he was really interested. I asked him, as I completed the explanation I had given him (a bit abbreviated as the room was packing up and I did not want to lose him) with all the Bible verses, if he wanted to be forgiven. He said, “I would want to have God live inside me and be forgiven.” He had not put it all together either. I said, “Well, I think you knew the story of Jesus. But were trusting in religious works to make you right with God and get you into Heaven?” He agreed, so I offered him a prayer where he could trust in Jesus work by faith. He decided to pray and did quietly was I waited. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date in the front. I explained a symbolic view of the mass to him, as he said he went to church every Sunday, and I explained responding to the message as I had with Lisa, praying for God to work inside him.

 

So thanks for your prayers for our college ministry and for the book table conversations today God truly blessed.

 

In Him,

Bob

Results of the Work – 8/29/17

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Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

 

I hope your day was blessed today walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Emrah and Aristaia each prayed with me to receive Christ.

 

Emrah (I used a search engine to look up his name and it seems to be Turkish) was sitting on the bench seat by the door in the south east corner of the BIC building. He wore jeans, a pink polo shirt inside a long sleeve button v neck shirt, kind of the old school prep look. He had a mop of blonde hair with some product in it, parted on the side, tall lean looking guy. He seemed to be waiting on a friend and said he wanted to see the United States. When I asked him if when he died, what he would say to God to get into Heaven. He started saying, “I haven’t committed any…” then changed it to, “not committing the worse sins” and finally landed on, “I have committed very minimal sins.” He thought it had been about 4 years since he had gone to church. As I went through the Gospel he said, “Makes sense” several times, understanding it well. He hadn’t remembered from Church that Christ had died for him. He wanted to be forgiven for his sins, pointing at the option of Christ living inside him when I asked. So I walked him through the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ silently with me. I gave him a Bible as he did not have one, writing his name and the date in the front and I also gave him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ. I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, having explained the life in Christ to him. His friend was waiting by then, so I asked if he wanted another Bible study and he said “Perfect” and headed out the door.

 

In the afternoon, Aristaia was sitting in the Science building. She’s from a Greek Orthodox Church, (spoke Greek some) her mom is Greek and her dad comes from a variety of folk. She had blue-green eyes that seemed to change color and sandy blonde hair, wearing yoga pants and a red short-sleeve top, pretty girl with one of those perfect smiles. She wanted to travel the world. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she thought for a moment and said, “I try to help people a lot. That’s like my favorite thing, to help people. I’ve tried to do that my whole life. I care about people generally.” She basically went on to say she made people important and I said, “There is a Bible verse that says that. ‘Let each of you consider one another as more important than himself.’” [Philippians 2:3] She knew that Jesus had died for her sins but hadn’t understood imputation of Christ’s righteousness to her. But when I asked her if she would like to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her, she right away said “Yes” with conviction. Suggesting she might not have put all of this together before enough to trust in Christ for forgiveness, she said, “I went to Sunday school… but they didn’t really talk about it that way.” So I offered her a prayer she could pray and she silently prayed to receive Christ. I explained living inside out to her and many other metaphors I use to help students think about how God acts in the world, since she seemed to have time. She had a Bible, but I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do to read, writing “By the Spirit’s Powers” in the front. I talked to her about living “Inside out” where God would transform her on the inside and then she would do things by his strength in the world.  I gave her a Bible Study also. She’d thought she had about a 50% change of going to Heaven so I said, “This is 100%. If you are trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be your righteousness, how righteous is Jesus?” She agreed He was 100% righteous and that his righteousness is worth an infinite amount. I said “Maybe I’ll see you around. I’ll just say hi.” and she smiled and I headed off.

 

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

 

Tomorrow is a book table day and we are hoping to get some kids interested in Bible Study. We’d be grateful for your prayers for that.

 

Thanks again.

 

In Him,

Bob

Results of the Work – 8/28/17

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Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

I hope you had a great day walking by the Spirit. I had a good day on campus, and Nicole prayed with me to receive Christ as her Savior.

 

Nicole was sitting in the hall on the third floor of the BIC. I had gone up there first thing to drop off a form with our faculty advisor. She had brown hair that was pulled loosely back in a bun, some strands framing her face. She wore a pink fleece and skinny jeans with a tear in one knee. Pretty girl, long eyelashes. I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey and she said, “I think I already did one of those.” So I asked, “Did they ask you, ‘Say you’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead, and you stand before God and He says why should I let you into Heaven, what would you say?'” “No they didn’t ask that.” she replied. “I don’t know,” was her answer. “Well would you like to know how the Bible says you get into Heaven?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said. So I sat down and just asked her the questions in the survey. But when I asked her why she’d go to Heaven she said again, “I don’t know. I really have no idea.” She said she went to a catholic church often and thought she had about a 90% chance of getting to Heaven. So I began to explain the Gospel to her with Bible verses, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to her. She did know Jesus had died for her sins but hadn’t put it all together or trusted in that for forgiveness. She wanted to be forgiven and was thinking she was a good person who went to church so God would forgive her sins. So I offered her the prayer and she prayed to receive Christ. I explained that living the Christian life was “Inside out” compared with other religions. “In other religions you do good things on the outside and the deity is pleased with you and takes you to Heaven. Or the Universe is somehow pleased with you and you don’t come back as a cow. But in Christianity, you ask God to transform you on the inside and the Spirit transforms you into a good person and do good things.” I explained. I gave her Zwingli’s view on the mass as symbolic, saying she could remember, when she takes it, that Jesus died for her and so she can know she is forgiven. I got her email to send her some more stuff, and gave her a Bible Study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing her name and the date and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven is 100%.  Nicole was happy about that. I got up to leave and she said, “Nice to meet you.” And I said “Nice to meet you too”.

 

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed. Wednesday is a book table day to invite kids to come to Bible study.

 

In Him,

Bob

Results of the Work – 8/24/17

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Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

 

I hope your day was blessed and you walked in the Spirit. I had a good day and Ruben prayed with me to receive Christ. During the rest of the day, a girl Stephanie, who was really searching, gave me some time. I talked her through a lot in the PE lounge and gave her The Case for Christ student edition. And another guy Donovan was close to praying, but had to run for his ride and thanked me. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do. I talked to him in the hall in the BIC building, so I hope I’ll find out he trusted the Lord. Two Roman Catholic girls, Maidy and Kim (both were attractive Latina girls), one in the Culinary building and the other in the hall way of the BIC, said they’d tell God about their works to get into Heaven. Then they changed their mind and said they were trusting in Jesus after I went through the Gospel with them. That happens almost every day. I think these students are coming to faith in Christ (kind of finally putting it all together) but it is tough to tell if something changed when they don’t pray with me. And I am asking them an unfamiliar question, so maybe they are right. I always show them the prayer, suggesting they could use the booklet to share their faith with a friend, which I of course hope they will do (and they themselves might pray later). After I read through it and the line, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” I say, as if they were sharing it with someone else, “That’s what you believe right?” Maidy & Kim both said “Yes.”  So hopefully some students come to have a genuine moment of faith that way if they had not yet been trusting. Both girls thanked me when we parted. I gave Kim a Bible Promise Book, as she only had a family Bible but did not want to take a Bible from me.

 

Ruben, a good looking Roman Catholic guy with a light mustache and a goatee, (he also looked Latino) was sitting at a table on the edge of the science building lounge looking down on it from the 2nd floor. I asked him if he’d like to do a student survey on what he thought about God and stuff. But like many often say each day, he said he already did one. [Other Christian groups at school (one that used to be called Campus Crusade among them), do a survey asking questions about religion and never go through the Gospel. I often find students who don’t want to talk to me about God because they think they already did with someone else. I’m not sure why groups do this. Ironically enough it is keeping some people from hearing the Gospel by giving them a religious survey. Crusade records how many “spiritual conversions” they have, so I guess that’s the point for them, so this number is increased in their paperwork.] I chatted with Ruben, asking him if they asked what he would say if he died and stood before God and God said “why should I let you into Heaven?’ “No, they asked me if I went to church, why I went to church and where I went to church,” he replied. “Well would you like to know what the Bible says about how you get to Heaven or not so much?” I asked. “How long will it take?” he asked. “5 or 6 minutes,” I replied and he agreed. I went through the Gospel with him and Ruben wanted to be forgiven for his sins. I asked if he was trusting in Christ when he asked to be forgiven, or if he was going to church and trying to do the right thing and hoping that would be enough to be forgiven. He said, “I was just trying to be a good person.” He wanted to be forgiven for his sins with God living inside him and he prayed with me to receive Christ. I walked him through Zwingli’s representational view of the mass and explained walking by the Spirit. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing his name and the date, saying that he could know that was the day he had gotten forgiven by God. He took a Bible study and I told him I’d keep him in my prayers. He kind of apologized for putting me off initially, saying he thought it was just going to be more of the same. But the Lord had moved in his heart to hear.

 

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

 

In Him,

Bob