Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a good day in the “Grand Solar Minimum” {less heat coming from the sun for a few years from solar flares}that we all know in Chicago by experience makes things cold faster than CO2 can warm them.  I had a good day on campus and Rojae [Ro Jay] Anna, Jada All prayed to receive Jesus. 

Rojae was sitting in a small section of a lounge just down the hall to the east of where we have Bible Study and up a floor in the BIC building. He had straight jaw line and a beard beneath his chin and a Michael Jordan minimal mustache. His hair was shaved short on the sides and he had a rough afro on top full classic African American features, he wore a jacket and light blue skinny jeans with torn open knees. Good looking kid. He was slight in build and had moved to the states with his father leaving his mom in Jamaica. He was a manager at a movie theatre said he wanted to buy her a house. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I wouldn’t say anything I’d just let Him judge me.” He thought he had a 70% chance of going to Heaven. He was raised Catholic. He listened closely to the Gospel however tuning right in to hear how the blood of Christ cleansed him and I explained the Justice of God (when He did not seem to follow).  It then made sense that Jesus was the perfect substitute for all the things we had done to damage others and the world. We clicked and he liked the examples I used and the stories I told him. I asked if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else and he said, “I would want to be forgiven, I’ve done a lot of stuff.” So I explained that if he wanted to trust in what Jesus had done there was a prayer he could pray and talking him through it. I asked if it was the desire of his heart. “A little bit,” he replied. So I asked if there was something that didn’t work for him and he said, “There’s more I would say.” So I said that he could pray it silently in his heart so only God would hear and add the part he wanted to say as well, would he want to do it. He nodded then saying “Yeah, thank you.” And he prayed to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life to him living by God’s power and the strength of His Holy Spirit. I explained that he was now rich in the things God offered him and that was more important than what he could gain in this life. I gave him a Bible as he only had a pocket Bible at his apartment. I showed him the Where to Turn section and the Messianic Passages. And I wrote his name and the Date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave him a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study and explained the Christian life by the Spirit’s Power. I got his email to send him some stuff. He was grateful and we talked about life a bit and I headed off. 

Jada was up on the same floor in the hall in a line of chairs. She had a cute oval face, (shriek’s wife had similar features if she had a nicer smile) was plump and had her hair in some crisscross braid across the top of her head gathered into two balls of afro like round Mickey Mouse ears. Seems to be popular to wear your hair this way as I have seen several girls with it on campus this year. She had gone to Church a lot in the south before moving up here two years ago and had not settled at a church really. But she’d recently been home and was keeping up with the people who lead her youth group and had lunched with them. She wore blue jeans and a camo coat that zipped up the front and red horizontal stripped, form fitted top. When I asked her what she would say to get into Heaven she said, “I really don’t know, I never thought about that.” Then thinking a bit more said, “Yeah I don’t know.” She was sure she was going to Heaven though, 100%. I began to go through the Gospel with her and she knew Jesus had died to take away her sins. She listens to the imputed righteousness of Christ that His blood had cleansed her and he lived the perfect life we could not. She took it all in attentively and in the end when I asked her if she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else she said, “I would want to be forgiven.” “Well, it doesn’t seem like you had a chance to put all this together before to place your trust in it right? She agreed nodding so I said if she’d like to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. And after talking her through it I asked if it was the desire of her heart. She nodded again and I said she could pray it silently so God would hear “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Um hum,” she replied and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. She thanked me and I gave her a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and forgiven in the front. I also explained to her the Christian life and as I had with Rojae I wrote, “Just ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front explaining how God offered through His Holy Spirit all the strength she would need to live the Christian life. She thanked me again and I gave her a Bible Study and said I would keep her in my prayers until spring of 2021. I said that trusting now in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She thanked me again and I headed off.

Anna was in a little adjunct lounge off a connecting hallway on the same floor. They had windowed it in floor to ceiling last year for no good reason I could detect except that they have too much money for such things. She had long brown hair and a cute face, kind of the Annette Funicello look, cute kid. She had big eyes, long eye lashes and rectangle glasses and was a bit round, had black jeans shredded at the knees and a black shirt. I sat at her feet indian style. I met her as she was rubbing moisturizing location up and down her arms and I was reminded it was prematurely winter outside. She was really friendly and saying she was Catholic said she’d do a survey. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I’ve lived a healthy life physically and spiritually. I’ve done harm but not with the purpose of trying to cause harm [to anyone] and I’ve enjoyed life.” She thought she had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven saying, “I’m no saint but I’m not a bogus person.” When I asked her what Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world so God could live inside her she said, “I don’t know.” I said it would probably come back to her and she had an explanation of remembering, “Oh!” when I began to talk about how Jesus had lived a perfect life for her, I think seeing the diagram of the cross. But then she tuned in and kept listening not clarifying at all. I explained how Jesus had died providing a perfect payment for her sins. His blood had cleansed her as was symbolically represented in the Mass. As I finished I asked if she would want to be forgiven or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” she said.  “Well it seems like you never had a chance to put all this together before?” She very expressively shook her head no making a face like “Not at all.” So I said there was a prayer she could pray and after explaining it I said she could pray it silently. She nodded saying, “Yeah,” when I asked if she’d like to and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I also wrote’ “By the Spirit’s Power” and “Just Ask” in the front explaining the Christian life to her. I told her I would pray for her and gave her a Bible Study. She was happy and said, “Thank you.” Thanks for talking with me,” I said in return. “Have a good day,” she said as I left the lounge. “You’re welcome,” I threw in and headed out

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a good weekend so far. Thanks for your prayers. I had some good discussions, Emanuel, a good looking African American Student with a Beard and red hoodie who I’d spoken with before waved me over in the PE lounge and said he had some questions, so I explained some things to him. He was with a girl whose name I did not know, heavy set with a pretty face and light brown hair, Caucasian.  He wanted to know why Jesus decided to die. Broadly speaking it seems obvious that He died for our sins but many people think God could just be magnanimous and forgive you. I explained that God is just in Christianity, unlike the Islamic god whose essence is unknowable (they claim).  So Islamic theologians will say God has no limits even being reasonable. His decisions then from a human perspective are arbitrary. Whereas Christian worldview Scientists like Francis Bacon derives the scientific method imagining they had a reasonable God. God creates order. Islam never creates experimental science like the West because their god cannot be said to be essentially reasonable. Scientists nowadays will say they do not believe in God. But I explained to Emanuel, to do an experiment [even if you say you think the world evolved without God out of randomness and chaos] you must conduct yourself in a lab as if de facto, there was a God who guarantees the experiment. Because the environment is ordered in world of natural laws and so it can be reduplicated. Similarly God is Just in His essence, and so to forgive there must be just compensation. When you break the world or hurt another person you owe God for damaging His stuff. In order to be Just and to forgive God must “get paid”. When you wreck someone’s stuff you owe them something perfect in return. The example I used was borrow a sweater that was ruined while you wore it you would buy your friend a new sweater. If you borrow a car and wreck it you pay the deductible and the Body Shop auspiciously makes it like new again. You owe someone something perfect in return, but we cannot do anything perfect, so we owe God but have no means to pay–to make the thing perfect again. So Jesus lives a perfect life to pay for this inability or debt on our part. His life is worth an infinite amount because He is God (if He is not God there is no just payment for sin in His death) He dies then and God pays Himself. He does not just get over it, He gets paid and so He can forgive and still be just. Jesus had to die so God could get paid and be both just and forgiving.

I also answered some other questions explaining that there are not 3 world religions that are monotheistic. Christianity is Trinitarian with God in 3 powers and Biblical Judaism, which is not believed buy any Jews now [since 200 AD when their leaders declared it a heresy] has God in two powers. Only Islam has a god in one power alone, only Islam is monotheistic theologically. Sociologists might disagree but this is because they do not understand Theology, or really anything else in my honest opinion. I referred them to Heiser’s lectures on this topic on YouTube.

I asked him why God should let him into Heaven as I had before. He said because He had accepted Jesus into His heart and spread the kingdom of God, which is “what God wanted most”. I explained he was wrong on both counts. You go to Heaven because you believe Jesus is God, died for your sins and rose from the dead and you have placed your trust in this as an appeal to God for forgiveness. Not because you asked Jesus into your heart, the Bible never says for you to ask Jesus into your heart. I then explained why people who had told me this on campus prayed to receive Jesus after hearing the Gospel, because the statement accepted Jesus into your heart does not really mean anything you can find in the Bible. I then asked “What is the thing God wants most from you, it is not spreading the Kingdom of God.” The Girl answered, “To love Him and love your neighbor as yourself.” I said she was right. He tried to maintain he was loving his neighbor in spreading the Kingdom and I explained why that was not true and it was not the definition for loving God in the Bible. We talked some more and he said he had some more questions maybe we could talk again, I said sure.

I got to give assurance of salvation to Nichele; she thanked me and was genuinely grateful to hear the Gospel explained clearly, that was nice. Cute kid, African American basketball player with her hair up in a hair band popping up in 5 inch braids. Had a t-shirt and basketball shorts on.

Crystal a short plump Latina with light brown hair and bangs said she’d “Pray on her own time” after I explained the Gospel to her, which I think means “later” so maybe I’ll discover she trusted in Christ. She was attending a different Bible study group and had no idea what she’d say to God to get into Heaven.

Danish an Islamic guy form Pakistan heard the Gospel and took a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. So it was a good day, though it’s more fulfilling when someone prays to receive Jesus.

May God Bless what is left of your Weekend!

Love ya,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with Jesus and your bracing for the winter, since they say it’s gonna be cold. I had a good day on campus. Matt prayed to receive Jesus.  I got a bit of a seed planted with a girl from a Mormon background which she had rejected. She said she was into science. He name was Becca and I did not have a lot of time with her but I did get through the Gospel before she had to run to class and gave her a creation magazine called Acts and Facts. She had short hair died a sort of rusty red that she’d been falsely promised would be orange at the salon. She had a square jaw pretty face.

Matt was sitting on the second floor by the elevators and said he’d do a survey for our Bible Study group. He had shoulder length hair some of which was down and some was up in a pony tail, he had a band around his head, earrings in his ears. He was breaking out, so it must have been a hard week and had strawberry blonde hair, wearing sweats. He was a really nice guy he went to an Episcopal church which he described as “like the Anglicans without the hate.” I think he was making a joke but the Episcopal Church is even more liberal than the Anglicans. I asked him why God should let him into Heaven and he said, “Now?” “Yeah right now,” I replied. “I’d probably say you shouldn’t.” When I asked the likelihood he would go to Heaven when he died figuring he had a bit more time until then he said, “60-40  I’ll turn my life around [by then].” I went through the Gospel with him and he knew it all except the imputed righteousness of Christ. I asked if he would want to be forgiven and he said, “I believe I know it’s real I just haven’t been walking in the light.” He said there were things he had done right and what he had done wrong but I explained he didn’t go to heaven and have his life weigh in scales because Jesus righteousness was all he could appeal to to go to Heaven, not his own righteousness, he needed forgiveness not more good works. I said the answer to that was to not be in his own strength but live by the power of the Spirit. I shared the quote with him at the end of the booklet then: Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow him to do in and through you empowered by the Holy Spirit not what you do for Him through self effort. And I explained he needed to give his life to God trusting in Christ’s work to forgive him and Holy Spirit to give him strength to live the Christian life. He didn’t want to ask for forgiveness because he felt like he would do the same thing again and it was just one more thing “to add to the pot” of the things he’d done wrong. I said it sounded like he was talking about the scales again. I said that sometimes we repeat our failures but when I sinned I ask God to make me a better man not to just forgive me and little by bit He does. I said if he wanted to be forgiven and trust in Christ to live inside him and give him the Christian life there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it saying he could pray it silently in his heart, “But maybe you have as I read it?” “Maybe,” he said, meaning he hadn’t he’d just read along. “Can I take this booklet?” I said he could but “why don’t you just pray and give me some joy.” He agreed then and prayed and was grateful. “Your sins are forgiven,” I said as he finished and he grinned at me. I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front which he really liked along with a Bible study. I explained that trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness now the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Thank you,” I said getting up and shaking his hand. “Thank you,” he said gratefully. And I headed out. Please pray the Lord gives him strength as he’s in bad church.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed. And I had another conversation with Edgar who was still thinking about if he needed to pray to be forgiven and stopped me in the lounge where we have Bible Study, (gap tooth Latino guy with braces) to talk about it. I think I finally got him to understand the difference between believing in Jesus and trusting in Him to be saved.

Blessings,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day walking with Jesus. We are promised a relatively warm day tomorrow of 50 but at least we had a bit of sunshine today. Things went pretty well on campus and Josh trusted Christ by faith.  I got some good seeds planted with  Elijah (I gave him the student edition of The Case for Christ he was going to church with a girl friend and was agnostic) & Francesca. They had very similar hair. Elijah’s was pulled back in a bandanna around his head dark brown curls out the back, Francesca’s was more pink than the light brown curls she had begun with and wore her hair in a page-boy.

Josh went to a Lutheran Church and had not realized he was not trusting in the work of Christ but in his own good works until we talked and God convicted him. He was wearing a Blue and red track hoodie and had the thin tall build of a Cross Country runner, grey sweats.  He had a couple days growth of beard that was not coming in too well and an oval everyman face, short brown hair swept a bit to the right with very short bangs. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I grew up Christian, Lutheran… try not to sin, repent if I do and try to be a good Christian.” I asked him what he thought the likelihood was he would go to Heaven and he said, “It’s not up to me but if I had to put a number on it I’d say 60%.” I began to go through the Gospel with him and explained that God had to take away his sins and he knew Jesus had died for his sins. I explained that he did not think it was just believing in Christ but that you had to try to do what was right. So I showed him the verses on the imputed righteousness of Christ and told him the parable in Matthew 22 where the man without the wedding garments was send to hell for wearing the wrong clothes to a party. I said the metaphor sounds crazy but it makes sense when you realize he was not Clothed with Jesus (Romans 13:14) but in his own righteousness. I explained that it was His blood that cleansed us not repenting with an attitude that we would do better, which he had as much said at one point. I said if we are just doing good things we are not doing them in the Spirit’s power, “Paul says, Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” When I finished I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Christ by faith. I said I knew he had known the story but had he been placing his trust in Christ to be forgiven? He said he would want to be forgiven and hadn’t been trusting in Christ, “Not that I did not want to trust in Jesus I just didn’t know [to do so]–My mind is changed.” So I said there was a prayer he could pray to place his trust in Christ living by the Spirit’s power to do good not his own strength and talked him through it asking, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” he said it was so I asked if he’d want to pray it silently. “Yeah that sounds good,” he replied.  He prayed then to receive Jesus and when he finished he said, “It’s just as good reading it the second time if not better… food for the soul.” It turned out he was pretty well read in some apologetics and was getting into Doctrine. He didn’t have his own Bible so I gave him one and wrote his name and the date and forgiven in the front. I showed him the Where to Turn section and the Messianic Passages, which he was interested to read and look up and gave him a Bible study. I explained that now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He gave me his email to send him some more stuff and we talked for an hour and a half as he told me stuff he had encountered in apologetics and asked me some questions about it. He was thinking deeply about faith and had as far as I could tell already begun to process a lot of Doctrine.  I gave him an Acts and Facts creation science magazine and a Bible study. I got up to go and he shook my hand and said, “Thank you sir, thank you. It’s Bob right?” I said it was and he was welcome and it was good to meet him and headed home to edit the Bible study I wanted to teach tonight.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you found grace walking with Him in peace. I had a good day on campus I cut a little short to help some friends fix up a rental property. But Janine prayed to receive Jesus and Melanie thought she would pray later so maybe she will. She had a round cute face with freckles and was wearing a winter cap and a hoodie, green pants. Played base in a band. I asked if she wanted to be forgiven after going through the Gospel and she said, “I’m down for that.” I asked if she “believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead?” She thought about that for a minute and said, “Yeah, I’m down with that I was raised Catholic so…” I said if she believed that she could place her trust in that to be forgiven she thought she’d like to do that. She wanted to think a bit about it the prayer after I explained it but thought she would pray later. “I like how you explained everything,” she said as I got up to go so I gave her Bible Promises for You and put her name and the date and “forgiven” with a box she could check if she prayed later and said if she’d let me know I’d pray for her until 2021 of Spring. She was cheerful as we parted and I gave her my number and left her in the hands of the Spirit to move her to Christ.

I found Janine at the end of the hallway out of the PE lounge that ends in a doorway to the outside revealing the outdoor theatre. She was sitting on a bench and no one else was down there at all. I don’t mind walking down there to ask one person if I can go outside at the end of the hall. If I have to turn around and walk all the way back it seems kind of awkward. But if you can’t do awkward you can be a contact evangelist so I went down to ask her and she said she’d do a student survey. She had a cute face semi round glasses and stick straight brown hair and a broad nose. She look Filipino I heritage. She came from a Roman Catholic Background. She wore a teal green jacket and black yoga pants. When I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven she thought a moment and said, “I believe I’m a good person.” “I believe you are you too,” I said smiling and she smiled back. She thought she had a 90% chance of going to Heaven. When I asked her what the big thing was that took away her sins she couldn’t think of anything and so I said, “That took away the sins of the world?” “I don’t remember anything,” she replied. So I just continued on and said something like “This is how it works.” I explained that Jesus had lived the perfect life we could not live for us and died to pay for our sins. His blood cleansed us and the righteousness of God was to our credit when God adopts us into His family and we become children of God. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven with God inside and or thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,” she replied affirmingly. I asked if she’d like to trust in what Jesus had done to be forgiven. “Yeah,” she said. I told her there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it asking, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” “Yeah,” she said again. I said she could pray it silently and know she was forgiven would she like too? “Yeah,” she said again, she was engaged though. And she prayed to receive Christ. It turned out she did not have her own Bible so I gave her one showing her the Where to Turn section and the section on messianic passages. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I also gave her a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining the Christian life was By the Spirit’s Power and I wrote that and Just Ask in the front. I said that now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%.  “It was nice to meet ya,” I said getting up to go. “Yeah it was nice to meet you too,” she said and was thankful. “Maybe after 40 years I’ll see ya in Heaven and you can tell me how things went,” I said. She laughed and said, “OK!” And I headed back down the long hall.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your having a great day in the Spirit and are enjoying the weekend. I had a good day on campus Friday and Ray and Kevin prayed to receive Christ.

Ray was sitting in a row of chairs outside the cafeteria on a lunch break from his school job but said he had a few minutes. He had wavy brown hair swept up and onto his head and a few days growth of spotty beard. Looked a bit like Frankie Avalon. He attended a Catholic church, had a blue hoodie on and blue jeans, kind of slight in build shorter than me, real friendly. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said “Because I tried my best not to bring any hurt to the world or bring any pain to others. But I didn’t really spread any love or kindness—didn’t do the opposite either.” He said he thought his chance of going to heaven was between 50-85%. He felt like he had a personal connection with God on his own. He would reach out to Him if, “I was in trouble or get something I don’t think I deserve.” I began to explain the Gospel to him and after thinking a bit he remembered Jesus had died for his sins. He took it all in as I explained, “You don’t go to Heaven because you are good but because you are connected to Jesus.” God wanted to adopt us and give us the blessings of His family, the sacrifice for our sins, the blood that cleansed us and the righteousness of God, (Christ earned to be our clothing). I explained he needed to believe this by faith saying, “When you think about a girl you might marry one day what do you want most from her and she from you? You want her to believe in you and you in her.” “Trust, loyalty” he said. “Right,” I agreed. And God wants this from you too so you can be in a relationship with him. In the end I asked if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else explaining that Buddhism wasn’t about seeking for God but just trying to escape the illusion of the physical world Buddha thought was unreal. Islam had a different god.  “Islam has a different God?” he asked. “I thought they were the same?” I explained the Islamic god was not a father as he did not have a son, he did not live inside you and was not ultimately bounded by any essential thing, not justice so there was no need for a payment for your sins or even reason. I explained the reason the Islamic world did not create a scientific method like the west was because early Christian scientists thought you could think God’s thoughts after Him as He was reasonable and His creation would be marked by reason and order. Islam did not think this of their god. “Oh, he replied I’d thought they were the same.” I asked him if he would want to be forgiven then trusting in Jesus. “Yes,” he replied. I walked him through the prayer he could pray and asked if it was the desire of his heart. “Yes,” he replied simply. So I said he could pray it silently like I wasn’t there would he want to and he said, ”Oh. Yeah.” And he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to him then living Inside Out and by the Spirit’s power. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote Just Ask and By the Spirit’s Power in the front along with his name and the date and “forgiven’. I gave him a Bible Study on the deity of Christ telling him that in trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I got up to go and explained the Mass saying, “The wafer is symbolic of His Body and the wine symbolic of his blood it reminds you Jesus has died for you and so you are forgiven so when you take it you can just say, ‘thank you’.” “Thank you,” he replied that’s helpful.” He was very grateful to learn about faith in Christ, he was a kind guy and I encouraged him to email me with any questions he might have. “You’re welcome,” I said when he thanked me and headed off.

I found Kevin sitting upstairs in the PE lounge alone at a table (there was no one else up there or anywhere else by that time and I figured he’d be the last person I talked to). He said he’d do a survey. He was a Latino guy as well a bit darker in complexion he wore rectangular framed glasses and had the Clark Kent hair cut, short on the sides and swept back. He had on a plaid shirt with a grey hoodie attached to the collar. warm smile, rectangular face, good looking’ guy with a slight build. He said he wanted to buy a house for his family. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’ve always tried to do good and stay positive.” He thought he had a 60% chance of going to heaven said he’d gone through RES (this is Catholic Religious Education Resources for young people) when he was younger. He remembered Christ had died for his sins. I went through the Gospel with him and he took it all in and as I explained how the Blood of Christ cleansed him so God could live inside him he said, “Ok, so that’s how you get into Heaven.” “Right,” I replied and explained the righteousness of God inputed to him by the perfect life of Christ. I said he needed to trust in this by faith and that his good stuff didn’t fix his bad stuff. “Like say you had a girl friend for about 3 weeks. You thought she was pretty cool but then you found out she was cheating on you and stealing your stuff, so you cut her loose. Then she comes around in about a week and she’s like, ‘Kevin I know I did you wrong, I was even stealing your stuff and selling it for drugs, but I just want you to know I’m gonna be nice to my next 3 boy friends.’ You’d be like that doesn’t help me at all.” He laughed and agreed imagining the conversation. “‘Cause you can’t do good things over there to fix your bad things here. But that’s how a lot of people think, they’d be like I’ve done a lot of bad stuff, but I’ve done a lot of good stuff too, my good stuff is gonna fix my bad stuff with God.’ But your bad stuff’s still out there kicking people around and there’s not much you can do about it. But God can turn your bad stuff into good stuff. It says in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good, for them that love God and are called according to His purpose. So God can change the trajectory of the bad things that happen to you, or that you do, into good things because He controls the future.” I said then there was two kinds of people in the world, people who want to be forgiven for their sins so they’ve trusted in Jesus and what He did to be forgiven and people who think something else. I said for example Islam had a different God and the Buddha left his wife and kid to seek enlightenment but he’s not looking for God he’s just trying to get his head straight. So which person are you or would you want to be. “I guess I’m a little of both, I’d want to be forgiven but I guess like the Buddha says I’d wanna get my head straight.” I replied, “Well in Christianity the way you get your head straight is by the Holy Spirit living inside you when you trust in Christ to forgive you of your sins then by His power you live the Christian life.” I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and after walking him through it I asked if it was the desire of his heart. he acknowledged it was so I said he could pray the prayer silently and be forgiven. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Right now?” he asked. “Sure just pretend I’m not here,” I came back. “Ok I’ll do a quick one,” he replied. And he prayed to receive Christ. When he finished I said he could keep the booklet and explained living the Christian life Inside Out by the Spirit’s power. He didn’t have a Bible so I gave him one saying he could call it a Christmas present. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside. “So I’m forgiven because you gave me a Bible?” he asked. “No you are forgiven because you prayed and asked for forgiveness this is just the day it happened. He saw the point then. I gave him a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do and wore Just Ask and By the Spirit’s Power in the front explaining that God wanted to help him but he needed to ask. I gave him a Bible study then on Jesus’ claims to be God in the NT and told him the story of how Jesus walks on the water saying it’s sort of  “a miracle to make people look stupid.”  pointing out all the disciples are supposed to be in the know but they think He’s a ghost and one doubts so he sinks. Then I explained how this was to show He was God based on Job 9:8 (Who alone stretches out the heavens   And marches on the waves of the sea;). “That’s a great story,” he said as I then got up to go. “Thanks for your time man,” he said as I began to leave. “Have a great Christmas.” “Yeah it will be even greater since someone came to Christ,” I said with a smile and I headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism the last day on campus this semester 103 students prayed to receive Christ with me on campus this semester and another one trusted in Christ. As did our waitress on vacation. I’m pretty wasted so I’m gonna try to get the tree up and find the energy to help Ellen decorate the house a bit.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day has been blessed with lots of friendly kiddos at the door. We’re handing out Rice Krispie treats if you are in the hood. Viktor prayed to receive Jesus today and I crossed paths with Brandon who had committed to Christ last week and he said hi so I asked, “Did you pray that prayer?” And he smiled happily and said he had so I said I would put him on my prayer list but that I had actually been praying for him already. He was happy to hear it.  The first person I talked to was Mitch who was having a lot of trouble with an X-Girlfriend he’d had a baby with. He said he hadn’t gotten to read the book I gave him before yet (The Case for Christ Student Edition) but said he had thought a lot about what I had said. We talked about suffering and signs, and he had been praying some and felt like God had given him some peace showing me a rainbow he’d seen. I explained that a rainbow was God hanging his Bow of war (as in a Bow and Arrows) in the sky as a promise He would not destroy all humans again with a flood. It was his sign of making peace with men. I quoted his some other verses and gave him my contact information again and encouraged him that if he trusted in Christ by the power of His Spirit in him things would not get at him so much and he’d be able to throw off more of a Spirit of Peace to his X and his child. He is a pretty intense guy.

After talking a while with Mitch I went down the hall and found Viktor sitting on a row of chairs. He was wearing a winter hat with a couple strands of hair falling out on either side of his forehead, he had a diamond stud in either earlobe that were too big to be real. He could have been the fourth brother of Alec Baldwin though he had a slightly less pronounced nose, a bit more baby faced. He wore blue sweats and a slightly darker navy blue hoodie. We talked a bit about God. He had had anxiety attacks for about 3 months and had prayed for that time asking God to take them away and felt like He had taken that away. He had gone to a Catholic Church a bit when he was younger and now went holidays and told me he believed in God. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’m a good hearted person; I’m not perfect, um… I don’t think I’ve done anything to maliciously destroy someone’s life.” I asked him how likely it was he’d go to Heaven and he said, “I’m not that religious, I wouldn’t know. 60-70%. I would hope I go to Heaven, I don’t know.” He listened closely to the Gospel and told me as I went through it about the things I’ve said already. He knew Jesus had taken away the sins of the world but I’m not sure he’d put it together as to how. After I explained Christ’s righteousness was given to those who became God’s children and his blood cleansed him, I asked if he’d want to be forgiven trusting in Christ or thought something else. He said, “I’d want to be a Christian,” pointing at the circle I’d described as Christ living in you with His Spirit because you’ve trusted in Christ. I asked if he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead and he said he did so I said then if he believed in that he could place his trust in that to be forgiven. I explained God liked to be asked and so there was a prayer he could pray silently and having gone through it I read, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” “Um hmm,” he replied looking at the words and nodding so I said something like, wanna do it. He took the booklet without replying and prayed to receive Christ. He didn’t have a Bible so I gave him one and put his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. He thanked me for it. I gave him a Bible study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote Just ask and By the Spirit’s Power in the front having explained God would give him all the power to do what he was asking him to do. He told me he might like to study radiology at school but it was pretty competitive so he wasn’t sure he’d get in so I’ll pray God gives him a solid path. He thanked me as we parted ways. “Yeah, I’ll keep you in my prayers,” I said having told him I’d be praying for him until the Spring of 2021. “Thanks,” he said. And I headed off.

I had some more conversations with kids I knew but didn’t find anyone else willing to hear the Gospel and after a couple hours more as my headache kicked back in I shortened my day a bit and headed home to serve the little tikes at the door and Baby sit the neighbors baby as the dad was sick and the other sibs needed their mom’s company still.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed me in the time I had on campus.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and good things came and you didn’t slip and fall on anything snow-like if you live by us. It’s gonna snow some more I guess tomorrow. Ally prayed to receive Christ today, and I also got a couple of good seeds planted. One with Amber who had a square pretty face and long eyelashes, blonde and brown hair up in a bun. And Jake who took a copy of the student edition of The Case for Christ and looked like my nephew Anders a bit, though his hair was strawberry blonde. Both thanked me and were grateful to have heard the Gospel.

 Ally was up on the second floor and was the first person I talked to. She was waiting for her class to begin and wearing her camel colored long coat still and black boots with flowers stitched into the toes. She had brown hair and a pretty face, looked big bundled up in her coat.  She had a thin gold ring in her septum and a pretty face, brown hair. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked why should I let you into Heaven she said, “Hmm, I’d say… I don’t know. I don’t think it’s up to me to decide why, he decides or knows why I do.” She thought she had a 50% chance of going to Heaven. So I began to go through the Gospel with her. I explained that God wanted to live inside her but had to make her His type by talking away her sin. When I asked her what had Jesus done to take away the sins of the world she said, “He gave his only Son.” Which quoted the verse I just read to her moments before. I explained Jesus’ death and cleansing blood and His imputed righteousness, with several illustrations. And that if she received this by faith she could be saved if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Not that you just know the story but that you place your trust in that to be forgiven so that if someone would say to you, ‘Why should God let you into Heaven?’ you’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me.” I asked din the end if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else she said, “I would like to know more about that, pointing at the circle with God inside. So I explained that if she would want to trust in Christ there was a prayer she could pray and that then the Spirit would live inside her and she could live the Christian life by His power, “Inside Out” explaining His power to her.  So I said if she’d like she could pray the prayer I had walked her through so only God would hear. “Would you like to do it?” “Yeah,” she replied and she prayed to receive Christ. I began to explain the Christian life to her then more and offered her a Bible and she needed one. I showed her the Where to Turn  section and explained there was one with messianic passages. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and she thanked me and said something like, “You know it’s funny, I was just praying this morning saying I wanted to get God more into my life. So thank you so much!” I said I thought it was possible God had sent me to her in answer to her prayer though I did not know exactly how those things worked. And she agreed. Her class was starting and a friend in plaid pajama pants had asked her if she was going in as she began to pray and she said in a minute. So I quickly gave her a copy of Bible Promises for You and a Bible study. I stood up with her as she stood to go offering her my hand. She turned it down saying again, “Thank you so  much. I’m gonna give you a hug.” I gave her a strong hug saying, “Thank you that’s kind of you.” And she headed into class with her new Bible, happy. She’d lifted my heart.

 So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed me and life was good.

 Blessings, 

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with all good things. I had a good day on campus and Matteo prayed to receive Jesus today.  I got a good seed planted with Jamie who took the student edition of The Case for Christ to read. She was up on the third floor and wore a blue hoodie from a college, black shredded skinny jeans (popular this year) and had long brown thin hair and sharp features, kind of a serious face but it lit up when she smiled. As I left her and she shook my hand and said, “Thank you for speaking to me.” Raised Lutheran as a kid she’d taken a few religion courses at school and didn’t quite know where to land. I encouraged her to pray and ask for God’s guidance, that He loved her, “I’m not just making that up it’s in the Bible,” I said with a grin.  I explained he wouldn’t just leave us to guess at the truth but would leave some bread crumbs to follow. She’d heard of Strobel so I hope she’ll read the book. I’ll be praying for her.

Matteo was sitting in the hall way on the third floor waiting to go into class. He was slight in build, had blonde, naturally curly hair tied behind his head in a fist sized lump. He wore tan skinny jeans and a blue button down color plan shirt. He said he had been to church only two times in his life. He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to heaven. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into heaven he mused the question with a, Hmmm and smiled. He then said, “I guess I would say I want to see my family.” I went through the Gospel with him and he didn’t know what Jesus had dome to take away his sins. I explained the death and resurrection of Christ and how His Blood cleansed us so God could live inside us having removed our sins and how his righteousness was to our credit. He gave some words of assent as I went through saying he understood. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else and he said, “I would want to be forgiven.” So I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God He died for your sins and rose from the dead, do you believe that’s true?” He thought for a moment and then said he did saying “Yes,” as if he’d was just discovering it. I said if he believed that was true he could place his trust in it to be forgiven. He said, “Ok,” then like he followed the one thing came from the other. I explained there was a prayer he could pray if he wanted so only God would hear and He would forgive him and live inside him. I talked him through the prayer and asked if it was the desire of his heart. “”Um, yeah,” he said in response. I asked if he’d like to pray silently then and he said “OK” and prayed to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life living “inside out” by the Spirit’s power and gave him a Bible showing him the Where to Turn section and the one on Messianic Passages. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside of the Bible. I explained the likelihood he would go to Heaven now, trusting in the righteousness of Jesus, was 100%. I also gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Book. I felt like he’d need some information having so little background. As I wrote his name in it people began to file into his class room. He stood up and shook my hand and said, “I gotta go to class it was really nice to talk to you.” “Nice to talk to you too,” I replied. And he headed inside. I’ve seen him there before class before so I’ll look for him again to give him a Bible Study.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you’ve had a nice weekend so far. I’ve been a bit under the weather but I’m feeling better now, must have been something I ate last night. Thanks for praying for the ministry on Friday if you had a chance. Demiya prayed to receive Jesus on Friday Ben (brown haired and eyed guy in a hoodie with a day’s growth of beard believed like Brandon Thursday) so I am hopeful he will pray later. “I’ve never heard this said this way before,” he said of the Gospel as I taught it to him. “Having God live inside me sounds pretty cool.” He said he had gone to a Baptist Church  I offered him the prayer but he had to run to class and asked if he could keep the booklet  I’d taken 5 more minutes than he said he had as I began. “It’s been a rough week, so thanks,” he said and he ran off,

Demiya was sitting in the line of chairs outside the cafeteria. She was a pretty black girl; her hair was straitened on top and laid flat on her head parted down the middle. It was gathered in back in a roundish bunch of ringlet curls. She had no eyelashes and a pug nose, pretty bright smile. She wore a nylon jacket and a hoodie and grey sweat pants, looked kind of sporty. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven if she died she said, “I try not to sin on purpose… everyone sins but…” I went through the Gospel with her and she’d been to church a bit when she was younger. She thought she had about a 60% chance of going to Heaven. She listened closely to the Gospel and when I asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins she remembered he died. So as I finished with her I asked “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins trusting in Jesus so He could live inside you or do you think something else?” “The one on the right,” she replied pointing at the circle with God inside and on the throne or the driver’s seat of your life. So I asked, “Do you believe Jesus was God, died for your sins and rose from the dead?” She paused for a second so I added, “Do you think that’s true?” “Yes.” she said kind of looking at me like I had asked a suddenly obvious question like is the sky blue. “So would you want to put your trust in that to be forgiven instead of just trying not to sin and hoping that would work out?” “Yes,” she said with a knowing smile, seeing where I was going with the question. So I said there was a prayer she could pray and explained it and said, “You know what this is like God’s like a pretty girl, they like to be asked.” “Yes,” that’s true she said laughing. “Wanna do it?” I asked after saying she could pray it silently so only God would hear. “OK,” she replied and she prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her some more analogies then on the Christian life walking by the Spirit where God, her Heavenly Father, would give her all the power she needed to do the things he wanted her to do. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and gave her a Bible study.  And I explained now trusting in Jesus and His righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I said because Jesus was God His righteousness was worth an infinite amount. “So there’s enough for an old guy like me who has done a lot of stuff wrong and a young woman like you who hasn’t even done that much yet.” She smiled at that and thanked me. I told her I would be praying for her and though I might not bump into her again I would see her in Heaven, “You can tell me how things went,” I said cheerfully. And she laughed again and said, “OK.” and I headed off down the hallway.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry if you had a chance yesterday. God truly blessed. I got a couple other seeds planted too I think.

In Him,

Bob