Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. I had a good day on campus encouraged some Christians went through the Gospel with a Muslim named Adam. At the end of my day Josh  prayed with me to receive Jesus.

He was sitting in the PE building when I found him sitting at a section of tables in the lounge with a bunch of other black athletes. He had a winter cap on big eyes with long eye lashes I noticed later when with our heads pretty close he was looking hard right into my eyes, otherwise I’m pretty sure I would never have noticed that on a guy. A couple guys cleared out near him and he was at the end so I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey drifting by the table. He said he’d already done one. So I asked him if they had asked him what he would tell God to get into Heaven and asked him. In response he said he was a Christian and then listed the good things he thought you had to do to get into Heaven. I said the Bible said something different and asked if I could give him a booklet to explain it. He said would be ok. As I gave it to him I began to explain the gospel saying Christianity was like a blood transfusion where you had to have the same type of blood, I explained, “God wants to transfuse His life into you, live inside you with His Holy Spirit, but first He has to make you His type, so He has to take away your sin.” I asked him how God had taken away his sin but he was unsure so I continued to explain what Christ has done. I was kneeling at the edge of the table he was hunched over it so no one else could hear our exchange, which I think worked in favor of my being able to continue out of his friends earshot as he occasionally glanced down the table. Then he locked in and looked me straight in the eyes as I talked as I explained that unlike what he had thought he did not go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good. I explained he must trust in the cross and believe that Christ had taken away his sins to be right with God. I explained Christ’s imputed righteousness and then that he must receive this all by faith. I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven with God living inside him and he did. I quietly walked him through the prayer to be forgiven and asked if he wanted to pray silently to receive Jesus and he did and took the booklet and prayed. Aren’t ya glad I begged ya a little bit with this?” I asked after he had prayed. “Yes sir” he replied. I explained living inside out trusting in the power of God to do all things. I asked if he played sports at school and he said he was a receiver on the football team. I said he could ask God to give him skills to play and do well. “I pray with my coach before every game,” he replied. One of the coaches is a Christian who has a Bible Study for the players.  “Well before you could ask God to be with you but now God’s power is in you.” I asked if I could give him a book to put in his back pack and he said I could give him a small book. I gave him Bible Promises for You and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and By the Spirit;’s Power mentioning that Gordon one of the other players he knew had that book and was reading it. “Sorry I took so much of your time,” I said getting up to go. “You’re good,” he said assuring me and shaking my hand. And I headed out grateful to the Lord.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today walking in the Spirit. I had a good day on campus encouraging some Christians in their faith and  Fernando prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

He was sitting in the cafeteria building eating lunch at a table near the back and said he’d do a survey. He had a bit of an accent having grown up in Mexico. Fernando had on a coat and a black baseball cap, a real friendly face and wore his jacket and jeans. He finished eating as we went through the gospel. I asked him what he would say to God if asked why he should let him into heaven and he said, “Because I like to help other people.” He only thought he had a 40%. He had not been to church since he lived in Mexico. As I explained that Jesus had died for him and paid for his sins and that the blood of Jesus became a power in the world that cleanses us from all sin he replied, “Simple”. Then he asked me to explain sin to him and I did talking about the ten commandments. “Killing someone.” he agreed. I said yes but other more subtle things as well “You could steal someone’s time by driving too slow in traffic.” I explained how you could not do good things to fix your bad things and he agreed saying, “Doesn’t work.” He wanted to be forgiven for his sins so I asked if he believed Jesus was God and died for his sins and rose from the dead and he said he did. I said if he wanted to trust in that he could pray for forgiveness. I talked him through the prayer and asked if he wanted to pray silently to be forgiven and he did and took the booklet and prayed. I explained to him life in the Spirit “living inside out”. First we ask God to change us by His power on the inside then we do good things on the outside, where in other religions you do good things on the outside and God is pleased. Or in psychology the good things you do change you by your own efforts. God produces His fruit in us as we read it in Galatians 5:22,23. I gave him a Bible showing his that passage and showing him the “Where to Turn” section. (He had a NT he had gotten on campus from the Gideons). I wrote his name in the front and the date and “Forgiven” beneath it. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. Showing him examples like in the 13th chapter that say’s “God can’t withhold his guidance when you trust Him”. You might say, “but I am struggling to trust him” so you simply ask for more trust. The 4th Chapter says, “God cannot withhold his forgiveness when you forgive others” so we ask for a forgiving spirit towards those we need to forgive–so it don’t keep coming back up. God gives us all the power by His Spirit to live the Christian life. I gave him a bible study and showed him where Job taught God walked on water over 1500 years before Jesus and he was amazed by that.. I got his email I told him I would pray for him each night until next spring and he thanked me.

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

In Him,

bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking in the sunshine of His Love. I had a good day on Campus and went through the Gospel with 6 students, two of whom were already Christians but those cases I answered their questions and helped them understand some things too giving them the booklet to help them share their faith as I always do. And Jordann prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Jordann was sitting in the hall way on the north side of the science building waiting for her class to begin, her teacher being a bit late. African American, she had straightened black hair pulled back behind a band, almost shoulder length. Nice features, her top lip was in the shape of a half moon, kind eyes. She wore a black jacket and had leggings on. When I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven she replied, “That’s a good one.” and then thought hard about it for quite some time finally saying, “I guess like because the way I live my life. I treat others the way I like to be treated, I guess I’d count on that to get me in.” I asked her if she ever went to church. She told me she had been raised a Baptist but after one of her classes had her attend a Hindu Temple she had been going back there (several times) and it was interesting, she was very attracted to it. I told her about the first missionary to India William Carey who put a stop to the Indians throwing the widows (of men who had recently died) onto their husbands funeral pyres, burning them alive. I said their country had been Christianized by outside influences that had softened their religion and pointed out the injustices of the cast system that led to Buddhism. Then I began to teach her the Gospel. She was very attentive and knew Jesus had died to take away her sin. After explaining the death and resurrection of Jesus, that the power of His blood purified her, and His righteousness was to her credit, I explained  she could be adopted into God’s family if she received Christ by faith. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven with Christ living inside her by His Holy Spirit or if she thought something else, showing her the two circles in the booklet. “I would choose this one,” she said pointing to the circle with Christ inside her. “I think many people would.” (Which gave me pause since several peeps had turned down the Gospel today.) So I explained that she could receive forgiveness in Christ and talked her through the prayer to be forgiven asking her if she would want to pray it silently now, to know she was forgiven. “”Oh yeah,” she said with conviction. And she prayed then to receive Jesus as her savior. I explained living “inside out” by the Spirit. She had just gotten a new Bible so I gave her a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “Forgiven” in the front. I did this as quick as I could as her class was starting, explaining how everything God asked her to do in the book she could do “By the Spirit’s Power” and wrote that in the front as well. Then I said, “Be careful of that Temple, it’s the Beautiful Lie.  It sounds great, but it’s still a lie.” “I see that now. Thank you,” she replied, shaking my hand as she got up to go. She said she’d try to make it to the Bible study and slipped into class.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in the Lord. I met with Hope today again (our 3^rd meeting) who I had gone through the gospel with a 2 weeks back. She has now prayed to receive Jesus. She is enthusiastically excited about church. I suggested when we last met she might like the Compass Church in Naperville—close to where she lives. She went once and really liked it. She is bringing her Dad this Sunday, who is a Christian. He was surprised she had been at church when she came home last Sunday. He has not found a church since moving to Naperville so I am hopeful they both will grow there. I answered her questions for about an hour today and taught her things by illustrations and theology. It is fun to tell the cool things about Christianity and the Scripture to someone new to the Lord. It reminds you just how great the story is and how wonderful the work of God is in the lives of those He saves. Now that she has received the Lord the Holy Spirit can teach her as she reads through John, I suggested next she might try Acts and to simply ask me any questions she has.

Hope has adjusted  her schedule and is going to come to our little Bible Study at school, so that’s great. Last Tuesday, John, who prayed to receive Jesus a couple weeks ago came. Several African American students showed up too who know me from school. Terry an agnostic guy (very intelligent dude who drops by mostly for the Pizza) brought his girlfriend Haley who professes Christ but did not know him. I was able to go through the Gospel with them again. Dwayne a Christian friend of theirs (who I also know from walking around) and another Christian girl Shay came. So God blessed the Bible Study and hopefully they’ll come back.

The class on comparative religion I taught went well and 9 middle-aged people heard the Gospel and a lot of apologetics and comparative theology for 2 hours, I wish I could have taped it. It was well received.

I hope if you live in Chicago, like me, you finished cleaning the garage in time to park in it for the big snow. I really only had to get my big old Honda Motorcycle pushed to the back along with my antique leaf vac and mower, put some tools and saws away from summer. The 8-12 inch forecasted snowfall convinced me to spend an hour getting organized.

Thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism and discipleship today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your days have been good, we are waiting for 3rd snowstorm this week to kick in tomorrow night in Chicago. I had a good day on campus and Amani prayed to receive Jesus today and Tammy prayed to receive Jesus yesterday.

Amani was sitting in the upstairs lounge of the PE building just chillin’. African American, she had straight shiny black hair coming down shoulder length from a baseball cap and freckles, real cute kid, pug nose fair skinned. Had a black hoodie on and leggings and a horizontally striped top. When I asked her if she’d do a student survey she hesitated but said yes. She was friendly as we talked. She thought she had about a 65% chance of getting into Heaven and when I asked her what she would say to God to get into heaven she said. “That’s a good question… hmm.” She thought for a bit more and said, “Where I’m at right now in my life I haven’t done anything to spectacular, if I had it [the question] later in my life I’d have more to say.” She said she’d mostly thought of herself. But then most our time for any of us is that way, whose teeth did you brush this morning? I only did mine. She listened closely to the Gospel but could not remember how God had taken away her sins, it had been a while since she went to church. “You should be a teacher,” she told me liking the illustrations. I said I kind of was. When I asked her if she would want to be forgiven or if she thought something else she said, “I would want to be forgiven.” So I said she could simply ask for forgiveness and God would grant it and talked her through the prayer saying she could pray it silently to God and He would hear her heart. She took the booklet from me, “You said pray silently?” And I said something like, “If you want, only God needs to hear.” And Amani prayed to receive Jesus. She didn’t have her own Bible so I gave her one showing her the “Where to Turn” section and she liked that and then writing her name in the front and the date and “forgiven” beneath it. We talked a bit about dating struggles and purity, it is pretty brutal everywhere in her age bracket but even more so in the Black community. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and explained the Christian life that way as “Inside Out”. She also took a Bible study and gave me her email. She said her Grandmother was a strong Christian and I said she was probably praying for her and that’s how I happened by. And we agreed there are no accidents. I told her I would pray for her. Then she thanked me and I headed out.

Yesterday Tammy was sitting in the Science building waiting for her teacher to show up with a couple other students on a bench. She had kind of a 4 inch high curly perm afro, wore a jacket and jeans, looked kinda fair skinned, cute kid.  She described herself as “Bubbly”. “That’s really hard,” she said when I asked her why God should let her into Heaven. “I really don’t know what I would say, I feel like I would be in awe. What should I say?” I went on to explain the Gospel, to answer her. Her extended family was religious but she had only gone to church a bit as a kid, still she knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. I had finished the Gospel and told her about Christ’s imputed righteousness when her teacher came. So I skipped the rest of the illustrations, read about 3 more verses too her and asked her if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her. “I would want to be forgiven for my sins with God living inside me,” she repeated back to me. I said if she’d like to be forgiven she could take a moment and pray for God to forgive her. I talked through the prayer with her and she took the booklet and prayed. I quickly explained living “Inside out”, wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and handed her a Bible study. She said she could only come late to the Bible Study but she would try to drop by. She stood taking the Bible study from me and thanked me and went into the classroom to my left. So I hope I can bump into her again.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism these last two days if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a  blessed day in the Spirit. I had a good day on campus and Angelica prayed with me to receive Jesus. I left at 3 PM with everyone else in the school as they cancelled it to let everyone get home. They  didn’t manage to plow the parking lot in time for classes this morning and the students parked randomly over the lines covered in snow reducing the parking by 20% or so. There may not be school tomorrow if they can not get everything shoveled. If we get 3 inches by midnight they should be able to get to it, but if we have 6 inches who knows.

Angelica was sitting in the cafeteria, chilling at one of the tables, waiting for class to start. She was a big girl and had a cute round face and braces on her teeth with blue bands that matched her Cubs hoodie. Her hair was in rows of braids on the top of her head (black and red) that came down into two red braids, looked like she was ready for a game. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I would say cause I lost my grannie and grandmother and I really wanna see them.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance to get into Heaven. As I went through the Gospel she was very serious suddenly. She knew Jesus had died for her sins but had not seemed to be trusting in that to be forgiven. She seemed to think a long time after saying she would want to be forgiven when I asked her if she had been trusting in Christ to forgive her or hoped she was a good person and God would forgive her because of that. “I know you had heard the story, but have you been trusting in Jesus or do you still need to do that,” I asked. I prayed as she thought asking God to guide her to pray if she hadn’t yet trusted in Him. Finally she said, “I say this one,” pointing at the circle with Christ living inside her. Still not sure I said, “Well if you think you still need trust in Christ there is a prayer you can pray.” And I talked her through it saying she could pray it silently if she wished. She took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date she found on her phone for me and “Forgiven”. I explained everything God was asking her to do in the Christian life she could do “By the Spirit’s Power” also writing that in the inside of the book. I gave her a Bible study and blessed her and I headed out.

God truly blessed today and I had some good discussions and helped some Christians with their faith as well. A young black guy Shepherd was struggling with balancing his faith and study to become a doctor. He said had set his faith aside in the summer, at least time wise given over to a passion for his books. I walked him through the Gospel which he knew well and then through trusting in the power of the Spirit and asking God by faith for His strength in everything. “You studies do not have to be an either/or with Christian service but can be your service to God as you ask for His strength and Honor him with your work, otherwise we would have no Christian Doctors.” I pointed out everyone who was a Christian could work through the day this way. His heart and burden seemed lifted. He knew the Gospel saying, “I know you are not saved by works”, but was struggling. I said many Christians think though they are saved by faith they stay saved by their works. But we are not saved that way but ask for His strength to do everything to please Him and because of this there is no failure because He can work things into good. I said the question he struggled to answer what the likelihood was you would go to Heaven, “If you are trusting in the righteousness of Jesus this is 100%.” I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do because they are one page studies and the back has 100 verses that are good each chapter has verses and sayings of famous Christian writers. I said they were short and he could just read a verse here and there to think on through the day. He firmly shook my hand as we parted and I said I would see him in Heaven and he was redirected and thanked me. So hopefully I had the right words for him and he is trusting now completely in Christ and His power to live. I take comfort in that people are praying for God to give me words. My friend Bob prayed for me today saying, “May you walk in confidence that it is not up to you but up to the Spirit to guide your steps and prepare the hearts of students to hear & respond to the gospel.” I hope Shepherd rightly heard and seen the way to live for Christ. And I trust God will use my work today and make it into good.
So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and evangelism today if you had the chance, God blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was bless with some sunshine and you were out of the cold of Chicago, or spent time by a window inside. I had a good day on campus and Christine* committed to trusting in Christ for salvation, saying she would pray later but asked a lot of questions about the Bible Study so I think her commitment was sincere and Michael prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Christine was sitting at the counter looking outside in the cafeteria. She was dressed all in black, cute Asian girl, looked a bit Filipino, nice smile long hair past her shoulders. She had been to Church some when she was  younger. When I asked her what she would say to God if asked why he should let her into Heaven she said, “I would just say because I’ve done good things, been a good person.” She thought she had a 90% chance of getting into Heaven. She listened to the Gospel very seriously with just an occasional smile at a word picture. She could not remember how God had taken away her sins. So I went through the events of Christ’s death cleansing by His blood and imputed righteousness which I do with everyone. In the end she wanted to be forgiven and so I asked her if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead and she said, “Yeah!” with kind of an “Of course.” tone to her voice. I walked her through the prayer but she really wanted to pray later. As I said she was very interested in the Bible study and what we studied so I hope she will come. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and explained life in the Spirit writing about the Spirit’s Power in the front. I gave her a Bible Study on the deity of Christ too. She thanked me and I told her I would pray for her and headed out.

I came across Michael a bit later he was sitting in a lounge in the BIC. He was a nice looking guy very clean cut, Clark Kent hair, dark pronounced eyebrows and hair, fair skinned looked Italian in descent. He was wearing a shirt and sweater. He hadn’t been to Church since he was younger. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “Jeez…maybe… I don’t go to Church but I made my sacraments. I’m a nice person, help people in need [I’m] loyal to my family [a] respectful person.”  I asked him what he thought the % was that he would go to Heaven. he said, “If it exists, I have a philosophy class right now where we talked about that.’ he said kind of sadly paused for a minute and said, “I believe in Heaven I’m catholic.” I told him I was a philosophy major and that the basic argument they would use to convince you can’t prove anything religious, also makes it impossible to prove a pine trees exists. ‘So it isn’t useful for anything.” Of course the existence of Heaven or religious belief is not a proper topic for an intro to philosophy class unless your real agenda is to attack students faith, it is not important in teaching Aristotle or Plato, God’s existence does not even come up until the existentialists historically, nor does the problem of evil.  I told him evil is a problem for every worldview and an atheist believing in evolution really has no philosophical justification for the definition of evil at all. Cutting down a tree has the same philosophical implications as killing you if you both evolved from the same place. He saw this point. I went through several philosophical arguments I knew they threw around at school in the classroom which are vacuous at best and told him some the simple solutions. I have no respect for these teachers and pray for their downfall. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had sacrificed Himself for our sins. I explained to him he did not go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good. After I had gone through everything I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins and he did. After talking through the prayer and offering it to him he decided to pray to receive Jesus. Knowing his philosophy class had just begun I gave him “Why Trust the Bible” (the Rose Publication) and the student edition of The Case for Christ. I apologized for giving him so much but suggested if any questions came up he could use them for reference. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study on the deity of Christ and got his Email. I said I would pray for him which he seemed visibly grateful for and said, “Hey maybe one day we’ll see each other in Heaven and you can tell me how things have been going.” He smiled at that his spirit’s having lifted. “Thank you.” He said and I headed out.

I was feeling a bit sick still and was more sweaty than usual at that point so I decided to head home.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in spite of your plans today, ha. That’s how my day went. I could not find the class I was supposed to teach. I went to the section of the building where I thought those classes are usually taught. The instructor had given me a number and not the building so I was unsure if it was the BIC or SRC. Looking in every room in the SRC area I somehow could not find the class. I looked for the number in the BIC and didn’t find it either. I text-ed the teacher twice and got no response. So I decided to do some evangelism and Trinity prayed with me to receive Christ.

Trinity is African American and was sitting on a row of chairs as you head into the tunnel that goes from the BIC Building into the PE building. She had long braids woven into her hair that capped her head black with some brown here and there. Her face was pretty and small, slight features, she had leggings on and boots and a long coat that was probably mid thigh if she stood. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked why should I let you into Heaven she said she hadn’t been good when she was younger but more recently had been better. “Over the years I’ve been stuck in areas so dark but I’ve always found the light. I’ve always at least had a mustard seed of faith.” She lived with her parents in a very conservative Christian home and thought she had a 95% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her. It took her a bit of my going into it to remember Jesus had died to take away her sins but she remembered verses it seemed. When I came close to finishing, saying she was saved by faith and not works, she said she had been a gymnast and had had a few operations from injuries and finally more recently had hurt her back. It meant she had to stop but she saw some good come out of it as she is now able to coach. She said this when I talked about how God made good things out of bad things (Romans 8:28) but that your good things did not fix your bad things. She wanted to be forgiven but said her situation was complicated, talking about some of the Joyless restrictions of Sunday’s at her home. I explained that everything she had said to me seem to be about her trying to be better. “I think you knew the story of Jesus but it seems like if something went wrong and you needed to ask for forgiveness you would think you would be forgiven because you would try harder and do better.” I explained to her that she needed to trust in Jesus and what he had done to forgive her and trust in Him to do the work not herself. “That’s what I’ve been doing!” She said realizing. I said what she needed to do was start over with God and tell Him she would accept His forgiveness and the price He had paid for her sin and then live by His power. I talked her through the prayer and she was moved to tears and prayed to receive Christ. I explained then about the life in the Spirit living inside out. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study and then she had to go as her friend had showed up. I told her I would pray for her for the next year and we said good by and I headed over to the PE building.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry today though things did not go as planned God had a plan and I planted a couple seeds too, had a long conversation with a Muslim Amer (A Mirr).

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. I had a good day on campus and Gordon prayed with me to receive Jesus. He was sitting in the PE lounge upstairs writing stuff down on notebook paper kind of in the middle of something on his phone. He  knew a Christian football player, Kevin,  who’d come to our Bible Study last year and is now playing in Reno, Nevada.  Gordon was about 6’4″ and maybe 275 lbs. African American. He had his hair in 6 inch braids all over his head, had some facial beard and mustache and wore Black Ray Ban style plastic frame glasses. He had black cotton sweats on and a black hoodie. He cast a giant shadow. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’ve done everything right, tried to be a good person. I’ve been through a lot of adversity—been through hell and back. I’m a good person.” “So you basically think you go to Heaven because you are a good person?” “Yeah, right,” he said. His father was a deacon he told me and his mom active in the Church. He had committed to God on some level when he was 7 (I think he said) and he remembered the great feeling he had afterward, so he was confident in that. He said he thought he had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven. I pointed out he could have an emotional good feeling from doing something he thought his parents wanted him to do as a kid or he thought was right, since I knew already he did not understand the Gospel. Then I began explaining the Gospel to him as he became half distracted by his phone project which turned out to be admission related to schools he was interested in getting into. I but I kept going thru Gospel with him, fighting his distraction on his phone the entire time, until the end. I simply paused regularly and said, “Ya feel me?” or “Ya get that.” Or asking some kind of direct question so he would have to stop writing an email on his phone and engage with me. But I made him think about it and he realized as we went through that he had not been trusting in the sacrifice of Christ as I pointed it out. “You don’t go to Heaven because you are good, but because Jesus is good and He died for you.” I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins and he did, so I explained he could ask for forgiveness, trusting in Jesus. I talked him through the prayer asking if it was the desire of his heart. He had to stop and read it and said it was, so I said he could pray it right now and know he was forgiven for his sins and was going to Heaven. “You wanna do it?” He looked at me and nodded realizing, I think, I had been offering him something he thought he already had. He took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. “Thanks Bob,” he said. He held on to the booklet then but I kind of pried it away so I could explain life in the Spirit. He was really interested in that, now that the Holy Spirit was in him and could get his attention. I explained how God could give him strength to do anything he sought to do, give him self control on the field and help him play better and do good and after he could give God the credit. I told him I would pray for him each night for the next year because he had prayed to receive Jesus. He began telling me his dreams to play D1 football and asked me to pray about that and I said I would. I explained that God might send him to a school God wants for him but he at first does not want. But God could use it to help him excel and do well and we talked about the way God works sometimes. I got up to head out and said God Bless and he said, “Alright, you be safe.” I suppose an old man he outweighed by over 150 pounds looks a bit on the fragile side. I smiled and said I’d do that and headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and went through the Gospel with a quite a few students. Naila (NyLa) prayed with me to receive Jesus.  Another Muslim girl Abir (A beer) listened to the Gospel today and we talked about the difference between the two faith’s.  She took the pamphlet “Jesus in the Quran” to read. She had long wavy hair, on the pretty side, glasses, small sharp features, nice smile. She had to get to class as we ended our discussion saying she thought the two faiths were very similar. I pointed out the difference could be seen in the story of Adam and Eve. In our story Adam and Eve are in paradise on Earth, in her Muslim story they were in heaven and God was not with them, they sinned and were kicked out of paradise. In our story God is with us, we sin and the relationship is broken. But now we can be friends with God again through Jesus. But if she ends up in paradise and sins she could get kicked out again, like Adam and Eve did, and she might. “You might not think you would sin in Heaven but they did so who knows. “Oh,” she said. “I see the difference.” And she ran to class. I hope to see her again.

Naila was sitting in the Science and Health building hall and said she would do a survey. She looked Indian or possibly from Pakistan, to me, but I could not tell for certain. She said she’d do a survey. She wore a dress that looked Indian in print to my eye over blue jeans. She had long wavy hair and sharp features, bright and cheerful demeanor.  Se was sitting beside an ink black and white graphic arts project she said she thought was sloppy, it was interesting but it did look less than neat for graphic art stuff. When I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I’ve helped somebody, I’ve done a big favor for somebody.” I think she meant this as her intention, that she planned to live life that way. She thought she’d have about a 90% chance of going to Heaven. I asked her if she went to a church or a temple or anything like that and she said she did not. “My family is from Sweden where is your family originally from?” “India,” she replied. “But I am from here.” She listened closely to the Gospel and was very engaged and interested. In the end I explained to her there were options of the way people believed pointing to one circle with a cross on a chair in the middle I said, “This person would be someone who wants to be forgiven for their sins so they have trusted in Jesus and He lives inside them on the throne, or the driver’s seat of their life. Then for some people God is on the outside of their life,” I said pointing to the other circle. “Islam believes God is a mystery and His Spirit does not come inside them, they have a different God. Or the Buddha, he left his wife and child to seek enlightenment so he is not really interested in God, he is just off trying to get his head straight.” “Oh! she said in response. So which person are you or would you want to be? Would you want to be forgiven for your sins with Christ inside you or do you think something else?” “I would want to be forgiven.” she replied. So I asked, “Do you believe Jesus was God He died for your sins and rose from the Dead?” “Yes,” she replied. “Well if you would want to trust in that to be forgiven for your sins there is a prayer you can pray,” And I talked her through the prayer. I said she could pray it silently like I wasn’t there. She glanced at her phone and said, “I have to be in class at 12:30 but I wanted to be polite. (She had a little less than ten minutes.) I believe all this. I like people who are very honest,” she said, I think referring to me. “That’s what it is so…” Then she turned and said, “You want me to just read this?” ‘If you are praying when you read it, yes” And she silently prayed. I offered her a Bible but she said, ” I have my own holy book the Quran.” That was the moment I realized she was raised Muslim. “I can read it (the Bible) on line.” I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study. I wrote her name and the date and “Forgiven” on the inside and said everything the book suggested she could do was done by the power of the Spirit living in her, which I had already explained. I got up to go as she had to run to class and said, “God bless you.” “OK, God bless you too.” I walked a bit down the hall and stopped to write some pieces of the conversation down and realized I should give her the pamphlet “Jesus and the Quran” So I quickly pulled it out and she was only 4 steps passed me so a ran up and gave it to her and she thanked me and walked down the hall.

I also went through the Gospel with Sean who was fair skinned a bit short kind of shaggy hair like the guy in “Scooby Doo”. He was really friendly. He’d been raised Catholic but had not been to Church in a while, he said he had to be to class in 10 minutes. As I went through the Gospel he assented to it point by point as I went through. As I finished said he believed and would want to be forgiven, but literally had to run as I finished talking through the prayer. So he asked if he could take the booklet and headed out. I am going to be praying he will come in.

So thanks for your prayer for the ministry and for evangelism  today if you had the chance, I got a couple other seeds planted too and God blessed.

In Him,

Bob