10/2/15

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord.  I had a good day on campus, even though Friday is a day that few students are on campus.  Alessandro prayed to receive Christ today.  He was sitting in the lounge just outside the gallery space of the main lounge in the MAC Arts building.  He wore glasses and had a day or two growth of beard on his face.  He had a long sleeve tie-dyed T-shirt on and his light brown sneakers had no laces.  He wore jeans and had light brown hair, side burns, small in stature, Caucasian.  By his name I took it he was Italian by lineage.  He had gone to Catholic church some “most Sundays and holidays” growing up in Houston, Texas.  But he had not been to church in a while.  When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why he should be let into Heaven he said, “Because I believed that I tried my best in this life.”  He followed the Gospel well and in the end said he wanted to be forgiven.  So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God and had died for his sins.  He thought for a moment or two and said he did believe.  So I said if he wanted to trust in that and be forgiven he could ask by a prayer.  I showed it to him saying he could pray it silently and God could read his thoughts.  He read it through again and said, “Read it in my head right?”  “Yeah as a prayer,” I replied.  He read through each phrase and then closed the book praying it and opened it again for the next phrase slowly and meaningfully.  So that was great and I explained the Holy Spirit to him who gave him the power to live the Christian life.  He said he kept a Bible in his room and had a lot of books, presumably Christian ones.  He did not want another, so I gave him a Bible study and got his email to send him another later on.  I got up to leave saying goodbye and he said, “See ya around.”  I’m around a lot so probably he will.

I gave the Student edition of The Case for Christ to Kitt, a solid, tall guy with a mop of very blonde curly hair who felt like he would go to Heaven for having served a lot of people.  He’d had been to a youth group growing up, but his idea of God was less than Christian.   He wasn’t really sure he knew who God was, saying “I believe in God or something exists, prayed…pretty sure.  I think God is real, not sure Heaven is real but there is something past this life.”  I said, “What you need is information.”  And gave him the book and he was happy to take it.  I had gone through the Gospel with him and then he had to run to class.  But I am hopeful he will read the book.

I gave Chloe, a pretty black girl with shoulder-length hair, dressed all in denim who said her mom was a preacher, a book that I got some discounted copies of called God Loves You: He Always Has and He Always Will.  I gave her a Bible study too.  She didn’t have assurance of Salvation and said, “This was just what I needed today,” when I’d gone through the Gospel with her.   She knew it a bit, and I think believed in Jesus enough to love Him, saying to get into Heaven she’d reply “Because I want to spend the rest of my life with Him.”  She knew Jesus had died for her but I think felt she was not good enough.  “I feel like I have a good chance of going.  I mean I’ve done a few bad things but…”  I hadn’t planned on giving her a book but I said, “Would you like a book?” feeling prompted some to give her the one I gave her and she said, “Yes.” very emphatically.  She was very happy to have talked.  It is hard to say how many students are much like her that I talk to.  They will give me a works-righteousness response for why they are going to Heaven, somehow hoping they are good enough.  As I remind them of the story of Jesus they seem to know it and then in the end are sure they have believed in Jesus all along.  So I encourage them that they could use the booklet I have written Bible verses on and notes in to share their faith and they take it.  But I feel pretty sure their faith has changed from believing He died somewhere in the back of their memory to trusting in that He died for them.

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord.  I had a god day on campus and Hany, an Egyptian Coptic guy, committed to Christ today.  Hany was sitting at a set of couches in the upstairs lounge of the PE building.  He is a slight small built guy with a British accent (where he said his family was from).  He had a conservative (Frankie Avalon as a boy) haircut, was a clean shaven, good-looking kid, dark complexion.  He said he would say to God, if asked why God should let him into Heaven, “I don’t deserve to go to Heaven, I’m imperfect like every other human.”  He said he had “no idea” how likely it was that he would go to Heaven and later said he would tell God, “I did my best.”  He did know Christ had died for sin, but he had not been trusting in it and asked me a few questions.  “I have read the Bible but I never get anything out of it” he said.  I explained the Holy Spirit did not live inside him since he had not truly received Christ, and that understanding the Bible was through the Spirit.  Unlike reading a physics or math book, one should pray for understanding from the Lord.  I explained that he needed to receive Christ and he said he wanted to be forgiven, but I believed his pride prevented him from praying in front of me.  He said he did not use pre-written prayers and I suggested he could reflect on it and pray something in his heart but he wanted to pray on his own.  So I asked him, “Do you believe Jesus is God and he has died for your sins?”  He said he did.  “And do you now trust in that to make you right with God and be saved?”  He said he did.  I said that if he believed this and believed in his heart God raised Christ from the dead, his faith saved him.  He took a Bible study but did not want a book.  So I am hopeful the conviction of the Holy Spirit will be complete in Him and he will pray to receive Jesus.  Whenever I have run into a student again from the past several years of recent memory, they have prayed to receive Christ on their own if they committed to Him (but did not pray in front of me.)  So I am always hopeful and prayerful.  Last year a student named Robert said he had prayed the following week, so sometimes I think the truth takes time to settle in.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  God was with me and blessed.
In Him,
Bob
To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope you are enjoying the nice fall weather wherever you are Midwest or desert.  If you live in California I guess you get this all the time, but Chicago is beautiful right now.  I had a great day on campus and two African-American students, Walter and Chani (pronounced chain~E like the former vice president), each prayed to receive Christ.

Walter was sitting in the Cafeteria at the counter against the windows eating spaghetti out of a Tupperware.  He had a thin beard, cut like a chin strap, and a thin mustache, trimmed pencil-width in a line under his lip.  Good-looking guy, short afro, white collared print dress shirt and shorts.  When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because my good outweighs the bad I’ve done in my life.”  But he only thought he had a 5% chance to get to Heaven, saying it is easier to do wrong than right, “Wide is the road that leads to destruction,” he quoted.  He tracked right along with the Gospel, though he really did not seem to know it at all, suggesting Christ had taken away our sins back in the day with his baptism.  It turned out he attended the Chicago Church of Christ which is really a “works cult.”  Though they teach Christ died for you, they also teach you must be baptized to be saved and your good works also contribute to being justified.  It seems practically that they rarely teach the Cross.  More often than not the students in it that I talk to aren’t focused on Christ’s atonement or are unaware of it.  Walter wasn’t aware of the truth, but he was really encouraged to find out how he was saved in Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit and decided to pray to receive Jesus.  After he had prayed to receive Christ and I had explained the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us power to live the Christian life, I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ.  As we got up to go our separate ways he said, “Keep reaching out and encouraging people. I love your evangelism.”  I got his email to send him some stuff so I hope the Gospel will take root and grow in him.  I also gave him a card for a local church where he can hear the truth.

Chani was sitting in a lounge in the east wing of the science building, the windows of which face south half way down the hall.  I rarely get a conversation going in that lounge because it seems as the peeps are always studying.  It’s Friday so the school is pretty empty.  I looked down that hall and saw no one and turned to go down some side stairs, but I felt a prompting to check that lounge.  Not wanting to resist what might be the Spirit I thought, “Fine, I’ll go down there and when it is empty I will just turn around and go down these stairs.”  There were two girls in there, one very actively studying (and I knew there was a test in a half hour from talking to a girl earlier.)  I asked the other girl who was intermittently on her phone and lap top, and she actually seemed interested in being distracted.  Her name was Chani.  Chani had a bright, full face and smiled a lot, gaps between her really white teeth, long wavy hair with skinny jeans on and black shoes, a V-neck shirt, cute.  When I asked her why she thought she would go to Heaven she said, “I try my best to be simple, just kinda keep my head down, don’t really get in a lot of trouble.”  She said she always went to church when she was with her grandma but hadn’t seen her in a little bit.  She listened to the Gospel and said, “Yeah” several times and when, in the end, I asked her if she wanted to pray to be forgiven and have Christ live inside her she said positively, “Yeah I think I do.”  And she prayed to receive Christ.  She took the Student Edition of The Case for Faith and I walked her through a Bible study to read and explained the work of the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life as I always try to do, getting her e-mail to send her more stuff.  So that was great, she was really cheerful and happy and thanked me.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism Friday if you had a chance.  God has truly blessed this year with 27 students praying with me to receive Christ and a half dozen or more others who committed to Him for salvation.

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope you had a great day walking with the Lord.  I had a good day on campus and Rene prayed to receive Jesus.  Chris and Brandon committed to Christ and Matt committed to Christ saying he would pray later.

Rene was sitting on the 3rd floor in a lounge just one floor up and down a bit from where we meet for Bible Study.  She had a pink Chicago Fire t-shirt on and gray yoga pants on with some kind of pink patterned trim up the sides.  Light brown hair, pretty, no makeup, athletic looking, nice kid.  When I asked her what she would say to God to let her into Heaven she said, “I don’t know.”  She went to a Methodist church and wasn’t sure how her sins were taken away.  I think I might have just put her on the spot a bit, and the story seemed to come back to her a little as I went.  But then even liberal churches have probably mentioned that Jesus died (and possibly for sin) at some point.  I asked her, after I had talked through the Gospel with her, if she’d thought about Jesus dying for her sins or had she thought she might be forgiven because He’d died for her or conversely because she was good and consistently religious.  She thought about it and said with some hesitancy, “A little of both.”  So I said, “Sometimes I’ll put it this way: Everyone has a relationship with God because He is their Creator.  But not everyone is IN a relationship with God, where they have trusted in Him to forgive their sins and He lives inside them.  So that is what I am asking you.  Would you like to be forgiven and be in a relationship with God?”  She said she would and so I walked her through the prayer and she prayed to receive Christ.  She said she was studious, so I offered her a book.  She chose The Case for Christ to read.  I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to her through the fruit of the Holy Spirit and taught her a bit from a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ.  She gave me her email to send her some stuff.  As I got up she shook my hand and thanked me, so that was great.

Matt had talked with me before (I think at the book table we’d had) but I hadn’t gone through the Gospel with him, though I’d given him a book.  He’s from a Lutheran background as a kid but did not go to church anymore, though he’d been on mission trips in HS.  He was wearing jean shorts and a t-shirt, had a short beard and short light brown hair, glasses.  He’d enlisted and was headed to boot camp soon.  His dad was a carpenter and we talked about the trades some and then I began to talk to him about the Gospel and quote verses and told him some stories.  He believed the Gospel and said, after I asked him, that he believed Jesus was God and trusted in Christ’s sacrifice for his sins to forgive him, but hadn’t before thought about it.  He had to get to class and said he wanted to pray later.  So I asked him to email me if he’d done so and offered to keep him in my prayers.  He was grateful for talking, so I am hopeful he will give his life to Christ.  He took a Bible study and the booklet with him, so please pray he comes into the truth, or has already.

2 other guys, Chris a Polish Catholic guy with a slight European accent (sandy hair, chin beard, shorts) and Brandon a Black guy (3” afro, good-looking guy, bright smile, full features, jeans on) in the Methodist Episcopal church committed to Christ today.  They were just sitting in the hallway on the second floor in chairs one seat apart and I don’t think they knew each other.  I started talking to them about groups on campus and the homosexuality issue and went through the Gospel as I did.  I showed them the prayer and left them with Bible studies and booklets.  As I left, I asked them if they believed Jesus was God and died for their sins (and both said they did) and then if they wanted to trust in His death and resurrection to be forgiven for their sins.  They said they did and I added that was really what the prayer I had shown them was about.  So I hope they were moved into faith.  I really felt the Spirit in me while telling them the Gospel.  Both of them really seemed to desire the truth.

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

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope your life is nifty and you enjoyed the day with the Spirit of Jesus.  I had a good day on campus talking with the peeps, and Jake prayed with me to receive Christ.  Jake was the last person I talked to today before heading home to write the Bible study we did tonight.  He was a Roman Catholic guy wearing brown cargo shorts and a gray hoodie.  He had glasses on and a conservative haircut, light brown hair.  He was a nice, kind guy.  He and his family are from Poland, but he was too young when living there to have seen much of Europe and thought he would like to go back.  He was sitting in the SW corner lounge of the Science building, on his phone with a lap top open and said he’d talk.  When I asked what he would say to God if he’d died and God asked him why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Give me a second, this is like big…”  He took a while and then said, “I go to church every Sunday, and I give an hour or more each week, go with my family.  I know I’ve done bad things, not horrible things like killing someone.  I deserve a chance.”  He was willing to listen to the Gospel then and as I talked him through stuff, I suggested that growing up in the Church he might not have thought about God on his own.  He realized that, though he knew Christ had died for sins, he had not trusted in His blood and righteousness to save him, but his own goodness.  He decided to pray to receive Christ and live with the Holy Spirit in him and did so as I silently waited for him to finish.  He took a copy of a Bible Study and More than a Carpenter to read.  I got his email to send him stuff.  I also gave him a Bible as his family had a couple (one in Polish) but he did not have his own.  I gave him a remembrance view of the mass:  To simply be thankful that his sins were forgiven remembering that Jesus had died for his sins.  I talked to him about the power of the Spirit and being transformed by God on the inside to live the Christian life.  He was thankful and happy and that was great to see.

I talked with Kelly outside today, a girl with long brown hair and jean shorts and a t-shirt and she was close to faith after hearing the Gospel.  Her cousin had recently committed her life to Christ and was going to a good church and she thought she would talk to her more about it.  Kelly took The Case for Christ to read, not being certain about Christ’s deity.  She hadn’t been to church in a long time.  Her dad had died in 2004 and we talked about that.  It seemed like a lot of bad things had happened in her life.  I tried to help her think about the way the world works and why bad things happen and how God might still use them to bring good.  We hit it off, so I will be praying for her and another guy Noah, who attends the Bible Church but had a hard time believing God would care about us.  He’d just had his wisdom teeth out and was a bit foggy from it, but he took a DVD with questions and answers on it and we talked a while.

Joi, a girl who prayed to receive Jesus last week, was in the Science lounge so I said hi and she thanked me for talking with her.  She said it had really “broadened my perspective on my life, thanks.”  She had talked with her mom about it and they’d decided to focus on one church and not go into the city [and they are at a good one] so that is good.

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

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope your day was blessed in Christ and His benefits.  I had a joyful day and Joi and Joy, two African-American students prayed to receive Jesus.

Joi was sitting in the Mac Lounge by the ground floor elevator on a bench.  She had a black & white “Death Star” [a weapon in the movie Star Wars] t-shirt on and tights and a skirt.  She’s a cute kid and was wearing black glasses and some random necklaces, powder blue nail polish and looked like the creative type.

She and her family went to church down in the city.  She had younger siblings though, and it was kind of a drive, so they often went to Calvary Chapel on Rt. 59 not far from here and she liked that.  It’s a good church.  When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “I would like to be reunited with my family… I’ve sinned many times in my life but whatever my life has shown to make me worthy… whatever makes it possible to be with the greater people.”  She was pretty sure she’d go to Heaven, 90%.  She listened attentively to the Gospel and seemed to know it in part.  So at the end I asked her if she would want to be forgiven and she said she would.  I questioned her more and she seemed to feel she had grown up kind of knowing the story, so I asked if she had been trusting in Christ and His work on the Cross to be the reason God forgave her.  She said she needed to “look deeper” into that which seemed to mean take it to heart.  She’d really just hoped she was a good enough person to go to Heaven, as her answer early on would suggest.  She said she believed Jesus was God and had died for her and she wanted to trust in it and she prayed to receive Christ.  I explained to her the work of the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life and gave her a Bible study.  She wanted to read the Student Edition of The Case for Faith and she gave me her email so I could send her more stuff.  She shook my hand and gratefully said it was nice to meet me, so that was great.  She was a really likable kid and I told her I would keep her in my prayers.

Joy was sitting up in a lounge on the 3rd floor of the BIC building a bit later in the day.  She was a pleasant, round-faced young woman with her hair in rows of braids.  She was dressed in black.  She also went to a church in the city and seemed to know a bit of the Gospel, in as much as Christ had died for her.  She tuned in to the Gospel and seemed to like the explanations for it.  I thought she was a Christian, but wasn’t sure since she had said she would say to God “Because I believe in you” for a reason to let her into Heaven.   Kind of a generic response because it matters what you believe about God.  But as I went through the Gospel she came to the realization that she had not been trusting in the atoning work of Christ to forgive her sins, but that she had been religiously good.  She wanted to be forgiven, trusting in Him.  So I walked her through the prayer and she prayed to receive Christ also.  She took More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study and was appreciative and kind.  I told her I would pray for her too.

I also had a great conversation with a black girl named Sharon today.  She was an intelligent kid, wearing a flannel shirt and a sea shell necklace with black leather converse high tops on, petite.  She really was interested in the Gospel and wanted to be forgiven.  But having not gone to church since she was little, she wasn’t sure Jesus was God.   So I gave her the Student Edition of The Case for Christ and a Bible study.  In giving her my contact information later, I encouraged her to pray and ask God to show Himself to her and she agreed.  I really liked her, so I hope she’ll come to Him.  I’ll be praying for her too, that the Holy Spirit might wrinkle in and she will believe.

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

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, I hope ya had great day in the Lord.  I had a good day on campus, though I only got to talk to 4 Students.  The first 3,  Ben, Keith and Brian, all prayed to receive Christ today.  

Ben was sitting outside the PE building on a concrete & stone half-wall bordering the landscaping.  He was a nice, soft-spoken guy with a short beard and shortish curly-brown hair that matched.  He was tall, wearing jeans with torn knees and a cardigan sweater.  I had walked past him but felt pressed to turn back and he looked up at me as I approached and said he’d answer some questions.  He had attended Catholic Church.  When I asked Him what he would say to God if God asked him why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I always tried to help other people, and help other people be happy.”  He hadn’t understood the Gospel as I went through it with him, not knowing how Christ had taken away his sin.  It seems what many students pick up from the Catholic Church is that their “original sin” is taken away by their baptism.  At the same time, they don’t really know how to define what original sin is or what the implications for them might be now, were it at one time eradicated.  He patiently listened to the Gospel and wanted to be forgiven.  I showed him the prayer, explaining it and asking if it was the desire of his heart and said, when he agreed it was, “You could pray this then, asking God to forgive you, trusting in what Jesus had done and He could live inside you.  You know what you really want in a relationship with another person is you want them to be able to believe you and for you to be able to believe them, so faith.  That is what God wants.  So you think you might want to do that?”  “Yeah,” was all he said and prayed to receive Christ.  He took a copy of The Case for a Creator and a Bible study.  I explained the Holy Spirit to him and transformation inside by the Spirit leading to living for God, by His power, and a symbolic view of the Mass to suggest it was a time to be grateful for His forgiveness through the Cross.  I said I’d pray for him and walked into the PE Building after we said goodbye.

Keith was an African American football player at COD, sitting in the PE lounge downstairs.  He was wearing some kind of NFL official gear black sweat jacket and red sweats, red socks, with his shoes off.  I kidded him about being so color-coordinated as I sat down at his feet.  He was a nice guy and wore sunglasses (though we were inside, old school look) until the very end when he took them off to pray and we talked more.   Keith had a short, nappy afro – straight up the sides and was a clean shaven, good-looking kid.  When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I always believed in God and to my friends who didn’t believe in God, I didn’t follow them but still believed.”  (It reminded me of the verse in 1Pet. 4:4 “And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you;”)  He was trying to be a good guy, but when I asked him how likely it was that he’d go to Heaven he only gave himself 70%, just a C in college.   But he tuned into the Gospel and knew Christ had died to take away his sin.  But he had not been trusting in it somehow, but was instead hoping he was good enough.  In the end he decided to pray to receive Christ and did.  I explained the Christian life by the Spirit to him and he asked, “What about people who say they believe but don’t live like it?”  I said, “It depends.  They could be lying and don’t really love God and are not saved.  But they might be struggling with things you didn’t struggle as much with because God gave you more grace or they are just in a down time where they are having a hard time living for God.”  I explained we could not see inside others to know, but that he should try to remember to pray for his friends that were like that so God would help them and he agreed he would.  He took a copy of Playing with Purpose to read as he was into the NBA and it seemed like having a few spiritual heroes would do him some good.  I got his email to send him some stuff and gave him a Bible study and told him I would see him in Heaven.  He has football practice when we have Bible study.  Maybe next semester we’ll have it earlier and he could come.

I found Brian in the Science Building, sitting in a chair against the windows in a black, long sleeve shirt and black shorts.  He had curly brown hair, curly beard mustache with the ends turned out.  Brian had to be the most laid back person I talked to all year.  He did lean forward to listen as I was sitting on the floor at his feet.  When I asked him what he would say to God, he paused for a minute and said, “Because I love Him.”  He seemed pretty content and was self-described as lazy.  He gave himself a 75% shot at Heaven.  But he listened patiently to the Gospel.  He wanted to be forgiven and I asked, “So when something goes sideways and you feel like you should ask for forgiveness, are you thinking God will forgive you because Christ has died for you or because you are a good person and have been somewhat religious.”  “I don’t know,” he replied.  “I guess I never thought about that before.”  I suggested that if he had never thought about what Christ had done for him then he was not trusting in it and he agreed.  I explained the prayer to him and said again as I had to Ben, “So you think you might want to do that?” and again I got “Yeah.”  He did not want anything more than the booklet to read.  But I did give him a card for a church since he had not been going.  So I hope he will begin to get plugged in and that the Spirit will move him.

The last guy I talked to, Zak, was being forced by his parents to attend a Lutheran church.  He had some criticisms of the New Testament that I cleared up for him and I think I made some headway past his pride, explaining away some of the “Synoptic Problem” and some seemed contradictions he thought he’d read of.  Many of these, with a bit of perspective, are easily dismissed.   He was a bearded guy wearing plaid shorts.  So I’ll pray for him in the hope he might turn and I pointed him in the direction of SED physics which answers some Biblical science questions.  I think we had a good rapport by the end.

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

In Him,

Bob
To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
            I hope your day was truly blessed walking in the Lord.  I had a great day talking with the students and Brooke and Rod prayed to receive Christ.
            It was a beautiful day today so I walked outside the buildings some and I came across Brooke, a pretty brown haired girl was wearing jean shorts and a long sleeve black shirt with Hollinger written down the arm.  She had sandals on, bling-ed long nails and long eye lashes that made shadows on the cheeks in the bright sunshine, sitting outside the BIC building on a bench.   I walked past her since she was looking at some papers, but another guy turned me down and as I passed her again she agreed to answer some questions about God.  She wanted to become a Nurse and change the world.  Brooke had attended a Methodist Church growing up and had faith of a kind.  When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I believe.  I’m faithful and loyal to my friends.  I’ve made a lot of good choices and bad choices, but I’ve learned from them and said I’m sorry and all that.”  She really thought she’d go to Heaven because of her behavior. “If you are sorry, but if you are rude and don’t care you know you won’t go.”  So little by bit I showed her Bible verses and helped her see that she needed to trust in the sacrifice of Christ, not having thought of Him before.   When I said, “So you don’t go to Heaven because you are good, but because Jesus was good,” she said, “Oh” realizing she’d not known that.  She wanted to be forgiven and trust in Christ, having Him live inside her to give her the power to live the Christian life.   So I explained the prayer to her and she prayed to receive Him quietly.  She took the booklet and I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to her a bit more by the Fruit of the Spirit.  She said she wasn’t much into reading but was up for taking More than a Carpenter.   She took a Bible study too and gave me her email for another one.  She was really nice and she seemed grateful to have learned about Christ.

            Rod was sitting in the Science building lounge a while later in the day at the other end of school.  He was from the Philippines and looked his nationality, with straight, dark, short hair and almond shaped eyes.  He had a blue polo-styled shirt on and was wearing green pants and white tennis shoes with a wisp of a mustache and some growth on his chin.  He’d gone to Catholic church some as a kid, but it had lapsed in his family of late.  His parents were both Doctors in the Philippines and were studying to be able to practice here.  I began to explain how knowing Christ was eternal life because we’re one with Him,  His Holy Spirit living in us.  “The Holy Trinity,” he put in and I agreed (realizing once again that evangelism is easier with those raised with some pseudo-Christian religious background).  When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “I haven’t done any severely bad deeds in my life.”   I explained how he had to be perfect to be in the presence of God in Heaven, and that nothing he had ever done was entirely perfect.  “No altruism,” he put in, seeming to agree.  I talked to him about the need for enlightened self-interest but that, “Yes, unless in a last moment of your life you threw yourself on a grenade to save your companions, you have probably never done something entirely selfless.”  I explained to him how, through the life blood of Christ, his sins were paid for and cleansed and the He died in his place.  Rod realized he had not been trusting in the sacrifice of Christ but in his own goodness, hoping God would be merciful, as when I’d put it to him that way he’d nodded.  So after I had talked him through everything and he’d said he wanted to be forgiven I asked, “So it seems like you really haven’t had a chance to trust in this before right?”  He agreed and so I talked him through a prayer and he prayed to receive Christ.  He was very grateful and I gave him a Bible to read and explained the work of the Holy Spirit giving him a card from Church since he hadn’t been attending.  I gave him a Bible study and got his email to send him some stuff.

            I had some other conversations with skeptics and believers that I think helped them today too.  So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            Hope ya had a great day so far walking in the fruit of the Spirit.  I had a good day of sharing on campus and Justis and Jazmin each prayed to receive Christ as their savior.  

            Justis is a basketball player at school.  He had a chin beard and a baseball cap on backwards, good lookin’ African American guy.  He went to Church regularly but believed he would go to Heaven, “‘Cause I’m a good person”.  I walked him through the Gospel and he had understood it in some sense, though he had not understood imputation, and had not been trusting in Christ to save him, but his own effort to be good.  He figured he’d only have a 50/50 shot at Heaven.   I talked to him about how nothing he had done in life had been perfect.  “Even when you made that perfect move to the rim and scored, it was just that move that went perfect, not the entire day and when you think about it you did it for yourself.”  “Selfishness,” he said.  “Right,” I replied.  He wanted to be forgiven, trusting in Jesus’ Blood.   I explained trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit to transform him and he took a Bible Study and a copy of Playing with Purpose to read on NBA stars.  I also got his email to send him some stuff.

            Jazmin was from a Mexican family background, short, about 5″2′, pretty.  Long dark hair,  almond eyes and a bit wider nose.  She had been raised Catholic but her parents were not insistent she define her faith that way.  She didn’t go to church anymore.   She had not been trusting in Jesus either.  When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “I admit my sins but I hope that you can forgive me.”  I explained to her the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ and she said she’d want to be forgiven and to trust in that.  But instead of showing her the prayer, when I might show someone else, I went on to explain the presence of God by the Holy Spirit and His power and Him living inside her.  Then I explained she could ask God for that and she said, “God is with me all the time already.”  I agreed that He was with her and that the Bible said that (Paul basically says this in Acts 17:27)  God is the Creator and with all of us, and she could say she had a relationship with God since everyone does.  “Everyone has a relationship with God.  The question is do you want to be IN a relationship with God.  Where He lives inside you, is with you and has forgiven your sins based on faith.   She saw my point then and I said, “God’s like a pretty girl.  He just likes to be asked.  You know what that’s like.”  She laughed and said she got it, and decided to pray quietly to receive Him.   I gave her a couple Bible studies since she did not want a book, and told her she had made me happy .  We said our goodbyes and she ran to class.

            I had a good conversation with an atheist girl, Gina.  She was dressed all in black, cute brown haired girl turned off by Catholic Church stuff.  I also talked about SED physics with her boyfriend and he thought he’d read up on it.  She was softened a bit and took a copy of The Case for a Creator. So I’ll be praying for her and her boy friend, Michael.

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

In Him,
Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I had a good day of sharing today.  I hope your day was truly blessed as you walked by the Spirit.  Two guys prayed to receive Jesus today, Joey and Vasyl.

Joey was sitting in the Science building on a bench looking at his phone.  He had short hair and hadn’t shaved recently, though his beard grew without uniformity.  He had blue sweats on and a t-shirt and tennis shoes.  His clothes looked worn, his glasses were on the thick side and he was sad, by his own description.  Short, dishwater-blonde hair.  He said he was in counseling.  His dad had taken him to church regularly when he was younger, and still took his sister to a Catholic Church.  He’d stopped going with him and had become depressed.  When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “I’ve been through too much already.”   He was kind of struggling with time, school and such.   He listened to the Gospel closely though and liked the stories I told him.  We seemed to hit it off.  He was a really nice guy, respectful.   I asked him in the end if he wanted to be forgiven and have Christ live inside him and he said, “I would want to be forgiven. I don’t want to go to hell!”   I don’t think anyone has ever put it that bluntly before, though some may have thought it.  He believed Jesus was God and had died for him and rose form the dead.  Joey said he wanted to trust in that and I walked him through the prayer.  He prayed it very slowly and thoughtfully it seemed.  He seemed to brighten and I explained the work of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit.  I said he could ask God for peace and joy by His Spirit and in time God might grant this to him.  He did not have his own Bible, though he said he often saw his father reading his, so I gave him one, a Bible study and More Than a Carpenter to read.  I got his email and as I got up to leave I told him I would pray for him.  He said “Thank you sir,” twice, and I said I’d see him in Heaven and he said, “See you in Heaven sir.”

Vasyl was from the Ukraine, though his people were from the western part so it was safe there from the Russian attacks.  He was a neat, clean-cut, good looking kid, with a young face.  He was wearing a white Adidas shirt and shorts with the Adidas stripes down the sides.  He was really into science and seemed very bright.  When I asked him one thing he’d like to do before he died he said, “Make an important scientific discovery.”  I gave him some stuff to look up on SED physics and the red shift explanation, which I recently learned of through Dr. Missler and then Dr. Setterfield’s lectures.  Vasyl said he had some of his best scientific ideas from his dreams.  I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven and he said, “I don’t know. You try to be a good person but you know at times it’s not the best you could have been.”  He was hoping he was good enough to go to Heaven but did not see value in his parents’ religious practice.  They were “very religious” orthodox Christians.  He had not understood the Gospel but listened and said he’d want to be forgiven, but felt he had “prayed a prayer like that”.  I asked him if, when he prayed for forgiveness, he was hoping to be good enough to be forgiven or if he had been trusting that “Jesus had died for his sins.”  He admitted he had not been trusting in that (but believed it now) so he prayed his own prayer by way of confession and I said, “Amen then” and he said, “Amen”.  He took The Case for a Creator to read and a Bible study.  I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to him and encouraged him to ask God to give him a scientific discovery.  He said he’d read Mendeleev had dreamed several of his discoveries, so I said, “Ask God for a dream.  The Bible says that [filled with the Holy Spirit] “your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,”   So who knows if He might not give you one.”  George Washington Carver said God revealed to him the secrets of the peanut, so hey.  And many in Muslim countries are dreaming of Jesus, I am told.  I encouraged him, with his more or less forced attendance in the Orthodox Church, to remember during communion that Jesus had died for him.  He said he’d been the equivalent of an altar server for a few years as a boy.  I told him I would keep him in my prayers.

So I had an interesting day of sharing and God blessed. Thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  God was Good.

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp