Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and filled with Life. I had a good day on campus in as much as Nick prayed with me to receive Christ. Over the course of over 3 hours however he was the only one with which I was able to get through the Gospel. A lot of it was taken up with a couple of guys I have spoken to before. One has prayed with me to receive Christ this year and needed the guidance, Cole. The other, Carson, is a 36 year old on again off again addict, who struggles with anger and is back at school taking classes. Vary short-cropped strawberry blonde hair; he has some ink on his neck up to his ear in back and in front just over the t-shirt line. He wears hard rock T-shirts; today’s had a clear death theme. Many of those bands are doorways to Spiritual forces, at least in some people. I warned him about that when he said he struggled with control, and he seems to wrestle with some personal demons and some actual ones. We talked about feeding the wrong dog in you, he said he had a black one and a white one and the black one he was feeding premium food. At the end of a very long discussion sitting out on the sidewalk at the base of the waterfall where he had been struggling to study I prayed over him (I’m not sure he liked it). I also gave him the book Bible Promises for You. He was genuinely grateful for the book. I just felt like he needed to dwell on good things, he prays and knows Jesus is real, doesn’t know Him. He finally took off to meet a girl at school. I’m not sure if there is a way to extricated myself from long conversations at times but they don’t happen that often so I think that was supposed to be part of the day. Wore me out though.

Nick was sitting in the Science building had cargo shorts on and a ball style cap with a mesh back, reddish brown hair mustache and goatee, wore a jacket. Seemed a little less than average height. Nice guy disappointed with the Catholic Church he had left it and was kind of on his own in a relationship with God. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “”Because I lived my life the way I thought You would like me to have lived.” I asked him what the likelihood was he would go to Heaven, 10% low 100% high or 50/50 he’d have a shot and he said, “I don’t know that’s not really my call right? If it’s following the teaching of Jesus might be closer to 100% if it’s what the Catholic Church teaches it would be lower.” I went through the Gospel with him and he knew Christ had sacrificed himself to take away his sins. I talked to him about the difference from what he’d been taught growing up was that Christianity was inside out not outside in, That first we asked God to change us on the inside by the Spirit’s power and then we did good things on the outside as changed men. “It is different that the teaching of Jesus you thought you knew, ” I said, he agreed. He needed to have faith to receive Christ believing He was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. “Why does God care if you believe He is the Son?” He asked. I explained that Jesus fulfilled the statements of the Old Testament and appeared there and said He was God and it was prophesied he was God, I then showed him some verses in the Old testament in a Bible Study I had in my Pack. I told him Christianity is a historical faith and Christ fulfilled History so we would know He was the one, and this was really God’s love, knowing we would have to know which Guy to believe in. “Doesn’t that make God arrogant that He wants everyone to believe in Him?” he asked. I explained God wants this because of His love; everything He does is to express His love so that some will join His family and be given the power by His Spirit living in them to declare His love in the world. I said there was a school of thought in Theology (reformed theology) that says God does everything for his glory. But the Bible says God did what He did because He loved the world (quoting John 3:16 to him again as I had already done). He does not need us to add to His glory and says he will share His glory with us in heaven, even serving us (Luke 12:37, Mt 20:28). I explained that Jesus said (John 16:23) of being in Heaven with Him, “In that day you will ask Me no question.” I said I’d had people tell me they had questions they thought they would ask God when they got to Heaven but I always tell them I don’t think they will bother. Once we are surrounded by His unmitigated unmediated love, we will know without a doubt that was what it was really about and the explanation of how everything worked together will not seem important. “OK that makes sense,” he said. He began to see the kingdom of God and his part to play guided by the Spirit in him on earth. I talked about how God might use him in retirement to have a fishing boat and take people out to go commercial fishing, as he’d said that was his dream. In that context he might be able to tell people of God’s love whom a pastor would never talk to or reach concerning the love of God. I said God might have something else entirely for his life too but would lead him by the Spirit. “I could sign up for that,” he said, “You should have started with the boat.” I told him I would remember that for next time but everyone hears things a little different. Then I went through the prayer again (I had explained it in the conversation at one point already) and he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the day and “forgiven” and By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and he said, “Thank you.” And I said “You’re welcome.” As we left I gave him a Bible study he gave me his email and said he’d like to have some conversations like this again. We shook hands and he told me to have a good one and I headed out telling him I would pray for him each night until next spring.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry today and for evangelism if you had a chance. God did some good things.

In Him,

Bob