Last day of classes for the semester

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your weekend has blessed in the Lord and you are finding Joy. I had a good day on campus Friday and Anthony and Jose each prayed with me to receive Jesus. So 77 people prayed with me to receive Jesus this Semester. I had a good conversation yesterday with Heather, whose father’s critical spirit had turned her off to Christian things so I will be praying for her to pray to receive Christ. She did not want a book but said, “Isn’t there a movie about that?” speaking of “The Case for Christ”. I said there was and she thought she might check it out. I tried to encourage her not to let stuff with her Dad keep her from having her own relationship with God. She was a bit sad but a nice Latina girl.

When I got to school I realized I had not been upstairs on the 3^rd floor of the BIC as often so I went up there and right away bumped into Anthony. He had Latino coloring had conservatively cut wavy almost curly dark hair. Wearing jeans and a shirt features like a Greek, not sharp, good looking kid. He only had a piece of paper with him and was sitting on a bench alone, no backpack or coat but it turned out he was waiting for a friend’s class to get out. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “Cause I tried making my happiness spread to others.” He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven and when I asked if he went to church he said, “Not as often as I should, I’d to go more.” He listened closely to the Gospel but he could not think of what Jesus had done to take away his sins. He listened closely to the Gospel that Jesus had died for him and Rose from the dead, His blood cleansed him so God could live inside him and His righteousness was to his credit. After hearing he believed and when I asked if he would like to be forgiven with God living inside him or thought something else. First he said he felt like people lived inside him parents and friends. I said in a way that was true our friends become a part of us as to our parents and shape us. “The bible talks about a great cloud of witnesses,” I said and so it seemed like even after they are gone others can watch our lives. But this would be a little different as God could become one with him and given Him strength to live life. Then he said, “I feel like I would rather have Him living inside me.” So I explained there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and walked him through it saying he could pray so only God would hear him, “What do you think, God could live inside you for Christmas?” He nodded and took the booklet and prayed beside me to receive Jesus. He did not have his own Bible so I gave him one and put his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained the Christian life living inside out and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and just finished, quickly explaining the Bible study on the deity of Jesus as his friend had walked out and was waiting, glued to his phone. I told him I would pray for him each night until a year from spring and gave him a card with the link for Compass Church suggesting he could listen to some sermons. As he got up to leave, he thanked me and I said, “Yeah, God bless you man.” “You too, drive safe,” he replied and headed off with his friend.

Jose was sitting down the end of the same hall in a stuffed chair in the lounge with the vending machines. He had on a winter cap with a bit of curly hair coming out. He was on the short side. He had a neatly trimmed mustache his beard was thin but long was thicker on his chin and a couple inches up his jaw line. Looked kind of rough and tumble. He said he was a boxer and had just gotten the plate out of his arm and wrist from a motorcycle accident that had also broken his leg badly. He then showed me a picture of him in a leg cast in a wheel chair. He hoped to box again but visions of glory were now diminished. He said he knew there was a God from being saved from the crash. He had only gone to church when he was very small but had not remembered anything from it, having gone with Grandparents. He was wearing a winter jacket and jeans and a dark shirt. I asked him what he would say if he died and God asked him, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” He replied, “Show me the good I’ve done in my life and the bad and see if it evens out. I feel like if I was that bad God would have taken me out.” “Yeah, but God lets some evil people live long lives like Castro, he killed a lot of people in Cuba,” I replied. He agreed. He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. He didn’t know what Jesus had done to take away his sins so I explained everything to him clearly and he understood that Jesus had been killed but he wanted to die and His blood cleansed him so God could live inside.  I asked him if he would want to be forgiven with God inside after going through many verses and talking him through the Gospel and he said he would. I explained a prayer he could pray and he said, “I’ll probably pray that every night now.” So I said he could pray it right now, “Not like I’d hear you but God would hear, wanna do it?” “Yeah,” he replied. He prayed then to receive Jesus. He gave me his email and we talked more about life and how it could be dangerous. “You really have a gift for explaining all this,” he said so I know God had really been at work. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” and “By the Spirit’s Power” and gave him a Bible study to explain the Christ’s claims to be God. He was grateful and I told him I would pray for him each night and gave him a card for Compass Church to listen to sermons on line and I got up and headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry this semester and for Evangelism yesterday if you had a chance, God truly blessed. 77 is a good semester of work.

In Him,

Bob