Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your weekend has been blessed so far and you are enjoying the last couple weeks of official summer. I had a good day Friday on campus though I had to cut it a little short for a Doctor’s appointment.  Saul (pronounced S AH OO L) and Joe each prayed with me to receive Jesus. Both appealed to things their Grandfathers had said or done as a guiding light in their lives–if you are wondering if your grand kids are listening to ya  Also Kimberly, a cute, short round faced, Latina girl with long brown hair in a the Cafeteria was close. She said her Dad took her to church 3 of 4 weeks a month but he was Catholic and she thought of herself as a Christian. She knew basically nothing of the Gospel however and I think she just needed to think it through but said the prayer was the desire of her heart so I am hopefully she will commit to believing in Jesus for salvation. She was bright and cheerful. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she exclaimed, “I don’t know!” placing her palms on her cheeks. It was a cute reaction. I hope she knows now what she’d say.

When I got to school I felt like God had someone for me to talk to in the PE building and so I headed that direction and found Saul was sitting in the PE lounge at a table with his back against the Gym. He seemed to know me and I asked if we’d spoken before, “I’ve seen you around,” he said with a slight smile. He’s a Latino, slight build and had a blue Elmhurst college shirt on. He had stick straight hair kind of fluffed up on his head point forward, shorter around his ears. He had a narrow, tan face and was fairly reserved. When I walked up and started talking to him asking if he wanted to do a student survey. He had a bright perfect smile that he did not show much until we’d finished talking and he appear really happy.  When I asked him what he would say to God if he was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” He thought about it conversationally saying something about doing good things and then said, “I make sure I only worship you and Jesus Christ. I help people. I go to work (I have to pay for school), pick up after myself, make sure I act the way my Grandpa said.”  He said he thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven but explained that when he can’t go to Church because of work he makes it up with personal time with God and prays by himself. He thought you should do things like that not because you have to but want to. He knew when I asked him that Jesus had died to take away his sins. I went through the rest of the Gospel with him. I talked about the Blood of Christ and the imputed righteousness of Christ, (to his credit). I asked if he wanted to be forgiven trusting in Christ and he did. I asked if when he was asking for forgiveness if he’d been thinking he was basically a good person and God would forgive him, as being religious he was the kind of person God forgave, or if he was thinking he’d be forgiven because Jesus had died for him trusting in that. He hadn’t been trusting in Christ. So I said if he’d want to be forgiven placing his trust in those things there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. “Yes,” he said emphatically. So I said he could pray it silently would he like to do that, “Yeah,” he said. “Just pretend I’m not even here,” “Yeah,” he said again. He was quiet for a bit then, I think reading it again and then he pray it barely audibly as I bowed my head with him. When he finished I said he could keep the booklet and explained living the Christian life by the Spirit’s power. He did not have his own Bible but his family had one, saying then, “I’d like my own,” so I said I could give him one and showed him the “Where to Turn” Section and the Messianic passages section saying Jesus words were in red.  I write his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained that if he would trust now in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would get into Heaven was 100%. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote By the Sprit’s Power” in the front. I said I’d keep him I my prayers and gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. I reached out and shook his hand and said, “It was really nice to meet you,” it was he had really been open to the Gospel from the jump. He got a big grin on his face then saying, “It was nice to meet you too, take care.” And I headed out.

I found Joe sitting on a couch in the MAC arts building lounge just chilling out. He had kind of the “Good ol Boy” look with a ball cap on , blue cotton sweats and a blue t-shirt, medium build. He had a couple days growth of beard and mustache that didn’t meet his chin line. Real nice guy, he said he’d been going to a Lutheran Church. He said he wanted to go to Australia. I’d been there and we talked about traveling around the world. When I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven he said, “I lived by the words of my Grandpa and just tried to be a good man.” He later said at his grand Fathers funeral the pastor had talked to him before he died and had asked him how he wanted to be remembered and his Grandpa said.  He just wanted to be thought of as a good man. Of course that wouldn’t save anyone. He knew Jesus had died to take away our sins when I asked him what He had done to do so. He tuned right in to the Gospel and like Saul seemed to be enjoying listening to what I had to say. He though he had about an 80% chance of getting into Heaven. I explained the Gospel to him explaining that the righteousness of God was earned by Christ and could be too his credit. “You don’t go to Heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good and you’re connected to Him. Like if you marry a millionaire ya got a million bucks, if you get adopted into a billionaire’s family you get to live in the mansion and drive the cars. So God adopts us and gives us the blessings of His family. He gives us the sacrifice for our sins, the blood that cleanses us after that and the righteousness of God that surrounds us. So it’s like ya got someplace to go, Heaven, and something to wear when ya get there, the righteousness of God. (Isaiah 61:10, Romans 13:14). He said he’d want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus saying, “Well I’m pretty religious so yeah.” I asked if when he asked for forgiveness if he’d been trusting in what Jesus had done to forgive him or if he’d just been hoping he would be good enough to get into Heaven. “Just hoping,” he said with a smile.  So I said there was a prayer he could pray if he wanted to trust in Jesus and I talked him through it asking if he’d want to pray that trusting in Christ and he said, “Yeah sure, of course.” And he prayed to receive Christ.  He had a bible so I explained where to start reading and the Christian life lived trusting in the Spirit “Inside out”.  I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Sprit’s Power” in the front along with his name and the date and “forgiven”.  I explained if he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Awesome, sweet!” he replied. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Jesus and he had to go so I got up and said, “Have a good one Joe, nice to meet ya.” ” “Nice to meet ya too,” he said with a grin and he headed for the doors.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed all 3 students who were willing to talk to me for the hours I was at school were really receptive.

In Him,

Bob