Results of the Work – 9/12/19

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you were blessed today walking in the nearness of God which is our good. I had a good day on campus and

Jamie, Mia and Tionne each rayed to receive Jesus Thursday. I was sick all night with a headache and woke up with it, it’s still there so I decided to cancel the painting work I was going to do today and do it tomorrow.

Jamie was sitting in the upstairs PE lounge at the top of the stairs. He’s African American with an oval face and full features, he had a nice smile. Stocky dude and his yellow hoodie was pulled up over his head so I could not see his hair at all. His eyes were narrow with basically no eyelashes He had quilted black jeans on. He said he’d do a student survey and so I asked him what he would say to God if He asked him: Why should I let you into Heaven? “Well I’d say when I was younger I had heart surgery. You gave me a second chanced and stuff. I tried to live the best of my ability. Not saying I deserve it, I just really hope I could get in.” I asked him if he ever went to church after he said he thought he’d have a 70% chance of going to Heaven. “Yeah, my dad owns a church and my grandfather was a pastor, my Uncle’s a Deacon.” I told him the last part of this is what you think of Christianity, it’s just some Bible verses and I began to go through the Gospel with him. He knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. I went through the rest go the Gospel message and asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else. He pointed at the circle that had Christ on the throne of your life. I then said, “It seems like you hadn’t put all this together before so you could trust in it.” and he agreed. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray to tell God he was trusting in Christ and I walked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded; he was a man of few words. So I said he could pray it silently so only God would hear, “Just pretend I’m not even here.” He had kind of a half chuckle in response that came out like, “Humf”. And he prayed then to receive Jesus. “Your sins are forgiven man!” I said to him then. I hurriedly explained the Christian life to him (Inside Out) as he had to catch a bus and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and also gave him a Bible Study. I told him if he would not trust in the righteousness of Jesus the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He got up saying he had 9 minutes to catch his bus smiling and said, “Thank you.” “Yeah,” I said cheerfully and he headed down the stairs and out the door.

I found Mia up on the third floor. She was waiting to go into class sitting on chairs in the hall. She had her curly hair up in a bun and a hair band, wore a red, white and blue zippered sports hoodie with a name and number on the back and blue athletic shorts, flip flops on her feet. Had kind of a soccer player look to her. She had a wider round face with full features, looked Latino, big boned, cute kid. We went really fast I think she knew she had to be in class. When I asked her what she’d say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Cause I wanna be here.” She went to Catholic School growing up and thought she had a 70% chance to get to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her, when I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins she knew Jesus had died for her. She listened closely to what I explained and when I asked her if she would want to be forgiven with God inside her trusting in Jesus or thought something else she said she’d want to be forgiven. So I asked if when she was asking for forgiveness for her sins if she’d thought she was a pretty good person and based on her past record she thought she’d be forgiven. She nodded and said,, “Yeah,” scrunching her mouth in a frank affirmation. “Or were you thinking Jesus had died for you?” She said then that no she’d hoped she was good enough. So I offered her the prayer and she prayed it quickly knowing she would have to run. I said she could keep the book and she said, “Awesome, Thank you.” I offered her a book and she said, “This is enough, thank you.” And walked 5 steps and disappeared into the classroom. Several students by now in the semester have said they have seen me around, so I think they are nominal Christians and wonder what I am talking with sternest about, so when they hear the Gospel they quickly respond realizing they are at a point in life to make a choice to believe the faith they were raised in, even if it was never properly expressed to them growing up.

McPaul, a guy who received Jesus earlier in the year and looks like Malcolm-Jamal Warner, was sitting on the edge of the lounge where we have Bible Study with a couple friends in overstuffed chairs. McPaul asked me about Bible study and I said at the last one we’d had last week we talked about the parable of the Talents.  I explained it taught about faith. That everyone had faith but some people had not taken their faith and trusted in Christ to do things with God’s help in the world. They buried their faith never trusting in God. I jumped off that to ask the other two guys sitting with McPaul what they would say to get into Heaven. He encouraged them to talk with me, as he had before, and I began to go through the Gospel with Kalen, a tall thin black guy with torn skinny back jeans and a horizontal stripped shirt. He has some facial hair and a narrow face and a short afro. He was friendly and open but not really sure about his faith. In the end he took The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet  from me and the gospel to think about. His friend Tionne (Tee On) received Christ however after hearing the Gospel. He was a bit shorter and medium build, He had some facial hair chin and air and an afro that went straight up and had a rough top. He wore a t-shirt that said USA and had red shorts on, classic African-American features. Kalen hadn’t known what he’d say to get into Heaven but Tionne had said basically he was a good person and went to church. He asked, as I was going through the Gospel, if Jesus had died for our sins (something he had not remembered): Why go to Church and confess your sins? I said you go there so you can get preached up and know how to live, what to ask God to change you into. Confession shows God we are genuinely sorry and know we need a savior. In the end he decided he needed to receive Christ and prayed to receive Him. I gave him a Bible putting his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front which he liked, I showed him the “Where to Turn” section in the back that answers some issues with Bible Verses. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do saying he should ask for God to give him strength through the Spirit to do everything in the Christian life and I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I left them and was off in Starbucks writing down their descriptions and then passing them by again as I left the lounge I asked them what the answer was as to Why God should let them into Heaven and the all responded, “Jesus died on the Cross.” Kalen seemed happy and  thanked me then as I walked off. And so I am hopeful he will think about the Gospel.

So Thanks for your prayers for eh Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.