Results of the Work – 10/9/19

Hey Brothers and sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you delighted yourself in the Lord. John, Joseph and Mike prayed to receive Jesus today on campus so I had a good day sharing the Gospel. 62 people have trusted Jesus so far this year which had not happened until November 14 last year.

John was up on the 3rd floor of the BIC where I felt prompted to go after over an hour of walking around looking for peeps. He was sitting in the hall waiting to go into his Physics class. He had a lot of swept back brown hair atop his head and big apple cheeks, a visible day’s growth of beard. He wore a black long sleeve shirt with white lettering on it and nylon workout sweats. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “That’s hard.” Then thinking a moment he said, “I honestly don’t know… I don’t know why He should.” He had gone to Young Life in High school and to a Christian camp. He thought he had about an 80% chance of going to Heaven. A girl walked up and leaned against the wall, where the chairs we were on ended, who was in his class. She was soon tuned into her phone and said little after walking up and my making sure she was not his girl friend waiting for him. At one point during one of my analogies about a glass with a teacher who couldn’t teach he looked at her and said, “Sounds familiar.” but she wasn’t paying attention and was completely into her phone. So I prayed she’d go in the hopes her observing would not dissuade him from the Gospel. She suddenly walked across the hall to sit in chairs out of earshot. He listened closely to the gospel and when I read John 3;16 he said, “I know that, John 3:16.” But when I asked him if he knew what God did to take away his sin so He could live inside him he just said, “No.” So I explained the Gospel, the imputed righteousness of Christ and the blood that cleansed him and that Jesus had risen from the dead. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus and have God live inside him he said, “Um hmm.” But it was barely audible. But I’d had a hard time hearing his name when I first asked him for it, he was real low key. I said then if he’d want to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and after going through it asked if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was and I said he could pray it right now silently and he said, “Can I take this with me?” I said he could but if he’d, “pray the prayer right now it would make me feel better so I’d know.” He agreed then and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained that the likelihood he would go to Heaven was no 100% based on the righteousness of Jesus being to his credit. And the answer he did not know about why God should let him into Heaven was Because Jesus died for me. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. He said he’d take his father’s Bible which his dad had on a shelf to read. I gave him a Bible Study and he seemed content so I headed out.

I came across Joseph later in the day in the Starbucks lounge in a chair by the door. He was lying so far down in the chair he was nearly horizontal. He was a good looking black guy with a beard and a goatee, longer face. His lips pursed sort of, had a heart shaped upper lip. He was really low key and a big dude. He said he went to St. Michael’s in the city. He wore grey sweats and a cap. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he just said, “Ah.. I’m a good guy.” He thought the likelihood he would get into Heaven was 100%. He listened to the Gospel but didn’t seem to know Jesus had died for his sins. But he gave ascent to each point and agreed with different affirming words as we went through. I said something like: Well you grow up in the church and you just kind of go with your mom but when you are an adult you have to choose for yourself. The last thing is would you wanted to be forgive for his sins with God inside or do you think something else? He said, “First one, be forgiven.” So I said, “Well, it doesn’t seem like you had a chance to put all this together before to trust in it.” and he agreed. So I said there was a prayer he could pray so that he would know he was forgiven and going to Heaven and I talked him through it and I read the line, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” “Yeah,” he replied so I said he could pray it silently like I wasn’t there. “Sure,” he said and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him a Bible showing him the messianic passages section and the one called “Where to Turn” writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “Just ask” and By the Spirit’s Power” in the front, having explained that God would give him the power to do everything He was asking him to do and also to do well even on the field (he’s a defensive end). I gave him a Bible study too; I told him I would keep him in my prayers. His friend walked up then and they started talking about a ride to somewhere so I got up and silently pointed at him as I walked out and he said, “Appreciate it.” and I nodded and headed off.

I found Mike in the hallway that leads to the bookstore on the ground floor. He had a rectangular face but his features were not sharp, and a soft shaped nose, clean shaven.  He had on a navy blue t-shirt and cargo shorts he had light sandy hair and kind of a block head. He talked a lot. He kept bringing the conversation back to his complaint about another Bible Study group and problems he’d had with a few people that went there who were in his view taking advantage of people last year. In the end I encouraged him to give it another try and that the people he had a problem with might not be there, since he said he’d made some friends. He was a nice guy, simple. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I would say I’ve said stuff I regret, but I’ve been the best I can, trying my best to be a good person.” He then went on a bit about how he tried not to hang out with bad people and would disassociate with them if he discovered they were doing the wrong things. He talked about how he hoped his good outweighed his bad and had done some stupid things but nothing criminal. He thought he had about a 50% chance to get into Heaven. He listened to the Gospel and I tried to emphasize as much as I could that it was Jesus that was good not him and His righteousness forgave him. He hadn’t grasped the Gospel before and had attended the Catholic Church though his attendance had been hit and miss of late. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven with God inside or thought something else and he said, “Have God inside me.” And then he went on for a while about people and how he tried to relate to them. I said it did not seem like he had had a chance to trust in Jesus to be forgiven but was just trying to be good and hope that would get him into Heaven and he agreed that was true. So I offered the prayer to him and asked if it was the desire of his heart. “Yeah,” he replied. I asked if he would want to pray it silently and he said, “Sure.” And he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life living by the power of the Spirit, trusting in God’s power to live saying He would give him the power to do anything He wanted him to do. I gave him a Bible Study and writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “Just ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front also. I explained trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be his, then the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He kept talking to me about the other group and about how people were some times, so I just listened for a while until he was done and said I was sorry he’d had a bad experience. I said our group was small but he could come any time. “Nice to meet you,” I finally said, shaking his hand and getting up to go. “Nice to meet you too, I hope I see you again,” he replied and I headed out.

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

In Him.,

Bob