Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a good day under the kind care of the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul.  Lexi & Juan each prayed with me to receive Jesus today and I had a good conversation with Mo a Muslim student who said he might come to Bible study next week. Had a short beard, rough skin, short brown hair. He took a copy of the Rose Publication “100 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus” after asking me what I thought the main difference was between the Bible and the Quran and I said predictive prophecy. I said I had only read the first 5 Surahs but I had recently gotten a copy in modern English as a gift and intended to read further. We agreed on many things about the propaganda of the present world.

Lexi was sitting on the 2^nd floor of the BIC. I got into the elevator when I first got to school intending to go to the third floor. But once inside I felt like I should go to the 2^nd floor, so I just pushed the other button too and got off. I found some Christian kids I talk to once in a while and they had not heard of Lee Strobel so I gave them The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet and kept walking and just a bit down on the north side of the south hall I met Lexi. She had jet dark hair and eyebrows that were the same width on either end. She wore a black top with spaghetti straps under a jacket and jeans and had Cleopatra hair, cute frank face. She was pretty reserved. It turned out she went to the Compass Church where lots of folks I know attend. She wanted to become a homicide detective and so when I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said after saying if it was in the future a bit, “I spent my career trying to help people.” She thought she had a 90-95% chance of going to Heaven. She knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. So I explained the rest of the Gospel to her and how Jesus was the payment for our sins because we owed God something perfect for what we had done to others and the world (which was all His stuff). I explained His imputed righteousness to her and that we don’t go to Heaven because we are good but because Jesus is good and His righteousness is our righteousness. I explained receiving Jesus by faith and asked if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus (the circle on the right) where he lived inside her. “Or do you think something else?” I asked. “The one on the right,” she replied saying she would want to be forgiven. So I asked her if when she asked for forgiveness for her sins if she thought that God would forgive her because she was a good person and went to Church or if she thought she’d be forgiven because Jesus died for her and she was trusting in that. She replied that she had been an atheist for a lot of years but she had thought that she did not want to believe that there was just nothing when she died, and that if there was a hell she did not want to go there. “So you decided you believed in God,” I stated. She agreed. “Well, if you would want to trust now in Jesus to be forgiven for your sins so you could be sure you would go to Heaven there is a prayer you can pray,” I replied. I talked her through the prayer and asked if it was the desire of her heart. It was so I said she could pray it silently I said I wouldn’t hear her but God would hear and He would forgive her and live inside her, giving her all the strength she would need to live the Christian life. “Wanna do it?” “Yeah,” she replied taking the booklet and I said, “Just pretend I’m not even here.” She prayed then to receive Jesus. I began to explain the Christian life to her and asked if she had a Bible. She didn’t so I gave her one and she really liked it. I showed her the Where to Turn section and told her there were prophecies she could look up. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I told her she could begin to read in John and explained the beginning of the chapter. I explained living “inside out” where we first ask God to transform us on the inside and then we do good things on the outside by the power of the Holy Spirit. I asked if she would like a book with answers to questions about Christianity in it. “That would be good because I talk to atheists and they say I’ll give you 20 reasons why there is not a God. Some are really angry.” I said I thought that for a lot of atheists it’s not so much that they don’t believe in God but that they are angry with Him. I explained that some people look at the glass as half empty, some as half full. For some there is too much beauty, love and order in the world for there not to be a God. For some there is too much destruction and evil for there to be a God. Some have been hurt and they are angry at God. I gave her a copy of The Case for Christianity Answer Book and showed her there were dozens of questions listed by topic that he answered. She thought it was great. I explained that trusting in the righteousness of Jesus now the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I also gave her a copy of Bible Promises for You showing her the different topics. I gave her a Bible study and explained that and apologized for giving her so many books. “You’re good for giving me so many books,” she said. “Ok,” I replied. I told her I would keep her in my prayers until a year from spring and if I saw her around I’d say hi. She thanked me and I shook her hand and said, “Nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you too,” she replied and I headed out.

Juan was sitting in the lunch room and he was a 5 by 5 Latino guy round like a sumo wrestler. He had a round face and a warm smile. He wore black pants and a Black Hawks jersey. He had stick straight hair. A bit longer on the top and had one sleepy eye so that sitting on his left his right eye did not really gaze at me. But looking straight on I did not notice. He regularly attended the Catholic Church. When I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven he said, “’Cause… hum. I’ve been a helpful person. I did everything that I could do to kindly help people. I respect You and I honor You.” He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. I asked him if he knew what Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world, but he couldn’t think of anything. So I explained the Gospel to him, that Jesus had died and rose again and that the Mass at Church was to help him remember this symbolizing the body and blood of Jesus. His righteousness was imputed to him. He did not go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good. I explained receiving Christ by faith and asked if he’d want to be forgiven or thought something else. “Forgiven,” he said. I said that if he wanted to trust in Jesus to be forgiven for his sins there was a prayer he could pray and I explained it, asking if it was the desire of his heart. “Yeah,” he said frankly. I offered him the chance to pray it silently asking if he’d want to and he said, “Yeah.”  And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the power of the Spirit in us to live the Christian life and gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “Just ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I explained that trusting in the righteousness of Jesus now the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I shook his hand saying it was good to meet him and I’d pray for him. “Thanks,” he replied. “You too.” “Happy Thanksgiving,” I said as I walked away. “You too,” he replied warmly. “You got a lot to be thankful for this year because you know you are going to Heaven.” He grinned then and shook his head yes and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry today of you had a chance God truly blessed 98 students have trusted in Christ in just the first semester, this is more that I’ve ever seen trust Christ in one semester before and there is one more week. I hope there are 100 by the end of the fall term.

In Him,

Bob