Results of the Work – 2/18/2020

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today walking in the light. I had a good day on campus and Jose, Razy and Olivia each prayed with me to receive Jesus today

Jose was the first person I talked to sitting in the vending machine lounge that is on the south-east end of the first floor of the BIC. He had an athletic hair cut, sort of straight swept up dark hair, and fair skin. He wore grey sweats and a pullover fleece. I sat at his feet and tried to remember not to look up at him too long and strain my neck. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I wouldn’t have an answer to that [saying] oh I did this good thing for someone or that… It’s what He’s seen, like a trial.”  When I asked him what the likelihood was he would go to Heaven, did he have a 50/50 shot, he said, “It’s definitely a shot. I haven’t done anything you’d think was so awful. I wouldn’t know a percentage though.” He said he’d had some weird coincidences happen, stuff would come up and then he’d see it in a movie. And then I came by to talk to him. I said it was kinda like God was getting ready to tell him something and he agreed. He listened to the Gospel, stopping me here and there to say something. He did not know what Jesus had done to talk away his sins. He believed as I went through it all with him. When I asked if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Christ had done on the Cross to forgive him so God could live inside him he said, “Yeah I’d want to be forgiven.” So I said there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it,  asking if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was, so, saying he could pray it silently, I offered it to him. He said he had a class soon so I said if he’d like to take a minute to pray I’d keep him in my prayers every day through the spring and one year after. That settled him on it and he said, “ Ok. I’ll read it aloud,” He said two words and then silently prayed the rest to receive Jesus. I quickly explained the Christian life living “inside out” and he said, “Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.” I said something like yeah sure and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” inside the cover of 20 Things God Can’t Do along with “Just Ask” and “by the Spirit’s power” I explained that now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He thanked me again and said to have a good day and I gave him a Bible study I said, “you too” and he said, “Thanks, I appreciate it.” And he headed out to class.

Razy was sitting in the MAC jut down from the Bagel Shop at a counter height table. She is Filipino, born on a small Island there, round broad cute face and round glasses, her stick straight shoulder length hair was pulled straight back, half tied behind her head. Her father was a doctor and her mom a nurse and they’d hoped she’d go into medicine, but she thought she’d enjoy guidance counseling or something like that. She had a Roman Catholic background and I had given her a Bible sometime last year, but I only half remembered doing so and could not remember much of the conversation. I’d never gone through the Gospel with her though but she said she’d do a student survey and we began to talk. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “My God! That’s so big. Sometimes I don’t feel like I should go to Heaven. I feel like I’ve helped people but I feel like there’s more to it than that.” She thought she had a 40% chance of going to Heaven saying, “I’d like to say 50% but I don’t want to be cocky.” She listened to the Gospel and I enjoyed talking to her. She was really nice. She could not remember what Jesus had done to take away her sins really either, but said the people she hung around with at church talked about if someone would go to Heaven or not. As I explained what Jesus had done, she took it all in and she said she’d want to be forgiven when I asked. So I said if she’d like to trust in what Jesus had done for her to be forgiven, there was a prayer she could pray and I explained it and said she could pray it silently right then and know she was forgiven. She agreed and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. When she finished I said the likelihood now she would go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the righteousness of Jesus. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ, telling her I would keep her in my prayers. I said maybe I’d see her around and give her a wave. “Oh I see you around all the time.” So I said “Ok, say hi.” And she agreed, saying as I got up to go, “Bye, it’s nice meeting you again.” “Nice to meet ya too,” I replied and headed out.

Olivia was sitting in the hall way just down from student activities on a row of chairs. She wore dark grey yoga pants and a lavender shirt. She had on a black parka with faux fir on the hood, and her hair was dyed a sandy blonde color. She had long pink nails. She had round cheeks and a pointed, prominent nose. Kind of pointed chin, cute kid. She was fit but wasn’t petite at all. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I’ve been a good person.” It turned out she had been talking to her neighbor who was 79 years old who had said she hoped she didn’t have 10 years left and was ready to go. After the conversation she had had a lot of anxiety about death for a few days. She saw her neighbor again and asked her about it and she’d said she was sure she’d go to Heaven and that you just had to do about 80% good things with your life. I said the problem with that was there was no way to calculate clearly if you had done 80% good things and it was hard to calculate what would count as a good thing sometimes. She agreed. She said, “It’s ironic (she meant an interesting coincidence) that I was talking to her as she’d been thinking about death and the last year had been difficult. She wanted to know why things had happened and I told her God let bad things happen for many reasons, sometimes to help us to trust in him more, to test and strengthen us so we can help others. But I said we have to trust in His plans because we can’t always understand. As we talked I could tell she was skipping a beat sometimes understanding what I was saying. Like she was off and on being an airhead, but she grasped everything in the end. Another girl who is clearly troubled, seems a bit nuts frankly, walks around school and can be a little nasty. She walked up and interrupted us several times. She was playing her music loud, not far from us then and bouncing around the floor space. I felt like it was Satan trying to interfere so I gently told her, “You need to go away now.” when she walked up the third time, and she immediately turned around and walked off. I’ve tried to talk to her about God before without much success  Olivia had questions about being forgiven and how that would work. I explained Jesus had been the payment for her sins on the Cross, His blood was a power in the world and it cleansed her when she sinned after that. His righteousness would be to her credit if she trusted in Him, when she stood before God. She had said she wanted to get married and I explained that God wanted from her what she would most want from a guy in marriage, for him to believe in her and her to be able to believe him. God wanted the same thing from us, faith. When I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven trusting in God or thought something else she said, “That one,” placing a long pink fingernail on the circle with God inside your life. I said if she’d like she could pray silently. She nodded and she took the booklet then and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained living “Inside out” to her and said, “Now if I asked why should God let you into Heaven you’d say?” “Because Jesus died for me,” she replied. “Right!” I said. With all the students today I gave them a symbolic view of the Mass saying it commemorates that Jesus had died for them and they should just say thank you. With her also I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” inside the cover of 20 Things God Can’t Do along with “Just Ask” and “by the Spirit’s power”. And I gave her a Bible Study. I said I would be praying for her each day and she was glad to hear it. I said good bye and said I’d see her around. I went back to talk to her later as I’d forgotten the survey on the seat by her. She said she was glad I’d come back and asked me what she should do about having a hard time thinking. I queried her a bit. It turned out she was addicted to sugar and I encouraged her to cut it out of her diet for a while and drink honey in some warm water so she would not crave sweets and sweeten her tea with it. She said she used to be able to think a lot and for longer, more effectively, she believed when she’d been in High School (she was 20). I offered to pray for her then. We prayed about it together and she felt good about that and I said I would pray for clear thinking, but she might want to mention it next time she went to the doctor.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance God truly blessed and produced good fruit for the work.

In Him,

Bob