Results of the Work – 2/21/2020

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your weekend has been blessed walking with Christ. I had a good day Friday connecting with some students who had come to Christ this year and last year and Erica prayed to receive Jesus. I also gave the Rose publication “Why Trust the Bible” https://www.hendricksonrose.com/why-trust-the-bible-pamphlet/9781596361393/pd/61395?event=ESRCG to some Mormon elders who were proselytizing on campus, young guys. Earlier in the week I’d had a discussion with one of them about how the Book of Mormon did not hold up to archeological scrutiny and scholarship the way the Bible did. I corrected some of his false notions about the Bible. So seeing him again I said hi and kept walking. They are trained to be nice so ya never know if ya got through to them in any way. But I felt led to go back and chat them up a bit and offer them each a hand out. The one I had talked to before said they didn’t watch TV so they had some time on their hands and they’d look at it. I said I didn’t have a TV growing up because my dad thought it was garbage, so we had that in common. Fortunately for Dad the Cubs were no good when I was a kid.

Erica was sitting in a 1st floor lounge in the BIC on the North side that connects to a hallway with sky lights up at the roof illuminating the hall she sat on the end of at a table working on her computer. She was the only one there. She had on a yellow shirt under a black parka and blue pants; she had long dark hair the top pulled up into a ponytail coming out of the top of her head. Her sharp features looked Native American and she had Latina coloring a large long face. She was very reserved but friendly. When I asked her what she would say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven when she died she said, “I’ve done like good deeds.” She thought she had about an 80% chance of going to Heaven. She knew Jesus had died for her sins when I asked her what Jesus had done to take them away. So I explained His righteousness, not ours, got us into Heaven. His blood cleansed us and God adopted us and gave us the blessings of His family, the Sacrifice for our sins and the righteousness of God that surrounded us. “So it’s like ya got some place to go, Heaven, and something to wear when ya get there–the righteousness of God.” I explained the Mass was symbolic of Jesus body and blood and that when she took it at her Catholic church she should just say thank you. When I had finished going through the Gospel, saying she could trust in what Jesus had done by faith and know she was forgiven, I asked if she’d would want to be forgiven or thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,’ she said pointing to the circle with God inside. I suggested growing up in the Church she probably identified with it and even planned to raise her kids going to church and said, “It doesn’t seem like you ever had a chance to put all this together before.” She agreed.  I asked if, when she asked for forgiveness, if she was thinking God would forgive her and she was basically a good person or instead she had thought Jesus had died for her so she would be forgiven. “I never had thought about it before,” she replied. So I said there was a prayer she could pray to be forgiven and walked her through it and asked if she’d like to pray it silently and she just said, “Yeah.” She took the booklet then and prayed to receive Jesus. She didn’t have her own Bible so I gave her one, writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained the Christian life as I always do living “Inside Out” and gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “Just Ask” in the front. I gave her a Bible study and she was grateful. I told her I would keep her in my prayers and she said, “Thank you.” “Yeah, you have a good one,” I replied and she said “you too,” and I headed off. 

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

In Him,

Bob