Abraham, Eddie, Beth and Devion each prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Abraham was sitting in a lounge on the 3^rd floor of the BIC where it splits south west to hit the big lounge of the SSC building. He was a shortish guy with square glass lenses and a black mask. His hair was combed straight back with no part about an inch and a half on top of his head. He wore a shirt with LEVI’S on it and jeans. As I left he took off his mask to reveal a pencil width mustache, kind of an every-man looking guy. He did the technical support for the live feed for a church I have been to locally. I did a student survey with him asking, “You get hit by a bus, so you’re dead and you stand before God and He asks, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “That’s a tough question,” he replied. “I’m not sure. Christians should be more humble {but} they think just because they’re Christians they’ll go to Heaven. That’s not necessarily the case.” He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. He seemed engaged then as I went through the Gospel with him from what I could pick up from eye movement. When I got to the two circles asking him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus he said, “Oh yeah that one.” As if to say for sure. So I said if he’d like to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and talked through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. He expressed it was and so I said he could pray it silently and he said,”Sure.” And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I wrote Just ask under some chapters that left an expectation that under one’s own power one had to do something to make God respond. I also gave him a Bible Study and getting up to leave I told him to say hi to his pastor.

Eddie was sitting on a bench outside the SRC building where the bus pulls up. He had a mop of curly brown hair pushing out from under a baseball cap and a slightly round face. Looked like he might have come from a Latino background. He had on a U of I logo sweatshirt and grey sweats and high tops. He was friendly and open to answering some questions. When I asked him what he would say to God he said, “Well I’m Catholic. I’d say because if I was born in God’s image we’re all His kids, I think He’d love to have all His kids with Him.” I said, “The Bible says we are all children of God in Acts and that God wills that none would perish so that is true.” He thought he had an 80% chance of going to Heaven. I began to explain the Gospel to Him and he knew Jesus had died. When I explained how the Blood of Jesus cleansed us from all sin in 1John 1:7, “So now you are alive inside and you match God now God can live inside you.” He said, “So that’s what that’s about [I think referring to the Mass]. Why don’t they tell us that?” I explained the righteousness of God was to his credit. I said by faith in Jesus believing He was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead he was saved. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus where God lived inside him or thought something else. “Yeah that,” he replied pointing at the circle with God inside. I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and walked him through it asking if he’d want to pray and he said, “Yeah,” enthusiastically. And he prayed out loud to receive Jesus.  I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I again wrote “Just Ask” under some chapters that left an expectation that under one’s own power one had to do something to make God respond. I also gave him a Bible Study on the deity of Christ. I then explained that confession to a priest was possible because God got paid by becoming a perfect man in sacrifice for us. Since we owed God a perfect payment we did not have to give. I went on using the analogy of an insurance agent for car insurance, where when you crack up your car you call the agent and he tells you, you are covered, and calls it in for you to the company. But the priest doesn’t pay the company pays. “Makes sense,” he said. I said that when he took the mass however he wanted to think about it symbolically he should remembered what Jesus had done and just say thank you. Getting up to leave I said I would pray for him each night for a year and he said, “Thank you very much.” And I headed out.

Beth was sitting in the PE lounge. I had seen her once before. She was also Catholic and since the room was basically empty and her back was against the post. She said she’d answer some questions. When I asked her why God should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I go to church every day.” I clarified she meant every Sunday and she agreed. She had long light brown hair past her shoulders with blonde hi-lights and was wearing black running shorts and a colorful tight shirt top ending a bit above her waste like I saw some of the Olympic runners wear, so I think she is a runner. She was just tracking some things on her lap top and phone. She was attractive with a medium size nose, kind of a tomboy cute, tan face. She listened attentively to the gospel smiling here and there her mask had been pulled down part of the time. After explaining trusting in Jesus and his righteousness I asked if she would want to trust in Christ by praying and she nodded and then nodded again after I walked through the prayer and I gave her the booklet and she prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her the booklet after explaining life in the Spirit. I asked her if she’d want a book with some Bible verses in it to read. She said, “Sure.” I gave her Bible Promises for You writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I then pointed back to the question of the likelihood she would go to Heaven where she had responded 50%. I said, “This is 100%. Because if you are trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be your righteousness; how righteous is Jesus? 100% righteous and what is his righteousness worth? An infinite amount.” She seemed grateful and I headed out the doors to the outside.

I then walked up the stairs outside and found Devion on a park bench by the big fountain and pool on the North side of the BIC building. He thought he had done a survey before but when I asked him the question about what to say to God he said he hadn’t done that but he thought he knew how to get into Heaven. I asked what he thought got him in and he said, “Do good things.”  So I asked if he’s want to find out what the Bible said got him into Heaven and he said, “OK.” He is African American with short braids covering his head. Good-looking guy with a trimmed thin pencil thin mustache and a beard on the underside of his chin, medium size nose. He had grey Crocs on his feet though they were kicked off and grey socks on, light grey sweats and a shirt with a famous black musician on the front, I never had quite the angle to get a look at. He said he was studying psychology. As I went through the Gospel with him he was affirming saying things like “That’s true.” I asked if he would like to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else and he said he’d like to be forgiven so I walked him through the payer saying he could pray it silently in his heart right then and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained as I had to everyone on Thursday living by the Spirit’s power “Inside out”. I said that if he went into a counseling practice the Spirit living in him could give him insight into other people’s lives to help them because God knew the content of their hearts. I said God would give him the power to do everything He was asking him to do. I said I would pray for him each day as I also had said to the others. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I wrote “Just Ask” under some chapters that left an expectation that under one’s own power one had to do something to make God respond. I also gave him a Bible Study and getting up to leave I said, “Cool to talk with you.” “It was, thank you,” he replied. And I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism yesterday if you had a chance. God truly blessed. We’ll see how the time there goes or if I am shut down going forward.

In Him,

Bob