Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a good day walking in the light of God’s word. I had a good day on campus sharing the word with the students and Klay, Kevin and Javier each prayed with me to receive Jesus. Also Joseph a black football player seemed to only trusting in his good works and that he was a “man of God”. He hadn’t seemed to remember that Jesus had taken away his sins. But after I explained the heart of the Gospel he began agreeing with everything. I pointed out that when I’d asked him what he’d say to get into Heaven he talked about what he had done but Christianity was about what God had done. He started to say, “Always, Always.” As if we’d said the same thing all along. So I said “I guess I just caught you off guard with the question.” But I showed him the prayer and he wanted to keep the booklet so I hope he came to some realizations too. Nickelback on the football team as a linebacker. Please pray they grow in their faith in the sacrifice of Christ to save them. Their stories are below if ya have some time to read. Thanks for your help in prayer.

Klay was sitting outside the bookstore in one of the round sofa chairs that surround a circular ottoman. He said he would do a survey. He had a close shaved head with about a week’s growth of hair and facial hair in fits and starts growing about the same time. He looked young with kind of standard GI Joe features. His jeans were faded and he had a fleece pullover on that had snap closures at the neck. He said he was Albanian but was born here and had been there several times. His family was Eastern Orthodox and he considered himself that also. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven and after saying it was a hard question and you couldn’t argue with God he said, “I always tried to do the best. I always want the best thing for everyone, within a moral code. I just live my life, mind my own business. Live a moral life.” I asked him what he thought the likelihood was he would get into Heaven and he said, “My gut is 100% but there are always uncertainties. I wanna give you a number but it is hard to quantify.” He said he felt that “Religion is part of every culture… a powerful force that motivates people at their lowest time of life.” I said that I agreed religion was part of every culture but the survey was more about his personal connection with God as opposed to the effect of religion more culturally. I began to explain the Gospel to him. I explained that God wanted to know him by living inside and but had to take away his sin and asked what Church had taught him about how God takes away his sins. He struggled with the idea and did not have anything immediately to hand and I said something like, “This is how it works,” and explained that God became a perfect man, Jesus who sacrificed his life to pay for our sins. His blood cleansed us and then God could live inside us. I explained God got paid for what we owed him and that the Christ earned the Righteousness of God by perfectly fulfilling the Law. Then He rose from the dead. I said all God had done for him could be gained by faith and though we should do good things to please God it was faith that Jesus was God died for our sins and rose from the dead that saved us. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done. “I think that belief in Christ is the way to go, the Gospel.” I said that if he had never had an opportunity to tell God as an adult he wanted to trust in what Jesus had done to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through the prayer and said he could pray it silently right then and be forgiven and he said “OK.” He took the booklet and asked if he would be able to keep it and I said, “yes” and he prayed then to receive Jesus. I explained living “inside out” by the Spirit’s power transforming him and gave him a Bible study and Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave him a Bible Study also. He wanted a Bible so I asked if he would be there for about 5 minutes I had one in my truck. He said he’d wait. I hiked back to the truck on the other side of campus and got a Bible (chiding myself for forgetting to put one in my pack). He was waiting when I returned and I showed him the “Where to Turn” section in the Bible and “Messianic Passages”. I wrote his name and the date and forgiven in the front of the Bible as well. He thanked me. I said I would keep him in my prayers for the next year and I headed off to the Science and Health Buildings.

Kevin was sitting in the SW second floor lounge that overlooks the big lounge connecting the buildings. He had a Sox Ball cap on and wore a zip up red and blue hoodie. His jeans were rolled up and he had black socks running into black athletic shoes. He had a few weeks growth of beard and brown hair that matched it shoulder length and straight tucked behind his ears. He was slight in build, had sharp features, looked like the outdoor type in the face and he had done a lot of hiking. So we swapped a few backwoods stories.  He went to a Naperville Catholic Church. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “That’s tough… As of now I do my considered best doing what I was taught in Church, helping others. Sacrificing yourself to help others, spread the positivity, help everyone like they are your family.” He thought he had about an 80% chance of going to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and asked what God had done to take away his sins. He said “repentance”. So I said this is how it works and went through the Gospel with him. As I explained the Blood of Christ Cleansing us from all sin I reminded him that the Mass as about that, the wine symbolic of His blood and the bread of wafer of His body. It was to remind us that Jesus had died for us and so we are forgiven. “So when you take it you can just say, “Thank you”. He tracked with everything and I so I asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done for him or thought something else and he said, “Personally I’d be forgiven.” So I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and walked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart and he said “Yeht.” Kind of a Yeah with a T on the end. So I said he could pray it silently and God would hear and he said, “OK,” and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained then living by the Spirit “inside out” and I gave him Bible Promises for You and Strobel’s Case for Christianity Answer Booklet. I gave him a Bible study too and explained that if he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven now was 100%. He was grateful, a nice guy. “Nice to meet ya,” I said and we shook hands. “Thank you so much. Have a good day,” he replied.  “I’ll see you in heaven,” I said back. He smiled and said, “Yeah.” Then I headed out around the other side of the building.

In the other science building to the east on the ground floor I came across Javier. He was sitting in a row of padded benches with a mask on, dark hair and had a bit of a shaggy hair cut, early Beatles, still pretty short. He wore half round glasses with the black flat tops, like a 1960’s office worker. His eyes and eyebrows were pretty expressive though, looked intelligent. He had blue pants on and a puffy jacket, white t-shirt under a button collar shirt. I asked if he wanted to do a student survey for a Bible Study group. He said he was in one already so I asked the name and he said, “Christians on Campus”. I think they had the same advisor as I did at one time. So I said, “Would you like to answer the one big metaphysical question?” He replied with a, “Sure.” So I said you are walking down the road and you get hit by a bus so you are dead and you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” He said he was following the teaching at church. It turned out he had been getting back into Christian practice since February some time and mentioned meat. So I asked if he would want to know what the Bible said about how we go into Heaven and he said he would. I began to explain the Gospel to him and as I finished I asked him too if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done for him or thought something else. “I would be this one,” he said pointing to the circle with God inside your life. So I said if he had not had a chance yet to tell God he wished to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done for him there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it. He agreed it was the desire of his heart and I said he could pray it silently. It was then that he said he had really just reconnected to His faith the month before. “This would kind of be the next step for you then,” I suggested. He agreed nodding and saying ‘Yes,” and taking the booklet he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. He was appreciative and reached out his hand and said, “Thank you so much.” I shook his hand and said I would keep him in my prayers for the next year (as I tell everyone) just asking God to bless him.

So Thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob