Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope ya had a great day and the Son shined on your heart and the snow melted on your grass like it did on ours most places. Freddy and Emily prayed to receive Jesus today. And yesterday Mayra prayed to receive Jesus. Thanks for your prayers. I’m grateful for the help. Their stories are below if you have time, please pray they are blessed.

Mayra (pronounced my-rah) was sitting in the BIC in the hall on the ground floor right before the tunnel into the MAC arts building. She had a heavy green-hooded sweatshirt on and leggings. A parka was tossed on nearby chairs. Her long hair was tinted, about 8 inches of the ends anyway. She had a warm attractive smile, not petite, looked pretty solid, and was Latina in appearance. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven and she said, “Umm, I don’t know, why should He let me into Heaven? I don’t know I feel like I deserve a second chance, I deserve a chance.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance of getting into Heaven. I asked if she went to Church or anything. She said her mom was a Jehovah’s Witness and still went to Church but she had stopped going. She said she believed there was a God you could know. I said that there were differences between the JW’s and Christianity but the difference concerning Heaven was that they believed only the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation go to Heaven and that these also do not really go but a copy of them is made and they are in Heaven. (Like a clone.) But there were no Bible Scholars that believed that passage meant that.  She wasn’t aware of that teaching but it did not sound good to her. She said she did not want to choose the wrong religion. ( I think she meant within Christian nomenclature, as many cults claim to be Christian.) I began going through the Gospel with her showing her what the Bible said about forgiveness provided by the work of Christ. She tuned in and was interested. After telling her the blood and righteousness of Jesus saved her by faith I asked if she wanted to be forgiven trusting in Jesus. “I would want to be forgiven for my sins,” she replied. So to be certain I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God died for your sins and rose from the dead?” “Yes,” she said. So I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray, saying “God’s like a pretty girl He likes to be asked, you know how that is.” And she laughed. I talked her through the prayer asking if it was “…the desire of your heart?” “Umhmm,” She replied and I said she could pray it silently I wouldn’t hear but God would. I handed her the booklet when she nodded and she prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her then living by the Spirit’s power. I gave her Bible Promises for You writing her name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave her a Bible Study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet . I told her the likelihood she would now go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness. I told her I would pray for her each day, one of the lines of the prayers of Paul until a year from spring. She stood up reaching out to shake my hand as I got up to go, “It was nice to meet you,” she said. ‘It was nice to meet you too,” I replied. “Thank you!” she called out as I got three steps away. I said, ”Sure,” and headed off.

Today I found Freddy in the cafeteria sitting at a table polishing off some lunch out of a container from home. He had a part in his hair slightly to the right and it swept up on both sides. He had a square chin and a full nose, warm smile and looked like he was Latino. He wore a light grey/blue hooded shirt and jeans white tennis shoes. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven if he died and stood before Him. “I would say I’m your child and I’m saved,” he replied. But then when I asked him the likelihood he would get into Heaven he replied, “I would say less than 50%. I believe that because there’s ways to get the seal of God and I don’t believe I’ve done… to the full extent of those things.” I asked him if he went to Church at all or what his faith was like. He said it was just with “myself, reading and praying, one on one with God, myself.” I began to explain the Gospel to him and suggested he had said there was things he had to do, kind of like he would earn a place with God, be sealed. He agreed that was where he’d been at. So I stressed that the Bible was about what God had done to forgive him, cleanse him of sin, so God could live inside him. Then the Holy Spirit entered him and sealed him. There was nothing he could do to earn that because he would have to do perfect things and he wasn’t perfect. But Jesus was the payment for his sins. He accepted all the verses I had read to him and understood then that Jesus had done to be the payment for his sins. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or believed something else. ”Be forgiven” he replied. So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it and suggested he could pray it silently. “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven, would you want to do that?” “Yeah, why not,” he replied. Then taking the booklet he checked “Out loud?” No just silently it’s not my business.” “Perfect,” he replied. And he prayed then to receive Jesus. He finished and looked and me and said something like, “Alright.” I explained the Christian life to him then living “Inside out By the Spirit’s power”.  I said that now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I gave him a Bible Study and wrote his name and the date and “Forgiven!” on the inside of Bible Promises for You. I gave him a copy of The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. We talked a bit more and told him I would pray for him each day through next spring and then a year after. I got up to go and said, “I’ll see you in Heaven.” Great he said with a smile. Then added, “Thanks.” I nodded and headed off.

At the end of the day I came across Emily in the cafeteria sitting at the counter. She had long brown hair parted in the middle and looked like The Mona Lisa’s prettier, younger, sister, her face being a bit more narrow, and less forehead. She had a bright white smile and She wore a brown sweatshirt and black leggings, athletic looking. When I asked her what she would say to God she said, “Cause I’ve always believed in You.”  She thought the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She said she grew up Catholic “But now I would just say I am Christian there are things in Catholic Church that I would not say I believed.”  I asked her if she went to Church, ‘Holidays. I pray a lot. Before bed and in the shower is a good place, I turn off the music in the car.” She also said she’d just take some time to be silent for 10 minutes or so. I said, “Well the rest of this is what you think about Christianity so you’ll probably dig it. It’s mostly Bible verses. I asked her then what the big thing Jesus did to take away her sins and she said, “He forgives you?” I said that he did and the real reason was God gets paid. I explained then that she owed God a perfect life but no one was perfect so God became a perfect man who died. 1John 1:7 in the Bible said the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. “You know how the most you can give is your life.” I said that’s what happens on a metaphysical level on a practical level it’s like say you are going to a wedding and you have the perfect dress but you don’t have the shoes, but your best friend has these great off the chain shoes so you borrow them. Then when you are coming out of the reception it starts to pour rain and you wreck the shoes. You can’t just go to the Goodwill and get some red shoes you would have to buy brand new perfect shoes. So when you borrow someone’s stuff you have to return it to them perfect. Well God owns everything he owns you and me and the world. So If I hurt you or hurt myself, or the world in some way I would owe God something perfect back. But I can’t do anything perfect, so I’d be screwed. But God loves me. So He becomes a perfect man and when Jesus dies His blood is worth an infinite amount. So when he pours out His blood it pays God back for all the imperfect stuff we did that we owe God something perfect for, so the real reason God forgives you is He got paid.” “Oh!” she exclaimed, understanding the atonement for the first time. I went on to explain the righteousness of God, Christ earns, and give to us, we are “clothed in Jesus.” I said she had to receive this by faith believing Jesus was God he died for her sins and rose from the dead. By grace she was saved. I asked if she would want to be forgiven or thought something else. “I’ve sinned. I would want to be forgiven for my sins,” she replied. So I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray a prayer and I walked her through it asking if it was the desire of her heart. She nodded it was. So I said she could pray it silently and she said “Sure.” And she prayed to receive Jesus. I began to explain the Christian life to her. She only had a NT so I gave her a more compact complete Bible she wanted one to carry. I showed her the “Where to Turn” section and the maps and the section with Messianic Prophecies writing her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I gave her Bible Promises for You.  She said she was talking a philosophy class and had talked to her teacher about faith and I explained some philosophical questions to her. She wanted to read more so I gave her The Case for Christianity Answer Book that has many answers to the questions of apologetics in it. We talked a bit more and told her also I would pray for him each day through next spring and then a year after. She asked why I had talked to her and I said some people seem more open but I felt like God had led me to her and she thought so too.  “Thanks so much, Thank you,” she said as I got up to go. I said, “Sure. I’ll see you in heaven.” She laughed, liking that and said, “See ya there.” I headed out and later gave her a Bible study and we may connect for another.

So Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism on campus, God truly blessed today.

In Him,

Bob