Results of the Work – 12/1/22

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you found rest and peace in Jesus. The world is on the brink of being devastated with foolishness and even evil ideas, so we must pray.

I had a good day on campus today. Ben and Tanya each prayed to receive Jesus. Jorge said he wanted to be forgiven and was going to think about it. (He had ringlet curls coming out from under a cap and a couple days growth of teenage beard and braces for an overbite, wearing blue sweats on the third floor.) Ben and Tonya’s stories are below if you have some time to spend. Please pray they grow in their trust in Jesus blood and righteousness.

When I first got to school the parking lot was even more empty than usual, it’s so near exams and since many students are remote (online) these days. But I know God can have someone come early to class or set up somewhere they do not usually sit and lead me to them. So I prayed God would guide me and I seemed to have a nudge to go to the Mac Arts building. There were 3 students in the lounge with the Christmas tree in it.  Ben was sitting on the second floor at a counter height table looking more or less down at the tree. He had a starter beard beneath his chin line and a ball cap with a thin mustache that looked like it would eventually hold its own. He wore blue sweats and a hoodie with a small wolfs head on the chest. Oval face, looked like he had Spanish blood. He had a large pad of paper and looked to be sketching an open drawer for a class in pencil. I asked if he would do a survey and he asked, “Can I keep doing my homework?” I said sure he could just listen to me talk. But he stopped his sketching interested. He wanted to buy his parents a house. Several guys have told me that this year. I asked him what he would say to God if a bus killed him and God asked him why He should let him into Heaven. “That’s a hard question to answer,” he replied. And that’s about as far as he got. I asked if he went to church and he did each week. I asked what they might say would get you into Heaven. “Not sinning, going to Church each week and everything,” he replied. He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. I was trying to respect his time so I went right into the Gospel and he listened closely. He knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. So I explained that His blood cleansed him and paid his debt with God for the perfect life he did not live. The righteousness of God earned by Christ was to his credit and he could receive this by faith and be forgiven. I asked, “So you wanna be forgiven for your sins?” Yeah,” he replied.  I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done and I walked him through it.  I said he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven and going to Heaven and asked if he’d want to. “Sure,” he said. And he prayed to receive Jesus. “Merry Christmas,” I said as he finished. I quickly talked him through the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power. I gave him a Bible Study and gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front telling him I’d be praying for him. I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and shook his hand saying he was forgiven. He thanked me. I explained how the mass was symbolic of the atonement. I got up to go and as I walked away I said; “Oh you know that question, ‘How likely is it you will go to Heaven when you die?’ That’s 100% if you trust in the righteousness of Jesus, because of Him.” “Nice. Thank you,” he replied. And I headed down the stairs.

Tanya was sitting in the hall on the second floor of the east building of the Science building just out of the doorway from the stairs. She looked to be near 40 had brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She wore a grey sweat suit, had a narrow short face and when she stood was maybe 5’3”. It turned out she went to a local mega Church. When I asked her what she would say to God to be let into Heaven she said, “Because I took care of others before I took care of myself.” “There’s a Bible verse for that… consider others as more important than yourself,” I said in a paraphrase of Philippians 2:3,4. She was 100% sure she would go to Heaven when she died. She knew Jesus had died on the cross for our sins as I went through the Gospel, but listened to it all. I asked if she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus death on the cross to forgive her. She said, “I pray to Him and I know He sees my heart.” I said, “Our are hearts are not right all the time.” I asked if when she asked for forgiveness if she just thought God was magnanimous and would forgive her sins or if she was thinking she knew she’d be forgiven because Jesus had died for her.  “I never thought about it that way before,” she said. So I said if she wanted to be forgiven trusting in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray and then she’d know she was forgiven trusting in Him. Thinking on that she prayed then to receive forgiveness in Jesus. Then her professor showed up and opened the door to the classroom and everyone piled in. I showed her the line about living by the Spirit’s power and wrote, “Forgiven!” on the outside of the booklet. She stood with me shook my hand saying, “Thanks.” Thank you for talking with me,” I replied. I said I’d pray for her and also gave her Bible Promises for You. “I needed to talk to you today,” she said as she walked away. “Yes,” I replied “Thanks very much.” “Thank you,” she said again and walked into her classroom.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed as He is so faithful to do.

In Him,

Bob