Results of the Work – 3/7/23

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with all good things from above. I had a good day on campus and Chris and Will prayed to receive Jesus today. Please pray for them to grow in their faith and trust in Christ. Thanks for your prayers. Their stories are below if you have some time to read.

Chris was sitting in the cafeteria at a table alone. He was messing around on some kind of online game when I asked if he do a survey about what he thought about God. He had an oval baby face and was Latino friendly. The shadow of where a mustache would grow in was the only thing that would have given away his age. He had stick straight hair cut short and pointing up on top. He wore a “Class of 2021” hooded grey sweatshirt and some charcoal-colored sweats with red, white and blue high-tops. He was a kind hearted, laid back guy, not that tall but pretty solid. I asked him what he would say if he was killed by a bus, stood before God and was asked why should I let you into Heaven. He said,” I’d probably say, ‘I saw the good in everyone. I never wished anyone harm or anything, regardless of how they treated you or anything.’” He thought he’d have an 85% chance of going to Heaven. I asked if he went to church and he said he just started going to Catholic Church every Sunday.  I began to go through the Gospel with him. I was explaining how God had to take away his sins to live inside him and asked, “What is the big thing that Jesus does to take away your sins, and the sins of the world.” He thought of a second and said, “I have no clue.” So I explained the Blood of Christ to cleanse him and be a payment to God for his sins. I explained the righteousness of Christ and explained later that was the symbolism behind the Mass—the wafer symbolic of Christ’s Body and the wine symbolic of His Blood. I said he could be forgiven by faith and asked if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else. “Be forgiven.” He replied. I asked do you believe Jesus is God died for your sins and rose from the dead? Do you believe that is a true story?” I asked because he had just started going to Church and didn’t seem to have put it all together before. “Yes,” he replied so I said that if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray. I walked him through it asking if it expressed the desire of his heart. He said it did so I said he could pray it silently and God would forgive him. Wanna do that?” “Yeah he replied and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to him, he said they had several Bibles at home so I encouraged him to read in the book of John. I said the Christian life is living inside out by the power f the Spirit to transform him and then he would do good things. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside of Bible Promises for You and I gave him a Bible study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and told him Strobel had more stuff on YouTube. We talked some about the world and how things were going. I told him that the likelihood he would go to heaven was now %100 trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be His righteousness. I told him I would be praying for him each day through a year from Spring. He thanked me shaking my hand and as I got up to go I said, “I’ll see ya in Heaven.”

Will was sitting in the seats that line the corner as you exit the tunnel from the PE building into the BIC. He too had smooth kind of baby face; roundish more oval I guess. He was African American but had kind of fair skin and a smaller nose. His hair was cut short and came out in equidistant dots all over his head. He wore a light grey hoodie and black pants. He seemed kind of tired. He said he wanted to leave his mark on the world, like a “family or a legacy”. Both his parents worked at a big city church I had heard of before. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven. “I would say that, ‘In my life I ‘ve grown a lot. I’ve gone through my share of problems and challenges and I’ve tried to keep your word. In this next life I would strive to become better than I was before.” He thought he had a 70% chance of going to Heaven. I began to explain the Gospel to him and he knew Jesus had died. I explained that the blood of Christ had cleansed him and was the payment to God and the righteousness of God was too his credit. “You don’t go to Heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good and you’re connected to Him. Like if you marry a millionaire you got a million bucks and if you get adopted into a billionaire’s family you get to live in the mansion and drive the cars. So God adopts you and he gives you the blessings of his family. He gives you the sacrifice for your sins the blood that cleanses you and the righteousness of God that surround you. So you got some place to go Heaven and something to wear when you get there—the Righteousness of God.” He leaned in to take in the verses and I told him he was saved by faith not works. I asked if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done to forgiven him so God could live inside him and give him strength or if he thought something else. “Be forgiven for my sins,” he said. I said there was a prayer he could pray silently to be forgiven and read through it and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was so I said he could pray it silently. “Wanna do it?” “Umhumm,” he replied and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I looked down when he was praying and looking back he seemed to have finished praying and has reading the next page a bit. I asked if he was finished and he said, “Yeah.” “Your sins are forgiven,” I said. “Not because I said so but because Jesus says so.” I told him the likelihood he would now go to Heaven trusting in the righteousness of Christ was 100%. I explained the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power, Inside Out.” I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and forgiven and gave him a Bible Study. He got up to go so I quickly gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I said I would be praying for him through a year from spring. “Alright, thank you,” he replied and headed to class.

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

In Him,

Bob