Results of the Work – 3/14/23

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you took in a little sunshine. There’s a chill again in Chicago but sunny today. I had a good day on campus and Miles and Aaron each prayed with me to receive Jesus today. Please pray they grow in their faith. Thanks for your prayers. Their stories are below if you have time.

 

Miles was standing in the foyer at the doors in the northeast corner of the BIC building. He had on a grey newsboy hat and a blue pull over sweatshirt zipped open at the neck. He wore khaki green pants. He had a diamond shaped face and looked to me like a British taxi driver. I asked if he wanted to do a student survey and he said “Sure.” I said we could sit right there. He said he’d been thinking of being an atheist but then decided faith (specifically being Catholic) had value “even if there was no objective proof there was a God.” “I can give you an objective proof there is a God,” I said. I went on to explain to him “You are breathing right now though you are not making a conscious decision to and you have trillions of cells in your body reduplicating though you do not tell them to do it and have no conscious knowledge it is happening. Every 7 years your entire body of cells replaces itself. There must be a knowing entity outside of you directing your body to do this, as you do not do it. That is God.” “Oh ok,” he replied. “The Bible says that if God stopped thinking about you, you would cease to exist. It says he holds the world together by the word of His power, a word is a thought.” He acknowledged this made a lot of sense. I said I had a book he would like then and dug around and found The Case for Christianity Answer Book [basically the long version of the booklet I give everyone.] He went to photograph it and I said he could “have this one” and wrote his name in the front. He took it gratefully and laid it aside. I said he could search for “Y-Chromosome Adam” and he would discover that even evolutionists acknowledge everyone came from the same single man. They say he was part of a group that only his line survived but the Bible says who he is. We went back to the survey then. I asked one thing he would want to do before he died and he said, “I want to have a decent understanding of the Bible.” I asked what he would say to God if asked why he should be let into Heaven. “I would say I learned from my mistakes and I wanted to make something of my life.” I asked him what the likelihood he would get into heaven. Saying he did not know what all the rules were for what is considered bad but he thought he might have a 60% chance. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he asked me to repeat several stories and metaphors after I explained something. I explained the Trinity as a perfect plural being and we were also plural beings though imperfect. I explained that God’s actions to make things into good might be unclear to us because we were unfamiliar with what he was trying to accomplish. He brought up the end of the last Superbowl. If you did not know what was being attempted it might look unproductive to call all the time-outs.  I agreed. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus’ payment for his sins or if he thought something else and he said he would want to be forgiven. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He looked at it and said, “Well… Yeah, yeah it does.”  I said he could pray it silently and he said “Alright.” He took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I said the likelihood he would now go to Heaven trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness was 100%. I had already explained living by the Spirit and so I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I suggested the Mass to be symbolic of what we had talked about. I then told him I would pray for him each day until next Spring. “Yeah thank you,” he replied and headed off in a rush.

 

Aaron was sitting in the computer lounge I walk through as I leave. He was a big Filipino guy with longer hair on top pulled up and really short sides. He looked like a linebacker and had kind of a wide face, goodlooking guy. He wore a yellow hoodie and black sweats. He was sitting alone at a table and the rest of the lounge was empty. He said he’d do a survey. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “I go to church every Sunday,” he said without missing a beat. He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. He went to a Catholic Church called Christ the King. I began to go through the Gospel with him and said that Eternal life was “knowing God” which meant that He lived inside you with His Holy Spirit. I said God had to take away his sins to make him his type (purified) to live inside him.  I asked what was the big thing Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world. He looked a bit blank so I added, “What did He do to save you?” “I know this just give me a sec.” he replied thinking hard. He couldn’t think of anything so I began to explain that Jesus was perfect then seeing the cross on the page he said, “He died for our sins.” “Right,” I said. But then I explained the payment in blood, righteousness of Christ and believing by faith and the rest. Finally I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. He said he wanted to be forgiven so I said there was a prayer he could pray and explaining it I asked, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” “I think it does, yeah,” he said with conviction. I said he could pray it right now silently. “OK,” he said and taking the Booklet he said, “Thanks.” He prayed then to receive Jesus. I explained then that the likelihood he would now go to Heaven trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness was 100%. “Paul says not by His own righteousness would he go to Heaven but by the righteousness that is by faith,” I also said. I told him to read in John and explained life by the Spirit’s power. I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave him a Bible study and I gave him the shorter Case for Christ Answer Booklet. We talked some more he was going back to the Philippian Islands in December having not been since he was 8.  “I definitely turned you down once before,” he said [about doing a survey]. “Oh I hope I didn’t piss you off,” I replied. “No you were cool this was definitely good.” I said I’d see him in Heaven figuring I’d be there first. “You never know,” he replied and we talked about the 2400 extra people dying each month in American society. “But you don’t have to worry,” I said. “You’re going to Heaven!” “Yes sir,” he replied with a smile. And I headed out to my truck.

 

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

 

Blessings and Prayers,

 Bob