Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Blessings on you and yours this good Friday! May your hope be in the Lord Who gave Himself for you.  I had a good day on campus Thursday and Ugo and Lily each prayed with me to receive Jesus. Please pray they grow I their love and trust in Jesus. 8 People received Christ this past week

Ugo was sitting opposite the bookstore at the base of the stairs. He is a tall African National, (or I assumed by his accent) good looking guy, short afro with kind of a professional look about him. He wore a neat pull over fleece and blue slacks. He agreed to do a survey but just as I got his name he glanced at the time and said, “Oh I only have 5 minutes before I go to class.” I asked if he would want to answer one big question then and he said OK. I asked, “Say you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead and you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “Because I’ve been righteous and I’ve done… I’ve followed You,” he replied. I pointed out that was what he had done but what had God done to get him into Heaven. He didn’t follow me so I went through the gospel stating what the verses meant as I pointed to them in the booklet, only reading a couple but talking about the blood and righteousness of Christ He earned that we could not. I explained that faith in what Jesus had done saved him, not his own righteousness but the righteousness of God by faith. I asked if he would want to be forgiven trusting then in what Jesus had done and not his own works. “Yes,” he replied. I said then there was a prayer he could pray and reading it over quickly I asked if he would want to pray it silently before he went to class. He agreed and when he finished I said, “Your sins are forgiven!” and he smiled. I quickly gave him Bible Promises for You I wrote his name and the date and “Forgiven!” in the front. I gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet and saying I would pray for him he was on his way up the stairs.

I came across Lily up on the third floor. She looked like a softball player in stature and had shoulder length straight naturally blonde hair. She wore no make-up and was wearing a grey sweat shirt with some printing on it of a university I did not recognize. She wore grey sweat pants of a different shade. She had pale blue eyes and it turned out she went to a Christian Reformed Church I had known of in High School and I said I went to Timothy Christian for High School. She said she did too and we hit it right off. I said I had blonde hair and blue eyes and though I was Swedish I fit in at Timothy and she laughed. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven and she said, “Umm… I’m trying to think.” “I don’t know—I’m a good person, I feel pretty confident.” She thought she had a 70% chance of going to Heaven. I explained to her the Gospel and saying knowing God unto eternal life was Him living inside you with His Holy Spirit, “It’s like you’re the Energizer Bunny and God’s the batteries: You keep going and going and when you die it’s like you don’t die ‘cause God’s inside.” Saying Christianity was like a blood transfusion wherein for God to live inside you had to be made God’s type. I said he made you that way taking away your sin. Asking her how He did that she knew Jesus had died. I explained that then His blood cleansed her, paid God for what we owed Him and the righteousness of God Christ earned was to her credit. She need only believe and place her trust in that by faith. “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins trusting in what Jesus did or do you think something else?” I asked. “This one,” she said, pointing to the circle with God living in you. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it. I said if she wanted she could pray it silently and know she was forgiven, “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven. Wanna do that?” Yeah sure,” she replied. “Just pretend I’m not here,” I said. “Alright,” she replied and prayed to receive Jesus. When she finished I said, “Your sins are forgiven!” “Awesome!” she replied happily. I explained the Christian life to her living by the Spirit’s power, “Inside>out” and I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside of Bible Promises for You. “Awesome,” she said again as I handed it to her. I’ve started writing Ephesians 1:13 on the page with Eternal Life promises and did that too. I gave her a Bible study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I got up to go and said I would pray a Bible Verse for her every day for the next year.  “Awesome,” she said again. “Thank you so much.” I said sure (and I think I said happy Easter) and headed out.

So Happy Resurrection day weekend. And thanks for your prayers God truly blessed evangelism this week.

In Him,

Bob