Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your week was blessed with grace and peace. I had a strange week Tuesday was no school and I was still wiped out by Thursday. But God still blessed yesterday and Brenda committed to Christ and Brandon prayed to receive Jesus Thursday so I was thankful. I’d be grateful for your prayers for them to grow. Their stories are below if you have some time.

Brenda was sitting in the PE lounge upstairs by the workout equipment. She had brown shoulder length hair and wore black-rimmed glasses, wore a light grey sweatshirt and grey sweats. She was waiting for a friend and only had a couple minutes but was willing to just answer the one big question. “You get hit by a bus, you’re dead, and you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say.” “Umm, I don’t know that’s a tough question… I would hope to be let in because I’m a kind person. It’s not up to me it’s up to Him.” It turned out she went to a Roman Catholic Church. I only had the time then to explain the atonement and salvation by faith. Which she hadn’t seemed to understand before. It did not have much time to sink in and I had no time to build a bit of conversational connection. But as I finished I asked if she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else. She said she would “Trust in Jesus”. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it and offered it to her and she acknowledged it was the desire of her heart. In the end she took the booklet with the prayer, looked at it and closed it. So I asked if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Do you believe that’s a true story?” “Yes,” she replied. And would you place your trust in that to be forgiven for your sins?” “Yes,” she said again. I said, “Well then you only need to talk to God about it.” I gave her Bible Promises for You and wrote her name in the front saying it was a way to read some Bible verses. I wrote the word “forgiven” in the front [Romans 10:9].  I had had a chance to explain the Christian life a bit and I said, “Thanks for your time.” “You too,” she replied, “Thank you.” I said, “Your welcome and she headed out the doors to meet her friend. I’ll be praying for her in the hope the seed of faith from God takes greater root.

Brandon was sitting in front of the entrance to the drama theatre in the MAC arts building. He had shorter brush cut hair but it wasn’t a flat top it was rounded with tined ends on top, warm face and eyes, he had a bright smile with very white teeth. Looked Latino, had the smooth skin of youth and a medium build. He wore a light grey sweatshirt and charcoal sweat pants. Good lookin’ guy. He said he’d do a survey and after we talked about Bikers a bit I asked the questions. I asked, “You get hit by a bus, you’re dead, and you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?”  He thought about it and said he hadn’t thought about “stuff like that”. I asked what he thought would get someone into Heaven, “Faith, having faith the whole time, not then, but heading up to that, before that.” I asked him what the likelihood he would get into Heaven, “10% is low 100% is your sure or 50/50 you got a shot?” “I feel like it is either 100% or it’s zero,” he replied. So he went with 100% just to say he thought he’d go to Heaven. He listened attentively to the Gospel and leaning forward to read some of the verses that I read on the counter height table. It turned out he went to Catholic church once in a while and I compared the Mass symbolically to what I had spoken about. I explained that God wanted to live inside him and had to purify him in this life. I said, “Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God” So in this life God purifies us with the blood of Jesus, that pays for our sin so that when we go to Heaven God can share His glory with us, He is eternal and the source of life so then we will last for eternity. I pointed out that like he had said this was a faith you had to have already before you got there, through this life. I explained the righteousness of God to his credit and then that faith saved him. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done or if he thought something else. “Definitely forgiven,” he replied. I said if he’d like to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it. “’It says here does this prayer express the desire of your heart?’ So would you say that it did?” “Hum hum,” he replied. I said he could pray it silently, “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven, wanna do it?” “Yeah,” he said with a smile. And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. I explained then that now the likelihood he would go to Heaven trusting is the righteousness of Jesus was 100%. I explained living “Inside > Out” by the power of the Spirit. “Christianity is ‘Just Ask’. God wants to help you to do things in life and will give you as much strength as you need to be as successful as you can be and not screw up.” I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and then Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. Lastly I gave him a Bible Study on the deity of Christ explaining it a bit. I shook his hand and got up to go saying, “Nice to meet ya man.” “Nice to meet ya,” he said in return and then “Appreciate ya.” And I headed out the doors near us.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism last week, though I dropped the ball and forgot to send an email asking for prayer on 2 days, in a brain fog a bit one morning. But God had mercy and answered. I hope in a couple kids who did not pray but 2 asked God for forgiveness in Christ and another confessed her faith.

In Him,

Bob