Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today with the peace that surpasses understanding. The world looks on the brink of some very bad things, but we know God controls the world and laughs at the wicked and their plans. [Psa. 37:13] Thanks for your prayers, I spoke to 3 new people today and Rebeca, Bao, and Diego each prayed with me to receive Jesus, so that was great.  I’d be grateful it you might say a prayer to bless them, thanks for your help.  Their stories are below if you have time.

Rebeca was sitting on the ground floor of the east side science building in the hall looking at a tablet. She said she had a Bible Study group but she’d do a survey. She had on red leggings and a dark grey hoodie. She had long brown hair past her shoulders her face was oval that came to a point at her chin, she wore no make-up but was on the pretty side. I asked her one thing she wanted to do before she died and she wanted to take a trip to South Africa. I took it she meant be a missionary as the country is dangerous for white people and the Tonga volcano has destroyed the barley crop with cold and UV light. Evan in summer it’s now pretty cold. It’s chaos, so I can’t imagine a trip there for pleasure. She seemed to think she was aware of the hazards. I asked what she would say to God if she was dead and He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” She thought for a moment and then said, “Because I believe in Jesus Christ and I repent all of my sins.” she thought she had a 99% chance of going to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with her and I said that God wanted to live inside her asking, “What did Jesus do to take away the sins of the world?” “He fills you with His Spirit?” she kind of guessed. I said something like, “Well this is how it works.” And I began to say that Jesus said, “You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We could not live a perfect life but Jesus lives a perfect life for us. He dies His blood cleanses us from all sin and his death is a payment to God. This all seemed to be novel to her. I explained the righteousness of God, Christ had earned to our credit, saying Paul said in the Bible that it was not by his own righteousness but by the righteousness which is by faith. I explained the righteousness of God to her credit. She needed to receive Jesus by believing He was God had died for her sins and rose from the Dead, “Not that you just know the story from Church or something but that’s what you place your trust in this, so if someone would say to you, “’Why should God let you into Heaven?’ you’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me’” I showed her the two circles asking of she would want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in what Jesus had done then she’d know was forgiven and God would live inside her and be on the throne or the driver’s seat of her life. Or did she think something else. “Jesus on the driver’s seat,” she replied. So I said it didn’t seem like she’d put all this together before, but if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it. “It says here: ‘Does this prayer the desire of your heart?’” and she nodded. I said she could pray it silently then and know she was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” “Yeah, sure,” she replied. And she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. When she finished I told her she could keep the booklet and began to explain the Christian life—the fruit of the Spirit and living “Inside > Out” “By the Spirit’s Power”. I gave her Bible Promises for You writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her a Bible study also and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. “This is cool,” she said of the things I’d given her. I told her my name and email were on the back of the booklet. “So I can email you if I have a question?” she asked. “Yeah sure, I have a Masters in Theology and Church History and a Seminary degree and I’ve been doing this for 20 years so I’ve probably heard most questions. I could tell you what I think.” I told her the likelihood now she would go to Heaven trusting in the righteousness of Christ and His blood was 100%. “Nice to meet ya. I’ll see ya in Heaven,” I said holding up my had in a wave. She flashed a big smile, waved back and said, “I’ll see ya.”

I found Bao in the cafeteria sitting at the counter looking outside. He was a short, slight guy with dark wavy hair parted more or less down the middle, good looking kid, nice smile. Later as we talked he said he’d gone to a Vietnamese Church and a Catholic Church so I assumed he was Vietnamese. He had a Brown hoodie on with a white skeleton reaching out holding a heart, as far as I could see. Some kind of Halloween look I suppose. He had greenish brown cargo pants on. I asked him one thing he wanted to do before he died and he said, “Buy my parents a house.” Occasionally an African American student has said that to me as well and I’m reminded at a Community College where there’s kids whose families are not as established as the one I grew up in. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and were asked “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Umm hm. That’s a deep question,” he said thinking. Finally, he just said, “I feel like I treated others pretty good.” He thought he had a 70% chance of going to heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and I asked what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world. “He spread his arms out a bit to trigger the thought and then said, “Crucified.” “Right,” I said and began to go through the atonement the cleansing blood of Christ and His payment for sin. He took it all in and gave kind of a half-smile at the tale I wove for him here and there. After I had explained that faith saved him I said that he should do good things to please God, treat people good, as he had said but his good stuff did not fix his bad stuff. I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done or thought something else. “Definitely forgiven,” he replied. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and after explaining it I asked, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” He nodded. I said if he wanted he could pray it silently now, “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear you and you’d know you were forgiven, wanna do it?” He nodded again and I gave him the booklet and he prayed to receive Jesus and made the sign of the Cross over himself as he finished. I said the likelihood now he would go to Heaven was 100%, trusting in Jesus’ righteousness. I explained the Christian life, he read his father’s Bible and said he did not need one. I explained the life in the Spirit “Inside > Out. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside and also gave him a Bible Study and “The Case for Christ Answer Booklet.  I told him I would be praying for him each day from now until Spring and for one year after. I told him we had a Bible study in the room and when and grabbed my Pack to go. “Thank you,” he said. “See you in Heaven Brother,” I replied fist bumping him. “See you,” he said with a big smile and I headed off.

I was kind of draggin’ after the hours I’d been at school but I thought I’d head up to the third floor of the BIC since I hadn’t been there for a while and I hopped into an elevator. Diego had stick-straight hair and a beard and mustache a slightly round face and fair skin. He hadn’t been to church since he was a kid. He had on a T-shirt and jeans. I asked him if he wanted to do a survey and he said, “Let’s do it.” When I asked what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I felt like I was the best person I could be on Earth on my time [there].”  I asked the likelihood he would go to Heaven? I’d say I have a higher percentage of going than [a] low chance.” He listened to the gospel as I began to say God wanted to live inside him, like he was the Energizer Bunny and God was the batteries, and that made him smile. I asked if he remembered what Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world and he said he didn’t. “Real fast this is how it works,” I replied. I explained, “God sees we can’t come up to Him because of our sin and so He comes down and becomes a man Jesus who lives a perfect life. ‘Cause you’re supposed to live a perfect life.” I said no one could get into Heaven then because no one is perfect. “So Jesus lives a perfect life for us.” I explained Jesus was killed but He wanted to die. “He pours out his blood and His blood becomes a life force in the world and it makes life all the places we made death. There’s death inside us from our sin. The Bible says the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, it turns death into life. So now you are alive inside and you match God and God can live inside you.” I explained Jesus was a payment for our sin and His righteousness was to our credit. I said All God had done needed to be received by faith and faith saved him. His good stuff could not fix his bad stuff. “So, the last question is would you like to be forgiven for your sin trusting in what Jesus has done or do you think something else or don’t know?” The first option,” he replied. I said there was a prayer he could pray. I read it through asking if it was the desire of his heart. He said “Yeah.” I asked if he’d want to pray it silently and he said, “Yeah, sure,” and he prayed to receive Jesus. He did not have a Bible so I gave him one and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside after showing him all the study tools in it. I explained to him also living “Inside > Out” by the power of the Spirit. I gave him a Bible study briefly explaining it and Bible Promises for You and gave him The Case for Christ Answer Book. I told him I’d pray for him each day until Spring and one year after. We talked about the military and the trouble in the world and I got up to go. “Nice to meet you man,” I said. “Thank you,” he said. “Yeah, thank you,” I replied and I headed off.

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

In Him,

Bob