Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed holding on to our hope without wavering knowing He who promised is faithful. I had a good day on campus today talking to some of the peeps and Jacob prayed to receive Jesus. Please pray he grows in his understanding of the Christian life. His story is below if you have time.

 Jacob was sitting in the 2^nd floor corner of the SW most lounge of the BIC building. He had 4-inch braids he’d worked his afro into that were the width of a pencil. He had a full, somewhat round face, full features, good looking black kid. He was wearing lighter blue grey runner’s leggings and a blue long sleeve t-shirt with what looked a bit like a Spartan mask on the front. I asked him one thing he’d like to do before he died, “Have a family,” he replied. Stating that is pretty much “a tell” for you are a Christian or will become one in a few minutes. I asked him if he was hit by a bus and died and stood before God what he would say if asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” He repeated the question thinking a bit then saying “I don’t want to sound cocky.” I agreed that would be pride and pride is a sin. Finally he said, “I’ve tried to live a life follow the teaching of Jesus Christ.” I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven and he said, “75%,” then he changed and said, “No I’m gonna say 100%, I have faith.” He was familiar with the Gospel, (knowing Jesus had died) as I went through it. He stayed attentive as I explained the blood of Christ cleansing him and making it possible for God to live inside him and the righteousness of God Christ earned to his credit when God adopted him. “So you don’t go to Heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good and you’re connected to Him. He said he would want to be forgiven for his sins. So I asked if when he asked for forgiveness for his sins if he was thinking he was good and God would be merciful and forgiving, or if he thought, “I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.” I had to put it to him again slightly differently and then getting it he said, “It would not be true to say I didn’t think the good things I did after I repented would get me closer to going to Heaven.” I tried to find out again, asking if he’d been thinking about Jesus to be forgiven or I asked “Had you never done the math on it?” He didn’t think he had so I said, “Jesus wasn’t really part of the calculations.” “Right,” he replied. He had not answered the question from the beginning correctly but it’s possible some people hear the question more like “What have you done in life to demonstrate you were a Christian. He had eventually said he had faith. But it turns out that faith was more that he believed his good life would get him to Heaven. More that than he believed because Jesus had died for him He would take him to Heaven when he died. I said then that if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it and asked, reading, “Does this prayer expressed the desire of your heart?” “Yeah,” he said looking at it. I said he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done. He nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” He did not like to read much so I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. It’s short with 2-page answers in it. I told him the likelihood now he would go to Heaven was 100% because he was trusting in the blood and righteousness of Christ. He had a Bible and I explained the Christian life living “Inside > Out”. I said that other religions do good things and the Deity is pleased and takes you to Heaven or the Universe is please and you don’t have to come back as a cow. But in Christianity you ask God to transform you and by the Spirit’s power you become a good man and do good things.  I told him if I saw him around I’d give him a wave. “I’ll pray a Bible verse for you each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless you. “Thank you so much,” he replied sincerely and I shook his hand and said he was welcome and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob