Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a good day walking with Jesus. I had a good day on campus and 3 students prayed with me to receive Jesus; David, Jonah and Skylar.  Please pray for them to grow in faith and the Knowledge of God. Their stories are below if you want to spend the time. Thanks for your help in prayer.

David was sitting in the hallway alongside the bookstore. He was dressed all in black and had a silver cross around his neck. He sported a thin mustache, a bit of a goatee and a mop of dark hair in curly waves. He said he was a mix of Latino and French Canadian and felt he had the skin of the Canadian side and the hair of the Latino side. He was shorter than me by a few clicks. I asked him what he would say to God if asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “You shouldn’t,“ he replied. “I’d probably ask Him for forgiveness. When I was alive I loved Him with my lips but not my heart.” He paused and continued. “As I go older I did not disbelieve but I mocked Him. I have a brother who is religious, whose best friend was stabbed to death going to Cornerstone,” I think he meant the Christian Music festival. He did not seem to have witnessed it but he was with his brother that day afterwards and said they were both crying in the car. He asked his brother why God would allow something like that and his brother just said that he did not know and could not always understand God’s ways. “I told him I would not believe in a God like that,” he then said.  I said “Not to make light of this, but your brother’s friend is better off. He’s in Heaven.” He seemed to agree. I said he got to go home early. David thought the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 10%. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. I went on to explain the righteousness of God Christ earned that could be to his credit and that if he believed he would have the rights of a child of God. I explained he was saved by faith and I asked if he would want to be forgiven, trusting in Jesus. I said if he believed, there was a prayer he could pray that he would know he was forgiven. I read through it and he said, “Yes sir.” I said if he wanted to pray it right now he could pray it silently and I wouldn’t hear him but God would hear and he’d be forgiven. “Wanna do it?” I asked. That took him aback a second but he then said, “OK” and prayed then to receive Jesus. When he finished, he looked up and I reached out and shook his hand and said, “Your sins are forgiven.” I explained the Christian life to him; living “By the Spirit’s Power.” He had a Bible already so I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside and I gave him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and The Cases for Christ Answer Booklet. I gave him my card and said we’d be starting a Bible study and to text me if he wanted to come. He was grateful. I told him I would be praying for him until a year from Spring.

Jonah was wearing brown cargo shorts and a black shirt and also had a silver cross around his neck. Wore black shoes, thin mustache and goatee also, good looking guy with a dark mop of hair. Looked about my height. He was sitting just outside the cafeteria on a ring of couches there, just in earshot of the interns at a table for Cru, next to the one for Intervarsity. He said he’d do a survey. I asked him what he would say to God as to why he should get into Heaven. “Hmm… ‘Cause I tried” he replied. I said a lot of people could not say that much. I asked what he thought the likelihood was he was going to Heaven and he said, “At the moment I have no idea. I’ve been working the last couple months repairing my relationship with Him. I don’t know.” I began to go through the Gospel with him. I asked what Jesus had done to take away his sins. He thought for a moment and said, “Crucified,” touching both his hands to his shoulders like a ref signally “Illegal Touch” in a football game, except his elbows were in more. He said some word of assent to several of the points as I went through the Gospel with him. When I finished I asked if he would want Christ to live inside him, having forgiven his sins. He said he would, so I asked if he had ever told God he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus. He said he hadn’t but he had felt it. So I said if he would want to be forgiven, telling God that, there was a prayer he could pray.  I talked him through it asking if it expressed the desire of his heart. “It does,” he replied. I said then he could pray it quietly. “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven. Wanna do it?” Yeah,” he replied and he prayed then to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to him living by the Spirit’s power. I also gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I gave him a Bible study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. He was happy and I told him to contact me with my email if there was anything he needed.

I first bumped into Skylar walking through the doors at the far end of the BIC on the north side second floor. She was opening a door for her and her girlfriend. I thought it was for me and slipped in, “Oh OK,” she said with a grin so I opened the next door for them both saying, “Beauty before age,” and they laughed and went in. Skylar was wearing camo-print high-waist pants, tight at the ankles and white shoes. She had tan and black long braids coming down from under a black watch cap, an over shirt with a black shrink top beneath with skeleton hands on it. She was a little bit plump, cute round face with classic African American lips and nose. I passed her a bit later sitting (waiting for her friend it seemed) by the account windows on a couch. I asked her if she’d want do a student survey for a Bible Study group on campus and she agreed. I asked her what she would say to God if asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Oo… Oh, hmm…  that’s hard,” she said thinking.  “Well maybe because even after everything good and bad I tried my best. Even if I don’t get in I tried my absolute best.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance of getting into Heaven. As I went through the Gospel she was not sure what God had done to forgive her sins. But when I explained that her sin had to be cleansed so He could live inside her she said, “Wow.” I continued and she put in, “So that’s why He wants to forgive you?” I agreed it was. We owe God to return what we use in the world back to him perfect—how we got it. I explained then that God became a perfect man and poured out His blood to pay God back for all the imperfect things we had done that we owed God something perfect for. “The real reason God forgives you is He got paid. But He had to pay Himself,” I said and she smiled an amused smile at the way I put it. I explained the rest of the Gospel and asked her if she would want to be forgiven, trusting in what Jesus had done. Or was God on the outside of her life (showing her the circle with God on the outside of her life and self on the throne there). “I feel like I am this,” she said pointing to the circle with God on the outside of her life. “But I want to be this,” she said pointing to the circle with Jesus on the throne of her life inside her. So I said if she would want to be forgiven with God inside, there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it, asking if it was the desire of her heart. She nodded it was. So I said she could pray it silently. I would not hear her but God would hear and she’d know she was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” She said she did and asked, “Can I say it in my head?” “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said affirmingly. And she prayed to receive Jesus. When she finished, I said she was forgiven and said the likelihood now she would go to Heaven was 100%. I began to explain the Christian life to her “By the Spirit’s Power.” She and the girl I had opened the door for had just found a church they were checking out. She did not have a Bible, so I gave her one and showed her all the study helps. She loved it and I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I gave her a promise book also, Strobel’s book and a Bible Study. We talked some more about life and stuff and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob