Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking by the Spirit. I had a good day on campus. I spoke with a lot of Christians and Brandon and Adrian each prayed with me to receive Jesus. Please pray they grow in their faith. Their stories are below if you are interested.

Brandon was sitting in the PE lounge against the south wall. The guy he was with was sprawled out looking at his phone but he was sitting up straight looking around, smart guy. He was a good-looking black guy with a diamond shaped face and braids that were about 6 inches long coming down off the top of his head. He had a slight mustache and a chin beard. He wore a pullover hoodie with blue and orange printing on it (Chicago Bears colors) and athletic shorts. His legs looked strong but he looked slightly built. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “I’d say… that I just never stopped believing in faith, no matter how bad gets you got to have faith. No matter how bad life gets it’s God’s plan.” he said. He thought he had a 70% chance of going to Heaven. He had gone to church when he was younger. I began to go through the Gospel with him and I asked what Jesus had done to take away his sin so God could live inside him. He could not think of anything so I went on to explain the blood and righteousness of Jesus to cleanse him and be a payment for our sin to God. He listened careful to all I said about the blood and righteousness of Christ. I explained that what God had done could be his by faith. Faith saved him and he could not fix his bad stuff with other good stuff. I showed him the two circles and asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done. Then he would live inside him and give him strength to live life. I explained then the circle on the left and said God would be on the outside of his life. Islam had a religion based on that. God’s Spirit did not live inside them he is not a father because he did not have a son and there is no sacrifice for sin, “So they have a different god,” I explained. Then I asked if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else. He pointed at the circle with Christ inside him. So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I explained it. “It says here, ‘Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?’ so would you say it does?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied. So I said he could pray it silently and I wouldn’t hear him but God would hear and he’d know he was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” “Um Hum,” he replied so I handed him the booklet and he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to him living by the Spirit’s power. He had a Bible so I gave him a Bible Study and Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I said that now trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He asked when the Bible study was and I said in a week we’d start it in the cafeteria at 2 PM. I told him that I would pray a Bible Verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after. I got up to go having been sitting on the floor at his feet and said, “Thanks for your time.” “No problem. Thank you,” he said and I headed out.

Adrian was sitting in the cafeteria. He had bright-red hair and skin like mine, some scaring on his forehead and cheeks. He had on a white FILA t-shit and purple and black sweats that looked to be in some kind of tie dye pattern. He was born here but his parents were from the Czech Republic. He said things had changed in the perspective of people he knew who had come to the US. Whereas once the American dream seemed a possibility, costs had gone so high for even a subway sandwich, that some doubted prosperity would be attainable. I asked him one thing he wanted to do before he died and he said, “Have a loving family.” So he fit into the experience I had of guys who said that on campus (they wanted a family) that they were either already Christians or would pray with me to receive Christ. I asked what he would say to God if he died and were asked why should I let you into Heaven. “Well I’m not perfect, no one is but every time I think about it it’s not necessary to think about it like that you just always should do your best.” He went on to say that that meant trying harder at whatever situation you found yourself in. He said his parents were Roman Catholic but he felt that just being Christian in whatever denomination was acceptable, it was about community and repentance. He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. “I don’t know, there’s only one person who knows, so 50/50.” he said smiling. He didn’t feel He was interesting to talk to and he was engaged with the Gospel as I made each point and asked, “What version of the Bible would you say I should read?” I said I had a New King James version with me he could have, which was an early translation into English that used some Latin texts that later were replaced with Greek. It was updated a bit.  The New American Standard was good too. I said I could give him one and he said that would be great. I said I had memorized verses out of both.  He knew Jesus had died for our sins. When I had explained the righteousness of God and salvation by faith I asked if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else he said something like, “I’d be forgiven of course.” So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I asked if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was so I said he could pray it now silently. “Can I take a picture of this?” I said, “Sure but you could pray it now.” “I will,” he replied, “but I want to pray it again later.” He took a picture and prayed to receive Jesus. Later when I gave him the booklet he said smiling, “So I did not need to take a picture.” I agreed with a smile, he didn’t. I told him now the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus. I gave him a Bible writing his name and the date and forgiven!” in the front. I explained the Christian life to him living by the Spirit’s power. I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and Bible Promises for You. Opening the promise book I just happened to turn to the page with promises on finances and he had said he wanted to be an accountant, we’d talked about that and Ellen’s professional life (when she wasn’t doing all the stuff for the administrative part of the ministry for free). He was a sharp thoughtful guy and I was glad he’d joined the Kingdom. He was grateful for all the free stuff; I also gave him a Creation magazine. I said people donated to the ministry to pay for the books and Bible so no worries. He had to head to class so I said I would pray for him a Bible verse each day from now through Spring and one year after. “I’ll pray for you too,” he said and I thanked him and he was off.

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

In Him,

Bob