Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope ya had a great day walking with the Lord and knowing He loves you. I had a good day on campus and Samantha and Micheal each prayed with me to receive Jesus today at school. Please pray they grow in faith and live for Him.  Their stories are below if you have time.

There’s a lounge with vending machines on the 1^st floor of the BIC. Samantha was sitting in a connecting hallway under skylights that comes off of it near an elevator you need a key to ride. She was almost on the hallway that makes a ladder rung between halls. She had her laptop open and looked busy, most students look busy so it’s just a guess if they might talk. She had long natural blonde hair, a pretty wholesome face and was wearing baggy grey sweats and a baggy grey hoodie that matched it. She had tennis shoes on. She reminded me of Rosamund Pike in the Western “Hostiles”, with a smaller nose. I asked her what she would say to God if she died and he asked “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Hmm, what would I say… I never thought about that before,” she replied. I asked her what she thought it was that got you into Heaven. “Accepting Jesus into your heart,” she said. She thought she had a 95% chance of getting into Heaven and she was going to a Bible study with some girls who had approached her but she did not know what it was called. She did not think it was connected to a Church. I began to go through the Gospel with her, saying of the Booklet, that what I was going to tell her would help her understand what she meant by Accepting Jesus into her heart. I said, “eternal life was knowing God because you have the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit?” she nodded. “The holy Spirit lives inside you, so if God lives inside you and you know Him that way it’s like you’re the energizer bunny and God’s the batteries.” I said, “God wants to live inside you but He can’t because of sin, sin kills you (Rom. 6:23) God give you life. So God can’t be in the same place as sin so He takes away your sin so he can live inside you. So what is the big thing Jesus does to take away your sin?” “He forgives you?” she replied. “Yes that’s right he forgives you and this is how it works,” I replied and I explained the Blood of Jesus cleansed her and was a payment to God for sin. His righteousness was to her credit when God adopted her. I said all Jesus had done could be hers by faith by grace saved her. I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else. She said she’d like to be forgiven so I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it. I asked if it expressed the desire of her heart. “Yeah,” she said and I said if she wanted to she could pray it silently and only God would hear. “Wanna do that?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said again and I said, “Just pretend I’m not here.” “OK,” she replied and she prayed to receive Jesus.  I said the likelihood she would now go to Heaven was 100%. I explained the Christian life to her living “Inside out,” saying, “First God changes you on the inside by the Spirit’s power then you will do good things on the outside because God transforms you.” “Thank you so much,” she said. I said sure and gave her some books. I wrote her name and the date and forgiven!” on the inside of Bible Promises for You I gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible Study explaining each a bit. I told her I would keep her in my prayers from now until Spring and one year after praying a Bible verse for her each day. “Thank you so much,” she said sincerely again. I said she was welcome and if I saw her around I would give her a wave. “OK,” she said and I headed off as she went off to class.

I was outside on a black metal bench overlooking the outdoor stage of the MAC arts building.  I talked for a while to a Catholic student, Theresa, one of the few I have met who understood and used the term “Transubstantiation”. She thought she had asked God to forgive her trusting in what Jesus had done. I gave her a promise book she was thrilled to have and we went our separate ways.

One bench down Michael wearing a black nylon short sleeve shirt and black cotton/polyester sweats tight at the ankle. He had on white socks and one-strap sandals. He had a mushroom top afro and it ended here and there in a pin curl. His top lip curled up a bit to hold a bit of a mustache on a wide mouth, he had some beard trying to make a go of it on his jaw line. He was a click bigger than me and good-looking. I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey. He didn’t but said that he went to church. I asked if he would want to hear the big metaphysical question he could think about for the day. “Sure,” he replied. “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead and you stand before God and he asks, “Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” He basically said he cared for others and helped people. I said, “That’s what you have done but what did God to so you can go to Heaven?”  “He is seeing what I’ve done,” he replied. That was something God did do but it wasn’t the answer I was seeking. So I asked if he’d like to hear some Bible verses that explain how you get to Heaven and he agreed. I began to explain that God wanted to live inside him and that this would mean he would have eternal life. He did not seem to know what Jesus had done to take away his sins (when I asked) so God could live inside him. I began to explain the blood and righteousness of Jesus first saying that God became a perfect man. He saw the cross diagram I made notes around and said then, “He dies on the cross.” I agreed and filled in the details of the cleansing blood of Christ.  I explained the righteousness of God that Christ had earned and said that he would not go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good and he was connected to Him. I said God wanted to adopt him and all God had done could be his by faith. I explained his good stuff could not fix his bad stuff. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done or thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,” he replied. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it asking him also if it was the desire of his heart. “Yeah,” he replied. I said he could pray it silently; I wouldn’t hear him but God would hear and he’d know he was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah I’ll do it,” he said and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He had a KJV Bible His cousin had given him so I said he should read in the book of John. I explained the Christian life to him living “Inside out”, “By the Spirit’s power”. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside of Bible Promises for You. I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible Study explaining each a bit. “Nice to meet you man,” he said, “Was it John?” he asked. “Bob,” I said, “but that’s my middle name so close,” and I gave him a grin. “Nice to meet you too,” I replied and he shook my hand and said, “Thank you.” “Yeah sure,” I said and I headed off.

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

In Him,

Bob