Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with all good things coming down from the Father of Lights. I had a really good day on campus talking to people. Thursday I passed 2000 students who have trusted in Jesus as their Savior after I told them the Gospel, (since we began Third Watch Ministries). Danielle, Marisa, Tamara and Annette each prayed with me to receive Jesus today. Their stories are below if you have the time. Please pray they grow in their faith.

Danielle was sitting in some overstuffed chairs on the North side of the hall just past the fire doors (? they are glass and close off the hallway). The hallway continues down to the bookstore. She had a deep red hoodie on and black leggings. Her face was cute, semi-rounded sort of a pointed nose. She had long dark brown hair past her shoulders, kind of a sly smile. She had been going to a kind of a Bible Study fellowship with her girlfriends who she said were more up front about their faith.. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven, “I would say because I feel like I‘ve experienced God, experienced that I believe in God. I‘ve done enough good and experienced enough to know what Heaven is like.” She thought she had a 70-75% chance of going to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with her and I asked what it was that Jesus had done to take away her sins so God could live inside her. She had gone to a Lutheran Church when she was young (but hadn‘t really found a church) and said there was a word for what He did and she couldn’t think of it. I suggested she might be looking for the word “reconciliation” and she thought that might be it. So I said, “Well this is what that word means,” And I began to explain the blood and righteousness of Jesus to cleanse her pay God what she owed Him and then make her righteous. God would adopt her and give her these things as the blessings of His family and fill her with the Holy Spirit. I said she was forgiven by faith; that she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead. Not that she just knew the story from growing up with it at church but that that‘s what she put her trust in as an adult. “So if someone would say to her,” Why should God let you into Heaven?” she would say, “Because Jesus died for me.” I asked if she would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done on the cross, then the Holy Spirit would live in her and give her strength. Or did she thing something else. “I would probably go with that one more,” she replied pointing at the circle with Christ on the throne. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a pray she could pray. I talked her through the prayer and asked if it was the desire of her heart. She said, “Ever since I was a child I thought that.” So I said she could pray it silently and asked if she’d want to do so. “Yeah,” she replied and she prayed to receive Jesus. When she was done I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front of Bible Promises for You and gave it to her and she said, “Thank you.” I told her the likelihood now she would go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus. I gave her a Bible Study explaining it and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I told her I would pray for her until next Spring and one year after and got up to go saying I would see her in Heaven. I’ll be old and get there first so look me up and I’ll show you where the cool stuff is. “OK I’ll take note of that,” she said. “Ok have a good one,” I replied. “Thank you, you too,” she said and I was off.

I came across Marisa sitting in some chairs just past the bookstore entrance. I had asked her before and she’d said, “No.” But today she had on pink bunny slippers. So I said, “Hey bunny slippers you wanna do a student survey?” “OK,” she said. She’d sat one chair from me when I had gone through the Gospel with another student earlier in the week and mentioned that saying she had been reading a prayer on her phone. She had a slight accent or different intonation I could not place. She had a shag hair cut in front but straight and long across the back, light brown hair. She had a narrow face, pretty, no make-up and a perfect shaped mouth like “Mrs. Potato head” if you saw the toy as a kid. She wore a tube top that was less than 5 inches wide made of some floral print on white and had on cream-colored pants that were tight at the ankle. It turned out she had started to believe in God about a year ago and her mom had been taking her to a Catholic church. She was going to begin taking a class there soon that when finished allowed her to get baptized and take the mass. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven and she said, “I feel like God knows the good things that I do. He can see that I would deserve it.” She thought she had a 95% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and when I asked what Jesus had done to take away her sins she said, “The cross.” I began to explain then the death of Christ and that this cleansed her and allowed God to live inside her and paid for her sins. She asked how that differed from the Catholic Church. I said it depended upon what priest you talk to but I know there are those who would tell you what I have said. I talked about the Mass saying that the Catholic Church would probably say it really became Jesus. I said they would tell her to do good things but that the good things that she did she should do by the power of the Spirit in her. I explained the righteousness of God that Jesus earned by perfectly fulfilling the Old Testament Law and told her the verses describing that in Christ. “You don’t go to Heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good and your connected to Him,” I explained. I said God would adopt her and give her the blessings of His family the Sacrifice for her sins the blood that cleansed her and the righteousness of God that surrounded her. “So ya got someplace to go, Heaven, and something to wear when ya get there, the righteousness of God.” I explained salvation by faith in what Jesus had done. I explained again how her good stuff could not fix her bad stuff but God could work all things together for good and turn a bad thing into a good thing because he controlled the future. She said she knew that happened. I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins. She said she would so I read through the prayer asking if she would want to put her trust in Him. She looked down at the prayer I was holding near her and I could see her eyes move back and forth reading while I held it and then she said, “Amen.” I told her the likelihood she would now go to Heaven was 100% trusting in Jesus’ blood and righteousness. We talked some more. “Before I knew God I was a very negative person, my friends tell me I have changed,” she told me. “I want my cousin to know God. I text him things and he does not complain.” She did not have a Bible so I gave her one. I explained there were some older books that the Catholic church added but I did not think they taught out of them much. She still wanted it so I showed her the study helps. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven! in the front. I gave her Bible Promises for You and said she could text Bible verses from it to her cousin. She liked that idea and made a conspiratorial face, like it was a good plan. I gave The case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study. I told her I would pray for her each day from now until Spring and one year after and she was grateful. I got up to go and said she thanked me and I headed out.

Tamara was a pretty black girl who looked like her face was the model for a doll. She had perfect lips and skin and big eyes and straightened hair with a bit of a wave in it that rested on her shoulders. She had a nylon black blouse on that was bunch up on her like a sack and wore baggy jeans. She was a quiet girl but had an amused laugh that came out as I talked to her if I said something that she found funny. That helped me to feel like she was getting it. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven. “I don’t know, ‘cause you love me?” she replied. She said she went to a “Baptist kind of church” when she went. She thought she had a 70% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and I asked her what the big thing was Jesus had done to take away her sins. She guessed, “He forgives you?” I said that was true and this is how it works. I explained the blood that cleansed her on the cross and pays God back for all the imperfect things we’ve done that we owe God something perfect for. I explained the righteousness of Christ He earned by perfectly fulfilling the OT Law. She seemed to be tracking and giving assent all through. I explained salvation by faith and placing her trust in Jesus and what He had done. “Would you want to be forgiven for your sins and have God live inside you?” I eventually asked. “Yeah,” she replied. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I walked her through it asking if it expressed the desire of her heart.  She nodded. I asked if she wanted to pray it silently. “Yeah,” she said. She took the booklet then and prayed to receive Jesus. I told her the likelihood now she would go to Heaven was 100%. I asked if she had a Bible and she said she had bought one a month ago. At first it was $50 so she held off, then in the middle of the night she looked at it and it was only $25 so she bought it.  I explained living life by the Spirit’s power “Inside out” asking God to transform her. I gave her Bible Promises for You writing her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I also gave her a Bible Study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet she had not heard of Strobel before. I told her I would pray for her a Bible Verse each night from now until Spring and one year after. “Pray for me to be consistent,” she asked, saying she was trying to do a daily Christian reading and she had only lasted at it month and a half before missing days. So I explained how the Holy Spirit could give her self-control for that and explained the fruit of the Spirit and wrote down the verse for it. “Thank you,” she said as I got up to go. I said “Sure,” and that I would see her in Heaven.

I came across Annette at the very end of my day. She was sitting on a bench to my left as I came down the hallway past the pool entrance after the tunnel from the BIC building. She was a fresh-faced cute kid and had dark brown hair parted in the middle with bangs in the front, eyes had kind of a sparkle. She had black leggings that turned into bellbottoms and was wearing a white zip up hoodie over a tube top that had pencil width black and white horizontal stripes. She was on her laptop and said she had a little time. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven. “I mean I’ve been faithful to Him my whole life. I go to church every Sunday and pray to Him. I go to confession. I try my best always—to go to Heaven. She was sure she would go to Heaven 100%. I asked her what the big thing was Jesus had done to take away her sins. She struggled for “The word for it in English.” I’m not sure what nationality she was she looked too white to be Latina, though the county is 60% Catholic, eastern European maybe. So I began to explain the Gospel to her and compared it to some of what she might find familiar at Church. I told her about the Blood of Jesus and compared that to the Mass. When I finished explaining salvation by faith to her I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins. “Yeah,” she replied. I told her there was a prayer she could pray and talked her through it. “Oh I like that,” she said hearing it. I asked if she would want to pray it silently to be forgiven and she said, “Sure.” I handed her the booklet and just as she was about to begin she asked, “Can I keep this?” “Sure,” I said. When she was finished praying she said she used to go to retreats where a “Pastor” spoke. Since she did not call the speaker a priest I assume she went to something with a friend. She liked it and asked if there was something like that on campus. I told her when Bible Study was and gave her the name of another one on campus she could try I had a card for. It turned out she was waiting for some kind of workout class or sport to begin as when we came to the end she had to run quickly realizing saying, “Oh I have to go I have to change.” So I quickly gave her Bible Promises for You and wrote her name and the date and forgiven in the front. And told her I would be praying for her. “Have a good day,” she said walking quickly to the locker room. “Yeah, God bless you,” I replied.

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

In Him,

Bob