Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was a good one and it’s been like rivers in the desert, which are happening btw Africa is getting lots of rain.  J., Diego, Damo, and Roy each prayed to receive Jesus Thursday and ask for God to change into the person He wants them to be. Their stories are below if you have the time. Please pray they grow in the faith.

J. was sitting in the hallway headed down to the bookstore. African American, he had on a black and white hoodie, mostly black with splashes of white. The zipper went up and around the hood, which he had pulled up on to his head. He had braids coming down out from under a watch cap. His off again on-again spotty beard was struggling to grow in evenly, had a mustache under a medium sized nose. He had a red backpack and gray sweats. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” His reply seemed correct. “’Cause he died for our sins. He gave us another chance to get close to Him. I don’t take that for granted. I need relationship with God. Relationship with God is important.” I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven and he said, “There’s still a chance to better myself, maybe 30%, I won’t say too high or too low,” he replied.  I thought that was a little strange since 30% seemed low. I said, “I guess you would say you’re a Christian,” he nodded. So I said the rest of the survey was 4 quick points of Christianity but I thought it would encourage him. I thought he only lacked assurance of salvation. I asked him what the big thing was that Jesus did to take away his sins. He had already said it. But he could not think of anything. I added, “To pay for your sins.” He still did not seem to know what “died for your sins” accomplished or meant when he said it. Maybe it was just something he heard and never processed. [Jesus once told the disciples that he would rise from the dead in Mark 9. In verse 10 we read: “And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.” If I asked you could probably explain it, “the dead “ were a group of people (whom Jesus said were the living among them Abraham Isaac and Jacob Mark 12:27) and after he died on the cross Jesus was at one time among them, in Sheol (paradise of the Jews). 3 days under the earth. He rose out from among them. Like the Cubs traded Rizzo and came out from among the Cubs and played in NY.] In this case withJ I explained the Gospel to him. That Jesus had lived a perfect life and died on the cross. When He poured out his blood it paid God back for all the imperfect things we had done that we owe God something perfect for. The righteousness of God was earned by Christ. God adopted us and gave us these blessings by faith. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. “I want to be forgiven,” he replied. I said there was a prayer he could pray if he wanted to be forgiven and hadn’t asked God to forgive him trusting in Jesus before. I explained it and asked, reading, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? Would you say it does?” He just said, “Yeah.” I said he could pray it silently wanna do that. He didn’t respond or take the booklet. It seemed like he might be praying it but it took a bit and then he said, “Is there something I am supposed to do?” “Just pray that,” I replied. “I prayed it twice,” he said. “Ok fine,” I said and I went onto tell him the likelihood now he would go to Heaven trusting in Jesus’ blood and righteousness was 100%. I explained the Christian life living inside out. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front explaining it a bit saying he could read the verses as encouragement or turn them into prayers. I handed him the book and he said, “Thank you.” I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Book saying he could find more of Strobel’s stuff on YouTube. I gave him a Bible study and explained it and said I would pray a Bible verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after. He reached out and shook my hand and I got up to go. I said, “God bless you.” “God bless you too, have a good one man,” said J. And I headed down the Hall.

I looped around through the BIC and was walking down the hall and an elevator door opened up as I was right in front of it and a student walked out. I was on the ground floor and I don’t do a lot of stairs trying to save my leg a bit. I had the thought I should go up to the third floor. The door closed and I took a step past it and went back. When I pushed the button it was still there so I rode up to the top. I was right at the lounge and siting across on the other side was Diego. He had straight long hair, (longer than his face). It was tinted in streaks. He had black and white print jeans on (They looked like a vintage wallpaper) that had the pockets for carpenter pants and a black zip up hoodie. He had a good looking fair skinned diamond shaped face with the occasional birth mark, a mustache and a bit of beard under his chin. I asked him what was one thing he wanted to do before he died. “Be able to help other people,” he replied. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven if he died. “I guess I’d probably just ask Him to give me a chance,” he replied. He was a kind good guy. I asked how likely it was that he would go to Heaven and he said, “I try every day to live by His commands, I go to church. It’s a 50/50 shot, I have no say in anything.” I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died for his sins, so I explained what that meant. Jesus Blood cleansed him so God could live inside him. Jesus was a payment for his sin so he did not owe God for what he’d done. The righteousness of God Christ earned by perfectly fulfilling the Law was predicted in Isaiah and fulfilled in Galatians 3:27. God could make him his child. He needed to receive Jesus, trust in what He had done. Then he would be saved by grace in faith. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else. “Definitely this one,” he said pointing at the Circle with Jesus on the throne of his life. I said there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it. It was the desire of his heart? He agreed, so I asked if he wanted to pray it silently right now. “What time is it,” he said suddenly realizing he had class. He looked at his phone for the time. “I have a couple minutes,” he said. Then he prayed to receive Jesus. I quickly explained living by the Spirit’s power and wrote his name and the date and forgiven on the inside of Bible Promises for You. I told him I would pray for him each day through next Spring and gave him a Bible Study and The Case for Christ Answer Book. He shook my hand and said, “Thank you.” “God bless you,” I replied. “God bless you too,” he said and he ran off.

I was in the PE lounge later and came across Demo. He seemed to have seen me talking to people and wanted to know what it was about. This was a nickname. I believe he said his birth name was LeDanian. He was interesting looking for a black guy as his features could have been on my cousin. He had braids coming down from under a nylon cap. He wore a black zip up hoodie and black sweats. He wanted to go into some kind of sales or have his own business. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven, “I would say because with everything I did in my life my intentions were pure. I’m not perfect but God knows my intentions were pure. If that’s not enough it’s up to Him.” I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven and he said, “I got a 75% chance. I got unfinished business in order to solidify my spot there.” I went through the Gospel with him and He knew Jesus had died for his sins, when I asked what Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world so he could live inside him. He listened closely to the Gospel and took it all in and seemed in agreement. As I explained the blood of Jesus to cleanse him and be a payment to God and His earned righteousness to his credit. I explained God wanted to make him His child and give all this to him. He could receive Jesus believing by faith in Him and be forgiven by grace. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else (like the cliff’s notes version of Islam and the Buddha I often say). “Of course,” he replied. So I said there was a prayer he could pray and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was and I said he could pray it silently. “I’d love to,” he said taking the booklet. “I get to keep this?” He paused and asked. “Yeah sure,” I said. He prayed quietly to receive Jesus then. We were pretty much alone in the lounge, though one of the women’s teams was doing some kind of floor exercise beyond the glass door to the gym, or just stretching. He shook my hand and said, “Thank you I appreciate you.” I explained that the likelihood he would now go to Heaven was 100% trusting in Jesus’ blood and righteousness. He had a Bible and I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave him a Bible study too explaining it. He took The Case for Christ Answer Book. I said I would pray for him each day, “from now ‘til Spring and one year after”. He shook my hand again firmly saying, “Thank you for your time.” “All good,” I replied. “You have a good one,” he said as I stood up to go. “OK,” I said and headed up the stairs.

At the end of the afternoon I got a picture in my mind of the patio area at the top of the waterfall and started making my way there. No one wanted to talk on the way. Once on the patio I did bump into Sabine, (long braids, black girl, wide nose, cute, small girl) who I’d gone through the Gospel with but was not sure she believed, though she semi-regularly went to church. I chat her up when I see her. I thought that might have been the plan as she headed off but then saw the only other soul out there Roy sitting at a table. I got to talking with him and asked him if he’d want to do a survey. He had an easy laugh. He had one front tooth that was broken off by a 3^rd on one corner, which with large white teeth was kind of striking. He wore a baseball cap and an American Eagle Brand zip up grey hoodie and jeans. He had a big cheerful smile and traditional black features, oval face. He was from Ghana and had a bit of an accent and also spoke French saying they made them learn it as children. I said I’d wished I managed to do the same {long story there}. He laughed at some things I said which I don’t remember and it made him open to do the survey. He said he wanted to do a survey and be a medical missionary. I asked what he would say to God if he died and were asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Why would you?” he said musing the question. “Hum..” He looked at me and said more pointedly, “How would I justify myself?” I let him keep thinking. “I don’t know. Nothing we have done. There’s nothing we can do to deserve it. Usually by mercy. It says in the Holy Book no one deserves it.” I agreed quoting, “There is none righteous, no not one.” With a smile. “We try to do good things,” he continued. “Do good deeds, read the Holy Word. I would just say, ‘Lord have mercy there’s nothing I have done to deserve it.’” I asked him what the likelihood he would go to heaven was, “At this point in my life I think I’d just go to Hell,” he said and he laughed. “I need to reconcile with a lot of people and I have drifted away so at this point I’d go to Hell.” So I said “Well the rest of this is what you think about Christianity, 4 quick points and you say what you think.” I started in and began to go through the Gospel and the love of God who wanted to know him to live inside him, but the problem was sin. So God took away his sin. “What’s the big thing Jesus did to take away the sins of the world?” I asked. “He died on the cross,” Roy replied. “Right and I began to explain what that meant. That the blood cleansed him and paid what he owed for his sins. The righteousness of God was to his credit and God wanted to adopt him and give it all to him. He could receive Christ and be saved by faith. He was engaged all the way through and I got a laugh for some of the illustrations. All are amusing or somber depending on the tone I say them in I keep in the spirit they seem to be received. “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins or do you think something else?” I asked. “I want to be forgiven,” he replied. “Well if you want to be forgiven there’s a prayer you can pray,” and I talked him through it. I asked if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded and I asked if he’d want to pray it silently and know he was forgiven. “Yes,” he said. He prayed then to receive Christ. When he finished he was happy and I told him the likelihood he would now go to Heaven trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus was 100%. He shook my hand firmly. I said I was old and had sinned more them him as a result, but the blood of Christ was of infinite value because He’s God and so too was His righteousness infinite because He (God) earned it. He had a Bible so I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave him a Bible study and he liked it. I also gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Book. I had run out of the much short cheaper booklets so I thought it was God’s providence to give him that one. He was grateful.  Roy reached out and shook my hand again firmly and thanked me earnestly, “Thank you for telling me this you could be somewhere resting but you came out to talk to me, thank you.” I said, “You are the best conversation I had all day thanks.” We had hit it off and laughed a lot. I got up to head out and I gave him my contact information if he wanted to do a Bible study to let me know. I went to the truck then feeling blessed.

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

In Him,

Bob