Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you were blessed today and God gave you the strength to do all the good things the faith He’s placed in you prompted you to do. I had a good day on campus and Charlie and John each prayed to receive Jesus today. I also went through the Gospel with a former Muslim, Eli, who took a bible from me, he thought of himself as agnostic. He looked like a big dock-worker with 3 days growth of beard wearing a snow-white watch cap above his ears. I gave a 100 Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus fold out to Adam, a Jewish guy with a mop of curly, sandy hair and glasses (a young Woody Allen look), who I had talked to before a bit, I also encouraged a couple Christians. A productive day. Please pray these students grow in their faith or come to faith. Their stories are below if you have a chance.
Charlie was in a vending machine lounge on the south side of the BIC, first floor. He was a big guy a bit heavy, had a second chin and a kind oval face and a bit of chin beard on the original chin. He wore black shorts and a clay-colored shirt wearing a trucker’s cap celebrating something with a date on it. He didn’t smile much and was tough to get a read off of. But then I never know what’s in someone’s heart. I asked him if he died what he would say to God if He asked, “Why should I let you into heaven?” He said, “I always try to benefit others.” He thought he had a 75% chance of going to Heaven when he died. I said that knowing God was eternal life according to Jesus and that meant the Holy Spirit lived inside you. God had to take away his sins then to live inside, to make him His type. I asked what Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world. He could not think of anything. He said he’d gone to “Sunday church” but had gotten older and just didn’t go anymore. So I began to explain that Jesus lived a perfect life and told people the truth. That ticked them off so they killed Him. But that’s what Jesus wants he wants to die because the Bible says without the shedding of blood there’s no forgiveness of sins. Life is in the Blood and Jesus is the source of all life so when He pours out His blood He pours out a life force on the world and it makes life all the places we made death. There’s death inside us from our sins. 1John 1:7 says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. I explained this was also how God was paid for what we owed Him. So He was Just to forgive us. I explained the righteousness of God and His adoption of us. Faith then that Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead would save him. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. He did not directly answer at first but said, “I always thought if you wanted to go to Heaven you did or you might be reincarnated.” I said that the Bible says, “It’s appointed for a man once to die and then the judgment. So you don’t come back you live once. But who really wants to have to keep coming back and doing Junior High over and over again. Coming back to redo your life a thousand times or something isn’t what you’d want anyway.” He agreed. I said, “Well if you wanted to be forgiven trusting in Jesus there is a prayer you could pray.” I explained the pray that he would be asking God to live inside him, thanking Him for dying for him, then to be his Savior and his God and give him eternal life and make him the kind of person He wanted him to be. I asked if the prayer expressed the desire of his heart. He looked at it and said, “I think that it does. Yeah.” So I said if he wanted to he could pray it silently I wouldn’t hear him but God would and he’d know he was forgiven. “Wanna do that?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said. And he prayed to receive Jesus. I told him the likelihood he would go to Heaven trusting in the righteousness of Jesus and His Blood was 100%. He had a few Bibles but was not sure which was best to read. I explained the difference between them but that most published Bibles would probably work and listed a couple of the best ones. I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and forgiven in the front. I pointed out it was the easy English version NIV and he could compare it to what he had at home. I said it focused on getting the concept down found in the verse. I gave him a Bible Study explaining it a bit on ways Jesus claims to be God. I also gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I told him I’d pray for him each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless him. “Thank you,” he replied. “God bless you man,” I said getting up to leave. “God bless you too. Thank you,” he said and I headed out.
I came across John sitting in a chair waiting for something related to football to start up. He had a curly mop of hair pushing out the front and the sides of a Cubs, fan ball cap. He had a square chin, sharp features was clean-shaven (looked a bit like James Caan in the movie Bryan’s Song, though younger and a bit better looking). He wore purple sweats and a black zip up hoodie. He asked what the survey was about I said, “The big question is, you’re walking down the road you get hit by a bus so you’re dead and you stand before God and He says, “’Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say? So it’s basically what the Bible says is the answer to the question.” He thought about the question and said, “I don’t know.” I said the answer is all Cub fans go to heaven. He gave me a bit of a mystified grin and I said, “just kidding”. He said he had a couple minutes. So I said I could just show him some Bible verses and he said sure and I went right into the booklet. God loved him, wanted to know and live inside him but had to make him his type, like a blood transfusion. I asked him also what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away his sins so God could live inside him. He said he didn’t know. I asked what kind of church he went to. He said a Catholic church. So I said, “Well think about the symbolism in the mass. The wine is symbolic of His blood and the wafer…” “The bread is His body,” he finished with me. I said right “So what is that about?” “Sacrifice?” he kind of guessed. I said “Yeah Jesus died for you. So when you take it you should just say ‘thank you’.” I went on then to explain what Jesus had done in dying for him cleansing him and being a payment to God. I told him of the righteousness of God and salvation by faith. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,” he said. I read it through and asked if it expressed the desire of his heart. “Yeah he said. He could pray it silently I wouldn’t hear him but God would hear and he’d know he was forgiven. “Wanna to it?” “Yeah,” he said and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him Bible Promises for you and said if he wanted to he could go to Bible Gateway on the web and have something to read sent to him each day. He thought he was familiar with Bible Gateway. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. He thanked me. I gave him a Bible study and explained it a bit and enjoyed by telling of walking on the water. I explained living By the Spirit’s Power asking Him for help in everything. I asked what sport he played. He said football, he was pretty slight so I guessed, “You a free safety?” “I play safety. Yeah.” He replied. I said he could ask the Holy Spirit to make him better at anything, to help him see the field. “I could?” he asked. I said he could ask. I mentioned Gary Fencik and said he was not the biggest guy either but he hit hard. “Yeah that’s what I’m known for,” he said. I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and told him I would pray a Bible Verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after. I said good luck with football and to watch his neck and he agreed he would. I told him not to forget to say thank you when he took the mass. I got up to go. “Thank you I appreciate it,” he said shaking my hand. “Yeah, I’ll see you in Heaven,” I said and I headed off.
So Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed.
In Him,
Bob