Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

 I hope you day was blessed today and you were encouraged in love. I had a couple brothers come up to me on campus and encourage me and Jessica and Panos each prayed with me to receive Jesus. That was a great blessing too. There stories are below if you have some time. Please pray they grow in their faith.

Jessica was up on the third floor BIC building sitting in a lounge with some vending machines in it. It looks down on an atrium. She had Latina coloring and was pretty with a sharp jaw line, had a piercing in her left eyebrow. She wore a shrink top and high wasted jeans. When I asked her what she would say to God if she died and were asked “Why should I let you into Heaven?” she replied, “I feel I’m a good person.” She thought she had a 60-70% chance of going to Heaven and went to church every week. I began to go through the Gospel with her and said knowing God meant He lived inside her. This was eternal life. I asked what Jesus had done to take away her sins so he could live in her. She could not think of anything so I said something like, “Well, this is how it works.” I explained the cross as the cleansing and payment for her sins. “So now you are alive inside and God can live inside you.” I explained the righteousness Jesus had earned and then she glanced at her phone so I knew she had very little time. I said God adopted her and skipped a couple summary sentences and said she could receive this by faith in that Jesus was God, He died for her sins and rose from the dead. Not that she just knew the story but that she put her trust in this so that if someone would say to her, “Why should God let you into Heaven?” you’d say, “Because Jesus died for me.” I asked if she’d want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done, then he would live inside her giving her strength by the Spirit and she’d know she was going to Heaven or thought something else, quickly explaining Islam as an example of a different God. “That one,” she said pointing at the circle with Jesus inside her. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I began to explain it and asked if it was the desire of her heart. “Yes, I’m praying it right now,” she said so I shut up and she said “Amen.” I explained a life “By the Spirit’s Power” living “Inside Out”. I quickly gave her Bible Promises for You. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside and said I would pray a Bible Verse for her until next Spring and one year after. “Thank you,” she said as she got up to go and I said, “God bless you,” and she headed out. A girl who was sitting about 8 feet from me jumped up to invite her to a Bible Study at the entrance but Jessica had to run. The girl was Christine who was a lifelong Christian but just starting to discover things in the Bible.  So I taught her some cool stuff, accidentally making her late by quite a bit for her Bible Study it turned out,. Fortunately, her teacher was a campus worker I knew who forgave me. She later emailed me (I imagine getting my email off the Bible Study I had given Christine) to say she was praying for me.

I had an older Indian gentleman want to pray over me in the hallway who I had met before, so he did. Later, a late 20’s black veteran, David, stopped me in the hallway after saying, “hi” at the sink in the washroom. He was encouraging me to keep after my calling and gave me a hug. Cool dude thin dude taller than me with a mustache and goatee and braids out of squared blocks on his head. I was grateful so I guess God thought I needed some encouragement.

Finally at the end of the day I met Panos. He was sitting just past the glass fire doors out of the hallway along the construction out of the SSC building. He was sitting in a big chair and I at first squatted beside him but that wasn’t working for my stiches so I pulled a chair like his over to sit on the arm. He had tight curls of sandy colored hair, a mop on top short on the sides and a rounded nose, block chin, clean shaven. I looked at some old Greek sculptures but I was wrong to think he looked like one. He had on a hoodie, dark blue or near black and white cargo pants. I asked him one thing he’s like to do before he died. “Be saved before I die,” he replied. I asked him what he’d say to God to get into Heaven, “You shouldn’t,” he replied. “Is there a but in there anywhere? I asked. “That depends on each person,” he replied. “I haven’t repented yet.” I asked the likelihood he would go to Heaven when he died. “Not likely,” he said sticking to his position. I explained to him also that God had to take away his sin to live inside him. “So what’s the thing Jesus does to take away your sin?” I asked. “He forgives you?” he said. I said it was true God forgives but the reason He does is because He gets paid. “The Bible says if you confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. God is just to forgive you because there was a payment for your sins.” I went on to explain the means of Christ’s blood to cleanse us of sin and make a payment to God. He gave verbal expressions of acceptance all the way through each point of the atonement and the righteousness Christ earned to His credit and that God wanted to adopt him. I said all this done for him could be had if he received Christ and then he’d be saved by grace through faith. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven trusting in Jesus so God could live inside him or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he replied. I said there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it. I asked if it was the desire of his heart. “I’m praying it now, yeah” he said. And he finished with Amen. I said the likelihood he would now be forgiven was 100% trusting in the righteousness of Jesus and His blood. I said, “It matters who does the work. Say I meet a billionaire and he owns a soccer team. I say I always thought it would be fun to pay in a soccer game. He says, ‘Well my team sucks there’s one game left and I’m going to fire everybody after so you can play for me.” So I play a game for fun and my reward would be I got to play in a professional soccer game. But if they brought in a real player to play for the day they might have to pay him thousands of dollars. It matters who does the work. Jesus is God so when he does the work it’s worth an infinite amount.” He got it. I explained living “By the Spirit’s Power Inside Out” and I gave him Bible Promises for You I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. “Thank you,” he said as I handed it to him. I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible Study I explained also. I told him I would pray a Bible verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after. I got up to go and he said, “Thanks I appreciate it, have a good one.” “Yeah, thanks for your time,” I replied. He said Sure.” And I headed off.

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

In Him,

Bob