Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a good day today walking with the Lord so far. I had a good day on campus and Thomas and Mercy, each prayed to receive Christ today after I told them the Gospel. Their stories are below if you have the time today. Please pray they each grow in their faith.

 Thomas was sitting in the long wide hallway that runs along the bookstore. He was sitting in come stuffed chairs in front of a circular ottoman. He had real short reddish-brown hair and black rectangle rim glasses. He had a ready smile of small teeth. He’s a smaller guy and was wearing a blue hoodie and light blue jeans—kind of baggie bell-bottoms (like Sunday’s half time rapper so I guess they are trending). He had the book-smart look. He said he hoped he’d get a stable career. I asked, “Say you are 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?” “Heavy question,” he replied and thought a bit and said, “I’ve been following God my whole life. I’m a Christian, though I haven’t been to church a lot lately. I’m a follower of Christ.” He thought he had an 80-90% chance of going to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and told him God wanted know him, this meant to live inside him but the problem was sin. I asked him what Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world and he knew Jesus had died. So I went on to explained the sacrifice of Christ and His cleansing blood that also paid for his sins. I explained Christ’s righteousness to his credit. I explained what Christ had done for him was his by receiving Christ by faith. Grace by faith saved him not works. I showed him the two circles then one where he’d ask for forgiveness for his sins and Christ would live inside him by the Holy Spirit and then the other where God is on the outside of your life, as in Islam where their god does not live inside them, is not a father, did not have a son, there’s no sacrifice for sin so they have a different God and a CliffsNotes version of the Buddha. “So when you’re asking for forgiveness for your sins have you been thinking, ‘I know I’ll be forgiven ‘cause Jesus died for me’ or were you hoping you’re good enough for God to forgive you? I know you knew the story but do you think you have placed your trust in that?” “I haven’t really thought about it a ton, I’m not gonna lie,” he replied. “Well, if you’d want to be forgiven for your sins trusting in what Jesus did there’s a prayer you can pray,” I replied and I talked him through the prayer and asked reading the line, “It says here, ‘Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?’ So would you say it does?” “Yeah I think it does,” he replied affirmingly. So I said he could pray it silently, “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven. Wanna do that?” I asked. “OK,” he replied and he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to him living by the Spirit’s power and “Inside Out,” asking God to transform him into a good man to do good things. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I also gave him a Bible Study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I said that I would pray a Bible Verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless him. I told him the likelihood he would not go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus to be forgiven. “Thanks for your time, I’ll see you in Heaven. Have a good one,” I said getting up to go. “Thank you, you too,” he replied and I headed off.

Mercy was sitting in a stuffed chair in the foyer outside the cafeteria. She was kind of squeezed in just kitty corner from some Muslims who appeared to be having a bake sale with Qurans on the table. I slid a folding chair from a different table on the other side of her so we could talk. She was from Cameroon in Africa. “Oh that’s supposed to be nice, by the ocean right.” I said and she agreed it was nice there; she had a slight accent. She had a round face and cheeks and had traditional full lips and a cute smooth nose and a stout build. She wore Jeans and had a sweatshirt, not very tall. No hair was visible (so I assume it was short) and she wore a light blue denim hat, frayed around the rim like cutoffs. It looked the style like a sailor’s hat with the rim pulled down (think Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island).  I asked her what she would say to God if she died and were asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “I believe my lifestyle is going to tell Him. He’s not to be questioned. If he sees you [have been moral] then he’s going to give it to you. If you live right then you’ll get into Heaven. If you live wrong He’s not going to give it to you,” she replied. She thought she had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her as well and she knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. So I explained the atonement to her and payment for her sins in the sacrifice of Jesus blood, saying this was how God was paid. But He had to pay himself. Jesus’ righteousness could be to her credit and this was prophesied in Isaiah 61:10 and explained in Galatians 3:27 where Paul explains we are “clothed with Jesus”. Finally I explained receiving Jesus and grace by faith. I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus, then He would live inside her and give her strength and take her to Heaven or did she think something else showing her the two circles. She pointed at the circle with Christ seated on the throne of her life. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it and asked if it expressed the desire of her heart. She said it did. I said to her as well that she could pray it right now, I wouldn’t hear her but God would hear and she’d know she was forgiven. “Wanna do that?” I asked. Then kind of musically with a pitch she said “Hmm… OK,” deciding. She took the booklet then and prayed to receive Jesus. So that was great. I talked her through the booklet adding some things. She had a Bible to read. I told her everything in the Christian life was living by the Spirit’s power. “You might go to Church and they’d say, ‘You should do this, you should do that.’ And you think this is great but I’m going to forget this by Wednesday.” She agreed. “But if you want to in that moment you can say to God, ‘please make me this kind of person,’ then if you forget by Wednesday it does not matter because God is already at work. The difference between Christianity and other religions is that in other religious you do good things on the outside and the deity is pleased with you and takes you to Heaven or the universe is pleased with you and you don’t come back as a cow or something, that’s not true anyway. But in Christianity you ask God to transform you on the inside, then you become a good person and you do good things.”  That sounded good to her. I gave her Bible Promises for You and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” inside. I gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study on ways Jesus claims to be the God of the Old Testament. I got up to go and she said, “Thank you,” then she reached in her purse quickly and handed me a $5 bill. “Thanks that’s OK I said,” refusing the money. “People give me money so I can buy books to give to people so I don’t need it from you.” This seemed to please her as she smiled. I told her I would pray a Bible verse for her each day asking God to bless her from now until Spring and one year after. She was grateful and I headed off.

So thanks for your prayer for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob