Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed yesterday and is today walking with the Lord and in the light of His word. I had a good day on campus Tuesday and Vanna prayed to receive Jesus. Her story is below if you have the time to spend. Please pray she grows in her faith.

Vanna was sitting on a seat on the NE corner of the second floor BIC building. The classroom door was open just past us so I kept my voice down as we talked. She was wearing a grey V-neck top that did not meet the waste of her black pants. She had long straight brown hair with Latina coloring and a full mouth. Her hair was parted down the middle. She was pretty with rounded features. I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey. “Maybe,” she replied.  “Well,” I said “the big question is: You’re 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?” “I don’t know,” she replied. “Well, would you like to know what the Bible says is the answer to that question or not so much? I could show you the verses?” I asked. “OK,” she replied. So I sat beside her and got her name, I found out she went to a Catholic Church. And said, “This might sound familiar to you,” then began to explain the Gospel.  I said as I always do that knowing God is eternal life and this means He lives inside you. God has to make you His type so He takes away your sin so like a blood transfusion He can put the Holy Spirit in you and give you life. “God can’t be in the same place as sin. So what’s the big thing God does with Jesus that takes away your sin?” I asked. “He forgives you?” She said. I said He did and “this is how it works.” I showed her that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and there is life in Jesus’ blood. When He pours out His blood that pays God back for all we owe Him for harming His stuff. Then the credit from Jesus’ life, He earns the righteousness of God perfectly fulfilling the Old Testament Law, is credited to you when God adopts you. I said this was symbolized in the Mass or the Eucharist, the wafer is Jesus body and the wine is His blood. It’s reminding you Jesus died for you. “So when you take it you should just say thank You. The Greek word for Eucharist means thanksgiving.” “Oh,” she replied. So then all God has done is yours when you receive Christ. If you believe Jesus is God, died for your sins and rose from the dead. Not that you just know the story but that you place your trust in that to be forgiven. Then if someone asked, “Why should God let you into Heaven?” You’d say, “Because Jesus died for me.” That would mean you had faith in Jesus. By grace you are saved through faith. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done. Then His Spirit would live inside her to give her strength and take her to Heaven when she died. “Or do you think something else,” I asked giving her the cliff notes version of an Islamic God and of the Buddha. “That one,” she said pointing to the first option I had offered. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and reading it to her I asked if it expressed the desire of her heart. She nodded it did. So I said she could pray it silently, I wouldn’t hear her but God would hear and she’d know she was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” she replied and she prayed to receive Jesus. When she finished I explained the Christian life to her living “By the Spirit’s Power, Inside Out”. I gave her Bible Promises for You writing her name and the date and forgiven on the inside. I also gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet telling her a bit of Strobel’s story and saying there were some things in it about Easter. I gave her a Bible study explaining different ways Jesus claimed to be the God of the Old Testament. I used the example of Jesus walking on the water compared to Job 9:8 “He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea.” She did not understand the analogy. I used an illustration of Michael Jordan jumping for a dunk off the free throw line in a pickup game and someone seeing it and for the first time realizing it was MJ. Because he did something only MJ could do. She got it then.  I told her I would pray a Bible verse or part of one each day for her each day asking God to bless her from now until Spring and one year after. “I don’t know if I’ll see you again but I’ll be praying for you,” I said. “Well I wait here every day,” she replied. I said “OK,” and “I’ll see you in Heaven,” getting up to go. “OK I’ll see you. Thank you so much, have a nice day,” she replied. “OK,” I said and headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism this week. I’ll be back at it tomorrow on campus tomorrow Lord willing post kitchen sink plumbing project which went well.

In Him,

Bob