Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your week was blessed with the favor of God in Christ. I had a good last week on campus for the semester. A girl, Olga received Jesus on Monday then for a couple days I was spending time with some lost students I know. Thursday Noah and Tony prayed with me to receive Christ. So I was grateful for God’s blessing to wind things up. Their stories are below if you have some time you wish to spend the time. Please pray they grow in faith. 160 Students prayed to receive Jesus after I told them the Gospel this school year, either in front of me or I found out later and about 7 others seemed close. Thanks for the blessing of your prayers this year if you had a chance.

Noah was sitting at a table by himself in the cafeteria. He was from Bloomington IL and had come up here to play football. He was returning home to attend community college near him, as the expense of living up here had not proved valuable enough. Sometimes it just takes a year for guys to give up on football so that might have been it. He was a white guy wearing a maroon T-shirt and grey old school sweats. He looked like a classic stereotype of a farm kid. He had a boyish looking oval face with real short hair and was a big dude. I asked him one thing he wanted to do before he died and he said “Skydiving”. I said as I often do there’s an airport nearby and a lot of kids say that and it’d be a fun way to meet your wife. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “I don’t know, I’m a sinner just like everybody else,” he replied. He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. He’d gone with his family to a Methodist church. (I told him I had once been a Methodist Youth Pastor). His family moved and the church was too far away and they hadn’t liked their new one as well. I said when a smaller church is a place where you know everyone it’s hard to get that back if you leave it and he agreed. I began to go through the Gospel with him He knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. He liked all the analogies responding periodically with a grin. God wants to know and live inside you, that’s eternal life, “like you’re the Energizer Bunny and God’s the batteries.”  “Christianity is like a blood transfusion.” And, “The real reason God forgives you is He got paid.” I explained he needed to receive Christ, “Not that you just know the story but that that’s what you put your trust in, so if someone would ask you ‘Why should God let you into Heaven?’ you’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me’.” I said this was faith and faith saved him. I asked if he’d want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done, then He would live inside him and give him strength (describing the circle on the right with Jesus on the throne of his life) and take him to Heaven when he died. Or did he think something else? I gave him the cliff notes version of Islam and the Buddha. “I’d be the guy on the right,” he replied. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there’s a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it and asked if it “expressed the desire of his heart”. “Yeah,” he replied. I said he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven and asked if he’d wanna do that? “Yeah,” he said and took the booklet and said, “Thank you.” He finished after a bit with an “Amen.” He handed me back the booklet saying, “Thank you,” again. I told him then the likelihood he would go to Heaven was now 100% trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus. I went through the Christian life with him. He had a Bible. I explained living “By the Spirit’s Power”. So first asking God to transform you and then as a transformed person doing good things by His power, “Inside out”. I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and forgiven in the front. I gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet and a Bible Study on ways Jesus claims to be God from the Old Testament.  “Awesome to meet you Bob,” he said shaking my hand. We talked about his future a bit given his geographic home in IL I asked if he liked farming. He said less than some guys he knew. We talked about the undependable nature of machines in an AI world for farming. I got up to go and told him I would pray a Bible verse for him each day asking God to bless him for the next year. “Awesome to meet you Bob,” he said again with another shake of my hand and a big smile. “Great to meet you too,” I said and headed off.

I came across Tony sitting at a table just on the side of the foyer of the first outside 2^nd floor doors to the BIC. It’s a little lounge with an elevator across from it right beyond the SSC Lounge they just reopened. He had swept back dark hair, shorter on the sides and looked Middle Eastern in coloring. He had on a black T-shirt and sat the entire time. He was average looking guy, clean-shaven. He was just looking at a black laptop. I asked him if he wanted to do a survey and he said, “OK.” His bucket list was too long to pick one thing but he thought of himself as a “resilient, passionate” guy. I asked what he would say to God if he was killed by a bus and He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Oh, you shouldn’t let me in,” he replied. Then added, “Just being realistic here.” I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven when he died. “I would say 50/50. That’s fair.” I asked if he went to Church and he said he did saying, “I’m Coptic. I’m a Christian. I’m Egyptian.”  I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had been a sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. He took everything in attentively. The atoning blood of Jesus to cleanse him and as a payment to God. I explained the Righteousness of God Jesus earned (Isaiah 61:10 and Gal 3:27) and that he would not go to Heaven because he was good enough but because Jesus was good and he was connected to him. “Like if you marry a millionaire you got a million bucks or if you get adopted into a billionaire’s family you get to live in the mansion and drive the cars,” I explained. I said God wanted to adopt him and give him the blessings of His family. “He gives you the sacrifice for your sins the blood that cleanses you and the righteousness of God that surrounds you. So you got some place to go, Heaven, something to wear when you get there, the righteousness of God.” I said he needed to receive Jesus placing his trust in the Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead to be forgiven. I asked if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he replied. I talked him through the prayer and asked if it expressed the desire of his heart. “Um Hmm,” he agreed it did. So I said he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven, “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven,” I said. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied and he silently prayed to receive Jesus. I explained then that if he was now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be His righteousness and His blood to save him the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He had a Bible. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I also gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible Study and explained it a bit. I told him I would pray a Bible verse for him every day for the next year. “Thank you for your time,” he said shaking my hand. “See you in Heaven,” I replied. “Hopefully,” he replied. “No I’m sure, I’ll see you there,” I replied. “Thank you for your time,” he said shaking my hand again with a big smile. And I headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry this school year and for evangelism last week if you had the time. God has truly blessed this year.

In Him,

Bob