Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Alexa and Vell each prayed to receive Jesus today. Their stories are below if you have time. Please pray they grow in their faith.  I went through the Gospel with Max a sandy haired guy (had a mop of straight hair combed raggedly forward) who wanted to keep the booklet and think about it, he also took a Bible study. I had a long talk with John, the guy in the works righteousness cult on campus, on the idea that you must be baptized to be saved. He is a former Muslim. He added to passages; it was interesting how he used the idea of context to add a different idea. He had no answer for how the Spirit would enter you as soon as you believed [Eph 1:13] if you were not cleansed of your sin by faith before any baptism. I agreed one should have been baptized in their Christian life but not that it contributes to your salvation.

Alexa was sitting in the south hallway of the west-most Health and Science buildings. She wore long jean shorts and a pink long-sleeved top. He had long brown wavy hair parted in the middle a diamond shaped face with pronounced cheeks, she wore red lipstick and had lined on a slash off the corner of her eyes like a comma. She was a kind person. She was shorter and thin, looked Latina. I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven if she was hit by a bus and died. “Oh that’s a good question,” she replied as she began to think. “I guess I like, pray every night.” She thought she had a 90% chance of going to Heaven and said she went to Church occasionally. I explained that God wanted to live inside her, transfuse his life into her with His Holy Spirit, like a blood transfusion. The problem was sin and I asked what Jesus had done in history to take away her sin. “He was crucified,” she replied. I agreed and went then through the Gospel with her telling her of the Blood and righteousness of Christ. I said God adopted her and all this was hers by faith. If she received Christ, if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead, this was faith. So that if someone asked her why should God let you into Heaven she would then say, “Because Jesus died for me.” I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in what Jesus had done or thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,” she replied. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her though the prayer and asked if it expressed the desire of her heart. “Yeah,” she replied. I said she could pray it silently and asked if she’d like to. “Um hum,” she replied and she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. When she finished I told her I would pray a Bible verse for her each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless her. I explained living by the Spirit’s Power. I said the likelihood she would now go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus. I gave her a Bible and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave her Bible Promises for You and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study. I got up to go and she said, “Thank you.” “You’re welcome I’ll be praying for you. And I headed off.

I came across Dom a friend from last year who I occasionally had a Bible Study with sitting in the Cafeteria with John who invited me to enter into a discussion on Baptism they were about to have, Dom was relieved to see me. After John left we stayed at the table and talked a bit and Vell came over to say hi to Dom. Dom is a very likable and good-looking guy and knows a lot of students. Vell was wearing a grey watch cap and light grey sweats. A good-looking African American with a small face, he had earrings, something of a mustache and goatee. Vell gave me an acknowledgement nod and Dom sort of introduced us unsure if we’d met. So I asked Vell his name again and since he had a 50-cent size cross around his neck I asked if that was just decoration or meant something to him. He pushes up his left sleeve a bit to show me a tattoo of a large cross with rays coming out it. “OK,” I said. “You wanna hear the Big metaphysical question?” “OK,” he said a little begrudgingly. “You’re walking down the road, 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,” he replied. “I’m working that out.” “Well, you got like 2 minutes for me to show you something?” I asked. He said OK again less than enthusiastic as he’d just walked over to say hi, Dom said he could sit down, he’d stood up to greet Vell but I said he could stand it would be quick. I began to go through the Gospel with him. He liked all the word pictures and it began to win him over or God just gave him ears to hear as likely. I asked what Jesus had done to take away his sins back in the say. “I don’t know,” he replied. So I began to explain the blood of Christ to cleanse him and be a payment for what we owed God. I explained the righteousness of God and said he had to receive Jesus. It was all novel to him as I told him Isa 61:10 and Gal 3:27 as it’s fulfillment saying, “So you don’t go to Heaven because your good you go to Heaven because Jesus is good and you’re connected to Him.” I explained God adopted him and he needed to receive Jesus by faith for all God had done to be his. By grace he was saved through faith. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done. “Yeah,” he replied. So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was so I said he could pray it silently, we wouldn’t hear him but God would hear and he’d know he was forgiven. He agreed and he prayed then to receive Christ. I gave him Bible Promises for You and write his name and the date and forgiven!” on the inside and he smiled a big smile. I explained living by the power of the Holy Spirit. I told him I would pray for him each day a Bible verse for him from now through Spring and one year after. I also gave him and Bible study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. He gave me a side by half hung while shaking my hand and was grateful. His friend a Christian I’d met, Jordan, then walked up and we talked about the idea Jordan and Dom might come to Bible Study. He was going to one in the PE building at 2:30 a guy had invited him to do one. Dom checked and it wasn’t with John.  So he headed out.

So Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob