Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day has been blessed so far with all good things from above. I had a good day on campus yesterday and Khalel [Ka lu], Vinny and Eldon each prayed to receive Christ Thursday. I had a good week where Jessica and Danny, Mimi [found out she prayed earlier in the month] Naomi and Zianna all prayed to receive Jesus. Please pray they grow near to God in faith.

Khalel was sitting in the big SSC lounge where we have Bible study if there is no event. They were giving out free pizza and he was sitting at a counter eating. He was a Black guy, had 6-inch braids on top and wore black sweats and a hoodie. He had classic black features and a bit of burgeoning facial hair. On a profile his face seemed to slope out to his chin like a ski jump. I asked if he would want to do a student survey and as he thought a second unsure 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 says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say? So would you like to know some Bible verses that answer the question or not so much?” “I’ll hear it,” he said. I began to go through the Gospel with him saying God had to cleans him of his sin and make him His type so He could live inside Him.  I asked him what Jesus had done back in History to wash away the sins of the world. “He washed us clean,” he guessed. So I began to go through the perfect life of Christ’s righteousness to our credit, the sacrificial blood to cleanse him and be a payment to God. This was his from God adoption. I said he could receive Christ by faith and all this would be his and faith saved him. I explained the circles as God living inside you by trusting in what Christ had done and the cliff notes version of Islam and the Buddha I nearly always say. I asked if when he asked for forgiveness for his sins if he was trusting in what Jesus had done. “I’ve asked for forgiveness but nothing like this,” he replied. So I said if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it asking of it expressed the desire of his heart. “Yeah,” he replied and so I said he could pray it silently and only God would hear so he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I began to go through the Christian life with him. He didn’t have a Bible so I gave him one and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I told him everything in the Christian life was by the Spirit’s power. “I got a class at 12:30,” he said then standing to put the Bible in his day pack. It was 12:30 already. So I said I would keep him in my prayers praying a Bible Verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless him and if I saw him again I’d give him a book. “Thank you,” he said and shook my hand and he headed off.

Vinny was sitting on a padded bench seat in the North side 1^st floor hall of the east most science building.  He had a mop of bleach blonde hair, clean-shaven, softer features, good looking kid wearing light blue jeans and a black long sleeve t-shirt. He did not want to do a survey saying he had a Bible study, later it seemed he was planning to start one with friends. I said the big question was, “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus. So you’re dead. And you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “I’ve been faithful,” he replied. He did not want to hear any verses. I said “Well think about it this way. Christianity is like a blood transfusion. I have A+ blood if you fill me full of B- blood I would clot up and die. So God wants to transfuse his life into you, fill you full of His Holy Spirit. But first he has to make you his type. So He has to take away your sin. So what’s the big thing Jesus does back in History to take away the sins of the world?” He thought about it and said something about Jesus had death. I agreed and began to explain what that meant, the blood to cleanse him. “Have you ever thought about that this is how God gets paid or heard of that?” He hadn’t and was interested now. So I began to explain how we owed God a perfect life [Matt 5:48]. I explained if he borrowed a friend’s car and dented the fender he’d have to “take it to a body shop they pop out the dent give it back to your friend everything’s fine. So when you borrow somebodies stuff you have to give it back to them perfect how you got it. Well everything belongs to God. So if I hurt you or I hurt me or I hurt the world somehow I owe God something perfect back. But if I am tooling around in the parking lot and I roll over your foot I don’t have an extra perfect foot to give to God. And I destroyed your quality of life. So I owe you life, I owe you a foot. I owe God life and I owe Him a foot because He gave you the foot.” “How do you pay?” he asked. “You can’t,” I replied. I went on to say Jesus is God and so His blood is filled with Life. So When He pours out His blood it pays God back for the imperfect things we have done that we owe God something perfect for. So the real reason God forgives you is He got PAID,” I said writing that in the booklet (as I had by now sat down and begun to explain verses to him). “By the blood of Jesus, but He had to pay Himself.” “You really explain this well. Do you teach a class here?” he replied. I said I taught a Bible study. He asked if I ever had doubts. I explained by now in life I know so much fulfilled prophecy and philosophy and then just going through life that I don’t have doubts. So as you go through life you get stronger in it. At the end I saw he needed to receive Jesus and the Spirit would lead him. I said all I say about the righteousness of God Christ earned and these things were all given to him as the blessings of God’s family through adoption. He needed to receive Christ by faith. Faith saved him. I showed him the circles as Christ living inside him trusting in what Jesus had done. “So when you’re asking for forgiveness for your sins have you been thinking in your heart I’ve been faithful so I think God will forgive me? Or were you thinking, I know I will be forgiven because Jesus died for me,” I asked. “I don’t know. I never really thought about it before. I think I just thought I was faithful. He hadn’t really seemed to understand the Gospel before or applied it to his life. He was a good person. So I said if he hadn’t ever asked God to forgive him trusting in what Jesus had done there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it saying he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven. He took the booklet and prayed the prayer out loud receiving Christ. He was sitting outside his classroom and students were filing in. I told him I would keep him in my prayers praying a Bible Verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless him. So I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside of Bible Promises for You and quickly handed him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I have to hope in that since I’d run out of time to talk to him about concerning doubts. I usually say more to a question like that but was concerned to get through the Gospel in the moment He asked. He thanked me and was off.

I walked by Eldon pretty sure I had not talked to him before but went on to the cafeteria. I found no one there to talk. God seemed to be pressing upon me to go back and talk to him so I returned down the hallway towards the bookstore and he was still sitting in one of the stuffed chairs by a coffee table. A recruiter for the Army was sitting at a counter height table in fatigues looking at his phone about 8 feet away talking to a student. Eldon had a rough afro about 2-3 inches high dark skin and small features and a pointed chin, smaller face. His skin was a bit beat up and he had a smaller stature. He wore light grey old school sweats and seemed like a nice guy. He said he just wanted to help other people. I asked him, “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus. So you’re dead. And you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “Honestly I wouldn’t know. I don’t know.” He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven and said he’d been to church but only for a few months at a time. As I went through the Gospel I asked him what Jesus had done back in History to take away the sins of the world. He knew Jesus had died. He was attentive and interested but simply listened without comment as I went through all the things I usually say to explain the blood and righteousness of Christ. I told him of adoption, His resurrection and receiving Christ by faith. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he replied. So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it and read, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” “Yeah it did,” he replied. So I said he could pray it silently and I wouldn’t hear him but God would hear and he’d know he was forgiven. ‘Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained to him then that the likelihood he would now go to Heaven, trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus was 100%. He had a Bible so I explained the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power. Christianity was inside out not outside in. “In other religions you do good things on the outside and the deity is please and takes you to Heaven when you die or the universe is pleased and you don’t come back as a cow or something. But in Christianity you ask God to transform you on the inside. You become a good man and then you’ll do good things.  Just ask God for help in all things. I told him I would pray a Bible verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless him. I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I also gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study. “I’ll keep you in my prayers. It was great to meet you,” I said getting up to go. “Great to meet you too,” he said with the most smile he’d yet shown. He enthusiastically added, “Thank you!” “You’re welcome,” I replied and I headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism this week if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob