Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with the knowledge of Him and His love for you in every place. I had a good day on campus Thursday and Ashley, Ohanny and Jasa [Jay Sha] prayed to receive Christ so that was great. Please pray they grow in their faith. Their stories/responses are below if you have some time. Everyone was a bit different.

Ashley was sitting at the end of the row of chairs at the end of the hall coming out of the SRC into across the SSC at a right angle to the hall going to the cafeteria. She looked between 25 and 30. She was African American and wore a green Camo print jacket and black leggings. She had straight hair in kind of a pixy cut, pretty classic black features, lips etc. She was friendly and said she wanted to travel. I asked her “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?” “Um, who… that’s a good question,” she replied and then said she really didn’t know so I asked what she thought it was you had to do on earth to go to Heaven when you died. “Living according to God, being a good person,” she replied. She had gone to Church when she was a kid. I asked her what she thought was the likelihood she would go to Heaven when she died, “10%’s low 100, you’re sure, 50/50 ya got a shot?” “I think I’ve got a shot. I don’t know if it’s 100%,” she replied. I began to go through the Gospel with her and saying Knowing God was eternal life, that God lived inside her but God had to take away her sin. I asked what Jesus had done back in History to take away the sins of the world but she could not think of anything Jesus had done. So I began to explain the Gospel to her in the way I usually do and I could tell she was believing all the Bible verses of the blood of Christ to cleanse her sin by His sacrifice so God could live inside her and His righteousness to her credit when God adopted her and made her His child. She needed to receive Christ by faith. I asked if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins. “Yeah,” she said. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked through it with her and asked reading,” Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” “Yeah,” she said again. I said she could pray it silently. “I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven, wanna do it?” “Sure,” she said brightly and she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her living “By the Spirit’s Power” and reading the quote in the booklet as I always do if there is time, “Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow Him to do in and through you empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do for Him through self-effort.” I explained, “So the difference between Christianity and other religions is that Christianity is inside out not outside in. Other religions you do good things on the outside and the deity is pleased with you and takes you to Heaven or the Universe is pleased and you don’t come back as a cow or something. But in Christianity you ask God to change you on the inside and you become a good person, then you will do good things on the outside because you were transformed by the Spirit.” I said then the likelihood she would go to Heaven was now 100% trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus. I gave her Bible Promises for You and wrote her name and the date and forgiven in the front, “Awesome,” she said after I had written she was forgiven taking the book. I gave her a Bible study on passages where Jesus claimed to be God. And also gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet to which she again said, “Awesome,” after I’d explained the content. I told her I didn’t know if I would see her again as the semester was ending but I would pray a Bible verse for her each day from now until Spring and one year after. She looked at her watch and said, “I gotta get to my bus. “See you in Heaven,” I replied and her eyes widened at the thought. “God bless you have a wonderful Christmas.” “Thank you,” she replied, “I appreciate you.”  “You’re welcome, I appreciate you too,” I responded, grateful to see her faith. And she headed off.

Ohanny was a Latino guy with a curly mop of hair and a square chin. I asked him if it was a family name but he didn’t know and I later looked it up on line and it seemed no one is really named that either so hey. He was clean-shaven, good looking with a slight build. He had a slight accent. He was sitting at the counter of the cafeteria. He wore pale purple baggy sweat pants and a black puffy waffle stitched coat. For 3 words to describe himself he just said, “Like my space.” 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?” “Well, I feel like at least for me I don’t see it as being a believer. Certain things I don’t agree on. [So] Just to be good, being nice to everyone shouldn’t be a problem,” he replied. I asked the likelihood he would go to Heaven when he died. “I hope it’s 50/50 I really honestly believe it’s 50/50 for everybody. At least how I see it people born in other religions still could be good people. Sometime more religious people are bad people,” he replied. “It says in the Bible that though some people are very religious God says, ‘Their hearts are far from Me,’” I replied in agreement. I said that the way I thought about people of other religions around the world if I met them I would tell them about Jesus. But as to where their relationship with God is it is really none of my business. I said God created them and as their creator God has a relationship with each one of them and what He is doing in their lives is up to Him. I said there were thousands of people in Iran for example Jesus was appearing in their dreams and telling them to pray to Him alone but not telling them much else so they were going out and finding Christians asking them what to do. He seemed to accept those ideas and I remembered later he’d said, “Liked my space.” So each person being know to God individually probably appealed to him on a personal level. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus was crucified to take away the sins of the world. I told him everything I usually say about the blood and righteousness of Christ and that he needed to receive this by faith. He leaned forward to follow the verses as I stood next to where he was seated at the counter. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done and he said, “Yeah.” I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and talked through it asking if it expressed the desire of his heart. He nodded in reply. I said he could pray it silently he acknowledged it did so I said he could pray it silently. Saying I couldn’t hear him but God would and he’d know he was forgiven, “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied and I think said, “Appreciate it.” He took the booklet and said, “The thing about me is this is the first time I have done this in English,” he added. He prayed to receive Jesus. I got out a Spanish booklet that explains the Gospel [a friend had given me a couple] and gave it to him saying he could read it if he wanted as it explained things in Spanish. When he finished I told him now the likelihood he would go to Heaven trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus was 100%. He said then when I asked he went to a Catholic Church. “You know how you take the Mass?” he nodded. “Well the wafer is symbolic of Jesus body and the wine symbolic of His blood so it is reminding you He died for you and you are forgiven so when you take it you should just say, “Thank You.” I explained the Christian life to him; he had a Bible so I said he could read in John. I explained living, “By the Spirit’s Power,” and then living “Inside out”. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front and he said, “Thank you, I really appreciate it.” I gave him a Bible study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I told him I would keep him in my prayers each day praying a Bible verse for him until Spring and one year after. He shook my hand I said, “Have a blessed Christmas you and your family.” “You too,” he said and saying he had to run to class I apologized for keeping him to long and he headed out.

I saw Jesa from up above over the glass belly high railed wall on the second floor of the Student Services center building. You can look down on an area where there is seating. I had met her the day before talking to a solid Christian guy I know, Jordan. He sits at a counter height table near where she was on Mondays. I can some days spend an hour answering Bible questions for him and other black guys near where she sat. Jesa is a pretty black girl her hair is past shoulder length and naturally in tight curls really full with some lighter tint in it here and there. She wore black leggings and a pullover sweatshirt. So I thought I would go down and see if she would do a survey. She was sitting alone with her back to the wall at a table for 4 and I asked her if she would do a student survey about God and stuff. “I got you,” she replied. So though I had only got her name before I think Jordan had told her about me as after I had left them and she was willing to help me out on my quest. She pulled her bag off the chair beside her so I could sit. I asked her one thing she wanted to do before she died and she just said, “Be happy.” She wore braces and was pretty with something of a button nose and otherwise classic American black features. I asked her, “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 don’t know,” she replied. I mean I don’t really think it’s based on your actions, I think it’s based on your heart. Some people have changed for the better. I think I have a good heart that’s why.” She thought she had a 90% chance of going to heaven and said she went to a Christian Church. I began to go through the Gospel with her and telling her knowing God was that He lived inside us and this is eternal life. I asked her what Jesus had done back in History to take away the sins of the world. “Well he did a lot of things, He floods the world,” she replied. I said, “Yeah, well this is what Jesus did.” I went on to begin to explain the Gospel and when she saw the cross she said, “Oh,” in a way that said she remembered now. I explained the blood of the sacrifice of Christ and the righteousness of God he earned to her credit when God adopted her. All God had done was hers if she received this by faith. Not that she just knew the story but that that is what she put her trust in as an adult so if someone would ask her, “’Why should God let you into Heaven?’ you’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me.’ That would mean you had faith in Jesus.” She was then saved by that faith. I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else, giving her the CliffsNotes version of Islam who had a different god or the Buddha. “Definitely that one,” she said pointing to the circle I’d described as God inside to give her strength and take her into Heaven when she died. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked through it and asked if it Expressed the desire of her heart. “Yeah,” she replied I said she could pray it silently and I wouldn’t hear but God would and she’d know she was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” asked. “Yeah,” she said and I handed her the booklet and she prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her living “By the Spirit’s Power” Christians are living “Inside out”. I gave her Bible Promises for You and wrote her name and the date and forgiven in the front and she said, “Thank you” grateful to see it written down as I handed it to her. I gave her a Bible study on passages where Jesus claimed to be God. And also gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I told her then, the likelihood she would now go to Heaven, trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus was 100%. I told her I would pray for her from now until Spring and one year after. “Thank you,” she said as I got up to go. “Thanks for giving me your time,” I replied. “Of course,” she replied cheerfully and I headed off.

The last guy I talked to was a Christian in the PE building, Burton, A tall lean black guy with an Errol Flynn mustache neatly trimmed afro. “I was gonna go home but this was why I stayed,” he said. “So you’d have some stuff to share with people?” I asked. “No for me,” he said with a smile, encouraged.

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

In Him,

Bob