Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ.

I hope ya had a blessed day walking with the King. I had a good day on campus and Nick and Jonny each prayed to receive the Lord as their savior by His blood and righteousness. Please pray they grow in their faith and commitment to Christ. Their stories in brief are below if you have some time you want to spend. They were the only students I was able to go through the gospel with in several hours on campus today.

 I got to campus and got buttonholed, by a student who is a little unstable and has been there for 10 years (sort of spinning his wheels). Today he had some Latin words he was misinterpreting to tell me. He then made up an interpretation for a patch on my coat. When I finally split from him I headed up stairs.

 I was a bit frazzled trying to navigate my first conversation, not really sure why. But I somehow knew I was supposed to look for someone in the cutouts that overlook the SSC lounge (where we have Bible study) from the 3^rd floor. Nick was sitting in the last of them and said he would do a student survey. He looked like a stereotypical Italian guy, though tall, had a boxers nose a bit swollen in the beak. Good-looking guy with straight dark brown hair split I the center randomly with hooks of bangs. He had a black t-shirt on and light gray sweats and looked fit. He wanted to travel. 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?” He thought for a moment with an “Um…” then said, “I’d say that I’ve only been helpful and respectful to my parents and those I love.” I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven when he died and he said, “I don’t really know how that works,” he replied but then decided it was 100%. I asked him if he went to church and he did sometimes, but wasn’t that into it. “I guess I’d say I’m lukewarm,” he replied. I began to explain the Gospel to him and he knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world saying when I asked, “He died for us.” I began to explain things using illustrations with the blood of Christ cleansing him and being a payment to God. I explained the righteousness of God Jesus earned and he said matter-of-factly, “What’s your point?” “That you don’t go to heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good and your connected to Him,” I replied. “OK,” he said accepting the proposition. I showed him the passage where Jesus rose and said that this was all received by faith. Not just knowing Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead but placing his trust in what Jesus had done. “So if someone were to ask, ‘Why should God let you into Heaven?’ you’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me.’” That would mean he had faith in Jesus. And faith saved him. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. He said he would want to be forgiven. 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 expressed the desire of his heart. He said it did, I said he could pray it silently and I wouldn’t hear him but God would and he’d know he was forgiven. “This?” he asked. “Pray right now?” he asked. “Yeah,” I replied. So he took the booklet and prayed out loud to receive Christ sitting alone with me in the cutout.  When he finished I said, “The likelihood now you are going to Heaven is really 100% trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus.” “It’s really either zero or 100%,” he replied realizing. I agreed. His family had a Bible but he said he’d like one of his own. So I gave him one showing him some of the study aids, cross-references and concordance maps and such. I put the ribbon maker in John. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I gave him a couple Bible studies. “I guess I wasn’t really as interested in this because my friends who are religious are some of the worst people I know,” he replied. We talked about how hard it was to know what is true right now and I agreed. I used the example of the manual for your car and the light on the dashboard. I said I’d owned a Toyota but now own a Nissan truck. A light went on, on the dash, I thought it was a break light (from what I watched a YouTube) but when I showed it to a mechanic friend he looked at my breaks saying they were fine and then looked at the light. He said it was a low tire light. But he knew that from the manual for my car. Otherwise I couldn’t find out what the light meant. I explained that the Bible was the manual for humans. When things go wrong it tells us why and also how to live. He talked about all the voices on social media and all the lies. I said a lot of influencers were sociopaths, they say 1 out of 100 are, so they just lie to get clicks and followers. They might not even believe what they are saying. The Bible was the truth. We have a Christianized culture I said, but that is going away and people do not know how to live anymore. I explained the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power, “Inside Out.” I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and Bible Promises for You. I said I would pray a Bible verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless him. “Thanks for talking with me,” I said. “Thanks for talking with me too, I’ll see you around. Thanks for all this,” he said gesturing to the books and the Bible. I said he was welcome and headed off.

 Jonny was sitting in the upstairs PE lounge his back against the glass wall. He looked Southeast Asian if I were to guess. He had a very large nose for his face with small bumps on it, brown skin and otherwise sharp features. And a warm smile, he was tall and thin and wore a hoodie, green pants cut off at the ankles and had stick straight hair that poured out from under a black ball cap with white letters. He seems like a nice guy. I asked him one thing he would want to do before he died and he said, “Love everybody.” I said that seemed good to me but there were some people I would prefer to love at a distance, thinking of a few dangerous people I knew of. 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?” “I don’t know, only if it is your will,” he replied. I asked what he thought it was that got him into Heaven and he said, “Love others, let God love me,” he replied. He thought he had a 50% chance of getting into Heaven. When I first asked him if he’d do a survey he asked how long it would take so I went as fast as I could through the details. Saying, “The rest of this is about what you think of Christianity. Christianity is like a blood transfusion,” I said. God wants to transfuse His life into you, live inside you with His Holy Spirit but first He has to make you His type. So He takes away your sin, then you are perfect and holy inside and you match God and he can live inside you. So what’s the thing Jesus does back in History to take away the sins of the world?” I asked. “He dies on the cross,” he said. “Right,” I said and then pulling out the booklet I quickly explained the blood that cleansed us and was a payment for sin and righteousness of Christ, saying, “Paul says, ‘It is not by my own righteousness but the righteousness that is by faith.’” I read the verses on the resurrection, Christ as the only way and that we were yet sinners when He died for us. I said then he was saved by faith saying all I usually say from there. I said the last question of the survey is would you want to be forgiven for your sins trusting in what Jesus had done or did he think something else. Then I gave him the brief summary of Islam and the Buddha. “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins?” I asked again. “Yes absolutely,” he replied. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I talked through it asking if it expressed the desire of his heart. “Yes I think so,” he said. So I said he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven. “Wanna do that?” I asked. “Sure,” he replied. And he prayed to receive Jesus. He crossed himself finishing and I explained the Christian life to him living by the Spirit’s power, “Inside Out.” He had a Bible so I gave him a Bible Study and Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I said that now trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. 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. He asked my name again I told him and I said it was on the back of the booklet and my email was there if he had any questions. “If I see ya again I’ll just say hi, but I haven’t seen ya before so who knows.” He thanked me and I said, “I’ll see you in Heaven.” I started to walk away ad he said, “See you at the Eucharist.”  In some churches the Eucharist is referred to as the “marriage supper of the Lamb,” in Heaven. So I think that’s what he meant. I 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