Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and God gave you the strength to do all the good things the faith He’s placed in you prompts you to do. If in IL I hope ya got to vote. I had a good day on campus. Nina, Valariia and Antanyia [ann ta nee ah] prayed to receive Jesus. I also came across David. I had been praying for him and praying I could find out if he’d prayed to receive the Lord; he committed to Christ last we spoke. He had prayed; I told him I had been praying for him and gave him another book. Caitlin had long straight thin hair and wire rimmed semi round glasses and a red birthmark dot on her temple the size of a BB; Pretty, frank face. Her boyfriend is a Christian; she was grateful to hear the Gospel. After hearing she was between a decision but thanked me. She really liked the way I went through the verses with humor she said. Some people don’t see any humor in it, but I change the way I say it depending on how serious they are sometimes, it came out that way for her by providence I believe. I gave her the booklet saying if she decided the prayer was the place to begin and explained it and living by the Spirit’s power. She took The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I feel sure she’ll come to the Lord in the future now, understanding everything. She’d just begun to consider Christianity after several different exposures in different sects through life, grew up Lutheran for a minute, spent some time in the Methodist Church, played softball at a Catholic school.  Please pray these students are sanctified by the Spirit.

 Nina was sitting at the counter in the cafeteria that runs the glass wall. She had a cute smaller face with a pointed chin and reddish-brown long hair just past her shoulders. She wore no make-up had thin lips. She wore leggings red velvet Bundt cake color tucket into black short boots and a pink hoodie with printing on it I never made out.  She seemed in a hurry so I went through as quick as I could. 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?” “Hm, wow. That’s a good question,” she replied. She thought a bit and then said, “I believe in you.” I asked her the likelihood she would go to Heaven and she said, “100%.” I began to go through the Gospel with her. I said knowing God was eternal life and that meant God wanted to live inside her so she would be one with God. I asked her what Jesus had done back in History to take away the sins of the world. She thought about it but could not think of anything. So I said something like “This is how it works.” I said all I usually say about the perfect life of Christ, the sacrifice of His blood as a payment to God. His righteousness inherited through adoption and the resurrection and salvation by faith. “So the last question is what kind of person are you or would you want to be? Would you want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus has done? Then His Spirit would live in you by faith; He’d give you strength for everything and take you to Heaven when you die. Or do you think something else?” and I gave her the brief Islamic God idea and the Buddha as options. “I’d be the first one,” she replied. I asked her, “If you’d want to be forgiven there’s a prayer you can pray and went through it and she read it as I did and said, “OK.” “Amen then,” I replied and I began to go through the Christian life with her. She said she wanted a Bible but then remembered she had a small one and she’d like to use that. I gave her Bible Promises for You. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. “Thank you she said with a pleased smile. I also gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study explaining that and Strobel’s story. 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. “Thank you,” she said again her face bright. I said if I saw her I’d give her a wave and headed off. I sat at a nearby table and realized I left the questionnaire card there and went back and got it saying, “I have to write down what you look like so I can remember when I pray for you.” She smiled warmly and I went back to sit and she gathered her things and left. I saw she had 5 minutes to get to class.

I was walking on the south side of the BIC and about to enter the tunnel over to the PE lounge when I got a nudge to turn and go to the MAC Arts building instead. So I just headed over there via the other tunnel in the hope God had an appointment. I came across Valeriia. She had a slight Eastern European accent. Her brown hair was parted down the middle, a little wavy and a bit fly-away. She had a round end on the tip of her nose; a cute narrow face and her teeth had some gaps on the side. She wore light blue jeans and a white sweater with narrow horizontal green stripes separated by 5 inches. She was a very nice person. She said she wanted to have a family. “Yeah someone to love ya when ya get home, your kids run up and greet ya, stuff like that.” She agreed. 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?” She thought for a moment and said, “Because I tried to spread His love with other people.” “Great,” I replied. She thought she had an 80% chance of going to Heaven. She said she hadn’t been to Church in a while, “But I’ve been meaning to go back.” I began to go through the Gospel with her and when I read John 3:16 she said, “That’s beautiful. Thank you.” I continued through the Gospel explaining everything as I always do and she knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. I explained He lived a perfect life for us; the sacrifice of His blood cleansed us. His righteousness earned by perfect obedience and fulfilling the Law was to our credit. As I made each point she gave some form of verbal ascent with an agreeing sentence. I said He rose and was the only way and then said she was saved by receiving Christ; believing on His name, that He was God died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Not that you just knew the story but that that’s what you put your trust in so that if someone were to say to you, ‘Why should God let you into Heaven?’ You’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me. That would mean you had faith in Jesus.” I read then and said, “For it’s by grace you have been saved by faith, it’s just faith.” “Oh,” she said realizing. I asked if she would want to be forgiven or thought something else and then asked, “When you are asking for forgiveness have you been thinking, you believe in God and He would be magnanimous and forgive you, or were you thinking, ‘I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me’? Or hadn’t you really put it all together before?” She shook her head saying Yes to the last idea. So I said, “If you’d like to be forgiven there’s a prayer you can pray.” I talked her thought it and asked if it expressed the desire of her heart. She said it did; I said she could pray it silently. I wouldn’t hear her but God would hear and she’d know she was forgiven. She took the booklet then and prayed to receive Jesus. She thanked me and said something like it was, “beautiful.” She had a Bible and I went through the Christian life with her living by the Spirit’s power, inside out. I gave her Bible Promises for You showing her how to turn one into a prayer. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I said it was the easy English version and said she might like her Bible better. “That’s the one I have,” she said. “An NIV.” “Oh great that’s fine,” I said. I explained the symbolism in the mass as she said she had gone to a Catholic Church and said, “When you take it you can just say ‘thank you’, remembering He died for you so you are forgiven.” I’ve only once had a Catholic express a belief in “Transubstantiation.” So I don’t explain that. as it is extra Biblical. It is actually nonsensical as Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” And if He was actually in it as blood and flesh you would not be remembering Him, but experiencing His physical body. The problem that His body is glorified now is also a theological issue. There’s a great deal you would just have to make up which would lead to questions for which there’s no Biblical understanding. I gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study explaining “Walking on the Water” and Strobel’s story. 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’ll see you in Heaven, it’s a big place but we might bump into each other.” “That’s really nice, no one ever said anything like that to me,” she replied. “God bless you,” I said. “God bless you too,” she replied and I headed off.

As I was headed out with my coat on, thinking I wanted to get to the polling place before the after-work crowd might appear, I walked past Antanyia. She sat a t a counter height table just outside Satbucks. I thought I might not have asked her before and since she was looking down I looked back to try see her face. I couldn’t see it but thought I’d just ask and if she looked up and I recognized her I’d apologize and say have a good day. She looked up and had a cute circular face with a small nose and full lips and milk chocolate brown skin and I knew I’d not seen her before. She wore a purple hoodie and sweats that matched. She had long braids to about her elbows and they had brown highlights in them, African American. I asked her if she’d want to do a student survey for a Bible Study group. She said she didn’t have time right now to go to a Bible study. She was a nice kid. I tried to explain it was just a questionnaire. And then said, “The main 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 it’s really the answer to that question? So would you like to hear the Bible verses that answer that and tell you how you get to Heaven or not so much?” “I don’t know them,” she replied, “OK.” So I asked her name and wrote it on my hand and got the spelling later. I asked her if she knew what Jesus had done back in History to take away the sins of the world.  “I don’t know,” she replied after a moment of thought. So I explained the gospel to her and said everything I always say about the blood and righteousness of Christ, His sacrifice to cleanse her and be a payment to God. God adopted her and gave her the blessings of His family. I said she needed to “believe on His name,” and receive this by faith; her faith saved her. She tracked well with all of it. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in what Jesus had done, “Then He would live inside you and give you strength, take you to Heaven when you die. Or do you think something else?” I told her them Islam had a different god who did not live inside people he was not a father because he did not have a son and there’s no sacrifice for sin. I explained the Buddha a bit. “The first one,” she replied. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it and read asking, “It says here does this prayer express the desire of your heart? So would you say it does?” “Yeah,” she replied. 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 that?” “Yeah,” she replied and she took the booklet. “Just pretend I’m not here,” I said and leaned down to the floor to get books out of my pack. She said, “OK’. She prayed then to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her. She had a Bible and I explained living by the Spirit’s power inside out. I said the likelihood she would not go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus. I asked if she ever went to Church. She said she went to Church, “Sometimes”. “Well, now you know what is going on there,” I said. She agreed. I gave her Bible Promises for You. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I also gave her a Bible study explaining it by retelling the miracle of walking on the water and she smiled throughout. I told her I would pray a Bible verse for her each day from now until Spring and one year after. “Thank you so much,” she replied.  “If I see ya I’ll just give you a wave. “Thank you, nice to meet you,” she replied. “Nice to meet you too,” I said and I headed off. I sat down around the corner to write some notes down. I hadn’t given her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet as I had run out of them but I remembered I had The Student Edition of The Case for Faith in the back pocket of my daypack. So I got it out and brought it over to her and asked if she liked to read. She said she did. I explained Strobel’s story and said she might enjoy reading it over Easter Break. “Thank you,” she said and I said, “Sure,” and headed off.

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

In Him,

Bob