Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with mercy peace and love from the Father. I had a good day on campus and Josh and Shey each prayed to receive Jesus. Please pray that they receive the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Their stories are below if you have a moment.

 Josh was sitting in the MAC arts lounge on the second floor at a counter height table at the furthest end from the front door. He had on a black NIKE windbreaker with a Michael Jordan silhouette and sweats. He wore a nylon cap tight to his head. He had a black beard along his jaw line; it didn’t grow under his lip and fanned out at his chin. His thin mustache squeezed in under a modest nose and full lips. He had a warm smile with a gap between front teeth, above average looking guy, nice. He was upbeat and willing to talk. The survey questions had made him think and when 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 said with a big smile, “You’re putting me on the spot again….” He thought a moment more and said, “I guess I would say something like, “I don’t think I’m obligated to go here [I think meaning God was not obligated to let him into Heaven] because nobody is perfect or anything like that, maybe compared to other people… I haven’t don’t anything like the worst things.” He thought for a moment and said, “That’s kind of judgmental.” I agreed that when you say you are good you really mean compared to someone else. He agreed. I asked what he thought the likelihood was he would get into Heaven. “I guess I’d give myself 50/50,” he replied. I asked if he went to Church and he said he had and did sometimes and was baptized. I began to go through the Gospel with Him and asked him what Jesus had done back in History to take away the sins of the world. He couldn’t think of anything at first but then it dawned on him and he said, “He died,” and I said, “Sorry too obvious.” He agreed and said he thought it might be a trick question. I began to go through the Gospel with him then explaining how the blood of Christ cleansed him and was a payment to God and I explained He earned God’s righteousness ad it was to our credit, “You don’t go to Heaven because you are perfect but because Jesus is perfect and you’re connect to Him. I explained that it mattered who did the work, when Jesus did the work it was perfect and used the fiction illustration I have explained before of my playing on a baseball team for a day and a real pro ball player getting a 100,000 just to play a half an inning and I just got a uniform. He liked it whenever I went into an illustration and was a bit more attentive. God adopted us and this had to be received by faith in the name of Jesus. So if someone would say to him, “Why should God let you into Heaven? You’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me’.” Faith saved him and his good stuff did not fix his bad stuff. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else giving him the quick version of Islam’s god and the Buddha. “So would you like to be forgiven trusting in Jesus? Then he would live inside you and give you strength take you to Heaven when you die?” “Yeah,” he replied. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I explained it and asked if it expressed the desire of his heart. He said it did so I said he could pray it silently right now; I wouldn’t hear him but God would hear and he’d know he was forgiven. “Wanna do that?” “Yeah maybe,” he said. “I just said, “OK, go ahead.” I wished later I had asked him if he wanted to pray, again, because I never nudge people. But he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus.  Said then the likelihood he would not be forgiven trusting in the blood and righteousness of Christ was 100%. I explained the Christian life reading the Bible and praying and he had a Bible so I said you could start in the book of John. I said if he failed to obey God He would forgive him right away because of Jesus. I explained living, “By the Spirit’s Power, Inside Out” I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. “Kind of a commemorative book,” I said and he smiled. I showed him how he could turn a verse into a prayer. I gave him, The Case for Christ Answer Book and said there might be one of the short chapters listed in the beginning he’d like since most were only 2 pages. I also gave him a Bible Study on Jesus’ claims to be God. I told him I would pray a Bible verse for him each day asking God to bless him from now until Spring and one year after. “I’ll see you in Heaven,” I said getting up to go. We shook hands and he said, “Yeah. Thanks.” And I headed off.

 Shey was sitting outside the SSC lounge on a bench in the sun. She’d been sitting a bit as I’d seen her from inside and came back and thought I’d see if she would talk. She was a tall back woman. She looked to be in her late 20’s or so and had a long angular face and chin like Sandra Bullock. She wore large back frame glasses, the old vintage looking kind someone would wear in a black and white movie. Hers said MK (for Michael Kors?) on the side. She had a silver nose ring in her septum. She had long straightened hair past her shoulders that was kind of flyaway in the breeze as we sat in the sun. She had on a black T-shirt and light blue jeans and athletic shoes. She was kind and friendly. She said she was a mom. I asked her one thing she wanted to do before she died and she thought for a long while and said she wanted to finish reading the Bible. She had 2 kids a boy and a girl, Olivia and Deacon. 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?” “Oh my gosh,” she said surprised. “After a minute she said, “If I’m going to be honest I’d probably question if I was worthy enough to be in Heaven.” I asked if she’d ever gone to church and she said she had when she was a kid but had been forced to go. “Bad taste?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said. “Not you,” I put in. She agreed. I began to go through the Gospel with her and when I asked she knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. I began to explain how that would work with the sacrifice of Jesus blood to cleanse her so God could live inside her and be a payment for sin, “Oh,” she said having understood it seemed for the first time. I explained that God’s righteousness, He earned by perfect obedience, was to her credit. God adopted her and she had to receive Christ by faith believing on His name. Faith saved her, her good stuff wouldn’t fix her bad stuff. I asked 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 and take you to Heaven when you died, or do you think something else?” I gave her the CliffsNotes version of Islam and the Buddha and asked again “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins?” “I would want to be forgiven,” she said frankly. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it and asked if it expressed the desire of her heart. She read it through silently and she said, “Yeah.” I said she could pray it silently and know she was forgiven. “Wanna do that?” “Yeah,” she said again and she prayed then to receive Jesus. I told her then the likelihood she would be forgiven trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus was 100%. I explained the Christian life to her. Praying and reading the Bible and recommended she begin reading in John. I said now that God would give her strength to live the Christian life “By the Spirit’s Power.” I said that the real difference between Christianity and other religions is in Christianity you ask Go to change you on the inside and then you become a good person and do good things on the outside. I told her I would keep her in my prayers and pray a Bible verse for her each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless her. I gave her Bible Promises for You and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. “Well thank you,” she said and shook my hand. “You’re welcome, I’ll see you in Heaven,” I replied. “Thank you, I’ll see you there,” she said and I headed off.

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

 In Him,

Bob