Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you are having a great weekend walking with the Lord.  I had a short day on campus.  But Jacob and Keith both prayed to receive Christ.  Then Ellen and I took some of the girls out to lunch.  Two girls who have come to Christ, one awhile back, one this year and one we are praying for.

Jacob was on a couch in the PE lounge upstairs, sitting with a friend of his who was Roman Catholic and did not want to do a student survey. But Jacob did, and his friend listened in.  Jacob had gone to church when he was younger.  He had sweats on and stick straight light sandy hair, kind of an all-American looking guy.  He basically said he lived by the golden rule, though he wouldn’t have called it that.  “I’m honest with people and I treat people the way I like to be treated.”  He didn’t have any idea how God took away his sins though, and the Gospel was news to him.  But he wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Christ.  His friend took a booklet from me too and they both took Bible Studies.  Jacob took a copy of The Case for Christ to read.  His friend explained he was Catholic and knew “All this stuff” but wanted to ask me a question.  I said, “Sure what ya got?”  He basically had been through a hard time in some way he did not specify and wanted to know why God was not close to him through it.  I explained that since he had not trusted in Christ to take away his sins, God did not live inside him.  I told him a story to illustrate it..too long to tell here..and I said if God acted like He was his Father and met his need, drawing close to him and comforting him, but he was not saved he would still go to Hell when he died.  It would be unfair for God to give him this closeness and then he think things were right between him and God.  “Then when you stood before God He would say, ‘I never knew you.’ Then you might object telling God He had given you a feeling of comfort and closeness and you had felt like He was your Father.  But it turns out God was not your Father. God is withholding the closeness you want from Him so you will come to Him on His terms and will be saved.  Sometimes you may not feel God is close and it is just thoughts of Satan.  Once you trust in Christ you sometimes need to cling to the fact of that through painful circumstances.  But you have not trusted in Christ yet to forgive you for your sins so He can enter you.”  Jacob’s friend seemed to accept the explanation when I asked if that made sense.  I gave him a copy of Enjoying Your Walk with God by Steve B. Douglass that he wanted to read.

Keith was sitting in the hallway of the BIC waiting for his girlfriend to get out of class (Tara, who it turned out I had gone through the Gospel with before).  He was going to a good church and had come to it from Roman Catholicism.  We talked about a bunch of things and the specific words he used descriptively seemed very “Christian”.  He is African American, had stone washed jeans on, said, “I’m trying to bring them back” and a Bulls cap (though it turned out he was not much of an NBA fan).  He had a jacket on too.  We hit it off pretty well and as I went through the Gospel, explaining God wanted to live inside Him with His Holy Spirit but could not because of his sin (Rom. 6:23), I said, “So sin kills ya and God gives you life.  God can’t be in the same place as sin, so he takes away your sin so He can live inside.  Kinda like a blood transfusion.  I have A+ blood, so if you have A+ blood and you give me a blood transfusion I’m great.  But if you have B- blood I’m dead.  God wants to transfuse His life into you, but first he has to make you His type.  So he takes away your sin.  Then you are perfect and holy inside and He can live inside you.”  But Keith did not know how God took away his sin, so I taught him the Gospel and pointed out he had been trusting in his good works to save him.  He’d said he hoped his “rights would outweigh his wrongs,” and he hoped in God’s favor through that.  He was convicted and trusted in Christ.  When he prayed he took longer than anyone has, reading it through and reading then each section and closing his eyes and praying it.  I think possibly in his own words.  His countenance had changed when he was finished and he was extremely sober.  He took a copy of More Than a Carpenter from me to read and a bible study.  I explained the work of the Holy Spirit in him too.  Tara came then and I greeted her as she remembered me and gave her a quick hug.  Then I hugged Keith too and said I would see him in Heaven and ran to lunch.  He had real joy.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism on Friday if you had a chance.  God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

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