Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope your day was blessed in Christ and His benefits. I had a joyful day and Joi and Joy, two African-American students prayed to receive Jesus.
Joi was sitting in the Mac Lounge by the ground floor elevator on a bench. She had a black & white “Death Star” [a weapon in the movie Star Wars] t-shirt on and tights and a skirt. She’s a cute kid and was wearing black glasses and some random necklaces, powder blue nail polish and looked like the creative type.
She and her family went to church down in the city. She had younger siblings though, and it was kind of a drive, so they often went to Calvary Chapel on Rt. 59 not far from here and she liked that. It’s a good church. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “I would like to be reunited with my family… I’ve sinned many times in my life but whatever my life has shown to make me worthy… whatever makes it possible to be with the greater people.” She was pretty sure she’d go to Heaven, 90%. She listened attentively to the Gospel and seemed to know it in part. So at the end I asked her if she would want to be forgiven and she said she would. I questioned her more and she seemed to feel she had grown up kind of knowing the story, so I asked if she had been trusting in Christ and His work on the Cross to be the reason God forgave her. She said she needed to “look deeper” into that which seemed to mean take it to heart. She’d really just hoped she was a good enough person to go to Heaven, as her answer early on would suggest. She said she believed Jesus was God and had died for her and she wanted to trust in it and she prayed to receive Christ. I explained to her the work of the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life and gave her a Bible study. She wanted to read the Student Edition of The Case for Faith and she gave me her email so I could send her more stuff. She shook my hand and gratefully said it was nice to meet me, so that was great. She was a really likable kid and I told her I would keep her in my prayers.
Joy was sitting up in a lounge on the 3rd floor of the BIC building a bit later in the day. She was a pleasant, round-faced young woman with her hair in rows of braids. She was dressed in black. She also went to a church in the city and seemed to know a bit of the Gospel, in as much as Christ had died for her. She tuned in to the Gospel and seemed to like the explanations for it. I thought she was a Christian, but wasn’t sure since she had said she would say to God “Because I believe in you” for a reason to let her into Heaven. Kind of a generic response because it matters what you believe about God. But as I went through the Gospel she came to the realization that she had not been trusting in the atoning work of Christ to forgive her sins, but that she had been religiously good. She wanted to be forgiven, trusting in Him. So I walked her through the prayer and she prayed to receive Christ also. She took More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study and was appreciative and kind. I told her I would pray for her too.
I also had a great conversation with a black girl named Sharon today. She was an intelligent kid, wearing a flannel shirt and a sea shell necklace with black leather converse high tops on, petite. She really was interested in the Gospel and wanted to be forgiven. But having not gone to church since she was little, she wasn’t sure Jesus was God. So I gave her the Student Edition of The Case for Christ and a Bible study. In giving her my contact information later, I encouraged her to pray and ask God to show Himself to her and she agreed. I really liked her, so I hope she’ll come to Him. I’ll be praying for her too, that the Holy Spirit might wrinkle in and she will believe.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed and I had good conversations.
In Him,
Bob
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