Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Well, I hope you have had a fine day. Tate Committed to Christ today and Sean prayed to receive Him.
When I first got to school I went to my advisors office on the 3rd floor of the BIC to get some names he’d gotten for me for Bible study. He advises more than one of the Christian groups on campus and so kids ask for information from him. Then I headed down the hall. Tate was sitting dressed in black pants and jacket on a bench on the other side of the building. Dark brown hair cut short, couple random freckles, nice good looking guy, seemed pretty together. He said he’d give me a couple minutes. So I asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why he should be let into heaven. He thought for just a moment and said, “Look at my past.” Just to be certain what he meant I said, “That you had done enough good to go to heaven?” He said yes to that and sensing he wasn’t going to give me much time I asked him if he went to Church. He’d said he had a 95% chance to go to heaven so I assumed he did. He named a church and I asked, “Catholic?” “Lutheran,” he clarified. I said I had been raised Lutheran and asked him how God had taken away his sin, pointing out that God wished to live inside him with His holy Spirit, but his sin had to be removed first. He knew Jesus had died for him. I explained Jesus’ imputed righteousness with an analogy he liked and said, “So you don’t go to heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good.” So I asked, “When you ask for forgiveness because you’ve done something wrong, have you truly been trusting in that Jesus has died for you and so your sins are forgiven? Or are you thinking you are a good person basically, go to church and God is merciful and forgiving?” “That’s a good question,” he said after thinking a moment. “Because,” I continued “it seems like from your response you are trusting that you are good enough.” The light dawned then. “I don’t want to push too hard, but if you are not trusting in Jesus’ death and payment for your sins, you haven’t been forgiven for your sins and you won’t go to heaven.” He realized I was right. I explained he was in college and “You are a man. You have to decide these things. You grow up in the church and it is talked about. You go along with it because aren’t trying to raise the roof or anything.” He agreed. I took out the booklet and read a couple verses, since he already knew the Gospel absent the need to make a decision. I showed him the prayer and he agreed with it but wanted to pray it on his own. I said that was fine. He shook my hand and thanked me. “But tell me, do you believe Jesus is God and died for your sins and rose from the dead? And are you trusting in that as your only hope of being right with God and going to heaven?” He said he did. “Well, the Bible says if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead – so trust in the whole story – you’ll be saved.” He nodded and smiled, seemed like it helped. “So based on your confession, I’ll see you there.” He shook my hand again and said, “I’ll see you again.” “I’ll see you then,” I replied. And I got up to walk away and he thanked me again. I said, “Sure.”
Sean is a small guy. He had a mop of brown hair, parted towards the middle, and a couple days growth of beard. Nice looking kid. He was a quiet-spoken, kind guy. He had silver rimmed glasses, wearing a t-shirt and jeans and, believe it or not, was using a pink crochet hook to make something with bright green yarn. I didn’t ask. The project so far was only as big as a book mark. I asked Him why God should let him into heaven and he thought for a while saying, “That’s a good question.” And thinking more said, “I don’t know. I guess I would say I tried my best… ah, yeah.” He had gone to Lombard Bible Chapel as a kid and later a Catholic church, but gave no explanation for the change and didn’t seem to have gone anywhere of late. I began to go through the Gospel with Him and he was really interested, making eye contact as I gave explanation with Bible verses. A girl, Jelemy (Jell-a-mee) who was his girlfriend, came in and sat in the lounge and later sat beside him after he had prayed. He thought he had a 75% chance of going to heaven. He tracked well and understood the Gospel and wanted to be forgiven. I explained he could pray for forgiveness, walking him through a prayer in the booklet. I explained the work of the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life and Sean prayed silently to receive Christ after I told him to pretend I was not there. He took his time with it and then Jelemy sat next to us. I was offering him a book as she did and began to explain the Gospel a bit to her. She seemed reasonably sure she had been trusting in Christ, so I encouraged her to think about it and possibly pray later. I explained a bit more and repeating myself on several points, suggested Sean could explain it to her. I gave them both Bible Studies and Sean took The Case for Christ, which seemed to impress her as he did not take the shorter version of the book. She said she was not a reader but they each took a copy of The Bible Promise Book. She knew the fruit of the Spirit by heart in Galatians and so seemed to be from something of an evangelical background. I gave them a couple invitation cards for Compass Church in town. They gave me their email to send them a study and we said good bye.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed.
In Him,
Bob
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