Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord. It is pretty brisk outside here but the sun is shining. I had an excellent day doing ministry. Two students prayed with me to receive Christ, Jarius and Leah. And two other girls, Mardilyn and Kiana, listened to me go through the Gospel with them and committed to trusting in Jesus to pay for their sins and be forgiven. They had believed Jesus was God and died for sins, but had been hoping their good works would be enough to get them into Heaven.
Jarius was standing leaning against a table, looking out the doors in the PE building waiting for a ride. He’s an African-American guy, was wearing a hoodie with the hood up over his head, had some sparse growth of beard he was trying to get going. Average looking guy, full lips, fair complexion. I asked, “Ya wanna do a student survey for a Bible study on campus? What ya think about God and stuff?” “I’ve heard about that,” he said a bit dismissively. I said, “Yeah. Ya wanna answer the multi-million dollar question?” “Ok,” he replied. So I asked, “You’re walkin’ down the road and you get hit by a bus. Ya stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” Jarius said he was a christian and his dad was a pastor of a church “Just down the road” from here. He said “You keep the ten commandments and do good to other people.” “So you would say you go to Heaven by being good?” I asked. He qualified it a bit more with the same thing and I made sure he knew he was appealing to his own moral goodness to go to Heaven, asking him a couple more times. Suggesting he was not exactly right I asked, “Do you want to know what the Bible says about it?” “You can tell me what the Bible say,” he replied. So I took out a booklet and began walking him through the Gospel, explaining the merit of Christ, His payment for his sins on the Cross and saying, “So you don’t go to Heaven because you are good. You go to Heaven because Jesus was good. You should do good things to please God, and God wants you to do them so you don’t destroy yourself, because He loves you.” I gave him some examples of how sin might destroy him. I said, “It is good you are trying to do good things. Most guys around here are not even trying. But that does not get you to Heaven.” I explained the power of God living inside him to live the Christian life and giving him joy. He’d seemed kind of melancholy, might have had a hard day. He said he wanted to be forgiven with God living inside him when I asked, and decided to pray to receive Christ and did. His ride came and he talked them off on the phone, gaining a few minutes. I explained the work of the Holy Spirit in him and gave him The Bible Promise Book and a Bible study, quickly telling him Jesus had walked on water to tell us He was God according to Job. Just before he ran for the car and I grabbed his shoulder and said, “Feel the Joy man!” and he smiled finally at that and was out the door.
Leah was sitting, waiting for a ride outside the cafeteria. She was African-American, sounded suburban. She had a plaid coat on, zipped up to the top and black pants and boots, gray plastic-rimmed glasses and braces on her teeth. Her straightened hair made a lined row of bangs in a curl on her forehead. She was nice. I asked her what she might say to God if asked why He should let her into Heaven. “Well I would say that, I don’t know it’s… I’ve always been there to help people… I’ve always tried my hardest. I’ve always been there for people in need, not 100% pure but I tried my hardest.” She had gone to church some with her mom, at least in the past, who went to Bill Winston Ministries, which I had never heard of. She thought she had a 50/50 chance to go to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel and asked her what was the big thing Jesus had done to take away her sin. She struggled a bit and said, “I forgot.” But I could tell it was all news to her as I talked about the Cross and the righteousness of Christ [imputed] to her credit. I asked her if she would like to be forgiven, with God living inside her and she said, “I would like to be forgiven with God living inside me,” while shaking her head. So I walked her through a prayer and asked her if it was the desire of her heart and she said “Yes” nodding her head again. I told her she, “could pray it right now like I’m not even here. God reads your thoughts.” And she did. I gave her a Bible, since she did not have one of her own, The Bible Promise Book and a Bible study. I explained the life in Christ by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, Him creating His fruit in Her. I told her I would be praying for her each night for the next year and she was happy to hear that. As I got up to go she reached out to shake my hand and said, “Thank you Bob. It was a pleasure to talk with you.” “It was a pleasure to talk with you too,” I replied. “God bless you.” “God bless you too,” she said, “Thank you.”
I went into the Cafeteria then, finding no willing participants, and by the time I came out two Filipino girls had sat down in the same set of chairs where Leah had been. I walked past them as they were kind of talking, and then thought I should go back. They seemed hesitant to do a survey with me so I offered them booklets to read on their own. They accepted them and I began to explain the Gospel to them. Mardilyn had kind of cute, scrunched up face and Kiana had a wider, round face with almond eyes. Both wore their hair long, just past their shoulders. They had their coats on and I assume were waiting for rides. I started giving them illustrations and they were drawn in and listened to some verses. They admitted though they knew Jesus was God and died for sins and rose from the dead, they thought that they would go to Heaven because they were good enough. I said, “Do you want to trust in what He did on the Cross to take away your sins?” They both said they wanted to trust in Jesus’ work on the Cross to save them. I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to them then and encouraged them to pray the prayer I showed them, walking them through it, and to tell God they wanted to trust in Him as they had said to me. They were visibly happy then. I gave them each a copy of The Case for Easter to read and left them trusting in the Lord.
Earlier I had a great talk with a Polish girl, Alex. She did not know who to believe was God, though she’d grown up Catholic. The bottom half of her dark brown hair was tinted sandy blonde and she had a piercing in her lip. She had cute sharp features, wearing kind of workout clothes. She took the Student Edition of The Case for Christ and a Bible study. So I’ll pray for her to come in.
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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