Hey Brothers and sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you were able to trust God did good things, regardless of the visible outcome you had to experience. Two students prayed with me to receive Jesus today, Shane and Taylor.

Shane was sitting in the hall in the science building waiting for his class to begin. It made me want to rush each of the 8 times he looked at his watch. He had straight dishwater blonde hair combed forward, thick wire framed glasses and a blue shirt and shorts on, a couple days growth of beard on his face. Nice guy kinda bookish looking. He really struggled with trying to describe himself in the survey. It turned out he hadn’t been to church as a kid but a friend had taken him to a bible study group in High School. He thought he had at least a 50%+ chance to go to Heaven, “But I don’t know how much over that,” he opined. In responding to what he’d say if God asked him why he should be let into heaven he said, “The way I try to live, I try to help people around me, live a life worth living and make sure others do. I try to live around others who aren’t a bad influence.” As I went through the Gospel he knew some of it. When I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins he said, “The Cross”. He wanted to be forgiven for his sins so I asked him, “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rose from the dead?” “Yes,” he said firmly. “Well if you would like to place your trust in that there is a prayer you could pray,” I replied. I talked him through the prayer and wondered for a second if he would have time since he’d told me when his class began and he did not look like the kind of guy who would be comfortable being late. But he glanced at his watch and said, “I guess I have a couple minutes to do that.” And he silently prayed to receive Jesus. I explained that since, if he was now trusting now in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, the likelihood that he would go to Heaven was 100%. He had a bible but took a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I wrote his name and the date he had received Christ in it explaining anything the book suggested he need to do should be done in the Spirit’s power, he also took a Bible study. I gave him a link for the Compass Church Website to listen to some sermons. He seemed grateful and gathered his things to head off to class with a minute to spare. I told him I would be praying for him and he thanked me.

Taylor was sitting on the bench arbor they have just outside the MAC arts building. She is African American with a kind cute face, a sharp nose, kind of European features and her hair pulled back in a head band. She was a really nice girl. She wore a hoodie and jeans and was enjoying the warm air outside. She hadn’t been to church since she was young but watched it on TV every week. It turned out to be Joel Osteen and he does encourage the reading of the Bible and following of God’s word, so not a complete loss. I explained to her after she had received Christ that everything we do in the Christian life is done by God’s power in the Holy Spirit so anything she heard Osteen say the Lord wanted her to do she should ask for God’s power to accomplish it. “He also has made the mistake in thinking God wants everyone to be rich, but that would be a disaster for some people, money ruins some people. It seems to have been good for him he has a big church and is trying to help people with it but he just hasn’t seemed to realize that would not be good for everyone. God would not give people money if it would hurt them.” She seemed to accept that. I am careful not to be too critical of a ministry a student thinks has helped them or might be in some small way leading them to God. Unless they are in a cult. Osteen is a prosperity Gospel preacher which is error but does encourage people to trust in Christ at the end of his broadcasts. She had not picked up the Gospel from listening to pastor Osteen however as when I asked her how Jesus took away her sin she had nothing to say. Thinking for a while and seeming to genuinely struggle she finally said, “Don’t lie? I don’t know.” I said that was fine and went through the Gospel with her. She took it all in cheerfully. When I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven she picked the circle where Christ lived inside her by His Holy Spirit and forgave her trusting in Jesus. So I walked her through the prayer asking her if she’d like to pray it and she said “Yeah,” with a big smile and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date she had received Christ in it and “By the Spirit’s Power”. I opened it to the page where the writer says God will forgive us if we forgive others from our heart. I continued explaining this is impossible to do without God’s power in us. We might say we forgive someone but then days later it still bugs us, so we have to pray for a forgiving heart. She liked that and took a Bible study to to read, giving me her email to send her another one, I’ll also send her a link for another church to watch also. I got up to leave telling her I would pray for her and she warmly said, “Thank you so much!” And I headed off into the sunlight.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance God truly blessed, please pray also for a guy Uriel, an agnostic I gave the student edition of The Case for Christ to.

In Him,

Bob