Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking in the Lord. I had a good day on campus, though no one would talk to me for the first 30 minutes or longer. But then Jordan, David & Brandon each prayed with me to receive Jesus. And a tall girl with wavy brown hair in a bun, ripped up jeans on and braces on her teeth, Alena, committed to Christ, saying she believed and trusted in Him to be forgiven. But she had to run for her ride, her sister kept texting her. I did give her a Bible and the student edition of the Case for Christ. So I am hopeful she genuinely trusted Christ and will pray for her.

Jordan was sitting at the counter, looking out the window killing time with his phone. He had a Bulls cap on and a white button shirt with blue trim that looked a little wrinkled. He had wire-top rimmed glasses and a bit of a chin beard. He was a really nice guy. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Wow, OK,” he replied thinking. “I’ve tried to do my best to help others whenever needed, be unbiased toward others and treat them how I’d like to be treated, kind of the golden rule.” I asked him how likely it was he would go to Heaven and he said, “I’d really like to say 100%, but maybe 70.” He said he’d stopped going to what he called “religious education” (turned out his family used to go to the Bible Church in town) when his parents divorced (when he was 11) and it fell on the weekend when he was with his father. It seemed like his dad was really religious but didn’t want to send him off to do that on the weekend when they were together. He knew Jesus had died for sin and found the Gospel interesting as I explained it. So I offered him the idea that he could be forgiven with God inside him or think something else and he pointed to the circle with God inside being forgiven and said, “I’d be this side.” It seemed like before he’d been figuring he was good enough to go to Heaven if he’d thought about it much. So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God and died for his sins and rose from the dead. “Yeah,” he replied. “Would you want to trust in that to be forgiven?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said again. So I walked him through the prayer and he was willing and prayed to receive Christ. I explained that if he trusted in Christ’s righteousness and not his own, the % likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. We talked for a while. I gave him a Bible study on the deity of Christ and 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit” in the front and explained the Christian life to him living “Inside Out”. He gave me his email to get another Bible study. I gave him the link for the Compass Church and recommended he take in some sermons there. He thanked me and said it thought it was good I went around and talked to people about God. I told him it was stressful and laughed. I said I’d see him in Heaven and he said, “Yeah because of the righteousness of Christ, it’s 100%.” “That’s right” I said, shaking his hand and I headed out.

David is a black student, good looking guy, sitting in the line of chairs outside the cafeteria. He had kind of a stove-pipe cut to his afro which was about 5 inches high. He was wearing dark grey sweats tapered to the ankle and a black shirt, well put together. He played basketball at school for fun and didn’t have any future aspirations, (which is good because the basketball team was horrible last year). I asked what he would say to God to get into Heaven. “Well when I was younger… my mom and dad were really into religion, I’ve tried to [get into it]  I get into arguments with her [mom]. I tried, it’s hard to get into it. I go to Church, so I guess I’d tell God I tried.” I explained the Gospel to him and explained trying to do religious things on your own is not Christianity. I retold him the passage where Christ tells of those who claim they belong in the kingdom of Heaven because they have done miracles, cast out demons or prophesied in Christ’s name, super religious peeps (Matt. 7) but went to hell. “Christ said to them depart from me you Lawless” I told him. “The Word of God being present on the Earth had such power people seemed to be able to do great works just claiming His name.” I told him Judas would have been one of those people as he probably cast out demons. I said he did not need to try to be religious in his own strength, he needed to trust in God to transform him on the inside and then do good things on the outside in the power of the Spirit. I asked if he had been trusting in what Jesus had done for him on the cross to be forgiven or had just been trying to be good and hoping God would forgive him. He admitted he had not been trusting in Christ for forgiveness. I asked him if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead and he said he did. I asked him if he’d like to trust in that and he said he would and he prayed with me to receive Christ. I’d explained to him living inside out and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit” in the front and a Bible study and he gave me his email to send him another one. He thanked me and I headed out shaking his hand.

Brandon is another black student at school. He was half-again as big as David, 6’2″ about 190, tattoos across each of his hands in large Gothic font letters. He had really nice smooth skin, larger features good lookin’ kid, played point guard and shooting guard. He was wearing a ball cap, his hair was braided underneath with one braid sticking out in back and had a thick beard on his chin. He was busy watching something on his phone and did not want to do a survey. He was sitting in the corner lounge on the far southeast corner of the BIC building but I had felt led to talk to him so I asked, “Ya wanna read a booklet on it on your own?” He said, “sure”, so I got it out to give to him and began to explain the Gospel. He was interested and kept listening, so I kept talking. As I talked him through the Gospel, I got towards the end and asked, “So if someone would say to you why should God let you into Heaven, what would you say?” “‘Cause Jesus…” he said. So I said, “But before this, if you asked for forgiveness from God because something went wrong, would you have been thinking ‘I’m a good person and go to Church and stuff and so God will forgive me’ or would you have thought ‘I know God will forgive me because Jesus died for me.'” He smirked and said, “That I was good enough.” So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God, and died for his sins and rose from the dead. He said “yes” so I asked him if he would want to trust in that to be forgiven and he did. I walked him thought the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ. He did not have a Bible so I gave him one and wrote his name in the front and the date saying he could remember that was the date when he had been forgiven. I explained living “Inside Out” to him with God’s power living in him and he said, “Awesome!” I told him he could ask for God’s help to make him better at anything he tried to do and if it was good for him and would not mess up his life God would help him. I gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study and got his email. He was grateful and I shook his hand and told him I would keep him in my prayers.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob