The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 24:8-11, “And they remembered His words,

9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.

11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.”

Were you ever told something that you simply could not believe? I have. In fact, there have been several things that have occurred in my life that I simply could not believe. One was when a friend and I were told that the church where we were conducting a meeting wanted to send us to New York with an offering for Billy Graham. (It never happened.) Another was

when Charley Riggs appointed me to two chairmanships in the Billy Graham Crusade in St. Louis. Another was when I was selected at age 29 to participate in the Missouri-Australia Crusade of 1984. And the list goes on….

You would think that the apostles of Jesus would have had no problem believing that He had risen from the dead, but they did! They had walked with Him for three years. They had heard His messages to the people, and witnessed scores of miracles He performed. They had even heard Him say that He would die and rise again; yet, now they are having difficulty believing that He was actually alive from the dead, as He had said.

Do you believe that the LORD created “the heavens and the Earth”? Do you believe that Jesus lived on this Earth and brought to us the message of Salvation? Do you believe that Christ Jesus loves you? Do you believe that He has a plan for your life? Do you believe that He can do things through you — things that will ultimately accrue to His glory?

If you believe all of the above, why are you trying to do for yourself what only Christ can do? Don’t be like those early apostles, who didn’t believe He was risen from the dead. Trust Him with your life! Trust Him with the ministry He has invested in you! On what basis can you justify not believing in Him? Has He ever failed you?

As a college student, I drove a considerable distance to preach in a church. I had enough gasoline in my car to get there, but not enough to get back. I was relatively certain that the church would take an offering for me –but would it be in cash or in an check? It was in a check. How was I to cash the check at night? I literally had NO money! I was in my car and ready to leave, when a man rushed out of the church and to my car. “They didn’t give you enough,” he said. And he handed me $50.00 in cash!

Learn to believe God! Lean on Him alone. After all, when He raised Himself from the dead, what is there that He cannot do?

Pray for me. I am praying for you.

Heartily in Christ,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”