The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Acts 21:4, 10-14, “And after looking up the disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem….

10 And as we were staying there for some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, ‘This is what the Holy Spirit says: “In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”’

12 And when we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.

13 Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’

14 And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, ‘The will of the Lord be done!’”

Do great men make mistakes? Yes, they do; but they never make little ones!

Paul was en route to Jerusalem, hoping to get there before Pentecost. His ship docked at Tyre, where he and Luke

stayed for seven days. The disciples at Tyre warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Yet, it was not merely their thought;

it was the directive they had received from the Holy Spirit. You would think that would be a sufficient warning. It was not!

His further journey brought Paul and Luke to Caesarea. And it was there that the prophet Agabus physically demonstrated the Spirit’s directive by tying Paul’s hands with Paul’s own belt, and uttering the solemn warning that Paul would be bound and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles (Romans). This observable illustration struck fire in the

hearts of the believers in Caesarea, and they begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem!

But, the man who was so close to Christ and gave instruction to the Churches that had embraced Him, would not allow that the warning from God applied to him. Has that ever happened to you? Let’s say that you read something in the Bible that strikes a chord in your heart and mind. You KNOW without a doubt that the LORD has spoken to you through His Word. He has given you instruction! It weighs heavily on your mind and heart. You pray about it, and the burden to

obey is still there. Then, suddenly you dismiss it entirely! You rationalize that God could not mean you when the instruction came from the Bible that was written long before you were even born! Big, BIG mistake!

A dear lady in a church I once pastored said to me, “Pastor, I’ve never told anyone this before, but God called me to be a missionary when I was a young girl. I told my father, and he said, ‘That’s wonderful! But you don’t need to go overseas to be a missionary. You can stay right here and be a teacher. It’s the same thing.’”

Then she said to me in a solemn voice, “I love my husband. He’s a good man and a Christian man. I love my children. They are faithfully in the church and they love the LORD, too. But, I live every day with the awful awareness that I have missed the LORD’s calling for my life.”

Let me beg of you: DON’T MISS THE LORD’S CALLING ON YOUR LIFE! He may not want you to be a preacher or a missionary. He may not want you to live outside the country in which you were born. But, He HAS a divine purpose for you somewhere! Don’t go your own way! It cost Paul two, two-year imprisonments, and it cost those to whom he would have preached, to miss the Gospel Message! We don’t live alone! He saved us for His purpose! Find it! Do it! NOW!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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.”