The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Acts 20:7-12, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.
9 And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.
10 But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, ‘Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.’
11 When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.
12 They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.”

This passage has always intrigued me. For one thing, Paul preached a long time. There are some preachers I’ve heard that I did not want to quit. Their messages were clearly biblical and so laced with exciting gems that I simply wanted them to continue. When there is a message from the LORD, long sermons are justified, and their length goes largely unnoticed.

Then, there’s Eutychus, the young man who sat in the window. We have to wonder whether he had worked all that day and fell asleep from fatigue; or was just selfishly blocking the cooler outside air from reaching others in that upper room?

The Scripture says Eutychus fell three stories and “was picked up dead.” Paul interupted his own message and attended to the young man, saying, “…his life is in him.” Are we to understand that whoever said he “was dead,” misunderstood that he was actully alive? Or did the LORD give Paul power to resurrect the lad, as He gave Peter and John when the beggar was healed at the Temple gate?

The factor we must not miss is that Paul, continued his message to the people in the room. It was a message from the LORD, and what He gives to his messengers must always take precedent. Remember this when your pastor exceeds what you believe to be sufficient time for his message. Should not the LORD’s message have precedent in all our lives?

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom