The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Ephesians 3:1-7, “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;

3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,

7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.”

As I read the lines above, I was reminded of a man to whom I witnessed. He was a nice fellow, but he grasped the name of his church as his salvation. Nothing I said of Jesus Christ seemed to awaken in him his need for true, biblical salvation; he had his church! Unfortunately, many today rely upon church membership as the anchor of their eternal soul.

The Apostle Paul was Jewish by birth; but he was Christian by the New Birth! I spent many years as a pastor of numerous churches, baptized scores of people of all ages, yet I always sought to make the Main One—Jesus Christ—the Main One. He is the Savior of all who believe.

I was not long in Australia before a young girl, who had allegedly given her heart to the LORD, wanted me to baptize her. Suspecting that I was on track to become something of a “spiritual rock star,” I declined, referring her to her pastor.

Much later, when I was serving as interim pastor of a Baptist church, I baptized a young Aboriginal lady who had given herself to the LORD Jesus. Yet, baptism is nothing unless the one submitting to it has accepted Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior. Baptism is a sign of having accepted Christ; it is not a game! It is quite serious, although not “spiritually saving.”

Paul himself, writing to young Timothy, his young protégé, said, “Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel…” (2 Tim. 3:16). I can only add, “Amen!”

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

Gene

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

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