Jeff Trotter is my friend. On March 16th, 2010 we laid Jeff’s Ashes in the ground after a two-year battle with cancer. There were about 30 family members present. Surprisingly, it was a joyous time. After reading Job 19:25-27 together, singing Lift Up the Trumpet, and praying for Christ’s Soon Return, we placed Jeff’s urn in the 4 foot hole with jokes, laughter, and some tears of relief and grief. But as I said, there was joy. We could laugh at each other and laugh at what Jeff might have thought of the whole scene because of what we experienced the day before. Because of the inheritance Jeff left us in Christ. The message that follows is what was shared at Jeff’s funeral. It is really a message from Jesus, spoken through Jeff’s experience to us. May you read and be blessed.
Thank You for Our Blessings
Jeff Trotter’s Memorial - March 15, 2010
As many of you know... Wyoming is a land that was near and dear to Jeff’s heart. For Jeff, Wyoming was the land of His roaming... Much like Moses... Wyoming was a desert land, which would prepare Jeff for the Promised Land. For it was in Wyoming that he began to hear the Whisper of His Savior’s name.
With that being said, I want to begin our time of reflection today with a simple prayer entitled... The Wyoming Song
The Wyoming Song
by James Moon
copyright 1999
The stars are shining in Wyoming tonight
As the antelope dance in the moonlight
And earlier today, the wind was howling on the plain
But now blows soft with the whisper of Your name
chorus
I want to be still, like the starry sky
I want to be filled, with the whisper of Your name
As the moon makes its way across the desert sky
Above the big horns the northern lights are shining bright
A quiet testimony of Your power and Your grace
And with the gentle winds they are whispering Your name
chorus
I want to be still, like the starry sky
I want to be filled, with the whisper of Your name (2x)
Filled with His Father’s Whisper - WOW!
Family and friends... Jeff had come to be filled with the whisper of His Father’s name... The whisper of His Savior’s name
Some heard this whisper in Jeff’s last audible prayer: “Dear Father in Heaven, Thank You for our Blessings!”
I heard this same whisper in an email Sylvia (Jeff’s wife) sent to my wife and I on January 16th, 2010...
He is very weak. He weighs just a few pounds more than I did when we got married. Last night he got up to get a snack and his "legs didn't work". I woke up when he came stumbling back into the room. He vomited this morning. I don't expect he has a lot of alert time left.
He is not angry. He is disappointed that this is it for him. He feels close to God- which is something he has strived for but for many years would not have said he felt. Every time he prays, he thanks God for his many blessings. That will give a person a lump in their throat and make one sit back and say, WOW!
WOW is Right... The whisper of our Father’s name in Jeff’s life has left us all saying Wow!
Wow! That he could suffer with such dignity. Wow! That he could suffer with such grace. And Wow! That he could suffer with such faith.
But what was the reason for this wow? Why could Jeff so easily say... “Father, Thank You for our blessings...”
Why, like Job, could he pray: “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away... Blessed Be the name of the Lord?” (Job 1:21).
Why, in his sufferings, could our husband, our father, our son, our brother, and our friend pray... Thank You Lord, for Your blessings?
I believe the reason why, was God’s presence! That’s it my beloved:
THE PRESENCE OF GOD IS THE ULTIMATE BLESSING OF GOD.
In Exodus 33, the Lord spoke to Moses saying...
““Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ “I will send an angel before you” (Exodus 33:1–2 NAS95)
But Moses wasn’t satisfied with a mere angel... His prayer to God... His plea... the cry of His heart was:
““If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”” (Exodus 33:15–16 NAS95)
Beloved, what distinguished our Brother Jeff in his hour of trial was the presence of God.
What made his sufferings sacred, what brought purpose to His pain, and hope in the midst of his hopeless situation was the presence of the indwelling Christ.
In the midst of His dark hour, he was able to pray Thank You for our Blessings, because he was full of the ultimate blessing... God’s Spirit, and God’s Presence, and the full assurance of Salvation in Jesus Christ!
And the truth be told... You and I can have that blessing. When I spoke with Jeff over the phone of few weeks ago, His appeal to me was...
Jim, “PREACH IT!”
And the message he would have me to preach to you today is: You too can be filled with all the fullness of God.
You too can experience the power of the indwelling Christ in the midst of the trials of Your life... in the midst of this trial of loosing your beloved loved one...
and you too can find salvation in Jesus Christ, just as Jeff did...
Many here have heard this word before, but hear it today, in the context of Jeff’s life:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV)
Friend, Jeff has everlasting life. Right now he is resting in Jesus. Sleeping until the trumpet sounds. But on that great gettin’ up morning our brother will rise.
He will rise because he found in Christ a strong anchor and a sure defense for his soul. He found in Jesus a Savior who walked with him and even carried him through the dark night of his soul.
Won’t you let this same Jesus be Your Savior too? Won’t You let Him have full control? Won’t you invite Him to abide with You, and walk with You, and lead You?
A Bedside Visit
Yesterday (March 14, 2010), I had the opportunity to sit down with Sylvia and reflect upon Jeff’s experience and the ways Jesus sustained him through suffering.
During our conversation, she related to me a powerful example of how Christ upheld our brother through his struggle.
In January of 2008, while his brother-in-law Bart sat at Jeff’s bedside reading from the Bible. Several days later, Jeff related the following experience to his wife.
“A few days ago, while Bart was reading to me, the room became bright and I saw a man dressed in white... He said to me... “I will be with You always.”
Friend, Jeff could pray, “Thank You for our Blessings”, because he had received the greatest blessing: The presence of the indwelling Christ.
In Acts 18, Christ appeared to Paul in a vision of the night with the reassuring words:
“Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”” (Acts 18:9–10 NAS95)
Beloved, I believe that the same Jesus who appeared to Paul in a vision of the night saying... “Do not be afraid... I am with You,” appeared to our brother Jeff saying... “I am with You always.”
This isn’t the first time a young man has received the Savior’s encouragement in his darkest hour. In an Adventist Today article entitled Faith Enough NOT to be Healed, Morris Vendon tells story of young Travis Allen, an Auburn Academy student who wasn’t healed by God, but was strengthened by God to endure suffering. Here’s an excerpt of that story that affirms Jeff’s experience:
Monday morning Travis woke up and said, "I'm not doing good, Dad. You'd better get me back to the hospital." They put him in the car and started for the hospital. They didn't know that he was bleeding to death internally. This process made him feel like he had to stop at a restroom. They stopped at Denny's, and his parents helped him walk in.
The receptionist asked if they wanted a table, then, "Are you OK?" She showed them to the restroom. It had two stalls; both doors were open; nobody was in there. Travis' mother stayed outside the door while his father took Travis into the handicapped stall. While Tom was trying to help his son he noticed under the partition, dress shoes and the trousers of a dark blue suit. It sort of irritated him because he'd have preferred to be alone with his sick son.
Travis said, "I am not doing good, I can hardly breathe."
Right then a voice came from the other side of the partition, calling him by name. "Travis, it's all right. You're going to be OK."
Travis said, "Dad you'd better call 911, I can't breathe." His mother came in, trying to help him. Again, the voice came from the other stall, "Travis, it's all right. I am here. You're going to be OK."
The paramedics arrived within minutes and placed him on a stretcher. At this point the stranger came out of the other stall, went to the head of the stretcher and looked into Travis' face. Travis, who had been looking at his mother, was suddenly riveted on the face of the stranger. The paramedics asked, "Are you his father?"
"No, I am his friend." He continued to lean over Travis, reassuring him as they wheeled him out. When they got to the ambulance, Travis was unconscious, and then the stranger was gone.
(When they compared notes later, none of them--parents nor paramedics--had seen the stranger's face. They went and asked the receptionist if she had seen someone in a dark blue silk suit. The receptionist replied, "People in silk suits don't come into Denny's.")
Travis died in his mother's arms in the hospital at 10 o'clock that morning.
It is through the presence of the same God who comforted Travis, that Jeff could pray: “Thank You for our blessings!”
That being said, I must also say, Jeff’s vision came as an affirmation, not as a proof. Jeff didn’t believe because he saw Jesus, he saw Jesus because he believed.
You see, way back in Wyoming, before any vision of Christ, before any feeling of His presence... Jeff chose to believe. He chose to take the Savior at His word, which says: “Ask and it shall be given to You, Seek and You shall find, Knock and the door shall be opened.”
As Silvia related to me yesterday, before the cancer, came the quest. Before the hardship came the hard work of seeking Jesus in the word and on bended knee.
It was hard work because there was no vision. Hard work because there was no feeling.
I don’t know when, but at some point, Jeff began to rise every morning at 5am to meet with Jesus.
At one point Sylvia said something like: “Doesn’t it just feel awesome to be in His presence?”
To which Jeff replied: “I don’t know. I don’t really feel anything.”
And yet he just kept pressing on. He kept pressing into the heart of His Savior. Every morning. 5 AM. Seeking Jesus.
I love that. I love it because Jeff’s experience gives me hope. Hope that I don’t have to feel it to receive it. I don’t have to feel saved to be saved. I don’t have to feel like Jesus is speaking for Jesus to really speak into my life. All I have to do is be in the word. To humbly pray...
Jesus speak to me through Your Holy Bible. Fill me with Your Spirit and Speak to me. Save me.
That was Jeff’s prayer. And Jesus answered it. He gave Jeff a faith experience before a feeling experience, a trust experience before a sight experience.
Because true faith is: believing when we do not feel, and trusting when we do not see.
When I think of Jeff trusting even when there was no feeling... I can’t help but mention one of my all time favorite sections from The Desire of Ages. In speaking of the paralytic who was healed at Bethesda, it says:
The Saviour is bending over the purchase of His blood, saying with inexpressible tenderness and pity, "Wilt thou be made whole?" He bids you arise in health and peace. Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Believe His word, and it will be fulfilled. Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him, and in acting upon His word you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion which through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is "dead in trespasses." Eph. 2:1. He will set free the captive that is held by weakness and misfortune and the chains of sin... The Desire of Ages, p. 203
Beloved, do not wait to feel you are whole... Believe His word and it will be fulfilled. Believe the word He is speaking to us through Jeff’s life: That we can thank God for His blessings because He promises to be with us. We can thank God for His blessings through the good and the bad because He promises never to leave us nor forsake us.
All we have to do is accept him.
All we have to do is believe, trust, and follow, whether we feel it or not.
The Family Pledge
One of Jeff’s lasts acts was to join with his wife and kids in the signing of a family pledge with Sylvia and the kids. I would like to read that pledge to you:
Because Jesus is coming to take His friends to Heaven... We will therefore, dedicate our lives to Him!!!
What a beautiful pledge!
It is the culmination of a journey ...as a mountain top of hope after a long journey through the dark valley of the shadow death, God has led the Trotter family to this conquering confession:
Because Jesus is coming to take His friends to Heaven... We will therefore, dedicate our lives to Him!!!
This is a confession rooted in the beautiful and precious promises of Christ.
Promises that say:
““I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2–3 NKJV)
Promises that say:
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15–18 NKJV)
Promises that say:
“He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”” (Isaiah 25:8–9 NKJV)
Promises that say:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
(2 Corinthians 4:16–18 NKJV)
Promises that say:
“He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.” (Isaiah 40:29 NKJV)
Promises that say:
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27 NKJV)
Promises that say:
“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’” (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV)
Promises that say:
““It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24 NKJV)
Please note beloved, before the Trotters knew to ask for the strength to endure this foreboding journey, God supplied it in Jeff’s inquiries...
“Why am I so blessed? Why wasn’t I born on the reservation? Why wasn’t I born in poverty? Why wasn’t I born to a single mother?
In these questions that came after dwelling upon God’s word day after day, week after week, God was preparing and strengthening Jeff for a long battle with cancer. Preparing and strengthening him to ultimately pray in the midst of his sufferings:
“Father Thank You for our Blessings.”
And beloved, this same Jesus has already begun to answer your prayers for strength in this season of loss.
Through promises and providence He is answering you. Listen to what He says:
“My anger is but for a moment, but my favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” (Psalms 30:5 NKJV)
“Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”” (Revelation 14:13 NKJV)
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”” (Joshua 1:8–9 NKJV)
Beloved, in this hour of loss... let us be of Good Courage... For over His very son Jeff, who prayed so faithfully... “Father thank you for your blessings!” Over this suffering son our Father has declared: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” (Revelation 14:13).
Beloved, Jeff lived and has now died in the Lord. And Jesus calls him blessed. Our husband, father, son, brother, and friend... This one... Christ calls blessed.
Jeff was blessed because Christ was with him. He was blessed because Christ was in him. And he is blessed now because he rests in Jesus and one day very soon, he will rise from the grave to be with Jesus forevermore. For all of these reasons... Our beloved Jeff is most blessed.
But, as I have said before... he didn’t want to experience this blessing alone. Which is why he pledged with his family:
Because Jesus is coming to take His friends to Heaven... We will therefore, dedicate our lives to Him!!!
And, it is because Jeff didn’t want to experience God’s blessing alone, that he left Sylvia with a watch and a promise: A promise that might guard her heart and the heart of her children for all time.
Sylvia told me of this promise in an email sent on Friday, March 12th.
Months ago Jeff was fretting about me and the kids. He just didn't know how we would get along. I assured him that God would take care of us. Over and over I told him that. As he got sicker, I would lay in bed and cry on his shoulder. He would console me- God will take care of you. Over and over he told me that. He bought me a watch for Christmas. He wanted to have it engraved. I suspected he wouldn't be leaving the house to run any more errands in his life, so asked what he was going to put on it. I have it written down, "Dear Peaches, Phil 4:19. Love for eternity, Jeff".
And what does that Philippians 4:19 promise say:
“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19 NAS95)
O Friend, receive Jeff’s word of encouragement into your heart today:
“My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Byard Parks, one of Jeff’s best friends from way back in elementary school, wrote a letter that I would like to share with you. Byard couldn’t be with us today because he is living in Turkey. My prayer is that the words of this letter will sink deep into your heart. My prayer is that you will claim your inheritance.
March 15, 2010, from Byard Parks
Jeff and I were very tight friends through the wonderful years of high school and college. Actually our friendship began in first grade, so I know more about Jeff than he would likely be happy for me to share. He and I attended George Stone School, greatly enjoying it, though we were spanked simultaneously and often. It worked.
I had the honor of being Jeff's best man at his wedding. I always admired Jeff, because he seemed to know where he was going and what life was about. Not long after high school he easily and wisely chose Sylvia to share his life and confided in me of his love and intentions to marry her. What a fine family he has raised, and how good God was to give him such precious years as a “stay-at-home” dad to pass on precious memories and character traits to his children.
I think what was uniquely special about Jeff is he early on choose high principles and never deviated far from them. Perhaps it was his Dad's trust that implanted such a keen sense of integrity in Jeff. I say trust because when Jeff was only a freshman in high school he had keys to some of the biggest banks in town! (Of course it was so he could mop out the ladies rooms.) I think when we were young Jeff thought he would someday own one of those banks.
Now I suppose that is where the real story of Jeff begins, because sometime in Jeff’s thirties, he indeed came into a great lot of wealth. They say wealth changes people. It sure changed Jeff. Rich, rich. Jeff was rich! Of course the wealth I speak of is the treasure of the gospel! Sometime in Jeff’s 30’s Jeff stepped onto a golden ladder that grew wider and higher and became Jeff’s great escort of hope through the wild anxiety of cancer. Jeff died rich.
Oh, by the way, he has left an inheritance in his will for you. If Jeff had left you an envelope with cash in it, would you open it? Would you spend it?
Jeff’s amazing find of wealth reminds me of this verse in Hebrews 11, speaking of humble men of ages past:
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13–16 NKJV)
Jeff was always a very moral man. A more stable, upright, hard working, loyal friend a person couldn’t find. It’s part of the Trotter bloodline. Good people. Loyal, diligent, kind.
But Jeff had a secret. I remember weight lifting with him down at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, I suppose he wanted to impress Sylvia with his biceps. It worked. We had a lot of serious conversations at that time. (There is something about having 170 pound barbell dangling over your head on a bench press, that makes you want to confess your innermost thoughts.) He said, “Byard, I really don’t KNOW God. I just don’t know if he’s real.” That wasn’t the first time he told me those things, I remember him telling me at Amigo’s once, “I just find the Bible BORING.”
That was Jeff in his POOR days. Poor Jeff. Honest as the day is long, and honestly empty.
That was about 1996. I confess, I remember I really didn’t think Jeff would exert himself to push through the foggy grey – to really KNOW an invisible King in an invisible heaven. I thought he would be a pew warmer his whole life, or simply bail out. Boy was I wrong!
That’s where our friendship went for a dry season of 10 years without seeing one another. If somebody could tell me HOW Jeff became so wildly rich in those years, I would like to know!
(These next words were written to Jeff’s Son...)
You can be proud, young man. I think you were a big part of your Dad’s salvation. When you were a baby your dad prayed hard over you. You gave your dad an opportunity that changed his life. You gave your Dad the greatest gift a son could ever give his dad. You may not now it, but your hospital time, put your Dad in a situation where he had to look up.
Some of you know the storyline of those 10 years which I wish I knew: Namely, the transformation of a good man, into a God saturated man.
The next time I got together with my childhood friend there was a broad foundation undergirding Jeff’s faith, that wasn’t there before! Jeff had met Jesus! Odd, but that guy who told me “The Bible is Boring” now was studying the ancient road map in-depth!
As far as I heard, he had gotten himself surrounded in Wyoming by a church mixed up with law beaters, and lawbreakers, and church sleepers, and instead of throwing in the towel on the mess, Jeff decided to find the truth for himself. “Honest Jeff,” bless his hardworking heart, began to apply his work ethic to figuring out how to let Jesus rearrange his dull spiritual life.
Jeff was a successful businessman, and this heavenly business, was not going to beat him. A lazy man, or hobbyist, would have bailed out and settled for less than the wealth Jeff got. He was too good of a man, to let rotten people’s problems spoil his chance at living forever. I salute him. Go Jeff! I salute him, because he could have just grabbed his rifle and fled to the mountains, and left religion, church, and Jesus behind. But Jeff rightly reasoned, “why toss out truth, just because others have made a muddle of it?”
Bud, you have been a good father. So many times you gave Jeff keys to a big bank, with a job list and lot’s of work to do. And Jeff was a good son, he did well what you asked of him. Now Jeff has got the keys to a bigger bank, from his heavenly Father. Now he is fulfilling the task list that Father has given him to do. The job?
I said earlier, that Jeff left you all a sizable inheritance.
Unusually, he didn’t leave you cash; instead he left a key to a great bank. Here is the envelope, open it up. Inside, you will find a key and a note from Jeff.
“Dear Mom and Dad, Friends and Family, Soon I will pass away, but I will live again, for I am in Christ. I give you this inheritance today, because I love you. Use it well, I want to see you again. I tell you this day God is real. His Bible is True. There IS a message from God. Jesus who died, is that message and is risen and alive. He ascended to heaven. Now there is grace and favor with God. Death is not the end. Jesus Christ is coming again. There will be a last day. Seek God and He will be found by you.
I think I have earned the right to say, life is uncertain. Now is the day for you to step into the inheritance that is waiting for you. Come to Jesus and His living Word. Farewell until we meet again.”
This is the message that was shared at Jeff’s memorial service. But that’s not the end of the story. For you see, when I received Byard’s letter by email, I felt the Holy Spirit calling for an appeal to be made just before the closing prayer at Jeff’s memorial. I called Byard to talk about this appeal, and he suggested putting Jeff’s words in envelopes and presenting it to whoever came forward during the appeal. And we did just that.
Byard’s mom stuffed about 200 hundred envelopes and put them in a basket with a beautiful green bow attached to the handle. Green is the color of righteousness... it is the color of life.
And at the end of the service, as a couple of young Union College Students sung the the song I Will Praise Him Still, God put these words of invitation on my lips:
“You thought you came here today for a funeral service. But Christ brought you here for a resurrection. Your resurrection. The word of God declares, ‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.’” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV). For this reason, if you have never given your life to Christ, or if the Spirit of God is impressing you to recommit yourself to Jesus, I would invite you to come forward and claim your inheritance by taking one of these envelopes.
And wouldn’t you know, when this invitation was given over a hundred people came forward to receive their inheritance! It was an amazing move of the Spirit of God. Something we could have never asked or imagined.
Jeff had told us in the days leading up to his death that if just one person came to Christ as a result of his death, that all the suffering, and sickness, and pain would have been worth it. This is why he was so adamant that the gospel message you have just read be preached at his memorial service.
And while over a 100 people did come forward, it was the last one who was especially meaningful for his family. You see, as Jeff’s brother-in-law Bart embraced me after all the guests had exited the sanctuary, he said: “Pastor Jim, my little brother came forward. Jeff had been asking for years to bring my little brother to Christ... to lead him to the foot of the cross... and to change his life. And today God did it. Today, God answered his prayer.”
O Friend, will you claim your inheritance from Jeff? It is really an inheritance from Jesus. Christ gave it to Jeff and invited him to pass it along to you.
You see Jeff was cured of cancer. The cancer of sin. And as a result, he is resting and will rise on the last day to meet the Lord Jesus in the air.
But what about you? How is your battle with the cancer of sin? Is it your desire to be cured? Have come to Calvary’s cross and been cleansed of your sin by the life giving blood of Jesus Christ? Has Jesus taken away the shame and guilt of your past?
If you long to be forgiven and experience the cure for the cancer that is called sin, why not claim your inheritance today?
To do so, simply tell Jesus your sins... tell him how you have lied, stolen, hurt the people around you, or hung on to bitterness. Ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to be your Savior and the Leader of your life.
Then as a reminder, get yourself a New King James Version or New International Version of the Bible, cut out Jeff’s words found at the end of this message, put in them in your Bible.
Finally, begin to strengthen your newfound friendship with Jesus by reading from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John on a daily basis. These books talk about Jesus. As you read you’ll get to know Him really well. And He will give you joy, peace, hope, and direction in your life.
Here is the inheritance Jeff left you... Take it! It’s yours:
“Dear Friend, soon I will pass away, but I will live again, for I am in Christ. I give you this inheritance today, because I love you. Use it well, I want to see you again. I tell you this day God is real. His Bible is True. There IS a message from God. Jesus who died, is that message and is risen and alive. He ascended to heaven. Now there is grace and favor with God. Death is not the end. Jesus Christ is coming again. There will be a last day. Seek God and he will be found by you.
I think I have earned the right to say, life is uncertain. Now is the day for you to step into the inheritance that is waiting for you. Come to Jesus and His living Word. Farewell until we meet again.”
