March 24.
Those Last Words

Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

On July 16, 1977 at 8 o’clock in the morning, I received a telephone call while lying in the bed. Someone on the other end said, “Frank, if you want to see your father alive, you need to rush home. He has just had a massive heart attack.” You would have to know me and know my father to know how I felt. No one was as near and dear to me as my earthly father. He lived in Arlington, Tennessee at that time and I was living here in Memphis. I got in my car and in twenty minutes I had rushed to Arlington trying to get there to see my father before he left me. I remember it as though it was yesterday. When I pulled up to the house, they had lifted the sheet and were pulling it over my father’s head. He had gone without saying goodbye. Without leaving any fatherly instructions for his son, he left. Oh how I wish I had been there to hear him give me some kind of last minute instructions. But I was too late to hear them.

Over 2000 years ago, I had a similar incident occur in my life. I had another brother that was getting ready to go back to be with his Father, our Father. Unlike my earthly father, he did leave last minute instructions. These were the final words he said to me and to you before he caught the cloud and went back to be with his Father. He told us that we will receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon us and that we will be witnesses for him wherever we are. I cherish those words. They were His final words. You always cherish the last; the last means so much. Jesus had to go because He said, “If I don’t go, the Comforter will not come.” And I’m glad I’ve got a Comforter who walks by my side. He’ll be there for me. Those precious last words.