February 2024 Newsletter
Pastor Carl Triplett was my pastor for 17 years, from age 5 through age 22. His great life and great ministry gave me the Biblical foundation to do the work of the New Testament evangelist! I was so very blessed to have many private conversations with him before he went to Heaven. One day he said: “I preach for a verdict!” He is saying that he preached to bring people to a decision! Jesus did, too! In Luke 13:3 HE states: “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Pastor Scott Ingram had this soul winner to proclaim the glorious gospel there on Sunday, Jan. 28. The message title: “Only A Few Is Heaven For You?” Text: Matt. 7:13-15; 21-23. A 54-year-old man and his wife gave their hearts to Jesus! He is in Stage 4 of prostate cancer. He was so weak that he could barely walk down the aisle to make his profession of faith public! Pastor Scott allowed me to do the follow-up with him and his wife as I presented them with a New Believer’s New Testament to assist them in their new walk with the Lord Jesus. Pastor Scott baptized them this Sunday! The man was so weak that he could barely get into the baptistry, but he wanted to be baptized! Glory Be! They were invited to church by a dear loving Spirit-filled lady! Also, they had been watching the services online! The internet is a great tool for sharing the glorious gospel message!
Pastor Brad Broyles of Gray Station Baptist Church in Gray, TN hosted this soul winner on Jan. 14. This church is effectively reaching young people and young families for their Lord! Message title: “Do You Have the Love of Christ in Your Heart?” Text: Eph. 3:14-21. Two young men raised their hands during the public invitation, but they did not come forward! My Lord arranged for me to speak with them as they were leaving and one of them agreed to talk to me privately! He is 20 years of age, and he was invited by a young lady! That has been getting young men to Jesus for all of history! HA! He was struggling with eternal security because he had always been taught that you can lose your salvation! I took him through the scriptures and his young handsome face “lit up like a Christmas tree”! He received the peace that he needed to know without a doubt that he is truly Born Again forever! I presented him and the young lady a New Believer’s New Testament as they were literally glowing like the Son because He has truly changed their hearts!
The overwhelming power of the living God continues to go before me, with me, and after me! Your prayers are being answered! Thank you so very much! Eight men have been Born Again at the Jefferson County Jail while 29 men have recommitted their lives to their Lord! The response of these men is overwhelming, to say the least! I can truly feel the deep love and respect that they have for me! They are very hungry for the Truth of the Word of God! When I have been absent due to illness, the leader of the jail told me that the men ask him when I am coming back! These men feel my great love for them! As they enter the room that they call The Church Room I hug and shake the hand of each man! One Hispanic man was under such strong conviction that he was in tears! I could barely understand his broken English. One of the younger men told me what he was saying, and he was struggling with eternal security! My Lord redirected the message for that day! As I led the men to pray to recommit their lives to their Lord, one young man began to pray out loud! His voice tone was so totally focused on repentance! The other men began to pray out loud, also! This has never happened in the four years that I have been coming here! One of the men came to me in tears after the service and he literally poured his heart out to me! He had the weight of the world on his broad shoulders as I prayed for the Lord to give him the peace that he so desperately needed! He told me that he felt the power of God give him peace!
Kim, my wife, keeps the books for a dear faithful servant of the Lord Jesus who has an effective ministry for men when they get out of jail or prison. He called her last week to tell her that a man who was about to be released asked to see him. He immediately asked him if he had ever been Born Again. The man responded: “YES! Jeff Harvel led me to Jesus right over there!” He pointed to the place in the Church Room where he knelt and prayed to be forgiven of his sins! The glorious gospel still works when we work (Isaiah 55:11)!
I have recently seen a young man in his 20’s as well as two men in their 60’s who have told me that they read the Facebook posts every day! Coach Bill Hux was one of my many coaches and teachers at Manley School and Morristown West High School as well as at Calvary Baptist Church in Morristown, TN which gave me the Biblical and scholastic foundation to build my life for my Lord! Not one week passes that I do not think of them and thank my Lord for them! I saw Coach Hux last week and he said: “Jeff, I watch you on TV.” I hugged him as I told him: “This is the fruit of your investment in my life as one of my teachers and coaches!” Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV) states: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Last Sunday, Kim and I were privileged to attend church with our daughter, Katy, and her family. Their home church is Northwoods Church in Evansville, IN and their faithful pastor is Bobby Pell. A young man came to the pulpit and shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord Jesus in 2014. He was a young lifeguard in a local swimming pool and Katy’s future husband, Graham Avis, was also a lifeguard there. The young man had questions for Graham about salvation and Graham answered them and led him to faith in the Lord Jesus! Graham is now a pastor, and he is preparing himself to be an effective tool in his Lord’s mighty hand!
I pray daily that untold billions will literally be swept into the everlasting kingdom of our great God through my life as well as through the lives of my descendants! I may not live to see it on this side of Heaven, but I will live to see it on the other side! My Lord is hearing and answering His faithful soul winner! Praise His Holy Name! Thank you, with every fiber of my transformed soul, for standing with me as I labor to fulfill the powerful call of my Lord upon my life to do the great work of the New Testament evangelist! I love you!
For Souls Forever In Heaven,
Jeffrey L. Harvel
Revelation 21
