The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

1 John 3:22-23, “…and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments

and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment, that we believe in the

name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”

Strong promise this! Whatever we ask… But there is a condition: keeping His commandments.

John is not talking about the 10 Commandments Moses brought down from the mountain. John

Is talking about the New Commandment Jesus gave, believing Jesus and loving one another. The

Commandments Moses gave were to teach Israelites that they had sinned. If you are doing 70 mph

on a road that has no legal limit, you are not in violation of any wrong. But where there is a legal limit,

you are in violation. The purpose of the Ten Commandments was to show Israelites that they were

sinners before God. But when Jesus came, He gave the command: Love God; love your fellowman.

John states it as believing on Jesus and loving one another. When we live accordingly, we can be

certain that we will receive whatever we ask of God because whatever we ask will be within His will.

We love and pray for you every day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-10a, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’…. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come…”

It bothers some people that they don’t know everything. They know they don’t know, so they

speak and behave as if no one knows. This leads to their mocking of believers and the Word

of God. Peter emphasizes one primary factor: God does not measure time like man does. He

is certainly aware of how we measure time, but it’s not the way He measures it. With God

there is no difference between one day and a thousand years. God only appears slow to us

because he wants more souls to be saved. But, mark it well: “…the day of the LORD will

come!” Our recognition of this means we must “make the most of (our) time” (Eph. 5:16)

today and every day!

With hurried love,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

1 Peter 2:21-24, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

This has long been a favorite passage of mine. Christ was sinless (the Father found absolutely no sin within Him); He

was sincere (there was no deceit –literally, “fish-bait”—within Him); He was sustained (He didn’t respond in anger against those who shouted insults against Him); He was secure (He committed Himself completely to the Father); and He was the Sacrifice (perfect in every way, taking our sin upon Himself).

What an example, too, for us! We’ll never be sinless or the Sacrifice; but we can and must always be

sincere, sustained, and secure. May the Holy Spirit within us produce Jesus’ likeness within us every day!

Love and prayers,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”

The Zika virus permeates the world. How on Earth do we protect

ourselves? First of all, avoid being bitten by a mosquito. We have

to be aware of the danger and cover ourselves by means made

public by the medical world. It’s not difficult to be swamped by the

evil in the world, either. Everywhere we turn, there is evidence of it.

How do we protect ourselves from the turbulence of evil? Paul says,

“Rejoice.” Good grief! Are we to rejoice that evil abounds? No, of

course not. We are to rejoice despite the avalanche of evil. To

rejoice is to “be glad.” And for what are we to be glad? First of all,

we are to be glad that we know the LORD and that He knows us.

We should rejoice that He has made His Word available to us, so

that we know what events are coming and how we are to respond.

We have been given sufficient knowledge of coming events, that

we can know with certainty that the LORD will be victorious! And

we will be victorious, too, because we are His and He protects us!

So, whatever occurs that looks bad to us, we can rejoice, knowing

that everything is in our LORD’s control. God bless each of you!

We rejoice in the LORD because of you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Hebrews 13:5-6, “Let your character be free from the love of money,

being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never

desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we confidently say,

‘The LORD is my helper. I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?’”

I once knew a man who watched over another man’s wealth.

I asked him, “How much is enough?” He answered me, “There’s

never enough.” People like that love money for the sake of having

it. Paul is not saying it’s not right to have money; he’s saying we

must not thirst for it or focus on how much we have. Earlier, Paul

said that God “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17).

So if anyone were to give you a HUGE amount of money, your

focus should be upon the one who gave it, not on the money itself.

At the same time, instead of wishing for more, we are to be “content

with what (we) have.” The capstone of all of this is when he says,

“for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever

forsake you.’” He will never give up on us; nor will He ever abandon us.

Therefore “we confidently say, ‘The LORD is my helper, I will not be

afraid. What shall man do to me?’”

Forge ahead with the Banner of the Cross! Speak openly and

appropriately about Jesus. What can anyone do when we are

in the LORD’s protective custody?

Love you all,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas