The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

2 Peter 3:17-18, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand,

be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of

unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,

18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

The entire third chapter of Second Peter concerns “steadfastness.”

Peter warns us of the coming of the Day of the LORD, which is His

Judgment on the world because of sin. “Be on your guard” is a

Greek imperative. It is an essential command. Why? It is because

there is error in the world (and in the church) –error that is taught

by people who have no scruples, no principles. They just want you

to follow them. Some TV evangelists are an excellent example.

And if you listen to them and embrace their teachings, you will fall

away from the Truth and become unstable, wobbly, not knowing

where you stand on anything.

What then, are we to do? Here’s a second Greek imperative:

“grow in grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior, Jesus

Christ.” How do you grow physically? By eating good food! How

do you grow spiritually? By eating, taking in, believing sound

doctrine; by ignoring those things that turn our minds away from

the LORD and purity.

I have students, whose parents did not follow the Word of God.

That left them, the children, without steadfastness in their lives.

Because they (the students) were unstable, they married unstable

people and their children became unstable. What a mess! How

then did they become Christians with all of this instability in their

background? Simply by the grace of God, and with almost

unbelievable hurt and sorrow. LISTEN TO PETER! Concentrate

on God’s Truth! Learn wisdom from the LORD! Jesus is coming

again! Be ready! Be strong! Be faithful! Share the Good News!

We love you all dearly and pray for you daily,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

1 Peter 3:18-21, “1For Christ also died for sins once for all,

the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having

been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits

now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience

of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction

of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely

through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—

not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good

conscience– through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”

All Scripture is important. Understanding verse 21, however, requires

understanding what “Corresponding to that” means. So, I had to

include verses 18-20.

The question I want to pose is this: Does the Holy Spirit, who lives

within all believers, ever lead us to do something that is in Scripture

that we’ve never read?

I was seven when I was saved. And the first thing that excited me was

baptism! I wanted more than anything to be baptized! Why? I didn’t

know. I only knew that when people were saved, the next thing they

did was be baptized. Years later, as I read the verses above, I learned

why this urgency had been so heavy upon me. Agreeing to baptism was

not washing away my sin; that had been done by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Rather, it was my conscience confirming my decision with God. It was the

Holy Spirit leading me to openly identify myself as one of His children. I

found years later that it was the Spirit’s moving upon my born-again life to

be obedient to the LORD’s command of baptism. Don’t be afraid to allow

the Sprit to influence you to do something, just be sure it’s the Holy Spirit

who is leading you!

Love and prayers always,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

1 Peter 3:7-9, “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic,

brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; 9 not returning evil for

evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were

called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”

All of us have seen the value of a reflector of light. It’s a bright,

shiny metal that curves around the sides of the bulb from which

the light originates. Take away the reflector, and you diminish

the value of the light. Left without attention, the reflector can

become encrusted with tiny particles that are so small they are

virtually invisible. Those particles fasten to the reflector and

diminish the effective radiance of the light itself.

Simon Peter notes five attitudes that are to be a part of our

Christian lives: harmonious (agreeable), sympathetic (understanding),

brotherly (lovingly), kindhearted (tender, compassionate), and

humble (courteous). Then he notes those “tiny particles” that

hinder the LORD’s radiance through us: payback, evil for evil, and

abusive insults. Instead of responding negatively, give them a word

of blessing, because that’s how you might receive a blessing yourself.

Doing good in the face of evil demonstrates how powerful the light

of love really is!

Shine! Shine! Shine! We are seeking to polish you through prayer,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Hebrews 13:7-9, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you;

and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same

yesterday and today and forever. 9Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings;

for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace…”

We do live in a strange and convoluted time of life. Things I never heard and

would never have considered believing are being embraced as true by many

today. Take what’s called “New Spirituality.” A recent poll found that 28%

of “practicing Christians strongly agree that ‘all people pray to the same god

or spirit, no matter what name they use for that spiritual being.’” And 32%

of the same group “strongly agree that ‘if you do good, you will receive good,

and if you do bad, you will receive bad.’” Also, 52% of that same group

agree quite strongly that the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help

themselves.” None of this is biblically true! There are consequences for

sins, but “doing good” (whatever “good” means) gets no one to Heaven!

Another ungodly view today is “Secularism,” in which 10% of practicing

Christians believe that a “belief must be proven by science to know if it’s true.”

And 13% of practicing Christians “strongly agree that ‘a person’s life is valuable

only if society sees it as valuable.” IMAGINE! If our city council decided that we

were not valuable to the city, we could just be eliminated –put to death!

This is just some of what is going on in our world right now as you read this.

Paul warns us that we live in dangerous times, and we MUST NOT “be carried

away by varied and strange teachings!” Those who have made these teachings

the rule of their lives have failed to receive the profit which the LORD offers.

We love each and every one of you! And we pray that your lives will

always embrace the truths of God’s Holy and Eternal Word!

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Hebrews 13:5-6, “Make sure that your character is 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,” 6 so that we confidently say,

‘THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?’”

I can remember when I read Paul’s admonition in 1 Timothy 6:10, and

wondered if he were really correct. In my youthful examination of the

verse, I honestly thought I could name several evils that were not

connected with money. But I was wrong! Everything evil in this world

is connected with man’s love of financial gain. It is not money itself that

is evil, but when there’s never enough, catastrophe is just around the

corner. Jesus is all we need!

I have attached “The Big Financial Plan,” for your reading. It is one of

the saddest experiences I’ve ever had.

Keep your eyes on Jesus,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas