The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

John 18:4-6, “Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him,

went forth, and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ 5 They answered Him, ‘Jesus

the Nazarene.’ He said to them, ‘I am.’ And Judas also who was betraying Him,

was standing with them. 6 When therefore He said to them, ‘I am,’ they drew back,

and fell to the ground.”

As simple as these verses first appear, they are powerfully instructive. Jesus and

His disciples (possibly only Peter, James and John) were with Him in the Garden of

Gethsemane. This is where He prayed while they slept. Jesus’ prayer was that

He might be delivered from having to go to the Cross. It was not His fear of death;

rather, it was being made sin that He abhorred. Still, there was no other way. He

knew all things that were coming upon Him. Nothing ever caught Him by surprise.

But his adversaries were surprised when He said, “I AM.” Notice that the He is

italicized, meaning that it was not in the original language. In Exodus 3:14, the

LORD said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM.” Translated, it says, “I am God; and I’m

all you need in any given situation.”

Commentator Adam Clarke writes, “Our Lord chose to give them this proof of His

infinite power, that they might know that their power could not prevail against Him

if He chose to exert His might, seeing that the very breath of His mouth confounded,

drove back, and struck them down to the earth. Thus, by the blast of God they might

have perished, and by the breath of his nostrils they might have been consumed.”

Job 4:9 says, “By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they

come to an end.”

The power of almighty God is far, far beyond our comprehension! The Scripture

does not say, but it is probable that Judas Iscariot (the traitor), who was “standing

with them,” fell to the ground also. We will do well always to notice who is standing

with whom in any given situation. Yet, our dependency lies with Him, who is “all

that (we) need in any given situation.”

Our love and prayers are with you always,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

John 17:15-19, “’I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world,

but to keep them from the evil one. 16 “They are not of the world,

even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Thy

Word is truth. 18 As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have

sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself,

that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.’”

We often think of Matthew 6 (“Our Father, Who art in Heaven”)

as the LORD’s Prayer, but it is the “Model Prayer.” The LORD’s

Prayer is in John 17. Notice that Jesus does not as the Father to

“take (us) out of the world, but to keep (us) from evil. The word

evil (???????, poneros) encompasses both evil and the evil one.

It means “evil-producing.” Satan is not the only evil-producer.

He does initiate all evil, but some evil itself simply calls for more evil.

How are we to stop this evil that would take over our lives? We

are to live in the Word. Sanctify (??????, hagiazo) means to “make

holy.” Because we have a sinful DNA, inherited from Adam, it is

much easier to give in to sin than to stay holy. The LORD knows

that, so He gave us the Holy Spirit and the Word (the Bible) so we

can counter the evil with His Truth! Jesus even said, “I sanctify

Myself,” meaning that He lived a holy life before His disciples, so

they had a perfect example of how they (and we!) should live.

Make no mistake about it: the world is watching our lives! When

we fall short of being holy, people notice. When we live holy lives,

they also notice. And it is the holy life that glorifies Jesus and

brings the lost to faith in Him.

All our love and prayers,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

John 15:1-2, “’I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and

every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.’”

Why is all of this happening to me? Did you ever say that? I’m sure

we all have at some time. Understanding the Word of God is key to

understanding a lot of the problems that come our way. These two

verses have been quite often been misunderstood. Fruit means the

attributes of Christ Himself. Read Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of

the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” These

nine elements were ever present in Jesus’ life; and His Holy Spirit lives

within us to reproduce them in our lives. The absence of this fruit may

mean that we’ve never trusted Him at all –that we do not belong to Him!

Or, it may be that the flow of the life of the Vine is being hindered by a

branch that is not producing the likeness of Christ. So, the Vinedresser

prunes (cleanses) the vine by cutting off the non-productive branches.

This cleansing may come in a variety of ways: sickness, losses of

different kinds, even death. Think of it like a football coach. His job is

to train his players so they can win games. Any player who does not

perform well on the field is subject to being removed from the game.

The removal may be temporary or permanent, depending on the coach’s

judgment. Jesus is our Coach. If we do not perform up to His expectations,

we are subject to His “pruning.” Don’t mess with God! He’s serious about

our being like Himself.

We love you more than you will ever know,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

John 12:12-13, “On the next day the great multitude who had come

to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet Him,

and began to cry out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the

name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.’”

The days in which Jesus walked on this Earth were not easy days.

The Romans ruled virtually all the world at that time, and the Pharisees

lived to please the Romans, who allowed them to rule the religiously.

The Jews who lived at that time were forced to obey both. Thus, it is

no mystery why the people cried out “Hosanna” –LORD, save us!

It was somewhat ironic that the Jews were looking to Jesus to save

them, while He Himself was avoiding the Pharisees (Jn. 11:54), who

were plotting to kill Him.

In our own time today, we have a President, who is seeking to restore

liberty to our nation’s people; yet, there are those who are opposing his

efforts and, if possible, would eliminate him as President. Time changes

many things, but evil persists. It is time for us to cry, “Hosanna!” The

LORD alone can save us! He only awaits our willingness to believe on

Him and trust Him. As each of us yields to His will for our lives, our

nation comes one step closer to becoming the Light of Liberty for

which it was founded. Pray for our LORD’s deliverance for our lives

from sin and for our nation’s imprisonment through evil forces.

We continue to love and pray for you daily,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

John 10:27-28, “’My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,

and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they

shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.’”

The most powerful word in any sentence is the verb. Interesting

too, is the fact that when all the elements of life are failing, hearing

is the last to go. Animals are not only equipped with hearing, they

have “selective” hearing –they can distinguish between the voice

of their master and other voices that might call them. Jesus uses

sheep a lot in His teaching. When we accept Him as our LORD

and Savior, we become His sheep. It is then that we come to know

His voice (i.e., we understand His Word and the voice of the Holy

Spirit) and follow Him. He knows us, too, and gives us eternal life.

BTW, “eternal life” is not given when or just before we die; it is

given to us at the very instant we believe upon Him –and it is not

possible ever to lose! That’s what He means by “never perish.”

Moreover, no one (not even Satan) can “snatch” or take us away

by force. This is protection like no other! With all the LORD has

freely given us, why would we not listen to His Word and follow

Him? See you in church today wherever you attend. Listen to

His voice and you will never be deceived.

Love you all immensely,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”