The Grands Letter

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.’”

I selected these two verses primarily because of the word “Hosanna.”

It means “LORD, save us.” This is the word the nations of today’s world

need to be crying out to Jesus! Virtually every nation on Earth today is

in some kind of trouble. If the world map were a dart board, it would

be impossible to throw a dart at the board without hitting a nation that

is in difficulty. The Jews who cried “Hosanna!” knew their difficulty.

Their nation’s rulers were corrupt, their spiritual leaders were corrupt,

and they had no one to whom they could turn except Jesus. It was

interesting to see how many suffering the devastations of “Harvey”

and “Irma” spoke of the LORD. They could well have appropriated

Simon Peter’s words, “LORD, to whom shall we go? You have the words

of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68). Our world’s hope lies only in Jesus Christ!

Our government is not the solution. Our academic institutions are not

the solution. Our finances are not the solution. Our religions are not

the solution. Only Jesus Christ is the solution! What He says in His

Word–in Holy Scripture—concerning End Times, is swiftly coming to

pass in our own day.

“Only one life; it will soon be past;

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Please pray for Michael Rudd, a young man who knows he needs the LORD!

We love and pray for you,

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 11:43, 45, 48, “And when He had said these things,

He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’” …

45 “Many therefore of the Jews, who had come to Mary and

beheld what He had done, believed in Him… 48 “’If we let Him

go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans

will come and take away both our place and our nation.’”

When Jesus stood at Lazarus’ grave, and after He prayed

openly to His Heavenly Father, He cried aloud, “Lazarus,

come forth!” Someone has said that had Jesus not used

Lazarus’ name, all the dead would have come forth. I’m

not sure that is true, but I AM SURE that Lazarus came

forth, as Jesus had commanded. His resurrection had a

far-reaching effect: “Many…of the Jews…believed in Him.”

Many implies that not all believed, yet some did. How

could any of them not believe? Verse 48 tells us why.

Had they believed, “the Romans (would have) come and

take(n) away (their) place and nation.” In other words,

they would have lost all their position and authority.

All of this tells us that despite our best efforts in witnessing,

some will not believe. And why will they not? For much

the same reason as the Jews. They will lose their friends,

their position in life, their job –and the list goes on and on.

Jesus knew that some would not believe. Still, He continued

to share what the Father had given Him to share. So it must

be with us. Don’t get discouraged! Keep on keeping on!

It is not our job to WIN them; it is our job to WITNESS. The

LORD alone wins the lost. We are to keep on shouting:

“LAZARUS, COME FORTH!”

We rejoice in what the LORD has given each of you; and

we pray daily that you will be “to the praise of His glory!”

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 8:29-30, “’And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone,

for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.’

30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.”

From the turning of the water into wine to the feeding of the 5000,

the Jews had stubbornly refused to believe that He was from God.

He quoted the Old Testament Scriptures to them and challenged

their failure of interpretation. It might have appeared to some that

Jesus was alone, but He forthrightly said, “He who has sent Me is

with Me; He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that

are pleasing to Him.”

Can you say that? Can you say that you always do the things that

are pleasing to God? I’m sorry that I cannot. While I have always

sought to live honestly and upright before Him, I have often failed.

My heart and mind have not always been pleasing to Jesus. But

when they were pleasing to Him, people believed upon Him and

were saved! Christ uses clean and pure hearts and minds to bring

the lost to Him. Isn’t that why we are here on Earth? Isn’t being

pleasing to Him what it’s all about? Pray for forgiveness of sin.

Rededicate your life to Jesus Christ. Be prepared to share your

faith with others, and just see what He will do with you!

May the LORD bless and use you is our prayer,

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 3:1-6, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;

2 this man came to Him by night, and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’

3 Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’

4 Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?’

5 Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’”

I know this is a long passage, but we need it all to clearly understand it.

Nicodemus was an authoritative person among the Jews. But, he realized

that Jesus was truly from God the Father. He also knew that Jesus knew

things he himself did not know. ~ His coming by night was probably because

the rabbis did their studying at night, and he recognized Jesus as a rabbi or

teacher. ~ Jesus told him plainly “You must be born again?” Again is the

Greek word anothen, meaning “from above.” Nicodemus obviously did not

understand. Jesus said, “…unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he

cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Then, Jesus explained that the

“water” referred to the physical birth (“That which is born of the flesh is

flesh”), while “of the Spirit” referred to the spiritual birth (“that which is

born of the Spirit is spirit.”) ~ Nicodemus was honest in his search for truth.

Some who come to us are honest, also. We need to be clear and honest

with them. Nicodemus admitted he did not understand. Not everyone

understands the Gospel the first time. The big question is: Did Nicodemus

become a Christian? John 19:39 says that he came to the burial of Jesus,

bringing “a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.”

We would hardly expect a non-believer to bring something. When people

are truly “born from above,” they demonstrate it in some manner. ~ What

are we doing to demonstrate that we know Him?

We love you and pray for you every, single day,

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 1:45-46, “Philip found Nathanael and said to him,

‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also

the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’

46 And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can any good thing come

out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’”

I have often wondered about Nathanael’s question, “Can

any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Was a simply an

an expression of prejudice against a neighboring city? Or

was it his awareness that Nazareth was never mentioned

as important in the Old Testament by the prophets?

Sometimes, as we witness to others about Jesus, they

ask questions we find difficult or even impossible to

answer clearly. Perhaps Philip’s answer is our best

answer: “Come and see.” Maybe we need to challenge

them to give Jesus Christ an opportunity to do something

with their life. When I was in evangelism, I often said,

“You’ve tried everything else; why not try Jesus? What

have you got to lose?” It was another way of saying,

“Come and see.” You might try asking Philip’s question.

What have you got to lose?

You are our love next to Jesus! You are in our 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.”