The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Ephesians 1:7-14, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.

“In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation– having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

In the English language, we have what is called a “run-on” sentence that just keeps

on going without punctuation and changes subjects from one thing to another and never seems to come to an end and leaves the reader almost without any knowledge of what was intended in the first place. Get the idea?

Make no mistake; while the apostle’s words seem like a “run-on,” they are not.

He decidedly and clearly states that in eternity past, the LORD God intended all mankind to be “to the praise of His glory.” But man sinned, and came under sin’s imprisonment. What is God to do? Has He been stymied by the adversary Satan? Not in the least! He determines to free man through the sacrifice of His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ.

An expectant father dreams what he intends to give his coming son. His intensions, however, are dependent upon whether his son becomes all he dreams he will. The

son is born a beautiful boy, but as he grows to maturity, he takes on the characteristics of worthless fellows his own age. The disappointed father devised a plan to win his son back. The plan is initiated; but whether the father’s inheritance will become the son’s, depends upon the son believing and accepting the plan his father lays before him. The son listens carefully to his father’s plan. He believes and accepts it, and the father signs inheritance papers that will one day enrich the son forever! Why would any son reject his father’s plan in favor of the wild, evil, and destructive ways of those fellows his own age? Think about it.

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

Nana (Rose Marie) and Dado III (Gene)

UPDATE: Rose Marie is home and is improving. She is gaining strength,

like the doctors want. This coming week, we will schedule an

appointment which will secure a date for her heart caph. Please

keep her in your prayers. We’re not “out of the woods” yet.

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”