The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 22:2-6, “And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.

3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.

4 And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.

5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

6 And he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the multitude.”

An “agreement” requires two parties exchanging ideas and coming to a mutual conclusion. A “merger” requires each party to give up something of value and accepting something of lesser value in exchange.

Suppose I need two ten dollar bills, but have only one twenty dollar bill. You have two tens and agree to accept my twenty for your two tens. That’s a fair exchange. But suppose you lack one dollar. Together, we have only 19 dollars. We might agree to combine our money, but I have to want what we intend to buy together more than I dislike my loss of one dollar in the exchange. That would be called a “merger.”

In a merger, each side gives up something he considers of greater value in exchange for something he considers of lesser value. In the betrayal of Jesus, Judas Iscariot valued the chief priests’ money more than he valued Jesus friendship. As for the chief priests, they valued the death of Jesus more than they valued the 30 pieces of silver. Would you consider what they did a “fair exchange” or a “merger”?

Either way, Judas allowed Satan to persuade him to betray Jesus. Beware of Satan’s attacks! He is subtle and cunning. Judas was influenced to do something that he later regretted enormously! Satan is still on the attack. He leads us to compromise our convictions –just a little at first; but like a small tear in a piece of cloth –unless it is repaired quickly, it will tear even more, ultimaetly rendering it useless.

Have sound, spiritual convictions –convictions based on solid, biblical teachings. Then know with certainty that there is nothing of value anywhere that supersedes the value of Christ Jesus and His teachings in the Bible! No mergers, not even exchanges! Hold fast to biblical teachings, whatever the immediate cost. There is an ultimate reward for which there is no equal value!

God bless you daily, is our prayer,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Luke 19:1 And He entered and was passing through Jericho.

2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.

3 And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.

4 And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.

7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

8 And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Fault-finders are everywhere! With some people, there is no such thing as “doing right.” They simply cannot be pleased with anything. Give them a cold drink of water on a blisteringly hot day, and they look at you as if you had a “hidden meaning” in it. They don’t trust anyone about anything at anytime. They grumbled at being born, and they will likely grumble in their graves. Know anyone like that? Who’s kidding who?

The multitudes liked Jesus. It was He whom they had come to see. Zaccheus, being short of stature, climbed up a tree for a clear view of the One who was to pass that way. The people despised Zaccheus. He was a tax-collector, the lowest on the employment scale in the minds of the people. You would think that they would be hopeful that Jesus could do something to straighten Zaccheus out, but some probably grumbled at his even being there.

Our culture today has developed grumbleitis. We don’t like our political leaders. We don’t like our spiritual leaders. We don’t like our academicians. We don’t even really like ourselves. It’s a grumble, grumble culture. We get upset over the least of things –things that are truly none of our business. A friend and I went into business some years ago. A banker we did not previously know lended us thousands of dollars just on our names. But, an out-of-state company with whom we were dealing kept dragging their feet on delivering what they had promised. I became truly argry! It was proof that I myself was not immune from grumbling.

Grumbling affects us more severly than we might think. It affects our digestive system, our ability to think clearly on other things; it causes the best of friends to withdraw from us because we never have anything pleasant about which to think or talk. Jesus did not allow the people’s grumbling affect Him in the least. He accepted Zaccheus’ invitation to dinner and led him to faith that turned his life completely around. The next time you’re tempted to “blow your top” over something, just relax and know that there is a better way. Jesus is still in the business of turning things around; and the worst of the worst can be brought to faith in Him!

Prayer is our weapon against grumbling. We love you and pray for you daily.

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Luke 14:16-24, “A certain man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;

17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’

19 “And another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’

20 “And another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’

21 “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

22 “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

23 “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24 ‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'”

There is no excuse for what you did! Did anyone ever say that to you? a parent? a teacher? a boss?

The “why” behind what we did or did not do what was required is as old as mankind itself.

Adam said to God, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree…” (Gen. 3:12) This excuse was then copied by Eve, who blamed the serpent. Moses argued with God saying, “…they will not believe me or listen to my voice…” (Ex. 4:1). Aaron blamed the people for the golden calf, saying, “…they said to me, ‘Make us gods’…” And the list goes on.

Someone has said that the definition of an excuse is “the skin of reason stuffed with a lie.” That may seem a bit harsh because the “reason” probably seems reasonably feasible to the one offering it. Nevertheless, when the LORD instructs His servants in what they are to do, there can be no excuse for not doing it.

The parable Jesus gave in our verses above is indeed appropriate to every generation. A man intending to give a dinner, gave an invitation to his intended guests. There was ample time for them to prepare to be there. In the culture of the day, they had accepted the invitation, but when the dinner was ready, and the date for it had arrived, they all declined –making excuses for not being able to be there. It was an insult to the host!

Have we ever thought about how we insult the LORD Jesus by intentionally neglecting to do or say what He has instructed us? It’s somebody else’s fault. I forgot all about it. There are others who are better at doing it than I am. And the list goes on and on. Yet, what we overlook is that the LORD intended us to do it or He would have chosen someone else. Others may have already been doing what He instructed, and were honestly unavailable for that time. He needed us for that specific time and place. Perhaps, it was a training mission, preparing us for some even greater work at a later time. Why do we question God? Why do we just not obey His commands without question?

In the end, those who made excuses missed the dinner. Worse still, they angered their host by not showing up. When we were saved, we yielded our very lives, time, energy, everyting to Him. We are not our own! We are servants, His servants. And someday we will need Him to help us. Will He give us an excuse?

We pray earnestly for you spiritually and physically,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Luke 14:8-11, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both shall come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.

10 “But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.

11 “For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.”

Some days ago the President of the United States held a signing ceremony. All of the invited dignataries were gather in the East Room of the White House. A few were designated to stand on risers on the platform immediately behind the speaker. It was an assembly of carefully orchestrated decorum. There was no rushing for the front row seats. If someone discovered himself to be in the wrong seat, he vacated that seat and sought the place reserved for him.

I have to wonder of anyone at that signing ceremony recalled the verses from Luke’s Gospel. In His parable, Jesus allowed that everyone who was invited to the wedding feast was guaranteed a seat. He also noted that each invited guest was designated a specific seat, and that arrangement was decided by the one in charge of the feast. The person in charge had the authority to seat people where he desired. The one who chose a front-row seat for himself would in time suffer embarrassment by being told to move to seat in a row further back. It was a value system. Those valued more highly were awarded the better seats.

Sometimes we over-value ourselves. We view ourselves as smarter, wealthier, even better looking that others, thus we believe we should have higher honor than others. But, that’s not how it works! The LORD is in charge, and His value-arrangement is what matters. So, how do we increase our value in His sight? We do it by being faithful, by living as He directs, by working diligently, minding our own business –which is His business; by sharing His likeness in our daily lives, and sharing His Word in a verbal witness, as His Spirit prompts us. From the LORD’s viewpoint, that is what constitutes true value. Where will you sit when the Wedding Feast is announced?

We love you dearly and pray for you daily,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Luke 12:39-40, “’And be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

40 “’You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.’”

According to the Department of Justice, there are 1.03 million home invasions every year. How many

home invasions occurred in Jesus’ day on Earth is impossible to know; however, they did occur, prompting His mention of it in our verses above. There was danger in the ancient world, just as there is today. Jesus is not specifically addressing the matter of homeowner’s rights to defend themselves and their possessions, although by implication, He does support self-defence. He has a more serious matter of which to warn us.

The parallel here is the contrast of a home invader with the Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ. We should be ready for both. Of course, the Coming of the LORD is vastly more important. Jesus’ words, “be ready” are imperative in the Greek language. His Coming should be –must be– uppermost in our minds.

Some in Simon Peter’s day were saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep (died), all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:4). Still, Peter warns,

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…” (2 Pet. 3:10). Do thieves intentionally announce when they are coming to rob you? Of course not! Neither does Jesus announce when He is coming. The point is: we must be ready! We must be always alert because He could come at any moment.

We become alert when we read the Bible and consistently follow its instructions. We become alert when our minds are focused on living a Christ-like life. No thief wants to be caught in the act of doing something wrong. And no true believer in Jesus Christ wants to be caught dabbling in worldliness when He comes!

Solomon said, “Watch over your heart with all diligence…” (Pro. 4:23). That means guard your heart at all times! Don’t for a moment be caught off guard. Sound like a full-time job? You bet it is! But when He comes, it will be worth it all.

We love and pray for you every day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”