The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Hebrews 11:13-16, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the Earth.

14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Although, it was many years ago, I can remember being promised things that were never given to me. I clearly remember a friend of the family describing something from the war (WW II, not the Civil War!!). When I asked something about it, he said, “I have a piece of that and I’ll give it to you.” But his promise was never fulfilled. Without any doubt whatsoever, I will die without that promise ever coming to reality.

These people who are listed in the Roll Call of the Faithful here in Hebrews 11, “died in faith without receiving the promises.” Yet, by faith they saw what had been promised them. It was a heavenly city, and they realized that they were not citizens of Earth, but of that Heavenly City –a City that God had faithfully prepared for them.

If you believe that these faithful people were thinking of another earthly city, verse 15 says, they would then have had the opportunity to return to the area from which they had come. No, they were looking for a Heavenly City, a better place than that from which they had come. And because they were trusting God, Who had promised them that City, He was not “ashamed to be called their God.” For truly, He had prepared a City for them.

Have you grasped what this is all about? The totality of persons listed in Hebrews 11 believed that God had something in store for them that was infinitely superior to anything they had possessed on this Earth. What He had prepared for them, He has prepared for us as well. You and I won’t see the place until we die, leaving behind this corrupted, evil world!

When D. L. Moody was dying, he cried out, “I see Earth receding! I see Heaven coming! It is glorious!” Those standing beside Moody, heard and recorded his final words; but they saw nothing because their time for moving from this world into the next had not yet come. What we see and hear of happenings in our world today makes us eager to move heavenward.

Yet for now, we must exercise faith in the clear promises our blessed LORD has made to us. He has prepared for us a City. The sign on the door is marked “THE ENTRANCE FOR THE FAITHFUL.” Can you enter at that door? Have you trusted the LORD Jesus Christ as your Savior? Don’t put that off! “Today is the day of salvation.” And if you have trusted Him, are you sharing your witness of Him with others? One day, I will be writing and —

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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,

Hebrews 11:11-12, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;

10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

A lot of women today are woefully discouraged because they are omitted from things historically left to men. Godly men, however, are not desirous to omit women; rather, they delight in women, knowing that multiple tasks virtually require the attention of industrious women. I could speak at length on this subject without fear of successful contradiction because I was married to such a woman for 64 years! Believe me there were subjects that she handled that I could never have handled so successfully; and I’m not bound in my thinking to the bearing children and caring for them at various stages in their lives. Men, we have to fact it: women can do some things we could never do!

The name Sarah (??????) means “princess” in Hebrew. Yet, as with modern “princesses,” Sarah did not always behave as her name would imply. We find her first in Genesis 17, where she is already the wife of Abraham. We also learn that Sarah was baren. Neither she nor her husband believed what the angels said when they told her that she would bear a son. Sarah was 90 years old at the time.

Her disbelief was a failure of faith.

She added to her unbelief when she suggested that her husband have a child by Hagar, Sarah’s maid. That union produced a son, named Ishmael. He was their son: Abraham’s, Sarah’s and Hagar’s; but Ishmael was not God’s promised son. He would be named

Isaac, and he would be the son of Abraham and Sarah, as the angels had promised. Oh, how often we seek to be the answer of the LORD’s promise. And what is that except our lack of faith?

As Ishmael and Isaac grew, they became rivals. Ishmael taunted Isaac, and Sarah would not stand for that son of Hagar to belittle her son Isaac. Much less would she stand for Ishmael to rivial Isaac for the inheritance that would eventually come from Abraham. Thus, she pressured Abraham to turn Hagar away and she and her son Ishmael left and wandered for a time in the wilderness.

How on Earth could Sarah have found herself listed in the Roll Call of the Faithful here in Hebrews 11? I can find only two things: one, she by faith “received ability to conceive” even at 90 years of age; and when she considered the LORD to be faithful. For it was He Who was the One who had given her the promise. Further, she acknowledged Abraham as the leader, obeying him and even calling him “lord.”

The LORD has a means of honoring women. And many would have been honored had they simply believed in Him and labored faithfully in the place in life He intended for them to occupy. A personal note to the women reading this Grands Letter: You are never so honored as you are when you occupy the place the LORD has for you. Don’t try to be manly! Find the LORD’s place and He will honor you beyond measure with abundance! A personal note to the men reading this Grands Letter: You have been gifted in life with the most precious treasure of all, a loving, faithful wife. Never put her down! Never belittle her –ever, especially in the presence of others. Such is an act of faithlessness toward God, because it is He who has blessed you with her! One Day He is Coming! And on that Day you will discover the value each of you has had to the other. Pray together! Pray for one another! Be faithful to Him and to each other! You may yet make His Roll Call of the Faithful. I pray you will. Pray that I will, too!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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,

Hebrews 11:8-10, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;

10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

There’s far more to be said about Abraham that you want to read here. Almost everything he did was by faith. To begin with, Abram (that was his earlier name) lived in Ur of the Caldees. He was a worshipper of the moon goddess, when the LORD God called him to leave his fields and his religion –everything!—and follow Him to a place Abram had never known. Interestingly, there was no objection to doing exactly what he was told. Are we that faithful toward the LORD? What would you do if the LORD were to instruct you to move across the country, or even across the world? Remember, He’s not telling you where, He’s just saying “follow Me.”

He resided in a strange land, living like a foreigner, asking nothing, just obeying! Much later he would become the father of Isaac; and Isaac would become the father of Jacob. His greatest known act of faith occurred when the LORD told him to take his son, Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. Isaac was a grown man at the time, and he did not object to being the sacrifice. What a glorious pre-picturing of our LORD Jesus, who offered Himself upon the Cross for our sins. Isaac, however, was spared. The LORD staid the hand of Abraham, and a ram was offered in place of Isaac. The LORD told Abraham that this was a test of his faith. Thankfully, Abraham passed the test and became the father of the faithful. The Nation of Israel exists today because of Abraham’s faithfulness.

As believers, we are often moved by the Holy Spirit to go to places where we’ve never been. Often, too, we live among people who are foreign to our culture and language. Worst of all, we’re often called to live apart from all we’ve ever known, even friends and family. If and when that call comes to your life, remember Abraham! There was no mail service, no Internet, no cell phone, no contact

with those left behind –only the LORD. But, when you have the LORD, the Creator and Controller of the Universe, what is there to fear? Trust His Word; trust the Holy Spirit. That “He will never leave you nor forsake you” is His promise (1 Chron. 28:20).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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,

Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Were you ever required to do something that didn’t make sense to your friends? “What are you doing that for?” they would ask. Funny, but you were asking the same thing, and you probably made up something to answer to get them off your back. If you have ever experienced something like that, you have something of an idea how Noah felt.

It probably embarrassed his wife and family, too, out her far away from a stream of any kind, and building a kibotos, a wooden box 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. But when you have been instructed to do anything by the LORD, you do it. You do it because you have faith in God and you are confident He knows what He’s doing, even if you don’t.

Noah didn’t have all the answers, but he did the work cautiously and reverently. It was a work of faith; and when we labor in faith, we need to be cautious. Noah did the work knowing that it was “for the salvation of his household.” At the same time, the ark was a condemnatory judgment against the world. What was judgment against the world was salvation to Noah and his family. Think about that! It’s true today. Those of us who are saved by believing in Jesus are, through our salvation, a condemnation to those who do not believe.

Peter calls Noah “a preacher of righteousness.” It is reasonable to believe that Noah preached to those who jeered and laughed at him as he went about building the ark. Some will laugh at us. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that we know the LORD, and that in love we are presenting Him to them! In the end, the LORD did cause a great flood to cover the Earth, and those who refused to believe were swallowed up in the chilling waters of death without a second chance!!

I am aware that some of you, who are reading this, work in environments that prohibit witnessing. Certainly, we don’t want to defraud those for whom we are working by defying their rules. But, we can always exhibit the LORD through our lives; and when questions are asked, the LORD will give us opportunities to respond and tell how we met Him! Just be alert!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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,

Hebrews 11:5-6, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

The 11TH chapter of Hebrews is known as the Roll Call of the Faithful. Abel was the first one listed in this Roll Call. The next is Enoch.

Enoch is the seventh from Adam, and is the first of only two men in all of Scripture (Elijah was the other) who was translated into Heaven without having to experience death. Enoch walked with God for 300 years and must have had an extraordinary faith in the secrets the LORD shared with him. Oh, what He has in store for us, if we are faithful!

Enoch was 65 years old when he became the father of a son, whom he named Methuselah. The meaning of Methuselah’s name indicated that the world would be destroyed when he died. It was in the very year of Methuselah’s death that the Flood in the day of Noah destroyed the Earth. It’s both interesting and meaningful to note that Enoch’s translation without death parallels with the Rapture of the Church, and that the destruction of the world of Noah parallels the Great Tribulation that follows the Rapture.

The witness of Scripture regarding Enoch is that “he was well-pleasing to God.” You know, when we really get down to it, being “well-pleasing to God” is all that matters. First, He is pleased when we repent of our sins and trust His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior. At that point, the LORD gives us the Holy Spirit, who guides and instructs us to follow the LORD. He is pleased when we listen and follow the Holy Spirit. He has also given us His Word, the Bible, that feeds us spiritually and keeps us “on track” with His will. He is pleased when we saturate ourselves daily in His Word.

All of that raises the question: “Are we ‘well-pleasing’ to the LORD?” If we know Him, we will be “caught up to meet Him in the air” at the Rapture. But, then, there’s the Judgment Seat of Christ, where we will be reprimanded for unconfessed sin, and be rewarded for having been “well-pleasing” to Him in our lives here on Earth. Please take all of this seriously! These are not rambling words from me!

They are spiritual truths that come to us from Holy Scripture! In summary: BELIEVE and BEHAVE! The LORD is our Judge! And He is Coming soon!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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.”