The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Jude 1:3-4, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Have you ever started something seriously, only to be side-tracked by something more important? A pastor of mine sat down to write a letter of commendation for me for a position he thought I could handle. Yet, as he started to write, he was interrupted and left off completely writing the letter for me. I started this very day, intending to do something very important, but was waylaid by something totally unexpected.

Jude, was a Jewish believer, who intended to write his Christian brothers about “their common salvation. But suddenly, the Holy Spirit changed the course of his intention and prompted him to write and encourage them to

“contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.” As with many experiences in Scripture, we are not told everything. What caused Jude to leave his intended subject and write about something else? He saw a greater need.

Some people (we don’t know who or how many) had silently and stealthily slipped into the church. No one noticed; yet they were “ungodly persons,” who carefully side-stepped the truth of God’s Word and “turned the grace of our God into licentiousness (sensual uncleanness) and denied the validity of our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

It might have been the pastor, who was veering off the Scriptures and interjecting his own thoughts into the teachings.

It might have been some sensual activities that were being cautiously introduced into the congregation. We don’t know precisely; but such things do happen! And when they do, it is a denial of our LORD Jesus!

Jude reminds those to whom he is writing that such things have occurred numerous times before. But, he warns us, just as he was warning those of his own day. We must stay close to the Scriptures! That’s why we must read and understand them daily. We must pray for ourselves and for those who lead us. We cannot afford to be misled. So, whatever you are currently doing, ask yourself, “Is it the most important thing I could be doing now?” Is it helping others to draw closer and closer to our LORD Jesus Christ? Think carefully before you do anything. You cannot afford to be misled.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

P. S. Please pray for your Nation and for her leaders! Pray for the lost that they may be led to Christ and live for His glory!

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.”