The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of

the flesh.

17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for

these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you

please.”

Paul’s ministry is summarized in verse 16. The word walk (?????????, peripateo) indicates the behavior of the Spirit-led believer in Christ. We are to obey the Holy Spirit, who indwells us when once we accept Christ as our LORD and Savior. Summarily, this is how the LORD is glorified.

When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he transmitted the “virus” of sin into the lives of his progeny. That’s how Paul can say that “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). We naturally possess the tendency to sin. At the same time, he warns us against carrying out the desires of the flesh – the desires that he quite distinctly names in the following verses.

No two forces ever stood in greater opposition to each other than the flesh and the Spirit. “He’s done wrong to me and I’m going to ruin him!” is an attitude of the flesh.

“Yes, he was wrong in what he did, but his parents failed to rear him according to the Bible. Let’s show him Jesus’ love; maybe he will repent and become a Christian.” The latter response is of the Holy Spirit.

The LORD God sent Jesus into the world to suffer and die for our sins. When we turn our lives to Him, He not only forgives us for all our past sins, He sends the Holy Spirit into our lives to teach and train us to follow the LORD and adopt His characteristics.

Paul himself was a furious persecutor of Christians until he met the LORD and was born again.

If you’ve never accepted Christ Jesus, the same transformation can occur in your life.

He will turn your insecurity into security, your hate into love, so that those whoi knew you in your old life will hardly recognize you. Christians, too, can wander from God, making it necessary for the Holy Spirit to become your spiritual compass. Wherever you are, you can be back on track through sincere prayer for forgiveness. God loves you. He will help you to love Him and others, too. He waits to hear your prayer.

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,

Genesis 16:3-6, “And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s

wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as

his wife.

4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had

conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into

your arms; but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight.

May the LORD judge between you and me.’

6 But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in

your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.’”

There were so many things my dear mother told me not to do; and when I did them, I knew why she had said not to. She was wiser than I was obedient. Song writer Lethal Ellis certainly told the truth when he wrote:

Out into the darkness you alone may go,

And seeds for the wicked one you may sow;

But, there’s an eye that’s watching from the Throne on High,

You can’t do wrong and get by.

It’s too bad Sarai hadn’t heard those lines. It was her thought that the LORD was too slow in giving Abram and her the child He had promised. She jumped ahead and encouraged Abram to have a child by Hagar. But when Hagar conceived, Sarai became jealous and treated Hagar quite harshly.

Now, Sarai’s really steamed and turns on Abram. In the moral culture of that day, what Abram did with Hagar was not considered wrong, as it would be today. What was wrong was Abram’s lack of trust in the LORD, leading him to listen to Sarai. The situation had not gone as either of them expected, and Hagar is blamed for her participation. For Sarai’s part, all blame fell on Abram. What a mess!

Abram was the head of the household, so essentially the responsibility was his. But Hagar was Sarai’s maid; so Abram laid some responsibility on her when he said, Look, you started all of this; if you’re upset with Hagar, she belongs to you; do whatever you want with her. Poor Hagar got such rough treatment that she simply took her newly-born son and left. Everybody is at a loss.

Does the moral of this biblical account have meaning in today’s culture? It certainly does! The ultimate authority in all matters and under all situations lies with the LORD! He always speaks in wisdom, and He never forgets what He has said. Unlike Sarai and Abram, you and I need to heed the directives the LORD gives us. We are not permitted to change anything. He alone is the fulfiller of His promises; and the timing of His fulfillments resides with Him alone!

Do you have any messes you need straightened out? Take my mother’s advice: “Let the LORD do it! Don’t try to do anything alone! You’ll just regret it!” Thank you, LORD, for giving us godly mothers! “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12).

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,

Genesis 15:2-3, “And Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, since I am

childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’

3 And Abram said, ‘Since Thou hast given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my

heir.’” Genesis 16:1-3, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an

Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

2 So Sarai said to Abram, ‘Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing

children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children through her.’ And

Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took

Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.”

There are two kinds of people on Earth: those who are spiritually active and those who are not. The inactive people never listen to God; thus, they produce relatively nothing. The active people are also of two kinds: those who understand the LORD and follow at His pace, and those who also understand, but often run ahead of the LORD in the effort to get done what He wills and commands.

The LORD had rescued Abram from the pagan land of Ur. He followed the LORD faithfully, but longed for a son, who would be his heir. The LORD promised him a son, who would be his heir. Ten years went by and both Abram and his wife, Sarai, became concerned as they were both growing older and had not had a son. They then decided to help the LORD with the birth of a child. Sarai gave Hagar, her maid, to Abram as a wife, and she bore Abram a son. The problem is Ishmael was not the LORD’s choice.

Have you ever run ahead of the LORD’s will? You have prayed for Him to show you what He willed for your life, but He has yet to reveal His will to you. What do you do? The short answer is: you wait! Failing to wait on the LORD is often disastrous; and even if it doesn’t prove to be so, you don’t advance the purpose of God for your life by racing ahead.

I recall quite vividly the time when a close friend and I were engaged in revival activity in a

small Missouri church. We had a good meeting, and the church had a wonderful plan for us that pure and simply thrilled us! Yes, of course, we prayed about whether it was the LORD’s will, but raced ahead in our planning, as if it were— It was not. Disappointment settled in upon us like a heavy fog, until we learned that all activity in our lives was to be Spirit-directed, and that included timing.

If you have truly trusted in the LORD Jesus Christ as your Savior, you must trust His will and timing for every event that occurs in your life. He doesn’t need our help. He only needs our love and faith in Him and His plans for our lives. “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thess. 5:24).

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,

Galatians 2:12-14, “For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat

with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof,

fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas

was carried away by their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said

to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like

the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

It’s not unusual for believers’ to have conversations with unbelievers. In fact, that’s exactly what we’re supposed to do. But, have you ever found yourself in confrontation with another believer over spiritual or biblical matters? That’s what Paul encountered in the verses above.

James, was the half-brother of Jesus and pastor of the Christian congregation in Jerusalem. Paul and Peter and some other believers were gathered and talking together when some members of James’ congregation arrived. Peter, a Jewish believer, had been eating with some Gentile believers, something that Jews were never permitted to do. But, when the men from James arrived, Peter withdrew from the Gentiles, fearing controversy with the Jewish-Christian group. Other Jewish believers had been mingling with Gentiles, too. But, when they saw Peter withdraw, they also withdrew from the Gentiles.

Paul saw this as hypocrisy and immediately and openly challenged Peter. I take this to mean that we are free to peacefully challenge other believers when we assess that they are wrong. For example, if we are engaging in activities (physical or verbal) that are spiritually questionable, but stop our activity only because a Christian friend comes into our midst, that is hypocrisy. That’s what Peter was doing, and that’s what occasioned Paul’s open challenge.

We might paraphrase Paul’s statement like this:

If you, being a Christian, can adopt the Gentile way of eating with Jews, how do

you come off compelling the Gentiles to adopt the Jewish way? When you all

withdraw, as you are doing, you are making the Gentiles have to eat by

themselves; and that is the old, non-Christian Jewish way.

Peter had withdrawn from eating with the Gentiles. The Jewish believers were following Peter. That meant that the Gentiles were forced to eat by themselves, just as the Jews were by their old law required to do. What Peter was doing was wrong; and, although he had been a believer long before Paul, it fell to Paul to expose this unbiblical attitude. The key to all of this is that had Paul not been living as the LORD commanded, he could never have been enabled to correct Peter’s wrong-doing.

Our beliefs and conduct have to BE what the LORD desires, before we can CORRECT the beliefs and conduct of others. It’s that simple. Are your beliefs and conduct in line with the teachings of Christ and the Holy Scriptures? If not, why not? You alone are responsible. Pray that someone truly in the Faith will lovingly, yet forcefully, correct you.

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,

Galatians 1:9-12, “As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching

to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If

I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is

not according to man.

12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a

revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Teachers encounter a lot of things from students. I shall never forget one young man who was assigned to my class. From right out of the starting block, it was obvious that his goal was to convince everyone in the class –including the teacher– of the absolute correctness of his theological position. There might have been a good discussion, except for one thing: it was not a class in theology!

At that particular time, one of America’s leading ministerial voices was emphasizing a position that was neither mine nor that of the school where I was teaching. But, the student had read the pastor’s books, and had become enamored with his theological position. To some, whatever is “new” is right. Had the Apostle Paul been alive, he would have excoriated that pastor’s position and chastised him for misleading my student.

All that is to say that erroneous thoughts quite often come from the pens of men who want their views to be embraced, notwithstanding that those views are often contrary to Scripture. Just be careful!! Excellent biblical scholars “enlighten” our thoughts about Scripture; but they never take exception to it!

All preachers and teachers have favorite commentaries, upon which they rely to “enlighten” their understanding of various, difficult passages. Rarely, however, do the better commentaries ignore studies in the original languages. Paul’s gospel was not according to man. He didn’t even cite Gamaliel, his own Jewish teacher, who was arguably the best of his day. The Gospel came to Paul “through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

So, be careful whom you read; be careful whom you follow. Not all books are best burned in the fire –just some! Stay with the Bible! Pray to understand passages that seem unclear. The LORD has given us the Scriptures for our enlightenment. When they seem dark to us, He will bring them into the light! He will give us understanding! For it is through our clear understanding and forthright witness of His saving grace, that the LORD Himself is glorified. And that is what we’re left here on Earth to do!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

NOTE: Thank you for bearing with me while my modem was being replaced.

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.”