The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 37:3-10, “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the
desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and
your judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
9 For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.
10 Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.”

There’s a lot to the Christian faith. At the same time, there
very little. Is that not a contradiction? No, indeed! On the one hand, there are notable directives that we must follow to legitimately call ourself a “Christian.” Trust, delight, dwell, rest… Each of these requires an activity.

At the same time, Christians are to be and do good, cultivate faithfulness, and forsake wrath and wicked schemes. All of these would seem to require activity.

Fuzed together, therefore, we can conclude that Christians are to be both active and inactive, depending on the nature of the situation at hand.

The Christian’s attitude toward the activity or inactivity, therefore, rests upon the situation involved. Some situations call for quick action! Others call for no action! Still, our attitude should always be loving and peaceful.

How do we know when to be or not to be loving or peaceful? If we live with perennial love toward others, we
will know whether or how we should should respond. The
Holy Spirit always reveals everything that’s needed. What’s more, He is always on time!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

2 Kings 18:1-7, “Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3 He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.
4 He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.
6 For he clung to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses.
7 And the LORD was with him; wherever he went he prospered.”

If you stop and think about it, almost everywhere you go
that you’re not known, you are required to show valid personal identification: Social Security ID, Driver’s License, etc., etc.

It’s exciting to see the LORD work! It’s also quite exciting to see true followers of the LORD engage in His work! In verses one through three, the writer of Scripture denotes him as Hezekiah.

In verse four, Hezekiah did the work of the LORD in his demolition of the idols of paganism that were worshipped by the LORD’s straying people. If we look closely, we’ll find that some of those devilish stones that Hezekiah destroyed look a lot like some of devilish stones that reside in our own lives!

In the end, Hezekiah “trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel” (vs. 5) and “clung to the LORD” and “did not depart from following Him…” (vs. 6). Is that your path? Are you trusting in the LORD? Are you clinging to Him?
Believe me, dear friend, there is no other way!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

Special Treat: Go to YouTube and type in
“Dr. Donald J. Ralston.” Don and I used to travel
together in evangelism. He was tall and handsome
and left me in the dark! Don is now with the LORD;
but his clear, honest messages from the Word are
still available. You will be blessed! –GLJ

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Ecclesiastes 12:11-14, “The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.
12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

It was many years ago that I was engaged in door-to-door visitation in a small Missouri town where I encountered a most unusual situation. The man was exceedingly polite and, to my surprise, spoke well of my purpose and of the LORD, whom I represented. There was virtually nothing I said with which he disagreed; still, he was not a Christian.

My reply to his unusual, positive response, was simply, “If you are agreeable with all that Christ said and believe all that He advocated,” I asked, “why are you not a Christian?” At best (for it occurred many years ago), my
recollection of his reply was: “I just don’t want anyone telling me what to do or how to live my life.”

Looking back on that situation, I have come to believe that is precisely the response of everyone who has not trusted Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior. Not everyone, who receives this Grands Letter, is a truly born-again believer in Christ, either. I continue to pray, however, that those who are not will soon be committed to Him. There’s an old saying that says: “Everybody that talks about Heaven ain’t a-goin’ there.”
It is my earnest hope and prayer that you are one who is going there! Just remember that “God will bring every act into judgment…whether it is good or evil.” And the best act ever is yielding your life in faith to Jesus Christ.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We will never know that Christ is all we need
until He becomes all that we have.”
– Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Exodus 8:28-32, “Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Make supplication for me.’
29 Then Moses said, ‘Behold, I am going out from you, and I shall make supplication to the LORD that the swarms of insects may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully again in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.’
30So Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the LORD.
31 The LORD did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people; not one remained.
32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

Were you ever faced with a truly difficult situation? Of course you have. Schools are like people in that they are
not always as conservative as they claim. When I was in seminary, one of my fellow-students wrote a term paper on “The Plagues of Egypt,” using only conservative resources for his research. We were all amazed when he received a top score!

Moses received a top score, too. Our Scripture above says that “Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the LORD” (v. 30). Verse 31 tells us, “The LORD did as Moses asked…”

That paper on the “Plagues” that I mentioned, was certainly not what the professor believed; nevertheless, my friend wrote what he believed to be the irrefutable truth as set forth in God’s Word, and he was rewarded.

Are you currently facing a situation the LORD has laid upon your heart –a situation with which someone might not agree? The true question then is two-fold; yet, if the burden is from the LORD, it will prevail. If it is not from the LORD, then it should be throughly erased from your mind. Let Him and His Word alone occupy your thoughts!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Proverbs 3:11-18, “My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof,
12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.
14 For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast.”

We live in a marvelous world! Stars at night sparkle to our delight, and instruments through which we can scan the night’s moon tell us that there is far more to the universe than our meagre minds can grasp!

Yet, with all the glorious splendor wrapped abount us, there is so much we do not know! Why, then, do we so often resist and reject the corrections of the LORD? Is it that we deny the LORD’s awareness of what we need? Or do we doubt the value of His corrective love –or both?

The discipline of the LORD, which we often dread, is always to our advantage. It is for correction; it’s because He loves us! Discipline comes to us in “the tree of life.” Remember the fruit of that tree– fruit of which Eve partook back in the Garden of Eden? It was there for her benefit; but she misused it and plunged us all into sin!

Through the death and resurrection of our LORD Jesus Christ, we can alter the results of Eve’s forbidden fruit! Trusting Jesus is the key! Oh, we’ll always continue to be faced with the trials of life; but throwing in with Him, causes us to view everything differently!

Whose side are you on? “…nothing you desire compares…” with Jesus Christ! He possesses the power to change your life –and for the better! Give up trying, and give in to trusting! He truly works!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom