The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Jeremiah 7:23-28, “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Why do so many individuals experience trouble? Could it be that they have willfully chosen to disobey the LORD? Jeremiah continues with the accusation that “they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.”

25 “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them.

26 “Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.”

27 “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

28 “You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.'”

Nations are no better than the constituents that comprise them. If we want our nation to seek and obey the LORD, we must comply with His instructions. We must be ready to obey and conform to His directives. Far too often we appear to listen to the LORD’s Voice, but fail to follow through as He has directed us.

It was reassuring recently to see President Trump’s initial Cabinet Meeting bow together in prayer, being led by one of his Cabinet members. Several members of his Cabinet have voiced clearly and publicly that Jesus Christ is their LORD and Savior. We are prone to criticize them when they fail to follow what they pledged; ought we not to take them at their word and keep them wrapped in our daily prayers?

Whatever your political affiliation, let me urge you to pray for our nation and for those who have been elected to lead us through these next four years.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own Inheritance” (Psalm 33:12).

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,

2 Chronicles 14:2-4; 8-11 “Asa did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God,

3 for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim,

4 and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment. For he said to Judah, ‘Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.’ So they built and prospered.

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8 Now Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors.

9 Now Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

10 So Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

11 Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”

There’s nothing quite like having a leader, who is all and more than he wants you to be! Asa was that kind of leader! “He did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God.” Initially, he “removed the foreign altars and tore down the sacred pillars,” and everything that was not to the liking of his God.

What an incentive for us! Do we seek to harbor things in our lives that we know to be abhorrent to our LORD Jesus Christ? When we do so, we are eliminating the power and ultimate victory that He longs for us. We cannot expect to have victory when we work against the will of the LORD.

There is never a battle of any kind for which we do not need the LORD! Even so, the army our “Asa” has amassed for us is twice our size. Asa had but 580,000 men; whereas the opposition numbered a million or more. It was then that Asa prayed to the LORD for Divine assistance!

Then, “Asa and the people who were with him courageously pursued them as far as Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that they could not recover! They were shattered before the LORD and before His army. Asa and his army then carried away exceedingly much plunder!

Opposition is nothing when the LORD is our Leader! We always prosper when we trust and follow Him. Still, we must learn to obey and lean on no one else.

It’s then that we will experience the victory!

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,

Malachi 3:7-10, “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. ‘Return to Me, and I will return to you,'” says the LORD of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?'”

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings.

9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!”

10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

Everything we possess has come from the hand of the LORD! “Oh, I bought this myself,” you say. Did you really? Yes, the money was in your possession and transferred to the seller. Still, have you considered how you came to possess sufficient money for the purchase? Yes, you worked and saved until you had sufficient funds to buy the item you wanted. Still, who gave you the strength for the work for which you were paid?

I have never been able to out-give the LORD! When He lays it upon my heart to give, there is always sufficient money. When it appeared that there was an insufficient amount for something needed, He always assessed whether I truly needed it, and if so, He provides the necessary funds. Does He not say, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive”? (Matt. 21:22).

“So then, let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God” (I Cor. 3:21-23).

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,

Ezekiel 20:1-8, “Now it came about in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.

2 And the word of the LORD came to me saying,

3 ‘Son of man, do you come to inquire of Me? As I live,’ declares the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you.”

4 “Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Make them know the abominations of their fathers;

5 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day when I chose Israel and swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, I am the LORD your God,

6 on that day I swore to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.

7 “And I said to them, ‘Cast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.’

8 “But they rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.”

This is not the first time Israel has been warned to rid herself of things that are detestable to the LORD God. Moses warned the nation, “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23).

Why is it so much easier to do wrong than to do right? The answer to that question is multiple. For one thing, it’s only “easier” when we do it the first time. Subsequent wrongdoings only “seem” easier for the moment. Yet, the conscience that the LORD has built within us all screams the warning that “we can’t do wrong and get by!” There is a “payday someday.”

Further, anything and everything that goes wrong, subsequent to our sin, will be attributed to our stubborn resistance to the LORD’s warning. What’s the answer to all of this? How do we extricate ourselves from the consequences of our sin? Only by the grace of Almighty God can it be done! He is unquestionably in charge. And He “pins us down” until we cry “uncle!!” “Wrong” screams at us 12 times from Genesis 44 to Revelation 22. When will we listen? When will we learn?

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 16:22-30, “Now it came about on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers (measures) for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,

23 then he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.”

24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it.

25 And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.

26 “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none.”

27 And it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

28 Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?”

29 “See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore, He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.”

Time had passed and Moses was now the leader in Israel. His words and his commandments came from the LORD; then, they were given to the people. Bear in mind that the early days of Moses were like a father to his children. Moses received a word from the LORD; then he passed that word on to the people.

The position of pastors today is not quite like that of Moses. Yet, they are leaders of their people, responsible for giving them the Word of God from the Bible and urging them to follow that Word without failure.

Parents are to listen carefully to the message from the Scriptures and advise their children just as their pastors have advised them. As in the day of Moses, some today listen carefully, some don’t.

I was reared to strictly follow the Day of the LORD. There was to be no buying or selling of anything on the LORD’s Day. Strangely, however, once Sunday evening services were completed, we often went to the ice cream parlor, where the boys behind the counter piled high on our cones as much as they would hold for a nickel. I guess we followed the “after the sun goes down” routine.

When I commenced preaching, I often would conclude one week’s meeting on Sunday morning and commence another at another church on Sunday night. That meant driving and sometimes purchasing gasoline on Sunday. I came to consider those who were “emergency” personnel: police, doctors, ambulances, etc. They often had to work on Sunday.

Ultimately, after studying the Scriptures more closely, I came to believe that the LORD does allow exceptions when they are true exceptions! That is the position I continue to hold today. Sunday ought to be set aside exclusively primarily for worship, prayer, and the study of Scripture. Our Sunday requirements necessitate others to work on Sundays.

What do you do on Sunday? Are you in church where Jesus Christ is uplifted and praised? Yes, times have changed; but has the LORD changed? Has He changed His basic directive relative to His Day? One Day we will stand before Him and give an account. Let’s just remember that.

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