The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Ezra 9:8-9, “But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.
9 “For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

The people had sinned. The prophet has prayed. Now, he cries to the LORD, saying,
“…give us a peg in (Your) holy place” that you might give us “a little reviving in our bondage.”

The prophet Ezra is not-at-all stymied by what has taken place. He knows without a doubt
that the LORD has heard and reverenced his prayer for the people. Forgiveness is not a
signal that designates the people as sinless against their God. Rather, it is a signal that
while the people are indeed guilty of their sin, they worship a God who is able and ready to
forgive.

Asking forgiveness carries with it the innate promise of the sinner not to sin again against the LORD. A “peg” is a piece of wood that is driven into the wall and upon which something is firmly held. It amounts to the people crying, “LORD, just give us another opportunity to be stable and not ever to sin in this way again.” How often we all have prayed like this!

Hopefully, we will learn from our mistakes. We sin. We ask forgiveness. The LORD forgives us. But, then–! We all need to slow down and think! Was it not David himself who prayed,

“…keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule
over me. Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great
transgression” (Psalm 19:13).

May our gracious, loving, patient and forgiving LORD erase the wrongs we have committed! And may He give us the opportunity to show love to Him by forsaking our sin.

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,

Ezra 9:5-7, “But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God;
6 and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.”
7 “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day.”

I was all wrapped up in my Kahuna Chair, when my phone went off! It was the Police
Dispatch saying my house alarm had discharged. “Is everything alright?” she asked.
Yes, everything was alright. I thanked her and restarted my chair.

Then came a knock –a knuckles-to-door kind of knock. It was a Police Officer, asking
again if everything was alright. Yes, again I assurred him that everything was fine.
He was satisfied. “Just checking,” he said.

Later I thought, “What do you do when things are not right?” Ezra knew what to do. He fell on his knees before God; and, with shame and embarrassment for the sins of his people, he stretched out his hands to the LORD and cried out in a mixture of confession and praise.

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You…”

If we search our lives as diligently as Ezra searched the lives of his people, we will do
no less than bowing humbly before the LORD, confessing our sins, and praising Him for “keeping check” on us and what we do and don’t do.

How long has it been since you truly examined your life, your conversations, your thoughts? Are they acceptable to Him? Don’t be surprised if there’s a knock at your door. Just be sure you can say, “Everything’s alright, LORD. Thanks for checking up on me.”

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,

Ezra 9:3-6, “When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.
4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.
5 But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my
robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God;
6 and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.”

Why haven’t you done something about this? This is an oft-asked question that begs for an answer that simply isn’t there. One may live with the illusion that a pastor or someone allegedly in authority ought to know; yet at the same time, there is no guarantee that he does know!

When he does discover what everyone thought he knew, he is literally “beside himself!” He
expresses his remorsefulness by tearing at his clothes and pulling out his hair, signs of
personal frustration in the light of serious occurrances. Today we have similar situations, although, perhaps, not often so drastic.

Notice especially the reaction of the people. They were beside themselves, trembling at the
words of God. They had indeed been unfaithful. What a contrast that is to people today! Today’s people offer excuses and often point to others as more unfaithful than themselves.

At the time of the evening offering, Ezra, the prophet, clothed with appropriate shame, fell
upon his knees, and extending his quivering, out-stretched hands humbly to the LORD, said,
“Oh my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You…” How appropriate
it would be for us to do the same. Our postures before the LORD often link with the brevity of our “sinful confessions.” We seek His forgiveness, but often neglect earnest sincerity.

Our nation today is running close to unpardonable sin! Unfortunately, so are many of our churches. Is our national sin affecting our churches? Or is our ecclesiastical sin the causation of our national dilemma? It may well be both –in which case, we need to pray more earnestly
for our spiritual leadership. Make today a day of prayer for your pastor. Pastors experience pressures often known only to their wives and families.

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,

Ezra 9:1-2, “Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, ‘The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.
2 ‘For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.’”

The more we read the Bible, the more we realize that times have not changed! Oh, we live in different styled houses, drive automobiles (some of which actually drive themselves!), but inwardly – within ourselves — we’re much more like those of Ezra’s day than we think.

The people of Ezra’s day had standards for living –standards the LORD had given to His people. That is hardly strange. We think of how we want our children to live differently than some of those kids that live “on that other street” or only “two blocks away.” They speak differently, using unacceptable language. What’s more, they don’t go to Sunday School ever!

Still the LORD has strong and staunch standards –standards for living morally upright; standards that set a high mark for His people and for those who live near to His people.

Those pagan people –the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites— they were the eight nations, who lived nearby and cast an ungodly influence on the Israelites. Furthermore, they married Israelite women, resulting in an intermingling of foreign gods and affecting the beliefs of the LORD’s holy people!

Today’s world is no different! Satan has infiltrated many churches with immoral, self-called ministers, so that the ears of the people are being tickled with humanistic thought from pulpits that were constructed for the declaration of the Gospel. We are living in that very time foretold by Paul’s son, Timothy:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for
themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will
turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths”
(2 Tim. 4:3-4).

If you’re affiliated with a church that denies or ignores the pure teaching of His Word, I urge
you to withdraw immediately! Prayerfully, search the Scriptures and affiliate with a church
with a Bible-teaching pastor! Remember those kids you didn’t want your kids to play with?
God has the same thought about you attending a non-Christian church.

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,

Ecclesiastes 12:8-14, “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”
9 In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs.
10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.
11 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.”

Have you ever labored diligently over something, but felt realistically that you were accomplishing absolutely nothing? Of course, you have. So has everyone, everywhere! “What’s the use?” you ask. “Nothing seems to fit together in this project! I might as well
quit!”

Well, before you quit, it would, perhaps, be encouraging somewhat to learn that the
human author, who asked those questions, was himself the wisest man who ever lived –Solomon! Does that mean we might as well give up? Certainly not! What Solomon is
saying is that we all have the same perplexities.

One solution to the perplexities in Solomon’s day was his teaching his people what he
had learned from his own studies. One thing Solomon learned was that “the words of
wise men are like goads…well-driven nails” that “are from one Shepherd.” Those
goads, or nails, keep the the animals from straying away from the pathway on which
they were being guided. It’s like studying the Bible in order to live life as the LORD
intended us to live it.

True Preachers are God-called men, who find in Scripture the teachings the LORD
wants His people to learn and to follow. True preachers not only teach the people from
the pulpit, they live what they teach others to live! They become living examples of
what the LORD wants, leading their congregations by example as well as by teaching!

Still, it’s not preachers alone, who affect their congregations. What we all learn from
our pastor, he has learned from the Holy Scriptures. And what our children learn, they
learn from us, their parents, who in turn, learned from their pastor. We are all responsible
to behave in life as the LORD intends. If you feel the “goads,” you have strayed from His pathway! Better get back on track –and fast!

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