The Grands Letter

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.”

Dear Grands,

Galatians 1:6-8, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by

the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to

distort the gospel of Christ.

8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary

to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

Some people have the proclivity for just believing anything. One day, they are for this; the next day they are for that. You never know where they are; what’s more, they don’t know, either. The Galatians were like that. It’s a long story, but historically that was the nature of their culture. Even after they believed on Jesus, their old nature was fed and continued to hold sway.

Paul challenged them for deserting the Gospel and for embracing another belief system. Does that sound like some people today? They truly felt spiritually “lost.” Someone led them to faith in Christ, and for a time they were growing in the faith. Then, suddenly, almost without warning, they just wandered away from the faith and allowed wrong beliefs to take over their thinking.

Such diversions of spiritual thought are much in evidence today because people leave the Bible and its teachings. There are multiple causes for this, but the end result is that someone plants incorrect teachings in the mind of a new believer, causing him (or her) to wander from the faith. Sometimes it’s a pastor who leads them astray; sometimes a close friend; and sometimes it’s a stranger who knocks on their door.

Paul admonishes the Galatians and all new believers to stay with the teachings that led them to faith in Christ. He is vitally concerned, saying that if anyone should preach or teach any “gospel” other than what they had received from him, “let him be accursed.” Those four words “let him be accursed,” translate into “let him be set aside for Divine destruction.” Pretty tough talk! But there’s a spiritual life at stake. Stick with the clarity of Scripture! The Holy Spirit will lead you as a new believer. Be loving to those outside of Christ; but be firm in staying with Him and His Word alone!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

NOTE: A few days ago, lightning did a job on my modem and caused the loss of an operative desktop. I

now have a new modem and am back online. I appreciate the concern you have shown for the

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 1:3-5, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus

Christ,

4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age,

according to the will of our God and Father,

5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

It’s always good to hear from far-away friends. We live in a world of instant communication. I have sent emails halfway around the world and received replies virtually within seconds. Of course, my respondents had to be alert. It was not that way in the first century. Nevertheless, those who lived in that era were doubtlessly happy when communication came their way.

Paul’s greeting to the Galatians should be our standard. Although his letter reveals some rather stern warnings later on, he comes to them in loving peace from the Father

and His Son, Jesus Christ. He reminds them, too, that it was the LORD Jesus, who

died for their sins. Being believers in Christ, the Galatians were already aware of Christ’s death and resurrection and that they would ultimately live with Him in Heaven. Yet, there is more –

In addition to the glories of an eternal Heaven, Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection were intended to “deliver us out of this present evil age.” Such is the will of our God and Father. And for this to occur, there is a requirement of participation. Think back to Israel’s wilderness wanderings. God gave the people mana to eat, but they had to gather it from the ground. God did His part; Israel had to do her part. So it is today.

What pleases a father more than the obedience of his children? What pleases our heavenly Father is our obedience to Him. That’s how we were saved. It was by faith! Now, that we are His by faith, it is His desire that we live our lives apart from sin. Have you not heard someone say, “That son of yours is a carbon copy of you”? We dads swell up with pride over words like that! How much more delighted is our Heavenly Father when others see Him reflected in our lives!

Christianity is under attack throughout the world today. That makes it all the more challenging to us to live for Him! It separates the “wheat from the tares.” If we are truly His children, He will guide and protect us. And after our ministries on Earth are completed, we will live forever in Heaven with Him. I earnestly trust to see you there where we will rejoice together in His blessed presence!

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.”