The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 24:45, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…”

2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness,

but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

The Bible is a unique book. It is God’s accurate and trustworthy Word given to man for his

understanding and obedience. Some people shy away from the Bible because of what it

says. It acknowledges the LORD as man’s authority, and may wants to be his own authority.

It speaks of man’s sinfulness; and man wants to believe that he is right in all things. Some

men write books to explain what they believe about the Bible and about its Author. Others

read and digest what these men have written, and choose to follow their beliefs.

But, what if these well-intentioned authors are wrong? What if the LORD has not opened

their minds “to understand the Scriptures”? Then, even the slightest variation from Scripture

would mislead others and only help to seal their eternal doom.

One of the popular beliefs circulating in the Church today is that Jesus did not die for everyone,

but only for those whom He had previously chosen to be saved. If that were true, then Peter’s

word stated above would stand in bold contradiction to God’s will. Peter clearly said, “The LORD is…

not wishing for any to perish…” Is it possible for God to say He wants everyone to be saved,

but has elected only some to actually be saved? The Apostle Paul clearly states, “God is not

a God of confusion…” (1 Cor. 14:33a).

Make no mistake about it, “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6) –all of the ungodly! The

Gospel message exists for us to deliver to them that they might be saved. Think about it: if the

LORD had elected to save only a select few, why would He be instructing us to evangelize

the lost? Would God then be willing to send the lost to Hell without any opportunity for them

to repent? Such a belief turns Scripture on its head!

Listen carefully and prayerfully to the LORD and His Word! He will open your mind to understand

all He has said. He died and arose for all mankind. And everyone deserves to hear of His salvation!

Let’s start sharing His Good News! It will warm you own heart in the process.

Pray for us as we pray for you,

Nana & 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,

Luke 22:39-46, “And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him.

40 And when He arrived at the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’

41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,

42 saying, ‘Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done.’

43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.

44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

45 And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,

46 and said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”

Sleep is a natural condition of rest for the body. When we get sufficient sleep, we find ourselves refreshed and ready to attend to the affairs of another day. When we don’t get sufficient sleep, we find ourselves tired and depressed and unwilling to undertake the day’s tasks.

Jesus warned His disciples to engage in prayer, so they would be strengthened to resist any solicitation to give in to the devil. Jesus’ own prayer was so intense that an angel from Heaven came and strengthened Him. Just imagine how you would pray if you were facing the agony of a cross and death the next day.

The disciples, however, yielded to sleep. How could they sleep on the eve of the agony Jesus was to face?

Sleep to them was caused “from sorrow.” Lupe means pain of the body or the mind. Grief is the mental unwillingness to face an undesirable situation. They were unwilling to face what was intended for Jesus. It was the equivalent of a small child covering his face and hiding his eyes to sheild them from something unpleasant. Prayer would have solved the disciples’ problem. They chose sleep instead.

Life is filled with situations that often discourage us. Prayer is God’s means of encouraging us! Neglecting to pray is neglecting to trust Him. It’s that trust, that relaxed willingness to face any situation, that refreshes us and gives us the victory. Some things need to be accomplished in the daytime instead of the night. Night is the time of darkness; and it is all-too-often the time of discouragement. You can refuse to be discouraged!

You can make up your mind to yield to the Holy Spirit’s strength. It’s when we “give up,” that He “takes us up” and victory floods the situations we encounter. Pray earnestly and faithfully. Sleep peacefully. Awaken excitedly! Victory is yours!

We pray faithfully for you every day,

Nana & 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,

Luke 22:2-6, “And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.

3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.

4 And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.

5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

6 And he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the multitude.”

An “agreement” requires two parties exchanging ideas and coming to a mutual conclusion. A “merger” requires each party to give up something of value and accepting something of lesser value in exchange.

Suppose I need two ten dollar bills, but have only one twenty dollar bill. You have two tens and agree to accept my twenty for your two tens. That’s a fair exchange. But suppose you lack one dollar. Together, we have only 19 dollars. We might agree to combine our money, but I have to want what we intend to buy together more than I dislike my loss of one dollar in the exchange. That would be called a “merger.”

In a merger, each side gives up something he considers of greater value in exchange for something he considers of lesser value. In the betrayal of Jesus, Judas Iscariot valued the chief priests’ money more than he valued Jesus friendship. As for the chief priests, they valued the death of Jesus more than they valued the 30 pieces of silver. Would you consider what they did a “fair exchange” or a “merger”?

Either way, Judas allowed Satan to persuade him to betray Jesus. Beware of Satan’s attacks! He is subtle and cunning. Judas was influenced to do something that he later regretted enormously! Satan is still on the attack. He leads us to compromise our convictions –just a little at first; but like a small tear in a piece of cloth –unless it is repaired quickly, it will tear even more, ultimaetly rendering it useless.

Have sound, spiritual convictions –convictions based on solid, biblical teachings. Then know with certainty that there is nothing of value anywhere that supersedes the value of Christ Jesus and His teachings in the Bible! No mergers, not even exchanges! Hold fast to biblical teachings, whatever the immediate cost. There is an ultimate reward for which there is no equal value!

God bless you daily, is our prayer,

Nana & 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,

Luke 19:1 And He entered and was passing through Jericho.

2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.

3 And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.

4 And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.

7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

8 And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Fault-finders are everywhere! With some people, there is no such thing as “doing right.” They simply cannot be pleased with anything. Give them a cold drink of water on a blisteringly hot day, and they look at you as if you had a “hidden meaning” in it. They don’t trust anyone about anything at anytime. They grumbled at being born, and they will likely grumble in their graves. Know anyone like that? Who’s kidding who?

The multitudes liked Jesus. It was He whom they had come to see. Zaccheus, being short of stature, climbed up a tree for a clear view of the One who was to pass that way. The people despised Zaccheus. He was a tax-collector, the lowest on the employment scale in the minds of the people. You would think that they would be hopeful that Jesus could do something to straighten Zaccheus out, but some probably grumbled at his even being there.

Our culture today has developed grumbleitis. We don’t like our political leaders. We don’t like our spiritual leaders. We don’t like our academicians. We don’t even really like ourselves. It’s a grumble, grumble culture. We get upset over the least of things –things that are truly none of our business. A friend and I went into business some years ago. A banker we did not previously know lended us thousands of dollars just on our names. But, an out-of-state company with whom we were dealing kept dragging their feet on delivering what they had promised. I became truly argry! It was proof that I myself was not immune from grumbling.

Grumbling affects us more severly than we might think. It affects our digestive system, our ability to think clearly on other things; it causes the best of friends to withdraw from us because we never have anything pleasant about which to think or talk. Jesus did not allow the people’s grumbling affect Him in the least. He accepted Zaccheus’ invitation to dinner and led him to faith that turned his life completely around. The next time you’re tempted to “blow your top” over something, just relax and know that there is a better way. Jesus is still in the business of turning things around; and the worst of the worst can be brought to faith in Him!

Prayer is our weapon against grumbling. We love you and pray for you daily.

Nana & 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,

Luke 14:16-24, “A certain man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;

17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’

19 “And another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’

20 “And another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’

21 “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

22 “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

23 “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24 ‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'”

There is no excuse for what you did! Did anyone ever say that to you? a parent? a teacher? a boss?

The “why” behind what we did or did not do what was required is as old as mankind itself.

Adam said to God, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree…” (Gen. 3:12) This excuse was then copied by Eve, who blamed the serpent. Moses argued with God saying, “…they will not believe me or listen to my voice…” (Ex. 4:1). Aaron blamed the people for the golden calf, saying, “…they said to me, ‘Make us gods’…” And the list goes on.

Someone has said that the definition of an excuse is “the skin of reason stuffed with a lie.” That may seem a bit harsh because the “reason” probably seems reasonably feasible to the one offering it. Nevertheless, when the LORD instructs His servants in what they are to do, there can be no excuse for not doing it.

The parable Jesus gave in our verses above is indeed appropriate to every generation. A man intending to give a dinner, gave an invitation to his intended guests. There was ample time for them to prepare to be there. In the culture of the day, they had accepted the invitation, but when the dinner was ready, and the date for it had arrived, they all declined –making excuses for not being able to be there. It was an insult to the host!

Have we ever thought about how we insult the LORD Jesus by intentionally neglecting to do or say what He has instructed us? It’s somebody else’s fault. I forgot all about it. There are others who are better at doing it than I am. And the list goes on and on. Yet, what we overlook is that the LORD intended us to do it or He would have chosen someone else. Others may have already been doing what He instructed, and were honestly unavailable for that time. He needed us for that specific time and place. Perhaps, it was a training mission, preparing us for some even greater work at a later time. Why do we question God? Why do we just not obey His commands without question?

In the end, those who made excuses missed the dinner. Worse still, they angered their host by not showing up. When we were saved, we yielded our very lives, time, energy, everyting to Him. We are not our own! We are servants, His servants. And someday we will need Him to help us. Will He give us an excuse?

We pray earnestly for you spiritually and physically,

Nana & 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.”