The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Philippians 4:4-7, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

5 Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard

your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The word “Rejoice” is mentioned over 480 times in the Bible. Good things

happen in our lives and we rejoice. Bad things happen in our lives, and we

despair. But, Paul says, “Don’t do that! Rejoice in the LORD always…”

Only yesterday, I received word from northern Nigeria of a Christian man

and his family, who were threatened by the Boko Haram, told to recite the

Koran and become Muslims. The man replied, “I am a Christian — and will

always remain a Christian — even to death.” The Muslim leader then

shot him in the face and left him for dead. Miraculously, he lived! Yet, it goes

without saying that it takes more than courage to “rejoice” in such circumstances.

We rejoiced when we learned of Rose Marie’s medical lab report! We voted

yesterday in the early election cycle, and as we left, we rejoiced that we lived

in a country where we are free to select our leadership at every level of our

government! We rejoice, too, that the peace of God guards us from worry and

frustration over things that don’t go right in life. We rejoice that we know the LORD

Jesus Christ as our Savior, and that He is Coming Again to take us to be with Him

for Eternity! What joy there is in Jesus! Just keep praying and giving thanks! Christ

alone is our hope and our joy!

Our love and our prayers are always for you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

2 Peter 2:1, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”

You’ve heard the old saying, “What goes around comes around.” Well, here’s another: “What comes around has been

here before.” That what Peter meant when he warned those of his day about their teachers. False prophets are those

who have not been called of God. A man I met in Florida years ago, knew L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.

Hubbard used to write Western Novels for something like a nickel a word. But he told the man I met that he was going

to quit westerns and go into religion because there was more money in it.

Don’t get me wrong! Not every pastor or teacher is in it for the money. But some are, and you need to be careful not

to follow them. The love of money is a moral corruption. Peter emphasized moral corruption in chapter one. Moral

corruption leads to doctrinal corruption. Peter emphasizes doctrinal corruption in chapter two. “Destructive heresies”

are false teachings that can and will ultimately deny Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection that provided our

salvation! Pretty serious stuff, I’d say!

So, what do we do to protect ourselves? How do we know what is true and what isn’t? Treasury Agents who track

down counterfeit currency so thoroughly acquaint themselves with the details of the true currency that when they

come across a counterfeit, they know it immediately! We need to so thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the Bible’s

truths, that when we hear or read something that’s different, we will know immediately that the speaker or writer is

wrong. This isn’t accomplished overnight. It’s a never-ending process. That’s why we need to read the Bible every day –

and read it very carefully. Sound and earnest Bible teachers and preachers will point out both biblical truths and the

human errors of other teachers. Above all, the LORD Himself, who has given every believer the Holy Spirit, to help us understand the true meaning of Scripture. Read the Bible. Pray for understanding. Believe what the Bible has said.

You’re on your way! God bless you!

We prayed for you yesterday, we will pray for you today,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Matthew 19:4-6, “And He answered and said, ‘Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 “Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

Sixty-three years ago today in the St. Louis suburb of St. Ann, at the Mary Ann Baptist Church, Nana (Rose Marie) and I (Dado III) were married. She was 21 and I was just two months shy of 20. We met at Southwest Baptist College (now

University) that was then a two-year college. I entered college to prepare for the ministry, and girls were the furtherest thought from my mind. She was there to prepare for the mission field. Interestingly enough, she had been to my home church and had seen me; but I had not noticed her (Can you imagine!). But we met in the bookstore where my cousin Gerald introduced us. Two years later we were married.

Since that time, we have traveled the world, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Have those times been rough? Some of them have. But we are agreed that even the tough times are not to be compared with the joy of loving one another and growing in the LORD. We had been counseled by our pastor, the late Rev. Dr. Earl L. Pounds, to share responsibilities. “There are things your wife can do that you simply cannot. Let her do them! Don’t try to do everything yourself.” We’ve followed that rule throughout the years, and things have run smoother that you might expect. Yes, we’ve had our struggles, too. But, praying together has drawn us both toward Him and smoothed the paths ahead.

As born-again Christians, we both commend marriage in the LORD. We work as a team. We make all decisions together. When we disagree, as the husband is the leader of the household. I make the ultimate decision, At the same time, if that decision is wrong, and it sometimes has been, I alone am totally responsible to the LORD. We’ve very seldom gone to sleep at night without clearing the air over daytime disagreements. When we have, we’ve shared our sorrow the first thing the next morning. Hint: Keep short accounts!

Regrets? We may have a few, but they are small by comparison. The LORD led me to the finest girl ever! We now have three great children, who have unbeatable spouses, 11 grandchildren and a great-grandson en route that we wouldn’t trade for the whole wide world! We don’t hold ourselves up as a pattern for a Christian marriage, but we do honor and praise the LORD for how He has blessed and guided us along the way. Just always doing things His way is what assures blessing. We’re not perfect, but our sixty-three years speaks for something. And it is our prayer that each of will bask in the sunlight of His Everlasting Love!

Yes, we do pray for each of you every day, and we thank Him for the spiritual growth we see in each of your lives,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Genesis 1:1-4. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

3 Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.

4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

It’s fun to see things made. There’s a television program (How Things Are Made) that shows the process whereby multiple things are finally brought to market. What’s different from the TV program and the verses above is that man

has to have some substance with which to start. God started with nothing! The word created is the Hebrew word

) ??????bara( , which means “create or ‘bring into being’ out of nothing.” It contradicts the Sound of Music song that says “Nothing comes from nothing; nothing ever could.”

Then there is the word “light” ???? (or). Whatever could we do without light? Light is so valuable to even the production of food and air that we could not exist without it. Yet, darkness, ) ??????choshek( too, is valuable in that it offers us a time for rest. The LORD God then named light day ) ????yom(, and darkness night ????? (layil). He separated () ??????badal(

them and called them both “one day.” How Things Are Made could never match a fete like that!

Now, taking all of this into account, tell me something God cannot do! So, when you are up against the wall and just see no way out, remember what the Bible says about how God created all things –created them out of nothing! “Then, why does He not cure all the sick, stop all of the wars, and turn this world back into what He originally made it –a quiet, peaceful place?,” you ask. Can you believe that He has a plan to do just that? His plan has a time schedule that is known only to Him. The Apostle Paul speaks of “the fulness of the time” (Gal.4:4). God has a specific time for everything. We do not know His timing, and we could not control it if we did. We are only to live as He desires. And when the time is right, He will make all things known to us. It’s called patience.

We love and pray for you all,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

2 Peter 3:13-18, “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,

15 and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,

16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness,

18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Another school shooting has left a small community in Texas in fear and mourning. Such trouble, however, is not new. Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, evil and devastation has beclouded the world. History of every nation overflows with trouble. Are we to hover in fear? Certainly not! We are looking for “new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” So, be at peace. Just be clean spiritually and morally. But when will all of these troubles end? They will end when the LORD wills, when they have run the course He has set for them.

Peter then reminds his readers (us, as it were) of the letters written by Paul. Remember that Peter was a practical and uneducated fisherman; Paul was an intellectual, a university graduate, and his letters contained “some things hard to understand.” If you’ve read Paul’s writings, you know some of those difficulties of which Peter is speaking. Moreover, there are in our day, as there were in Peter’s day, some biblically unstable and unprincipled preachers, who twist (strebloo) Scripture to mean what they want it to mean. So, be on guard against them! They’re clever, and they will cause you to misunderstand the Bible and become spiritually unstable.

Did you notice the phrase “as they do also the rest of the Scriptures”? Peter equates Paul’s writings as Scripture!

There can be no division between the Old and the New Testaments. “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” It’s all there in the Bible for our consumption. Context is vital to understanding! Words themselves convey clarity of God’s Truth! And the overall purpose is for our spiritual growth in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ. What He intends for our benefit, He also intends for His glory. So, wake up! The best is yet to come!

We love and pray for you every, single day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”