The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”

We live in an era of records. It is virtually impossible to say or do anything that is not recorded somewhere. Words spoken are recorded somewhere. Pictures are records, too. The police have records; the various governments have records. Stores have records of purchases we’ve made. Even the Internet records what we do! Records remind us of past experiences. We have phones that record. Books are records and gigantic libraries house thousands of books that tell us of the past. Our minds are recorders, too. They produce warm and loving activities of the past; and they produce the ugly and distasteful things – things we would love to erase from our memories.

I can clearly remember my mother saying to me, “Gene, when you do bad things, God puts a black mark behind your name in His book up in Heaven.” That shook me considerably – at least, for a time.

What can we do about all of those “black marks”? Can they ever be erased? They can be, but it’s not a matter of just saying, “LORD, forgive me for all my sins.” We need to specifically identify our various sins and ask His forgiveness. But how can we possibly do that? We can start by keeping “short accounts.” That is, when we do wrong, the Holy Spirit provokes our conscience, enabling us to right then and there ask forgiveness. For those long-ago sins –sins we honestly cannot remember, we need to as the LORD to bring them to mind so that we can ask His forgiveness.

The clear and unmistakable truth is that God holds records that can be used against us. And they will be unless they are erased through our confession and repentance. It may not seem a “big deal” right now, but it will be in the day we stand before Him in court. Stop right now and start asking His forgiveness. Don’t be flippant. Be exceedingly serious. This is not traffic court. It’s serious stuff. The good part is that He promises to forgive us. How will we know whether He has? Believe me, you’ll know!

We love you; and you are always in our thoughts and our prayers,

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,

Romans 13:11-14, “And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.

12 The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

Do you need an alarm to awaken you from sleep? Maybe I should refrase that. Do you use an alarm to awaken you? My guess is that it depends on whether or not you want to awaken from sleep. As a kid, I found it hard to get to sleep when what was planned for the next day was exciting. But, when I awoke and remembered the exciting day that was before me, I got up quickly!

Paul has something exciting to mention: our salvaion is nearer today than it was yesterday. Salvation is used in two different way: when we first repented of sin and trusted Jesus as our Savior, we were saved once and for all time. The salvation of which Paul is speaking here is the Coming of our LORD Jesus Christ to take us all to be with Him in Heaven. When we awaken to the excitement of a special day, we want to dress appropriately. Sometime the activities require a special uniform. How are we to dress for the LORD’s Coming?

We are to put away everything that is inappropriate to the occasion; namely, “the deeds of darkness” – those things that are wrong and embarrassing for Jesus to see. We are to be thoroughly clean! We have no certainty, however, that today is the day He will come. So, we are to prepare every day because He is coming! And today might just be that day! Think about it….

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,

Malachi 2:6-7, “True instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity.

7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.”

Long before the Word of the LORD was written down, He established priests and prophets to guide His people. Here Malachi quotes the LORD, who says that His priests are to be upright with no unrighteousness in their lives. Further, they are instructed to turn the wicked to God by giving sound instruction.

Although there is considerable difference between the days of the Old Testament and our day today,

those whom the LORD has ordained to instruct His people are required to be upright and godly in their lives. They are to speak the LORD’s truth to His people. That’s one of the prime reasons why we gather in church each Sunday. Music and fellowship with other believers is important, but the principle reason we are there is to hear the Word of the LORD expounded by the pastor. We should pray for the LORD to give us specific instruction for our lives through the pastor’s message.

The pastor’s responsibilities are extremely serious! Not only must he have a pure and holy life, he must be accurate in his understanding of the Word he conveys to the people. He is not called to amuse the people with funny stories. Nor are the people there to be amused. We are there to gain instruction from the LORD –instruction that will guide our lives in the days ahead.

Is it not time that we took spiritual instruction from our pastors seriously? Yes, it is true that the Holy Spirit lives within us as believers; still, the LORD has called some men to be guides to our understanding of His Holy Word. Does it not make sense that the LORD, who called men to instruct us in His Word, should also require that we listen and understand what He says through them? Pray for your pastor! Listen closely to the words he speaks! We will one day give an account for how we listened and how we then lived to the glory of the LORD.

You are in our prayers,

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,

Zechariah 8:7-8, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; 8 and I will bring them back, and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem, and they will be My people and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’”

Have you ever wanted to see a miracle? I mean, a miracle on a large scale? It must have seemed almost too large to be believed when the prophet Zechariah announced the Word the LORD had given him for the people.

The Jews have always been a rebellious people. They were originally taken out of paganism when Abraham was called to leave his land and people and follow the LORD God. Many years later, Moses gave them the Law, by which they were to learn how far they were from what God desired them to be.

As punishment, He scattered His people throughout the Earth. They became the subjects of evil kings

and suffered enormously for long periods of time; yet they stubbornly refused to repent and return to the LORD, who loved them.

The LORD’s promise to deliver His people, who were scattered throughout the world, was literally fulfilled in 1948! After 2500 years, the Hebrew language was revived and once again the Jews became a gathered nation! It all took place within our lifetime. And the recent move of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is something of a capstone in that the Holy City has again been offically recognized. Equally significant, if not more so, is the announcement that a chief Rabbi has recently announced that the name of their Messiah is JESUS!!!

Certainly, such momentous events taking place before our very eyes should awaken us to loyalty to our LORD Jesus Christ! If He could fulfill a prophecy in our day –as He has!– how can we not be fully alerted to the prophecy of His soon coming again for His believing people?

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and life up your heads,

Because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:27-28).

We’re watching as we pray for each of 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,

James 1:4, “…let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Are we there yet? It’s the normal characteristic of a child to expect immediate action in everything. If

something is expected in the mail, there is no patience in waiting for the mail to arrive. If someone is

coming to visit, there is excitement until they arrive. And the list of impatience goes on and on.

Patience is a basic attitude of the mind. It’s a component of hope and confidence. It’s a settledness, a comfort, an assurance of what is expected will come to pass in the proper time. Maturity demonstrates patience, just as immaturity demonstrates impatience. We have to allow things to run their course. We take medicine, but it often takes time to affect the desire we want. We have to be patient.

We pray about events that affect our lives and the lives of others, but we have to be patient. The old adage that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” applies to almost everything in life. But, notice the remainder

of our verse: “…that you may be perfect (complete)…” Nothing that is beneficial to you will be omitted. You will be more than satisfied. You will be elated! Remember that the LORD wants the best for you. Hurriedness is a human quality; patience comes from the LORD. Trust the LORD to give you His very best! He never fails.

You are in our prayers,

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.”