The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Ephesians 1:7-14, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.

“In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation– having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

In the English language, we have what is called a “run-on” sentence that just keeps

on going without punctuation and changes subjects from one thing to another and never seems to come to an end and leaves the reader almost without any knowledge of what was intended in the first place. Get the idea?

Make no mistake; while the apostle’s words seem like a “run-on,” they are not.

He decidedly and clearly states that in eternity past, the LORD God intended all mankind to be “to the praise of His glory.” But man sinned, and came under sin’s imprisonment. What is God to do? Has He been stymied by the adversary Satan? Not in the least! He determines to free man through the sacrifice of His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ.

An expectant father dreams what he intends to give his coming son. His intensions, however, are dependent upon whether his son becomes all he dreams he will. The

son is born a beautiful boy, but as he grows to maturity, he takes on the characteristics of worthless fellows his own age. The disappointed father devised a plan to win his son back. The plan is initiated; but whether the father’s inheritance will become the son’s, depends upon the son believing and accepting the plan his father lays before him. The son listens carefully to his father’s plan. He believes and accepts it, and the father signs inheritance papers that will one day enrich the son forever! Why would any son reject his father’s plan in favor of the wild, evil, and destructive ways of those fellows his own age? Think about it.

We continue to love and pray for you every single day,

Nana (Rose Marie) and Dado III (Gene)

UPDATE: Rose Marie is home and is improving. She is gaining strength,

like the doctors want. This coming week, we will schedule an

appointment which will secure a date for her heart caph. Please

keep her in your prayers. We’re not “out of the woods” yet.

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,

Galatians 6:7-10, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

8 For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.

9 And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”

Have you ever heard of the old saying, “The chickens have come

home to roost?” Well, they always do. For a long time, Bill and

Hillary Clinton engaged in activities that many thought were

immoral, if not illegal. It was talked about quite freely, but nothing

was ever done. Even after President Trump publicly said that the

Justice Department should look into the Clinton Foundation, it

appeared that nothing was going to happen. But, now it is!

What the ultimate outcome will be, the LORD only knows; but it

should give us cause to understand that no one is above the law,

and certainly no one is either hidden or above the LORD’s stated

Word!

Paul advises us “not to be led astray. Don’t ever turn your nose

up or sneer at Almighty God.” If we plant potatoes, we will not

reap corn. If we plant tomatoes, we will not reap grapes. It’s

just that simple. Whatever you do, will ultimately be done to you.

If you are friendless toward people, people will be friendless

toward you. If you love people, people will love you. Sometimes,

we do good for people and don’t see them doing good toward us.

Good may come from another direction –but it will come!

Just don’t get discouraged if what you expect and desire does not

come when or how you expect it. It will come! The principle of

sowing and reaping cannot be altered. God has ordained it.

Opportunities to do good toward others, however, have limitations.

So, we need to take advantage of the opportunities that come our

way. Nana (Rose Marie) is now home; but in the hospital, we both

had multiple opportunities to share Jesus Christ. Some brightened

at the mention of Jesus. Others politely ignored the witness we

tried to give. That’s always the way it is. But, we were never

discouraged! We discovered, too, that some true believers were

struggling with bad habits in their lives. They were thankful that

we cared enough to help and pray with them. We learned not to

become discouraged, too. The LORD’s way will always be successful.

And your life will be encouraged and enriched when you follow Him!

We love you and continue to pray for you every 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.”

Dear Grands,

Old folks sometimes forget;

Sometimes it is things they regret.

I did so today;

So, for me you should pray;

That none of us ever get upset.

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,

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,

self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Listen carefully when someone reads aloud these verses.

Most readers will mispronounce “fruit” as “fruits.” It’s a

common mistake; after all, there are nine, separate items

to which Paul calls to our attention. Then, why does he

not say “fruits”?

Several years ago in Australia, I held a series of evangelistic

meetings in a small town. I stayed with a sugarcane farmer

and his wife. One night after the meeting and prior to

bedtime, they offered me a monstereo delicio. They said

you could taste a variety of fruits in this one fruit. Would

I like to try it? I replied, somewhat jokingly, that I’d try

anything that was non-alcoholic! I then ate the fruit, and

to my surprise, it was exactly as they had described it.

I could taste apple, banana, peach –all in the one fruit!

What I could not do was eliminate the banana! (I know

they are good for us, but I don’t like the taste!)

That fruit-tasting experience that night taught me the

difference between “fruit” and “fruits” in Galatians 5:22-23.

We often want joy and peace, but don’t want to be patient

or exercise self-control. But, we cannot have one without

the other. The fruit of the Spirit is one fruit. And we either

accept and display ALL of it, or we reject and display NONE

of it. We either live in the Spirit or we don’t. There is NO

middle or partial ground. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also

walk by the Spirit” (v. 25).

We love your immensely, and pray for you daily,

Nana & Dado III

Update on Nana: Well, yesterday was a “wash” for her

coming home; but we expect that today.

Her cardiologist wants to do a heart cath,

but wants her to rest up first. Please pray

for her. She’s in good spirits, but she has

yet a physical issue that must be addressed.

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,

Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not

carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against

the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to

one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

As we read the words of the Apostle Paul, we often get the mistaken

idea that he lived a perfect life. Far from it! In Romans 7, he says,

“15 For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing

what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate…. 18 For I

know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing

is present in me, but the doing of the good is not” (vv. 15, 18). Paul

battled against his fleshly side just as we do. Every wrong and evil

desire that we experience has been experienced by every, living soul.

But what can we do about it? It’s as simple as it is difficult; walk (live)

in the way of the Holy Spirit. Do you remember when you learned to

ride a bicycle? At first, you kept falling. I’ll never learn to ride this thing!
Yet, you just got back up and tried it again…and again…and again.

Somewhere amid these up-and-down trials, you learned to balance,

and then to ride successfully. It’s the same with the Christian life.

The only difference is you have to learn to balance every day! There

is an enemy that loves to see us fall. He laughs and jeers when we

do. Sometimes he antagonizes us so much that we feel like giving up.

Besides, “falling” has some desirables in it. We discover that wrong

is often pleasurable. Our eyes like to see it; our hands like to feel it;

our ears tingle with pleasure when we hear it; and we feel good all

over when we do it, although we know it’s wrong! It is then that we

must call for help! The Holy Spirit is there to rescue us. He wraps

His arms around us and speaks truly sweet things to us. He comforts

us to a higher degree than when we were doing wrong; and we wonder

why we ever engaged in evil, fleshly stuff at all. Yes, we can overcome

evil. We just have to practice walking in the way of the LORD every

day. Read the Bible; pray for help and encouragement; focus your

mind on spiritual things, and don’t let go! He will forgive you for

falling, and He will restore you! You just have to trust Him!

We are praying for you,

Nana & Dado III

Update on Nana: She is doing better day-by-day. We praise

the LORD for His “resurrection” of her!

She is close to coming home! Your prayers

are being answered. She has had wonderful

care at WRMC, and marvelous opportunities

to witness of God’s saving grace!

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”