The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 4:3-4, “And the devil said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God,

tell this stone to become bread.’

4 And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “MAN SHALL NOT LIVE

ON BREAD ALONE.”’”

Remember what we said about the salesman and why he takes

a client to dinner? Well, a similar tactic is starving someone

until he gives in to what someone wants. This was Satan’s trickery

here, but with a strange twist. Remember that we said the

Greeks have four “conditional sentences”? Well, this one reads,

“If You are the Son of God, and You are, tell this stone to become

bread.” WOW! Even Satan cannot deny who Jesus is! But when

he says things like that to us, we want to say, “Boy, I’ll show you!!”

But, Jesus was listening to the Holy Spirit. Jesus is being tested for

His future ministry. So, He resisted the temptation by answering

with Scripture (Deut. 8:3). Very often we are tempted to respond

too quickly. When we do, our responses often come from ourselves

and not from God. We must slow down, take time to consult the Holy

Spirit, and reply with Scripture. If we have been reading the Bible,

the LORD will use what we’ve been reading and enable us to give a

clear and truthful response. Think about that. We don’t have to be

quick in answering everything. We just have to be accurate.

Love and prayers for you all,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Luke 4:1-2, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan

and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days,

being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days,

and when they had ended, He became hungry.”

The word full here (?????? pleres) can be translated as control, the

explanation of which is further expressed by “led around.” If Jesus,

who is Himself God, is being controlled by the Holy Spirit, how much

more should we! Notice, too, that the Holy Spirit’s purpose was to

subject Him to the temptation of the devil. This is the beginning of

Jesus’ ministry. He must be tested and proved adequate for undertaking

this ministry. Temptation (??????? peirazo) means a solicitation to do

evil. Temptation itself is not a sin. It is yielding to temptation that

constitutes sin. To add to the testing, He ate nothing during this time,

a period of 40 days. Nothing, however, is said of his drinking water,

which surely He did. Hunger shows Jesus’ humanity, while at the

same time, it pressured Him to give in to Satan’s solicitations. Yet,

He did not sin! Does the Holy Spirit allow us to be tempted by the devil?

He sure does! Our Christian faith has to be tested, too. Sometimes

the allure of the world, the flesh, and the devil seem almost too much

for us to overcome. That is when we must allow the Holy Spirit to

deliver us from thoughts, words, deeds –all those unholy, ungodly

things that Satan puts in our minds to do. Jesus overcame temptation

by yielding to the Spirit’s control, and His power enables us to overcome

also! Are you letting the Spirit exercise control over you?

We are praying for you daily; and we hope you are praying for us,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

John 21:15-17, “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,

‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?’ He (Peter) said to Him,

‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He (Jesus) said to him, ‘Tend My lambs.’

16 He said to him again a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’

He (Peter) said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He (Jesus) said to

him, ‘Shepherd My sheep.’

17 He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’

Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’

And he said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’ Jesus

said to him, ‘Tend My sheep.’”

Do you know why salesmen so often take their clients to dinner?

It’s because when they have eaten, they are more relaxed and

more amenable to buying their product. Jesus waited until breakfast

was over before He posed His questions to Peter. (There’s a best time

for everything.) Then, three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him.

Remember that Peter had denied the LORD three times. The most

significant about this question-answer interrogation is that Jesus used

agapao (love) and Peter answered with phileo. Agapao is the strongest

Greek word for love, and it had never been used in its verbal form by

pagans. Phileo had the meaning of “You’re a good friend of mine.”

Tending means feeding; shepherding means caring for. It took a lot

to get through to Peter, but he could never come to the place of responding

to Jesus with the same intensity of love. Surely, we will never love Jesus

as much as He loves us. But, we should love Him more than we do.

He has given us a responsibility toward others, and that responsibility

requires all that we can give it.

We love you!

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

John 21:1-3, “After these things Jesus manifested Himself again

to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way.

2 Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee,

and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.

3 Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will also

come with you.’ They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught

nothing.”

Did you ever come to the end of a day with the feeling that you

had wasted it? It’s an even worse feeling when you have led others

to follow you and you’ve wasted their day, too. Leadership has a lot

of responsibilities. Jesus had risen from the dead, and Simon Peter was

now the apparent leader of the disciples. Jesus had left the disciples

with a huge responsibility of sharing the Gospel with the world-at-large.

Peter just decided to go fishing –literally fishing for fish, not for souls.

When he announced his intention, the others followed suit. What we

do inevitably influences others. We may not intend it to, but it does!

Peter should have remembered the LORD’s directive, “Follow Me, and

I will make you fishers of men” (Mat. 4:19). Once we have committed

our lives to Christ Jesus, we must never return to the old ways –the ways

of the world. It spells trouble for us and leads others in the wrong way.

We love you and pray for you daily,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

John 20:9, “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture,

that He must rise again from the dead.”

Did you ever come across a Scripture that you did not understand?

Sure, we all have. But we have more going for us than the disciples

had, because we have the New Testament and the Holy Spirit to

show us the meaning. The disciples were Pharisees, too, and the

Pharisees believed in resurrection from the dead. Still, to believe

something and to understand it clearly are two separate things.

The keystone of the Gospel is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Yes, His death on the cross was the sacrifice for our sins. But His

Resurrection was the ultimate proof of His sacrifice for us. Oh,

one more thing: He’s Coming Again! And it could be today!

Love and blessings to each and every one of you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas