U
&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"Seeds Not Sown"

[ Back to Article Titles Page ]  [ Back to Home Page ]

For those of you who don't know me, I was led to the Lord by a great man of God named J. Harold Smith.  I will never, as long as the Lord allows me to be in my right mind, forget this man, nor will I forget that night at Holston Creek Baptist Church.  It was Friday the 13th of November in 1992.  I will also never forget the sermon Mr. Smith preached that night.  The title he has given the sermon is "What Do You Have In Your Sack?".  Now, I could tell you every detail of that sermon, but I will just outline it for the sake of time and space.  The main scripture he used came from Genesis chapters 42 and 43.  It was the story of Joseph and his brothers who had sold him in his childhood and how that after he had grown to be a great man (the number two man) in Egypt, he was in charge of the rationing of the food during the famine in Egypt.  Well when his brothers came to him for food, not knowing he was their brother that they had sold, Joseph had their sacks filled and he ordered the steward of his house who was filling their sacks to place his silver cup in the mouth of his youngest brother's sack.  Well, they got their sacks filled and started home when Joseph Joseph sent his steward to overtake them and accuse one of them of stealing the cup.  When the steward overtook them, they denied having the cup, but their sacks were searched where the cup was found in the sack of Benjamin.  What Joseph was doing was to see if the others would sell Benjamin as they had him in order to save themselves.  Now this story was related in the sermon to the fact that this life that we live is like a sack that we carry around with us everywhere.  Our whole life, every deed, every thought, every word is in this sack and one day we all will stand before God and we'll all have to empty out our sacks before Him. 

The main thing to be very sure of is to know that Jesus Christ is in our sacks and that His blood covers the mouth of our sack.  The Lord has put it upon my heart to write this little article which you have already noticed that I have entitled "Seeds Not Sown".  I heard a sermon recently where one of the verses of scripture used was 2 Corinthians 9:10.  The scripture says, "Now He that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;".  Well, that verse of scripture has returned to my mind several times this week as I have listened to a preacher on the radio.  I had never heard this preacher until Monday night 3/6/1995, which was just after he had went on to be with the Lord.  His name was Curtis Hudson and I have really enjoyed hearing him.

In one of his sermons he told the story of a woman who had called him asking him to visit a relative of hers who was lost to try and win that person to the Lord.  He told the lady he would be happy to visit that person and witness to them, but that he wanted to ask her a few questions first.  His first question to her was, "Are you a Christian?" and her reply was "Yes I am".  Then he asked her, "If you died today, are you certain that you would go to heaven?" and her reply was, "Yes I am".  Then he asked her what made her believe that and she said, "Because I have trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour".  Then he asked her, "Do you go to church anywhere?" and she said, "Yes I do".  Then he asked her where she went to church and she told him the name of the church she attended.  Then he said, "Now I will go and visit and witness to this relative of yours and I will be more than happy to do so, but I must ask you one more question".  He asked her, "Why didn't you call your preacher?"  Her reply to that was, "We don't specialize in soul winning at my church". 

Now, I don't know about you, but to me, that is the saddest story I have heard in a long time.  The saddest part about it is that the church today, which is not a building, but a body of believers, for the most part, don't specialize in witnessing to others about the wonderful grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ. 

Friends, the Lord gives us seeds to sow just like His Word tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:10 and many of us for one reason or another are not sowing them.  So many times when things happen to us that aren't very pleasant, we are so quick to go to Him and say, "Why me Lord?".  We should be asking Him, "Why not me Lord?".  Now, I have read the book of Job several times and I don't recall him ever saying "Why me Lord?".    Am I any better than Job?  Are you any better than Job?  The answer to that is no.  Likewise, when the Lord is so gracious as to give us seeds to plant, why should we ask Him, "Why me Lord?"

My prayer is that the Lord will take this little seed that He has given me and all the seeds that He allows me to plant and make it and them blossom and grow into a thing of beauty.  A thing that will truly bless the hearts of many.  And above all, a thing that will bring honor and glory to Him.  Friends, I cannot make this seed grow and I cannot be sure that it will grow, but there is one thing that I can be sure of and that is that it definitely will not grow if I don't plant it.  I am however, expecting it to grow, because I have asked Him to take it and nourish it and to use it for His glory.  We, must go expecting as we plant these seeds.  Mr. Curtis Hudson told another little story in one of his sermons this week which I thought was good and so much like the way many are in their work for Him.  He said there was a preacher talking to Dr. Criswell and that he told him he was concerned about the lack of people getting saved in his church.  Well, Dr. Criswell asked him, "You don't expect somebody to get saved every time you preach do you?"  The preacher said, "No, I don't expect somebody to get saved every time".  Then Dr. Criswell said, "Well, that's your problem".  Mr. Hudson also told of a lady who had an old sycamore tree in her yard and she prayed and said, "Lord you said if I had the faith of a grain of mustard seed I could say to the mountains, be thou removed and it would be removed, now this old sycamore tree will surely fall and it may fall on the house, so I say to that sycamore tree to be removed".  When the lady got up the next morning, the sycamore tree was still there and she said, "Just like I expected, it's still there".  Friends we must go expecting, but above that we must go seeking, not our own will but His will.  We must go planting, but above that, we must go praying.

What do you think happens to these seeds the Lord gives us when we don't plant them?  Remember the sack I spoke of in the beginning of this little article?  The sack called life.  That's where they stay.  Wouldn't it be a terrible shame and disgrace to stand before Him one day and pour out that sack before Him and have all those seeds come pouring out?  Wouldn't it be so wonderful to stand before Him one day and pour out the contents of our sacks and see all those seeds that we thought we had planted come pouring out as full grown fruit?  Now, whether you realized it or not, as you were reading this little article, a seed was actually being planted.  It is now planted and I have already prayed for the nourishment of this seed.  I am expecting this seed to grow, and above all this, I am seeking God's will not only for this article, but for the lives of those in whom it is planted.