A Hand to the Plough

Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
A Hand to the Plough



Dear Friends,

I present this to you in the hope the Lord will Bless it to your Spiritual feeding and that many crumbs shall be taken up into the baskets:

From Elder Kelly Smith

The first part is him giving me permission to forward this brief study.

May God Bless


Brother Dallas, I don't mind at all.

You know I didn't mention it, but when Christ fed the four thousand, there were seven baskets left from that. There has always been more than enough when the Lord has prepared it.

May God Bless,
Kelly Smith


From: Dallas Eaton <goatyardbaptist@live.com>
To:
Sent: Friday, August 7, 2009 10:10:00 PM
Subject: Such a waste


Dear Brother Kelly,
When I began reading this I thought of Mk. 10:46-52. I attempted to preach a message of this similar content when I was at Unity MB. You have provided to me a blessed reminder (2 Pet. 1:12-13, 25; 2 Pet. 3:1; Jude 1:5 ) Thank you so much for bringing this to my remembrance this evening. I have often tried to consider the 12 baskets that were taken up in the feeding of the 5000, my prayer is that I will keep your exhortation to remembrance and as I do that look for and spiritually feed upon the crumbs.

Would you mind if I share this writing with some of my friends and family?

May God Richly Bless,

a poor brother in the Hope of the Gospel,
bro. Dallas Eaton,II

From: Kelly Smith
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 10:27 PM
To:
Subject: Such a waste



Dear Brethren,

If I may, I'd like to share a thought with you this evening. Though I may "preach to the choir" on this, I believe it is a good thing to be mindful of. These thoughts have stepped on my own toes quite often. It is a bit lengthy, but perhaps it will stir someones thoughts in the manner it has mine.

May God Bless,
Kelly Smith

************ ********* ********* *********

How Wasteful are the children of God, who are blessed with the priviledge of meeting out, in any capacity, in the name of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Brethren, my thoughts this evening are focused upon something we may not consider very often. Surely we've all considered this at one time or another, but I believe it is good to be reminded of it often.

In Matthew 15, I look to the 21st verse and I find a woman of Canaan, whose daughter is "grievously vexed with a devil".

She cries out to Jesus, who; "answered her not a word." But then, when his disciples sought to send her away "for she crieth after us", Christ replies, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel".

Did the woman give up? No. She came and worshiped him! saying three words, that have touched the lips of every child of God I believe at least once in their lives... "Lord, ....Help.... . me". How often have we found ourselves to be in this state? We feel ourselves to be the chiefest among sinners, yet knowing that there is no one else to plea our case to, we cry out in our hearts, Lord, Help me!

Christ replies to the woman, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs". Dear brothers, if this text had ended here, then would the religious community of todays world have a foundation for their self righteous attitude towards their fellow man in the world, to those who stand on the outside, starving for something that we freely partake of! How often do they stand on the outside, because our self righteousness prevents them? This is a thought for another time. The fact is, this text does not end here....

The woman replies in turn, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters table."

How profound! I would gladly be content with the crumbs of our masters table, yet I have found so much more in my Fathers house. We know that due to her faith, Christ did unto this woman that which she asked. My thoughts are on the crumbs from this point on.

How many crumbs do we leave on the floor every Sunday when we leave the house of worship? How many crumbs do we leave on the floor of our car after God has blessed us with his presence while driving down the road? How many crumbs have we left upon the bedroom floor where Christ has been most precious to us in our prayers? How many crumbs have we left throughout our lives, yet there are those less fortunate, in that they do not enjoy the priviledges and freedoms we enjoy in these United States of America, which was founded on none other than the word of God, INCLUDING the crumbs, because those men, our forfathers, left hungry by the tyranical rule of Europe, feasted on every crumb they could find of the Father!

How do we waste?:
By leaving all the knowledge and lessons that we have learned behind. By forgetting the very thoughts that set us upon a cloud for a little while, and we leave them laying as we pass through the doors of the meeting house. By focusing our attention once more on the world that we so wanted to escape when we first entered into the blessing of the feast. Then, in such a short time, we are left dry, and hungry, and perhaps its only Monday morning, yet we left so many sustaining thoughts behind.

Pt. 2 cont.'d. in another post

bro. Dallas

 

What a Waste Pt. 2--Conclusion

I call our attention to Luke chapter 9:

Jesus took five loaves of bread, two fishes, and fed a multitude of OVER five thousand.(there were five thousand men, not counting the women and children)
Christ brake, and blessed, and "gave to the disciples to set before the multitude"

Except a man have a spiritual apetite, he cannot feast on these things, and if a man have a spiritual apetite, then he must have a spiritual life already, being born not of man, not of the scriptures, nor being born of anything natural, but is born of the spirit of Almighty God.
Except that the Spirit bless and brake the spiritual food that we crave, and gives it to our ministers, to set before the multitude, there will be no benefit from the meal, if indeed there is a meal at all. Except the spirit grant us spiritual ears to hear, and spiritual eyes to see, we will not benefit from the feast prepared. But if the Spirit bless, and brake, and the message is prepared, and given to us, whether it be by the ministers of the churches, or The Spirit itself within our hearts which speaks in the heart when no man is near, then there will be more benefit than we can take in at one time! We find in the situation of the multitude of the five thousand, that when they were finished, the scraps were taken up, the the scraps alone filled twelve baskets.

How many baskets of scraps do we leave on the church floor when the doors are closed? How many baskets do we take with us?

There are some in the world, perhaps we've experienced it ourselves, where the least morsel from the table of God, would be as all the gold in the world to a poor man, yet how often we take these blessings of peace and comfort for granted.

God is merciful, and He will sustain them that look to him. But lets not neglect the scraps. Gather them, and take them with us. I cannot imagine the snares of sin I have been made to escape by my thoughts of the last meeting with my brothers and sisters, and the feast we were made to eat in the presence of the Lord. Yet how many more could I have escaped had I followed this admonition?

I leave you with these thoughts, and this prayer in my heart:

Matthew 20

29 And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

30 And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.

31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.

32 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?

33 They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.

May the Lord be merciful, and open our eyes to see the truth, that we might waste not, but take with us the scraps from the masters table, that we might feast upon them and be sustained, until we once more come together in any capacity to worship the Father, and once more be blessed at His table. Let us always be mindful of the state we once found ourselves in, hungry and cold in this old world. How richly are we blessed to be able to partake of the masters feast, and sit down with our Lord as he and the Father come in and sup with us. Let us not be wasteful, or take these things for granted. There will be seasons of drought, and these things we waste and leave behind, would keep us through those times.

I've heard a dear Brother in Christ preach these words from my youth til now, yet never have they rang so clear in my mind as they do this evening. "Take it with you!"

May God Richly Bless,
Kelly Smith