GOD’S SHARECROPPER

William Andrew Dillard
Parson to Person

In 1939, (my birth year) Hollywood produced a box office bonanza with the all-time classic movie, GONE WITH THE WIND. It depicted a labor intensive way of life. Of course, in 1939 the nation was only about seventy years away from the Civil War, so, those times were still on the mind of older citizens (much like WWII remains on older minds today). In addition to those times, there are also many things and ways that have fallen to the chapters of history, especially with the vaunted progress of the 20th Century. I write briefly about one of those ways of life: that of the now largely extinct share-cropper.
Well over a half century ago, my pastoral ministry was initiated in the cotton and bean fields of northeast Arkansas. Most folk in the area were known as sharecroppers. Like the aforementioned movie, this, too, is a way of life largely gone with the wind.
Sharecroppers lived in someone else’s house on someone else’s land. In varying agreements, they worked the land for the land owner, and shared a percentage of the crops produced. It was not much of a way to get ahead in life, but it was a way to sustain life. Most of the houses provided were substandard, and largely without indoor plumbing. My wife and I spent one memorable winter night with a family in that environment. To stay warm, we slept under so many quilts that it was virtually impossible to turn over. However, though poor, the people were sweet, kind, and loving. They loved the Lord, and they loved my young wife and me. It was such a joy to be considered their pastor, although a neophyte in every sense of the word.
Years have come and gone, and I am, as they were: a sharecropper. But, the sharecropping presently experienced is being accomplished in an agreement with God, the true land owner. Paul taught in I Cor. 3:9, “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” We plant and water, but He gives the increase. It is He who has given to us this laboring ministry of reconciliation, and He teaches us all in Psalm 126:6, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Formerly, due to weather or pestilence, crops might fail, leaving the farming sharecropper in dire straits financially. But one may be sure that sharecropping with God brings a guaranteed successful harvest to the rejoicing of everyone involved. Since all are tenants and not owners, they are sharecropping for someone. But soon the window of time for sharecropping on this terrestrial ball will also pass away. It is but for a season. Consequently, it is so very important to choose wisely with whom you partner in the sharecropping venture of life.

THE DAY AFTER

The day after the celebration of the birth of Jesus. For some, this day is a let down after the flurry of gift giving and family and fun. For me, this is a day of reflection on how a babe in a manager became my substitute. I am reminded of how unworthy I am and how I was so loved that the one to be my substitute, lay so innocently in a manger to grow and take my place on the cross. This a time for me to reflect on the cost or price of my salvation. How humbling to see one that sees my own innermost thoughts still wanted to give me a free gift of eternal life even though He could see my inward filthiness and degradation. It is now time to praise the LORD for His great and enduring love.

131– May 11 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

John Hart – A True Christian Patriot

 

While the actual date of John Hart’s birth is unknown, biographers have put it in the year of 1713, in Hopewell Township, NJ. His grandfather, for whom he was named, was a carpenter, who came from Newtown, Long Island. His son, Edward, was John Hart’s father. Edward Hart was a Justice of the Peace, a Public Assessor, and a farmer. He arrived in Hopewell about A.D. 1710, at the age of twenty. He married Martha Furman (Firmin), on May 17, 1712 and they had five children, all raised in Hopewell New Jersey.

 

In December of 1776, as Washington’s army retreated across New Jersey, the British and Hessians ravaged the Hopewell area. Hart’s home and property suffered severe damage, two young children fled to the homes of relatives and Hart himself took refuge wherever he could in the woods, hiding in caves and in the Sourwood Mountains.

 

John Hart was re-elected twice as Speaker of the Assembly and served until November 7, 1778.

 

Part of John Hart’s land called the lower meadow was donated to the Baptists in 1747 to build a church and cemetery, which is located on Broad Street in Hopewell.

 

On July 3, 2006, the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Inc. dedicated a bronze plaque to John Hart and his wife Deborah Scudder Hart. Many descendants were at the Baptist Meeting House on Broad Street in Hopewell for the dedication. It is very fitting that John and Deborah are now buried and honored on the very land that he gave to the Baptists.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: The Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence/John Hart

 

 

 

90 – March 31 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

A pastor who rode 4,400 miles to find a wife

 

 

March 31, 1792 – Abraham Marshall, three days back from his trip to New England, spoke again of his intention of marriage to Miss Ann Waller. The forty-four-year old Separate Baptist preacher and thirty-one year old maiden had a breathtaking, six day romance. On Tuesday April 3, 1792, the emboldened, romantic preacher proposed, and at 7 o’clock that evening, the couple were married before a group of friends. After serving the Kiokee Baptist Church (Georgia) for eight years as a bachelor-pastor, Abraham determined that he needed a wife and decided to travel the 2,200 miles to New England – the place of his birth – and trust the Lord somewhere along the way to provide him a help meet who would enhance his ministry. A gentleman, knowing of his plans, exchanged horses with him. With confidence that God was with him, Pastor Marshall continued on his journey believing that the second answer to his petition would be met. His diary tells that he stopped at the home of John Waller, the famed Separate Baptist preacher in Spottsylvania, Virginia, and it was there that the second half of his prayer was to be answered. Abraham’s diary told of their “horseback honeymoon,” which covered approximately 550 miles. Marshall told of “having a river or creek to swim, horses loose, lying out of doors, rainy days and dark nights, and ever and anon meeting with excellent friends…until three months absence to a day, found us at home amid the tears, joys and congratulations of friend, on Big Kiokee.” Mrs. Marshall was a great blessing to her husband’s ministry. They had four sons, and their son Jabez, who succeeded his father as pastor at Kiokee, wrote tenderly of his mother, “Through the whole of her life she was exemplarily pious…” She died at 54 in 1815, Abraham at 72 in 1819.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 130-131.

Amazing Video Of Child’s Conception To Birth… | SettledInHeaven.org

Amazing Video Of Child’s Conception To Birth… | SettledInHeaven.org.

O Holy Night

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Helpless and Cannot Enter

John 3:5 – Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Jesus statement to Nicodemus is very clear in what it does not say. it does not say: you must be born of water and church membership to enter the kingdom; you must be good or perform good works to enter the kingdom; you must partake of the Lord’s Supper to enter the kingdom; you must be baptized to enter the kingdom. This passage very simply says; “…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

The statement of Jesus that a man be born of water has already been shown to be the natural birth that all experience when being ushered into this world as a baby. Therefore we must address the statement, “…and of the Spirit….”

John 16:8 says that when the Spirit comes, He will convict the world of sin. This conviction brings a response of acceptance or rejection. Acceptance brings the “New Birth” spoken of by Jesus. We experience a New Birth by the Spirit. This New Birth brings us into the family of God and ushers us into the kingdom of God.

Born Of Water

I will address the issue of Nicodemus again. In John 3:1-8; Nicodemus came to Jesus and made a statement that Jesus had come from God. The reply of Jesus is very important to every man – ye must be born again. Nicodemus did not understand and questioned Jesus about Nicodemus mother, physical being able to do this. Here is where many start going wrong in this passage. Jesus speaks spiritual things and Nicodemus is speaking physical things. Jesus said one must be born of water and of the Spirit. Don’t go wrong here now. Jesus addresses Nicodemus physical application and extends the spiritual application. Born of water is the physical birth that each of us experienced when we were ushered into this sin decayed world. In the womb we lived in a sack of water. Yes! I know it was not literal water, okay? We always say “her water broke.”

Now Jesus points Nicodemus to the Spiritual New Birth. Notice verse 6 – that which is born of the flesh is flesh. The physical birth that Nicodemus spoke of. “that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit,” the Spiritual birth that Jesus was referring to. Keeping everything in context and reading the context helps us to not make a false interpretation of God’s Word.