Bible Verse for Today 20th June 2023, Tuesday

Bible Verse for Today 20th June 2023, Tuesday

Read Bible Verse for Today 20th June 2023, Tuesday Message – Dropping Seeds (Matthew 13:31-32) By J.R. Miller

TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Matthew 13:31-32

MESSAGE: Many great histories of blessing may be traced back to a very small seed. A woman whose name is forgotten dropped a tract of little book in the way of a man named Richard Baxter. He picked it up and read it, and it led him to Christ. He became a holy Christian, and wrote a book entitled, A Call to the Unconverted, which brought many persons to the Saviour, and among others Philip Doddridge. Philip Doddridge in turn wrote The Rise and Progress of Religion, which led many into the kingdom of God, among them the great Wilberforce. Wilberforce wrote, A Practical View of Christianity, which was the means of saving a multitude, among them Legh Richmond. In his turn Legh Richmond wrote the book called The Dairyman’s Daughter, which has been instrumental in the conversion of thousands.

The dropping of that one little tract seemed a very small thing to do; but see what a wonderful, many-branched tree has sprung from it! This is only one illustration of marvels of grace coming from the most minute grains of the heavenly seed. One seed planted in a heart, dropped by some very humble worker, perhaps unconsciously, may not only save a soul for an eternity of blessedness, but may start a series of divine influences which shall reach thousands of other lives. A simply invitation from his brother brought Simon to Jesus; and what a tree sprang from that seed!

Let us go on, day by day, dropping seeds into as many hearts as we can. We may not always know what comes of them, but from any one of them may spring a history of blessing which shall reach thousands of souls. The branches of the tree from one seed may spread over all lands.

Richard Baxter, (1615-1691) was a Puritan evangelist of Kidderminster in the English midlands. He wrote a classic book on ministerial practice entitled The Reformed Pastor. After the Restoration in 1660 was chaplain to King Charles II, until Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity, which required conformity to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Baxter, a nonconformist, refused, and, lost not both his position as chaplain, and the See of Hereford. He was also prohibited from preaching in his parish of Kidderminster. From 1662 to 1687 was continually persecuted.

Philip Doddridge, (1702-1751) was the youngest of 20 children, 18 of who died in infancy. He received his earliest scriptural knowledge from his mother who taught him from Dutch Bible tiles that decorated the fireplace of their home. He is best remembered as the writer of the hymns O Happy Day That Fixed My Choice and Grace, ‘Tis a Charming Sound, O God, of Bethel, Hark the Glad Sound Many of his texts were written for children. He was concerned that young people should be taught clearly about eternity and the pardon available for all who believe in the Saviour. He was pastor of an independent congregation and tutor of a seminary for dissenting ministers at Northampton from 1739 until his death

William Wilberforce, (1759-1833) was the British social reformer, who was instrumental in abolition of slavery in the British Empire. He was elected to Parliament in 1780. Abolition of the slave trade was passed by the British Parliament in 1807 and total suppression of slavery was enacted a month after his death.

Legh Richmond (1772-1827) was a British Evangelical clergyman famous for writing The Dairyman’s Daughter and other popular works of fiction relating to English village life. The British National Portrait Gallery has an engraving of him by William Finden, but it is not online.

READ MORE TOPICS: OPEN HEAVENS, OUR DAILY BREAD, IN TOUCH, SEEDS OF DESTINY, STREAMS OF JOY, JOEL OSTEEN, MOUNTAIN TOP LIFE, DCLM DAILY MANNA, UCB WORD FOR TODAY