Category: Shepherding with Spurgeon

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

It is to be feared that our exercises are not in every case moulded into the best form, or presented in the most commendable fashion. There are meeting-houses in which the supplications are neither so devout nor so earnest as we desire; in other places the earnestness is so allied with ignorance, and the devotion so marred with rant, that no intelligent believer can enter into the service with pleasure. Praying in the Holy Spirit is not universal among us, neither do all pray with the understanding as well as with the heart. There is room for improvement, and in some quarters there is an imperative demand for it. Let me, therefore, very earnestly caution you, beloved brethren, against spoiling your services by your prayers: make it your solemn resolve that all the engagements of the sanctuary shall be of the best kind.

If unprepared brethren are to be sent into the pulpit to do my praying for me when I am engaged to preach, I do not see why I might not be allowed to pray, and then retire to let these brethren do the sermonizing. I am not able to see any reason for depriving me of the holiest, sweetest, and most profitable exercise which my Lord has allotted me; if I may have my choice, I will sooner yield up the sermon than the prayer. Thus much I have said in order to impress upon you that you must highly esteem public prayer, and seek of the Lord for the gifts and graces necessary to its right discharge.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe God’s discipline.

You see that rough-looking diamond? It is put on the wheel of the lapidary. With much care he begins to turn it and to cut it on all sides. It loses much—much that seemed to itself costly. Do you see it now? The king is to be crowned, the diadem is put upon the monarch’s head with the trumpet’s joyful sound. There is a glittering ray that flows from that diadem, and it comes from that very diamond that was cut just now by the lapidary.

You, Christian, may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for you are one of God’s jewels, and this is the time of the cutting process. You must endure it. Be of good courage and do not murmur. Let faith and patience do their perfect work. In the day when the crown shall be set upon the head of “the King eternal, immortal, invisible,” (1 Tim 1:17) one ray of glory shall stream from you, for you shall be his.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

We must teach our congregations to pray — not as a formality, but as a necessity. We pray before we preach, because we have no wisdom apart from God’s help. We pray while we sing, because we have no joy apart from God. We need him every moment of every day, of course we need him while we gather for worship.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

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Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

This excerpt was taken from one of Spurgeon’s Easter sermons. May it bless you as you prepare to preach the “Old, Old Story” this weekend.

I may not have many more opportunities of preaching, and I make up my mind to this one thing, that I will waste no time upon secondary themes, but when I do preach it shall be the gospel, or something very closely bearing upon it. I will endeavor each time to strike under the fifth rib, and never beat the air. Those who have a taste for the superfluities may take their fill of them, it is for me to keep to the great necessary truths by which men’s souls are saved. My work is to preach Christ crucified and the gospel, which gives men salvation through faith.

I hear every now and then of very taking sermons about some bright new nothing or another. Some preachers remind me of the emperor who had a wonderful skill in carving men’s heads upon cherry stones. What a multitude of preachers we have who can make wonderfully fine discourses out of a mere passing thought, of no consequence to anyone. But we want the gospel. We have to live and die, and we must have the gospel. Certain of us may be cold in our graves before many weeks are over, and we cannot afford to toy and trifle: we want to see the bearings of all teachings upon our eternal destinies, and upon the gospel which sheds its light over our future.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the necessity of faith,

Think of the influence of faith on all the other graces of God. Love is the sweetest of all; but how can I love until knowledge gives me a view of Christ? Knowledge opens the door, and then, through that door, I see my Savior. I cannot love a Christ I do not know, at least, in some degree; and if I know nothing about the excellences of Christ—what he has done for me and what he is doing now—I cannot love him. In Christ’s case, to know is to love, and the more I know, the more I will love. And then there is hope. How can I hope for a thing if I do not know of its existence? Hope may be the telescope, but then, till I get knowledge, there is something in front of the glass; I can see nothing whatever. But knowledge takes away the impediment, and then, when I look through the optic glass, I can see the glory to be revealed. But I cannot hope for what I know nothing about. I must know there is a heaven, or I cannot hope for it.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Special thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring the Pastor’s Note newsletter. The CSB is both accurate and readable. So that you (and your flock) can read God’s Word with confidence, clarity, and precision.

Click here to learn more about the CSB (and request a free CSB Bible).

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

While you may feel a lot of pressure to preach a “home run” this weekend, remember that God is sovereign. As long as you preach Jesus, God will certainly be glorified.

Pastor, rest in the resurrection. Because the empty tomb proves that you aren’t the hero that your church needs.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

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Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

The preacher who neglects to pray much must be very careless about his ministry. He cannot have comprehended his calling. He cannot have computed the value of a soul, or estimated the meaning of eternity. He must be a mere official, tempted into a pulpit because the piece of bread which belongs to the priest’s office is very necessary to him, or a detestable hypocrite who loves the praise of men, and cares not for the praise of God. He will surely become a mere superficial talker, best approved where grace is least valued and a vain show most admired. He cannot be one of those who plough deep and reap abundant harvests. He is a mere loiterer, not a laborer. As a preacher he has a name to live and is dead. He limps in his life like the lame man in the Proverbs, whose legs were not equal, for his praying is shorter than his preaching.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the effective call of salvation.

When our brave King Richard was shut up in prison, far away in Germany, you know how he was found out by Blondel, a troubadour? The king and the minstrel had composed a song between them. First the minstrel sang one verse, and then the king sang one, and no other man in the whole world ever knew what the verses were except the king and the minstrel.

So the minstrel wandered through many realms and sang the first verse of his song. He sang it at all kinds of castle gates and dungeon doors, but there came no response, for the king was not inside. But at last, as providence would have it, he sang it in the right place, and faintly from inside he heard from the deep dungeon the voice that knew, and could sing, the second verse. And as he sang the third, and the fourth came through the iron bars, he knew that the king was there, for the verses could have been sung by none other than he.

I am sometimes occupied in preaching the gospel, and I preach it to thousands who give no response. There is no evidence of the Lord’s having chosen them. But another time there is a heart that says, “Your face, O Lord, I do seek.” Then I have found out the Lord’s chosen ones, found out the hidden ones, discovered as many as were ordained to eternal life. For their believing is the response to God’s gospel, and the evidence of their being the favorites of heaven. They, and they alone, believe in this way. As for those who do not believe, they perish in their sins. “But as many as received him—to those who believe in his name—he gave to them authority to become children of God” (John 1:12).

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

The apostles ought to be our model in ministry: “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). We cannot minister the Word without prayer. We cannot build the church without prayer. We will not have anything useful to say to the church without prayer.

Pray, not just as a means to an end (“God, help me to preach!”), but because you need to know your God.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

“We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.” (Colossians 1:28–29)

The apostle takes no honor to himself, but humbly ascribes whatever he had done or suffered entirely to his Lord. He declares that he labored and agonized, but he confesses that it was through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who mightily by the Holy Spirit wrought in him. In another place, when he had mentioned his abundant labors, he added, “Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

He remembered where to put the crown; he took care not to steal an atom of the glory for himself, but he ascribed all to the power of him who loved him and gave himself for him. Let us imitate the apostle in these two things. My brethren, let us live, while we live, a life of energy, but let us at the same time confess, when we have done all, that we are uprofitable servants; and if there be any glory and any praise resulting from the work which we achieve, let us be careful to lay it all at the Redeemer’s feet.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the process of sanctification.

You know how an artist can, if he likes, dash off a picture. There! A little red, and a little blue, and so on, and it is done. And away it goes! Yes, but when he wants to paint something that will be observed and admired, then he takes more pains. See how he works at every part of it; note what care and what trouble he takes with it. It is the same with the lapidary or the sculptor when he has choice work in hand.

You are, I hope, the kind of material that will pay for cutting and carving, and the Lord is using his chisel upon you more than he does upon most folk. He wants to make you just like his dear Son, so now he is chipping out a thorn crown and you must wear it around your head. He is fashioning the image of his Son out of the block of your renewed nature, and you must patiently bear the blows from his hammer and chisel until that work is done

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

Let us learn from Paul’s example. May we work hard at preaching and teaching, but know that all the growth comes from God, so all the glory goes to God.

Every week before preaching, I read John 3 to remind myself of these astounding truths: God does the work of ministry, so God gets the glory of ministry. He must increase. I must decrease.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

At times I have thought, when I have done preaching, that I have laid down the gospel so clearly, that the nose on one’s face could not be more plain; and yet I perceive that even intelligent hearers have failed to understand what was meant by “Look unto me and be ye saved.”

Converts usually say that they did not know the gospel till such and such a day; and yet they had heard it for years. The gospel is unknown, not from want of explanation, but from absence of personal revelation. This the Holy Ghost is ready to give, and will give to those who ask him. Yet when given, the sum total of the truth revealed all lies within these words: “Christ died for the ungodly.”

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the need to be born again.

To put the matter very simply—did you ever hear of Mr. Rowland Hill’s illustration of the cat and the sow? I will give it in my own fashion, to illustrate our Savior’s expressive words—“You must be born again.”

Do you see that cat? What a cleanly creature she is! How cleverly she washes herself with her tongue and her paws! It is quite a pretty sight! Did you ever see a sow do that? No, you never did. It is contrary to its nature. It prefers to wallow in the mire. Go and teach a sow to wash itself, and see how little success you would gain. It would be a great sanitary improvement if swine would be clean. Teach them to wash and clean themselves as the cat has been doing! Useless task. You may by force wash that sow, but it hastens to the mire, and is soon as foul as ever. The only way in which you can get a sow to wash itself is to transform it into a cat; then it will wash and be clean, but not till then! Suppose that transformation to be accomplished, and then what was difficult or impossible is easy enough; the swine will henceforth be fit for your parlor and your hearth-rug.

So it is with an ungodly man; you cannot force him to do what a renewed man does most willingly; you may teach him, and set him a good example, but he cannot learn the art of holiness, for he has no mind to it; his nature leads him another way. When the Lord makes a new man of him, then all things wear a different aspect. So great is this change, that I once heard a convert say, “Either all the world is changed, or else I am.” The new nature follows after right as naturally as the old nature wanders after wrong. What a blessing to receive such a nature! Only the Holy Ghost can give it.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring this newsletter.

As a pastor, you need a Bible translation that new believers can understand and one that every believer can turn to for lifelong discipleship. The Christian Standard Bible is incredible accessible while remaining faithful to the original languages.

Request a free review copy and learn more here.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

We need to boldly share the Word and devote ourselves to teaching with clarity and excellence. But we have a great assurance that God will accomplish his purposes. It is not up to us.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

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Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

The Great Shepherd of the sheep will grant us an all-sufficiency with which to feed his people. Believing in God all-sufficient, we expect to see our loaves and fishes multiplied; consequently, we do not lay by in store, but deal out at this present all that we have.

I saw in Rome a fountain, which represented a man holding a barrel, out of which a copious stream of water was perpetually running. There never was much at any one time in that marble barrel, and yet it has continued to yield a stream for four or five hundred years. So let us pour forth from our very soul all that the Lord imparts to us. For twenty years and more, I have told out all I know, and have run dry every time, and yet my heart still bubbles up with a good matter. I know some brethren in the ministry who are comparable to the great tun of Heidelberg for capacity, and yet the people do not receive so much gospel truth from them as from preachers of very inferior capacity who have formed the habit of giving out all they have.

We believe that the Spirit of God will be in us a well of water springing up unto everlasting life, and we act according to that conviction. We do not expect to have much goods laid up for many years; but, as we live by daily bread, so upon continually new supplies do we feed our people. Away with the musty, worm-breeding stores of old manna, and let us look up day by day for a fresh supply!

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this quotation in your own preaching to describe Christian generosity.

A cheerful giver is also a willing giver. We are not to be like the young grape that must be pressed and squeezed to get the juice out because it is not ripe. Rather, we ought to be like the honeycomb, dripping spontaneously with fresh honey.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Pursue Your Call to Ministry

This month, Midwestern Seminary is encouraging future pastors to pursue their call to ministry. They’ve put together some great resources to help you understand your own call to ministry or help others unpack their own.

They’re also hosting some great giveaways including seminary scholarships and book giveaways, and more. If you refer a student, they’ll send some free books your way.

Click here to learn more.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

God’s Word is a never-ending fountain of joy and wisdom. If we give ourselves to preaching our ideas and agendas, we will run out of things to say. But if we devote ourselves to unfolding Scripture, we will never run out of glories to enjoy.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

After the sermon, how would a conscientious preacher give vent to his feelings and find solace for his soul if access to the mercy-seat were denied him? Elevated to the highest pitch of excitement, how can we relieve our souls but in importunate pleadings. Or depressed by a fear of failure, how shall we be comforted but in moaning out our complaint before our God. How often have some of us tossed to and fro upon our couch half the night because of conscious shortcomings in our testimony! How frequently have we longed to rush back to the pulpit again to say over again more vehemently, what we have uttered in so cold a manner! Where could we find rest for our spirits but in confession of sin, and passionate entreaty that our infirmity or folly might in no way hinder the Spirit of God!

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this quotation in your own preaching to describe how God is at work in his people.

You know how an artist can, if he likes, dash off a picture. There! A little red, and a little blue, and so on, and it is done. And away it goes! Yes, but when he wants to paint something that will be observed and admired, then he takes more pains. See how he works at every part of it; note what care and what trouble he takes with it.

You are, I hope, the kind of material that will pay for cutting and carving, and the Lord is using his chisel upon you more than he does upon most folk. He wants to make you just like his dear Son, so now he is chipping out a thorn crown and you must wear it around your head. He is fashioning the image of his Son out of the block of your renewed nature, and you must patiently bear the blows from his hammer and chisel until that work is done.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Special thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring the Pastor’s Note newsletter. The CSB is both accurate and readable. So that you (and your flock) can read God’s Word with confidence, clarity, and precision.

Click here to learn more about the CSB (and request a free CSB Bible).

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

Whether you are despairing or overconfident after preaching, we must be careful to obey the command to pray without ceasing. Let’s be quick to thank God for helping us and pray that our words would find soft soil.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

Prayer will singularly assist you in the delivery of your sermon; in fact, nothing can so gloriously fit you to preach as descending fresh from the mount of communion with God to speak with men. None are so able to plead with men as those who have been wrestling with God on their behalf.

A truly pathetic delivery, in which there is no affectation, but much affection, can only be the offspring of prayer. There is no rhetoric like that of the heart, and no school for learning it but the foot of the cross. It were better that you never learned a rule of human oratory, but were full of the power of heavenborn love, than that you should master Quintilian, Cicero, and Aristotle, and remain without the apostolic anointing.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this quotation in your own preaching to describe how Jesus makes us holy.

You thrust a bar of cold, black iron into the fire, and keep it there till the fire enters into it. See, the iron is like fire itself—he who feels it will know no difference. The fire has permeated the iron, and made it a fiery mass. I would like to have seen that bush in Horeb before which Moses took off his shoes. When it was all ablaze it seemed no longer a bush but a mass of fire, a furnace of pure flame. The fire had transfigured the bush.

So it is with us when Christ enters into us. He elevates us to a nobler state; even as Paul says, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Jesus sanctifies us wholly—spirit, soul, and body—and takes us to dwell with him in the perfect state above.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Special thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring the Pastor’s Note newsletter. If you’re interested in exploring how the CSB can bless your church, click here to request a free CSB Starter Kit — packed with information and resources to help you learn more.

Click here to learn more about the CSB (and request a free CSB Bible).

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

There are weeks that I feel my own neediness more than others — when I’m more inclined to rush to God while preparing my sermon. I know I’m not the only one who preaches “better” sermons on the weeks I feel weakest.

But we also need to pray for our people. We need to pray for God to prepare them, humble them, remove distractions, and help them see the glory of his Son as we preach.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

The best and holiest men have ever made prayer the most important part of pulpit preparation.

The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors, but the Author himself is far better, and prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in our cause. It is a great thing to pray one’s self into the spirit and marrow of a text; working into it by sacred feeding-thereon, even as the worm bores its way into the kernel of the nut. Prayer supplies a leverage for the uplifting of ponderous truths. Waiting upon God often turns darkness into light. Persevering enquiry at the sacred oracle uplifts the veil and gives grace to look into the deep things of God. 

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this quotation in your own preaching to describe the relationship between prayer and Bible reading.

You will frequently find fresh streams of thought leaping up from the passage before you, as if the rock had been struck by Moses’ rod; new veins of precious ore will be revealed to your astonished gaze as you quarry God’s Word and use diligently the hammer of prayer. You will sometimes feel as if you were entirely shut up, and then suddenly a new road will open before you. He who hath the key of David openeth, and no man shutteth.

The laborious student often finds it with a text; it appears to be fast closed against you, but prayer propels your vessel, and turns its prow into fresh waters, and you behold the broad and deep stream of sacred truth flowing in its fulness, and bearing you with it. Is not this a convincing reason for abiding in supplication? Use prayer as a boring rod, and wells of living water will leap up from the bowels of the Word. Who will be content to thirst when living waters are so readily to be obtained!

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Free Course from Midwestern Seminary

My friends at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary are offering a free course to my subscribers. In “The Story of Everything,” Jared Wilson will teach how God’s glory explains the most incredible (and the most mundane!) things in our lives.

This is a great resource that will help you craft sermon application. It’s also a great, trustworthy resource you can send to your congregation to help them form a more robust biblical worldview.

Click here to get started with this FREE seminary-level course.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

We are not sufficient to preach or prepare sermons — we need God’s help. And yet, it’s so easy to neglect prayer in the grind of sermon preparation. Let’s devote ourselves to prayer before we rush to understand Scripture in our own wisdom.

One mentor told me that he longed for a sermon prep process that looked like this: “I pray until I’m hot, I study until I’m full, and I preach until I’m empty.”

Oh, may we be men who are mighty in prayer and devoted to the Word.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC

Get wisdom encouragement for Spurgeon in your inbox every week. Subscribe to the The Pastor’s Note newsletter for free.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

I take it that as a minister he is always praying. Whenever his mind turns to his work, whether he is in it or out of it, he ejects a petition, sending up his holy desires as well-directed arrows to the skies. He is not always in the act of prayer, but he lives in the spirit of it. If his heart be in his work, he cannot eat or drink, or take recreation, or go to his bed, or rise in the morning, without evermore feeling a fervency of desire, a weight of anxiety, and a simplicity of dependence upon God; thus, in one form or other he continues in prayer.

If there be any man under heaven, who is compelled to carry out the precept—“Pray without ceasing,” surely it is the Christian minister. He has peculiar temptations, special trials, singular difficulties, and remarkable duties, he has to deal with God in awful relationships, and with men in mysterious interests; he therefore needs much more grace than common men, and as he knows this, he is led constantly to cry to the strong for strength, and say, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” 

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this quotation in your own preaching to describe our confidence in the truth of God.

Copernicus declared the truth that the earth and the planets revolve around the sun. His opponents replied that this could not be true, for if the planet Venus revolved around the sun, she must present the same phases as the moon. This was very true. Copernicus looked up to Venus, but he could not see those phases, nor could anyone else. Nevertheless he stuck to his statement and said, “I have no reply to give, but in due time God will be so good that an answer will be found.” Copernicus died, and his teaching had not yet been justified. But soon after Galileo came forward with his telescope, and on looking at Venus he saw that she did pass through exactly the same changes as the moon.

Thus wisdom is justified by her children. Truth may not prevail today or tomorrow, but her ultimate victory is sure. Today they say that the doctrines of grace are antiquated, obsolete, and even injurious. We are at no trouble to answer the charge. We can wait, and we do not doubt that public thought will alter its tone.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

We cannot grow the church, make disciples, convert the lost, preach the gospel, or lead the church without God. So we pray.

Oh, may God empty us of our vain self-confidence and fill us up with a Christ-centered hope that drives us to our knees in desperate prayer.

If this newsletter is encouraging, please share it with another pastor. You can forward this email to a pastor you know.

If someone forwarded this email to you, sign up to get another one every week. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings to your ministry,

Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC