Category: Shepherding with Spurgeon

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

Imagine a man, for instance, be called to the great work of preaching the gospel. He is successful; God helps him; thousands wait at his feet, and multitudes hang upon his lips; as truly as that man is a man, he will have a tendency to be exalted above measure, and too much will he begin to look to himself, and too little to his God. Let men speak who know, and what they know let them speak; and they will say, “It is true, it is most true,”

If God gives us a special mission, we generally begin to take some honor and glory to ourselves. But in the review of the eminent saints of God, have you never observed how God has made them feel that he was God, and beside him there was none else? Poor Paul might have thought himself a god, and been puffed up above measure, by reason of the greatness of his revelation, had there not been a thorn in the flesh. But Paul could feel that he was not a god, for he had a thorn in the flesh, and gods could not have thorns in the flesh. Sometimes God teaches the minister by denying him help on special occasions.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

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

God has given us much and all his past gifts are pleas for more gifts. Men do not plead in this way. The beggar in the street cannot say, “Give me a penny today because you gave me one yesterday;” otherwise we might reply, “That is the reason why I should not give you any more.”

But when dealing with God, this is a good plea. God loves us to make his past mercies arguments for obtaining future blessings; so the apostle says, “God our Father, who has loved us and given us” (2 Thessalonians 2:16).

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

A Hands-On Marriage Resource for Men

If you (or a guy you’re discipling) want to grow as husbands, I want to share about a new resource I’ve put together.

The God Centered Husband One-Year Journal provides 52 weekly page templates to take inventory of your marriage each week. These prompts will encourage you to consider your wife, her burdens, and how you can serve her.

What kind of fruit will God bring about in your life and marriage if you take five minutes to think about these things every week?

Plus, there’s a ton more included:

• 52 deep conversation starters for Christian couples
• Weekly devotionals to remind you of Jesus’ love for imperfect husbands
• One-year Bible reading plan to help you keep track of your devotional life
• Promise Log to help you keep track of the things you’ve promised your wife that you will do, work on, or change. Have you kept your promises?
• Explainer for Men: What you need to know about your wife’s menstrual cycle — what happens in your wife’s body and how you can serve her each week
• Weekly to-do list and notes page

If you lose your marriage, you will lose your ministry. I hope you’ll grab a copy for you (and another one for a friend or church member).

Buy The God Centered Husband One-Year Journal here.

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)

Conversion is God’s work: it cannot be done without his hand. Without him we can do nothing. Our hand is far too puny for such a work.

Still, there are certain circumstances under which that hand will work, and there are hindrances which will restrain it. Let us think awhile. First, then, if sinners are to be converted we must distinctly aim at it. As a rule, a man does what he tries to do, and not that which is mere by-product. The conversion of sinners is not one of those things which a man is likely to accomplish without intending it. Sometimes in the sovereignty of God a preacher who does not aim at conversion may nevertheless be made useful, for God works as he wills; but largely, and as a rule men do not win souls if they do not eagerly desire to do so. Fishing for men cannot be carried out by throwing in the net anyhow, without caring whether fish be caught or no. Few traders become rich by accident, they generally have to plod and work hard for money: and to be rich in treasures of saved souls you must aim at it and labor for it.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe living as a peacemaker.

To remain quiet is generally the way to baffle an adversary. Indeed, there is no weapon with which he can wound you. If you will not yield so as to give railing for railing, what is to be done with you?

It is much the same as when a certain duke proclaimed war against a peaceful neighbor who was resolved not to fight. The troops came riding to the town, and found the gates open as on ordinary occasions. The children were playing in the streets, and the blacksmith was at his forge, and the shopkeepers at their counters. And so, pulling up their horses, the soldiers inquired, “Where is the enemy?”

“We don’t know. We are friends.” What was to be done under the circumstances but to ride home?

So it is in life, if you only meet evil with good the bad man’s occupation is gone.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Get a free Bible

Special thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring this newsletter.

The CSB was created using optimal equivalence, a translation philosophy that pursues both linguistic precision to the original languages and readability in contemporary English. It’s a faithful translation that you (and your church) won’t be able to put down!

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

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)

Conversion is God’s work: it cannot be done without his hand. Without him we can do nothing. Our hand is far too puny for such a work.

Still, there are certain circumstances under which that hand will work, and there are hindrances which will restrain it. Let us think awhile. First, then, if sinners are to be converted we must distinctly aim at it. As a rule, a man does what he tries to do, and not that which is mere by-product. The conversion of sinners is not one of those things which a man is likely to accomplish without intending it. Sometimes in the sovereignty of God a preacher who does not aim at conversion may nevertheless be made useful, for God works as he wills; but largely, and as a rule men do not win souls if they do not eagerly desire to do so. Fishing for men cannot be carried out by throwing in the net anyhow, without caring whether fish be caught or no. Few traders become rich by accident, they generally have to plod and work hard for money: and to be rich in treasures of saved souls you must aim at it and labor for it.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe living as a peacemaker.

To remain quiet is generally the way to baffle an adversary. Indeed, there is no weapon with which he can wound you. If you will not yield so as to give railing for railing, what is to be done with you?

It is much the same as when a certain duke proclaimed war against a peaceful neighbor who was resolved not to fight. The troops came riding to the town, and found the gates open as on ordinary occasions. The children were playing in the streets, and the blacksmith was at his forge, and the shopkeepers at their counters. And so, pulling up their horses, the soldiers inquired, “Where is the enemy?”

“We don’t know. We are friends.” What was to be done under the circumstances but to ride home?

So it is in life, if you only meet evil with good the bad man’s occupation is gone.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Get a free Bible

Special thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring this newsletter.

The CSB was created using optimal equivalence, a translation philosophy that pursues both linguistic precision to the original languages and readability in contemporary English. It’s a faithful translation that you (and your church) won’t be able to put down!

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

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)

“He was diligent in every deed that he began in the service of God’s temple, in the instruction and the commands, in order to seek his God, and he prospered.” (2 Chronicles 31:21)

This is the kind of man whom people will follow. Let them just see that the whole of the man leads them, and not only a bit of him, and they will quickly learn to rely on his word. Put all your heart into what you do, or else put none of it in. There are some people who seem as if they have no heart, or at least their heart is only a kind of valve for the expulsion of blood, and not over vigorous in that direction, I fear. Any other kind of heart you cannot discover.

Nobody will follow mere head. There must be heart displayed by the man who would have a hearty following. If you want to lead others aright, lead them by showing that you yourself love the way. Be intense; be emphatic; throw your whole being into it. Be hearty when you are working, when you are praying, when you are singing. In all that you do for God and for your fellow-Christians, let your heart be manifest; and then it is highly probable that it may happen to you, as it did to Hezekiah, that many will rest upon your words.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

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

The principle of division of labor is a very admirable one for the production of results on a large scale, but it is a miserable business for the workman to have to do the same thing over and over again, all day long, as if he were an automaton. Get a man at work on a statue—an artist whose whole soul is in his chisel, who knows that there is a bright spirit within that block of marble, and who means to chip off all that hides the lovely image from his sight. See how he works! No man does a thing well who does it sorrowfully.

The best work that can be is done by the happy, joyful workman, and so it is with Christ. He does not save souls out of necessity—as though he would rather do something else if he might. But his very heart is in it, he rejoices to do it, and therefore he does it thoroughly, and he communicates his joy to us in the doing of it.

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)

In order to be of greater usefulness, many a man of God must be taught to stand quite alone. “I looked on my right hand, and behold, but there was no man that would know me.” If you want men to help you, you may make a very decent follower; but if you want no man, and can stand alone, God being your helper, you shall be helped to be a leader. Oh, it was a grand thing when Luther stepped out from the ranks of Rome. There were many good men round him, who said, “Be quiet, Martin. You will get burnt if you do not hold your tongue. Let us keep where we are, in the Church of Rome, even if we have to swallow down great lumps of dirt. We can believe the gospel, and still remain where we are.” But Luther knew that he must defy antichrist, and declare the pure gospel of the blessed God; and he must stand alone for the truth, even if there were as many devils against him as there were tiles on the housetops at Worms. That is the kind of man whom God blesses.

I ask God that many a young man here might have the courage to feel, in his particular position, “I can stand alone, if need be. I am glad to have my master and my fellow-workmen with me; but if nobody will go to heaven with me, I will say farewell to them, and go to heaven alone through the grace of God’s dear Son.”

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

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

Luther says that when the devil came to him, he brought him a long sheet containing a list of his sins, or of a great number of them, and Luther said to him, “Is that all?”

“No,” said the devil.

“Well, go and fetch some more then.” Away went Satan to bring him another long list, as long as your arm.

Said Luther, “Is that all?”

“Oh, no!” said the devil, “I have more yet.”

“Well, go and bring them all,” said Luther. “Fetch them all out, the whole list of them.” Then it was a very long black list. I think that I have heard that it would have gone round the world twice. I know that mine would.

Well, what did Luther say when he saw them all? He said, “Write at the bottom of them, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin!’ ” It does not matter how long the list is when you write those blessed words at the end of it. The sins are all gone then.

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).

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)

If you want to do good to your neighbors, and to bring them to Christ, set your own heart much upon the Savior. The more of Christ a man has, the more useful he will be in his day. If you were to look out all the ministers that have been useful, you will not find that they were distinguished by great talent so much as by great grace. God can bless a poor unsophisticated countryman to the salvation of hundreds if he has grace; and an ever-so-learned man may preach in vain, with great periods and stupendous sentences, if he has no grace. Do you, then, seek to prove that promise—“I will be like the dew to Israel” (Hosea 14:5) and so doing, you will get this other promise fulfilled—“The people will return and live beneath his shade. They will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hosea 14:7).

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe bearing fruit.

I have generally found that a man is not much better than he looks. If a man’s outward life is not right, I will not feel bound to believe that his inward life is acceptable to God. One person said in Rowland Hill’s time, “He is not exactly what I should like, but he has a good heart at bottom.” The shrewd old preacher replied, “When you go to market and buy fruit, and there are none but rotten apples on the top of the basket, you say to the market woman, ‘These are a very bad lot.’ Now, if the woman replied, ‘Yes, they are rather gone at top, but they are better as you go down,’ you would not be so silly as to believe her, but would say, ‘No, no, the lower we go, the worse they will be, for the best are always put on the top.’ ”

And so it is with men’s characters. If they cannot be decent, sober, and truthful in their daily life, their inner parts are more abominable still. The deeper you pry into their secrets the worse will be the report.

LEAD LIKE SPURGEON (IN YOUR HOME)

No matter how busy Spurgeon was, every day at 6 p.m., he was in his home, reading, praying, and singing with his wife and kids. He knew that daily family worship was indispensable for the faith of the next generation.As pastors, we are teaching the Bible to others day-in and day-out. But sometimes we can neglect to teach the Bible to our own children.To help you, I’ve created a series of simple family devotionals. God Centered Family will give you everything you need to teach your kids the Bible in just ten minutes each day.See a sample and subscribe today right here.

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)

“They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; for they did not love their lives to the point of death.” (Revelation 12:11)

Now, brethren, what is the testimony of the saints? It is a testimony concerning the blood of the Lamb. If ever we are to conquer Satan in the world, we must preach the atoning blood. Whenever the doctrine of the atonement has been obscured in the church in any measure, to that extent the power of the church has declined; but you shall find that whenever there is a clear declaration of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, then the church comes forth in her glory, and bruises the dragon’s head.

Dear brothers, if you want to deliver souls from the power of Satan, you must preach the sacrifice of Jesus and its power to remove sin. Does Satan cast about men the chains of drunkenness, or uncleanness, or self-righteousness, preach the blood of Jesus as the only way of salvation, let them see how sin was punished in him, and how ready the Lord is to forgive them, and they will arise and go unto their Father. Tell the sinner that God is able to put away his sin, because Jesus died, and, touched with repentance, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, you will find the sinner break loose from the seven-headed dominion of the devil.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the church’s witness.

The gospel is something like an illustrated paper. The preacher’s words are the letterpress, but the pictures are the living men and women who form our churches. And like when people take up such a newspaper, they very often do not read the letterpress, but they always look at the pictures—so in a church: Outsiders may not come to hear the preacher, but they always consider, observe, and criticize the lives of the members

RESOURCES 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).

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)

“Sing ye praises with understanding.” (Psalm 47:7 KJV)

Sing a teaching psalm. Sound doctrine praises God. Even under the economy of types and ceremonies, it is clear that the Lord had regard to the spirituality of worship, and would be praised thoughtfully, intelligently, and with deep appreciation of the reason for song. It is to be feared from the careless way in which some make a noise in singing, that they fancy any sound will do. On the other hand, from the great attention paid by some to the mere music, we feel sadly sure that the sense has no effect upon them. Is it not a sin to be tickling men’s ears with sounds when we profess to be adoring the Lord? What has a sensuous delight in organs, anthems, etc., to do with devotion? Do not men mistake physical effects for spiritual impulses? Do they not often offer to God strains far more calculated for human amusement than for divine acceptance? An understanding enlightened of the Holy Spirit is then and then only fully capable of offering worthy praise.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe desire for God.

It does one good to see a hungry man eat his food. To him even every bitter thing is sweet. He does not turn over his food and cut off every little bit of gristle, as some of you do because of your delicate appetites.

The true gospel hearer hearkens to the text, “Eat what is good, and let your soul take pleasure in rich food” (Isa 55:2). He does not play the critic and cavil at this expression and that. He is too sharp-set to be particular about the dishes and the carving.

We marvel sometimes at the capacity of hungry men. There is no end to it, and it is the same with spiritual as with natural hunger

RESOURCES FOR PASTORS

For Pastor Appreciation Month, Midwestern Seminary is giving away $10,000 to one pastor. $5,000 of that prize will be given to the church and $5,000 will be given to the pastor for a family vacation.

Click here to enter now (and discover more great resources and giveaways for Pastor Appreciation Month)

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)

All Christians really are our brother’s keeper. And there are some of us who are our brother’s keeper voluntarily, but yet most solemnly, by the office that we hold. We are ministers. O brother ministers, we are our brother’s keepers.

If the watchman warn them not they shall perish (Ezekiel 33:6). That is an awful sentence to me—“They shall perish.” The next is not so awful sometimes to my heart, but it is very dreadful—“I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood” (Ezekiel 33:6). You cannot enter the Christian ministry without standing where you will want almighty grace to keep you clear of the blood of souls.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe not being at home in this world.

Sometimes, when our friends go to Liverpool to sail for Canada or any other distant region, on the night before they sail they get into a very poor lodging. I think I hear one of them grumbling, “What a hard bed! What a small room! What a bad view!”

“Never mind,” says the other, “we are not going to live here. We are off tomorrow.”

Think in like manner, you children of poverty; this is not your rest. Put up with it, you are away tomorrow.

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,

Thanks for reading the newsletter this week.

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)

Although in many cases topical sermons are not only allowable, but very proper, those sermons which expound the exact words of the Holy Spirit are the most useful and the most agreeable to the major part of our congregations. They love to have the words themselves explained and expounded. The many are not always sufficiently capable of grasping the sense apart from the language—of gazing, so to speak, upon the truth disembodied; but when they hear the precise words reiterated again and again, and each expression dwelt upon after the manner of such preachers, they are more edified, and the truth fixes itself more firmly upon their memories. Let your matter, then, be copious, and let it grow out of the inspired word, as violets and primroses spring up naturally from the sod, or as the virgin honey drops from the comb.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the never-ending grace of Jesus.

There was a sailor, who, if I remember the story rightly, once called at Lubbock’s bank to cash his paycheck. I think he was to draw £50, so he said to the clerk, “I don’t like to be hard on anybody. Since you have to pay out all this money, I will take ten pounds now, and I will call again another day for some more, since I don’t want to break you up.” Of course, you may imagine how they smiled at the simplicity of the man who thought that he might break the bank by drawing out such an enormous sum of money as fifty pounds all at once!

You smile at the illustration, yet that is just exactly how many sinners treat the Lord Jesus Christ. They seem to think it is too much to expect to receive from him the full and free forgiveness of all their sins; they imagine that it is too much for Christ to give all at once. But they do not know that the Lord Jesus Christ has already pardoned enough sinners to make heaven as bright with redeemed spirits as the sky is with stars, and still that he has as much pardoning mercy left as ever he had. After you draw from a perennial fountain as much water as you need, it still springs up as copiously as ever. So is it with the living water that is stored up in Christ, and you may have it, poor thirsty soul, as much as you need.

THANKS FOR READING

Brothers,

Thanks for reading the newsletter this week.

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