Shepherding with Spurgeon

Weekly Newsletter for Pastors from SpurgeonBooks

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

“Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.’” (Revelation 21:6)

John probably did not expect to hear that sweet gospel message just then. The Lord Jesus Christ was speaking of lofty themes, of worlds made new, and yet in the very middle of it all he puts this gracious promise. Let this be a pattern to all of you who are preachers or teachers; no matter what your subject may be, a gospel promise or invitation is always in place and in season. You may put it among the most golden sentences like a precious stone in a setting of pure gold, and it will never be out of order come when it may.

People hate God without the slightest reason for doing so and God loves men without the slightest reason; there was every reason for men to love God and not hate him, yet they have hated him without a cause; and there is every reason for God to hate man, and not love him, yet he loves him so much that he gave his only Son to die, that whoever believes in him may live forever.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION FROM SPURGEON

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

See if the dead can taste. Bring the most pungent drugs; do these arouse the palate? Give them a foul drink and see if nausea can be produced. Now, put sweets to the dead man’s tongue; do the eyes glisten? It is long since that corpse has fed; does it show any satisfaction in the presence of food? No, it is dead, and taste has fled with the once-sentient soul.

Truly, no man can taste Christ in his natural state, and if you or I know Christ to be precious, we may be sure that we are alive through the Holy Spirit.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

The book Spurgeon said every house should have (Yours, free!)*

“I wish that every house had in it a large-typed copy of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Well do I recollect, as a child, how many hours, how many days, I spent looking at the pictures in an old-fashioned Book of Martyrs, and wondering how the men of God suffered, as they did, so bravely.” — Spurgeon

If you haven’t read the Book of Martyrs, which tells the stories of Christians who gave everything for Christ from the early church to the Reformation, you need to put it on the top of your list.

My friends at The Voice of the Martyrs have put together a great updated adaptation of it with dozens of images, modernized English and testimonies of more recent martyrs. Their testimonies will inspire you to boldness and serve as a reminder that the same Spirit of Christ that strengthened Stephen, Peter and Paul is at work in you today.

If you join the VOM Church Leader Network (a free network for pastors), you can request a FREE copy of Foxe: The Voice of the Martyrs, 33 AD–Today. VOM will send you a beautiful hardback book.

The Church Leader Network is 100% free to join — sign up today.

ONE MORE REMINDER: PREACH JESUS THIS WEEKEND

“You do not really preach the gospel if you leave Christ out. If he is omitted, it is not the gospel.” — Charles Spurgeon