Shepherding with Spurgeon

Weekly Newsletter for Pastors from SpurgeonBooks

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 FROM 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.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

A resource worth its weight in gold for sermon prep.*

Spurgeon described preaching this way: “Ministers should study as if all depended on study, and preach knowing that all depends on the Holy Spirit.”

We must study HARD — knowing that we have to diligently study the Word with depth and precision.

A valuable resource for sermon prep is reading Spurgeon’s own sermons and expositions. Spurgeon’s insights will help you apply and illustrate the text of Scripture (and having preached more than 3,500 sermons, he’s probably covered whatever text is in front of you for Sunday.)

The original volumes of Spurgeon’s sermons haven’t been available for several decades, but now Joel Beeke and the great team at Reformation Heritage Books have been working hard to republish these books — facsimiles of the Pilgrim Publications edition of Spurgeon's sermons from 1855-1860.

The full set also includes an index volume to help you find Spurgeon sermons on particular texts (so that you can get the Prince of Preachers’ help every Sunday.)

This month only, you can get any of the sets for 64% off with code SPURGJULY. Don’t hesitate — add this to your pastoral library today.

Buy any Spurgeon Sermons set for 64% off with code SPURGJULY.

ONE MORE REMINDER: PREACH JESUS THIS WEEKEND

“Leave Christ out of the preaching and you shall do nothing.” — Charles Spurgeon