Shepherding with Spurgeon

Weekly Newsletter for Pastors from SpurgeonBooks

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

We insist upon it, that there must be abundance of matter in sermons, and next, that this matter must be congruous to the text. The sermon should spring out of the text as a rule, and the more evidently it does so the better.

Some brothers are finished with their text as soon as they have read it. Having paid all due honor to that particular passage by announcing it, they feel no necessity to further to refer to it. They touch their hats, as it were, to that part of Scripture, and pass on to fresh fields and new pastures. Why do such men take a text at all? Why limit their own glorious liberty? Why make Scripture a horsing-block by which to mount upon their unbridled Pegasus? Surely the words of inspiration were never meant to be boothooks to help a Talkative to draw on his seven-leagued boots in which to leap from pole to pole.

A sermon comes with far greater power when it is plainly the very word of God—not a lecture about the Scripture.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION FROM SPURGEON

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

I heard a gentleman say yesterday that he could walk any number of miles when the scenery was good; but, he added, “When it is flat and uninteresting, how one tires!” What scenery it is through which the Christian man walks—the towering mountains of predestination, the great sea of providence, the mighty cliffs of divine promise, the green fields of divine grace, the river that makes glad the city of God—oh, what scenery surrounds the Christian, and what fresh discoveries he makes at every step!

The Bible is always a new book. If you want a novel, read your Bible; it is always new; there is not a stale page in the word of God; it is just as fresh as though the ink were not yet dry, but had flowed today from the pen of inspiration. There have been poets whose sayings startled all England when first their verses were thrown broadcast over the land, but nobody reads their writings now; yet the pages that were written by David and by Paul are glowing with the radiant glory which was upon them when long ago the Holy Spirit spoke through them.

SHEPHERD YOUR HOME

Spurgeon was extremely busy. He preached multiple times each week, served in leadership for more than 50 ministry organizations, managed a growing publishing empire, edited a magazine, all while pastoring a growing church.

But he always made time for the most important meeting of his day. It happened in his office at the same time — 6 p.m. — and it happened every night, without fail.

That was when he would gather his kids for family worship. Together, they would read the Bible, pray, and sing together.

Spurgeon made time for family prayer every day — not because he wasn’t busy, but because he knew how important it was.

No one can shepherd your kids for you. So read the Bible to them. And do it every day.

Of course, I know that shepherding your kids can feel overwhelming, even if you spend all day shepherding others. That’s why I created God Centered Family, a series of family devotionals for parents to use with kids of all ages.

These devotionals cover all of Scripture (read EVERY chapter) and show how they all point to Jesus.

If you’re ready to make family worship a consistent and fruitful activity in your home, let God Centered Family help you.

Learn more and subscribe here.

ONE MORE REMINDER: PREACH JESUS THIS WEEKEND

“A minister who can preach a sermon without addressing sinners does not know how to preach.” — Charles Spurgeon