Spurgeon

I made the mistake of picking up a Spurgeon sermon called "The minister's self-watch" dealing with 1 Timothy 4:16 which says "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine." I don't understand why he had to preach in such a convicting way! In all reality, I long for the power in my preaching ministry that marked his. So I just thought I'd share a few quotes with anyone interested. It is a sermon that is well worth your time.

"It is true that the Lord, like Quintin Matsys in the story of the Antwerp well-cover, can work with the faultiest kind of instrumentality, as he does when he occasionally makes very foolish preaching to be useful in conversion; and he can even work without agents, as he does when he saves men without a preacher at all, applying the word directly by His Holy Spirit; but we cannot regard God's absolutely sovereign acts as a rule for our action. He may, in his own absoluteness, do as pleases Him best, but we must act as his plainer dispensations instruct us; and one of the facts which is clear enough is this, that the Lord usually adapts means to ends, from which the plain lesson is, that He shall be likely to accomplish most when we are in the best spiritual condition; or in other words, we shall usually do our Lord's work best when our gifts and graces are in good order, and we shall do worst when they are most out of trim."

"For the herald of the gospel to be spiritually out of order in his own proper person is, both to himself and to his work, a most serious calamity; and yet, my brethren, how easily is such an evil produced, and with what watchfulness must it be guarded against!"

"Moreover, when a preacher is poor in grace, any lasting good which may be the result of his ministry, will usually be feeble and utterly out of proportion with what might have been expected. Much sowing will be followed by little reaping; the interest upon the talents will be inappreciably small."

This is a great sermon! In it Spurgeon says some very challenging things that will likely convict any who is called to the ministry. The good thing is that the conviction is that gentle yet powerful nudging wrought by the Holy Spirit which causes God's people to seek Christ more closely.

God Bless

Careful, Dads

This week I'm preparing to deal with a text in Mark 6:14-29 which recounts the death of John the Baptist and the tragic life of Herod Antipas. I'm still early in my study but I've been thinking today about Herod Antipas' father Herod the Great. Herod the Great you'll remember was the king when Jesus was born. He was the one who was concerned enough at the birth of Jesus that he had all of the male babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding area under the age of two killed. We remember that an angel of the Lord had come to Joseph however and Jesus was in Egypt when this was happening.

Anyway, Herod the Great was a brutal character. Herod Antipas was also a brutal character. He fell in love with his brother's wife and got rid of his own so he could have her. This among other things shows that he followed right in his father's footsteps. Doesn't that seem to be the case with most men? It is a fearful thing that ungodly fathers more often than not produce ungodly sons.

There are some exceptions to this of course. I am reminded of Timothy who didn't have a believing father but was influenced by the faith of his mother and grandmother. How many times though have you heard a mother's heartbreak as her son who she's prayed for and poured her life into goes wayward. It is a sobering reminder of the influence that ungodly fathers have on their sons.

But the great news is that the opposite is true as well. When a daddy pursues the Lord, albeit poorly as we all do, God blesses those who follow behind him. This is what so much of my attention is being turned to these days. How can I pour my life and the Gospel into my children, and pour my life and the Gospel into men that can produce godly offspring. This is my calling. This is where I stand. This is where I believe the Church will see reformation!