The PASSION Blog

I found this quote recently from Spurgeon and his thoughts on preaching a sermon without mentioning Christ…

“The best sermons are the sermons which are fullest of Christ. A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and crime in execution. If you leave out Christ, you have left the sun our of the day and the moon our of the night. You have left the waters out of the sea and the floods out of the river. You have left the harvest out of the year, the soul out of the body, you have left the joy out of heaven. A sermon without Christ! As well talk of a loaf of bread without without flour. How can it feed the soul? It is the sort of sermon that will make the devils in hell laugh, but make the angels of God weep”.

This comes from a man that preached over 40,000 sermons in his life. It certainly reminded me what the main theme of my next message should be!

I have been reading about some of the old time preachers lately. One person that I have a few books from in my bookshelf is Charles Spurgeon. This morning I thought I would find out a bit more about him.

Something I didn’t know was that he was saved in 1850 at the age of 15 when a snow storm forced him to take shelter in his local church. He said on that day “God opened his heart to the salvation message.”

One year later he preached his first sermon and with no formal education he was called to Pastor a small Baptist church at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. Just two years after that he was asked to take on the pastorate of London’s famed New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of being saved at the age of 15 and then being in charge of one of the biggest churches in town at the age of 20 is amazing!

One quote from Spurgeon shows me he understood the task of evangelism…

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies, and if they perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go there unwarned or unprayed for.”

Spurgeon really was an amazing man who brought many people to Christ. I pray that God will raise up modern day Spurgeon’s to continue His work.

One of my favourite Christian ministers of all time would have to be Billy Graham. I love that he has been in ministry for a long long time and I also love that he has done it with integrity.

Integrity has been one of the core issues for Billy Graham because when he started out there were a few questionable evangelists out there. Here are three things I really like about the way he has lived a life of integrity as an evangelist.

1. He has kept the main message the same - Billy has kept preaching the salvation message for more than 50 years. He knew what God had called him too and he has stuck with it. While he is involved in compassion ministry, the key focus is bringing people to Christ
2. He has a key accountability group - Billy regularly meets with three of his close friends to pray and talk with. They even created a paper to record the commitments they made. It was called the “Modesto Manifesto” and touched on areas of honesty, integrity, purity and humility.
3. Financial accountability in place - Billy set up local committees to oversee all the money that came in to fund the crusade events in a town. For each town the money went into a trust to pay for all the associated costs of the event. Once an event was completed each account was audited and signed off on to ensure all monies were spent correctly.

While no man is perfect and I am sure there are things he would do differently, Mr Graham has had a real commitment to ministering with integrity and he has done it for a very long time.

A quote from his biography “Just as I am” sums the man perfectly up for me. He said, “If I were ever to do anything dishonoring to Christ, I would rather He take me home to heaven before I did it”.

The Bible tells us that Satan is a worthy adversary and he roams around like a lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). However, in Job we see that he only has limited power.

In a conversation with God in chapters one and two, we see that Satan is allowed to test Job, but not take his life. This shows that while Satan is powerful, he is still subject and bound by God’s ultimate power.

I love the way Henrietta Mears describes Satan’s power in relation to God in her book “What the Bible is all about”. She says, “Satan has great power, but there are limits to it. Satan is mighty, but God is Almighty! He can only break through where God allows”.

As Christians it is great to know that we serve an Almighty God. Yes Satan is powerful, but God is ALL powerful!

When people talk about revivals or special outpourings of God’s Spirit in a place, it can be very exciting for some and others can be dead against it. Many are somewhere in between. While I love seeing the great signs, wonders and healings that often take place during a revival, something inside seeks more. I love to see people being spiritually revived and on fire for Jesus and I love to see them lead new people to Christ as a result of this new passion for Him.

When I think of a definition for revival, I can’t go past Charles Finney’s words from his book “How to experience Revival”. He says that revival is “a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility”. For me, Finney hit the nail on the head. The true fruit of revival is not so much signs and wonders, as great as they are, but a deeper commitment to Christ and His mission for us in this world.

I was just on Koorong’s website and I noticed Philip Jensen has brought out a new book called, “By God’s Word“. I haven’t actually read the book, but I thought the blurb was quite good. It made a lot of sense. Here it is…

“The Scriptures are the glasses by which we bring the world into focus. When we look through the glasses of Scripture, we see God and his world and his people and ourselves more clearly. There are some things, especially about God, that we would never see at all without the Scriptures. There are many things about the world, others and ourselves that we would see in a completely distorted fashion without the glasses. The word of God changes our perspective”.

I can say a big Amen to this. This is what I found when I began to read and study the Bible. My life started to make sense and I started to see myself and others more clearly. It also helped me to see the part I can play in God’s eternal plan.

How about you? Has the Bible helped you see life and yourself more clearly? If you haven’t read the Bible, you can access one online at BibleGateway.com

I picked up a book this morning I read a number of years ago and quite enjoyed. It is titled, “On being a servant of God” and is by Warren Wiersbe. I came across a great quote that sparked something in me. I thought I would share it.

“True servants of God help others whether they themselves get anything out of it or not. Their only concern is that God be glorified and people trust Christ”.

I was doing some research for a leadership essay I am writing at the moment. I came across this passage from an article by Gordon MacDonald. It touches on the number thing Christian leaders need to do to be successful. I agree with this 100%.

“The forming of the soul that it might be a dwelling place for God is the primary work of the Christian leader. This is not an add-on, an option, or a third-level priority. Without this core activity, one almost guarantees that he/she will not last in leadership for a life-time or that what work is accomplished will become less and less reflective of God’s honor and God’s purposes”.

To view the full article on LeadershipJournal.net you can visit this link