Encouraging Nugget from Spurgeon
Consider what C.H. Spurgeon, the great 19th Century British preacher–known as the “Prince of Preachers,” had to say about the power of God’s word in the preaching of the Gospel. I hope that those who do not frequent a pulpit with a sermon will understand that preaching the word of God is not always (and most certainly is usually not) done behind a pulpit. Most preaching is done in the home with your children, in the car with your spouse, at work with your coworkers, at the thanksgiving table with your extended family, and at the supermarket with the punk taking your money. Preaching the word is not always done from believer to non-believer, but also from believer to believer. I think that some non-pulpit preachers (a distinction must be made and yet we are all preachers to at least one degree or another) struggle with the power of God’s word more than some pulpit preachers. Some people think that the word of God is only powerful and effective if it is coming out of a certain man’s qualified voice. NO! The word of God is effective and powerful to save no matter what vocal chords are ringing its truth so long as it is done in the power of the Spirit.
I play a large part in the youth ministry at the church I pastor, and one of my utmost goals is to teach these youths (or if I were Joe Pesci in “My Cousin Vinny” I would call them ‘Youts’) that they are just as full of the Spirit as any man or woman with grey hair. Their preaching of the Gospel, even in their youth, is just as effective as John Piper’s or Martin Luther’s. In fact, I remind them, the same Spirit that indwelt the Apostle Peter, enabling him to preach that heart rending sermon in Acts 2, lives within you as well. Anyway, enough of me… here is some Spurgeon.
“Beloved, have genuine faith in the Word of God, and in its power to save. Do not go up into the pulpit preaching the truth and saying, ‘I hope some good will come of it;’ but confidently believe that it will not return void, bust must work the eternal purposes of God. Do not speak as if the gospel might have some power, or might have none. God sends you to be a miracle-worker, say to the spiritually lame, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,’ and men will rise up and walk; but if you say, ‘I hope, dear man, that Jesus Christ may be able to make you rise up and walk,’ your Lord will frown upon your dishonoring words. You have lowered Him, you have brought Him down to the level of your unbelief; and He cannot do many might works by you. Speak boldly; for if you speak by the Holy Spirit, you cannot speak in vain.”*
Do you believe that God can use you? As Spurgeon warns; do not ‘bring Him down to the level of your unbelief.’
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* Charles Spurgeon, An All Round Ministry (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1900), 343.
