November 15, 2016

Last Tuesday, the vote was clear: America is a divided nation. We are racially divided. We are spatially divided. We are divided between population centers and rural counties. Between coastal cities and fly-over states. We are divided between progressive and traditional, left and right, Baby Boomers and Millennials. Evangelicals are divided too. Some saw Trump as the lesser of two …

November 8, 2016

Charles Spurgeon awoke one morning during a general election to find his estate painted blue (the color of the Conservative Party, or the Tory Party). In his sermon that evening, Spurgeon said, “It is notorious that I am no Tory, so I shall not trouble to remove the paint; perhaps those who put it on will take …

November 3, 2016

D. L. Moody once said to hear Spurgeon preach was a blessing, but to hear Spurgeon pray was even more impressive (Autobiography 4:71). Praying like Spurgeon nourishes the soul, encourages the depressed, motivates the lazy, and ushers the humble before the throne of God. Spurgeon prevailed with God in prayer. “As I am sure that a certain amount of leverage …

October 27, 2016

In July 17, 1887 Augustus Strong and John D. Rockefeller visited Charles Spurgeon at his home in London. After two hours, the leading Baptist theologian and the wealthy U.S. tycoon uncovered the secret of Spurgeon’s ministry: “He seemed to be a man of prayer” (Crerar Douglas, Autobiography of Augustus Hopkins Strong, 300). Spurgeon’s prayers made you feel “the …

October 25, 2016

Even Superman had to fly above the clouds to escape the deafening screams of the people. Spurgeon sought his own space, too – his sacred space in France – away from the fog and smog that settled over his city. Absence from ministry was as essential for Spurgeon as presence in his pulpit. Yet even on the sunny shores …

October 20, 2016

David once said, “There is only a step between me and death” (1 Samuel 20:3). Charles Spurgeon almost took that step many times. His mother, Eliza, gave birth to sixteen children after Spurgeon was born. Half of them died. Diseases like the plague that shut down Spurgeon’s school in Newmarket could have easily killed the preacher before his ministry …

October 19, 2016

October 18, 2016

October 18, 2016

Spurgeon’s favorite book was The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. It’s the story of a man named Christian who woke up one morning to find a burden on his back. He reads in a book his city would be destroyed, so he sets out on a pilgrimage. The road is seldom smooth. He falls into a mud-pit of despond, …

October 13, 2016

Charles Spurgeon was riding in a carriage with his American friend William Hatcher. As they approached his orphanage, Spurgeon pointed out the window and said, “Yonder is my bank, where I get my money for taking care of my family of 500 children.” Hatcher looked but saw no bank. “There it is,” said Spurgeon, pointing to a plaque. The …