I love listening to preachers.
It’s been this way for me since I began following Jesus seventeen years ago.
My dad (affectionally known to me as Papa) was the one who fanned this love for preaching into a roaring fire when he encouraged me to listen to a local radio station with back to back preachers.
From that moment forward I’ve loved listening to preachers preach.
Two of my favorite preachers are Charles Spurgeon and John Piper. And recently I listened to a message by John Piper on the life of Charles Spurgeon entitled “Charles Spurgeon: Preaching Through Adversity”. You can find it HERE.
It impacted me deeply.
Here are some quotes that stuck to my soul like glue.
“Depression is a black cloud that has become to me as a rough prophet heralding my Lord’s coming of larger blessing.” (Piper quoting Spurgeon)
“The sovereignty of God holding, controlling, designing the darkest of our days, corporately as a people, individually as a family, are Joseph-like days in the dungeon just before you become the king of Egypt. Or Artaxerxes days when the temple is shut down just before Darius not only revises the temple but says ‘I’ll pay for it’. If you believe Romans 8:28 and the sovereignty of God… then that will carry you through.” (Piper)
“Worse than losing control when tired is losing my picture or reality of the future.” (Piper)
“In the Lord’s hands, I may either be the cup for delivering sweet wine or the basin for washing filthy feet. Either way I must be be myself. For if I am not myself, I cannot be anybody else. And if I try to be someone other than who I am then I will be a nobody. Do not be a mere copyist, a borrower, a spoiler of other men’s notes. Say what God has said to me and say it in my own way and when it has been said, plead personally for the Lord’s blessing and his blood to be on it.” (Piper quoting Spurgeon)
“It’s not hard to second-guess myself. It’s hard when others begin to join in on second guessing me and I begin to lose any fixed point of reference because one crucial means of staying fixed on Christ as the center is staying connected to the community of Christ.” (Piper)
“By the grace of God I am what I am. If I don’t get to the point of being able to identify with that statement, I will leave and I will fail.” (Piper)
This message was heart-revealing, call-confirming and soul-encouraging for me. There has been much adversity in the ministry over the years. From friends struggling through deep sin patterns who desperately desire help to enemies whom I thought were friends who labored to bring me harm to struggles in marriage and family to short funding to lack of human resources to facing my own roots of sin to a rigorous appointment and counseling schedule to the ever ominous weekly sermon prep and delivery timeline…
The journey has been like a war zone… but the Lord is helping me to plan for rest and renewal in a place of trusting in Him.
Colossians 1:28 – 29 is my prayer today as I reflect on this sermon from two of my favorite preachers…
“Lord, help me to proclaim you. Give me wisdom and strength to warn and encourage everyone so that we might become mature in Christ. Help me to labor to this end and struggle with the energy that you powerfully work within me.”