"What a church should Be": Rev.Charles Hadden Spurgeon

[TrueFollowerOfChrist]

12 hours ago, Neighbor said:

Can't say that I was deeply aware of the overall ministry  of Billy Graham's organization during his lifetime; however I have been  to and stayed at the retreat at Asheville to attended Fernando Ortega's Christmas music ministry, and I was present at the Billy Graham Crusade rally at "the big sombrero" Tampa Buccaneers Stadium back in about 1984-ish ( ?) .

I had never "seen" the power of the Holy Spirit descending upon some estikmated 85,000 people all at once till that night. The presentation by Graham was very basic,  quick, simple.  He had been delayed in starting that night because he was in telephone conversation with the family of Johnny Cash who was suffering  near death illness right at that moment. He did come out and asked us to join in prayer for Cash and his family. I think he had decided to do an abbreviated message perhaps due to that  happening. Anyway it was a very simple presentation.

Then the Holy Spirit came on so powerfully that it interrupted his nearing conclusion of his message. People just started flowing forward. I was on the playing field at the time and we had to keep moving in closer and closer to the podium/stage   as the masses of people came forward  in repentence and seeking prayerful change in their life.

I was close enough right in front of the podium sitting on the playing field lawn to be about to see Grahams eyes  expand and his startled look, at all the movement and the quiet roar of motion, even the atmospheric pressure seemed to change. It was like something from a SI Fi movie, a deep swirl and even temperature change.

Graham quickly altered his finish and started control of the movement of the people sio that no one would be crushed in the moving  humanity. It was a most amazing evening!

 

Thanks for giving me memory of that time this morning.

That sounds awesome. I wish I could have seen that. Thanks for sharing that.

[Sower]

3 hours ago, TrueFollowerOfChrist said:

That sounds awesome. I wish I could have seen that. Thanks for sharing that.

I never attended anything so big as Spurgeon's or Graham's, but I have been to a tiny  one I won't forget.

Attending a funeral decades ago, My wife and I heard for the first time from the preacher that we needed to be saved, born again if we wanted to see heaven. That seed, light,  fell on good soil, and I got out my old catholic bible and found more light, and shortly received God's grace and forgiveness.

Finding a small baptist church later we began attending regular and were really filling up on the milk. My pastor ask me one day if I would like to go on a church visitation with him, and I ask what is a visitation. 'Get cleaned up and I'll pick you up'. We arrived at a home of a young mother who had visited our church.

After some coffee, the pastor began to explain the gospel and I slowly cut off the TV and kept the children quiet. And prayed for their mom. Three hours later, a child was born, a child of God. What took me thirty years to receive the truth she received the gospel and cried out to God's salvation mercy in three hours. Other than myself, I had never witnessed a lost person come to salvation before my eyes, and I had a tiny part of it! That experience was seared into my mind, and I will never forget it, realizing so many more lost out there walking around looking for something, and every believer has what they need, the truth, the light of the gospel, to share.

I can understand your desire to hear the preaching of those great evangelist, who spent their life sharing truth, that many would have opportunity to be set free. I would hope to have a stronger desire to share the good news myself, and be a better steward of the light God has blessed me with, passing it on by sowing seed to whosoever will. I was blessed to witness the birth of one of God's children early in my walk.

[farouk]

Spurgeon's warning about the neglect of doctrine in favour of supposed institutional unity was salutary.

He said that he would be happy to be eaten of dogs for the next fifty years (actually he survived barely 5 more years) but that the future would vindicate him.

When we by God's grace prayerfully crave a high view of Scripture and its precious doctrines, we can more easily see that Spurgeon was right.

[BibleStudent100]

On 3/13/2023 at 2:06 AM, Neighbor said:

Since I appreciate the lessons from Rev. Spurgeon

I see how Preacher C. H. Spurgeon is well respected here in this forum.  He was known for his thunderous preaching from the pulpit while describing in graphic details the hideous torments awaiting sinners.  Do we see much of this aspect of his preaching in the late 1800s used now days?

 

 

[Neighbor]

1 hour ago, BibleStudent100 said:

I see how Preacher C. H. Spurgeon is well respected here in this forum.  He was known for his thunderous preaching from the pulpit while describing in graphic details the hideous torments awaiting sinners.  Do we see much of this aspect of his preaching in the late 1800s used now days?

 

 

Hi, I don't know about hearing it "much", but  I have been led to  no less than three local church bodies that  do through the elder/pastor/teachers. My present pastor reads Spurgeon every week as part of his own preparation to share in an expository manner from the Bible verse by verse.

My previous Pastor did also, as we went verse by verse through the Bible. Fact in the  coffee shop at that church  there were Spurgeon T-shirts available.

Prior to that, the church I worked at for some long time also referenced Rev. Spurgeon, all twelve elders worth did. So yes I guess one can  "bump" into  that kind of teaching, if so led by the Holy Spirit, even today.

Just for further reference, each of those local bodies  are independent yet affiliated with other local bodies, yet not each other. One with Grace Church ( Pastor (John Mac Arthur)  another  Bidg 28 has a separate loose affiliation with a large group of independent but like minded churches  with a home base out of Atlanta, and the third is an independent body under the Calvary Chapel banner.

Though the worship is Holy Spirit filled and the teachers/ eders/ pastors devoted to Christ Jesus, it is not a man not even a Spurgeon that  any of us follow. We each crave the word of God, His mercy from everlasting to everlasting.

I was led early on  to a place where I learned what happens when individuals start to follow a man. That man tends to fall and then the sheep scatter. Our pastor of a large church with many fine ministries including  the Tuesday   night visitations to homes of individuals that had visited church that week decided to make a few "visitations" of another kind. He got arrested and that church failed- for it had been following this man's  marvelous manner of sharing the word and not the Word itself.

 

[Neighbor]

On 3/15/2023 at 12:46 AM, Sower said:

Other than myself, I had never witnessed a lost person come to salvation before my eyes, and I had a tiny part of it! That experience was seared into my mind, and I will never forget it, realizing so many more lost out there walking around looking for something, and every believer has what they need, the truth, the light of the gospel, to share.

It is awesome for sure!

You do bring back memories of old  for me to recall.

I had a church "friend" that needed a second person to go about Tuesday evenings visiting those people that had left cards indicating some interest in the "church" while visiting Sunday services. Several  individuals would go out in two's each Tuesday. So I joined kind of as the second nun was how I saw it then. He was the presenter I was  well the second nun. LOL. A witness.

We visited for two full years together and never had a person turnabout to Jesus in our presence. Had many a fine visit and introduced many to the church, but a non believer receive Holy Spirit's call? No.

Then my friend prayed a specific prayer one Tuesday night saying; we have visited for two years, we know it is not us that saves anyone, but could we see someone saved as  it is discouraging to never see it?

Our pastor had also shared that evening with us that we had lost our qualified bus driver for  one of the pusher 45 passenger buses that were used to pick up older members and to take small groups to various functions. 

Our first visitor card for that Tuesday evening selected by us turned out to be a man of about age 60,  a nonbeliever, and guess what? He was a long haul bus driver that had just retired.

Turned out he not only was ready to receive the gospel of Jesus, he was ready to do something active for his Lord too.  We shared the gospel of Jesus he  heard and heeded it right then. Plus he very soon loved driving the church bus around various days and evenings all over the three counties mostly taking old people to church activities. He felt he was led right to this one church for a single purpose a way to serve his creator.

My friend and  I never had another experience like that one, but it was more than enough to let us know in God's time, at God's good pleasure, not ours; for God has a plan. It will unfold for sure, and  some of it perhaps even before our eyes,- if we persevere.

[farouk]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

Hi, I don't know about hearing it "much", but  I have been led to  no less than three local church bodies that  do through the elder/pastor/teachers. My present pastor reads Spurgeon every week as part of his own preparation to share in an expository manner from the Bible verse by verse.

My previous Pastor did also, as we went verse by verse through the Bible. Fact in the  coffee shop at that church  there were Spurgeon T-shirts available.

Prior to that, the church I worked at for some long time also referenced Rev. Spurgeon, all twelve elders worth did. So yes I guess one can  "bump" into  that kind of teaching, if so led by the Holy Spirit, even today.

Just for further reference, each of those local bodies  are independent yet affiliated with other local bodies, yet not each other. One with Grace Church ( Pastor (John Mac Arthur)  another  Bidg 28 has a separate loose affiliation with a large group of independent but like minded churches  with a home base out of Atlanta, and the third is an independent body under the Calvary Chapel banner.

Though the worship is Holy Spirit filled and the teachers/ eders/ pastors devoted to Christ Jesus, it is not a man not even a Spurgeon that  any of us follow. We each crave the word of God, His mercy from everlasting to everlasting.

I was led early on  to a place where I learned what happens when individuals start to follow a man. That man tends to fall and then the sheep scatter. Our pastor of a large church with many fine ministries including  the Tuesday   night visitations to homes of individuals that had visited church that week decided to make a few "visitations" of another kind. He got arrested and that church failed- for it had been following this man's  marvelous manner of sharing the word and not the Word itself.

 

@Neighbor One of the many things that C H Spurgeon did was to make a real effort to encourage young preachers of the Word. Spurgeon himself was in his early 50s when he faced a lot of opposition among Baptists during the Downgrade Controversy - and he died at 57. But he understood that testimony in the future would depend so much on young preachers truly getting to grips with the Word of God.

This is yet another aspect of Spurgeon's example which is highly worth following today, in keeping with Paul's exhortations to Timothy.

[Neighbor]

43 minutes ago, farouk said:

One of the many things that C H Spurgeon did was to make a real effort to encourage young preachers of the Word

Yes, in one of his sermons ( I have forgotten it's title now) he encouraged his attendees/members to give up their tickets to seats in the church to neighbors friends  or others  and then go attend some other local church to give some encouragement to other  pastors that may be struggling to build up a local body of Christ Jesus.

[farouk]

13 hours ago, Sower said:

I never attended anything so big as Spurgeon's or Graham's, but I have been to a tiny  one I won't forget.

Attending a funeral decades ago, My wife and I heard for the first time from the preacher that we needed to be saved, born again if we wanted to see heaven. That seed, light,  fell on good soil, and I got out my old catholic bible and found more light, and shortly received God's grace and forgiveness.

Finding a small baptist church later we began attending regular and were really filling up on the milk. My pastor ask me one day if I would like to go on a church visitation with him, and I ask what is a visitation. 'Get cleaned up and I'll pick you up'. We arrived at a home of a young mother who had visited our church.

After some coffee, the pastor began to explain the gospel and I slowly cut off the TV and kept the children quiet. And prayed for their mom. Three hours later, a child was born, a child of God. What took me thirty years to receive the truth she received the gospel and cried out to God's salvation mercy in three hours. Other than myself, I had never witnessed a lost person come to salvation before my eyes, and I had a tiny part of it! That experience was seared into my mind, and I will never forget it, realizing so many more lost out there walking around looking for something, and every believer has what they need, the truth, the light of the gospel, to share.

I can understand your desire to hear the preaching of those great evangelist, who spent their life sharing truth, that many would have opportunity to be set free. I would hope to have a stronger desire to share the good news myself, and be a better steward of the light God has blessed me with, passing it on by sowing seed to whosoever will. I was blessed to witness the birth of one of God's children early in my walk.

It's indeed great when a personal interest is taken in people and that personal interest can pay spiritual dividends for years to come, in blessing.