The Soul Winner
I’m thoroughly enjoying working my way through Charles Spurgeon’s, The Soul Winner, a collection of six Pastor’s College lectures, four Sunday School and prayer meeting addresses, and four sermons, all concerning the topic of winning souls for Jesus. Though I’m only halfway through these 319 pages, I’m already putting this book in the “must read” category for pastors.
A few, excellent quotes that are sticking with me:
“Let sermons be full of Christ, from beginning to end crammed full of the gospel.”
“There ought to be enough of the gospel in every sermon to save a soul.”
“It is very sad when the failure of any ministry is caused by want of
heart. You [preachers] ought to have a great big heart, like the harbor
at Portsmouth or Plymouth, so that all the people in your congregation
could come and cast anchor in it, and feel that they were under the lee
of a great rock. Do you notice that men succeed in the ministry, and
win souls for Christ, just as in proportion as they are men with large
hearts?…You must love the people and mix with them, if you are to be
of service to them.”“The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else. Rely implicitly upon the old, old gospel. You need no other nets when you fish for men.”
“The preachers work is to throw sinners down into utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him alone who can help them.”
My favorite quote from the book:
“In order that you may impress the Word upon those to whom you preach, remember that it must be impressed upon yourself first.”
I love those quotes – thanks. So true that in ALL ministry (okay, life) we need to soak up living water from the source so that people get caught in the overflow!