“I have known men tantalize us with the hope that they were drawing to a close, and then take a fresh lease two or three times; this is most unwise and unpleasant” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 62).
Lift Up Your Heads
In the first vision, God comforted His people. Though the outer appearance might not look like much, God remains in the midst of His saints. This vision continues the theme of comfort and encouragement, but adds information on how God fulfills His purposes. “Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns. …
Earthbound Prayer
“Beware of having an eye to the auditors; beware of becoming rhetorical to please the listeners. Prayer must not be transformed into ‘an oblique sermon.’ It is little short of blasphemy to make devotion an occasion for display. Fine prayers are generally very wicked prayers. In the presence of the Lord of hosts it ill …
The Church As a Cluster of Scrub Myrtle
The word that God brings to the people of Jerusalem through the prophet is a word of great comfort. But it is a comfort which requires faith to see and receive. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord …
Last Chance Seminary
“One brother I have encountered — one did I say? I have met ten, twenty, a hundred brethren, who have pleaded that they were sure, quite sure that they were called to the ministry — they were quite certain of it, because they had failed at everything else” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. …
Reflect and Remember
This portion of the Word of God came to us through Zechariah, son of Berechiah. For our purposes here, we will not assume any textual error in Matt. 23:35 where Jesus says that Zechariah, son of Berechaiah, was murdered between the temple and the altar. This had also happened to Zechariah, son of Jehoidah, in …
Can’t Teach and Won’t Learn
“Another exceedingly large class of men seek the pulpit they know not why. They cannot teach and will not learn, and yet must fain be ministers” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 36).
A Woman in the Garden
The narrative of the resurrection in this book is brief, but it is truly powerful. As we consider the appearances of the Lord, and His current enthronement, our prayer should be that we continue to spread the word. He is risen indeed. “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of …
Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing
“Certain good men appeal to me who are distinguished by enormous vehemence and zeal, and a conspicuous absence of brains; brethren who would talk for ever and ever upon nothing — who would stamp and thump the Bible, and get nothing out of it all; earnest, awfully earnest, mountains of labour of the most painful …
Minimum Prerequisites
“Still, a man must not consider that he is called to preach until he has proved that he can speak. God certainly has not created behemoth to fly; and should leviathan have a strong desire to ascend with the lark, it would evidently be an unwise aspiration, since he is not furnished with wings. If …