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World Changers-3 –Charles Spurgeon
“A good character is the best tombstone…Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” Charles Spurgeon
Charles was the son of a minister and the grandson of a minister. However it was his mother who impressed him the most when it came to his relationship with Jesus Christ.
Why is it that God used Spurgeon in such an awesome and huge way?
Spurgeon had a grasp on the Holiness of God. It is said that people would remain in their seats for hours after hearing Spurgeon preach, weeping over their own sin before a Holy God.
The fact that a holy God would reach out to people who were sinners and offer them forgiveness made Spurgeon believe that any person who heard that message would be a fool not to say yes to the grace of God.
3 things God used to make Spurgeon a World Changer.
DIVINE DISCONTENTMENT
SURVIVING CRITICISM
MULTIPLYING MINISTRY
1) DIVINE DISCONTENTMENT.
…I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on… Philippians 3:13-14a
What was he forgetting? The failures and the successes.
Never content with personal righteousness.
“Sin, whatever it might be to other people, became to me, an intolerable burden.” Charles Spurgeon
In the world today it seems that Christians want to see just how close we can walk toward sin without falling over the edge, there is no struggle like Spurgeon.
The word hypocrisy comes from the Greek ὑπόκρισις (hypokrisis), which means “play-acting”
God used Charles Spurgeon because he had a DIVINE DISCONTENT with sin.
No Denying – There is pleasure in sin – for a period of time – then reality hits.
Sin is like a Big Ole Messy Sneeze – It feels good coming out but then there is snot everywhere.
“Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior.” Charles Spurgeon
2) SURVIVING CRITICISM.
If you are not being persecuted for your faith then you should be worried. Because you have grown cold.
In a world filled with unbelievers when a person BOLDLY LIVES for Jesus Christ, people will make fun of you!
Criticized for:
Being too young
Undo familiarity with God
Standing against slavery
Preaching too much Jesus
Rejecting traditionalism
In order to change the world we are going to have to be able to survive criticism.
Matter of fact Paul tells us how to respond to it…
…When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.
1 Corinthians 4:12-13
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven… Matthew 5:10-11
“If the world abuses me I am a match for that, I begin to like it. It may fire all its big guns at me, [but] I will not return a solitary shot. [I’ll] just store them up and grow rich upon the old iron.” Charles Spurgeon
3) MULTIPLYING MINISTRY.
…anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12
At the age of 19, Spurgeon took the church with 80 people there and by the age of 22 the church had grown to several thousand.
They ended up building a 6000 seat church. At that point Spurgeon had the largest church in the world.
Ministry Faith Secrets:
Praying faith
Saving faith
Empowering faith
“Whosoever believeth in the name of Jesus Christ shall be saved. Sin is no barrier. Thy guilt is no obstacle. Whosoever believes, shall have every sin forgiven…shall have every iniquity blotted out, shall be saved in the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall stand in heaven safe and secure.” Charles Spurgeon
Is God Stirring In You To Be A World Changer?