Tag Archives: Ministry

The Beginning of Mission

Posted on by under Lesslie Newbigin

Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact?

The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.

Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

HT: Of First Importance

Never Be Discouraged When You Are Opposed

Posted on by under Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Servants of Jesus Christ, never be discouraged when you are opposed, but when things run counter to your wishes, expect that the Lord has provided some better thing for you! He is driving you away from shallow waters and bringing you into deeper seas where your nets shall bring you larger draughts. Paul and Silas must go to prison because a chosen person (the jailer) was to be converted in the prison who could not otherwise be reached!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834 – 1892)

Encouragement for Pastors of Small Churches

Posted on by under John Brown

The following words were written by 19th century Scottish pastor John Brown to a friend who had recently taken responsibility to pastor a small congregation:

I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ at His judgment seat, you will think you have had enough.

HT: Sententia

Listening to God before We Speak for Him

Posted on by under A. W. Tozer

Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew well the power of silence. David said, I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. There is a tip here for God’s modern prophets. The heart seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed mouth before God and a silent heart are indispensable for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is qualified to speak who has not first listened. It might well be a wonderful revelation to some Christians if they were to get completely quiet for a short time, long enough, let us say, to get acquainted with their own souls, and to listen in the silence for the deep voice of the Eternal God. The experience, if repeated often enough, would do more to cure our ulcers than all the pills that ever rolled across a desk.

A. W. Tozer (1897 – 1963)

HT: Tozer Devotional