A friend of mine at work graciously invited me to a Saturday night service at her church, but... well, I shouldn't really say anything bad about her church, since it seems to be doing good things in her life, but it's a little on the warm-and-fuzzy spiritual-but-not-religious side for my liking. Yes, it's wonderful to hear about how much God loves us, but I don't think you can truly preach salvation without forcing people to face some uncomfortable realities about themselves. And while I think that one can go so far into religiosity as to forget the spiritual core, sometimes it seems like "spiritual but not religious" equates with "I believe in God as long as it doesn't require any serious moral fortitude."
So far my solution has been to look up audio sermons online. Which kinda worked out for the best, because I ended up finding out about this guy:
He. Is. Amazing. I can think of few times in my recent past - if any - in which I felt so edified, so uplifted, so convicted as I do while listening to the sermons of the incomparable Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
You can listen to recitations of some of his sermons here. They're just readings of his original work, so it's not quite the same as the real thing, but the wonderful message is still there. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I have.
Dear Birdie-
ReplyDeleteGood evening! I am so glad you have found Brother Spurgeon and love him too :-) What a blessing he has been to me, I just found his sermons this January. We are not able to attend church regularly, and I understand how difficult that can be. My family went for many years without being able to find a godly fellowship. BUT - God always knows where His people are at, and when and where they need to meet. My best friend told me that once and I agree with her!! I think we should start some sort of online church community :-) How cool would that be? We could meet any day of the week- they are all holy before the Lord!
Keep the faith, dear one, keep up your hope and lean hard upon thy God, for He is able to bear our burdens and refresh us as we need it!
Praying for you,
Ann
Spurgeon is wonderful. My mother went through your situation when she was a nurse (although in God's providence he pulled her from full time employment in the military through a surgery accident, after which she discovered being a stay-at-home mom and was mostly able to do that from then on out). She always reported that it was a dry time for her. Thank God for things like online sermons to fill at least some of the void, I'm sure. Thanks for passing on the audio version.
ReplyDeleteDo you know of a church in your area that you would like to be a part of if you could? Perhaps the pastors/elders/deacons there could tell you of ways you could get involved when you are not working (although as a military brat with two retired Air Force parents I know military schedules can have you pretty much always working!). If you don't know of one, maybe a Founders Ministry-friendly or 9 Marks-affiliated church would provide the closest modern day analogue to Charles Spurgeon, as they tend to hold to the same Confession (London Baptist from 1689) that he did. The good folks over at the Puritan Board forum may also have some suggestions for you.
Hey.... I agree with Ann (what a shocker, huh? ;-}) We should start an online church and all join together to listen to Spurgeon's wonderful sermons, maybe have some kinda skype chain or something so we're all "together" and then we can have a potluck afterwards. Of course we'll all have to eat our own dinner contributions which won't be quite the same, but I think the idea has definite potential. :-D
ReplyDeleteAnn & Diane -
ReplyDeleteI am seriously loving this idea! Maybe I could look into some kind of private forum or chat to link to this blog. I'll definitely be thinking about this one!
Katie -
My husband and I agree that we prefer a more traditional, preach-from-the-Bible, slightly old-fashioned church setting; I was raised Presbyterian, and he Lutheran. Unfortunately, I have found exactly ONE Presbyterian church in my area, and their sign is in Korean. Hopefully I'll be able to move to Baltimore soon and we can find a church in the area there.
Did I mention how much I love the idea of an online worship service?
Birdie, I know of several great Presbyterian Church in America churches near Baltimore as I used to live in Maryland. I hope you will be there soon!
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