Charles Spurgeon Quotes

A man must be himself convinced if he is to convince others. The prophet must be his own disciple, or he will make none. Enthusiasm is contagious: belief creates belief.

Prayer is not eloquence but earnestness.

He only can truly pray who is all aglow for holiness, for God, and for heaven.

I'd make a bad preacher.

People are drawn to preaching that is passionate and offered with conviction. Passion comes when the preacher has spent significant time with the text, and when God has spoken through the text in a way that addresses the preacher's life first.

The essential element in personal magnetism is a consuming sincerity - an overwhelming faith in the importance of the work one has to do.

I want to preach till the last breath in my lungs runs out.

The best sermon is preached by the minister who has a sermon to preach and not by the man who has to preach a sermon.

Jesus isn't a logo, I'm not promoting some company, some brand. I'm just professing my faith.

Gesturing with his body and head rather than with his arms, he grew very impassioned and seemed transfigured. Then the inspiration that possessed him took possession of his hearers also. His speaking went to the heart because it came from the heart. I have heard celebrated orators who could start thunders of applause without changing any man’s opinion. Mr. Lincoln’s eloquence was of the higher type, which produced conviction in others because of the conviction in others because of the conviction of the speaker himself.

Henry Clay's eloquence did not consist, as many fine specimens of eloquence do, of types and figures, of antitheses and elegant arrangements of words and sentences, but rather of that deeply earnest and impassioned tone and manner which can proceed only through conviction in the speaker of the justice and importance of his cause. This it is that truly touches the chords of sympathy; and those who heard Mr. Clay never failed to be moved by it, or ever after forgot the impression. All his [oratorical] efforts were made for practical effect. He never spoke merely to be heard.

An orator is a man who says what he thinks and feels what he says.

Enthusiasm is always an interesting spectacle. When it expresses itself with an honest and artless eloquence, it is difficult to listen to it and not, in some degree, to catch the flame.

You can often tell the difference between a singer that grows up in the church and one that just can sing. There's a connection to love and support and care. You feel good when you hear it. You feel the people have so much conviction in what they're singing. They believe it, so you believe it.

And in cases where profound conviction has been wrought, the eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly drunk with a certain belief. It agitates and tears him, and perhaps almost bereaves him of the power of articulation.

If preachers decide to preach about hope, let them preach out of what they themselves hope for.

To love God passionately is to love truth passionately.

Honesty is one part of eloquence. We persuade others by being in earnest ourselves.

I want to be remembered as a woman who represented God but was controversial, stood by what she believed and wouldn't allow other people's opinions of her to manipulate her directions. As someone who helped others, loved others deeply even if they tried to hurt her, was there for people when she could be, and ultimately made everything she did about God and not just about herself.

Christianity was never meant to be defined by its disciplines, but by its passions.

‎"Sincerity is the biggest part of selling anything -- including the Christian plan of salvation.

I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.

Faith to me it’s believe without seeing, it’s how you live your life, how you are authentic.

An old minister explained the smudges on his sermon outlines by saying they were caused by sweat and tears. And without those two marks, a sermon is not a sermon.

Any preacher who preaches beyond that which he has experienced is incapable of preaching with conviction.