An all-round ministry - Spurgeon - I - Chapter 1 commenced

Required reading
An all-round ministry by CH Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Chapter 1 (Faith) by reading to the end of the first point, (Wherein and upon what matters have we, as ministers, faith, or great need of it?).

My summary
Firstly, apologies about giving out an incorrect reading assignment for this week.  I said we'd read all of the chapter without having a look at the book.  The chapter is quite long so today we're covering only the first point of the chapter.

Spurgeon's first point in his chapter is to answer the question, 'Wherein and upon what matters have we, as ministers, faith, or great need of it?' 

Ministers are to have faith:
(i) in God;
(ii) in Christ;
(iii) in the Holy Spirit;
(iv) in the doctrines of the gospel;
(v) in the power of prayer;
(vi) in their own commission to preach the gospel;
(vii) that the Great Shepherd of the sheep will grant us an all-sufficiency with which to feed his people;
(viii) in an unseen agency;
(ix) in difficulties being overruled to promote success;
(x) in the gospel as God's power to save.

What grabbed me
Spurgeon made a good point about our infirmities in preaching: 'We believe in our infirmities, and even glory in them; we thank God that we are not so eloquent as we could wish to be, and have not all the abilities we might desire, because now we know that "the excellency of the power" shall "be of God, and not of us." Faith enables us so to rejoice in the Lord that our infirmities become platforms for the display of His grace.'

When people are helped despite my poor efforts at preaching, God's power is magnified!

Next week's reading
Conclude Chapter 1 (Faith).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.