An all-round ministry - Spurgeon - XVIII - Chapter 10 concluded

Required reading
An all-round ministry by CH Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Conclude Chapter 10 (The Evils of the Present Time, and Our Object, Necessities, and Encouragements).

My summary
As we finish Chapter 10 Spurgeon exhorts us to remember our one abiding object: to glorify God.

Then Spurgeon speaks of our urgent necessities:
(i) to be better men;
(ii) to get clearer views of what we believe;
(iii) to have more faith;
(iv) to more love souls;
(v) to have a more thorough spirit of self sacrifice.

Next it is recommended that you:
(i) go over the fundamental truths with your hearers very carefully;
(ii) labour distinctly for the immediate salvation of your hearers;
(iii) inculcate with all your might the practice of holiness;
(iv) be careful about the admission of members into the church;
(v) entirely separate from those who would be likely to injure your spiritual life;
(vi) bind yourselves more closely together.

Finally Spurgeon gives us some words of encouragement:
(i) the times are bad, but they have been bad before;
(ii) make the most of prayer.

What grabbed me
Good advice about the importance of careful church membership: 'Doubtless there are some in our ranks who ought not to be there. This is to their own hurt, to the dishonour of the Lord Jesus, and to the injury of the church itself. Unconverted member's lower the whole tone of the church....Oh, that we had a purer membership to work with! Do what we may, Judas will come in; but let us not invite him: let us not make it easy for a betrayer of Christ to be comfortable with us. To mix up the world with the church, is a crime; it brings with it an awful curse, and acts upon godliness as a blast and a mildew. Let the door of the church be opened to all sincere souls, but closed against all whose hearts are in the world. It is not even for the worldling's good that he should hold the form of godliness while he is a stranger to its power. As you love your Lord, and value men's souls guard well the entrance of the church.'

Letting unbelievers into membership hurts them and hurts the sheep.  Do all you can to keep the membership pure.

Next week's reading
Commence Chapter 11 (The Preacher's Power, and the Conditions of Obtaining It) by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'Follow me, my brethren, while I speak upon THE POWER THAT IS NEEDED WHEN WE ARE DELIVERING THE MESSAGES ITSELF.'

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