The Legion Dispossessed Author: John Newton

1 Legion was my name, by nature
Satan rag'd within my breast;
Never misery was grater,
Never sinner more possess'd:
Mischievous to all around me,
To myself the greatest foe;
Thus I was when Jesus found me,
Fill'd with madness, sin, and woe.

2 Yet in this forlorn condition
When he came to set me free;
I reply'd to my physician,
"What have I to do with thee?"
But he would not be prevented,
Rescu'd me against my will;
Had he staid 'till I consented,
I had been a captive still.

3 "Satan, tho' thou fain would'st have it,
Know this soul is none of thine;
I have shed my blood to save it,
Now I challenge it for mine;
Tho' it long has thee resembled,
Henceforth it shall me obey;"
Thus he spoke, while Satan trembled,
Gnash'd his teeth, and fled away.

4 Thus my frantic soul he healed,
Bid my sins and sorrows cease;
"Take (said he) my pardon sealed,
I have sav'd thee, go in peace:
Rather take me, Lord to heaven,
Now thy love and grace I know;
Since thou hast my sins forgiven,
Why should I remain below.

5 "Love (he said) will sweeten labours,
Thou hast something yet to do:
Go and tell your friends and neighbours,
What my love has done for you:
Live to manifest my glory;
Wait for heav'n a little space:
Sinners, when they hear thy story,
Will repent and seek my face."
Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians, 1803

8 Ways to share what Christ has done

These practical instructions are just that: instructions. This is not a formula. It is a way of preparing your heart and organizing your life for gospel impact in the life of others.


1. Prepare to Share

Pray, read the Word, study, and get instruction with the intention of sharing it with another. We often read, study, and pray with ourselves in view. That’s appropriate of course, but if it stops there, we fall short of the mission of Christ. When you read, pray, and study with others in view you’ll begin to see how the truth connects with those around you. You can become prayerful for them and relate to them in a way that accords with truth and love.

2. Get Involved

Go to where the people are. Find a way to put yourself in the middle of the action. Volunteer, serve, practice hospitality, introduce yourself to the barista. There’s innumerable ways of making this step, so be intentional in the steps you decide to take. You can’t get involved in everything. But with those things that you are involved with, make it count.

3. Be Attentive

Look for and walk through the open doors God gives. Many times we don’t see the open doors, because we’re not paying attention. Many times we don’t walk through the open doors we see, because we’re afraid. When you are afraid to share Christ, you have yourself in view and not Christ. When your fear keeps you from sharing Christ with someone, you are more in love with yourself than the one who needs Christ. Repent, push through the awkwardness, and trust God.

4. Get Close

Evangelism and discipleship are most effective when it’s a personal relationship. Disciple making is a way of living, not a solitary practice. Share your life with someone else and show Christ to be the centerpiece. Break down your self-protecting barriers, and go deeper than you’re comfortable. Strive to be a person that is easy to get close to. Live the love of Christ before them–toward them.

5. Share Christ

You are to share Christ in words and deeds, and often deeds before words. Consider the best way to love the person that is before you, so that Christ may be known to and experienced by the person you are with. A question you might ask: how might the person before me need to hear and experience the love of Christ? A lot more should be said here, but this is a start.

6. Wait on the Lord

Be patient and persistent. We often approach sharing Christ with another with particular expectations. We think, often subconsciously, “If I do this, this should happen, and it should happen within this time frame.” When it doesn’t happen that way (and it usually doesn’t), we can get discouraged and give up. Remember, you’re the messenger and nothing more. Fruit will come in God’s time and God’s way. Keep the course. God is always at work, even and sometimes especially when you can’t see it.

7. Celebrate

When God works, celebrate it. If it’s a small open door with a neighbor or a good friend that comes to know Christ, celebrate the work of God in others. Make known what Christ is doing, and give him the glory for the way He is showing up in the life of others.

8. Repeat

Don’t stop. Go back and prepare some more, get a little more involved, heighten attentiveness, get closer still, share Christ more, keep waiting on God, and celebrate.

Who are you going to share Christ with this week?

"My Old Man"

My old man!




(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

"that you put off, concerning your former conduct,

the old man which is corrupt according to its deceitful

lusts" Ephesians 4:22

I plainly see that neither my old man nor my new man

can be mended. The one is too bad--the other too good.



There is no patching or painting the old man to advantage;

it will still be "corrupt, according to its deceitful lusts."



The new man needs neither patching nor painting, for it is

"created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephes. 4:24)



What is "born of the flesh is flesh"--and will act after its nature.

What is "born of the Spirit is spirit"--and will aspire to its source!

A Beeline to the Cross

Charles Spurgeon: From the sermon "Christ precious to believers"


The best sermon is that which is fullest of Christ. We never like to hear a sermon unless there is something of Christ in it.


A Welsh minister who was preaching last Sabbath at the chapel of my dear brother, Jonathan George, was saying, that Christ was the sum and substance of the gospel, and he broke out into this story:—

A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, "What do you think of my sermon?"

"A very poor sermon indeed," said he.

"A poor sermon?" said the young man, "it took me a long time to study it."

"Ay, no doubt of it." "Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?"

"Oh, yes," said the old preacher, "very good indeed."

"Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn't you think the metaphors were appropriate and the arguments conclusive?"

"Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon."

"Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?"

"Because," said he, "there was no Christ in it."

"Well," said the young man, "Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always, we must preach what is in the text."

So the old man said, "Don't you know young man that from every town, and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?"

"Yes," said the young man.

"Ah!" said the old divine "and so form every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ. And my dear brother, your business in when you get to a text, to say, 'Now what is the road to Christ?' and then preach a sermon, running along the road towards the great metropolis—Christ. And," said he, "I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savour of Christ in it."









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The Simple Gospel/Charles Spurgeon

When I was about fifteen or sixteen years of age, I wanted a Savior, and I heard the gospel preached by a poor man, who said in the name of Jesus—"Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." It was very plain English, and I understood it, and obeyed it and found rest.I owe all my happiness since then to the same plain doctrine.Now, suppose that I were to say, "I have read a great many books, and there are a great many people willing to hear me. I really could not preach such a commonplace gospel as I did at the first. I must put it in a sophisticated way, so that none but the elite can understand me."I should be—what should I be? I should be a fool, writ large.I should be worse than that, I should be a traitor to my God; for if I was saved by a simple gospel, then I am bound to preach that same simple gospel till I die, so that others too may be saved by it.When I cease to preach salvation by faith in Jesus put me into a lunatic asylum, for you may be sure that my mind is gone.

Charles Spurgeon

Good Friday summed up in one verse

“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

Spurgeon on Depression

From The Soul Winner (chapter 9, "The Cost of Being a Soul Winner")

Some years ago, I was the subject of fearful depression of spirit. Certain troublous events had happened to me; I was also unwell, and my heart sank within me. Out of the depths I was forced to cry unto the Lord. Just before I went away to Mentone for rest, I suffered greatly in body, but far more in soul, for my spirit was overwhelmed.Under this pressure, I preached a sermon from the words, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" I was as much qualified to preach from that text as ever I expect to be; indeed, I hope that few of my brethren could have entered so deeply into those heart-breaking words. I felt to the full of my measure the horror of a soul forsaken of God. Now, that was not a desirable experience. I tremble at the bare idea of passing again through that eclipse of soul; I pray that I may never suffer in that fashion again unless the same result should hang upon it.That night, after sermon, there came into the vestry a man who was as nearly insane as he could be to be out of an asylum. His eyes seemed ready to start from his head, and he said that he should utterly have despaired if he had not heard that discourse, which had made him feel that there was one man alive who understood his feeling, and could describe his experience. I talked with him, and tried to encourage him, and asked him to come again on the Monday night, when I should have a little more time to talk with him.I saw the brother again, and I told him that I thought he was a hopeful patient, and I was glad that the word had been so suited to his case. Apparently, he put aside the comfort which I presented for his acceptance, and yet I had the consciousness upon me that the precious truth which he had heard was at work upon his mind, and that the storm of his soul would soon subside into a deep calm.

Now hear the sequel. Last night, of all the times in the year, when, strange to say, I was preaching from the words, "The Almighty hath vexed my soul," after the service, in walked this self-same brother who had called on me five years before. This time, he looked as different as noonday from midnight, or as life from death. I said to him, "I am glad to see you, for I have often thought about you, and wondered whether you were brought into perfect peace." I told you that I went to Mentone, and my patient also went into the country, so that we had not met for five years.To my enquiries, this brother replied, "Yes, you said I was a hopeful patient, and I am sure you will be glad to know that I have walked in the sunlight from that day till now. Everything is changed and altered with me."Dear friends, as soon as I saw my poor despairing patient the first time, I blessed God that my fearful experience had prepared me to sympathize with him and guide him; but last night, when I saw him perfectly restored, my heart overflowed with gratitude to God for my former sorrowful feelings. I would go into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit: it is good for me to have been afflicted that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.Suppose that, by some painful operation, you could have your right arm made a little longer, I do not suppose you would care to undergo the operation; but if you foresaw that, by undergoing the pain, you would be enabled to reach and save drowning men who else would sink before your eyes, I think you would willingly bear the agony, and pay a heavy fee to the surgeon to be thus qualified for the rescue of your fellows.Reckon, then, that to acquire soul-winning power you will have to go through fire and water, through doubt and despair, through mental torment and soul distress. It will not, of course, be the same with you all, nor perhaps with any two of you, but according to the work allotted you, will be your preparation. You must go into the fire if you are to pull others out of it, and you will have to dive into the floods if you are to draw others out of the water. You cannot work a fire-escape without feeling the scorch of the conflagration, nor man a lifeboat without being covered with the waves. If Joseph is to preserve his brethren alive, he must himself go down into Egypt; if Moses is to lead the people through the wilderness, he must first himself spend forty years there with his flock. Payson truly said, "If anyone asks to be made a successful minister, he knows not what he asks; and it becomes him to consider whether he can drink deeply of Christ's bitter cup and be baptized with His baptism."And from the same book, chapter 14: often feel very grateful to God that I have undergone fearful depression of spirits. I know the borders of despair, and the horrible brink of that gulf of darkness into which my feet have almost gone; but hundreds of times I have been able to give a helpful grip to brethren and sisters who have come into that same condition, which grip I could never have given if I had not known their deep despondency.

So I believe that the darkest and most dreadful experience of a child of God will help him to be a fisher of men if he will but follow Christ.