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A snowstorm, an absent pastor, and a layman’s ten-minute sermon changed the course of church history. We follow Charles Spurgeon from that unlikely conversion moment—“Look to Christ”—to a lifetime of preaching that filled halls, stirred headlines, and anchored bruised hearts. What emerges is not a tale of polish and pedigree, but of a teenager seized by grace who kept pointing a restless world to a simple, seismic center: Jesus.

We share how Spurgeon’s early barn sermons swelled into crowds, how a skeptical London congregation became the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and how Susannah’s steady presence shaped the pulpit week after week. Along the way, we open the door to his study: the verse-hunting Saturdays, the sleep-sermon Susannah captured, the Monday edits that sent his words across oceans. We also linger on his pain—gout, rheumatism, long absences from the pulpit—and the engine behind his astonishing output. His answer to “two men’s work” wasn’t hustle; it was Colossians 1:29 dependence, a partnership with Christ’s energy that turned weakness into witness.

Spurgeon’s courage didn’t stop at comfort. He confronted slavery, pushed back on infant sprinkling, and ultimately sounded the Downgrade alarm when doctrinal clarity began to blur. The cost was sharp—censure and cheers at his exit—but the warning still reads like today’s news: guard the gospel, prize Scripture, resist the slow leak of conviction. And yet for all the fire, his voice remains most healing when speaking to the crushed in spirit: pour out your heart before God, empty the vessel, and look where hope lives. Acceptance isn’t found in the rise and fall of your feelings but in the Beloved who holds you fast.

If you need a clear center, a resilient joy, and a bracing reminder that ordinary faithfulness can move cities, you’re in the right place. Listen, share with a friend who could use courage, and if this story lifts your eyes, subscribe and leave a review so others can find their way to the same hope.

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Stephen's latest book, Legacies of Light, Volume 2, is our gift for your special donation to our ministry. Follow this link for information or to donate:

https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/legacies

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Storm, lashes, desertion, and a whispered prayer at the helm—John Newton’s life doesn’t just inspire hymns, it interrogates the heart. We follow his journey from a London boy taught Isaac Watts by a devoted mother to the “Great Blasphemer” hardened by cruelty at sea. A brutal court-martial and an ordeal on a West African island left him scarred and starving, only to be found by a rescue ship sent because a father would not stop searching. Then came the Greyhound’s storm, a first crack of repentance, and—after another fever—a clear-eyed conversion that named the cross as his own indictment and freedom.

The story refuses simple lines. As a new believer, Newton still captained slave ships, documenting insurrections, suicides, and the commerce that church and state endorsed. His conscience burned until a sudden seizure ended his sailing and opened a decade of study: Scripture by lamplight, Greek and Hebrew self-taught, and the thunder of George Whitefield shaping his theology. In Olney, Newton pastored with candor and compassion, partnering with poet William Cowper to craft hymns for prayer meetings. From those Thursdays emerged lyrics anchored in 1 Chronicles 17—David’s astonishment before God—distilled into Amazing Grace, a testimony of unearned mercy and steady hope.

London widened the circle. A young parliamentarian named William Wilberforce sought Newton in secret, not for policy talking points but for a way back to God. Newton shared the gospel and later lent his seafaring journals to abolition, turning lived darkness into legislative light. Near the end, blind and frail, he refused to fall silent: “I am a great sinner, and Jesus Christ is a great Savior.” That line, like his epitaph, frames a legacy bigger than a hymn: a witness that grace can confront complicity, comfort the broken, and convert even the fiercest rebel into a shepherd. Listen for the turning points, the tensions, and the mercy that writes new endings. If this story moved you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who needs courage today.

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Stephen's latest book, Legacies of Light, Volume 2, is our gift for your special donation to our ministry. Follow this link for information or to donate:

https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/legacies

Support the show

Share a comment

What if the moment that changes your life is a single line on a forgotten page? Hudson Taylor’s story begins with a teenage skeptic, a gospel tract, and one piercing phrase—“the finished work of Christ.” That realization doesn’t make life easier; it makes obedience possible. From that grounding, he learns to trust through delayed paychecks, slumside porridge meals, and a late-night choice to give away his last coin before any warm feeling arrives.

We walk through the crucible that formed his resilience: the discipline of praising before relief, the courage to see cultural offense and remove it, and the humility to lose donor approval in exchange for real rapport on the street. His choice to adopt Chinese dress and customs wasn’t theater—it was neighbor-love that opened doors, even as grief, disease, and riots pushed back. Along the way, friendships with Spurgeon and Müller provide just-in-time fuel, while Taylor’s own words sharpen our practice: rude people accomplish little; responsibility rests with God when we obey.

At the heart of this episode are five field-tested principles you can use today: improve the character of the work you already do, deepen piety with intentional effort, remove stones of stumbling if possible, oil the wheels where relationships stick, and supplement what is lacking instead of critiquing from the sidelines. We close by tracing the legacy—hundreds of outposts, schools, and a translation effort across 18 provinces—without losing sight of the source. The work that saves is finished, which frees us to attempt the tasks that look impossible, endure the ones that are difficult, and celebrate when, at last, they are done.

If this story stirred your courage, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs resilience today, and leave a review with the one principle you’ll practice this week.

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Stephen's latest book, Legacies of Light, Volume 2, is our gift for your special donation to our ministry. Follow this link for information or to donate:

https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/legacies

Support the show