On February 23, 1856, Charles H. Spurgeon found a spare moment to write to a friend about the remarkable revival that was happening under his preaching. He had been in London for less than two years, and in that short time, his popularity had grown such that no building could hold the thousands coming to hear him. England had not seen the likes of Spurgeon since the days of Wesley and Whitefield. “Everywhere, at all hours, places are crammed to the doors. The devil is wide awake, but so, too, is the Master.”

With this growing popularity, the invitations to preach were pouring in. Just that week, Spurgeon had already preached eleven times. His letter concluded with a list of the fourteen preaching engagements he had the following week, preaching two to three times a day (Autobiography, 2:101–2). He would maintain this preaching pace for the first fifteen years of his ministry, and even as poor health began to limit his activity, Spurgeon still regularly preached four times a week in his own church, and usually two or three more times in other venues.

How did he do it? Amid pastoring a growing church, preparing sermons for publication, mentoring pastoral students, caring for his family, and more, how did he find time to prepare so many sermons? For Spurgeon, an important key was learning to deliver his sermons extemporaneously.

What Is Extemporaneous Preaching?

Spurgeon once delivered a lecture to his students on extemporaneous speaking, summarizing his approach on sermon delivery (“The Faculty of Impromptu Speech” in Lectures to My Students). He divided extemporaneous speaking into two categories: “speech impromptu” and extemporaneous sermon delivery.

‘Speech Impromptu’

The first is what he called “speech impromptu,” that is, preaching “without special preparation, without notes or immediate forethought” (227). His general rule was that no ministry should be made up primarily of this kind of preaching. Quakers or Plymouth Brethren preachers had the distinctive practice of not preparing and simply waiting for the Spirit to provide them a sermon. But Spurgeon believed such sermons tended to be repetitive and often void of solid teaching. “Churches are not to be held together except by an instructive ministry; a mere filling up of time with oratory will not suffice” (227).

“The ability to speak clearly and compellingly without preparation can be a tremendous gift to the church.”

At the same time, many unforeseen opportunities to speak arise in ministry: A church member speaks divisively at a meeting, and you, as the pastor, need to respond. A public meeting goes off course with unhelpful comments, and you are burdened to “counteract the mischief, and lead the assembly into a more profitable line of thought” (234). At a funeral, you are unexpectedly invited to say a few words. In all these events, the ability to speak clearly and compellingly without preparation can be a tremendous gift to the church.

Extemporaneous Sermon Delivery

The second kind of speaking is extemporaneous sermon delivery, where “the words are extemporal, as I think they always should be, but the thoughts are the result of research and study” (230). This was Spurgeon’s preferred preaching method. Spurgeon’s prodigious study habits are evident in his library, much of which resides today at the Spurgeon Library in Kansas City, Missouri. These six thousand volumes (half of his original library) contain works of theology, biblical studies, preaching, church history, poetry, fiction, classics, and much more. They give ample evidence of his wide and thoughtful study. Of course, his most important study was in the Bible, and his many Bibles reveal not only discipline but also prayerful meditation.

Beyond his reading, Spurgeon was always on the lookout for illustrations, anecdotes, helpful sayings, and anything else that could be used in a sermon. From his observations on the train to the latest headline in the newspaper to a bird on his windowsill, everything around him provided fresh insight into the truths of God’s word, and he attentively stored them for future use.

Of course, Spurgeon also dedicated time to prepare sermons. Throughout the week, he was constantly jotting down potential sermon outlines (he called them “skeletons”) out of the overflow of his Bible study and meditation. He spent the most time on his Sunday-morning sermons, devoting his Saturday evenings to preparation. A few hours on Sunday afternoons were spent preparing his Sunday-evening sermons, which tended to complement the morning sermon. For Monday and Thursday-night meetings, Spurgeon usually preached a more devotional sermon based on the things he found himself meditating on that week.

Fruit of Vast Labor

Both forms of extemporaneous speaking require a significant amount of hard work and training. Spurgeon warned students who saw this ability as an excuse for laziness:

Did we hear a single heart whisper, “I wish I had it, for then I should have no need to study so arduously”? Ah! Then you must not have it, you are unworthy of the boon, and unfit to be trusted with it. If you seek this gift as a pillow for an idle head, you will be much mistaken; for the possession of this noble power will involve you in a vast amount of labor in order to increase and even to retain it. (233)

“Step into the pulpit with less reliance on your notes and more prayerful dependence on the Spirit.”

Far from enabling laziness, cultivating this skill will take more work than simply writing a manuscript. So why go through that work? Spurgeon believed extemporaneous delivery enables preachers to connect with their hearers far more than a read or memorized sermon ever could. Preaching extemporaneously enables the preacher to engage the hearer not only with his mouth but with his eyes and heart. This is why people in many other professions work at this skill. From politicians to freestyle rappers, they can develop an impressive ability to speak extemporaneously with eloquence and power.

So, why not the Christian preacher?

Growing in Extemporaneous Speaking

To be sure, extemporaneous speaking, and especially impromptu speaking, is a skill that not every preacher will be able to develop. But Spurgeon encouraged all his students to try. As an exercise, he would sometimes assign his students a topic for a speech on the spot. On one occasion, he called a student to speak on Zacchaeus. The student stood up and said, “Zacchaeus was little of stature; so am I. Zacchaeus was up a tree; so am I. Zacchaeus came down; so will I.” He sat back down to the applause of all his classmates and teacher (A Pictorial Biography of C.H. Spurgeon, 88). This student showed some potential!

What advice would Spurgeon have for developing this ability?

1. Study and prepare.

“You will not be able to extemporize good thinking unless you have been in the habit of thinking and feeding your mind with abundant and nourishing food” (236). Unless you have fed your mind with abundant study and have worked hard to meditate on what you have read, you will have little worthwhile to say. In one sense, extemporaneous preaching requires more work, not less, than written manuscript sermons, because rather than preparing a manuscript, the preacher must prepare himself.

For Spurgeon, one evidence of his study is that his sermons always had an outline, often with points and subpoints. Rather than just rambling through a text, he always organized his thoughts and prepared his sermon in a cohesive and clear structure.

2. Speak out of your own spiritual experience.

“Accustom yourselves to heavenly meditations, search the Scriptures, delight yourselves in the law of the Lord, and you need not fear to speak of things which you have tasted and handled of the good word of God” (236). Don’t feel the need to speak beyond what you have personally come to know. But insofar as the Spirit has revealed wonderful things in his word to you, speak out of your own experience and meditation. Share what has encouraged you and how you have applied these truths in your own life.

3. Select familiar topics.

This was Spurgeon’s practice, especially when it came to his Monday-night devotionals. “When standing up on such occasions, one’s mind makes a review, and inquires, ‘What subject has already taken up my thought during the day? What have I met with in my reading during the past week? What is most laid upon my heart at this hour? What is suggested by the hymns or the prayers?’” (238). Rather than working from a blank slate, speak on topics that have already occupied your thoughts or are suggested by your context.

4. Learn how language works.

Extemporaneous speakers don’t have the benefit of editing their sermons. So you must master the language from the beginning. “Like a workman he becomes familiar with his tools, and handles them as every day companions” (241). Spurgeon found it especially helpful to translate Latin classics, forcing him to understand how the English language works and how to use it effectively. Whatever you do, seek to master grammar, composition, and all those skills from your grade-school language class.

5. Practice in private.

Rather than waiting until you’re unexpectedly called upon, begin practicing in private, even if it means preaching to your chairs and bookshelves. Better yet, gather other aspiring preachers and practice with one another. Spurgeon would often speak out loud in his private study. “I find it very helpful to be able, in private devotion, to pray with my voice; reading aloud is more beneficial to me than the silent process; and when I am mentally working out a sermon, it is a relief to me to speak to myself as the thoughts flow forth” (242).

6. Cultivate dependence on the Spirit.

Public speaking can be terrifying, and even more so without a manuscript. How does the preacher not give way to fear and anxiety? Only by depending on God. “Everything depends upon your being cool and unflurried. Forebodings of failure, and fear of man, will ruin you. Go on, trusting in God, and all will be well” (243). This doesn’t mean we can count on the Spirit’s help if we’ve been lazy. But if we have studied, prepared, and prayed, then we can trust the Spirit to be with us as we seek to serve God’s people.

From Page to People

The aim here is not merely to develop a skill. Our task as preachers is more than simply to become skilled rhetoricians. Rather, the aim is to equip ourselves to best edify the church. So, whether you preach from a simple outline, a full manuscript, or somewhere in between, all of us can improve our delivery and our ability to connect better with our hearers. This is where Spurgeon’s challenge applies. Step into the pulpit with less reliance on your notes and more prayerful dependence on the Spirit. Work on speaking less from your manuscript and more from your heart. And keep your eyes less on the page and more on your people.

The best way to grow is by doing. Your first attempts may seem feeble, but who knows? God can use even your imperfect efforts to accomplish his powerful work. So, keep working at it. Look for opportunities to speak of Christ. Find other preachers to help you. And as Spurgeon told his students, “You must continually practice extemporizing, and if to gain suitable opportunities you should frequently speak the word in cottages, in the school-rooms of our hamlets, or to two or three by the wayside, your profiting shall be known unto all men” (247).

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Providence.

In the moments when God lifts the veil, we remember that everyday motherhood — the naps and snacks, the tears and tantrums, the triumphs and the training — all of it really is a decades-long rescue mission outside the gates of hell.

Because of that, we enter little moments with big prayers and eternal eyes. We rehearse favorite verses over our children as we scoop and snuggle them. We sing familiar choruses of praise as we change diapers, prepare meals, and perform nightly tuck-ins. We wipe glistening cheeks and gaze into little eyes, yearning for their hearts to be Christ’s and for their ways to be his ways. How could we rest under the weight of such eternal, soul-shaping work?

And that’s not to mention the lists of endless tasks that surround and beat against our minds (because children are not only souls but have bodies, minds, and emotions that require nourishment, care, and time). Children need love, homes require attention, and for every job that we complete, five more creep onto our plates.

In these ways, we relate to the Proverbs 31 woman who “rises while it is yet night” and whose “lamp does not go out” (Proverbs 31:15, 18). We’ve had days like hers. Another side of her is more elusive, though. Hidden beneath all her hard work is a deep and abiding rest. “She laughs at the time to come” (Proverbs 31:25) because she trusts the one who bears her burdens and enables her to labor and sacrifice like she does. She is a woman — a mother — who rests.

True Rest for Tired Moms

The fourth commandment — “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) — came not only to working men, but to mothering women. Moms wonder, “How do I rest with so much at stake? How do I rest with so much on my plate?” Rest, we know, is not ultimately found in a place, season, or circumstance, but in a person.

Christ ended our endless toil to justify ourselves before God when he declared to the unrested, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). Christ became the Sabbath for us. And we have entered into that rest through faith in his atoning work (Hebrews 4:3).

God rested after his creation work (Genesis 2:2–3), Christ rested after his salvation work (Hebrews 10:12), and Christ extends his rest to laboring moms who never judge that their jobs are done. “It is finished” (John 19:30) mercifully frees the hearts of weary moms who tend to trust the value of completing tasks or gospel missions over Christ’s finished work. He doesn’t need a mother’s laboring yoke to accomplish his purpose. She needs his to rest her weary heart.

Ways to Rest with a Family

Although we’re free in Christ to observe a formal Sabbath or not (Colossians 2:16–17), dads and moms who adopt intentional family discipleship rhythms may be looking for ways to make rest practical, possible, and Christ-centered for the whole family. Here are a few rhythms that have been a blessing in our home (and helped this mom find peace and rest in the midst of daily motherhood).

1. We Feast Together

In Acts 16, a Philippian jailer and his entire family hear the gospel, believe, are baptized, and together rejoice over their newfound rest in Christ (Acts 16:29–34). God’s providence found the family together through hymns sung in the darkness, an earthquake, and the ministry of Paul and Silas, so they received Jesus and rested together. Families who hear and rehearse the gospel together can experience realities like what happened in that jailer’s home.

“They have special claims upon us who gather around our table and our hearth,” pronounces Charles Spurgeon, for “God has not reversed the laws of nature, but he has sanctified them by rules of grace” (“Household Salvation”). God forms families and loves to bless the ministry that unfolds at dinner tables and in living rooms through quality time together. Our “feasting” rhythms — seeing and savoring Jesus together (Isaiah 55:1–2) — enable us to bring the word, worship, and prayer to the entire family.

Daily rhythms centered on gospel intentionality may include family devotions (and perhaps welcoming older children to join in early morning devotions), read-alouds or storytelling, modeling repentance and interceding for others, Scripture study and memorization, and worship tailored to different family styles and schedules. And through the gift of that more intentional, structured time together, the Spirit often brings the word to mind in the more spontaneous and unexpected moments of the day as we sit, walk, lie down, and rise (Deuteronomy 6:7). We “feast” to capture the heart of our journey home toward the fullness of Christ. And we feast together, as all who trust in him will one day.

2. We Play Together

When my kids commend Christ’s works to the next generation (Psalm 145:4), they may testify they experienced Jesus more when I splashed and snorted as a pretend pig in a mud pool than in my most creative or articulate presentations of the gospel.

A mom’s hands, as mine are far too often, may be busy at work but idle in play. But a mother “looks well to the ways of her household” when she understands children often know and are known through play — and “rise up and call her blessed” (Proverbs 31:27–28). Perhaps we learn more about our children’s hearts through five minutes of play than through fifty minutes of observation. It reminds us of our roles as shepherd-sheep who will stand not above our children but together with them before the King’s throne. If we want to usher them into the world to come, we need to be prepared to enter their present worlds now.

Legos, playgrounds, imaginative play, block towers, sports, and games filled with laughter invite our families into the heart of God, who delights in his people (Zephaniah 3:17) — enough to die to buy our rest. All children, including dads and moms, are freed to play because of what God has already accomplished for us. And as we play with them, our children’s humble delight in simple gifts unknowingly invites us to become like them.

3. We Rest Together

For us, “Family Fun Night” (or “Family Sabbath”) invites more excitement, joy, and special planning than most rhythms. The prophet Isaiah describes the Sabbath as a day of “delight in the Lord,” a time when God’s people “ride on the heights of the earth” (Isaiah 58:13–14). Christ invites us to consider a special rest that reminds us the best is yet to come — and this special, set-apart time will surprise families with restful joy now and a foretaste into heaven’s glorious rest to come.

Family rest fosters purposeful, distraction-free time together for everyone after another full week. In our family, we allow each family member to have a turn planning an evening with a special meal and activity (exploring parks, constructing obstacle courses, playing games, serving together, camping out, and so on). Godward elements woven into these times together remind young and old of our special place in God’s blood-bought family. Individual ownership in planning enables each family member to voice, “Rest has come for me.” And collective enjoyment enables us to proclaim, “Rest will come for us together in Christ. Let’s delight together.”

Rest Never Runs Dry

Even when life’s demands derail our attempts to cultivate rest, Christ still delivers rest. During his earthly ministry, Jesus encouraged the exhausted disciples, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Weary, famished, and overrun, the disciples gladly accepted the invitation — only to find more hunger and chaos. They sought the rest Jesus offered but instead received the impossible command to feed thousands (Mark 6:32–37).

So, did they forfeit rest to feed the crowd? No, Jesus surprised them with a different kind of rest. With five loaves, two fish, and the miraculous hand of God, the disciples fed the whole crowd and had twelve full baskets of food left over (Mark 6:38–43) — one for each disciple. John Piper summarizes the message in those baskets: “When you give everything you have away, you’ll be taken care of.”

The promise of Sabbath holds out more than a break from mothering. It tethers moms to our ongoing need for grace and strength as we lay our lives down for our families. And there’s always enough. Like the woman who gave up her bread for Elijah and never ran out, a mother never exhausts the Bread of Life as she enters into his rest and labors out of it. She never runs out of Christ.

And one day soon, mothers, we will feast on the perfect, unhindered goodness of our God. We will play alongside all children of the King. We will rest, knowing our toil has ended. The unending day is coming soon. Until then, we can take heart. Rest has already arrived.