I'm taking a little poetic license here in relating this very true story. The church was small to begin with....as was the denomination....and the man entering the pulpit was only a layman....and unlearned in public speaking. Charles Spurgeon would later use the word 'stupid' in describing him. Now that word was not used back in 1850 England as it is today....but more a gentler description of slow of mind....dull or dim.
               There was a snowstorm that Lord's Day morning....'Lord's Day' being another term used differently today....in fact it is hardly even ever used today. When was the last time that you heard a brother of sister in Christ use it?
                The pastor of that small church could not make it to the worship service. There was no texting or telephones....so the fact that the pastor could not make it must have been evident simply because he was not there. The service may have thus started late. 
                 That humble a man....a shoemaker by trade....was forced to take the pulpit....a difficult task even if he was prepared to give a message....which he wasn't.
                 God had timed everything perfectly....as He always does....and the fifteen year old boy came in from the snowstorm and took a seat at the rear of the depleted congregation.
                 The shoemaker layman....now the preacher....hastily chose Isaiah 45:22 to speak on...."Look unto me, and be saved."
                  Spurgeon later said that it was as if the preacher was speaking directly to him...and that may have been the case...as any new visitor....especially in a snowstorm....would have stood out among the common people in the congregation.
                  Young Charles Spurgeon's heart had already been regenerated when he walked into that church. He was able....possibly for the first time.....even though he was from a family of pastors....able to spiritually hear what God's Word was saying. It was the beginning of his conversion....the beginning of the greatest preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ in that day....and even up to today.
                  What happened to that unlearned shoemaker/temporary preacher? He probably went home that day and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for the ability to fight the nerves and enter the pulpit when called upon....and he probably prayed for that young boy who stumbled in from the snow.
                   Did Spurgeon ever go back to that church after he became a world famous preacher? I'm certain that he would have....for even I go back every few years to the now empty storefront in a dilapidated strip mall....and look on....and even touch....the door handles of the Christian bookstore that I stumbled into....forty-three years ago....just to think back....and to thank God for His extreme mercies on one such as I.
                    That humble man who took the pulpit may have never known of the fruit of his faithfulness that day. He may have never known that his....possibly one and only sermon....was used by God to bless the entire world?

                     This post came to my mind after hearing the latest offering by Greg Morse....of John Piper's....Desiring God Ministries....as he read his own article titled...."You May Not See The Fruit Of Your Ministry." Please go to....desiringgod.org....and listen to this wonderful twelve minute message....and while you are at it....the link below is an absolutely wonderful 70 minute docudrama on the life of Charles Spurgeon....and it includes the story in this post,