This weekend has gone so quickly. It seems incredible. We're coming to the final meeting of the missionary weekend. But here we are, believing that God has worked in our hearts and spoken to us, and we thank Him for that. Our opening praise tonight is 678. We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves. Spread the tidings all around, Jesus saves. Bear the news to every land. Climb the steeps and cross the waves. Onward is our Lord's command, Jesus saves. Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Jesus saves! the islands of the sea, and provide the ocean breeze. Worship Him, worship the King, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing along with a loudest cry, Jesus saves, Jesus saves! While his death and endless life, Jesus saves, Jesus saves! Sing we softly through the moon, when in the heart our mercy reigns. Sing in triumph o'er the tomb, Jesus saved, Jesus saved. In the wings a mighty voice, Jesus saved, Jesus saved. Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Church salvation full and free! Highest hills and deepest caves! This our song of victory! Jesus saves! Jesus saves! We enjoy to have our two Romanian pastors with us this weekend, Pastor Emanuel and Pastor Bebi. And we're going to do something a little bit different as we come to the opening prayer. We're going to ask Pastor Bebi to pray, but with translation, with interpretation, so that we have proper understanding tonight in prayer. So we'll ask our brethren to come and lead us to the throne of Greece. Father, our Father who art in heaven, I thank you for these wonderful days that we were able to spend here with your Church. Tonight we ask for your blessing over your Church and over your servants. Lord, please bless the preacher that you will use tonight to share the word. And to all of us, give us the ears and the proper hearts to listen to your word and to obey it. We ask for your blessing over the ministries in Uganda and all the other places where this church is involved, and we ask that you will use them for your glory. Please do your work tonight and give us your blessing. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. We have a greeting from our brother, Lucci, and he's just going to talk to you tonight for a couple of minutes on DVD. So we'll play this just now. Thank you. Second Corinthians chapter two, verse 14 says, Now thanks be unto God, which always caused us to triumph in Christ. and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. Dear brothers and sisters from Northern Ireland, it was a blessing for me personally, for us as a family, for us as part of Christ's Church in Romania to be able to see you manifest the savour of Christ's knowledge in our land this past year. Whether it was by feeding the hungry or clothing the naked in Moldovanola, or in the area of Buzão, visiting the imprisoned in Buziach, the poor children in Rekash, or the girls of the Deborah House, encouraging the believers, and, most importantly, sharing the Gospel wherever you went. As humble servants of the Lord, I know you feel this was just a little something that you did for Him. But, as the song truly says, little is much when God is in it, because He blesses and He multiplies. Thanks be unto God. May he richly bless you and keep you and may he continue to work in you and through you. We pray that you'll have an encouraging and fruitful missionary weekend. Amen. Thank you for taking the time and sending that greeting to us. What a joy it's been to serve the Lord in the schools last year. And we brought a DVD presentation about that on Friday night. We're so glad that our brother Greg Gibson is with us tonight. And Greg has been a vital part of that ministry, coming alongside and giving invaluable help. And he's just going to come and talk from his heart about what it's meant to him. Thank you, Greg. And immediately after Greg, our Hebrew Enquirer is going to sing. Thank you. Well, it's lovely to be here tonight and to give this report. I want to thank the Reverend Park. Just the opportunity to come to speak to the congregation just for a couple of minutes. I just want to read one verse of scripture. It's a very familiar verse. It's Mark chapter 6 and verse 34. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were a sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. It was roughly a year ago that I began helping out here in Ballymunny as the home mission. And really, that role, for anybody who doesn't know, involves a number of different things. There's the visitation of the shut-ins and the elderly of the congregation. There's door-to-door evangelism. giving out of literature and invitations for special services here within the church. And there is, of course, then that aspect of the school's ministry. And regarding the school's ministry, which I want to speak about tonight, there were some opportunities and context made. But because of COVID, like so many other things, things got very restricted very quickly. But in January last year, things opened up again really for that, and Andrew Park, of course, who's a member of the church here, he runs Youth Challenge on a Tuesday night, he asked would I be willing to go out to the local schools and to give out invitations for the Youth Challenge meetings on Tuesday, and so the Reverend Park and I did that, and while we were out around the local schools we also inquired then whether or not they would be willing to have us in to take some school assemblies, Scripture Union, other after school clubs as well. And really, for me, the response was very encouraging. It was very positive because at that time, I think it was three of the local schools gave us some bookings for some school assemblies. And I was greatly encouraged by that. There were other schools who said they would get back to us. But for whatever reason, at that point in time, they didn't get back to us. And that really brings me then, I can fast forward a little bit, up to September of last year, out visiting some of the good folk here in Hebron on visitation. And I'm just passing one of the schools on my way and I thought to myself, you know what, I haven't heard back from that school yet. I'm going to pop in, I'm just going to remind them. that were still willing to come in and to offer assemblies and really looking back the timing couldn't have been any better because as soon as I walked into that principal's office she actually had her diary open and she was trying to fill up the roda for the year for the various different assemblies and there was one date on a Wednesday every month that she was finding it very difficult to get someone to fill in for. She'd tried so many people, and she said to me it was proving impossible. And I'd come in at the right time. And I remember taking those bookings, ringing the Reverend Park, of course so encouraged that we'd got some more opportunities. And we seen it as a sign from the Lord. We thought, you know, we're going to try those other schools today. We're going to just strike while the iron's hot, so to speak, if we can use that expression. And we rang up the schools, both of us. I went in as well. Mr. Park visited some of the schools that day. And every school that we got in contact with started giving us more and more dates. And I think it was within a day or two, we had something like 70 assemblies in 15 of the schools. And as amazing as that is and was at the time, for me, reality started to kick in because I began to panic a little bit. I just started out my assistantship in the Martyrs' Memorial. I'm still in Bible college. I'm in my last year, of course. Still have to study, still have to do all of those things. And this is going to make everything busier, but I maybe said to the Reverend Parker, but I didn't really share my feelings that much. But I don't know if it was the look on my face or not, but he got in contact with Christina Logan. And she was more than happy to come alongside and to give that support. And I, of course, was happy as well. In terms of the schools themselves, there's really a range of schools. We have primary schools, mostly, we have a few secondary schools. And some of those schools, they have a real strong Christian ethos. But there are also some schools that are integrated. And for me personally, that was real encouragement that they were willing for us to come in and we were acceptable to them. I hadn't really much experience, very little experience in school assemblies, in children's work before starting in the Home Mission. But I'll never forget one of the first encounters that I had in one of my very first assemblies because I was in a school and I was given the lesson, the topic the Lord led in my heart, and I just threw out the question to the children. I asked them, can anybody tell me what sin is? I mean, that's a question we often ask to children. And you get the usual responses, and they're not wrong, but sin is whenever I lie to my parents or whenever I steal something. But a little boy about five years of age, when I asked the question, he immediately put the hand up and he said this to me. He said, sin is when we break God's law. And I was just blown away by that. Here we have a little five-year-old boy and yet able to give such a clear and definite answer about what sin was. Biggest encouragement for me in the past year has, of course, been the school's carol service. If you were here on Friday night, you'll have seen the video that the Reverend Park put together. You can watch it back as well if you haven't. But on that occasion, December, just last month, I think it was seven of the local schools came in. This church was filled with children. And Mr. Park had an opportunity to present a clear gospel message to the children and to the parents. And if you were here that day, if you were helping out, like me, we were talking about it. The most encouraging thing for me personally was going out and looking out through the front doors, and there were children coming from everywhere. Buses pulled up. There were streams and rows of children coming up the street, and they were all coming to church. They were all coming into this building. And I just thought to myself, how amazing would that be if that was the norm? Every time we had a service here, there were so many children, parents in this area, coming in to hear the message of the gospel. And again, on that video as well, we talked about the opportunity for a local school to come and to take their assembly here, the final assembly of the year. And again, it was another good opportunity, not only for the children to hear the gospel as Christina spoke to them, but also many of the parents. Because the last day of term, it was a half day, and many of the parents stayed as well to pick up their children afterwards. And really, that's what we're looking at as well, isn't it? Yes, the children to come in, but also their parents as well, and to hear words by where they might be saved. And for me personally, it's been so encouraging, because you see everything that's happening around us. You have the legislation coming in with RSC. You have things being forced upon our children, which are contrary to the word of God. And really, in a time when, humanly speaking, you think about it, what might appear more difficult than ever, to reach these children with the message of the gospel, and yet the Lord has opened up a door. He's opened up a door in a greater way than has ever been experienced for this church in Ballymoney in the Reverend Park's time, as we are speaking about that. And tonight, I really just want to give God the glory for that. Nothing to do with me. It's nothing to do with Reverend Parker, Christina, or anybody else who's helped out with those assemblies. And yes, of course, we have went and we've done those assemblies physically. But it's the Lord who's opened the doors. It's the Lord who's given the opportunities, and he's made those schools receptive to us and to the message that we seek to bring. And none of that could have happened if the Lord hadn't ordained it. And so tonight, he does deserve all the glory for that. Finish this report tonight just by simply asking you to continue to pray. Thankfully, this is a church that does pray. And I ask you to continue to pray for that ministry, every opportunity that we have this year in 2024, that it might be another opportunity to share the gospel with those children. Ultimately, we want to pray that many children would come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and through what we would say, that they'd come and put their trust in the Savior. Pray also that other schools might be interested. had the opportunity next month to go into a new school, haven't been to this school before. And it's because of a young person here who goes to that school, they remain anonymous, but they mentioned that we do assemblies. And because of that, we had the opportunity to go in to take a Christian union. And now for young people tonight, I just want to challenge you. to speak to your schools, if there is these opportunities, to tell them about us, and even just to do your little bit for the Lord. You see, we all have a part to play in this ministry, whether it is simply by praying, Whether it's coming and cooking hot dogs for 400 children, I'm sure those who did that don't want to look at hot dogs for a while now, but we all have a part to play, really, in fulfilling the great commission that we have heard so much about this weekend through, in this national weekend, to go into the world and to preach the gospel to every creature. Because there are many people in this city, or in this town, of Ballymoney, and they're on their way to hell because of their sin. May it never be said that anybody here in this church, or connected to this church, that we didn't do something about that. That we didn't do our best to try to reach this town with the message of the gospel. What is that message? The message simply is the words of Paul to Timothy, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If you're not saved tonight, I simply would even leave those words with you. that you'd come and put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'd ask him into your heart tonight. So thank you for listening, and continue to pray, and thanks again just for the opportunity to come to speak to you. Let the choir come forward. And as you do so, can I thank Greg for that report. Can I thank him for the encouragement that he's been to us as we have sought to do this ministry. One of the sad things that actually happened with the school's ministry, or what we heard about, was that a large school, the principal said to me just recently that this church at Hebron is the only church that has taken an interest in them. And she had written out to every other school or every other preacher in the town. And nobody else seemed to want to come in. This is an opportunity. God has opened the doors. And you pray that God will bless in the coming months and years, God willing. Now the Hebron Choir. Thank you. you. Every day they pass me by I can see it in their eyes Empty people filled with care Headed who knows where On they go through private pain ♪ Living fear to fear ♪ Laughter hides their silent cries ♪ Only Jesus hears ♪ We believe the Lord ♪ We believe the Lord At the end of broken dreams is the open door. If only the Lord, if only the Lord, When will we realize that we are made the Lord? We are called to be his light, to a world where wrong seems right. What could be so great a cost for sharing life with one who's lost? Through his love our hearts can feel all the grief they bear. They must hear the words of life Only we can share People need the Lord People need the Lord At the end of broken dreams He's the open door people need the lord people need the lord when will we realize that people need the lord people need the lord people need the lord At the end of broken dreams is the open door. If only the Lord, if only the Lord, when will we realize that we must give our lives for people need the Lord. When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal, bright, and fair, when the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. You can look for me, for I'll be there. I'll be there. I'll be there. You can look for me, for I'll be there, singing glory to His name. Glory to His name. Singing glory to His name. ♪ There to my heart was a blood applied ♪ ♪ Glory to his name ♪ ♪ Precious name, precious name ♪ ♪ Oh, how sweet, oh, how sweet ♪ ♪ Hope of earth and joy of heaven, joy of heaven ♪ ♪ Precious name, precious name ♪ ♪ Oh, how sweet, oh, how sweet ♪ ♪ Of the life and joy of heaven ♪ Let us labour for the Master from the dawn till setting sun. Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care. Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done, and the role is called up yonder, I'll be there. ♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ I'll be there ♪ ♪ Hope of earth and joy of heaven ♪ ♪ Glory to his name ♪ ♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ Thank you very much to the choir for ministering in song. We always enjoy your ministry, and may God take those messages and write them upon our hearts. People need the Lord in every land and every nation, and that is the great task of the church to get the gospel out to the nations of the world. We have a special interest in many countries, and one of the countries particularly, of course, is the land of Romania, and we've heard a little bit about that over the weekend. Our youth fellowship leader and a member of our most recent BBS team is here tonight, Samuel Johnston, and we're going to ask Samuel just to bring a report about what we did last year during the summer. Good evening. I'm out of breath after singing that last piece. But you've heard a couple of reports already about Romania. Pastor Emanuel on Friday night and then Lucia was speaking already tonight on the video about the blessing it was for them to receive a group coming from our church. Tonight I want to just explain a wee bit about the blessings of such a trip for us whenever we go there and I suppose also to help explain why we organise such trips and why we encourage our young people and older people to participate in such groups. Undoubtedly there's life skills to be learned from travelling, from meeting those of different languages, from eating different food, from seeing different ways of life. But that's not the reason that we go on such trips. Why do we do it? Well, I suppose most importantly that it's a response to the great commission of our Savior to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And a true New Testament living church is going to be one that doesn't just have a vision for its own doorstep, it's going to have a vision for the world. And that's our main reason for going. But there are blessings that we received from going on such trips. And I'm just going to bring in a very quick tour of what we did tonight. And I want to mention just some of the lessons that we maybe learned and some of the blessings that we experienced on the trip. There was 23 of us went for the whole journey. There was five came at the end. And I would say there probably was 15 or 20 Romanians who helped us during our time there. So it was a large group. Our first stop was Moldovanoa. We've all seen pictures of it and videos of the Roma colony there. To witness it in real life was still a shock. That was my first time to be there. The living conditions are rough. On the second day, we were invited inside one of the buildings to see it. There had been a thunderstorm the night before. I must admit I enjoyed the thunderstorm. I stood out along the side of the river watching it and really enjoyed it. The reality of that for those people was the water was running down the inside of their home the next day. We went in and walked up the stairs. The smell wasn't powerful. There was a lot of flies about and some of the young people had to turn and go back outside again. We found the place where they cook, their kitchen as they called it, it was completely flooded. But yet, In that area, we had witnessed a special bond of love, a respect and love that those people have, especially for our pastor. And that's something which has been built up over many years, many years of sacrificial giving to those people. The words of James 2 have been ringing in my ear whenever I think about this. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say to them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. We witnessed the other side of that. We witnessed faith in action. We witnessed people receiving those things that they did need. There was friendships made. We preached the gospel to them. There was much practical help, but the gospel message was always brought. We spent a lot of time in Lidl and buying supplies for the people, gathering them into packages, and then we went round the the area and giving out packages. But we always brought the gospel. We brought a word from the Lord and we prayed with each of those families. One of the people we prayed for was the grandmother of one of those colonies who very shortly afterwards went to be with the Lord. And the love was shown from the little ones who enjoyed the visit that we had with them. For many, it was stepping outside of their comfort zone. It was warm. Very warm, and the welcome was very warm as well. The following day we did two VBS meetings. We started, now my pronunciation might go a bit wrong here, but we'll try anyway. We started in Chuta, and we started off in a grassy area. We had some fun with the children there. We played some games, we got to know them. We then moved into the church, and we were able to sing choruses and have just a children's meeting with them. Kerry made a friend there, a little baby who was very young. While that was all going on, I could smell cooking and I followed my nose basically. I just kept following where the smell was coming from. I found some ladies who were barbecuing and making soup. the best garlicky cheesy potatoes I ever tasted in my life. And it was a blessing to be on the receiving end of Christian love. And the ladies came out, and afterwards they said they did it unto the Lord. And that was a blessing to our hearts. We then discovered that we were gonna have another meal that afternoon in the next church that we were going to, so we decided that we would walk between the two rather than take the bus, and you've already heard about the wobbly bridge that we had to cross, and thankfully we didn't realize until afterwards that someone had fallen through it the year before. We only found that out once we were at the other side, but we got there safely, and the walk definitely helped us when we got there. We got to Bedina, which is where our brother, Pastor Bebe, as his church and again a lovely grass area for us to have some fun with the kids outside and we were able to play games with them and we were able to bring the message of the gospel to the boys and girls in that area. We were fed again afterwards and the people really looked after us well. The following day we traveled into the middle of nowhere and we weren't really sure what to expect. We were told that it was a long journey and we were told there would be no toilet facilities so we didn't drink too many coffees that morning before we left home. and we kept the liquids to a minimum and off we went. The road was rough, there was lots of twists and turns, part of it was unfinished and there was sheep crossing and we had to stop and do a bit of a repair on one of the minibuses while we got there. And it got to the point where I really didn't know where we were going because we came into a forest and it was just, we started to think, what is going on here? And then we came into a clearing in the middle of this place and it was a clearing that had been made between two villages and there was a large wooden structure set up which meant that we could use that as a place of shelter to keep the kids together and it was a brilliant day, it was an idyllic setting Again, as I said, we were in the middle of nowhere. We wondered what was going to happen, but just the children started appearing. They started to walk in, and we had a great time with them. We really had two meetings that day with the same children. We enjoyed playing games with them. We taught them how to play rounders, and we taught them how to sing some new choruses, and we brought the message of the gospel to them. It was a very memorable day. What do we want to see? What sort of lasting benefits do we want to see for our young people that would go on such a trip? Well, we want them to have a heart for the mission field. We want them to become prayer warriors for the mission field, both for the missionaries and for the work abroad. We want them to be enthused to do something for God, both at home and abroad. And we want them to have a love for the souls of men and women of all backgrounds and to be able to come alongside them both practically and with the gospel. I always find it an encouragement to see God's work abroad. Often we can feel very small. We can feel a very small church, a very small denomination. It can be easy to get disheartened in the work of God. However, a triplicate of this encourages you to see that God is building His church across the world, and the gates of hell will not progress or will not prevail against it. Can I thank you all for praying for us, those of us that were there. And can I also just thank, once again, those in Romania who helped us, to our brethren here. There was a lot of work in the background and for the whole team that was out there that helped us as we spent the time in Romania. And can I ask you just to pray on. Pray that it will be lasting for it, both in our own young people here and in the work that was done in Romania. Thank you. Samuel, thank you very much. That has brought back a lot of memories, precious memories for us all, especially those that were on the trip during the summertime. So we appreciate our youth leader preparing this and putting the slides together. Just at the last there. When they were in the mountains, we did have to leave them for a while. And my wife and Pastor Emmy, we went to look for Florentina, because Florentina had gone missing. And we're glad to be able to report that we found her, and she was well. So that was good news. Just maybe to explain, clarify whatever the word is about the airborne experience, number one, There were three minibuses. Number two, we were all traveling at the same speed. Number three, we were on a road that was under construction coming out of the city of Timisoara towards Deborah House. Number four, there were no road signs. And I think that was the problem, that there was a bump of some description, a ramp, and I was first in the queue. And what they saw from the back seemed to be he went airborne. They were able to break and not do what I had done. But yeah, we put it down to experience, lots of experiences, and that's one of them. Can I bid you welcome tonight to the final meeting of our missionary weekend. We've had a good time as we've reported, we've listened to missionaries, we've listened to reports, we've heard testimonies and the singing, of course, and of course, most importantly, the preaching of the Word. And we trust that it's been a blessing that you've come, you've sat, you've listened, and I trust that you've benefited. It's just an annual event and it's almost at an end. But God is good to us, and a work of grace is done in our hearts. I want to thank you for your attendance, coming night by night. And we also thank those who join us on the internet, many more besides are part of the meeting, even this evening. And wherever you're from, we've had folks listening in from Uganda. We've seen that from where our sister Noreen serves the Lord. and right across the world, indeed, from various parts, including Romania. May they be blessed just wherever they are. Now, supper will be served. There are refreshments for all who are able to stay. Please do. And as we finish this weekend just together in a time of fellowship, be blessed as you enjoy each other's company. Now, this is an important week for us because it's our week of prayer. We've had the habit of doing this immediately after the Ministers' Week of Prayer. One of the things that we hope is the blessings of the Ministers' Week will filter on into this week for us as a church. And a number of our congregations through the province will be doing likewise. But for us, every night, 8 o'clock, we're gathering here for prayer. It's not a big sacrifice to make, unless you have other very important things on. Please try to attend every night, and let's engage in prayer. It's often been said, where there's much prayer, there's much blessing. Where there's little prayer, there's little blessing. Where there's no prayer, there's no blessing. And we want to have much prayer as a congregation and see the blessing of God. And want to see brought to Christ. And we'll be doing that from Monday to Thursday, and hopefully getting it typed up and given out to you on Friday night, so that this year, again, we can remember these people before the Lord. Tuesday is taking us into the schools, two schools on Tuesday morning out in Dervick. First of all the William Pinkerton Memorial and that will be at nine o'clock and then Castle Row Primary School at ten o'clock. We will have our brethren with us from Romania so it's nice that we're able to introduce them even to the school's ministry and let the children see real live people from Eastern Europe which I don't think they would see very often. We look forward to that. Pray for Tuesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, our brethren will be returning to the land of Romania. So we want to remember them in the journey as they go back home to serve the Lord. On Saturday, we have our open air in the center of the town at 11 o'clock. And Saturday is the training day of the Youth Council in Lisbon. And we've been announcing this, giving you the detail from week to week for a number of weeks. We have our Sabbath day services, beginning with prayer, next Lord's Day, Sunday school 10.30, Bible class at 10.45, worship service 12 noon, and the gospel meeting at seven, preceded by the time of prayer. Refreshments will also be served after the meeting. Be in prayer for the Hebron Ladies Fellowship Meeting. Margaret Russell is coming to speak on the 7th of February, and the ladies of Hebron will be singing. Vision Magazine's available. If you didn't get it this morning, please take a copy tonight. It's worthwhile reading various reports and articles there, especially Dr. Bill Woods, who has gone to be with the Lord, and there's a tribute inside to him. I think that's all the announcements that I need to make, except to ask the question if there's anybody, and I can't see anybody from Lisbon here, but if you are, please let me know. Or if any of you are traveling to Lisbon and could leave this Bible, this Bible belongs to Dr. Nigel Campbell. In fact, it belongs to his wife. And he phoned me. He said, please try and find it, because it's an old Bible. And when you look inside, it probably has the maiden name of Caroline on it. And so it has. So it's something that they want to get. And if you can get that down to Nigel, we'd appreciate that. Let's sing together a hymn as we receive the offering. The offering this weekend is going to the various works represented at our missionary conference meetings. The hymn is 512. Give me the faith which can remove. Sink the mountain to a plain. Give me the childlike praying love which longs to build thy house again. Thy love Let it, my heart or power, and all my yearning soul devour. Please remember, many of the hymns, and we point this out from time to time, are prayers. Every line, you can make it a prayer to God, and this is such a hymn tonight. Make it your prayer as you sing, and really mean it from the depths of your heart. Keeping our seats for the opening part. Raise every roof and sing the morn's end to a gleam. In the end, child, thy praying call, raise all to him thy all to serve. I want an Englishman this time. I want a hand in clergy. to snatch him from the urge of hell, and turn him to a mourning god, and place the crass with Jesus. We will not sing all the other verses, but we will sing verse 4, my talents, gifts and greatest Lord into thy blessed hands receive. Let's pray this verse. And let me live to preach thy word, and let The final missionary challenge tonight, the Word of the Lord. is going to be brought by the Reverend David Brown, no stranger to us, because David was an assistant here during his final year at Bible College, and he's known to most in the congregation. We're delighted to have him. We enjoyed his fellowship during that year particularly. We've enjoyed his fellowship since, times that we visited the mission field together, and not least the land of Uganda. where we had conferences together. I'm just talking about earlier precious memories having those conferences with the African people. At the end of the service tonight we will be thinking about Noreen going back to serve the Lord in Uganda, and so our closing prayer will be a time of just handing her over again. She serves the Lord at Emmanuel Christian School, and her elders will be involved in that. We think of Kirsty as well as she travels back to Bible College, that the Lord will be with her. Her journey is tomorrow. But first of all, the preaching of the word, the Reverend David Brown. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And it's good to be in the house of the Lord here in Ballymoney with the people of God, and we rejoice you've had a good weekend already. There is one person I feel for tonight, and that is Mrs. Campbell, the owner of that Bible. Did you hear what was said? That was an old Bible. And she had it when she was a young woman. The prayer creator's probably at home there. If she's watching on tonight, sister, be encouraged. There's people here a lot older than you. Nevertheless, regardless to what age we are, it is good to be involved in the house and in the work of the Lord. If you would, tonight, please take your copy of the scriptures and turn with me to 1 Peter, please. 1 Peter and to chapter 1, we're thinking really about the Word of God, its proclamation all over the world. I want to read just a brief reading here, commencing at verse 19. So 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 19. Now, we've got a cold tonight, forgive me for that. People around these parts can understand the Balaamian accent not too bad, aye? So a Balaamian accent with a cold, I trust, will not be too complex for you to interpret. 1 Peter 1.19. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Amen. Let's bow together just for a brief word of prayer, please, again. O gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, it is good to be in Thy house. And we pray tonight, Lord, in this concluding meeting, that all things would dovetail together that Thy Word would be good for our souls. We are conscious that there is one, our Savior, who sits upon the throne tonight. And Lord, You love Your church. You loved it enough to give Your life for it. We pray, Lord, that we, Thy people, who make up the church, that our love for Thee and for Thy people, for Thy church would also grow. Heavenly Father, tonight encourage our hearts, speak to our souls, and stir us, either in the work of salvation or the work of sanctification. Lord, work tonight in Jesus' precious name we ask. Amen and amen. I'm sure you have all heard of Yellowstone National Park. Certainly, if you are from my generation, that national park was made famous by that big brown bear, Yogi Bear, if my memory serves me right. It was called Jellystone National Park. And by the number of smiles right now, you obviously are all on the same page with me. Well, there was a former park ranger who was relating a story of what happened on one occasion. He was in the lookout tower, and he knew one of the other rangers was leading a group of hikers up through to the tower where he was stationed. He was watching that other ranger, and the ranger was intent in sharing the beauties of the hike with the hikers. Every flower, every plant, every animal that he could see, he would have a magnificent story to tell about each and every one. But he was troubled because there was his two-way radio, and it kept buzzing and going off, and he heard all the people's conversations, and it was ruining his train of thought, so he switched it off and carried on with the hike. As they drew nearer and nearer to the lookout tower, another ranger came panting, completely out of breath, and he shouted at the ranger, what are you doing? Why won't you listen to what I'm telling you? And the ranger said, sorry, my radio was off. He said, run, follow me. And they sprinted from that point back to the watchtower. And when they got there, he explained, you turned your radio off, there was a bear hunting you. I could see it. I was trying to warn you, but you were tuned out. Men and women, sometimes we can be like that. We can tune out from God's Word, God's message. This is the final nights of your weekend. Don't tune out tonight. But listen intently to the Word of God. And when we churn out from the Word of God, we put ourselves in danger, we put others in danger with us. And the less we know of the Word of God, the less we read it and are affected by it, the less we will give ourselves in the service of God. There is nothing that will stir you to serve the Lord, whether it is at home or on the mission field. Nothing will encourage you to serve the Lord more than reading this holy book. Tonight, we're thinking about the Word of God. primarily proclaiming the Word of God to the whole world. That begins by listening ourselves and knowing this book. Firstly, this evening, I want to consider this incorruptible Word. That's what the Bible is called, an incorruptible Word. Would you read with me again, please? The verse 23. where we read, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The Word of God there is described as being an incorruptible Word. The word incorruptible, it simply means it won't corrupt, it won't decay. Now, this copy of God's Word will. My Bible will, well, it'll decay. As time goes by, these pages will rot away. That's an old Bible of Mrs. Campbell's, but it's not that old that it's rotted away yet. Men and women, even when my Bible comes to the point when it needs to be respectfully retired and it's eventually decayed away, the truth of this Word abides still. It's incorruptible. As a young man, that's something that greatly encouraged me. In my own heart, I had concerns and fears that when I enter into heaven, will the promises of this book still stand? what I enter into glory, and therefore, if I could use the phrase, millions of years, eons of time. Will these truths still stand? Absolutely. For it is an incorruptible Word, and the promises that God has already made will stand forever, ever, evermore. Praise the Lord. The word incorruptible, it's not new to us. Romans 1, it speaks about the uncorruptible God. 1 Corinthians 9, it speaks about the incorruptible crown. we will receive. 1 Corinthians 15 speaks about the incorruptible body that we will someday receive as well. Matthew 24 talks about the Word of God. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. So we have a reliable book tonight, something that you can trust in for all eternity. When you get the promises of people, Sometimes they will break their promises, God will not. Sometimes people will be able to keep their promise for a while. For example, when someone promises to love you, they can only love you while they live. It is limited to space and time. But when it comes to the Word of God, it reaches right into eternity. An incorruptible, dependable, eternally reliable book. Now, would you please look with me again at that verse 23, thinking about this Word. Okay, verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed. I'm putting the word seed in there. It's there for the first reference, the corruptible seed. But we're talking about the incorruptible seed. That is the Word of God. It's described elsewhere in the Bible as being a seed. And a seed isn't particularly exciting. Often despised. If a man was walking in front of you down the street, if he was to drop a couple of pound out of his pocket, if you're in Balamina, something else would catch it before it hits the ground. As one Balamira said, one Balamira man said, if I dropped my money, I'd probably end up in hitting the head because I'd be the first one down to get it and every other Balamira man behind me trying to catch it as well. But if someone was to drop a handful of seed when you're walking through the street, you wouldn't even think about it. It's so insignificant. It's so small, despised in a sense, insignificant. And the Word of God so often is like that, men and women. People only see its insignificance. They see it as not that big of a deal. They will see a gospel tract on the ground and not pick it up, but walk over it. Of course, one of our ministers was saved by picking up a little gospel tract off the ground, read it, and it led to his personal conversion and his life with Christ. Now, this book is described as a seed, something that looks insignificant, yet in its operation it is magnificent. For when you put a seed in the ground, what grows is magnificent, and the Word of God is like that. Tonight, when you go home, whether you're in Ballymunny or on the mission field, you pick up your Bible and you receive it, you get it in. Remember, it's good seed and it will grow and its performance in your heart and life will be good. But that's also true in regards to the sowing of the seed, the proclaiming of the seed all over the world and at home. I was delighted to hear of how the schools here have opened up to this congregation. Lovely to hear Greg tonight in his report. I was speaking to him in the week of prayer and I was delighted, honestly delighted, to hear how it had prospered. But I was thinking again about the seed and proclaiming the seed. You put the seed of God's Word into the heart of the child. And what a magnificent impact that can have. Can I give you an example of this, please? Go with me to the Old Testament. One of our ministers actually spoke on this portion during the week of prayer, 2 Kings, and the chapter 22. And here was a young boy, probably a teenager at this point. And the Word of God in His day was indeed despised. It was actually forgotten about. It was lying in the corner somewhere, and no one even knew where it was. In 2 Kings chapter 22, they were doing work now. Josiah was a good and godly boy. A boy who had commissioned the work of God's house to be done, to clean out the house, and while they were there, here is what happened. 2 Kings 22, verse 8, and Hilkiah, the high priest, said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. It was lost. Nobody even knew where it was. It was gone. And what happened when they found it? Well, they went and read it to the king. Look with me at verse 10. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Helkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king, and it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes." That's the language of conviction, the language of repentance. Here is a boy. He has found the Word of God, not by his own hand, someone else found it and read it to him. And what happens in the following verse and chapter is phenomenal. There's a restoration of the house of God, a restoration to the holy and the Passover feast. The following chapters are a delight. It's like an oasis of this dark time in Israel's history. And men and women, I couldn't help but think about tonight, that portion. Wouldn't it be lovely that even houses here in Ballymoney Little Bibles that you have given out to children, Sunday school prizes, children's meeting prizes, and they're lying in roof space, lying in cupboards, and some child or now an adult would find that Bible, they would open up, God would speak to them the same way the Lord spoke to Josiah. What about Bibles that have been sent across the seas? There have been occasions here, Bibles have been sent out, and money has been sent out for Bibles. You never heard much about it. What a thrill if one of those literal copies of the Word of God would be discovered in someone's attic or in a church. They open it, read it, and they're saved. Pray to that end that we would see many a Josiah on the mission field and here at home as well. The Word of God, it's an incorruptible seed, wonderful in its operation. And as it's said, a bird in hand is better than two in the bush. The Bible's the same. One Bible in your hand is better than thirty commentaries, several Bibles on the shelf. Have the Word of God in your hand. Use it. Not only feed your soul, but proclaim it. and do all that you can in your own, as God has given you ability, to make sure the Word is proclaimed all over the world, perhaps this year. At the beginning of this year, sit down with a blank piece of paper and write out the things you, by the grace of God, hope to do to make sure you help the Word of God be proclaimed in all the earth. Write it down, because we can have good intentions, and they mean nothing if they are not carried out. Secondly, tonight, I've only got two thoughts. It is an incorruptible Word. It is also a saving Word. Would you read with me here verse 25 of our text, 1 Peter 1.25, "'But the word of the Lord endureth forever.'" Okay, it's incorruptible. "'And this is the word which by the gospel is preached on to you." This is the Word which by the gospel is preached on to you. Peter was speaking to people. They were displaced. They were moved. There was obviously persecution, and many of them were scattered abroad. And Peter is reminding them by inspiration, you've heard the Word of God through the preaching of the gospel, and that's why you're saved, because you've heard the Word and you have believed. The Word of God is the instrument by which souls are saved. Now, follow me through here just for one moment. Turn back with me to the book of James, James chapter 1 and the verse 18. James 1, 18. And we read, of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. And we'll stop there. Of his own wealth begat he us with the word of truth. You see, that verse has made it very clear that God out of his own wealth, not out of any necessity, God didn't need to save anyone. He didn't need any of us for his benefit. He didn't need us men and women. But he chose out of his own good wealth, out of his own good pleasure, not because we earned it. By His own good will begat He us. We're born onto Him. We are given life. Now, how did that conversion experience actually happen? God willed it. God planned it. How did God do it? That's what the verse says. Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. The Bible, the Word of God, is the instrument that the Lord, You, to bring men and women to Christ. Let me put it like this. Tonight, if it's clear, you'll go out and look at the sky, and you'll see in the heavens above the stars what a beautiful sight they are to behold. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, if you ever feel puffed up with pride, go and lie down and look up at the stars, and you'll feel how small you actually are. You see, when we look at the heavens above, what do they declare? The heavens declare what? The glory of God's. They declare His excellency. The Bible says that those stars there, God spread them out with His hand. And almost in Genesis there, it gives the idea of this effortless work that God, like you and I, lifting sand and just throwing it. He just created the stars. So the heavens declare the glory of God. That's when we look up, when we look within our conscience. What does your conscience declare? It declares you're a wretch. It declares that I have sinned against God. It declares that I am corrupt, that I'm a sinner. I look at the heavens above, I see how great God is. I look at my heart and my conscience and it tells me how awful I am. Neither of those will save me. Neither. What does bring us to understand salvation is the Word of God, because it is the Scriptures that declare that the God who made everything sent His Son to die for sinners. And it is by that death we are saved, as we repent of our sins and we place our faith in Him. Now, go to Romans 10. Again, this you know. This you know, Romans 10. And the verse 17, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the words of God. We are saved by this Word, therefore we preach it over all the world, because if someone doesn't hear this Word, he cannot be saved. Now, that is where the rubber hits the road here. If someone never hears the Word of God, cannot be saved. There can be no right knowledge of Christ, of salvation. There can be no right knowledge of God without this book, and that is what drives our missionaries to go and tell them what this book says. to explain that Jesus Christ died for sinners, that they might be saved. That's why parents wrestle with their children. Read the Bible, son. Read the Bible, dear daughter of mine. Because without the Word, there's no right knowledge of God. Without the Word, there is no knowledge of how to obey the Lord and live for the Lord. Just this week, our brother DePinker was in conversation through text this week, and he was making the point that he had read recently that there are over 500 million people in India who have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ. All right, 500, wasn't it even 2 million here? We're at, what, 1.8 million in Northern Ireland, something like that? 500 million. It's not even that they haven't heard the message of the gospel, they haven't even heard the name Jesus Christ. Hindi-speaking people never even heard the name. 500 million. million, let alone not hearing the way of salvation, the gospel, never even heard the name of Jesus Christ. And without a knowledge of this Word, there is no true knowledge of salvation. I know a man, a good and godly man, and saved many, many years ago, but it always troubled him because when he got saved, There wasn't a meeting where someone was preaching, and no one was reading the Bible to him. It was just in his own course of life, whatever he was doing, he just felt struck with conviction. He bowed down, he prayed, and as time went by, the devil began to come in and said, you're not saved at all. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You weren't hearing the Word of God, and therefore, how could you have got saved on that occasion? But understand this, men and women, That man, like many others, maybe even someone here tonight, you knew when you bowed down on your knees to call upon Jesus Christ, how. It wasn't by looking at the stars. It wasn't even by listening to your conscience. That just shows you your sin. It was by your knowledge of this book. And on the basis of the truth of this book, however you heard it, through preaching, through reading, through a parent, through school, whatever, It is the Word of God that led you to Christ. Amen, women? The Bible, just in closing, is like a telescope, a telescope. If you look at a telescope, well, you might be impressed by how shiny it is and how many wee knobs there are to turn and all the rest of it. It'll never do you any good until you look through it. And that's why the Word of God is like a telescope. You can look at this book, you can keep it on your shelf, and I know people, they will have their Bible in a very important place beyond the mantelpiece, but they never look through it, never look into it to see worlds beyond. And that's what this book is doing. It's pointing you to someone else, Jesus Christ. It's pointing you to the Savior. And we pray that all over the world, in the mission field, at home and abroad, there'll be little Josiahs who will hear the Word of God being preached, being read, being taught, and by that will come under conviction and bow down and give their life to Christ. Let that encourage you. You share this book, you proclaim this book, and do everything in your might, by God's grace, to make sure that the proclamation of the Word is not hindered by your prayer, by your personal financing, by your support and encouragement of missionaries. Do all that you can. For a few years, we will be gone. That's only what's done for Christ will last. This is the incorruptible Word, and if there's anything we want to leave with the generations behind us, it's this, this truth, that Jesus Christ sees. Thank you for listening tonight. May the Lord bless you. We'll hand back now to your minister, the Reverend Park, to close. Thank you, brother. That's a prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. We know that it is the incorruptible Word of God. We thank Thee for His mighty power and influence in hearts and lives. We thank Thee for those times that we've seen through the Word, into the Word, and God has spoken, and He's brought men to Christ, and that has happened even within the last week, and we praise Thee for that. We pray that You will bless Your Word that we've heard this weekend, bless the message that we've heard tonight. May there be that action taken, that response to it, not just to be the hearer but the doer of the Word. And we pray that men and women here who know not the Lord will come to Christ and be saved by the incorruptible blood of the Savior that is able to wash their sins away. And for each of us, Lord, who know Thee, who love Thee, may we be more effective in the work that You've called us to. Help us to abound in the work of the Lord, for as much as we know our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Amen. 288. Just as we close the meeting tonight with our hymn, just remember it's Hebron Tots tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. Get the children out punctually at 10 through to 12 o'clock. I am coming to the cross. I am poor and weak and blind. I am counting all but dross. I shall full salvation find. I'm trusting Lord in thee. May that be the desire of your heart. I shall prove salvation divine. On your cross we mourn and weep, the blessed blood of Calvary. Long may I, though thy cross I lie, stay with thee. Jesus, take me now. From my heart, this I'm free. Jesus speak, his peace redeem, I'm avenged from all sin. I am trusting more in thee, blessed Lamb of Calvary, I'll be at thy cross again. ♪ Is the same for me and I ♪ ♪ Here I give my all to thee ♪ ♪ Friends of thine I'm earthly strong ♪ ♪ So I'm only thine to be ♪ ♪ Only thine forevermore ♪ That's not in the hymn book and we'll sing that and the elders and Noreen will come forward for prayer. Thank you. Jesus comes. Amen. Jesus comes, he fills my soul. Perfect is him I am, I am every way. I am trusting only Thee, Blessed Lamb of Calvary, Lovely Lamb, Thy cross I love, Send me Thee to save me now. Year 2000, her sister went to Africa, and she's been there for many years. I must say that she's old, at all. Old is a relative word. Depends what you compare it with. You know, if you look at me, you might say I'm old. If you look at Heidi, you might say she's very young. No comments, no comments. We had a young preacher tonight. We had a young preacher. But he was my assistant. Just tell you this before we pray. We were visiting in a home, and the lady thought there was 10 years between us. All right. Said nothing more. Amen. Well, Noel, we wish you well. The Lord be with you. We wish you Godspeed. We love you in the Lord. We pray for you often. You do a great work for God. We might see it as little at times, but little as much when God's in it. And he's given you responsibility of over 500 children there. And we have wonderful memories, too, of being with you in Uganda, serving the Lord together. We're here to pray and ask God's blessing as you travel way back to Africa and do his will and work. Amen. A couple of elders, again, will lead in prayer. Thank you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father and Eternal God, we come to Thee and to Thy presence tonight at not only the end of this service, but at the end of our special missionary weekend. And Lord, we give Thee thanks for all that has taken place over the weekend and for a special sense of Thy presence amongst us. We thank Thee for how our hearts have been challenged as we've listened to the missionary reports, but especially, Lord, as we have heard Thy Word preached. And O Lord, we pray that the challenge that has been given to us will not end, but Lord, as we go out into the world day after day, week after week, O Lord, You will continue to challenge us for those who know not Thee, that we might reach them with the glorious message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Lord, we come now to give Thee thanks for our sister Noreen. We thank Thee, Lord, for how Thou hast blessed her. We thank Thee for that day when You called her to Thyself, and Lord, she became Thy child, And, O Lord, we thank you for her obedience to the call of God, and how thou hast used her, Lord, in different aspects of thy work, Lord. We thank thee for her time here in the Christian school in Balamony, and for the blessing that she was to so many boys and girls there, and then, Lord, how you took her to the land of Kenya, and, O Lord, how she was used mightily in the work amongst the children there. and then on to Uganda. And O Lord, we thank you for the work there and for how you have blessed her. And Lord, we rejoice in all that has taken place in that work and how you are continuing to bless. And O Lord, we just pray now that as she plans to return this week to the land of Uganda, that thou wilt go with her. O Lord, that she will know thy hand upon her, Lord, and that thou wilt undertake in every way. O Lord, give her traveling mercies, Lord. We pray that she will have a smooth journey back. And O Lord, remember those that she would leave behind. Remember especially her mum. O Lord, we know that this will be a difficult week for her. And Lord, we pray that you will undertake there as well. And Lord, as Noreen returns to Uganda, Lord, we pray that You will once again use her mightily, and she may have the joy of seeing many of the boys and girls there, and adults too, one for Thee. So, Lord, we ask for Thy blessing to be upon her, and do each of us good this night, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Our gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, we thank thee, Lord, for thy presence with us tonight. We thank you, Lord, for the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. We thank you for our sister Noreen. pray, Lord, that you'll go with her. We thank you, Lord, for her faithful ministry, even in the land of Africa. We just pray, Lord, that as she goes back to those boys and girls, Lord, you'll go with her. We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon that work. We thank you, Lord, as we look at the number of boys and girls that are under Noreen's care, we see the great responsibility, but also we see the great potential, Lord, for those boys and girls. We pray, Lord, that many of them will come to Thee. They'll come to know Thee as their own and personal Savior. We pray, Lord, for the progress of the work there in Uganda. We thank you, Lord, for bringing helpmates even to Noreen. We just pray for the Giscadne family, we think of the Macaulay family as well as they go out. We just pray, Lord, you'll continue to bless that work. Lord, you have poured your blessing upon it, and Lord, you'll meet every need that is required, Lord. We just pray, Lord, you'll continue with us now, and as we go our separate ways, you'll go with us and bless us for it's thy name we ask it. Amen. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. We will ask the preacher to go to the door, Reverend Brown, to greet you there. Last morning, we don't know how long it'll be before we see her, but she'll go to the door also. And it might be appropriate if our two pastors from Romania go to the door because we don't know when they'll be back in Northern Ireland. So, I'll linger about the front. If anyone wants to talk to me, I'm here.