Now, as we say tonight, it's lovely to have our brother Paul Hanna with us. And I can still remember quite a number of years ago, I'm sure it's maybe 17 years ago or so, whenever I was a young man studying engineering in Lisbon, I had a friend who played rugby for Ballonhenge Rugby Club and we got on very well and started going to a few matches with this fellow. And I went down to Dublin to watch, I think it was Ireland versus Scotland, 1995. It must have been. And that's the first time I met her brother, Lansdowne Road, cheering on. Not sure what team he was cheering on, but he was there anyway, and we were both far from the Lord. And God has worked in our lives since that, and we're so thankful for that. Just thinking of some of the people that were maybe on that bus on the way down, around the same age as ourselves. I know at least one of them who's in eternity. And it just reminds us of the brevity of life. And then after that, we studied for a while together in the college in Lisbon doing a day release course. And then one night I was in the martyrs. And Dr. Paisley was coming out of the room. There was a youth rally on, coming out of the minister's room. And he just happened to come through the door and met her brother. Couldn't believe that he was in a church meeting. And Dr. Paisley bellowed at him, are you still saved? And I said to him after, I didn't know you were saved. And he says, well, I've got saved since the last time I met you. So the Lord is so good. And the Lord has led us both on with himself. And we trust he'll continue to do that. So I'm just delighted that Paul's here this evening to tell a story of how Jesus Christ has intervened and rescued him and changed his life. I'm going to ask Paul to come now and speak to us. And you're very welcome, brother. Thank you for coming tonight. God bless you. Thank you very much for those very warm words of welcome on that little trip down memory lane. I certainly remember those occurrences, and it does seem like an awful long time ago. It surely couldn't be 17 years ago, because I might be much older than that myself. Great to be here this Sabbath evening. Great to be here with a testimony. It's great to be able to tell folk of how the Lord has saved me, how the Lord has kept me, where the Lord is taking me. It's a wonderful thing to be saved. It's a wonderful thing tonight to be with the Lord, to have the presence of God Almighty with us. I'm just reminded of that verse there in Proverbs. It's the last verse in the chapter, and it's the last part of the verse, and it says this, there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And what a wonderful thought it is. Our brother said to me there earlier on, would there be anything we can get you tonight? I says, yes, a car door would be nice. He said, why is that? Why do you want a car door in the pulpit? I said, well, if I get too warm, I can wind down the window. But hopefully it'll not come to that if my jacket off. And I can't remember ever been in a pulpit before with my jacket off. It's not because it's necessarily maybe too warm tonight, but I have to ask you to forgive me because I've been sick all week. I had to leave class early on Tuesday. I left just before Mr. Baig's theology class. I was planning to stay to the end, but it just got on top of me too much. and I was coughing and spluttering and getting on, maybe spluttering isn't a word that you use up here in Corian, but it's one that we use in Balna Hinch. I was coughing and spluttering in front of Mr., where Mr. Beggs would have been, and I thought that's the last thing he needs, is to go home with what I have. So I know we like to share within the denomination, but you'd maybe be better without what I had earlier in the week. But I'm hopefully over the worst of it now, but it just leaves you a wee bit warm. and especially whenever the pulpit sweat gets up, it is that wee bit worse. But if I could please ask you to turn with me in the word of God, we're going to read a couple of verses together even before we commence this evening. Psalm numbered 40. Psalm numbered 40 is a psalm which is very dear to my heart and I always turn to it, or almost always whenever I give a word of testimony. Now, normally whenever I give a word of testimony it's between four and five minutes, so I've been told tonight that we'll have to finish by a quarter past eleven, so we'll try not to keep you too long, but this is the first time really that I've went over maybe ten minutes in a word of testimony, so Excuse me tonight if what I say doesn't appear to be polished, that's because it's not. Psalm 40 verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. I love to read this psalm any time I testify, because the words, especially these first three verses, speak very much of my personal testimony, how the Lord inclined unto me in verse one, and how Christ and God heard my cry, how he brought me also up out of that horrible pit, out of the pit of sin and misery, which I found myself in for many years of my life, out of the miry clay, and he set my feet upon a rock, And as our brother has already said tonight in the singing of that last hymn, which again brings back memories because for a time whenever I was a young child, I was in the boys' brigade and that was our motto hymn, Fasten to the Rock. And our brother has mentioned it tonight that that rock is Christ. We thank the Lord tonight that it's not a man, not as some would teach it to be Peter, but it is Christ, that immovable rock. And God there in verse two has established my goings. He has put a new song in my mouth. You know, I would have been run after the music of the world not too many years ago. But God has put that new song in my mouth, even these hymns, and many of them were favorite hymns that we've sang tonight already. Now, my word of testimony really begins at my birth, of course. because I was born into a Christian home, I thank the Lord for it, back there on the 30th of November, 1977. My parents were godly people, both Christians, and for the first few months of my life, we attended Reformed Presbyterian Church. between Balna Hinch and Lisburn, in a wee place called Bailey's Mills. And I attended there, I'm told, I don't remember, but for the first few months of my life, that's where I attended. And apparently at night time, my father and mother took me there to the Martyr's Memorial in Belfast, even though we were members of the Covenanters at that time. And we went along there, of course, to hear the preaching of Mr. Paisley. of Dr. Ian Paisley and what days they were, for I remember had been brought up under the sound of his preaching and back in those early days. And I was baptized into the Reformed Presbyterian Church whenever I was a couple of months old in January of the following year. And it was about that time in Balna Hinch there was no free Presbyterian witness. And at that time, there was efforts made to constitute a free Presbyterian church in the area. And that was opened whenever I was really only about six or seven months old. And I can remember going along there, my earliest memories are attending to the new church there at that time, which had been up until then, it had been a picture house. And that's why Balna Hinch is one of the few churches that you'll ever go to, with that sloping floor, because it used to be a cinema. And what a wonderful turnaround. We have a committee man in our church now in Balna Hinch, who used to be the projectionist, or the projectionist assistant, back whenever it was a day of a picture house, and how the Lord saved him. His testimony is a wonderful story of God's grace as well. But my earliest memories were there as a child attending that church in Balna Hinch. And I can remember one Sabbath evening. It was during the, or just after the preaching of our minister at that time, who was the Reverend John Morrow, who's now the minister of the Oma congregation. And I remember coming home that night concerned about my soul. As a child of seven, I knew that if I was to die at that stage, I would have been cast into eternal damnation, because I knew from the preaching of the word, it was clear to me, I was brought to understanding And it was clear to me that gospel message. And I come home that night, and I can remember speaking to my mother about my concerns. And she led me that night to the Lord. What a wonderful thing it was that I was able to be led by my own mother, up the bedside, upstairs in our house. And that night, I became a Christian. You know, it's as simple as that. If you're in the meeting tonight, just to divert a little from what I had planned to say. And you might not know all the internal truths and all about the theology and the doctrines of God. I don't know about them all, and I've been to college for more than one day. You see, people think when we go to college for one day, brother, that we know it all. Certainly that's not the case. It might never be the case. Certainly will never be the case with any of us. But even at that early age, I knew that I needed to be saved. I needed, needed to be born again. I don't remember what the text of scripture that was taught that night was, but I can remember the conviction on my soul on how the Lord met that need that night. For years, I continued on as a young Christian. A young boy of seven-year-old doesn't really meet the opposition that we do as later on. But for years, I continued on in that pathway. I was sent along faithfully to every meeting that was on to our own church. to the Sabbath afternoon services that my mother ran in a local Orange Hall whereby she ran that Sunday school and the children of the area were taught the things of God. I can remember that. I can remember even whenever I was sent along on my holidays to various uncles' and aunts' houses. That was no respite for me because I was taught the things of God in their homes and in their churches as well. I would have spent a lot of the summer at an uncle of mine's house who was a dairy farmer. He also was an elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Thermarta. And he ran a little Sunday school in Skeak, Orange Hall as well. And I can remember being sent along to those various locations, each one of which taught me of my need to be born again, and taught me of my need. And certainly we were honored, no disillusions. I was saved, and I was living in the light of that faith. And those children that were sent along there were in no doubt, unless they didn't listen, sent along to our church and to those various places, that you needed to be saved in order to go to heaven. You know, whenever you come along to this church, you may have been attending here one week or 10 years, but if you listen at all, you will hear the gospel truths and these invitations from the word of God itself, whereby we are sought to and commanded to indeed come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. You know, I was certainly no stranger to the preaching of the word of God. both in all those places where I was sent to. But you know, as many would testify, and we hear many young people get up and give personal word of testimony, and how they say in primary school, and it was the same with myself, there was no real and particular pressure upon you as far as being a Christian was concerned. And I can remember, certainly in my primary school, pressure situations, but it was never really to do with being a Christian. and I walked along there, and I was quite happy in the way we went there. But, whenever we went to the big school, things were different. You see, the devil started to come in on us, and the devil started to work. Whenever we got to the big school, into the high school, into the secondary school in Balna Hinch, and in an effort to get on with people, I sinned against God. And I'm sorry to have to say tonight that I did not act like a Christian. I failed to tell people that I was a born-again believer. I failed to read the Word of God as I should have, and eventually stopped. I failed to pray as I should have, and eventually my prayer life was gone. And I started to go into a period of deep backsliding from the secondary school. And it was really through that that I grew cold at heart and grew far away from where God would have had me to be. And it was during that time that our brother behind me in the pulpit would have met me and come across me. And I can remember those individuals that he referred to who were on the bus and not saved to date. And some of the ones who are in eternity now, I went to school with some of those individuals. I ran about and hung about with, and those people were my friends. And I lament also with our brother that many of those people tonight do not know the name of Christ other than in a swear word. And it saddens our soul to think how those people are lost tonight and how many would have had an opportunity if I had not went the way I had went, how many would have had that opportunity if I had but witnessed to them. You know, if you're a child of God tonight and you're living a double life, If you're a child of God and you're here in the meeting and everyone around you thinks that you're going on well, but whenever you go to your workplace or your college or your school or somewhere else with a different circle of friends, you know, your responsibility there for the Lord is to make much of Christ, is to mention Christ. You know, I was listening to a sermon on the way up. It was of a brother preaching. And he said of how he, in his situation as a preacher, there were certain places he could not go. There were certain places he could not preach, because it was not there that the Lord called him to. But the challenge went out to the congregation, and it goes out again to you tonight, that there are places where the preacher cannot go, but where you are. There's a workstation where you might be standing tomorrow morning, where you might be standing talking to an individual who the preacher will never see, a family member, a friend, a neighbor, some contact that you will have that none of the rest of us can have. God gives us those opportunities, and it is our responsibility to make much of Christ, to do the work of an evangelist, to make much of Christ in this day and generation. You know, I can remember slipping back into sins that I thought I would never have been involved in. In primary school, I was a proud member of the Smokebusters Club. I don't know if anybody here was ever in it or ever heard tell of it. I suppose it was an initiative to stop people smoking, really, before they started. I can remember getting a wee membership thing that you sewed onto your coat and a wee membership pack with all the information and the downs of smoking and all the rest of it. and a pen, and I can remember the pen to this day, it was a flat white plastic pen with the shape of a heart, and it said I'm a smoke buster. And even though I was in that club and knew all about the theory behind the evils of smoking and all the rest of it, I found myself as a former smoke buster with a cigarette in my hand. And I can remember some of these things that I would have gotten myself into. And I would have kept those things secret from those who thought I was walking with the Lord. For many years, really, I would have lived that double life. I thought, and I lived in that illusion with myself, that I have two different personalities here. And one on one side don't know anything about what's on the other. You know, I was a fool. I was a fool. I now know, and really this past long time I know, that some of my family and some of my friends who did not maybe speak to me about these things, those people were praying for me. People that are in our prayer meeting, even tonight in Balna Hinch, those people were praying for me. Maybe they thought it was pointless. Maybe they thought it would be fruitless praying for me. But I tell you friends tonight that I appreciate those prayers. And I would just like to encourage you, if you're praying for a wayward son, praying for a wayward daughter, I would like to encourage you tonight, keep on praying, because this is a fact, God answers prayer. We know it. Any one of us really, I would hazard even as far as going as this, any one of us that are saved, someone has helped pray us into the kingdom because God certainly answers prayer. Even though I believe I was saved at the age of seven year old, I come to a point in my life whereby I would have even denied that I was ever a Christian. I progressed further still and I would have denied the fact that there was even, that I was a backslider at all. I would have denied the very fact that there was a God in heaven. I would have said that yes, everything came about via this big bang. My faith would have led in that. I would have fallen so far that I would have denied there was even that God at all. You know, we can get to that point in denial, and we can fool ourselves, or think we fooled ourselves. But I can remember going out at night with circles of friends, really bad company that I was in at that time. And even just in this area, up in Portrush, in Belfast, in Lisburn, in different areas where I might have frequented and spent nights of the weekend, I can remember speaking to different people concerning my soul. I can remember people giving out tracts on street corners. I remember one in Port Roush one night in particular. A fella gave me a gospel tract, and I went over and started to speak to him. And he wrote his name on the back of this tract. I've never met him since. I think it was, this is a long time ago, I think it was a fella, Richard Crimble or something like it. And I can remember, I can remember going home and maybe these individuals would have thought, and I'm sure they did, that we were maybe keeping them going or winding them up or whatever. But I would love to really speak to those people again, just to encourage them, that those words that were said on those occasions, many occasions, not just one, many occasions where we spoke to people in the outreach work, those words would have troubled us. that certainly would have troubled me in my backslidden and cold-at-heart state. I would like to encourage those people tonight. And if you are one of those people who would do outreach among those people who would be out for a Saturday night or a Friday night's entertainment, you know, what you say, you might not think it sinks in at all. It might not even get past their ears, you might think. But I can remember going home and being troubled about what was said on many an occasion. Of course, they were words backed up by prayer. Prayer from my family, prayer from people who knew me, and prayer, I'm sure, from those who handed out and distributed those tracts. I really would like to encourage you tonight. That if you think that you can do nothing for the Lord, you're only quiet. Sure, what Lord could I do? Is there anything I can do, Lord? There's other people, let them do it. I would encourage you, can you do this? Can you do this? Can you extend your arm? Well, if you can, put a gospel tract in it. Hand it out to some individual. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Gospel tracts contain the Word of God. We know of many occasions whereby the Word of God was used in a tract even many, many years after its distribution. One comes to mind. I think of an individual, he was given out tracks door to door, knocking doors, and he came to a particular door, and there was no sign of life, no one in, no one even lived there by the look of the way it was growing up. And he put a track in through the door. He thought he would put it in anyway. He didn't like to waste it, but he put it in through the letterbox anyway. And later on, that house was sold. Within months, that house was sold, and the builders come in to clear things out. And that track was lifted up and set on a sideboard. And it sat on that sideboard for decades before someone else come along and discovered it. Someone else come in and rubbed the dust, blew the dust off it, opened it up, read it, and were wondrously saved as a result of the reading of God's Word. You see, you might think you can do very little. You might think you can do nothing. But friends, tonight, little is much when God is in it. And that's what we must do, the work of the Lord, when we're able. You know, I would have argued against these people, but those people's words sunk into my mind, into my heart, and the Lord used them in the fruition of time to bring me back to Himself. At that time, I thought of independence, and I planned thereby to go and run off and join the army, And I thought this would be a good thing to go and join up and do a bit of home service part-time. I knew a couple of the guys in it. I thought it would be a good way to do my bit for the Queen and for the country. I thought it would be good to get away from pressure of my Christian home. You see, I despised my Christian home. I love the fact that I was brought up in a Christian home now, but at that time, I despised it. I wanted to get away from the pressure. And I wanted to make a little bit of money on the side, and I wanted to do that army socializing. And I had all these big plans in my mind. I'd heard about the cheap alcohol and about all the rest of it that you get whenever you go to the NAFI and into the army situation. But God had a different plan. You see, whenever I made application to join, I had no problem getting in, because I had many high-ranking people, I suppose, that I knew. I was both a piper, I play bagpipes for a pipe band, and that's a big thing in the army. I was a rugby player, and I played at a level that certainly they would have wanted players to come in at. and I played representative rugby at regimental and battalion level, and I would have had no problem getting in. But the Lord had a different plan in that He dealt with me. In the time that I was accepted for service, toward the end of 97, and my recruits course in the middle of 98, July 98, the Lord had been dealing with me up to this time. He had, uh... He had me in a circle of good friends at that time. And it was really through the preaching of the Word of God in Balna Hinch. It was through the preaching of the Word of God in Martyrs, because I was hanging about with a group of mostly Free Piscaterian young people at that time. And in fact, there was one fellow from my own company down there in Ballykilner. And this fellow was a Christian fellow. My own platoon sergeant was a Christian fellow. And it was wonderful just the way the Lord controlled me in that time from I signed up until I got through the recruits course some seven and a half months later. That young fella now is a pastor and he works as a Belfast City Missioner. And it was during that time that I started to go attending my own church again. And this time it was different, because I had interest in what was being said. We had a new minister at that time, the Reverend Trevor Baxter, I'm sure you all know him. And it was through the preaching of Mr. Baxter there in January 98, when as a young man of 20 years old, that I just gave my all to the Lord again. I wanted just to give up my old life again. And it was really, I suppose, about that time that her brother met me down there in the martyrs. I remember that meeting. I remember coming, we were moving from the main church to the after meeting right through, and just the three of us sort of bumped into each other at the same time, Mr. Paisley Bunwun, and he said, are you still walking, brother? Are you still something like that? And I said, yes. And I can remember the smile that spread on our brother's face. And that was a long time ago now, that's what, 14 years ago or so. But that was, those were wonderful days. And just even remember at the, and your announcements there, it was announced that our brother Stephen Fletcher was coming to, is coming on Friday night to take the youth. Stephen Fletcher, I knew Stephen for a long time, and I can remember shortly after I'd come back to the Lord, I was in a youth meeting, and after meeting there in Banbridge, and after the meeting was over, our brother Stephen met me and he said these words to me, he says, are you walking, brother? And I says, I am. And I can remember the smile spread across his face. He says, I've been praying for you, and I didn't know that. And my heart swelled at the very thought that he had been a fellow that I knew but didn't know really that well. He wouldn't have been in my real close circle of friends. I would have seen him from time to time. And he said that, I've been praying for you. Isn't it wonderful, friends, that there are so many people praying for us? If you're on save tonight, there are people praying for you. We have a burden for the lost in Ulster, but we can bring it right down to that personal thing. People are praying for you. God answers prayer. You ought to be, you ought to be considering of these things tonight. You know, at that time, those previous desires that I had, those previous desires began to leave me. Things of God began to take prominence in my life. The cigarettes and the drink had to go. The pleasures of serving the Lord began to take precedence and the attending of the house of God began to be more important to me than the dens of iniquity that the world have to offer. There's just one story that I want to relate to you of how after I come back to the Lord, On my recruits course, and that really, the biggest problem with that is sleep deprivation. They hit you with sleep deprivation. And I can remember one of my friends who was on that course was a smoker, one of the other guys in the same platoon as I. And he used to roll his own. And I would have done that too. And I can remember getting one and rolling it and throwing it into my pocket and thought, if I ever need that, that'll come in handy. And it lay there for days. and it got drier and drier. And I can remember being on a guard one night, I hadn't slept in two days, and the devil really got in on me. And I thought I would love to find that and to start it up. And I found it at the very bottom of my pocket, and I got it out and I lit it. But because it had been so dry, and because it was just rolled from paper, It nearly knocked me out with the first hit. And I thank the Lord tonight for that. That is the last time that I've ever craved a cigarette, going from 40 a day to nothing. That's the last time that I've ever craved. That's 14 years ago last month, or 14 years ago coming up very, very soon, actually. But that was July, I believe, of that year, July 98. So it was 13 and a half years ago. And it's wonderful the way the Lord just gives us exactly what we needed. The Lord just gave me a kick that night. He just gave me a real sickener that night, and that was enough for me. And he's brought me away from that ever since. You know, things began to look up from then. I found an interest in getting involved in the things of the Lord. Things of the Lord this time rather than the things of the world. both in my local church there and with various outreaches across the country. On a Thursday night, we'd have been in Belfast giving out tracts. I'd have been on the other side this time. I can remember speaking to people who were giving out the tracts. This time, the Lord had brought us to the point where we were on the other side doing the distribution of the tracts. What a wonderful change God can make in a life. It's amazing to me that the Lord has saved me, that the Lord has brought me back, even after all those years of barrenness, and put me into a position of service for Him. I can remember attending the flame there in Guildford and going down to the outreach there and giving out tracts in Banbridge. I can remember going to Crookpatrick and giving out gospel tracts to those individuals on their pilgrimage up the mountain there in their bare feet. What a sad thing it was to see those people relying so heavily upon their works whenever Christ is the answer. And we give out so many gospel tracts on those occasions, preaching across, using speakers and batteries to those people who would walk past, and what respect they had for the Word. What respect, yet so many of our own young people that call themselves Protestant, so called, they will not even look at the word of God, they'll litter it straight onto the ground without bearing any consideration at all. You know, I can remember around that time wanting to know what more I could do for the Lord. I can remember on one occasion in our own church there in Balna Hinch, going to the prayer meeting before the service in the morning time. And I can remember praying quietly to myself, Lord, show me, show me what thou would have me to do. Lord, if there's anything that you want me to do, Lord, tell me, Lord, I want to know. what thou would have me to do. I remember praying it, I can remember it clearly. I can remember, the reason I remember it so well is because it would happen as soon as that meeting was over. Just as we broke up from the prayer meeting, you see, it's a dangerous thing to pray a prayer like that because the Lord hears prayer. And I can remember walking up the side of the church, ready to go into the church, and one of the elders come up behind me, Billy McElroy, who would have been the youth leader at that time, And he tapped me on the shoulder, and he says, how would you like to give a word of testimony at some of the meetings some night? I wanted to run. I was almost regretful for making that prayer, but because I did, I couldn't really go back on it. I couldn't renege. And I said, yes, certainly. Where will it be? And it was a wee while away, so it sort of let me off the hook. But it came the time, and I had to get up and give a word of personal testimony. The first time you do something like that is very, very difficult. You might say tonight's difficult as well, or it's difficult to hear it as well. But certainly it is hard to do something that's not in our comfort zone to do. But the Lord always, and I believe this from the bottom of my heart, the Lord always equips us for what he calls us for. I didn't feel able, and I didn't feel able tonight when I was coming up the road, to be totally honest. But I didn't feel able that occasion to bring a word of personal testimony, but the Lord enabled us to get over that hurdle that night and to give that word of testimony to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Around that time as well, I can remember being received into membership in Balna Hinch, and it was shortly after that that the same man came to me and he said, how would you feel about taking over as the youth leader in the church? That scared me as well, but yes, I prayed about it, and I believed that the Lord would have me come into that position. And really, I've been leading the youth fellowship from then until I went into college back there in September time, which is a period of, I suppose, about almost 12 years. I've been the youth leader there in Balna Henge. And it's just wonderful where the Lord would have us be. You see, you just have to give yourself over to God. The work is the Lord's. Sometimes we forget that. God's work is just that. It's God's work. We must trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith. See, people keep me going even yet, but say, why do you never worry about things? Why do you never worry about this and that and the other? These bells that are coming in, or why do you not worry about that? And you see, we have. As I quoted at the very start there, that verse, there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. No matter what I have to go through, I was just remarking there in my own study very recently, of how when God commands you to go, you don't go on your own because God goes with you. See, God accompanies us wherever we go. As a child of God, we are never on our own. I was just thinking that. There was somebody saying to me the other day, did you go such and such a place? I said, I did. Did you go on your own? I was just thinking, no, I didn't go on my own. I never go anywhere on my own. And we as Christians should never try to go anywhere that we would never take the Lord with us. You see, that's my problem back in my backsliding days. I tried to go to pubs and clubs and places where I could not have taken the witness of God with me. We live and learn. It was around that time, or very shortly after that, that I met the girl who later became my wife. What a wonderful time that was. That was back just at the end of the last millennium. I think it was December 1999. And I was attending, at that time, on the Wednesday night, the students' fellowship meetings there in the Tyndale Memorial Church down in Belfast in the village area. And she was on the committee there at that time. Esther Crawford, she was then. We sat very soon after that to go about the process of changing her name. So that was a big wedding there. It was the 4th of July, 2001. Many people remember that. Yes, that's Independence Day. I say, no, it's not. I've been there and I know that that is not Independence Day. It's American Independence Day, but it certainly was not for me. We've had two children since, Bethany and Reuben. They're going on well. In fact, there is a chance, depending on the connection in our house and all the rest of it, that they might just be watching the service tonight. But I can remember Bethany coming to me and telling me that she had got saved. Bethany is a wee soul winner, especially. Bethany and Reuben seek to do the work of an evangelist. And Bethany came to me, and she told me about Reuben, that she had spoke to Reuben, and she had been using any opportunity she could to her younger brother Reuben, about asking, as she put it, asking God into his heart. And she evangelized Reuben for the Lord as well. You know, they would put us to shame sometimes, the little children, how they can speak fearlessly to people, and how we fear to the extent that we'd close our mouths. You see, we ought to evangelize to the lost the same way as the kids do. They put us to shame very often. You know, there's family and friends that we can't really speak to. It's very difficult to speak to. You're afraid of offending them. Bethany and Reuben, especially Bethany there, she has spoken to her, to my in-laws, some of which are outside of Christ tonight. And she has spoken to them and spoken to them and spoken to them again. You know how we can learn so much from watching the way these little ones go about on the Lord's business. What a wonderful thing. I can remember just very quickly to speak about my call Because I'm obviously standing here tonight with a Whitfield College tie on, with a lapel or with a badge sewn and emblazoned onto my blazer tonight. I can hardly believe it. It's not really sunk into me yet. And I've just had a lot of exams there to remind me of it. But as her brother reminded there, I'm living the nightmare that he's still having. But I'll try not to think about that until tomorrow morning when I'm due to go back in. God's call came to me in a very strong way. It came to me really over a period of time, and I kept putting it off. I kept saying either a combination of no, Lord, and wait, Lord, and I'm sure I'm doing a good work here, and I'm doing this, I'm doing that, I'm doing the other thing. But you see, the thing is with God, we need to be where God would have us to be. Isn't it a fact that we can justify anything, really, in our own minds? We can justify being where we are, using our own arguments, but when God speaks, God speaks. And God worked with me for a long time through the Word, through what I seen, through with my own eyes and my own situation and my own seeing the need in the church, et cetera, et cetera. And I can remember one thing in particular, I can remember I used to drive, well, I'd done a lot of things, but one of them would have been I drove a van delivering batteries all over the North. All over Northern Ireland, I suppose, would be a better way to put that. And I can remember the main road from Londonderry to Straban, there's a tree on that road. And every time I went past that tree, someone had put up this plaque with words on it. And it said these words on it, God's way is the only way. I don't know who's responsible for that. But every time I went past that, I couldn't shake it off. And every time I got near it, I nearly even tried to take the verses to get around it. But I couldn't get away from this message. This message was God speaking to my heart. God's way is the only way. You see, we can fight against God when we think of Jonah and how Jonah fought against God, but Jonah ended up going the way that God would have him to go. And God's final call confirmed and came to me again really there. And it was there in 1 Timothy 4, verse 14. I'm going to read the first part of the verse. It says, neglect not the gift that is within thee. You know, I looked it up in a Bible that I was using at that time, and I've got two dates on it. One is the 16th of the 8th, 2008, and again, the 12th of the 2nd, 2012. God had been speaking to me over a long period of time through that verse, through many others, but through that verse in particular. And I believe the Lord, even through my employment, I worked formally as a mechanical technician in Lankford Lodge Engineering, producing parts really for the ejector seat, the Martin Baker ejector seat. And I worked in various stages of the production line there and finished up just over five years ago there as an inspector. And the Lord brought me through, and I do believe the Lord brought me through several stages of training that weren't even maybe in direct relation to my job, but through different things. And even after I come out, he brought me through different things. I've just finished building my own house there a couple of years ago, through different things, managing my own business, working in sales right across Northern Ireland for this battery company, et cetera. And I do believe that even to tie it into that verse to 1 Timothy 4 and 14, neglect not the gift that is within thee. The Lord himself has been bringing us through various stages, preparing us for something. I don't know what. I am at the start of a long journey. The four-year theology course is four years minimum. I might be able to look back in 20 years time and say, my first year of college was the best 10 years of my life. I trust not. But I believe that the Lord is bringing me this way for a particular reason. I don't know what it is, but I don't need to know. I'm not even worried about seeing too far ahead because I know Him. who holds the future. And if you're worried tonight, and you're worried about where you're stepping out to, you're stepping out into the darkness. I'm certainly stepping into the darkness in Bible college. It's completely different from engineering than any other qualifications that I've done to date. I used to be all, like our brother behind me here, all maths-based. Now I'm doing languages that I can't get head or tail off. But yet, whenever I got my results there in January, the Lord has helped us. And the Lord will help us. And the Lord will equip us for what he has called us to do. God, it's God's work. God will equip, God will call, God will lead, God will direct, God will provide. Never fear. We have to, of course, be sensible, but there is that sliding scale of balance. I always think of it as a sliding scale. You've got naught on one side, a hundred on the other. And if we're trusting fully in God, we are not worrying. But if we're worrying fully, we're not trusting. Now, any one of us, we're gonna be somewhere in the middle, but we want to try to keep as far as we can to the side where we're trusting fully in what the Lord has and what the Lord has done for us. You know, it's wonderful to think where the Lord has brought us to. all the training that the Lord has brought us through, and all the stages of life that the Lord has brought us to, but to God be the glory. Great things God has done. It's not of any individual. It's not of me. Salvation, as the word says, is of the Lord. If you're tonight and you're wondering about these things, and wondering maybe about something that the Lord has been speaking to you about, God will make that crooked path straight. You know, we often, as Christians, we ought to, we often lament of how the unsaved do not come and how the unsaved do not accept what the Lord has done and just give themselves completely to Him. And we often say to the unsaved, and rightly so, that don't worry, the Lord will keep us, the Lord will keep us, and the Lord will sustain us. And I often use that illustration. My son, Reuben, he's six-year-old now there, just a lot of weeks ago. And if I'm taking Reuben across a busy street with lorries coming both ways, I will take Reuben's hand in mine and he will take my hand in his. He might think he's holding me. but he's not really. If a lorry comes around the corner unexpected, I've got a good grip of his hand. He might think he's doing the holding, but it's me, I'm doing the holding. So much more, infinitely more with God. We might think we're holding onto our salvation. God holds onto us. We believe we're Calvinistic. And we believe that once we're saved, we're always saved. We cannot be lost. That bond between God and the sinner is unbreakable. What a belief, what a strength, what assurance we have, even through that belief. I trust that even some of what is said tonight might be blessed to your soul. Just in closing, I want to read just a couple of verses from the book of Psalms. This is my testimony. I would love it tonight before this meeting's over, there's a time of fellowship at the end. If anyone has a question, if you're outside of Christ, if you want to speak to me about the call of God or about any other thing, even something we might not be able to answer your questions fully on, but we can certainly get you an answer and we can spend time with you. This is my testimony. This can be your testimony as well. Psalm 23. Verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Can you put this that your own name is in it? Can you say it of a truth tonight? Are you saved? Is the Lord your shepherd? He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. I love that part. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And then we'll come to the crux of it and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. I'd like to thank our brother very much for his testimony tonight. It's brought back a lot of memories for me and it's been a real blessing to our hearts. It's just a question that I have for our brother. He mentioned a man that was at Ballykindler And he went to City Mission. What was his name? AJ. AJ, yeah. I have a bone to pick with him because that's the man introduced me to my wife quite a few years ago. And he just lived outside of Lisbon. It was all coming together. And then her brother said he got married on the 4th of July. And I get married on the 4th of July as well. So, a lot of things in common tonight. But I just want to finish, folks, with just a reading from 1 Kings chapter 18. Let me read the Word of God to you. You don't necessarily need to look it up. Just a few verses. 1 Kings 18 and verse number 17. And as I say, I thank our brother for coming tonight and for bearing his soul to us. 1 Kings 18, 17. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, and that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal, 450, and the prophets of the groves, 400, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him, not a word. Amen. Here we have one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah. A large crowd of people has gathered, 850 false prophets and many, many people, lay people from the nation of Israel. They're all gathered together on a hillside at Mount Carmel. An altar's about to be erected and a sacrifice is about to be made and the prophet of God stands and he calls the people to decision. He challenges them that know so much about God and have so much in their history of the dealings of God and know so much of God intellectually and perhaps theologically but not experientially. And he asks them a question. How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord is God, if Jehovah is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, then follow him. In other words, it's one or the other. He says you can't straddle the fence any longer. God is speaking. You people, he says, you know so much, but you've been putting it off for so long. How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord is God, serve him, follow him, walk with him. But if not, if it's all a sham and if it's not real, if it's not true, then serve Beal, serve the God of this world. And tonight we stand, as it were, by faith at another hill, Mount Calvary. We stand tonight at another altar, it's the altar of the cross. And we stand tonight to gaze upon another sacrifice, it's the sacrifice of God's dear Son. The Son of God, Paul said, who loved me and gave himself for me. And tonight I want to bring you to the cross in the dying seconds of this meeting. See the Son of God nailed there, shedding his precious blood, crying out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Some of you tonight know it all so well, but you're still not right through for Christ and for God. You're halting between two opinions, trying to straddle the fence. Yes, there's part of you that would love to be saved and wants to be saved, and you know you need to be saved, but there's this other pull that's pulling you towards the world and towards self and towards sin. And I stand tonight as God's servant, and I ask you, how long? How long are you going to halt between two opinions? If Jesus Christ is the Son of God, give him your life. But if not, well then, just go as you please. But you know the truth. How long halt ye between two opinions? Time is passing. God is waiting. And the Spirit of God is striving. Elijah asked this question, and the Bible says that the people answered him not a word. They had no answer. There was no legitimate and no logical reason why they shouldn't just throw down their arms of rebellion and forsake the old life and embrace God. They knew that it was the right thing to do. They had no answer. And I ask you tonight, how long halt you between two opinions? God is waiting. Christ is inviting. Time is passing, the Spirit of God is striving and the Savior is willing. How long halt you between two opinions? You need to come to Christ tonight. He'll save you. If you come, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. We'll sing just a verse or two of our closing hymn. It's number 227. Hymn 227. Is there a heart that is waiting, longing for pardon, Today, hear the glad message proclaiming Jesus is passing this way. Well, think about the first two verses. Verse number two really ties in with our brother's testimony. Is there a heart that has wandered? You've maybe wandered from God tonight. You know that the Lord has spoken to you in times past. You've maybe looked back to a time in your life when it was well with your soul and you enjoyed fellowship with him, but your heart's wandered. will come to the Lord tonight. Come to thine only Redeemer, come to his infinite love, come to the gate that is leading homeward to mansions above. 227, the first two verses, and we'll stand as we sing.