We're going to commence our worship this evening by singing together the hymn 678. The hymn 678. We have heard the joyful sound. Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spread the tidings all around. Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Hymn 678 and we'll stand while we sing. Acceptance. Jesus saves, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. What we honor, O be kind, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Every sinner's heart and mind, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sleep the islands of the sea, and go by the ocean waves. Birch shall be, birch will be. Jesus lives, Jesus lives. Sing aloud the battle's cry, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. By His head the heavens sigh, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing His song with me. over the earth. Jesus save, Jesus save. Hear the hymns of mighty voice. Jesus save, Jesus save. Every nation's heart rejoice. Let us do still our hearts before the Lord in prayer. Let us take a moment to ask for the Lord's presence with us here this evening. Our gracious God and eternal Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the words that we have been singing this evening. We rejoice that we can say from the depths of our hearts that Jesus saves, Jesus saves. We thank Thee, O God, for that time in our own experience when we came to realize the truth of those words. We thank Thee that we looked away from self and we looked unto Thee, and we rejoice that our sins, which were many, were washed away. And Lord, we ask this evening that Thou wouldst help us to shout forth that glad tiding that Jesus sees. Wherever we go, help us to spread it. And we thank the Lord that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We thank thee for thy goodness to us this day already. We thank the Lord for the privilege of gathering in this fashion and of worshipping thy name. We rejoice tonight that there is none like unto thee, none like unto thee in power or in excellency. And Lord, we rejoice that there is none like unto thee also in compassion. And so, Lord, we ask that thou wouldst be with us here this evening. Help us to sing the hymns of praise. Help us to glorify thy great name. We thank thee also tonight for the brethren who have joined us here. We thank thee, O God, for being with them. Give them journeying mercies and blessing them. even in the week that has gone by. We thank you even for the opportunity we've had of fellowshipping with them. We thank you, Lord, there was a day in their lives when thou didst draw them to the cross, and we thank you that you saved them and you've called them. And, Lord, we rejoice that thou has blessed them. And we do remember their works there in the land of Kenya. We ask, O God, be with their congregations. We ask that thou would give them that joy of seeing many souls brought savingly unto thee. We thank you, Lord, tonight for our sister, Miss Russell, with us as well. And we thank thee, O God, for calling her to that land. And we rejoice the way that thou didst use her over the years and for souls that were drawn to thee and for thee establishing and strengthening even of the work there. And we ask that even as she continues in that work, even from here, that thou wouldst continue to bless her. So, Lord, be with our brethren tonight. Give them help as they speak, and we pray, Lord, that thou wouldst challenge our hearts. And we ask tonight, Lord, if there are those here and they're strangers to grace, Lord, our prayer would be tonight that they might look away unto thee and be saved this very evening. So, Lord, be with us now and bless us, for we pray in thy name and for thy glory. Amen. Amen. We're turning to our hymn books again. We're turning to the hymn 270. The hymn 270, Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His name. The hymn 270, we'll stand again while we sing. ♪ I'm not at all afraid of the dark ♪ Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to His name. And to my heart is the blood of mine. Glory to His name. to be here. Glory to his name. Glory to His name. Thine to my heart is the love of life. Glory to His name. I am so glad that I have entered in. Here Jesus saves me and keeps me free. All the creature is saved. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. High to my heart is the love of my life. Glory to his name. Well, it is my joy and privilege this evening to welcome along to our meeting Pastor Patrice Akele and also Pastor Andrew Cheptu. Our brethren are pastors in the Glory Bible Church in the land of Kenya. This is their first time ever to visit Northern Ireland, so I trust you'll make a good impression upon them and that they'll be looking to come back again to our province. Our brethren were with us on Tuesday morning, and we were able to show them a little of the history of Lurgan. So maybe they know it better than you or I now, but they got a good walk around Brownlow House and got to see a lot of things there. But it's a real joy to have our brethren. We've really enjoyed fellowship with them, and it's nice to meet them. And we trust that, as I will speak this evening, you will have even, as a result, a greater burden for the work of God in the land of Kenya. I'd also like to welcome along to our service Miss Margaret Russell. Our sister served the Lord for many years out in the land of Kenya. And although she's back home now in Northern Ireland, she's still working. And I know that she's still doing a lot of work for the work there in Kenya as well. So she's very welcome along to the meeting this evening. At this stage, I'm going to ask Pastor Patrice Akele to come, and he's going to give a report of the work in the land of Kenya, and then our other brother will speak and bring God's word a little later on. I'd like to sincerely thank you all for your warm welcome and time of stay here. And I also want to like to thank our brother and pastor here, and also our younger brother here, Damigan. He's the youngest of you all. So they made us feel home. They took us to, how do you call that house? I like to, there's a brown house, but I like to call it, there's another name, Orange? Or Calendar House. When I go home, I don't want to use any other name. I want to use a name like Calendar House so that people get excited to hear from me. And so we were privileged to walk and see things that some of you never saw because we were told by the manager there that I'm taking you to a place where most people don't So it was interesting, it was lovely, and it was a joy. So on my own behalf and on behalf of the Glory Bible Church, we want to sincerely thank you all for your continual prayer and support towards the work in Kenya. We are privileged to share with you the grace of God in our lives and in the land of Kenya. The Lord has been good and gracious. The work in Kenya started a long time ago, and I'll say it started in the days when Ms. Russell was still a young girl, and now she's grown and she's done lots of work. She spent most of her years in Kenya. She's more Kenyan than me. And she will tell you much more things than I will. But for this reason, I'd like just to mention a few things to say that we have five fellowships in Glory Bible Church. Fellowships have existed, but we did not have that name, Glory Bible Church, because of registration issues there. So we acquired that name back in 2019 through the help of a pastor friend who's also a pastor with us, Ibrahim Kiari, and we have moved on with the fellowships there. And among these five fellowships, we have three of them which are going to be constituted in the next few weeks, perhaps from next Sunday. We'll be having some of the board members coming over to make sure that they are to see that they are constituted in the rightful and biblical So, the work in Kenya continues well. We have Sunday schools all around. We have more Sunday schools than the fellowships themselves. We have about 12 Sunday schools. And so, it's through those Sunday schools that more work and fellowships are going to So as you continue to pray for us and with us, please pray for the great work that the Lord is sending these men from the board to come and do in constituting these churches. And also in our fellowships there in our churches, we have had a number of things taking place. We have trainings of pastors training that is going on at the moment and is being led by the board and we have men in this in this institute, Bible Institute, and they are doing well, so continue to pray for them that the Lord will prepare them adequate for the continual ministry of his word in the land of Kenya. So these are a few things that we mention about this work in Kenya. There are challenges, and these challenges are common, just like they will be with you here. The only difference is that your challenges might not be our challenges, yet they are all challenges. And so as you pray for us, pray that the Lord will also provide for us structures for worship, worship places. We are not requesting to have such a huge building that you think on this is for us having a nice small structure or just a place, a shelter from rain and sun will help and be encouragement. So we continue to pray that the Lord will provide for us in this regard. Now, we also pray that we'll have our pastor joined us just a few months ago. And not that he's a new person in the ministry, but he has been a lecturer at Bible College of East Africa. Now he's a bit far away from us. He's in the city of Nairobi and would like to have a fellowship begin there. And he's responsible for that work. Pray that the Lord will help him to start a fellowship, a new work in Nairobi, that the Lord will also expand that work as we continue. Now we have other Sunday school, as I said, Sunday schools have more than the fellowships we have in the interiors of Kenya by a place known as Lomut. It's very interior, very remote. And this work was started by our existing fellowship, Tantana. And so we pray that the Lord will lead through that fellowship that will also, the Rural Sunday School that will have a fellowship to continue at that very place. Also, we request that you pray that the Lord will bless the young man and his family that will be coming to Kenya this coming month to visit Kenya and to have a very, very successful time there with us. Pray for the book ministry. Some of you have been have been very helpful in giving out donating books for our bookshop. The bookshop ministry is very active there and we call like the Kakamega Fellowship when bookshop will say it's our Jerusalem. That's where everything started in Kakamega Fellowship. There was a Bible study every Tuesday in that bookshop And through that Bible study, we were able to begin a Sunday service. And from that Sunday service, we now have a student's fellowship. We have what we call book club every Friday. And this is mainly aimed at reaching to the students because the university is just across the road. So pray for the book ministry there. Pray all for the workers in that bookshop. It's our Jerusalem, as I said before. And so when you continue to pray for it, remember you are praying for the launching zone of the work in that area. We also have another bookshop, but very tiny one in a shopping mall in Kitale where my brother Antu is leading the work. And that place has also been a blessing. So pray for that work. And as you pray for that, please remember to pray also for the Let the Bible Speak program. I'm sure all of you know about it. We are preparing messages and recording and sending them to our local radio stations for the outreach ministry, and so we seek that you continue to pray for that work. The work in Glory Bible Church is in baby steps. We are still constituting and planning things. We would like to lay a sure foundation, Bible-based foundation, that all those who join in the work and whom the Lord will bring into the work will find proper structures to continue working upon. We want to try our best by the help of God and through your prayers to see that that work continues and it will continue also to be an encouragement to all of you. Having said all these things, we want also to request that you pray for the for Reverend Patterson, Reverend Patterson and his wife who are with us in Kenya as they continue to labor. One thing that perhaps you are helping, and we thank God for all that. It's one thing to sacrifice to come to the land of Africa. It's another thing to love people and souls of men. So as you sacrifice to see that the work is going on and to see that such men, such a family is there to help us, pray for them. I can assure you and tell you things that perhaps we wouldn't have known if we never came over here, that someone leaving this land to come and work in Africa is not leaving some things behind, but is leaving all the comfort behind. And you cannot sacrifice just to be there, but you must have the desire, you must have passion for the souls to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so pray for them. They miss most of these things, but we never knew they miss. And indeed, they never show that they miss. They have love for us. So pray that the Lord will continue to encourage them in the work. And the Lord will be pleased to bring other young men whom I can see around here to call them into the ministry and call them into the work, not only in Africa, but the rest of the world. So we are very, very thankful. May the Lord bless all of you as you continue to pray for us. May the Lord bless all of you as you continue to encourage us in this work. And we want to assure you that as Glory Bible Church, we are also praying for you. And the fact that we have come over, we know perhaps what to pray more about than we would have. And the same way you have seen us, you have heard from us, you will know how to pray. rightly for our needs. May the Lord bless you so much. Thank you. I want to thank our brother for giving that report, an encouraging report, and we trust that you'll remember those works. Sometimes, you know, we have missionaries come, and sometimes maybe we don't know exactly where they are, so we encourage you. Even our brother mentioned different names there, and we encourage you even to go home and to look up a map of Kenya and to see exactly where our brethren are, and then to remember them before the throne of grace in prayer. At this stage, I'm going to ask for Brother Mr. Todd to come and to make the announcements for the incoming week. Well, good evening, everyone. I'm glad to see so many out tonight at our special family and friends service. You're most welcome. I see a few visitors with us as well, and we're glad to see you all. I trust that the Lord will bless us as we listen to the reports tonight and the preaching of our brethren, and may the Lord bless them as well. I'd like to welcome those who are joining with us online. You're most welcome, and I trust that the Lord will bless you also as you participate with us in worship tonight. I'd like to give a special welcome to Miss Margaret Russell, who has brought her brethren along tonight. It's good to see you, sister, in the meeting. I trust the Lord will bless you also. And I would like to give a very special welcome. I know that Reverend Murray has already introduced our two pastors, but I would like to give them a special welcome along tonight to our service. And we have heard that a lot is going on in the land of Kenya, and we pray that the Lord will bless our brethren, not only in Kenya, but also encourage them here. as they see people praying for them and talking to them. So I just welcome our brethren here tonight in a very special way. So the announcements for the incoming week, and I'll try and be as brief as possible, because I'm sure you don't want to listen to me tonight. First of all, a reminder that today is our Audio Visual Fund Sunday, and please do remember that in your giving towards the Lord's work. The midweek meeting will be on Tuesday at 8 p.m. and the Reverend Murray will be the speaker, God willing. After the time of prayer on Tuesday, there will be a meeting of the Communicant members of the congregation, and that meeting will be to ratify a document drawn up by the Presbytery in regard to registration with the Charity Commission. The Youth Fellowship will be meeting this Friday for a fun night and barbecue. That will be here at the church at a quarter past six, and all young people are very welcome along to that evening. Even if you don't normally attend the Youth Fellowship, you'll be very welcome along to that fun evening on Friday night. Next Saturday, that is the 21st of May, there will be a Consider Christ Outreach to Calvin and Monaghan. And anyone wishing to go to that, if you please speak to our brother, Mr. Philip Irwin. Next Lord's Day, the Sunday School and Bible Class will be held at half past ten in the morning. Services will be at the usual times of 11.30 and And both of those services will be preceded by the time of prayer in the committee room. And just a final notice that the Vision magazine is available on the porch table. They are free, so do feel free to lift one on your way out, even tonight. These are all the announcements. Thank you. We thank our brother for making those announcements. Please also do remember that the funeral service for Mr. John Hill will be here in this house on Tuesday afternoon at 1pm. And contrary to what came up on the website first, it is not private. The funeral service will be open and all will be very welcome. We're going to sing another hymn together, the Hymn 204. The Hymn 204. Let us sing of His love once again, of the love that can never decay, of the blood of the Lamb who was slain, till we praise Him again. in that day. The hymn 204, we usually let you sit for a couple of the verses, but we'll get you to stand. It's warm. I don't want you falling asleep. So we'll get you to stand while we sing this hymn. ♪ And ever he reigns ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ There we praise him again in our day ♪ ♪ I believe Jesus reigns ♪ ♪ As true we shall win ♪ ♪ Far we find in the strength of our King ♪ ♪ There is plenty that we may pour on ♪ ♪ There will light in our lives be found ♪ In the island, in the spring, through the fall. I believe Jesus came, and He's on His way on earth and soul. We shall win, for we find in the strength of our King. Even now when we taste of his love, we are filled with delight through his name. All our hope could be when alone. We shall join in the song of the Lamb. I believe Jesus' name, and His blood makes me whiter than snow. I am sure we shall win, for we fight in the strength are divine, and are saviors of health, love, or sore, to the regions of glory and might. As we said, we are very glad to have with us this evening our two brethren. And at this stage, I'm going to ask Pastor Andrew Chemp to come and to speak to us. I first met our brother, I think it was in around 2016. And I was just looking back the other day at some photographs and he has grown, but not that way. He has grown like myself this way. He was a lot thinner back then, but it's lovely to renew fellowship with our brother. He stayed with us on Monday evening and we enjoyed the time of fellowship. And we're going to ask him just to come now and to speak a little about himself and the work and bring God's precious word to us this evening. Thank you, Reverend Thomas Murray. Back home we pronounce Murray with Jeff away, but I really appreciate for the words of welcome and it's a joy to be with you this night and to worship together our Lord. My name is Pastor Andrew, as it has been said, and I would like to bring greetings from back home, especially from my family. My wife is called Marcy, so I bring greetings from Marcy together with my two boys, Jayden and Timothy. As he has said, our sister, Margaret, is still working back at Kenya. Yes, she's working remotely from this place. Actively, she's involved in the work in Kenya. And we are really thankful because of her. And we are thankful also because of the entire family of Free Presbyterian Church here because of her. And we are really thankful because of that. There is one thing that I was interested to say about. When we were working here, we were taken around to visit here and there in this area. one man when we had our dinner. Dinner, when you have a meal at around one, two, we say lunch back in Kenya. But here you call dinner, even a meal that's taken at 1 p.m. So we had our dinner and one man told us that this evening we will be having a high tea. So I thought that it was just a tea. We are going to take tea. But when we went to have that tea, really, it was huge. We had various types of foodstuff, and we really enjoyed. And on that regard, I wanted to say on behalf of my friend, my colleague, Pastor Akali, and myself, thank you all because of the warm welcome and your kindness. Thank you all because of your hospitality. Wherever we were, we really enjoyed. and we really thank you all because of that. So may the Lord bless you all. We know that that fellowship that we had together, it's because of one reason, because we are united together in Christ, and we are joyful, and we are united with him. This evening, I would like us to open together our Bibles, the book of Luke chapter 18. The first hymn that we sang, it says, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. And it's really wonderful. It's a real, a true song to us this evening. I'm going to read the word of God from verse 35 to 43, Luke chapter 18. I'm going to read the word of God. And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging. And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passed by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him. that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him, saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God, and all the people. When they saw it, gave praise unto God. And may the Lord bless the reading of his word to our hearts this night. Let us have a word of prayer. Our gracious father in heaven, we thank thee, Lord, because of this opportunity that we are able to meet together around thy word. Father, bless this word to our souls. We pray that may the spirit of God speak to each and every one of us in a special way. Father, we do pray that thou will go with us throughout the service but we pray all these trusting in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. When we read the books of the Gospels from Matthew to John, you will find that Jesus Christ interacted with various people. Many of them you could find maybe those that had infirmities. Sometimes he could meet those who are scholars. He met the Jews during his ministry. And so Christ interacted with various people. When we come to the portion of the scripture that is before us, we find Jesus meeting a man. And we are told in verse 35 that, and it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging. He met a blind man. When he was on his way to Jericho, he met one man who was blind. And in a few minutes before us, I would like us to consider together about this blind man, the blind man. The first thing that I would like us to consider together from this blind man is that the condition of the blind man, the condition of this man. It's clear from First 35 that This man was blind. As we read again, a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging. So we have a blind man here who was begging, and we know about the blind man. A blind person is a person who has no power, power to see. He does not see. He doesn't have the sight. And this is the man that we find in this portion of scripture. And when we look about the blind man, there is some consequences that comes upon a blind man. We see from here that this man, what he was doing is that he was begging. He was begging. Why did he beg? Because he was blind. A person who is blind, because he does not have power to see, is rendered a beggar. Because he or she will not see what to do. You will not do a work, a job in order to have wages. No. So the only way that this man could earn a living is through dependence, to depend upon other people. So he stayed at the roadside begging. In other words, this man was rendered miserable in his life because of the condition that he was. He was a beggar. He begged. When you go back, when you go back to our land, sometimes when you go along the streets, if you have time one time to come to Kenya, you will find people who are blind. And these people who are blind, they are taken to a strategic point whereby they sit there and take it back. So they have something like a plate or a cup and put it like this. So whatever will pass may see and may drop a coin there or whatever. Those people, they are in a miserable condition. And this is the same to this man that we find in the portion of scripture before us. He was begging, he was begging. And it's true to our spiritual lives. The Bible says, when you read in the book of Romans chapter 3, verse 23, the word of God says that for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned, all people have sinned. The Bible is clear that all people, all mankind that ever came to this world have sinned and they have fallen short of the glory of God. That's the condition of all men. And because of sin, because of this sin, sin has blinded the hearts of men. When we read again the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 18. The book of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 18. The word of God says, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of their sin, they are blind in their hearts. Whole men, they are blind in their hearts. What do we mean when we talk about the blindness, the spiritual blindness, the blindness of their heart? We mean a person who have no any relationship with God. A person who is an enemy to God. A person who has no relationship with God. He's alienated from that life, the life of God in his or her life. He has no God as his portion. That's the condition of all men. They are blind. They are blind because of their sins. And because of that, because of the blindness of their hearts, they are in a miserable condition. As this man that was pecking, he was in a miserable condition. And therefore, a blind man who is dead in his or her sins is in a miserable condition because he has no God and he will go to hell forever. An unsafe person is in a miserable condition, like this man. Let us think about it tonight. I'm reminded, when I think about one song that was sung by one lady, This lady that is called Fanny Crosby, when you see in the first stanza of the hymn 323, if I'm not wrong, the first stanza of it, it says, he sang about the amazing grace. And this is what she said. Amazing grace, how sweet sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. What does the last line say? It says, was blind, but now I see. Fanny Crosby was blind. But it's interesting that she sang this song and say that, was blind, but now I see. Physically, she was blind, but now she says, I was blind, but now I see. Vani Crosby, physically she was blind, but spiritually, she had the sight. She had the power spiritually to see because she had that relationship with the Lord himself. And let us learn something from this portion of scripture when we consider about the condition of this man. You may be seeing, you may have that power to see tonight, but spiritually you are blind. You may have that physical sight, but spiritually, you are blind. I ask you this question. Do you have the Lord himself tonight? Are you saved? If you are not saved, you are blind spiritually. You are blind. This man was blind. His condition is that he was blind. In the second place, I would like us to consider together the cry of this man. We are told in the portion of the scripture that, and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. So this man, because he was blind, he heard a commotion of people moving around, crossing, and he wondered, what's going on? What's happening here? And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passed by. And in verse 38, we are told that, and he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He cried unto Jesus and asked for mercy. He cried for mercy. In that verse, One thing that we learned from that cry is that he realized his greatest need. He realized that the greatest need he had. When people were passing there, what he was asking, he was begging for help. He was begging, maybe saying, assist me with a penny or a cent, something you have. But now at this time, when Christ was passing by, he did not ask for any penny, any cent, but he said, have mercy on me. Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He knew, he knew, he realized the need of his soul. He realized that. the greatest need that he knew is to receive his sight. And it's true to us today. It's true to you. If you are not saved, the greatest need in your life is to have that spiritual sight, not to be blinded by sin in your life. And in that cry, we find the person he cried to. We are told in 1st 28, when we go back to 1st 28, 1st 38, sorry. And he cried saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. There were a great multitude of people passing by. They were passing there. But here, he singled out the Lord himself and cried to the Lord. He did not call anybody else, but he cried to the Lord himself. So the person that he cried out to is Jesus Christ. And here, we have the revelation of the name of Jesus Christ, because in his cry, he says, and he cried saying, Jesus, thou son of David. He cried to Jesus, the son of David, the son of David. When we think about this name, the son of David, we learn about the David in the Old Testament. When you read in the book of 1 Samuel, you read about the covenant that God made with David. And in that covenant, God promised David that I will establish your kingdom. There was a covenant relationship of David with Kotefather. There was that promise. And in that promise, by the Lord promising an everlasting covenant, we see there about the divinity, divinity of our Lord. Because who could establish an everlasting covenant kingdom? It's God himself. All the kingdoms of the Old Testament of the kings, it came to an end. But the only kingdom that lasts forever is the kingdom of our Lord. And here, we see also from that, by the revelation of the name, when he says that thou son of David, When you read in the book of Matthew chapter one, verse 17, the word of God says, so hold the generations from Abraham, Abraham to David are 14 generations. We are told about the generation of David. And in that line, we find that Christ came out of that generation and death is included there. And what does that mean? Teach us today. He teaches us about the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here, when the blind man says that in verse 38, and he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, that's the truth that we have from that cry. In other words, he cried to the right person, God incarnate. who has the power to give him or to restore his sight. And for you to receive your spiritual sight, you need to cry to the right person. And the right person is Jesus Christ himself. No other person is able to save you. to give you a spiritual sight. Also, in that cry, what did he cry for? What did he cry for? Let us consider again that cry. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He cried for mercy. He cried for mercy. What's mercy? Mercy is God's goodness to those who are in miserable condition. This man knew rightly his condition. He knew that he's in a miserable condition. And what he needed, he needed God's mercy. He needed Christ to exercise his mercy towards him. That's what he needed. And here he cried, have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me, Jesus. And a sinner, that's what a sinner needs. He needs God's mercies. You need God's mercy. If you are not saved, you need God's mercies. You need Christ to exercise his mercy upon you. You need to cry to the Lord and ask, have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me. Are you a sinner tonight? Cry. Cry to the Lord for his mercy. The last thing that I would like us to consider also is the answer. to the cry of the blind man. When we read in the portion of the scripture that we have read, and they which went before rebuked him. When he cried for mercy, the disciples rebuked him that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was near, he asked, saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. The Lord asked this man, what do you want me to do for you? What do you want? You are crying. What do you want me to do for you? And the answer of this man is say that I may receive my sight. It's a simple and direct request. Simple and very direct. He did not give an explanation. Even the reasons why he was blind, he did not say about that, but he went direct. to what he wanted, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight. He received his sight. It was, as I've said, he presented a symbol, blame, and direct request to Jesus Christ. He knew that this was the only opportunity that was before him. This was the only opportunity for him. And so he got hold of the opportunity and gave his request. He gave his request. And Asena, if you are not saved today, ask the Lord to be merciful to you. Be direct. symbol and ask for his mercies. I remember when I was saved from the year 1996. I went through some conviction in my life until the year 2003. And the year 2003, there was a church that was started back at home. And during that, I went for the preaching of the word of God. After three weeks, I was convicted because of my sins. I knew that I need the Lord. If I will not be saved, I will perish forever. I remember one evening, I went to the kitchen, and I prayed a simple prayer. And I just prayed like this. God, I'm a sinner. Forgive me my sins. And from that evening, my life changed. And I felt, as John Bunyan say that, When you read about the book of John Bunyan, the pilgrim progress, he went to a certain point, and by that point, he saw the cross of Jesus Christ, and when he saw the cross of Jesus Christ, the burden that he was carrying fell down. And from that day, the burden of sin in my life fell down because I cried to Jesus Christ. We are thankful tonight when we read the word of God in the book of John chapter 6, verse 37. John chapter 6, verse 37, the word of God says, hold that the father given me shall come to me and him that come to me I will no wise cast out. Jesus gives this precious promise in this verse, and says that, he that cometh to me, I will no wise cast out. This blind man, when he came to Jesus Christ, and cried for mercy, Jesus, the son of David, have mercy upon me. Christ did not cast him away. He did not cast him away. Rather, he Give this man the power to see. Our Lord Jesus Christ does not turn away to those who seek him genuinely. You come and repent your sins and ask the Lord, have mercy upon me, he will not cast you away. He will not. He will not. Let us learn from this, learn from this, blind man. He prayed a simple prayer, direct the plane, he caught hold of the opportunity, and he received the power to see. Let me tell you a story that was told some time back. And this story happened in Brazil. And one evening, a certain Old preacher, when he was walking along the street, he happened to meet a young man. And he spoke to this young man, and he witnessed to that young man. He told about the Lord and the need of his soul, that he needs to be saved. that he needs to be saved. What happened to that young man? What he said is that he told the old man that, I'm going to a certain party because I'm invited, let me go to them to attend their party. And after that, tomorrow morning I'll be on your door and I'll receive Christ. And the man encouraged the young man to receive Christ. But he continued to say to Akio and to say that, let me go and have the party. So he said, OK, go. During the party, there was a fight that came up at us. And this young man was involved in the fight. So the police came. And when they came, some ran. They went away. They escaped. but some were arrested, and this man happened to be arrested. So he was taken to the police station. While he was in there, they stayed at the night at the cells, and that morning, the police told this young man, yes, take us to where the other men are, that he was fighting with. So he took them, he directed them to the house, and when they approached the house, The other man which had a fight with this young man, he saw a police coming towards the house. And he saw through a hole. And he saw that it's the man that we fought last night. When they approached the house, he went and took his gun. And through the hole, he shot that young man and died instantly. The man failed to hold the opportunity to trust the Lord. That man went to hell forever. Because he had the opportunity, he had the gospel, he heard about our Lord Jesus Christ, but he did not use that opportunity. Are you here tonight? Maybe this is the last time for you to hear the gospel. Who knows? Think about it if you are not saved. Maybe this is the last time. Use the opportunity. Use the opportunity. This man, when he saw Christ, when Christ passed by, he cried, even despite all the opposition, all the rape. He continued to cry louder and louder, Jesus, Jesus, have mercy upon me. Cry tonight. Tell Jesus, Jesus, have mercy upon me, because maybe that's the last opportunity for you. Maybe that's the last opportunity. Maybe this one is the last. If you are not saved, then how about hate? Let me refer you again to the song that was sung by Fanny Crosby. She said, Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Pray tonight and ask the Lord, pass me not, O Savior. Have mercy upon me, upon me. And we are thankful tonight because the Lord says, I will not cast you out. He will not cast you out. This is true even to us back in Kenya. Each and every one of us, of the people there have, they need the Lord. They need the Lord. Many people, they are blind. They are out of Christ. They need the Savior. And we go around, we witness to them, we tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the greatest need that they have in their lives. It's the same in Kenya and here in Northern Ireland. So let us think about, if you are in this meeting tonight, think about this blind man and use the opportunity that the Lord has brought before you tonight. Think about it. And may the Lord bless his word to our hearts. Do thank our brother for bringing the word of God this evening, and we trust the Lord will write that word upon your heart, and that if you're not saved this evening, you'll be like that blind man, and that you will call upon the Lord for mercy. And praise God, when he called, he received mercy. And if you call tonight, you can receive that mercy as well. We're going to sing just to close our meeting, two verses of the hymn 669, Harked is the shepherd's voice, I hear, Out in the desert, dark and drear, Calling the lambs who've gone astray, Far from the shepherd's fold away. The hymn 669 will stand, and we're just singing the first two verses of the hymn. ♪ My King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King, my King ♪ Bring him in, bring him in ♪ ♪ Bring the wandering ones to Jesus ♪ ♪ Through the wild, the shepherds hide ♪ ♪ Helping the wandering ones survive ♪ Bring him in, bring him in. Can I just remind you that there is a cup of tea in the back hall and if you're able to stay for that cup of tea and you'll be very welcome if you just make your way through the doors here on each side of the pulpit. and you'll have an opportunity there even to meet our two brethren and to have a chat with them. If you're not able to stay, our brethren will be going to the front door and to shake hands there this evening. Let us just pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you tonight that we have been reminded that thou art a God of mercy. We recognize, Lord, that we are sinners by nature, blinded by our sin, without hope. But we thank thee that thou hast come even to this meeting. And Lord, we ask that as thou passest by and as this blind man wasted not the opportunity to call, the souls tonight would not miss that opportunity. Oh Lord, we cry to thee tonight that they might cry and that they might experience that mercy that comes from thee. Know their sins forgiven and be able to see thee as thou art. So, Lord, hear this, our prayer. We pray that for our brethren, we thank you for them, even as they would travel home this week, give them journeying mercies, bless their wives, bless their families, bless their congregations. And, Lord, we pray that thou wouldst give them the joy of seeing many in the places which thou hast appointed them, drawn savingly unto thee. So, Lord, hear this, our prayer. We thank you for the food that's being provided. Bless it to our bodies and bless our fellowship. Then take us to our homes in safety. For Lord, we pray in thy name and for thy glory. Amen.