Bye! Well, I was enjoying those last three pieces so much that all my nerves went away for a few seconds, then suddenly it was all over, and then my heart began to beat again. But I have noticed today that there's not too many nerves here. The boys and girls have done really well, and they're all going to be presented. And I noticed today that the boys and girls have not been one bit nervous. In fact, I've noticed lots of lovely smiles, even when they come up to take part, and that's tremendous. And I want to add my congratulations to the effort that you put in. And of course, we must remember that Sundays for Teachers and all those in the background, these programs just don't happen by themselves. It takes a lot of work and a lot of effort. And now you can all relax. and you can all take it easy and it's all over. Of course that is until this time next year and it all starts over again. Perhaps we can have just a wee word of prayer and then we want to share with you some thoughts and I trust it will be a blessing to you tonight. Let's just pray. Dear Lord, we just thank thee for all that's gone on before and we pray for each of these young people that you'll use them and bless them that we get a taste of soul and that they will be used by the Lord in the days that lie ahead. Bless the families, and bless the friends that have gathered tonight, and we just now look to thee afresh for good health and for power and for guidance. We ask it all in the name of your wonderful and precious name. Amen. OK. Now, I don't know as well as everybody else here, there is nothing you get to church. And sometimes, whenever the church meeting starts, a wee bag of sweets is opened, and a wee packet of sweets is opened, and they're snipped ever so quietly to the next person, and they all enjoy a wee sweet during a meeting. What I would know, especially the boys and girls who really love sweeties. Some of you boys and girls might like chewy sweeties. Some of you might like minty sweeties. Some might like chocolate sweeties. What are we getting? Well, I'll tell you what we'll do. I have brought tonight with me some of my favorite sweets. And what we will do will be exactly the same as we did this morning. For all of the boys and girls who are here, both at the front and who are sitting elsewhere, at the door, I'll get this bag of sweets open and you'll get a few out of it. So you couldn't beat that. That's terrific. You wouldn't get that in school. You could sit in school all day with your arms folded and behave yourself and you'd get nothing, only homework. But not here. This is terrific. And one of my favorite types of sweeties, I've got them in the bag here. are the good old Jelly Babies. I love Jelly Babies. Now there's two reasons why we brought the Jelly Babies. Number one, we want to share them with the boys and girls at the end. And number two, we want to talk about the Jelly Babies for a little while tonight. Now I am a full-time child evangelist, and in my house I have several boxes and containers, and they're all full of stuff for boys and girls. And there's one in particular, it is just full of Sweeties. And last night I went to the box, and shock horror, the Sweeties that I wanted for tonight's meeting, they were all gone. They were all used up. You see, I wanted a packet of jelly babies. And I wanted the real jelly babies, not these other ones. I'll not mention their name in case I get into handling. But you know the ones I mean. You get them in the pound shop. I wanted the real jelly babies, the really good ones. Bertie Bassett's, he's the boy who makes them. And I didn't have any. And so I had to jump in the car, because there's not too many shops right beside me. And I went away down to the shop, and went up and down the rows in the shop, and went to all the sweetie packets, and even asked at the counter, and they didn't have the ones that I wanted. But this is the next best thing. But I was really wanting the better ones, because they are the ones we want to talk about. Now I had two choices to make. There was one packet hanging on the rack, and the next shop It's three miles there and three miles back, and they might not have any. So we had to make a quick decision, and we're stuck with these ones. But these ones are dead on. They're lovely as well. They go down the same way. They're very nice. But we want just for a few minutes tonight to talk about Jelly Babies. And I hope that Reverend Dane hasn't covered this subject in the last while or done a series on it or I'm beat. But we're going to talk about Jelly Babies tonight. And that's all we're talking about. Because there's some wonderful lessons to learn from the Jelly Babies. Now I want to tell you the story of the Jelly Babies. And this story started a way back in 18, 64. That's when all the people on this side were just teenagers. Way back then, over in England, there was a big Swedish factory. It was owned by a company called Fryers, not fries, but Fryers of Lancashire. And they had a big sweetie factory. Now I'm not too sure whether things were going well, or things were not going too well, but no doubt the boss would always have a frown on his face, and no doubt the boss was always at the workers to come up with good ideas to make sweeties to sell to boys and girls. And I'm sure the chief sweetie maker would have maybe scratched his head, and scratched his ear, and scratched his chin, and maybe scratched his head some more to try and come up with some good ideas to keep the boss happy. And it was decided that they would have to come up with a new suite, something that nobody else had ever had before. And they decided, well, boys and girls, they love teddy bears, especially when they're small. We all have our favourite teddy bear. And they decided, well, we could make sweeties in the shape of teddy bears. And the boys and girls could play with them and then eat them. And then they would want more. And then they would want more. And then they would want more. And so this is what was decided. But what happened was this. Whenever the chief sweetie maker prepared the special mold to put the sweetie liquid into, and they got it all ready, and the day came when they turned them all upside down, and they put them out on the counter to see what kind of a job he did, the boss was not one bit happy. In fact, the boss said, these don't look like teddy bears at all. They look more like jelly babies. And because they had spent so much money, they couldn't go back. And so that's where it began to start. Now way back at the beginning, they didn't call them jelly babies. They actually called them unclaimed babies. A wee bit of a problem there in marketing, I think he needs fired. But way back in Victorian times, they never thought any more of that because there were, way back then, many little infants that were left unclaimed, left outside of hospitals, left outside of orphanages. People didn't want them. And so those little sweeties were called unclaimed babies. But then something terrible happened. An awful war came in 1914 to 1918, the First World War. And that was a terrible time. And as soon as that war came to a conclusion, the people were so happy to have it all behind them and to have peace. They began to make the sweeties again, and this time they changed the name, and you could window the shop with a few pennies, and you could buy a wee bag of peace babies. That's what they called them, peace babies. Well then, boys and girls, not long afterwards, another terrible war came. And not only was there a shortage of peace, but there was also a shortage of sweetie-making materials, like the sugars and all that nice stuff that you put in there. I'm better at eating them than knowing how to make them. And you know what? They stopped making them again. But then in the 1950s, a company called Bassett's, they took up the challenge again and they began to make these sweets again. And this time they called them Shelly Babies. They got it right at last. And they have been a favourite all down through the years. Now for many, many years, this company, When they made these little jelly babies, they all looked exactly the same, apart from being different colours and different flavours. But then recently, the latest company to take over the whole brand, which is Cadbury's, they decided to up the ante a little bit and they decided that they would call each of the little jelly babies different names and give them all different characters. And if you've had a packet of Jelly Babies recently, I have, nobody's bought me any in a long time, and I really like them. The only thing that maybe some of us don't like about the really good Jelly Babies is that white stuff they put over them. Do you ever see the white stuff they put on them? It's to stop them sticking together, it's like corn powder, corn flour. Now if you want, I can lick all that off for you and give them to you, no problem. But if you get a real packet of jelly babies, now you, when you go home, tell your mum and dad, let's go and get a real packet to see what Uncle Robert's talking about. because there's at least six different ones in the packet. And I want to look at every one of them and think a little bit about you and your relationship to God, your need of the saviour and the gospel message. It's all in the bag of jelly babies the whole time. And I didn't even know. So let's begin. Now I've been very busy at home. I've been doing my craft and I've got these already and I hope I've made a good job of them. And I've got my jelly babies with me. Now the first one I want to share with you It is my favourite jelly baby. I will hook right down to the bottom of the bag to get this one. It's the lovely, tangy, blackcurrant one. I love that one the best, and I'm really annoyed if somebody gets it before me. And there it is, the blackcurrant jelly baby. And if you look very closely, or if you go and buy a packet, and lick off the white stuff, you will notice that this particular jelly baby has got a big heart, right there in the middle. And I want to look at that and think about that for a minute, because what a picture this jelly baby is of the human heart, of your heart and of my heart. You see, in Romans 1, verse 21, it says that the people, although they knew God, but because of the darkness of the foolishness of their hearts, They were not thankful to God. They did not glorify Him. They did not honor Him. He was not their God. And then over in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9, the prophet Jeremiah adds to this. And he says that our hearts are double D. Did you know that your heart is double D? And that means the heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked. Who could know it? What a reminder this little jelly baby should be to all of us. And if the truth be told, there is much within all of our hearts that should not be there. And only God, God alone, can change things around. In fact, God has promised us something in his word. In the book of Ezekiel, God tells us that he will give us a new heart. My, we all like getting something new. Terrific. And God has promised us a new heart. He says, I will take away the stony heart. Hard and cold. That's the way God describes your heart if you're not seeing it. Hard and cold. and he will give you a heart of flesh. Now I'm not going to do an advert here for all of you there, but if you want to, and I hope you'll follow me, I want you just to rub your cheek like this here. Now that's maybe not going to work for some people, there's some rough people here, the roughest get out looking at them. But try the back of your hand. Does that feel nice and soft? That's flesh. And God has promised to take away the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh, a heart that's soft and pliable and something that he can use and work with. That's what he promised. That's our first jelly baby. We'll pop that up there in the prize table and maybe somebody will get it as a prize. I hope not. I need it for next week. Okay. Now, The next jelly baby, I'm not just as keen on this one. I would eat it anyway, but it's a bit more tangy than I like. And this next jelly baby, boys and girls, if you ever get a real packet of jelly babies, you look out for this one. This one's got a wee name, it's called Booful. And if you look ever so closely at this jelly baby, you will notice something. Can you see something? It's crying. This is more than a jelly baby, this is actually a cry baby at the same time. And look, it's crying a wee tear. And you know what? A tremendous thought in the gospel can be found in this jelly baby. Do you know something? Moms and dads and boys and girls, sin and disobedience always, not sometimes, always in the end causes upset and tears and heartache and problems. No, there's a big man in the Bible. Oh, he was a big man, I'm sure he had big, strong hands. He had a big, loud voice, and he had plenty of muscles, just like me. I think my muscles are more like a pimple on a bee's ankle. But anyway, we'll not go there. But you know what? That big man was in floods of tears. He was crying his heart out. Because he had sinned against the Lord. His name was Peter. He was a big fisherman and he always promised he would never let the Lord down. He would always be there for the Lord. And whenever the push came to shove, a wee girl came up to him and she challenged him. You are one of his disciples. You are one of his. And he sinned against the Lord. He denied his Savior. He even used awful bad language. Now whenever he was found out, the Bible says he went out and he wept bitterly. Thankfully the Lord knew all about it. The Lord forgave him come the time. There's another man in the Bible, his name was David. And we read that David in Psalm six and verse six, he was full of tears over his own sin. Sin never brings happiness. never brings happiness. It always brings trouble and problems and tears or the devil will dress it up for a while to make it seem to be good, but it never is. And then there was a man called Jeremiah. We've talked about him already and he often would weep over the, the, the sinful condition of the people and awful. He was called the weeping prophet, but you know, there was one who wept more than any and that was our savior. wept for those who were in their sin. He didn't weep for his own sins for he had no sin, he knew no sin. Ah, but he shed great tears for those who were in their sin. Sin always brings heartache. Sin always brings problems and tears. And yes, you know, God wants tears. He wants tears tonight. He wants tears of repentance from you. He wants you to come humbly and to seek Him, and to ask His forgiveness, and He has promised to wipe away every tear and to forgive us. He, through mercy and love, we've touched on it this morning, He has made a way back to Himself from the dark paths of sin. And He has provided for us, who are so undeserving, a means of salvation. That brings us nicely to your next jelly baby. We're going through these readily. I'm just getting hungry. Anybody getting hungry yet? Okay, I wish I'd brought a packet. Maybe somebody give me a sweet in the way. Here's the next one. This is a tremendous one. And this is the red jelly baby. And it's called brilliant. And rightly so, and you look very closely at this jelly baby, you will notice, and this is on the packets, go and buy a packet. I should be getting commissioned. And you will discover that on the front of this red jelly baby there's a big capital B. And again, what wonderful thoughts in God's precious Word we can find here because it reminds us of the ruby red crimson blood of the Savior. Of course, the word blood begins with B, and the red reminds us of that precious blood that was shed. And of course the Bible tells us that when the Savior died on the cross, He didn't die for His own sins, He died for your sins. He died for my sins. He took our place. And the Bible says in 1 John 1 and 7 that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Do you know that cleansing? Have you asked for that forgiveness? Have you even thanked Him tonight for dying for you? I hope that you have. Let's move on very quickly. Now this next jelly baby, sometimes it's even missing from the packet. because it's really small. It's a wee tiny one. It's smaller than all the rest. And if you get a packet of Jelly Babies and you get this one, well, you haven't done so well because it's gone in one bite instead of two. I don't know whether you take the head off first or the feet will not go there, but it all goes down anyway. And this little Jelly Baby, it's the wee pink one, and it's called Bonnie. And it's smaller than the rest because this little Jelly Baby reminds us of a newborn. It reminds us of new life, new beginnings. And what a wonderful gospel lesson is found in this little jelly baby. In John chapter three, there's some remarkable things written there. And we're told very early on about a man called Nicodemus. Now, if Nicodemus lived today and if Nicodemus lived where you live, well, you would be very glad to see him because he's a very important man. He'd maybe come to your school and maybe open a whole lot of shops about here. He'd do all kinds of things. He was an important man. He was a respected leader amongst the Jews. He was a Pharisee. He ought to have known the scriptures, and he did. But he came to the Lord Jesus one night under the cover of darkness. And no doubt he would have presented himself to the Savior. He might have even talked about his credentials and his family background, because he had a terrific family background. And no doubt his ancestry would have stretched right back to great men like Moses and Abraham and those great patriarchs. But the Lord Jesus had to gently correct him. The Lord Jesus had to remind him that Nicodemus, you may be all these things, but you're just the same as everyone else. You're just born in sin. You're a sinner. You need the savior. In fact, the Lord Jesus had to go on even further. And in John chapter three and verse seven, he pointed to Nicodemus and said, ye must be born again. again. He needed a new start. He needed to start over again. He had been born in sin and he was never going to get to heaven that way. He needed that change to be made fit and ready for heaven. And only the Lord Jesus could do it. That's the next little jelly baby. We're going on well here. We've only two left. Might have to sing two or three hymns here before we get home. But here's the next two and the last two. The next one I want to share with you boys and girls is this one. It's the yellow jelly baby, the wee lemony one, that's a wee bit tangy, it maybe make your eye go a wee bit funny when you're eating it, that one. And this one here is called Bubbles. And if you look very closely at this jelly baby, you will notice that it's wearing a beautiful necklace. I can see all the girls now straining forward looking at this necklace. I have seen them all looking in the jewelers window, you know. Oh, look at that necklace, I would love that. And look, gold, there's more gold than yellow. Oh, if I had a wee bit of gold, it would go well with my outfit. I could wear it everywhere. And you all like to have something precious, something of value. And this little jelly baby reminds me of the great unsearchable riches of God spoken there off in Ephesians 3 and verse 8. You know God, His riches are not like the riches of this world. And the riches of this world can be stolen from you, oh yes, and they will feed and they will tarnish. But God's riches, the blessings He bestowed, the place that He has prepared for us, the person who He has given us, His Son, Unlike earthly riches, God's riches, God's blessing are eternal. I wonder, have you experienced that? Are those promises in the Bible yours? Do you love him? Are you saved? Are you enjoying the blessing and the riches of God in your life today? Finally, and there's one left, that's the last one. He's lying in here, he's smiling at me like Billy-O. Look at this here. And there he is, it's the wee orange one. It's good to have a wee orange man in the meeting, isn't it? So there we have the wee orange one. And there he is. And I want you to look at this one because there's something very, very special about this Jelly Baby. Look very closely and you'll notice that this Jelly Baby is carrying a bag. Now I did my best when I was making this and some people say to me it looks more like an envelope, but it's definitely a bag because I drew it. It's a wee bag. And this little Jelly Baby has his bags packed. You see, preparation has been made. This jelly baby's going somewhere. It's on the move. Just like during the holidays, your mommy and daddy don't pack all, well, forget your daddy, your mommy doesn't pack all the suitcases for a holiday, and then you sit in the house for two weeks. No, you're going somewhere. You're making preparation. You're not staying. In the morning, dread it, tomorrow morning, you still at school, are you? Yeah? Is somebody working now? Are you married or something? No? You know what's happened here? These poor children have been given a chisel before the meeting. Sit up straight, not make a move, and they're doing really well. Well, tomorrow morning, you'll be packing your bags for school, because you're going there. Now, I know you like to stay at home all day. Are you on holiday tomorrow? Boy, there's some schools around here. Of course it is a holiday. It's a bank holiday, isn't it? A school holiday as well. That's great. Well, anyway. Preparation is being made. This little jelly baby has his bag packed. He's on the move, and what a lesson from the Bible is found here. So it is with the Christian. If you love the Lord Jesus, and if you're saved, you should be talking much about where you're going, not in your holidays, but you're going to heaven someday. You're not staying here. This is not your home. And sad to say, some people have their tent pegs in so deep into the ground, you would hardly ever plan to go to heaven ever. But this is not our home. We are just passing through. We are on the move. We're thinking about the end of life's journey because heaven, we are heaven bound. So much so, it is as if we are already there. And with this, we'll finish. There was a man in the Bible and God called him and he was a farmer. He was a country boy and the Lord sent them to the big city. I'm sure he was a wee bit uncomfortable with that. And as he came into the big city, the city slickers would've looked at him and said, look at that boy coming. Boy, you know, he was from the country. Look at the way, look at the boots he's got on him there. And the trousers halfway up the leg. And look at the haircut and everything. Sure, look at that. And listen to the way he talks. He's a real country boy. Well, have a queer laugh at him. But they weren't laughing whenever he brought to them what God had for him to say to them. It's written up behind the pulpit here. He only said five words to the people. Prepare to meet thy God. You see, boys and girls, these people weren't ready. And maybe tonight there's somebody here in the meeting and you're not ready to meet God. You're not saved. You're still in your sin. You will be lost in that awful place called hell. But I would urge you tonight to make that preparation, to come now. Be like this little jelly baby. Have that bag packed. Have that preparation made. Be ready to meet God because that's going to be a tremendous day for those who have made ready and an awful day for those who have rejected Him. And I would trust tonight that you will know the Savior and He will be your Savior. and that you will be saved forevermore. Boys and girls, and mums and dads, you've all sat very well for us today. We thank you for that, and we're gonna just hand over now to your minister, and he will then conduct the last part of the meeting. Thank you very much. And you see me at the end, I'll get this bag open to the door. Now, if you're an adult now, don't be pleading, coming off all soft now, and looking all sweet out of me. It's for the boys and girls. Now, you remember that, and have a heart for the children. Thank you. May God bless that word to our hearts and if you don't know the Lord then you need to prepare and meet God and may you prepare this evening and seek him and call upon him. You prepare by calling upon the Lord to save you and wash you in his own precious blood. And may you come and trust him tonight. We're going to close our meeting by saying a few verses of M317. Behold what love, what boundless love, the father hath bestowed, and sinners lost, that we should be now called the sons of God. And we'll sing verses one and two of this hymn, and then we'll ask Glenn first then to come and to do the prizes. 317 and verses one and two, and we'll stand as we sing. And upon the stone the Father hath bestowed On sinners lost, but presumed dead Are called the sons of God. Behold what manner of love, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we, that we should be called, should be called sons of God. Oh, hear our prayer. ♪ Well may not near to God's heart we lie ♪ ♪ Behold what manner of love ♪ ♪ What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us ♪ ♪ That bringing the flesh to be gone ♪ ♪ Should be called the Son's law ♪ Please take your seats, please. I'm going to ask Adelaide, our Sunday School Superintendent, and he's going to come and do the prize giving for us, please. Okay, so let's move on here. Sarah Bulls. Paula Rose.