Amen. It's lovely to be with you tonight. And I do want to thank God's servant for the invitation to come and to speak. and also for the opportunity this week to bring the word to the boys and girls and that it's been my privilege to be here these nights and I can certainly tell you that we felt a sense of the Lord's presence and God's speaking voice and it was wonderful tonight to see even boys and girls and their desire to receive a copy of the scriptures and even in front of sweets and that says something so it was wonderful to see that no one would rather have a bible than have a packet of sweets and we thank the lord and we pray that god will speak to hearts pray that the lord will as indicated lord will speak on make much of Christ and that the seed sown will indeed take root downward and bear fruit upward. It is a joy to be with you tonight and to share with you in your service. Let me thank you for all your prayers and your support for myself and my wife as we continue to work amongst those who have very stubborn addictions, life controlling habits, It is a very challenging work, if I could put it that way. And there are, of course, great encouragements. We thank the Lord for the delights of the work and the joys that we encounter seeing people saved, going through with God, and lives wonderfully transformed. And we give the Lord all the glory. We praise him for what he has been doing. But we also recognize that it's a very difficult work, at times challenging. And whilst we are encouraged, there is so much that would really lay heavy upon our hearts, and we pray that the Lord would indeed step in. I can tell you that there are times when it brings myself and my wife to a place of complete brokenness. We were out, without going into all personal details, but we were out with some individuals just a few weeks back, and I can tell you, my wife actually broke down. And it was really hard to listen to some of the stories, to hear of the effects of sin. If ever you wanted a picture or a sight of the devil's handiwork in a life, you'll see it amongst the addicted. And you'll see what his goal and his purpose is. Young people losing hope. Young people who never intended to end up in that place. and we pray that God will step in. It's a wonderful honor for us to serve the Lord, and we are looking to the Lord to step in. We are rejoicing in what God has been doing. We have two men currently in New Hope Residential Center in Dublin, a lad, Stephen. Stephen's coming 50, and he went down to the home roughly about three months ago, and for our and a couple of months there he sat under the word was up doing his devotions every morning probably the first man there with his bible open not saved at that time and just a number of weeks ago he came to the lord and we rejoice in what god has been doing and there's every evidence sir that he really has come through for god and just loves the lord And we are thankful for that. We pray that God will speak to his family and that the Lord will move and work mightily. And we have another young lad from Belfast down and we're praying that the Lord will work in that young Roman Catholic man's life. Pray that God would step in and that God will send the fire. Please do continue to pray for us. We need your prayers and of course we need the Lord's help and God's guidance and God's grace, but we return to the Lord all the glory. We praise him for the honor of serving him in this field of service. We're praying that the Lord will raise up others to come into this work. The need is Well, it's just hard to quantify. It's just such a vast need, it really is. And probably recently you've heard quite a lot of, if you listen to news at all, certainly the media reports about the drug problem in Belfast, which is just, well, whenever you work and you see it firsthand, even what the news reports wouldn't do it justice. It's just so spiralled out of control. and I remember years ago someone saying no not a Christian by the way they made their bed let them lie on it you know they have chosen that way you can't help somebody who doesn't want to be helped they've got to help themselves and there is truth to that however we must remind ourselves that all we are is due to God's grace I'm glad that when I was in my sin, living for myself and for the world, that the Lord didn't look at me and just say, well, you got yourself into that mess. Now get yourself out of it. Oh, the goodness and grace of our God, loving us when we're unlovable. What salvation we have. And we pray that God will step in. And I've said to parents, even just very recently, Listen, your young person mightn't be at that place of seeing the need, wanting help, but don't give up. You've got to pray through, pray that God will step in and bring them to that point where they will seek the Lord's help. So thank you for your prayers and your support. Let's turn in our Bibles, please, to the book of Galatians and to the chapter 6. Here in Galatians chapter 6, we're going to read The first 10 verses only, please. And as you turn up as well, let me thank you sincerely for all your prayers and your support. And praying for me physically as well, I wasn't so well at all last year and had major surgery at the end of November. Thought I would be out, and I marked out one week in my diary thinking I'll be back in a week's time, not realizing I had months of recovery ahead of me. And at one point thinking, will I ever be back in ministry? Will I ever be back to the work? And the Lord brought me to that point just to, taught me a lot of things and spoke to me about a lot of things, but I just rejoice that I'm probably enjoying the best health I have in 20 or 30 years. And I say that for a reason, to thank the Lord, to publicly thank him. Now things can change, can change for any one of us, it could change tomorrow. But I want to thank the Lord, put it in record. Thank you, Lord, for touching me, raising me up. Thank you for praying. Galatians 6, verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work. And then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Amen. The verse 10, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Let's just bow together very briefly, momentarily, in prayer, please. Heavenly Father, we thank thee for thy precious word. that from Genesis to Revelation points us to the person and work of Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for the only Saviour of sinners. We bless Thee for the Redeemer of God's elect. And Lord, how we rejoice tonight in all that we possess in and through Christ our Saviour. How truly blessed we are. Father we want to thank thee tonight from the very bottom of our hearts with all of our soul Lord for saving us for transforming us and to think Lord it melts our hearts to think the best is yet to be one day we shall leave this world behind go to be with Christ which is far better Father, how wealthy we are. We pray, Lord, that you'll accept of our thanks and bless us today. Come and stir our hearts afresh. Speak to us through thy word. And grant that we will hear and have that word in season, we pray in Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. Speaking to his disciples before going to the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ said to them, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. And the Savior there directed them and commanded them to think about, first of all, his love toward them. And that's something that you and I as God's people ought to meditate and to think upon daily and constantly. God's love to us. Oh, let us never get away from the wonder and the glory of the cross that Christ died for sinful men. That Jesus loved us unto death, even the death of the cross. You think of his love that he has chosen to love us even when we were yet in our sins. And there's nothing like the love of God. Praise the Lord, His love to us, it knows no change. And there, speaking to His disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ reminded them, love one another as I have loved you. And there they would examine their hearts and think of His love toward them, that unconditional love, that love that knows no bounds, that love that knows no change. No change. And you think of how the Lord Jesus Christ loves his people. And human love, of course, is prone to change. Men and women fall in love. They sadly fall out of love. Our love wanes hot and cold. It changes. But the love of God knows no change. It is as God is. It is unchanging. It's on that foundation, that basis, that we are to treat our fellow believers that we are to treat each other as the children of God, reminding ourselves and being careful of the very fact that we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. If you do great miracles, no. If you speak with other tongues, no. If you do mighty things, no. If you have love one toward another, there is a characteristic. There is a fundamental mark and change. The way you and I as God's people treat each other and behave one with another. Of course, every relationship that we have ought to stem and to flow from our relationship, first of all, with the Lord. You see, whenever we are right with the Lord, then we will be right with our fellow believers, with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And even when someone wrongs us and hurts us, the very way that we treat them and deal with them and speak to them will be different because we'll treat them as Christ would treat them. And so therefore, this is a distinguishing characteristic of the child of God. Here's what the Lord says sets us apart as God's people from the world in which we live. We are different and the Lord has saved us to make us different and to conform us into his image. Here in the chapter, we're reminded of this very fact. Look at the verse 2. We are part of that family, Christ being the head. And therefore, we ought to be careful the way we deal with each other and speak to each other. And as we treat each other in that godly Christ-like fashion, we can go forth with the assurance knowing that the Lord will prosper our work and prosper our labors, and there won't be those hindrances to the blessing of God. We don't want anything to come between us and our fellow believer. We don't want anything between us and the Lord. We want to experience, don't we, and to know the blessing of God that maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Can I say that every believer, every child of God, we ought to be serving the Lord. Let us not be weary in well-doing. And I wanna personally thank tonight everyone who's helped out in the children's meetings, the Holiday Bible Club, thank you so much. I really do appreciate it, going on the bus and all the duties at the door, understanding for the children as they take part, praying for the meetings and everyone coming together, and I just want to thank you for that. But we all have some capacity to serve the Lord. It may well be that You will have a service of ministry that will be very different from the brother or sister beside you. But we all have some, there's some aspect of the Lord's work for us to be involved in. One of the things that Dr. Douglas in our own church in Lisbon has always emphasized and highlighted is the importance of being an encouragement to one another. Writing a letter perhaps. Sending a text message. sending an email, just making people aware and known of the fact that they're thought about and they're cared about. And can I say just from experience that whenever you're writing a card to someone and they're not well, or perhaps in hospital, write out the text of Scripture. And there's a reason why I say that. I know from a personal experience, having spent a lot of time in hospital, there are times when it's, and I tell you personally, there's times when it's so hard to read your Bible, to pray. I think we can be guilty, self-included, of making a mistake of thinking, well, sure, they're at home, they'll have all the time in the world, they'll be devouring the Bible, they'll be reading, they'll be praying, they'll be doing all those things. It can be quite the opposite. Due to sickness and weariness of mind, it can be very difficult to read, very hard. And I can personally testify of times when the Lord has blessed me through a verse, a text, a card with a verse written out on it. What an encouragement. The exact word that I needed to hear at the time. And of course, one of the most important areas where we can serve the Lord is in prayer. It's one thing to say, I pray for you. It's another thing to do it. And we ought to pray one for another, to bear one another's burdens, and to pray that God indeed would work and that God will move in power. And he reminded of that very fact that that when we sow the seed, we can be assured that there's going to be a harvest, that there will be a time of reaping. But what an encouragement to know that as we sow the seed, as we continue in the work of God, if we faint not, The Lord will bless and prosper. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. You'll notice there's a double emphasis there. We're not to be weary and we are not to faint. If we faint not, that's the proneness of our human flesh. It is to feel. It is to feel at times that maybe we're not accomplishing what we should, things are difficult, and just to take our foot, as it were, off the gas pedal, not just to keep going as much as we should, just to step back a little bit from the meetings or the work of God, Now, just to step back a little bit from the place of prayer, we become at times, don't we, discouraged, disheartened, but the Lord reminds us, let us not be weary in well-doing, for we shall, for in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. What an encouragement as we serve the Lord, but look at verse 10 here. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. I want us to consider from this verse the opportunity to do good. There is here the principle of doing good. As we have opportunity, have therefore opportunity, let us do good. This principle is very clearly set forth in Scripture. Putting it really simply, salvation brings a change. And our faith in Christ is accomplished by works. James reminds us of that very fact. That faith without works is dead. That a good tree will and must bring forth good fruit. Of course, we're not saved by works. We know that, we understand that. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, that He has saved us. not saved by our works but works will always always without exception accompany salvation just as the lovely fruit tree bears that fruit so the life of the believer will bear the fruit of the spirit. It does matter how we live, it does matter how we communicate, how we converse one with another. The apostle Paul writing to the church at Galatia here, he sought to address false teaching and doctrine of course that was being propagated basically teaching that we are no longer under the law. We can just live as we please. Of course, we are saved by grace, and it does matter how you and I live. It does matter. Christian liberty is never our Or should I say, Christian salvation, justification, is never a liberty to sin and to please the flesh. Never. The principle of doing good is clearly set forth in the Word of God, that our lives will bring and bear forth that fruit. There's also the pattern of doing good. In Acts 10, verse 38 we read, Now whenever we think about doing good and looking at the pattern example, there is no greater that we could turn to than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is that greatest example in all of scripture to us about doing good, who went about doing good. Of course, he came to fulfill his father's will. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He went about doing good, healing the sick, making the blind to see, feeding the hungry, fulfilling the will of his father. What a pattern we have set before us. We could, of course, look at the lives of other believers. We could turn to the mighty apostle Paul. We could think of others in Scripture who certainly went about doing good, but the greatest example that we have, the greatest pattern, is the Lord Jesus. And, of course, the servant is not above his master. And if the Lord Jesus went about doing good, and He did, then we are to follow in His footsteps. Let us be known as a people who do others good. The pattern of doing good, but there's also the people to whom we are to do good. Notice what it says here in the verse 10. Unto all men. This verse is broad and it's wide in its scope. We ought to bear a faithful witness and testimony to the world in which we live, that we are kind, compassionate, and that we are filled with bowels of mercies. The unsaved ought to take note that we do good. As we have opportunity, let us do good. One of the most influential Puritan ministers of his day, Cotton Mather, said, The opportunity to do good imposes the obligation to do it. The opportunity to do good imposes the obligation to do it. We have the opportunity That presents us with the responsibility and duty of doing it. Commentator Albert Barnes said, or when it may contribute to our fame. The rule is that we are to do good when we have the opportunity, no matter how much self-denial it may cost us, and no matter how little fame we may get by it. We are to do good to all. And really, they don't express that desire to do good to all. Notice our text highlights also a particular group of people. Now notice these words. There is a divine order and there is a reason for that. The divine order is that you and I are good one toward another, that we bear one another's burdens, that we love each other as Christ loved us. And in doing so, in fulfilling that, that will set the basis of foundation for reaching out to a lost and fallen world. The foundation must be right. The order must be right. We are all part of that redeemed body. Would you like to turn with me to Matthew, chapter 25, please? Here, the Lord Jesus was speaking. Matthew, chapter 25. And let me see, verse 34. Here in the chapter where we read, Matthew 25, verse 34. Then shall the king say unto them in his right hand, Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, My brethren, you have done it unto me. Those are very solemn words, very searching words. It's a serious matter. The Lord here was saying to his disciples, the way you treat another believer, I view it. You're not just treating that believer in such a manner and way, you're treating me that way. That's serious. We therefore, We need to be very careful in the way we speak to each other and treat each other. We ought to do good to all men, but especially unto them who are of the household of faith. The Lord's people are to come first because God puts his people first. All that we have is because of what Christ has wrought on our behalf, and the Lord wants us to reflect Himself. The principle for doing good, the pattern, the people, there's also the purpose of doing good. You see, the end purpose and goal of doing good, especially to the Lord's people, it's not simply an exercising of a religious practice. There is a great and an eternal purpose in you. It is that we would reflect our Savior's love and mercy, that people would look at us and they would realize by the very way that we treat each other and behave one toward another and love each other. It's because we love Him that they will recognize that change that has been brought about in our hearts. Man, by his nature, is selfish. He's consumed with self and his own selfish lusts and desires. But salvation has taken place. And now Christ takes that first place. And there's that transformation in the life. We often think, don't we, that the only Bible that some people will read. In fact, quite a number of people will read, is your life and mine. Didn't Paul say that ye are epistle written and read in our hearts of all men? I wonder, as the Lord has said that people view our lives, The only Bible, the only Bible some people will see this week is your life and mine. The question is, where are they reading from in the Bible? What portion? I trust that we will keep this purpose and end in view. We read in Hebrews 13, Of course, it is ultimately for the end the name of glorifying the Lord for man's chief end is to glorify God and to joy him forever and I trust that we will bear that in mind but can I say there's also the priority to do good as we have therefore opportunity as we have opportunity The question is, what are we doing with the opportunities that God has given to us? We are to seek for opportunities, but we're also to seize them, realizing we have limited opportunities. And by that, I mean our life is limited. We are not here upon this earth forever. We are but strangers and pilgrims passing through. We're on our way to glory. We must not let our tent pegs get too far down into the ground. We are but pilgrims. This world is not our home. We're going to glory. And therefore, we need to realize that we have limited opportunities, limited. We also have life-changing opportunities to present the gospel, to preach Christ, to reach out to a lost and fallen world, to present the great and the good news of Christ, that men and women can be right with God. We have limited opportunities and life-changing, but we also we'll come to our last opportunity, won't we? That's why we are to make it a priority to do good one to another, to seize the opportunities before us. We will have a last opportunity. Our work on earth will soon be done. I trust that the Lord will help us to use our opportunities wisely. But can I say just in closing, in relation to verse 10 here, we have the principle, the pattern, the people, the purpose, the priority, the priority to put the Lord first, to prioritize doing good, but we have in closing the privilege of doing good. It's not to be viewed as a task. It's not to be viewed as merely discharging a responsibility to fulfill the command of Christ. We want to do that and we ought to do that. But we want to serve the Lord because we love him, because he's given us the privilege of serving him. What an honor, what a blessing, the greatest bestowed on men and women to be able to serve their God. As we, Paul wrote, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good. He was writing there to the church, He was saying to the Lord's people, as we, the redeemed of God, those bought with the precious blood, as we have these opportunities, let us do good unto all men, and especially to them of the household of faith, to those who are believers. The Lord has saved us to make a difference. And I trust and I pray that we will really seize those opportunities before us and that we would make it a priority to serve the Lord, to do good. What a blessing it is to know Christ as Savior. What an honor to serve Him to bear His name. It's humbling, isn't it, to come here tonight, to think that we can pray for others, We can pray for each other. And at one time, we were the mention of prayer in the prayer meeting for our salvation that the Lord would bring us to Christ, and the Lord answered those prayers. Let us be encouraged, brothers and sisters, to pray on through. To see God move and work in power. I've been really challenged over the summertime with the various holiday Bible clubs and reaching out to the boys and girls. I think we need to really make it an even greater matter for prayer when it comes to children. I get to see absolute heartbreak. And I've often thought they were never in Sunday school, they weren't in the children's meetings, never heard of Christ. We need to see boys and girls saved. We talk about all that's wrong in society today and the declension and we lament that. And we're looking to God to answer and to send the remedy. And we need to pray that the Lord would raise up boys and girls who know him, who will be strong, who will do great exploits. That the Lord will turn the tide. That the Lord will raise up children, save them early in life, and spoil them for the world. And that young people will live for God. Bear his name. Be that testimony to God's saving grace. What a privilege to reach the children. What a privilege. Let's really pray tonight that God will deal with the hearts of boys and girls, save them, bring them to himself. It was during one of the weeks I was doing meetings, my wife and myself were out doing visits one particular day, and it was a really difficult day. It was hard to just watch one life after another, after another, after another. Just wasted. And I come into the meeting, and I must admit, driving to the meeting that night, I went really heavy of heart, I really did. And then I came into the meeting, and just to see the children, do you know what it done? It gave me hope. To think that young lives could be spared this misery. Here's such a vital work, crucial work, and I really mean that. Please pray for your children's work here, for all of our children's evangelists, missionaries, the work. And I can tell you, I've sensed it over the summertime, talking to various people that God is working with boys and girls, and God is moving throughout meetings, and there is a stirring. Praise His name, praise His name. And we need to pray through that God will indeed move and work and bless. and be pleased to bring precious souls to himself. Thank you for having me along tonight. Thank you for praying during the week. Let's continue to pray on and pray that God will indeed send the fire.