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Just one verse of Scripture I'll
read to you. 

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It's the opening verse of the 
Psalm 115. 

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Not unto us, O Lord, not unto 
us, but unto thy name. 

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Give glory for thy mercy, and 
for thy truth's sake. 

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And it's our desire tonight and 
all that's said and done to to 

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give the glory to the Lord 
alone. 

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I think Mr McLaughlin used the 
right word when he said that 

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this is like a reunion. 
As we look round the 

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congregation tonight and see so 
many friends that have been such

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a help and support and 
encouragement to us right down 

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through our lives, there's many 
memories that come flooding into

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our mind even as we came here 
tonight and especially as we see

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many of you in the meeting here 
this evening. 

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We were over in Ballymagurney 
this afternoon. 

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They had three new elders 
ordained in a very encouraging 

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meeting. 
Special time for them. 

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Certainly very significant to 
see those three men added to the

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the Kirk session there. 
We were out in Africa. 

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We were out in Uganda from 
Wednesday a week ago, the 11th 

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up until Thursday. 
We were to be home on Thursday 

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morning into Dublin at 6:00, but
we were delayed coming back. 

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The flight that was to leave in 
Tebbie, the plane was to come 

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down from Doha. 
It hadn't left Doha whenever we 

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arrived at the airport, so we 
missed the connection. 

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We were 4 1/2 hours late leaving
in Tebbie and we missed the 

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connection in Doha, so the next 
flight wasn't until 14 hours 

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later. 
So we, we were held up just a 

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little getting back. 
We were to been to Dublin at 

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6:00 on Thursday morning, but we
didn't get in until 8:00 on 

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Thursday night. 
But it was a very profitable 

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visit. 
We were there particularly for 

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the, the constitution of the, 
the congregation of the Emanuel 

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Mission Station. 
So that's the constitution of 

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the First Free Presbyterian 
Church in the land of Uganda. 

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And we we prayed to be the first
of many. 

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We were glad to have the 
moderator with us, the Clerk of 

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Presbytery to conduct that 
constitution. 

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The Reverend Anderson from the 
Oakena Cloyd Church, the 

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chairman of the Missionary 
Council was also with us, and Mr

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Jonathan Macaulay from the 
Ballymoney Church. 

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Jonathan is the secretary of the
Ugandan subcommittee. 

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They made-up the delegation and 
their brother, Derek Graham from

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Sandown came along with us in a 
private capacity as well. 

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So we packed a lot in. 
If there's time later, I'll 

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maybe mention just some of those
details. 

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We take the opportunity just to 
sympathise with Mrs McLaughlin 

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on her recent bereavement, the 
death of her brother Kenneth. 

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We were greatly saddened by 
that. 

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We want to assure Mrs 
McLaughlin, the Reverend 

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McLaughlin and the family we 
have been thinking of them and 

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they've been much in our 
thoughts and prayers and trust 

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that they will know the Lord's 
presence and the Lord's comfort 

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in a very special way. 
Many of you here tonight have 

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known me really from I was a 
child. 

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I was born in Newtownards in the
old Adair maternity ward in the 

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hospital there on the 18th of 
November 1965. 

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So just to help you work that 
out, that means last November I 

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turned 60. 
I got the three score years up. 

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You can hardly believe it. 
Well, if you can hardly believe 

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it, you think of the shock that 
it was to me. 

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I'm thankful. 
As you know, my father died at 

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58 years of age. 
So it is a mercy. 

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I think it was Mark Twain said 
that we shouldn't complain about

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growing old because it's a 
privilege that is denied to 

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many. 
So I've told you very briefly 

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about the physical birth. 
Let me tell you about how I 

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experienced the second birth. 
When I give them a testimony and

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tell people where I grew up 
between Carried Off and 

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Sainfield on the Ockley Hill, in
most places where I tell that 

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they haven't a clue about where 
I'm talking about. 

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They've never heard about the 
Ockley Hill. 

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But that's not so in this 
congregation tonight here in 

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Carried Off in the Killeen your 
area. 

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We grew up on the other side of 
the Ockley Hill. 

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The Crawfords live on this side.
We were just a little over the 

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other side looking out towards 
County Down on Strangford Loch 

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and on a clear day you could see
out as far as the coast of 

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Scotland as well. 
We grew up in the Presbyterian 

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Church, it was First Saintfield 
Presbyterian Church. 

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Our family was greatly involved 
in all the activities that of 

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that church. 
In fact, I think it would be 

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true to say that there was 
hardly an activity in that 

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congregation that a member of 
our family wasn't a member of or

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involved in. 
The sad thing was we weren't 

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saved. 
I wasn't saved growing up in 

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that church and I never remember
a time that I heard the gospel, 

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never remember a time that I was
ever told that I needed to be 

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saved to put my trust in Christ 
as my saviour. 

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The killing your school house 
that that used to stand just 

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outside here. 
It has played out quite a 

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significant part or place in our
family life. 

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It was not killing your 
schoolhouse that my mother 

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received her education, killing 
your public elementary school as

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it was then, but in the 
Providence of God. 

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It was to be in that little 
schoolhouse that I was to 

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experience God's salvation. 
Mr Robert Lowe, who was so 

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influential in my life, known to
many of you here tonight. 

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Mr Lowe had a vision to have a 
gospel witness in this community

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and he thought of that little 
schoolhouse. 

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It was closed up. 
You had meetings in the carried 

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off primary school. 
I would very much like to have 

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been at one of those meetings. 
I went to carried off primary 

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school. 
It wasn't long opened when I 

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went to the to the school there,
but the the the killing your 

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school had been closed up and 
boarded up. 

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It was just like a a derelict 
building here on the side of the

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the killing your road. 
And Mr Low had a vision to see 

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it opened for the preaching of 
the Gospel. 

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One Sunday brought Doctor 
Paisley out from the martyrs and

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they had dinner together in in 
the farmhouse and then he walked

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them across the fields to the 
schoolhouse. 

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There was one of the windows at 
the back where there was a a 

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hole. 
It seems strange, but they were 

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able to get through that. 
You can just imagine Mr Paisley 

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climbing through that back 
window. 

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And they took a little look 
around the schoolhouse and Mr 

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Lowe set out his vision and Mr 
Paisley gave his support to it 

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and it became a an extension 
work of the Martyrs Church. 

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They spoke to the trustees of 
that, that little schoolhouse, 

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and got permission to renovate 
it and open it for the preaching

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of the gospel. 
There was a mission way back 

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then, all those 50 years ago. 
Mr Paisley was the preacher most

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nights at that, and I say most 
nights because we came three 

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nights, I believe it was to that
mission. 

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But Doctor Paisley wasn't there 
any of the nights that we came 

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along. 
He was involved in other 

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meetings or at other 
engagements, but the significant

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thing was men and women. 
Perhaps for the first time I 

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heard the gospel in those 
meetings. 

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The challenge of the gospel came
to my heart. 

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There was a Sunday school that 
was opened in the schoolhouse. 

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Mr Low went all around the 
community. 

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Remember he was a busy farmer, a
large farm, but he took the time

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to go round this community, 
visit pretty much every home. 

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I can still see him standing at 
our back door speaking to Mummy,

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urging her to send us along to 
the to the Sunday School here 

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and we started to come to that 
Sunday school every Sabbath 

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afternoon. 
I have to admit these folk will 

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be able to testify to the fact I
didn't behave very well in those

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Sunday schools. 
The first thing I did when I 

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came in was knock the hats off. 
The girls were sitting in the 

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room in front of me and in fact 
I was so active that there's 

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times Wealthy almost had to 
settle me to keep me in my seat.

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I don't tell you about that bad 
behaviour, the glory in it, but 

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I tell you to encourage you. 
If you're involved in Sunday 

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school work or children's work 
and there's a fella there or a 

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girl, there's a wee tearaway and
you despair of them, remember, 

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you just don't know what the 
Lord might do. 

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You don't know what change the 
Lord might make in their life. 

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If you'd asked the people that I
went to school with, look round 

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the class, who here is going to 
be a minister one day? 

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Who in this class is going to be
a Free Presbyterian minister? 

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I would have been the last 
person that they would have 

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thought of. 
So let me encourage you. 

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You keep persisting and teaching
and speaking and praying for 

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those children, even the unruly 
children, and pray that God will

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make that same transformation in
in their life. 

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One Sunday afternoon at the 
beginning of 1979, the 

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announcement was made at the end
of the Sunday school at. 

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Mr Paisley was going to preach 
at the evening meeting in the 

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schoolhouse. 
It was a meeting in those days, 

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what was known as an After 
meeting. 

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Some folk went to their church 
and then they came to the 

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schoolhouse after the meeting 
started at at 8:15. 

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And generally Mr Paisley had 
come out from the opening every 

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Sunday night on that same 
Sabbath evening. 

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So we went home, spoke to Daddy,
told him about the meeting. 

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We were very keen to hear Mr 
Paisley speaking. 

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That's why we went to the 
mission. 

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We'd heard a lot about him, seen
him on the news, keen to see him

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in person, hear him preach, and 
we were disappointed not to hear

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him at the opening mission. 
So Daddy agreed to bring us down

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to the meeting that night, and 
the Lord spoke to my heart. 

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At the close of that meeting. 
I went out into the little room 

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and it was just a little room, 
maybe 7 feet square or 

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thereabouts. 
So we were in that little room. 

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My elder brother John was with 
my doctor Paisley and Mr Lowe. 

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We knelt down together. 
In those days he wore dark 

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R.E.M. glasses with just a half 
glass. 

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He held his Bible in his hand 
and looked over the glasses and 

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he led me down the Roman Rd. 
We knelt beside him that night 

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and came to Christ, came to know
the Lord. 

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So that little schoolhouse, that
little room for me was 

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redemption ground. 
Anytime over the years that I 

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was visiting in the schoolhouse,
I, I would open the door just 

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and look in just to remember. 
That's the place where I knelt 

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to receive Jesus Christ as my 
saviour. 

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I was saved young in life. 
I was just a teenager, just 

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turned 13 the previous November.
That night that I was converted 

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was the the 7th of January 1979.
So 47 years passed just at the 

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beginning of last month. 
I often think of that little 

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chorus. 
What matters wherein on earth we

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dwell, on mountaintop or in the 
Dale, in cottage or in mansion 

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fair, but where? 
Jesus is tis heaven there. 

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And Christ was in that 
schoolhouse that night. 

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I rejoice in that. 
The little building was packed 

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to capacity, folks standing out 
in the hallway too. 

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But Christ himself was there and
I met him and I received them 

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that night as my Saviour. 
Before we left the schoolhouse 

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that evening, Mr Lowe gave me a 
a very important piece of 

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advice. 
He said as a young Christian 

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it's vital that you confess the 
Saviour. 

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If thou shalt confess with thy 
mouth the Lord Jesus, and 

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believe in thine heart that God 
hath raised him from the dead, 

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thou shalt be saved. 
So he said you need to tell 

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others what has taken place here
tonight and I encourage you to 

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do that too. 
Be good for you to tell others 

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of their need of Christ as as 
their Saviour. 

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Pray that the Lord would guide 
you every day to some soul and 

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need. 
So we went home that night and 

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we told mummy what had happened.
The great challenge of course 

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was the next day when we went to
school, met their friends. 

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But the Lord gave us grace and 
we thank the Lord that among 

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those young people, there were 
some that knew the Lord came 

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from a good Christian background
and were a help and an 

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encouragement to me at that 
time. 

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I came to the Sunday night 
meeting. 

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Those after meetings that I told
you about in the schoolhouse 

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came every Sunday night for for 
quite some time. 

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It was just a a mile from where 
we lived up there on the Oakley 

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Hill. 
And I would often walk down from

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our home to the schoolhouse, 
attend the meeting, and then 

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some of the, the very good kind 
folk here would have taken me 

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back up the Road home again 
after the service. 

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Those, those meetings were a 
great blessing to me. 

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They were a great help to me as 
a young Christian. 

227
00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,720
The, the teaching of the word of
God, the fellowship, the 

228
00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,120
encouragement of the Lord's 
people, many of whom are in this

229
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,640
service tonight. 
And I thank you for the help and

230
00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:51,840
the support that you gave to me 
as a new born babe in Christ. 

231
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:58,160
At at that time I heard some of 
the, the preachers, some of the 

232
00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,160
missionaries from the Free 
Church was introduced to them, 

233
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:03,000
introduced to that style of 
preaching. 

234
00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:08,960
And I could see a a great 
difference in the preaching in 

235
00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,400
the church that I was going to 
1st Saintfield on a Sunday 

236
00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,960
morning and the ministry that we
were receiving here in the 

237
00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,120
schoolhouse on the Sabbath 
evenings. 

238
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,160
I became a member of the Martyrs
Church. 

239
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:27,440
That was at the end of October 
1983. 

240
00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:34,040
I was almost 18 years of age. 
I felt the Lord speaking to me 

241
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,920
about that. 
And I emphasise to you tonight 

242
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,840
as well the importance of 
membership. 

243
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:44,960
The Bible says of Saul that he 
say to join himself onto the 

244
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,680
disciples. 
So the very word is there in the

245
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,080
in the passage. 
He wanted to join not just the 

246
00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:56,120
congregation, but the disciples,
those who were really paying the

247
00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:57,960
price, going through with the 
Lord. 

248
00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,120
So Saul wanted to become a 
member of the church at 

249
00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:03,520
Jerusalem. 
And I want to encourage you. 

250
00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:09,160
It's right for every Christian 
to be a member of the local 

251
00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:13,080
church, the local congregation, 
and and under the oversight of 

252
00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:15,760
the minister and the elders of 
of that church. 

253
00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,400
I went in to see Mr Paisley. 
That's what he did in those 

254
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:21,520
days. 
Many of you remember he did a 

255
00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,840
lot of pastoral work on a Sunday
night after the service was 

256
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,040
over, he would sit in the 
minister's room. 

257
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,080
He would sit in the Kirk's 
session room and wait your turn 

258
00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,280
to go in to see him. 
And I went in with my membership

259
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,840
card filled out. 
I knew that my family wasn't 

260
00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:39,440
altogether happy about me 
thinking of joining the Free 

261
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,600
Church. 
So I thought I'll become a 

262
00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,120
congregational member, not a 
communicant member. 

263
00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,360
And when I went in to see Mr 
Paisley, he took a look at the 

264
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,680
card. 
He said, young man, you don't 

265
00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,000
want to be a congregational 
member, you want to become a 

266
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,240
communicant member. 
So he scored out where I'd he'd 

267
00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,960
ticked the other box. 
So that's how I became a 

268
00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:02,280
communicant member of the Free 
Presbyterian Church. 

269
00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:06,160
I can see the hand of the Lord 
in it because I wanted then not 

270
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:09,880
long after that to be to start 
training for the ministry. 

271
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,560
And you had to be in communicant
membership then for at least a 

272
00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:17,119
year for that application to be 
accepted. 

273
00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:23,839
I felt the Lord was speaking to 
me about separating from the 

274
00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:26,079
Presbyterian Church. 
I emphasise to you the 

275
00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:31,160
difference in those services. 
I knew for my own spiritual 

276
00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,880
good, if I was going to grow, if
I was going to go on with God, I

277
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,680
was going to have to take that 
step, however difficult it was. 

278
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,720
Come out from among them, the 
Bible says, and be separate. 

279
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,600
And maybe the Lord's challenging
you as well. 

280
00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:51,920
You're exercised about that. 
It's the command of the Lord and

281
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,240
it's the right thing to do for 
your spiritual good, your 

282
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,720
spiritual welfare, maybe the 
spiritual good and the welfare 

283
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,240
of your whole family as well. 
So I, I left the Presbyterian 

284
00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:05,760
Church. 
Martyrs became my spiritual 

285
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,040
home. 
I got involved in the life of 

286
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,040
the church. 
Doctor Paisley made an appeal 

287
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,880
for Sunday school teachers. 
They had two Sunday schools at 

288
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:17,640
that time. 
There was a Sunday school that 

289
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:22,680
was held in the afternoon in the
old church building down at the 

290
00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:26,240
bottom of the Raven Hill Rd and 
then a Sunday morning Sunday 

291
00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:28,840
school as well. 
So I became a teacher in the 

292
00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:33,400
afternoon, taught a class there 
for three years or a little over

293
00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,760
it just before I went to the 
Whitfield College of the Bible. 

294
00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:38,720
It was good training, good 
experience. 

295
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,720
Lord blessed our efforts. 
Some came to know Christ, some 

296
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:45,640
of those children, and we 
rejoice in that. 

297
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,560
Martyrs as well at that time 
were two youth fellowships. 

298
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,160
One on the Friday night, it met 
in the old Raven Hill building 

299
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,240
as well. 
And they had a Sunday night 

300
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:58,920
fellowship also that met every 
Sunday night after the evening 

301
00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:01,720
service. 
So I was the secretary. 

302
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,480
They had a committee for both of
those youth fellowships and I 

303
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:09,120
was the secretary of the the 
Sunday night youth committee for

304
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,120
a little while as well. 
And what a blessing. 

305
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:16,080
There's a group of young people 
and we have great memories of 

306
00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:20,480
the times we had, the meetings 
that we went to, the places that

307
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,760
we visited. 
We tried to encourage one 

308
00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:25,840
another in the in the things of 
the Lord. 

309
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:31,160
I was brought up on the farm 
just up there on the Oakley hill

310
00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,920
as growing up, I really had 
nothing else in my mind. 

311
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,680
I never expected to be anything 
else other than a farm, a 

312
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,000
farmer. 
I loved the farming. 

313
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,360
I didn't really see it as work. 
In fact, it was only the call of

314
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,440
God that took me away from a 
life on the farm. 

315
00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,720
I went to Locker Agricultural 
College in Cookstown and I did 

316
00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,760
the, the college certificate in 
agriculture, the national 

317
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:01,080
certificate in agriculture. 
That was a good year. 

318
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,080
During that year I went to the 
Cookstown church. 

319
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:09,880
I I met a young fellow, some of 
you here tonight know know when 

320
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,160
he was a young fellow then like 
myself, Basil Cuddy. 

321
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:21,600
His mother and father, William 
and Annie, a very godly couple. 

322
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,080
And they were concerned, as you 
would appreciate, about Basil 

323
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,800
going to college, the company 
that he would get into, the 

324
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:31,920
influences that that company 
would have upon them. 

325
00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:37,680
And they prayed very earnestly 
about that matter and they 

326
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,560
prayed that the Lord would bring
good Christian friends across 

327
00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:44,840
Basil's path to be a help and an
encouragement to him. 

328
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,320
And they believed that I was the
answer to their prayers. 

329
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,160
We became good friends. 
We, we spent a lot of time 

330
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,480
together. 
We went along to meetings 

331
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,720
together. 
I started to attend the prayer 

332
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,760
meeting in the Cookstown church 
on a Wednesday afternoon. 

333
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,320
We had no classes at Lochry. 
We generally went out to the 

334
00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,200
Cuddlies, went to the prayer 
meeting and then went back to, 

335
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,320
to College in the evenings, late
in the evening. 

336
00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:15,000
Mr. Stewart, the Reverend 
Stewart who was ministering 

337
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,520
there then was going through the
Book of Colossians. 

338
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,480
I can remember some of those 
messages yet. 

339
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,760
And it was in those prayer 
meetings in Cookstown that I 

340
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:28,240
first prayed publicly in a, in a
church prayer meeting. 

341
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,200
I struggled with it for a few 
weeks, wanted to pray, but just 

342
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:36,280
couldn't get my mouth open. 
So I encourage you, I, I, I can 

343
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:38,360
understand the difficulty, the 
challenges. 

344
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,960
Remember that there are two 
things that kill prayer 

345
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,840
meetings, long prayers and long 
pauses. 

346
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,400
So you don't need to pray a long
prayer, just somebody that's on 

347
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,440
your heart or petition you 
briefly want to present before 

348
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,600
the Lord. 
And what a blessing that would 

349
00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:00,040
be to you and to the church as 
well. 

350
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,760
I grew up on a farm. 
I trained to be a farmer. 

351
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,640
I intended to be a farmer. 
We had planned to farm up at 

352
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:13,720
home. 
I wanted to go into the milk, 

353
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:20,560
have a little dairy herd, a 
division of that from the time 

354
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,600
that I was a child. 
But the Lord closed the door on 

355
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:28,040
that, closed it very definitely.
We we had started to do a little

356
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,440
work on some of the buildings, 
preparing them for a dairy and a

357
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,360
milking parlour. 
But that was the time that they 

358
00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:38,960
brought in the milk quota and we
didn't have any quota. 

359
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,120
You could appeal to a tribunal 
at Dundonald House and we did 

360
00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,720
that. 
We went along to that tribunal 

361
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,200
and pleaded our case, but they 
said that we hadn't gone far 

362
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,040
enough on the project. 
We hadn't spent enough money. 

363
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,880
We'd spent a wee bit more money.
They would have been more 

364
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,920
sympathetic to us. 
You can appreciate I was very 

365
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,840
disappointed. 
But you know, today I can see 

366
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,840
the hand of God very clearly in 
that. 

367
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:10,240
The Lord closed that door for He
had a another path and another 

368
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:16,600
work for me to do, and I rejoice
today. 

369
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:21,000
You think of if the family had 
spent all of that money, made 

370
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,960
all of that investment for my 
benefit, it would have been very

371
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,400
hard to have turned my back on 
that and walked away from it 

372
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,160
whenever the Lord had spoke to 
me and called me into the 

373
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:33,480
ministry. 
Let me tell you how that call 

374
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,600
came about, that group of young 
people that I mentioned to you 

375
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,160
that we fellowship together and 
ran about together in the 

376
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:43,640
martyrs. 
We went one night to a meeting 

377
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,440
in the Mount Marian Church. 
Not long after I came home from 

378
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:52,200
agricultural college. 
Doctor Alan Kearns, who grew up 

379
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,480
in Mount Marian, was home from 
the United States and where he 

380
00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,440
was ministering in Greenville. 
Then they brought him home for a

381
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,840
special week of meetings, and in
the the message that he preached

382
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:07,600
that night, that we were there, 
he took a few minutes to tell of

383
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,320
how God called him into the 
gospel ministry. 

384
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,680
And I knew that night in that 
meeting, God was speaking to me.

385
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,520
I struggled with that, struggled
with it greatly. 

386
00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:27,920
I had my heart set on the farm, 
the cows, all of those things. 

387
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,480
And the thought of a life of 
study, the thought of devoting 

388
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,160
my life to the work of the 
ministry. 

389
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,200
So for nearly two years I 
battled with that. 

390
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:41,680
And one Sunday afternoon after 
dinner, I was up in my bedroom 

391
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,920
reading the scriptures that 
those verses at the end of Luke 

392
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:49,360
chapter 1 regarding John the 
Baptist And thy child shall be 

393
00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:52,240
called the prophet of the 
highest. 

394
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,960
And I knew again the Lord had 
spoken to me that day. 

395
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:01,160
So I knelt down at the side of 
the bed and I just surrendered, 

396
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,720
surrendered everything, 
surrendered my all to the Lord. 

397
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:10,400
And I can assure you I've had no
regrets of that whatsoever. 

398
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,680
There's little chorus that says 
let the Lord have His way in 

399
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:20,320
your life every day. 
There'll be no rest and there'll

400
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:24,240
be no peace until the Lord has 
His way. 

401
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,640
I had left school in that big a 
hurry that I didn't do any O 

402
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:34,080
levels in those days. 
You could leave school at the 

403
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,160
end of 4th year and you could go
to the tech and you could do a 

404
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,760
course there in your final year.
So I had this thought on my 

405
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,600
mind. 
The foreman and the tech 

406
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,000
actually had a City and Guilds 
course in agriculture. 

407
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,760
You you can maybe hardly imagine
that when you think of City and 

408
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,960
Guilds you think of subjects 
like English and music and so 

409
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:56,680
on. 
Well, they had a very good 

410
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:01,280
course in agriculture and I did 
it down at Downpatrick Technical

411
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,720
College. 
Really enjoyed it, made a few 

412
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,080
friends, did a lot of farm 
visits, profited greatly from 

413
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,600
it. 
Was good preparation for going 

414
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:15,560
to Lochry, but it meant I had no
O levels and you needed at least

415
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,600
three to get into the to the 
Whitfield College of the Bible. 

416
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:23,800
So I started to attend night 
classes to get those three O 

417
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:28,720
levels down in Castlereagh 
College. 

418
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,520
I needed English language, 
English literature and history. 

419
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:35,840
I never was very good at 
English. 

420
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,320
Whenever I was at carried off 
primary school and we were doing

421
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,840
a little bit of English, I 
couldn't distinguish between the

422
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:49,040
line and the sentence. 
I thought that a sentence 

423
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,520
started at that side of the page
and it finished at that side of 

424
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,760
the page. 
So whenever I handed in a an 

425
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,920
essay or a wee bit of prose or 
written work there was a row of 

426
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,960
dots write down this side of the
page. 

427
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,600
Monday afternoon they had hymn 
practise. 

428
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,400
Some Mondays I wasn't allowed to
go to hymn practise. 

429
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,040
Very disappointed about that. 
Enjoyed the singing. 

430
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:13,440
I was kept back to get some 
private instruction in English 

431
00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:17,640
and been asked to write this 
this bit of prose again. 

432
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:22,440
But they got it back the same 
way with the row of darts down 

433
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,200
this side of the page. 
I was just a slow learner, took 

434
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,240
a wee while. 
I failed that English O level, 

435
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:31,840
the English language O level 
twice. 

436
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,200
Sometimes you know, the Lord 
tests your call. 

437
00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:40,720
I thought I wasn't going to get 
the qualifications, but the Lord

438
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:45,240
undertook and we did pass Doctor
Douglas, The late Doctor John 

439
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:50,520
Douglas was a great help to us 
as far as the English language 

440
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:55,560
was concerned. 
The lessons that he taught us in

441
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,000
the college. 
He and Doctor Cook would have 

442
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,680
stopped this mid sentence if we 
got the 10 strong, if we said 

443
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,680
done instead of did or whatever,
stop this mid sentence and just 

444
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,000
corrected us. 
Mr Douglas could have turned you

445
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,880
to verses in the Bible just to 
show you the correct spelling of

446
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:16,360
there and there, where and where
and all of those things. 

447
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:19,480
He put great importance. 
The servant of the Lord should 

448
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,560
have good English, the best of 
of English. 

449
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,080
Strange. 
You know, when you think of all 

450
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,080
of that, that the Lord has been 
pleased to give me a little 

451
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,520
writing ministry. 
I've been writing for newspapers

452
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:40,040
and now for maybe 20-5 years and
more started in Wales in the 

453
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:44,360
Caernethleigh Star. 
That's maybe now the most of 30 

454
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:48,720
years ago, whenever I was down 
in Newry, they gave me a little 

455
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,320
column in the Newry Democrat. 
They called it Weekly Wisdom, 

456
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,280
put a picture of me at the top 
of the column. 

457
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,800
There's maybe 8000 copies of 
that paper went out every week 

458
00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,000
all across that nationalist 
area. 

459
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,720
I wrote as well for a while for 
the Cross Mcglenn Examiner. 

460
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:07,680
When you drive up to Cross 
Mcglenn, it's it's really 

461
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,280
challenging to think there's not
a gospel witness insight. 

462
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,680
And I was given an opportunity 
to write for that newspaper. 

463
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:16,880
The the editor said I'll not put
your name on it. 

464
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,480
He was afraid of that. 
I'll not put your denomination 

465
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,000
on it, but we'll print the 
messages. 

466
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,280
Well, I said that's OK on one 
condition that you don't edit 

467
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:30,160
them, you don't change the 
messages in any way. 11 message 

468
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,880
I wrote encouraging people to 
read the Bible and I said at the

469
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:34,720
bottom, if you'd like a copy of 
the Scriptures. 

470
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,720
I phoned this number and four 
people got in touch with me. 

471
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,760
I made a point of visiting all 
of those people personally to 

472
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,400
deliver the Bibles and heard 
some very interesting stories, 

473
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,840
gave them gospel literature as 
well. 

474
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:54,440
I've been writing for the 
Belfast newsletter now for 

475
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:58,600
almost 19 years. 
I saw Billy, Billy Kennedy from 

476
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:01,280
Bessbrook at a funeral on Friday
afternoon. 

477
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,280
It was through Billy. 
We got to know the Kennedys when

478
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,880
we were in Mall of Glass and 
Billy has been very good, very 

479
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,680
encouraging. 
He thought it was just five or 

480
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,160
six years. 
When I was talking to him on 

481
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:16,280
Friday I said Billy, you know, 
it's almost 19 years back in 

482
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,200
2007, so now it's down to every 
five weeks. 

483
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,520
The rota. 
It's amazing the feedback. 

484
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,600
There's a potential readership 
there every Saturday of 100,000 

485
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:29,680
people. 
The circulation of the 

486
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:33,440
newsletter, double S on the 
salary because of the The 

487
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:37,040
Farming Life, the farmers and 
then they put them all online 

488
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,800
though as well. 
So it's amazing. 

489
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,040
It's unbelievable really the 
potential readership. 

490
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,720
Paul gave me an opportunity for 
a number of years to write for 

491
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:52,600
The Farming Life as well, and we
got feedback from all of those 

492
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,680
messages over the years and 
that's why we started to print 

493
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,040
the paper pulpit booklets. 
People wanted the messages to 

494
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,480
give to others, to have for 
themselves that they could refer

495
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:04,680
back to them. 
People were photocopying them 

496
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,560
and giving them out to someone 
that they thought was very 

497
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,040
suitable. 
And they've been been used all 

498
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,920
over the world. 
Doctor Trbolsi in the Lebanon is

499
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,080
using them in his magazine. 
He's having them translated into

500
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:23,120
Arabic and published both on 
their Facebook page and on a a 

501
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:27,600
message that they publish. 
So for a fella that couldn't 

502
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:32,440
pass his first English language 
O level for the first two 

503
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:36,400
attempts, isn't it amazing? 
So I say to you tonight, I 

504
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,720
challenge you, you, you think I 
could never do that? 

505
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:42,760
You step back, you hold yourself
back. 

506
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,040
You just never know what the 
Lord can do with you. 

507
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:51,400
You never know the opportunities
that the Lord can give to you. 

508
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,800
So just ask the Lord to guide 
you and open up the 

509
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:59,880
opportunities and be willing to 
do whatever the Lord presents to

510
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:01,760
you. 
You know, in the Old Testament, 

511
00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:08,280
the Levites, they laboured 
between 30 and 51 of the lessons

512
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,960
of that is they retired at 50 
does not sound very nice 

513
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:15,560
retiring at 50. 
But one of the lessons is they 

514
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,240
gave the best years of their 
life to the Lord. 

515
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:27,120
And as I look back now, he's 
coming almost 38 years in the 

516
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:31,160
work of God from we went to the 
the Whitfield College of the 

517
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,640
Bible. 
I thank the Lord that he has 

518
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:39,920
allowed me to give the best 
years of my life to him and in 

519
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,520
his service. 
I started the Whitfield College 

520
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:49,800
of the Bible in September of 
1987, started at the same time 

521
00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:54,160
as the Reverend McLaughlin. 
We went through together. 

522
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:58,880
So we've known your minister now
for some 38 years. 

523
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:03,960
We have appreciated his 
fellowship, he and his wife and 

524
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:08,080
their family, and we appreciate 
the opportunity just to renew 

525
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,440
fellowship all with you tonight.
Not long after I went to the 

526
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,520
college, we had some family 
deaths. 

527
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:21,240
The following year, 1988, Uncle 
John died at the end of 

528
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:26,920
February, just 59. 
Daddy died on the 26th of June 

529
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,400
that year, he was just 58. 
And then my brother Gordon died 

530
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,800
that November, the 2nd of 
November, and he was just 17. 

531
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:41,120
Remember, he was born with 
Duchenne muscular dystrophy. 

532
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:45,760
At that stage, she didn't live 
beyond your 18th birthday. 

533
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,360
They've developed some 
medication, some drugs now that 

534
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:55,880
they call muscle juice, that 
really gives help to people with

535
00:33:55,880 --> 00:34:00,160
Duchenne muscular dystrophy and 
has enabled them to live quite a

536
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,880
few years longer. 
That was a challenging year. 

537
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:08,560
I was going through my first 
summer exams when Daddy died. 

538
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,880
Had to go back in the summer to 
finish those exams. 

539
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:18,040
We were just coming up to the 
Greek exam whenever my brother 

540
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,679
Gordon died. 
So I had to go to the Reverend 

541
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:24,600
Ferguson's house, the the man 
stoning Kalka at that time, he 

542
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:28,520
was teaching his Greek and do 
that sitting in his his dining 

543
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,520
room. 
But you know, I learned a great 

544
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:36,320
lesson through those deaths. 
Some folk suggested to me that 

545
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,520
I'd made a mistake, that I 
needed to come home and look 

546
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:44,120
after the farm. 
But I knew that if I was ever 

547
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,679
going to do a work for God, I 
needed to do it then. 

548
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,560
The Lord was emphasising to me 
the brevity of life, the 

549
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:54,800
shortness of life, the shortness
of the opportunity. 

550
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,000
That was one of the greatest 
lessons of those college days 

551
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,000
that wasn't taught in the 
classroom itself. 

552
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,840
I met Roberta in the Whitfield 
College. 

553
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,960
She had been the deputy matron 
for a time. 

554
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:12,360
She felt the call then to go in 
and do the studies. 

555
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:14,920
She had started the year ahead 
of me. 

556
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:19,600
I did a wee bit of chasing to 
catch her or to persuade her 

557
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:25,320
that I was the man for her and 
there was 3 couples that were 

558
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:29,800
engaged around the same time. 
It was quite an experience to 

559
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:31,480
get engaged. 
You have the right to the press 

560
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:32,720
but really get permission to 
marry. 

561
00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:35,280
You had to have a wee chat with 
Mr Douglas. 

562
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,680
He would have taken you into the
board room and you would have 

563
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,400
been there for maybe 45 minutes 
or an hour while he emphasised 

564
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,680
you the importance of your 
studies and the need to devote 

565
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,840
yourself to these studies. 
So one of the witty fellows 

566
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:51,040
wrote on a piece of A4 paper and
put it up on the office door. 

567
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:56,640
Whitfield Bridal College Mr 
Douglas maybe wasn't just lad 

568
00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:03,120
enamoured about that, but we 
were married between my second 

569
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:08,000
and third year. 
After a honeymoon we toured bed 

570
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,520
and breakfast round the South 
for a couple of weeks and then 

571
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,840
we went to Wales for the rest of
that summer. 

572
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:19,480
The Reverend Hill is Fleming, 
who was then in Liverpool. 

573
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:23,200
Mr Fleming was one of the folk 
that I heard preach here in the 

574
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:25,160
schoolhouse. 
He was in Mount Merion at the 

575
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,880
time. 
I remember going out of the 

576
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,880
schoolhouse one Sunday night. 
Those of you who remember Mr 

577
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:32,400
Fleming, he never drove a good 
car. 

578
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:37,240
They were generally a wreck of a
car and I remember we pushed 

579
00:36:37,240 --> 00:36:41,320
them down the hill last night to
get the car started so that he 

580
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:43,240
could he could make his way 
home. 

581
00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:46,720
But we had got to know Mr 
Fleming, particularly the year 

582
00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:49,160
before. 
The Reverend McLaughlin will 

583
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:52,840
remember that at the end of our 
first year we all went to 

584
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:55,400
Tavistock. 
Well, in fact, we started off on

585
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:58,880
Old and Broad. 
There's maybe 35 of us went 

586
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:01,200
across on one of the Portadown 
buses. 

587
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,400
The matron went with us. 
Some of the wives went as well. 

588
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,960
And we went across to Alton 
Broad and did some meetings and 

589
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,520
then we drove all the way down 
to Tavistock. 

590
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:17,040
And it was at that mission that 
was held. 

591
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:19,960
The Reverend Fleming, the 
Reverend Park preached at that 

592
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,160
mission. 
And that was the commencement of

593
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,320
the Tavistock work. 
And we did all the outreach 

594
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,640
right throughout the community. 
I could tell you some great 

595
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,480
stories about the accommodation 
and, and where we stayed. 

596
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:36,520
And that's the time that Roberta
and I started to go out 

597
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,640
together. 
So with many memories of those 

598
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,520
years, the years of preparation 
in the Whitfield College of the 

599
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:47,480
Bible, in Doctor Cook's class, 
the late Doctor Cook, the 

600
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:52,280
homiletics class, the first time
that I preached, I didn't really

601
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:54,960
get on that well. 
The thing was I hadn't the wit 

602
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:56,880
to know that I hadn't got on 
very well. 

603
00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:59,680
He always liked to ask you the 
question, how do you think you 

604
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:02,720
get on today? 
It was just to test your 

605
00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:05,400
attitude a wee bit. 
And I said, well, I think I got 

606
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,840
on powerful well, Mr. Cook, 
Well, he left me no doubt that 

607
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:13,080
day before I went home, but I 
had still a long way to go if I 

608
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,120
could put it to you like that. 
So the second time I preached in

609
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:19,520
the class, he gave me the text, 
the widow was Arafat and the 

610
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,040
failing barrel of meal. 
And he asked the same question. 

611
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:24,560
How do you think you get on 
today, David? 

612
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,480
Well, I wasn't going to same 
make the same mistake twice. 

613
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,480
I said, I don't really think I 
got on that very well, Mr. Cook.

614
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:35,920
So the wee smile, wee glint on 
his eye, he said, well I suppose

615
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:37,960
we could say then that you were 
scraping the bottom of the 

616
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:42,000
barrel. 
So some of the fellows like to 

617
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,400
call me the barrel scraper for a
little while after that. 

618
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:51,480
But it was through Mr Fleming 
that we we went to to Wales, we 

619
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:57,160
went that summer after we were 
married and we spent maybe 7 

620
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:01,520
weeks there, got to know that 
little congregation whenever our

621
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:04,480
time in college was finished and
seeking the Lord for for his 

622
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,280
will. 
The Lord brought that verse to 

623
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,360
our mind. 
Deuteronomy 11 and 11 four 

624
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,120
different times. 
The land, whether thy goest to 

625
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:16,000
possess it as a as a land of 
hills and valleys. 

626
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:18,880
So with no doubt that that's 
where the Lord was leading us. 

627
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,200
I was ordained for that work. 
After two years there, Mr 

628
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,400
Paisley came to visit us to open
the little building in Bury 

629
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:26,560
Port. 
He stayed for a week. 

630
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:29,720
What a time of blessing that 
was, the meetings that were 

631
00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:32,960
held, the souls that were saved.
He came back and recommended to 

632
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,800
the presbytery that I should be 
ordained for that work. 

633
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:39,040
They brought us home for that. 
Martyrs was building the hall at

634
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:41,840
that time. 
They couldn't host the meeting 

635
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:45,080
as my home church. 
So the meeting was held in Tan 

636
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:49,040
Regay, Roberta's home church in 
the old building. 

637
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:52,680
And Mr Paisley preached that 
night on John the Baptist. 

638
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,440
Remember, I was called to the 
gospel ministry. 

639
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,720
The final word the Lord spoke to
me about the ministry of John 

640
00:40:00,720 --> 00:40:02,560
the Baptist. 
So we were there for just over 9

641
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,560
years. 
Then we were in Molaglas. 

642
00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:12,520
We're just a little over 9 years
and I'm now into my 16th year in

643
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,600
Armagh. 
I've got the 15 up at the end of

644
00:40:16,240 --> 00:40:19,720
October of last year. 
Very needy city. 

645
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,040
The ancient ecclesiastical 
capital of Ireland. 

646
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:27,080
Very religious. 
Many people sincerely religious.

647
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:31,800
And yet sincerely wrong. 
So it's a study that that needs 

648
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:38,080
the move of God. 
I'll mention to you briefly just

649
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:41,640
a little about my illness. 
It's a story of the Lord's 

650
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,960
faithfulness and the Lord's 
providential care. 

651
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,720
The day that I took on well was 
the 23rd of April 2018, Saint 

652
00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:55,560
George's Day. 
So almost eight years ago, I 

653
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,320
hadn't been feeling well for a 
few weeks. 

654
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,480
I went to see the doctor, so a 
young locum Dr that saw me that 

655
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,080
day, she was very nervous, told 
her I was going to East Africa. 

656
00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:08,440
She really said to me you decide
whether you want to go. 

657
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:11,600
She really should have told me 
not to go anywhere till we get 

658
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:13,640
that. 
That sorted out. 

659
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:18,640
That Monday morning as we were 
setting off, I asked the Lord if

660
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:23,400
if I wasn't to go on that trip 
that he would step in and 

661
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,040
prevent me from going. 
I didn't just think he might 

662
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,560
step in as drastically as as he 
did. 

663
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,880
My good friend Alistair Hamilton
and I were travelling together. 

664
00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:37,440
We'd arrived at Dublin Airport, 
parked a car, made our way 

665
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:40,920
across in the bus. 
I was pulling 2 very heavy 

666
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:43,720
cases, a heavy rock sack on my 
back. 

667
00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:47,400
We were just through the door. 
When we came through Dublin 

668
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,440
Airport on Thursday night, I 
called the couple of the 

669
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:55,240
brethren over and I said that's 
the spot, that's the place there

670
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:59,120
where I went down that day. 
So every time we pass through 

671
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:02,360
the airport we still see it. 
So I was just through the door 

672
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,320
and Alistair was just a little 
in front of me. 

673
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:08,520
The last thing I remember him 
saying we need to go this way. 

674
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:13,680
And everything started to go out
of focus and down I went. 

675
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:18,680
In fact, I went down that quick.
I don't remember hitting the 

676
00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:23,400
ground. 
The Lord was gracious in in what

677
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:27,680
happened after that. 
There's so many provinces that 

678
00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,640
took place. 
There was a nurse came and 

679
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:34,440
helped Alistair start to do CPR.
He had been trained in it. 

680
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,560
When he was 19, came back to 
him. 

681
00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:42,040
He carried on that CPR. 
One of the guard officers came 

682
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:46,120
with a a portable defibrillator 
that he'd taken off the wall. 

683
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:49,040
At that time there was 50 
defibrillators in Dublin 

684
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:53,360
Airport, 300 members of staff 
that were trained in first aid 

685
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:57,640
in the use of defibrillators. 
Some years before that, a man 

686
00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:01,440
had died in the airport and the 
chief fire officer, Jerry Qu, 

687
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:04,800
vowed that that would never 
happen again while he was there 

688
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:08,200
and he'd started that 
defibrillator programme. 

689
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:16,000
You know, the figures in the UK 
is that about 8%, just 8% of the

690
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,840
people that have a cardiac 
arrest outside of hospital 

691
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:24,440
actually survive that cardiac 
arrest attack. 

692
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:30,320
So that gives you some idea of 
the mercy of God that I 

693
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:34,160
experienced that day. 
There was paramedics that came. 

694
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,520
They came in an ambulance. 
Alistair was surprised they came

695
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:40,720
so quick. 
Turns out the airport had its 

696
00:43:40,720 --> 00:43:42,880
own ambulance. 
They had a bigger defibrillator.

697
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:45,680
Brendan Conway was the main 
paramedic. 

698
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,360
In essence he was the man that 
saved my life that day. 

699
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:55,800
I think I was the 26th life that
was saved by that defibrillator 

700
00:43:56,200 --> 00:44:01,960
programme in Dublin Airport, the
Labour, William Whiteside, he 

701
00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:03,440
was in charge of Hillsborough at
the time. 

702
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:08,080
He was telling the people about 
what had happened in Dublin that

703
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,120
day. 
But the help that I had received

704
00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,040
and he said, you know, the 
Dublin paramilitaries came and 

705
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:19,960
saved our brother. 
So the congregation laughed, he 

706
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:21,200
said. 
I know I've said something 

707
00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,800
wrong, but I'm just not sure 
actually what it was. 

708
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:27,320
They thought at first they could
sort out the problem with a 

709
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:31,240
couple of stents, but when they 
got me to the Mater hospital 

710
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:33,640
they realised that they couldn't
do that. 

711
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:38,280
The blockage was on a bend. 
My main left ascending artery, 

712
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,880
the one they called the 
Widowmaker, was 95% blocked. 

713
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,360
The blockage was on a bend. 
They can't put stents around the

714
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:48,480
corner, so they had to do a 
double heart bypass. 

715
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:54,440
I collapsed just after 4:00 in 
the afternoon and they had me in

716
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,880
the operating table by 8:00 that
night. 

717
00:44:58,720 --> 00:45:02,360
I said to the cardiologist, you 
can appreciate there's a lot 

718
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:05,480
happened here in a very short 
space of time. 

719
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:08,760
I'd like a wee bit of time to 
think about this. 

720
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:10,640
He says. 
I don't want to rush you and I 

721
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:13,560
don't want to put you under any 
pressure, but there's there's 

722
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:14,960
some things you need to 
consider. 

723
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,080
You can take another one of 
these very quickly, no guarantee

724
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,160
that you'll come out of the next
one as well as you come out of 

725
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,000
the first one. 
He said the theatre's free at 

726
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:25,800
the moment. 
I couldn't guarantee it'll be 

727
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:27,960
free in 10 minutes time. 
Another emergency could be 

728
00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:32,520
wheeled in and he said the top 
heart surgeon in this hospital 

729
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,320
is here, He's going on his 
holidays tonight. 

730
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:39,760
If you give him permission, he 
has agreed to stay and do the 

731
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:42,440
operation. 
His name was McGuinness. 

732
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:45,680
Mr Jonathan McGuinness, I've 
never met him. 

733
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,360
The way things worked out, He 
did the operation, came out of 

734
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:53,440
theatre maybe at 1:20. 
He went off on his holidays and 

735
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,440
all the other doctors in the 
hospital looked after me during 

736
00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:59,040
that time. 
When I went for my review, I was

737
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:02,200
to see Mr McGuinness. 
But that morning he was, he was 

738
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:06,600
called to emergency surgery. 
Roberta and the family met him 

739
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:10,840
after the operation that night 
and we were very impressed with 

740
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:14,680
how measured, how capable a man 
he was. 

741
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:19,040
But I thank God for all of those
canned upon that the Lord gave 

742
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:22,960
me a word a few days after. 
That operation. 

743
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:26,560
Joshua 14. 
Verse 10 The words of the. 

744
00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:32,760
Of Caleb at 85. 
The Lord hath kept me alive, and

745
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:34,520
that's really my testimony. 
Men and women. 

746
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,680
As far as that whole incident 
went, the Lord has kept me 

747
00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:41,640
alive. 
I rejoice there's still a 

748
00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:42,840
little. 
Work for me to do. 

749
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:47,000
I thank you for your prayers. 
I know that many of you were 

750
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:51,760
faithful in remembering me in 
prayer At At that time King 

751
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:55,320
Hezekiah could say he had been 
to the gates of the grave. 

752
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:58,720
Well, I think I've. 
Been pretty close. 

753
00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:03,680
To the gates of the grave as 
well rejoice in the recovery 

754
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:07,880
that have made the Lord has been
good the health and strength 

755
00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:10,960
that we enjoy. 
But it's a warning, men and 

756
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:13,800
women, warning to you tonight as
well. 

757
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:16,760
You don't know what a day will 
bring forth. 

758
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:19,520
You know not what shall be on 
the Morrow. 

759
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:25,920
When I left home that morning, I
never imagined that before the 

760
00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:27,560
day was out, I. 
Would be in the operating. 

761
00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:33,360
Theatre receiving a double heart
bypass operation. 

762
00:47:34,240 --> 00:47:36,560
Andrew Bonner. 
I encourage you to read Bonner's

763
00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:40,760
diary. 
Written by his daughter, put 

764
00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:42,880
together, taken. 
From his diary, she went through

765
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,560
it and took the extracts several
times. 

766
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:49,720
As you read through that diary, 
you'll find these words Why am I

767
00:47:49,720 --> 00:47:55,920
spared and others taken? 
Many of his family died young, 

768
00:47:56,600 --> 00:48:01,360
even his dear wife. 
He was a good friend of the 

769
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:04,080
godly Robert Murray McShane. 
Remember, he died before he 

770
00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:07,640
reached his 30th birthday. 
So, so often, he wrote those 

771
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:12,960
words, Why am I spared and 
others taken? 

772
00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:15,640
So it's good for you to think of
that tonight. 

773
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:18,080
Why am I spared? 
Why? 

774
00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:21,680
Are you still here? 
Others of your family, your 

775
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,840
friends, your neighbours taken 
You know there's only two 

776
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:26,160
answers. 
To that. 

777
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:30,400
If you're not saved, you're 
spared because God and mercy has

778
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:34,360
given you another opportunity to
get saved, to get right with. 

779
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:36,600
Him and. 
If you are saved and you know 

780
00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:40,200
the Lord, you're spared because 
your work's not yet done. 

781
00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:44,800
You've still have work to do for
God, and you must work the works

782
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:47,600
of him that sent you. 
Why did this day? 

783
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:50,520
For the night cometh when no man
can work? 

784
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,040
I'll finish my testimony with 
us. 

785
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:58,320
I know in the programme Mr 
McLaughlin has me down to do a 

786
00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:00,760
message. 
I can do a very brief message if

787
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:03,320
he still wants that. 
But I'll finish with the words 

788
00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:06,920
of Newton's hymn. 
Through many dangers, toils and 

789
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:14,720
snares I have already come. 
Tis grace has brought me safe 

790
00:49:14,720 --> 00:49:18,760
thus far and His Grace will lead
me home. 

791
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:24,160
Thank you, Mr McLaughlin. 
Psalm 23. 

792
00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:28,240
Just verse one. 
The Lord is my shepherd. 

793
00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:35,960
I shall not want a verse with a 
a very good agricultural, rural 

794
00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:39,720
farming background. 
There's a lovely story. 

795
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:44,120
I mentioned the paper pulpits, 
the messages for the paper. 

796
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:50,240
One of the stories that I wrote 
in the early years, a very 

797
00:49:50,240 --> 00:49:55,440
famous story about a a very well
known actor. 

798
00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:59,800
Some say it was Richard Burton, 
some say it was Sir Charles 

799
00:49:59,800 --> 00:50:03,000
Laughton. 
Which acted was really doesn't 

800
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:07,800
matter, but the story is this 
quite a number of years ago in a

801
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:15,120
in a large the house in England 
large country house, there's a 

802
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:18,880
great gathering of people from 
all of that community from. 

803
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:22,800
Different walks of life. 
Some of them very famous, like 

804
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:28,160
the actor that I've mentioned. 
They had some food together and 

805
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:32,360
at the close of the evening, 
after the food, they wanted the 

806
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:35,680
actor to recite for them. 
He was very well known 

807
00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:39,360
particularly for his voice and 
for all the training that he had

808
00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:43,520
received for his voice. 
So they requested that he would 

809
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,960
recite something. 
You know the situation when that

810
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:49,480
happens. 
Nobody could think of anything. 

811
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:55,040
He asked them, can you suggest, 
can anybody mention something 

812
00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:58,280
you'd like me to recite? 
Nobody could think of anything. 

813
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:01,560
There was silence. 
There's no minister of the 

814
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:06,120
Gospel there. 
He spoke up and he said, what 

815
00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:10,920
about the 23rd Psalm? 
When the actor was taken back a 

816
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:14,840
little, he had gone to church. 
He'd been brought up going to 

817
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:17,840
church, going to meetings. 
He had been taught the word of 

818
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:21,240
God from a child and he knew the
23rd Psalm. 

819
00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:24,520
In fact, he could recite it from
memory of by heart. 

820
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:31,400
So he stood up and he said I 
will recite the 23rd Psalm on 

821
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:34,360
one condition, and that is that 
this. 

822
00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:36,800
This old minister. 
Recites it after me. 

823
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:39,760
Well, the the minister was a 
little bit surprised, but he 

824
00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:44,200
agreed to do that. 
So the actor went first, recited

825
00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:48,960
the the Psalm word perfect, 
using all his training, all his 

826
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,680
ability, using his voice, 
putting the emphasis, the tones 

827
00:51:52,680 --> 00:51:54,240
and so on, all in the right 
place. 

828
00:51:55,200 --> 00:51:57,960
Whenever he'd finished reciting 
the Psalm, everybody 

829
00:51:57,960 --> 00:51:59,960
spontaneously just burst into 
applause. 

830
00:51:59,960 --> 00:52:03,160
They really appreciated the 
recitation that they'd received.

831
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:06,280
And then the old minister stood 
up. 

832
00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:09,920
He was an old man, and he was. 
Frail, and his voice was. 

833
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:13,200
Broken he was, he was well past 
his best. 

834
00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:16,800
He recited it, of course. 
Remember, he knew it. 

835
00:52:16,960 --> 00:52:19,760
Really. 
Well, when he had finished 

836
00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:23,280
quoting the Psalm that night, 
they didn't clap. 

837
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:28,440
In fact, many of the people that
were gathered cried, wept. 

838
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:31,120
The tears were running down 
their face. 

839
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:34,920
The actor stood up again and 
this is what he said. 

840
00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:36,640
This is how he summed up the 
situation. 

841
00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:41,800
He said I touched your heads, 
but he touched your hearts. 

842
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:48,840
And the difference is this. 
I knew the Sam, but he knew the.

843
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:50,600
Shepherd. 
He knows the Shepherd. 

844
00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:56,240
Of the Sam, I venture to say, 
men and women, that all of you 

845
00:52:56,240 --> 00:52:59,680
here tonight, you know the Sam 
like that actor. 

846
00:52:59,680 --> 00:53:02,640
You've known it from your 
childhood, went to Sunday school

847
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:06,680
children's meetings, maybe one 
of the very first passages of 

848
00:53:06,680 --> 00:53:10,360
scripture that you ever taught, 
you could probably recite it 

849
00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:11,200
from. 
Memory too. 

850
00:53:11,720 --> 00:53:15,600
You've often sang it in church 
services and particularly at 

851
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:20,120
funerals. 
You know the Psalm, but what 

852
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:21,880
about the shepherd? 
It's an entirely different 

853
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:26,120
thing. 
Do you know the shepherd of the 

854
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:28,640
Psalm? 
Remember, the shepherd is none 

855
00:53:28,640 --> 00:53:30,480
other than the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

856
00:53:31,560 --> 00:53:34,880
It's a good thing when you study
the Bible to compare one passage

857
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:37,920
with another. 
The Bible's its own best. 

858
00:53:37,920 --> 00:53:40,560
Interpreter one. 
Passage of the Bible throws 

859
00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:44,320
light upon another know the 
great I am statements of the New

860
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:50,080
Testament Scriptures. 
The Saviour said I am the Good 

861
00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:53,400
Shepherd. 
The Good Shepherd giveth us life

862
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,120
for the sheep. 
So remember when you read those 

863
00:53:56,120 --> 00:54:01,040
opening words, the Lord is my 
shepherd that's speaking about 

864
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:04,080
Christ. 
That's a Psalm that's all about 

865
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:07,520
the Saviour. 
He said search the Scriptures. 

866
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:10,280
The Scriptures there was the Old
Testament for they are they 

867
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:15,480
which testify of me. 
So Psalm 23, always remember 

868
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:21,320
that it's a Psalm about Christ, 
Jehovah Jesus. 

869
00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:25,600
He knew the shepherd of the 
Psalm. 

870
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:30,440
The old man was able to say, the
Lord is my shepherd. 

871
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:34,440
He's not just our Shepherd, He's
mine. 

872
00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:35,800
I know him. 
I've. 

873
00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:40,400
Received him personally as my 
saviour and that's the challenge

874
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:41,720
men and women. 
At the close of the meeting 

875
00:54:41,720 --> 00:54:44,280
tonight. 
It's good to know the 

876
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:45,760
scriptures. 
Good to know the Psalm. 

877
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:50,400
Good to know the word of God, 
but the all important. 

878
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:51,840
Thing in life is to know the 
shepherd. 

879
00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:55,640
To know Christ, we sing the 
words, Dear Saviour, thou art 

880
00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:59,400
mine. 
Can you say that tonight? 

881
00:55:00,200 --> 00:55:04,160
Is that your testimony? 
If you can say the Lord is my 

882
00:55:04,720 --> 00:55:08,040
shepherd, then you're able to 
say I shall. 

883
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:11,640
Not want in. 
Life, the Lord is my shepherd. 

884
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:15,280
I shall. 
Not want You may never be rich, 

885
00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:19,600
may never be a millionaire, but 
you'll have all that you ever 

886
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:21,440
need. 
The Lord will supply all your 

887
00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:24,520
need according to his riches and
glory. 

888
00:55:25,440 --> 00:55:28,640
Many of the great Jehovah titles
are found in that Psalm, and 

889
00:55:28,640 --> 00:55:30,520
Jehovah jar is there in the 
first verse. 

890
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:35,200
The Lord who sees, the Lord who 
provides, you'll never want in 

891
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:41,200
life, not just the material, but
the spiritual, the emotional, 

892
00:55:42,240 --> 00:55:44,680
all of the needs that we have in
life. 

893
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,920
You'll not fear in death. 
It's not one of the greatest 

894
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:50,240
fears. 
That people have, they get. 

895
00:55:50,240 --> 00:55:53,520
Into bondage, Paul said to the 
Hebrews. 

896
00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:57,480
They spoke of those who, through
fear of death, were all their 

897
00:55:57,480 --> 00:55:58,840
lifetimes. 
Subject to. 

898
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:01,440
Bondage. 
They do all sorts of things 

899
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,640
because they're afraid of dying,
afraid of going to funerals, 

900
00:56:05,160 --> 00:56:08,920
afraid of the thought of death. 
Bible says it's wise. 

901
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:10,280
To think about death. 
Oh, that they were. 

902
00:56:10,280 --> 00:56:14,520
Wise that they understood this, 
that they would consider their 

903
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:18,080
latter end. 
If you can say the Lord is my 

904
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:21,280
shepherd, you'll not fear in 
death. 

905
00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:25,920
Yeah, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I

906
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:30,160
will fear no evil. 
Why? 

907
00:56:30,160 --> 00:56:34,680
Because the Lord is with me. 
You'll know his presence because

908
00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:37,720
he has saved you. 
And you know where you're going 

909
00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:41,080
when you depart from this scene 
of time. 

910
00:56:41,680 --> 00:56:44,080
Not want and life, not fear and 
death. 

911
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:47,720
And if the Lord is your 
shepherd, you'll not be lost in 

912
00:56:47,720 --> 00:56:50,680
eternity. 
Goodness and mercy shall follow 

913
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:56,600
me all the days of my life, and 
I will dwell in the House of the

914
00:56:56,600 --> 00:57:00,640
Lord forever. 
So just think of that prospect. 

915
00:57:01,240 --> 00:57:05,040
Remember that eternities real 
men and women, more real than 

916
00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:06,560
the things that we. 
See around us. 

917
00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:08,520
The things that are seen are 
temple. 

918
00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:12,120
One day, they'll pass away. 
Heaven and earth will pass. 

919
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:17,240
Away the things that are on the 
scene, they're the things that 

920
00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:22,400
are eternal. 
So eternity is more real than 

921
00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:25,320
time. 
We're all heading towards 

922
00:57:26,320 --> 00:57:30,080
eternity and the great question 
is where will you be? 

923
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:34,080
Where will you spend eternity 
when your life. 

924
00:57:34,080 --> 00:57:36,320
Is over when you've gone the. 
Last mile of the way. 

925
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:38,760
So we sang little, and you go 
out into eternity. 

926
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:44,120
Where are you going? 
The Saviour said his disciples. 

927
00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:47,480
None of you ask us. 
Me asketh me, Whither goest 

928
00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:50,200
thou? 
That was when he was. 

929
00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:54,440
Going to the. 
Cross going to die So whether 

930
00:57:54,440 --> 00:57:59,240
goest thy Where are you going in
eternity? 

931
00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:04,600
Dr Duncan Doctor John Duncan. 
He was a missionary to the Jews 

932
00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:07,840
in Budapest and Hungary. 
They brought him home to teach 

933
00:58:07,840 --> 00:58:10,600
Hebrew in the New College in 
Edinburgh. 

934
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:12,400
He was known affectionately as 
Rabbi Duncan. 

935
00:58:12,400 --> 00:58:18,040
New Year's Day he met some of 
his students, the very plate. 

936
00:58:18,040 --> 00:58:21,360
They took off their hats and 
said a happy New year, Sir. 

937
00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:25,120
He immediately took his. 
Hat off and returned. 

938
00:58:25,120 --> 00:58:30,360
And said, a happy eternity, 
gentlemen, it's not infinitely 

939
00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:33,640
more important. 
Are you going to have a happy 

940
00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:36,200
eternity? 
You're going to dwell in the 

941
00:58:36,200 --> 00:58:40,000
House of the Lord forever. 
Remember that can only be so. 

942
00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:43,400
If you know the shepherd. 
If you're able to say the Lord 

943
00:58:43,400 --> 00:58:49,360
is my shepherd, may that be so 
before you go from the service 

944
00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:49,800
tonight.