Now perhaps we could turn in the Word of God just before I give
my testimony to the book of the Acts, chapter 16, please.
Paul and Silas were preaching at Philippi.
Souls were being saved. And of course, when the God is
at work and souls are being saved, they'll always be the
opposition of the devil. And under reading tonight we
hear. And from verse 25, we find that
Paul and sailors have been cast into prison.
So verse 25, let us hear the word of the Lord.
And at midnight Paul and sailors prayed and sang praises unto
God, and the prisoners heard them, and suddenly there was a
great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken. And immediately all the doors
were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed.
And the keeper of the prison awakening out of his sleep, and
seeing the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and would have
killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no
harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and
sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and
Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be
saved? And that doesn't mean that the
gaoler was wanting to know what good works or something like
that he had to do. But no, he wanted to know what
God's terms was, what he wanted to know just how he could be
saved. And listen to the response in
verse 31. And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house.
And they speak unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that
were in his house. And he took them the same hour
of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptised he and
all his straightway. And when he had brought them
into his house, he said, Meet before them, and rejoiced,
believing in God with all his house.
Amen. And we know that God will add
his blessing to the reading of his word.
Now, it's already has been indicated.
I have come tonight to testify and has already been said.
I was saved in in the mission in 19 and 75 held in Ballymena Town
Hall. There's been known since as the
75 mission. And the preacher on that
occasion was Doctor Paisley, and it was a a time of tremendous
blessing, a time of visitation to the town and district of
Ballymena. Some 300 souls were counselled
at those meetings and at that mission, and souls were saved on
a nightly basis. God gave His servant great power
to preach the Word, to preach the gospel.
There was no gimmicks. There was nothing but the
preaching of the gospel and the preaching of Christ.
And God's servant preached with great power.
And there were those that were added daily to the church, such
as should be saved. And thank God in his mercy.
He saved me in that mission on the 30th of September 19 and 75.
I choose tonight I'll never forget it and I'll be eternally
in debt to God's mercy and grace for reaching down and saving a
worm and a Wretch like me. I stand tonight only as a Sinner
saved by grace and we say to God be the glory.
And I thank God that I was brought born into a good home
and a home that was to change greatly in 19 and 62 when my
mother got saved. And what a change that made in
her home. And what a blessing it is to
have a godly, to have a saved mother, a godly mother, and a
mother who prays for that. From that moment onward, she
began to pray. She told us that many times she
began to pray for me and for her four boys.
And thank God her prayers were answered.
For before she went home to glory in 2013, everyone of her
family were saved and in Christ. And what a blessed thing that is
to have household salvation. We were sent along to Sunday
School and every opportunity to be under the Word.
I was sent along to Connor Church at that time.
And but I have to sadly say, and I do say it with sadness, I
never heard the gospel there. I had a Sunday school teacher
who was more interested in telling us about Ballymena
United, the football team and things like that, wanted us to,
wanted to take us as a class to Portrush on the Lord's Day.
And that was the situation in Connor Presbyterian Church at
that time. And yet that was the church that
was built out of revival in 18 and 59.
And yet that was the state of things there at that particular
time. But of course, my mother never
let me go, and rightly so. And I grew up and I heard the
gospel in meetings. I did.
I went to a Brethren Sunday school and Sunday afternoon and
I must say I was told and learnt the gospel there and the little
mission hall that was just up the Rd Castle Gore mission hall
and I heard the gospel. So I can say right from an early
age, I, I, I knew that if ever I was to be in heaven and if ever
I was to be saved, I must come to Christ and confess my sins
and turn in repentance and seek the Lord.
But, you know, we grew up and we, we, we leave school and we
go into the secondary school and we began to hanker afters at the
things of the world. And I left school and, and began
to work. And in those days I had only one
love and that was for football. I love football and I tried to
play it. Should I say I was at the
showgrounds for a wee while And and of course when we start to
mix with those of the world, it's not long until we are
entangled and we are tasting the things of the world.
And we found ourselves many times at the weekend we've been
in the social club. I had a very good friend, James.
Right now we've been in the social club.
I can remember taking that dear man home and carrying him up, up
the steps into his flat and leave him on the couch.
But I can rejoice today that thank God he's saved and he sits
with us in the House of God in the prayer meetings, a trophy of
God's grace also. And that's what I live for.
I live for football. I live for the things of the
world. I had no consideration even of
my need of salvation. And yet within my soul and
within my heart, I can say tonight that I had no peace.
I had no peace. I can say with the words of that
him. I tried the broken cisterns,
Lord, but ah, the waters field. And even as I stooped to drink,
they fled and mocked me as I wield.
And you know I would have come home sometimes.
I remember one night in particular in the early hours of
the morning meeting my mother in the stairs and she smoked
alcohol of me and it broke her heart.
And it broke my heart because I knew my mother loved me and was
praying for me and that was not the way she wanted me to go.
And but I'm glad that she prayed on.
And as I already said, what a blessing a praying mother is
would to God. We had praying mothers in this
land in this country. I believe we would see things
happen. And she continued to pray
earnestly for me and God began to move in my family.
And first of all, my brother got saved.
And I can remember one night coming in in the early hours of
the morning and seeing kneeling at the old couch there in the
kitchen. And no doubt I, my name was
lifted up to heaven and people were praying for me.
The mission hall, the prayer union on a Friday night, the
people were praying there for me.
And I thank God for the prayers of God's people.
And I, if you're not saved tonight and you have a praying
mother or father or loved ones and the people of this church
who love thee you and love your soul and are praying for youth,
you thank God for that because that's a great and wonderful
privilege. And, and heed their warnings and
come even in the early years of your life, and give your life to
Christ, your best years, and serve him by the will of God in
your day and a day and in his in our generation.
But you know, there came that mission in 19 and 75 to
Ballymena, and my mother asked me if I would take her on the
Sunday afternoon. I didn't know Ian Paisley.
Ian Paisley meant nothing to me. But I remember entering the town
hall that Sabbath afternoon. The place was packed, and when I
say pecked, I mean Peck. They were sitting on window
cells. They were sitting everywhere.
And as God's servant began to preach that afternoon, I knew
there was something different here.
I never had heard preaching like this before.
He preached an uplift at Christ and He, he sounded the trumpet
warning that if he died in our sin, we would be lost and damned
and held for all of God's eternity.
It was powerful preaching. And God began to began to, to
deal with me in that meeting, this after that Sunday
afternoon, I was troubled in a way that I'd never have been
troubled in a meeting before. I knew that God was speaking to
me and I knew that the Spirit of God was dealing with my heart.
And that's what we need today in meetings.
We need the Holy Ghost and conviction.
We need conviction of sin that we didn't realise what was
happening that Sunday afternoon, but that's what was happening.
I was being convicted of my sin. That's what the word of God says
about the Holy Spirit. When he has come, He will
convict of sin, of righteousness and judgement to come.
But, you know, I left the town hall that even that Sabbath
afternoon, still in my sins, although I was troubled, I left
troubled, still trampling under foot the Son of God and his
precious blood. And you know, I went my way on
the Sunday evening. And you know, I spent a very
miserable weekend because God was dealing with me.
He was dealing with me. He was showing me the error and
the folly of my ways. And as I began to think about
that those things over the weekend, I found myself on
Tuesday night making my way back to the town hall.
I believe it was over the Providence of God.
He brought me again under the preaching of the gospel.
And that night again, as I sat under the preaching of the Word,
God began to really take a dealing with me.
And I was broken in that meeting, and God melted my
heart. And in those meetings, you know,
Doctor Paisley made appeals, and I thank God for the gospel
appealing that night. People were getting up out of
their seats. They were going to the inquiry
room to get saved. And here was I, sitting most
miserable, a battle raging in my heart, wanting to go, but no one
realising that the devil was putting up the fight within my
soul that evening. And you know, I can remember
even hymns that were sung just as I am, without one plea, but
that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thy bids me come to
Thee. O Lord of God, I come.
And the song, that the verse of that hymn just comes to my mind.
Art thou waiting till tomorrow? Thou mayest never see it's
light. And these were verses of hymns
that are truth which God used. And thank God, towards the end
of that appeal, God gave me the grace to go out of my seat and
up the stairs in the town hall, where I was met by Mr Bags and
one of the elders there at that time, Wilbert Clark, who's now
in the glory. And there I was led and pointed
to Christ. And that moment, thank God, I
pass from death unto life, and from the power of Satan unto
God. And I thank God that night I
left the town hall saved by God's grace in Christ, my sins
forgiven and forgotten. Thank God never to be
resurrected against us anymore forever.
You know, those were wonderful meetings, friends, because I can
can remember coming down the stairs and I could hear the
singing, bringing in the sheaves.
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
And you know, people were in no hurry to go home because God was
blessing, souls were being saved, prayers were being
answered, families were being united in Christ.
I thank God that that night I was saved and made a new
creature in Christ Jesus. You know, I can remember buying
I used to smoke in the main sinful days in flex shops in
Muirfields where I just where I lived.
I had bought a packet of 10 Embassy Regal and I can't
remember whether I smoked one in or at the road at Rd in or not.
But I was driving a wee mini car and that night there was we the
we windows pulled back in the minis in those days.
And I can remember pushing the cigarettes.
I can see it yet where I went down round from the town hall
and pushed them out the window and thank God I never had a
cigarette and my hands sensor. I never need it one sense again
because thank God if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
All things are passed away and all things, all things are
become new. And you know, I can remember
coming home tonight and I met my mother and told her what had
taken place and what a happy, happy home that was.
That night she embraced me and she wept.
Both of us wept. And to thank God for saving me
and for answering prayer and for working in my heart and in my
life. And from that moment onwards,
thank God my life was changed and thank God my destination was
changed. I was on the Broadway that led
to destruction and to hell itself, but now I was on the
narrow way that leads to heaven and thank God, leads to whom?
And I wonder tonight in this meeting, what, what Rd are you
on tonight? Are you on the Broadway still?
Are you still on saved? Are you still in your sins?
And it would be my prayer and desire tonight that you tonight
might get on the narrow way by coming to Christ and seeking Him
and calling upon Him for salvation.
That wasn't a Tuesday night, as I've said.
And there was the prayer union in the Castle Gore Mission Hall
on the Friday night. And instead of me going with my
friends to the pubs and clubs, thank God I went to the prayer
meeting that night. I knew that was the place to be
when you were a child of God because I knew my mother went
there faithfully to pray, and that's where I was.
I want to encourage young people, if you're saved tonight,
get to the place of prayer. Get into the prayer meeting,
friends. That's where you'll learn.
You'll learn to pray and you'll grow in grace and in the
knowledge of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Pray for your minister. He needs your prayers.
Pray for the oversight of this work.
Pray for the work of God. Pray for Carrie Duff that God
will visit this area and sweep many souls into the Kingdom of
God. And on the Sunday morning I went
to the Free Presbyterian Church in Ballymena, and I began to
attend there. And I had the wonderful
privilege of sitting under a man of God, the Reverend James Bags.
And it was there that I learned so much of God's Word and of the
great doctrines of the Bible, things that I had never, never
heard of. And they were set before me.
And, you know, my soul was thrilled as I listened to them.
I can remember the night that he spoke on Abraham and Isaac and
the substitutionary lamb. The lamb, without blemish and
without spot, caught with the horns.
And that wonderful promise, God would provide himself a lamb.
I never had heard anything like that.
And you can imagine how my soul leapt within me as I heard of
the Lamb which pointed us to the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world. And then after Mr Bags at Mr
Greer. And I thank God for these men of
God that I had the privilege of sitting under.
And you know God helped me to take the faltering steps at the
start many the time I failed him.
But thank God for his mercy and grace that has kept me even to
this very moment. And you know, God in his
Providence brought Norma, my wife brought us together.
And of course Norma knew I was going out with her before I was
saved. And I she knew that nothing
could develop in a relationship because Norma was saved.
She loved the Saviour and she was no doubt praying for me.
But I can remember the night that I rang her, I must have
been probably the next day, no doubt I would have been to rang
her. And she said that once the phone
call came through, she just knew what the news would be that God
had saved me. You know, that was what was
happening. There was an old lady who lived
just up the road from where we lived.
I was in her house many times. Her name was Mrs McCulloch.
She just sat. Maybe her brother remembers her.
She sat by the old stove. She was in those days, people
like that. They were dressed in black.
And her family were attending the church and attending the
mission. And Grace come home that night,
her daughter, and just through the door she says, Mummy, who do
you think was saved tonight? And just like that, Mrs
McCulloch said. James McCulloch.
You see, they were praying, not only praying, but they were
praying expectantly. They were looking for God to
save. They were hearing that God was
moving and therefore they were waiting for the answers and to
see God, see God at work and saving precious souls.
And so Norma and I were married and thank God he blessed us with
two children, Rhonda and Rodney. You know, it's a wonderful thing
when children are brought born into a Christian home.
And maybe there's someone sitting here tonight and that
has been your experience. You have been born into a
Christian home and you know the concern and the burden that your
parents have for you or maybe even your grandparents.
And tonight they'll be you're breaking their hearts and you're
not saved and many a tear they shed for you.
And yet what a wonderful privilege that is to have
parents that no one loved the Saviour and who were concerned
for you. And we sought to raise our
children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
We had the family altar, We read to them.
If I wasn't at home, Norma would have read to them.
And thank God both of them were saved on the same Sabbath
morning early in life. Their mother.
I can remember it. I was away.
It was a time whenever we were able to go into Maghaberry
Prison. I remember, I think it was Mr
White's. He'd asked me to go in to sing
that morning and I was there and when I come home, I was just
slipping into the Pew as the service was beginning.
And Rodney, you can see him yet he's just sitting beside me and
he just looks something in my face and he says, Daddy, I got
saved this morning. So what news that was.
And Rhonda, too, thank God, both of them on the Sunday morning.
Norma had the joy of leading them to Christ.
And we thank God. I don't say that boastfully,
friends. I gave the God the glory and I
thank God for the evidences of grace in their lives.
Both of them have went on with God and both of them are serving
God. Sunday School teachers are on
the plays, takes her turn and playing at the piano, and Rodney
is now an elder in the church and Superintendent of the Sunday
School as well. So we thank God for these
answers to prayer, and so we give God all the glory for that.
And we thank God for the way he has blessed us in the church in
Ballymena. We have had privileges, great
privileges of serving him. And you know, I've had the
privilege of singing the gospel right from the time I was saved.
The Reverend Derek Urban, because he worked with me and he
was saved and he was praying for me, took a great interest in me
and it was a great help to me in my early days.
And Derek was doing lay preaching, would call him that
in those days before he went into the college and he would
have took me a long to sing. And as I always say, I'm not a
great singer, but I have something great to sing about my
blessed Saviour. And right from that those days
we had the opportunity of singing the gospel.
And I can remember just a later note, I remember singing one
Sunday afternoon as a way up in county Torona Ferman, a way up
in the hills somewhere. And the there was an old lady
playing the St and child of God and she was playing one of the
wee peddle organs, you know, and I had give her the music to play
and she played the first verse, she played the chorus, she
played the next verse. So I didn't know when to come in
and I remember saying to Derek after that, I've got to have to
get something to try and help me here to pray.
So I began to sort of learn and play the guitar.
And that has been me ever since. And it's been great to have been
involved in singing the gospel. I had the privilege of going
round our churches. I think I sang and I've sung in
all the churches. And I think of great men of God
who are now in the glory, men who love the Lord.
And they were just went into the areas, they preached the gospel
here and there, and God wonderfully blessed and God
wonderfully saved. I think of the late the Reverend
Harry Kearns, a dear man of God who had a burden for souls, and
he was preaching here and there and everywhere.
I can remember Market Hill on a Sunday afternoon going there and
there's just two old portacabins things stuck together in the
corner of a field and God blessed his word.
And now there's a healthy and a growing church there in Market
Hill. I can remember just when, just
when Rhonda was born, and she was only born about three few
weeks. And there was a mission away up
on the border at Castle Derg and a, a red tin barn just on the
border. And three Sunday afternoons in
the row, in the row, in a row, we went up there to sing the
gospel and Norma just felt the car with clothes, the children's
clothes, we had take them with us.
And so that was the order of the day for many Sabbath days
throughout those years, we had the privilege of singing the
gospel and labour alongside our ministers.
And we thank God for the denomination.
My friends, you thank God for this denomination and for the
men we have who love Christ and who preach the gospel because
it's a rare thing today to sit under faithful preaching.
I was at a funeral on Friday and a church that once preached the
gospel in Ballymena because I was there before I was saved and
there's a man there who fearfully preached the Word.
I was there at a funeral on Friday, and my friends, this
book was never opened. And what an opportunity was
missed. So you thank God for your
minister and for those who preach the gospel.
And I had the privilege then of serving the Lord as a Deacon, a
committee man in the church, and then as an elder.
And I has had the great privilege of being involved in
the work of the Sabbath School for 40 years.
I was a Superintendent for 24 years, all the time Mr Greer was
there. And then those other years, 16
years, I was a teacher. And you know what a wonderful
privilege it is to sit with the children around her knee and to
tell them the old, old story of Jesus and his love.
They sow the good seed within their hearts.
That's very, very important. And I have precious memories of
that children that were saved. I remember one Sunday in
particular. I want to just share this with
you. There was a young girl, she was
called Ruth Knowles. And I can remember after the
Sunday school was finished in her class, that room, we all had
our little rooms. And as the children were
leaving, she went to the door and she just turned back and
burst into tears. And she know what she said.
She said, James, lead me to Christ.
That's what you said, you know, that's wonderful when that
happens, a young person lead me to Christ.
I couldn't do anything for her. She knew the Gospel.
She knew she needed Christ and that happened and thank God for
his blessing upon the work of the Sunday school down through
the years and for keeping it safe.
And, you know, could I also say that in that mission, children
that were attending day school were saved.
They were just speaking to a lady, a girl and maybe a brother
or Noah. Sandra Wright, she was telling
me on Friday that she had two nieces that were saved at the 75
mission, and they were at day school.
So God was working in every age group.
He's working the children at day school.
That's what happened in 18 and 59 when God sent revival.
Children were being saved. Many children were saved in day
school. Even children were leading
others to Christ. Then they were sent home from
school to get right with God. That's what happens when the
Spirit moves, when the Holy Ghost is poured out.
Oh, pray for those days again. And you know, I was thrilled to
hear about those 2 girls, those two nieces of her sister Sandra.
And she was telling me that they're going on well with God.
And now that their family, there's some of them save now as
well. And my dear friends, who knows?
If you were to put your faith and trust tonight, who knows
what God would do with your life and your testimony and your
witness, even within your own family circle.
And so the, the Lord has been pleased to bless us in so many
ways. And you know what?
He, I thank God that he's with us.
He was with us in days of shadow and days of sunshine.
And you know, I remember when Rodney was born, my son, and he
was only, I think 2 weeks old. I remember Norma ringing me at
ringing me at work and she says Rodney's not well, he's he'll
not feed them. He's a very, very pale and I can
remember coming home that maybe early I think maybe.
And the doctor, we got the doctor soon as I saw him there
was something wrong. He was turbo coloured and
whatever hair he had was standing in his head.
And the doctor came and she just said get him straight to the way
of me to the hospital that waved me in those days.
And the next time I saw him, there was 4 needles on his head
and he was very seriously ill. He had meningitis and you know,
meningitis is something that is very serious.
And the doctor warned us of the seriousness of it and we went
home and we prayed. Others made that no one and
began to pray. We went up early the next
morning and I remember that going to see the doctor and he
said to me, he says I thought during the night we had lost
him. His blood pressure dropped right
down. But we continue to prayed and
thank God, God spared him and I can remember going up on the
Friday evening. He had been doing somewhat
better and the doctor took us in.
He said, I want to speak to you. And I thought, what are we going
to hear now? And the doctor said to us, yes,
he's doing well. But he says, I must warn you.
He says that he'll probably have some physical disability.
It'll be something happened. And he warned us of that.
And so we continue to pray and he began to recover.
I remember the night when Norma was able to nurse him again and
to feed him. He took the whole bottle.
He's like the Mukashi's. He was a good feeder and he made
a good recovery. And we thank God for his hand
upon him and for answers, prayer.
And there's many other things that we could tell relate to you
tonight, but I think I have said enough this evening.
I have sought to tell you simply what Christ has done for me and
what He means to me. I love Him tonight because He
first loved me, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me and all. It's my prayer and burden
tonight as I come. As I thought about this meeting
and given my testimony that there might be some dear soul
would seek the Lord while he is to be found and call upon him
while he is near. We see the Philippian gaoler
here that he was a man that God was dealing with.
God had sent an earthquake. See, God had sent this.
God was working because it's a wasn't a very remarkable thing.
While the doors of the present were open, there wasn't one who
wasn't one of the prisoners that were escaped not a marvellous
thing that changed all of but not one of them escaped.
You can imagine what that would have happened in by Gabriel.
Some of these other places they've been out.
They were out even without the doors been opened.
But you know God was dealing with this man and he brought
them out and look at look at what he says in verse 30.
He says, sirs, that was to pull in silence ever else What must I
do to be saved? Must what must I do to be saved?
He wanted that night to be saved.
And I wonder tonight, friends, have you that concern within
your heart. Do you long to be saved and know
that you're right with God and that your sins are forgiven and
blood out and under the blood of the Lamb forever and forever.
And then in closing, just listen to the answer that Paul and
Silas give gave and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house.
I like the old world word saved. It's a good old biblical word.
The word saved. Not much used today in
preaching, but as a biblical word.
And my friends, you need to be saved because you're lost and
you'll be damned if you do not come to Christ.
Believe not in the church, not in a preacher, not in anything
else, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. That's what Christ says to you
if you're concerned tonight, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house.
And it's a wonderful thing to have household salvation.
And I trust tonight that if you're not saved that you'll
come to Christ. And the verse 34.
And when he had brought them into his house, he said, meet
before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his
house. Amen.
I trust the Lord will bless the words of testimony for His
eternal glory.