[0:00] Well, thank you very much for inviting us to come up. I was really excited when I got invited. I'd actually stuff on, but I phoned up the people and said, is there any chance of changing our dates?
[0:14] Because I wanted to come here, because I love it, coming up and seeing it, and it's lovely to come up and see old faces. And so thank you for the invitation.
[0:26] And I'll be honest, I came up in fear and trembling, but I must admit I've really enjoyed myself. It's been great to mix and mingle with yourselves again and to see your lovely, beautiful church and to see what God has been doing for you.
[0:42] And we will continue to pray for you, so that you'll just know the blessing and the glory of God and what you do here for the Lord's glory. Well, I would like to share with you how I became a Christian.
[0:54] I know some of you already know my testimony. I don't mind if you fall asleep. Feel free. I do mind if you snore. But you're more than welcome to doze off.
[1:06] But I would like to share with you how God changed my life. And there's a verse, you don't need to look it up. You'll probably know it and quote it off your heart. And it's in John 3, verse 16. And it says, For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
[1:28] And I'd like to share how I eventually heard that verse. I originally come from a place called Motherwell. And I was born and brought up in Motherwell. It was a big house in the state called Muir House.
[1:41] And I was brought up there in Muir House. And unfortunately, when I was only five, my mum and dad get divorced. And my mum had to bring up four children.
[1:54] John was only, John was about three, or no, two, and I was five. Drew was about seven or eight. And Marion was about ten. And my mum had to bring up four children.
[2:06] And we never had, we had a lack of cash in the house. My mum was on the social security. She used to work at the weekend in the side, if you know what that means.
[2:17] No. It means you're making a wee bit of extra cash and the social don't know anything about it. So I used to clean the pub toilets, the Flemington pub toilets, at the weekend for cash.
[2:30] And that gave us our food at weekends. And my dad was away doing his own thing, whining and dining with other women. And we struggled, really, really struggled.
[2:41] There was many times I came home from school and there was no food. You never had any food, that was it. My mum was skint. And so sometimes there was no food.
[2:53] My mum, unfortunately, she ended up an alcoholic. And I remember many times coming home from school and chapping the door and running in and shouting, Mum, Mum, Mum.
[3:04] Just at primary school. Very, very young. And there was no answer. And I knew where to go. And I'd go up into my mum's bedroom and she'd be lying in her bed, just drunk. She'd be drinking Carlsberg specials.
[3:18] And they just knocked her right out. And that was my upbringing. And unfortunately, I got caught up with some stuff in the scheme, things we got up to we shouldn't have got up to.
[3:30] But we didn't think there was anything the matter with it. We used to get up to things that we shouldn't have been doing. And so that was my upbringing. And then, and same as well, with church, we never ever went to church.
[3:45] Sunday school, we knew nothing about church or Sunday school. And you know something? The only time a minister came to our door is there was one of the churches, I'm not going to tell you what denomination it was, it had a peak roof like this.
[3:58] And up at the top of the peak roof there was one of the wind chimes that tells you what way the wind's blowing. And as kids, we used to run up the roof of the church and give it a good smack and see who could turn it the most.
[4:11] And then we, unfortunately, my wee brother got caught with the minister. And the minister comes to our house and chaps the door. My mum comes to the door and he says, you keep your son out of my church grounds.
[4:24] I don't want to see your son ever again in my church grounds. And if only he knew the pain and the agony and the broken hearts in that home and all he was interested in was his wee wind chime at the top of his roof.
[4:45] So sad. Anyway, that was my upbringing and what happened is my big brother, he studied to be a chef and he went up to Oban to work as a chef up in Oban.
[4:56] He started off in the Round Tree Hotel and then he went into the gallery restaurant and it's when he was in the gallery restaurant my brother's friends were going up for a holiday and we never got holidays because, again, we couldn't afford holidays.
[5:11] And they invited my brother, my brother's friends were going up and they invited me to go up and I was only 13 at the time and it was a summer holiday so I went on the way up with my brother's friends to Oban. And I remember in the car and we're coming down the balcony, the hill that leads into Oban and I looked round about me and I could see the hills, I could see the sea, I could see bed and breakfast houses, I could see bungalows and I remember saying to my brother's friends, where's all the council houses?
[5:41] Because I was used to blocks and flats and towers and I just fell in love with Oban. I just loved it. And anyway, we were there for a fortnight and they went on the way back home and I stayed in Oban and I had nowhere to live so I slept in the restaurant floor.
[6:01] I got a six pound sleeping bag out of Wally Lowe's, if you remember William Lowe's. Bought a sleeping bag and I slept in the restaurant floor. It was actually a kitchen and I got a job as Gordon the gopher.
[6:16] I worked in the kitchen as a gopher and a gopher is go for that and go for this. Whatever you're told to go for, you had to go for it. So I was Gordon the gopher and I washed the pot, scrubbed the plates and cleaned and done whatever I was told and I got a pound a day.
[6:33] Pound a day and I got my food as well and also I got a bed. I slept in the restaurant floor every night and it came to the end of the school holidays and I was supposed to go back to school.
[6:47] I don't recommend this to young people but I was only 13 and I had quite a lot of school that they do and I hated school. I didn't like school and so I was supposed to go back but I was 100 miles away from the school and the school never knew where I was and I never told them and what I called dog school.
[7:10] I stayed away from school and eventually I got into trouble to go to a children's panel. If you know what a children's panel is. I got a children's panel and then my mum got took to court and she got fined 60 pounds.
[7:22] But anyway I just stayed up moving and I never come home and what happened is the school eventually they washed their hands of me and I just stayed up moving worked in the kitchen as a gopher and then my brother started to train me how to chef and I started to learn how to work the kitchen and then so he would take some time off and I would run the kitchen and then when I was 15 years of age who we were working for Alistair Reid his brother the rest of it called the box tree Ian Reid and his chef was stealing boxes of scampi sirloin steaks and selling them and they get caught be sure your sons will find you out well his will found out and they get sacked and here they're looking for a chef and I was only 15 years of age and they offered me the job and I get the job as the chef and it was absolutely brilliant because I'm 56 now so I'm only 15 you work that out yourself
[8:24] I can't be working out how long ago it was anyway so you can imagine from being the dishwasher now you're the chef there was a rise in the wages and nobody's lovely I was only 15 so it was tax free every penny was tax free I never paid any tax and I thought I'd landed because I was making all this money and it was absolutely lovely and my boss he didn't want his chef sleeping on the resting floor so he gave me proper accommodation I got a bed set and I just enjoyed my job I enjoyed cheffing in fact there's people come here from Scalpy I worked with Fiona McLeod Fiona was one of the waitresses a lovely lassie and anyway so I started working away in the restaurant in the box street really loved my job I really enjoyed it and just working away getting on me what I took on me and then a change came when I was 18 what happened is the restaurant all organised and so on the way round I have a cup of coffee with the waitresses at night time before the restaurant opened up for meals at night and I was just sitting and one of them brought in a catalogue book and I was just looking through this catalogue book and I came across something that I'd never owned before in my life and it was a grey suit and it was only £59.95 or £1.25 a week so I was making good money so I thought
[9:54] I'm going to treat myself because I'd never owned a suit before in my life I was used to hand-me-downs do you know what hand-me-downs are? oh aren't we a bit proud kidding on we don't hand-me-downs is when you get your big brothers or your big sisters clothes well I was used to hand-me-downs I didn't mind getting my big brothers clothes but when my mum put me out with my big sisters on that caused me trouble but anyway I was used to hand-me-downs and I thought I'm going to treat myself and I bought a suit and I was all dressed up and I had nowhere to go and we're sitting thinking myself in the waitress where could I wear this suit and this is what happened we thought right you can't go to disco you've overdressed you can't go to nightclub you've overdressed where could we wear it and one of the weir's is big Christine she says Gordon folk wear suits to church why don't you go to church I said brilliant I didn't care where I was going I just wanted to wear my suit and that's why
[10:55] I started going to church because I was thought I was I'd landed because I owned a suit and I started going to church knew nothing about God knew nothing about the Bible was green as the grass and I went to church and I'm not being rude but I heard about everything except Jesus and I believed the man wasn't converted I heard how to keep open tidy I heard about all these things and I remember leaving the church and I'm thinking surely there must be more to church than keep open tidy and I never knew anything and then I went to a wee Baptist church in Owen and the man in there loved the Lord Jesus Christ his name was the Reverend Tommy Urquhart and Tommy preached Jesus and people say oh we need to dilute the gospel we need to make it people friendly we need to no just stick to the book
[11:55] I knew nothing and he preached he preached heaven and hell he preached repentance he preached the blood he preached the cross and I knew nothing but I'll tell you the Holy Spirit came and convicted me of my sins and I used to sit there and I'm not joking I would sit there and I think who does he know that I know somebody is telling the minister everything that I've been up to and then he's standing up there in front of everybody telling everybody and I thought that's what was going on I thought who is it somebody's telling him and I thought the minister knew what I was up to and when I used to leave the church I wouldn't look him straight in the eye I'd shake his hand and I'd look at his feet and I'd say thank you very much I always knew the colour of his shoes I couldn't look at him no eye contact because I thought he knows what I'm up to and praise God it was the Holy
[12:57] Spirit and Tommy used to say do you want to get right with God speak to him after the service you want to get right with God come forward and I'd have loved to have gone forward I'd have loved to have got right with God but I was frightened what would my family think if I become a Christian what would my friends think if I become a Christian and I had all these fears going through me thinking I can't become a Christian what would people think but praise God the Lord kept on coming and speaking into my life and challenging me and I remember one night I was with Fiona we called her Big F Fiona McLeod and we were at a group come over from Northern Ireland called 5 Plus 1 and it was in the Corden Halls and they were singing the gospel and they made an appeal and Fiona says to me are you going forward Gordon I says no not tonight Fiona and I remember that night saying in my heart but I'm going to go forward
[14:00] I'm going to become a Christian and it wasn't long after that one Sunday morning I says to the minister can I come and talk to you and then I way up and it was a Tuesday afternoon after lunches and then I way into the minister's house into the man's they took me into study and I didn't know how to pray or anything right I knew nothing about the Bible and I says to Tom I says Tom I started coming to your church I says I bought a suit and I know where to go and one of the what lasses says go to church folk wear suits to church I says and I ended up in your church I says and I realise I'm no Christian I says but I want to become a Christian and I was only 18 at the time and it was absolutely brilliant when I had that song there we just sang there was lovely and I just says I would like to become a Christian and he took me through the Bible and showed me for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life for God so loved you
[15:05] Gordon if you believe in him you won't perish and he prayed a prayer then he says amen then he says Gordon I'm going to pray another prayer if you mean it you pray you copy me and he prayed a few words then I copied them he prayed a few words and I copied them and I just simply came with fears with doubts and I just asked God to come into my life and praise God God did come into my life and what happened is I started to get involved in the church and I became eventually a deacon in the church I became a Sunday school teacher and I helped with the youth and everybody thought everything was going well was a bit like the young girl last night she's in here somewhere I think over there somewhere she's in here somewhere anyway the last night testified last night everybody thought everything was going well and we never had a lot of young people in our church and she said oh it's good to have a young man in the church but see during the week
[16:07] I was living a way that wasn't right I was still going to the discos I was still going to the nightclubs and I was enjoying the fruit of the nightclubs I was enjoying the lifestyle of the pubs I wasn't a drinker but I took a wee bit but I was enjoying all that lifestyle and I was a very unhappy Christian because I was pretending that I was doing alright and then four years of my Christian life I was absolutely fed up fed up of living a lie and a Sunday I was playing the part during the week during the week I was living a life that was a disgrace and I remember I used to buy the Sunday school kids Twixies and I'd buy them all Twixies and if they behaved they got their Twixies and they used to always behave about ten minutes before the end of the lesson and I would give them all their
[17:15] Twixies and I had the thirteen Twixies that Sunday and I remember this Sunday they were really misbehaving and I said I'm telling you if you don't stop misbehaving you're not getting the Twixies and they never they just kept on misbehaving and I thought I can't give them them because if I give them them then the next week they'll not believe what I'm saying so I never gave the kids the Twixies and I'm walking home then I lived up Star Bray no Battery Terrace and you walk up by Star Bray the Free Church in Oben I don't know if you know Free Church you walk up by the Free Church there's another hill to go up to Battery Terrace and I'm walking home all these Twixies and I'm saying to myself I know where all the Twixies are going because I'm a chocoholic I thought I'll tan every one of them and you'd eat them all and I thought oh if only the kids behaved because I wanted to give them to the children but I couldn't because of the behaviour and I could take you to the spot this happened and I believe
[18:18] God spoke to me and says Gordon I want to give you things I want to do things in your life but because of your behaviour I can't and I could take you to roughly where that happened where I'm saying all these Twixies I'll eat them all and I'd love to give them to the kids but because of their behaviour I couldn't and God says I've got things in store for you but I can't give you it because of your behaviour and if you're here before I get any further and you know what I'm talking about whatever it is let it go whatever it is deal with it because I keep my place where I surrendered every area my night life my sports life my financial life every area of my life to God I says God take full control I was aiming to buy my own restaurant eventually
[19:19] I worked hard saved hard saved up every penny the only time I withdrew money out of my bank is when my mum got into financial difficulties and I had to pay off her debt twice I says no more mum there won't be a third time because she ran up debt and I had to clear it and ran up debt and I had to clear it I says no again mum that's enough and I saved up every penny because I wanted to buy my own restaurant because I knew what it was like to have nothing when I was a wee boy then God just started to work my life and I lost the desire for chefing and I could hardly read I could hardly write I could hardly hold a conversation and yet I felt in my heart God saying I want you to go and talk to people about Jesus I want you to go and to study and tell folk about me I thought and God just kept on coming and speaking to me and he started to remove the love for chefing that I just wanted to give up chefing and do something now but this time
[20:24] I had a five bedroom flat in battery terrace and I had four bedrooms and I was doing alright financially things were going brolly in my life and I had a good sports life used to be a marathon runner believe it or I looked like a beach ball with arms but I used to actually be a runner and had a good sports life everything was going brilliant but then God started to speak God started to say I want you to go and I was so frightened because I struggled I had a lot of fears I had a lot of struggles in who I was I felt like nothing sometimes I felt just a piece of dirt in somebody's shoe inferiority I had a degree in it it just felt terrible because of everything in my life and could hardly communicate and all that stuff but God saying I want you to go and
[21:24] I used to pray I say God if you want me to go you really need to let me know it's of you because I thought I was losing the head I didn't want a chef I didn't want to I was hungry to make money and I lost my love for all that and I just wanted to go and talk to people about Jesus but I was frightened and I remember saying God please if this is of you you need to let me know it's of you and I used to have a good news New Testament Psalms and I started reading it my normal place and it was in John when Jesus fed the 5000 and I think it's John 6 verse 27 and the good news it says now I am in a kitchen probably about from where you are to that wall that was the size of the kitchen big dry room over here freezers over here all the fryers were down here lovely beautiful big kitchen in the gallery and
[22:24] I am in this big kitchen right and saying God if this is of you you need to let me know and I do my normal Bible reading and you know what it says do not work for food that goes bad instead work for food that lasts for eternal life and only Jesus Christ can give you this and I just shut it and I says right and I went to Tommy I says get my appointment with the faith mission I believe it's of God and I went for my appointment for the faith mission and I sat down it was a nervous wreck with Dr Peckham and he says do you like a cup of tea and I said no I praise
[23:32] God the door opened up and I says to him I can't read and I can't write but I really believe it's of God and they thought I was joking until I got there and I went to Faith Mission Bible College I was actually with Rachel McKinnon and what happened is I was rubbish I get 8% and 6% in my exams and that was for turning up and spelling my name right and one day Dr.
[23:59] Peckham called me into his office to do an essay in Samuel Rutherford and I was out painting outside when I was in the Faith Mission it was a bit stricter the boys weren't allowed in the girls quarters and I used to call the girls quarters the promised land and I used to say we were not allowed in the promised land and I was painting and he says brother when you get a minute will you come in and see me I thought oh he's marked my essay so he goes away in and he says to me brother sit down then he goes what is this it's my essay he says what is this I says my essay he says this is plagiarism do you know what plagiarism is sometimes folk don't know what it is and it's lovely when plagiarism is when you take somebody else's work and you say it was you done it
[25:00] I hadn't a clue what plagiarism was and I says sorry what's plagiarism he says you've taken someone else's work and he says it's yours I says I didn't know you weren't allowed to do that I says the boys are reading books and then just putting it into their own English I I can't spell I thought I thought I'll just copy straight out of the book I've still got that it says in the book I want your work not Scott Sworthy's the guy who wrote Scott Sworthy's gave me the page number and everything where it came from I says I had a clue and they knew where I was coming from because I couldn't read and I couldn't write and when I was at the faith mission to get to Edinburgh to go to Abyssa classes to learn how to read and write and miss some lessons and that's where I started and I want to say
[26:02] God takes the weak things of the world and I was at faith mission Bible college and I left to finish when I left Oban I remember I went to Oban with nothing with two bags of second hand clothes and a six pound sleeping bag of Willie Lowe's but when I left Oban ten years later I left with £30,000 cash in the bank I'm 56 and I was 24 so what's that how many years ago was that 32 years ago so £30,000 is a lot of cash now but then there was even a lot more and I left with £30,000 I left with my Bible I left with a bag of clothes to go to Faith Mission and I enjoyed it I struggled I looked mad I used to get into the toilet at the Faith Mission Bible College next to the diner room and shut the door and I would cry my eyes out and I said pray
[27:05] Lord what have I done I'm going to make a fool of you I'm going to make a fool of my church I'm going to make a fool of myself I can't cope with this what have I done and my mum used to play a record and it was Lena Martell and it was one day at a time sweet Jesus and I used to be fed up of hearing that record and God came and says one day at a time Gordon the same call of God in their life is the same as the call of God in your life and I used to go and sneak into a wee room and spend some extra time in prayer and one of the times I was in that room and I was just crying out to God and saying God please I want you to use me because I knew education wise I was so limited I said please take my life use me and then I used to say but if I fail at the faith mission I've always got my cash and I can go back to
[28:07] Oban and I can start something but if I fail I've always got my cash and I came back to Oban until one night I was praying and I said God I just want you to take my life and do something with it and use it and I believe this doesn't happen to everybody so there's no panic I believe God says give away your money and if I gave away my money I had nothing education I was limited but I had this security of 30,000 and I says Lord I really want you to use me and if this is what you are saying I will and I believe God came and spoke to me and I gave it away actually John Macdonald he had a gospel van that came up around the highlands that was a check they didn't notice me actually at that meeting I'll give you a laugh I was at the meeting in Edinburgh it was Edinburgh convention and one of the checks was for 13,000 for the gospel van to come up around the highlands and I was lifting an offering and I slipped in a check from the
[29:12] Halifax and never my name on it and went into counting the offering and my tips all open my friend Owen Greenard he opens up this check and says wow 1300 pound no 13,000 for the gospel van and everybody has gone wow so I had to go wow I had to be excited and Owen Greenard says Gordon you didn't look surprised was that you I didn't want to tell him a lie so I just says Owen 30,000 pound 13,000 he says aye right enough so he made up his own mind but do you know what they said we were counting the money there was a millionaire in that meeting they says it probably was a millionaire it probably was a millionaire it put in the 13,000 little did they know it was a wee dyslexic boy that couldn't read and write gave away 13,000 to them 5,000 to Stouris and then other money and I just gave it all away well 90% of it went away and it was the best thing
[30:19] I've ever done because I really believed that God knew that I was serious I wanted God to really use me and I just started applying myself to studies and praise the Lord the exams started to improve a wee bit and all that and when it came to graduation I graduated with 50.1% still a graduation if you get 99 I get 50.1% I still graduated and I did I graduated from the faith mission and I loved it I was involved two and a half years in her work and then I felt God speaking to me about going to Baptist Bible College I went to Baptist Bible College for four years and they sent me for a psychological test what a compliment eh and I went for a psychological test and they found out I was dyslexic and I passed that test with flying colours you know that was the only test I passed for 100% and they realised that I had difficulties so they let me away with
[31:26] Greek I didn't need to study Greek but to do all the other exams rather than sitting in and doing an exam I had to do it in an essay and I can honestly say God was with us and God helped us and we went to Drum Chapel Baptist Church and it was just amazing how my weaknesses my fears my struggles that when I was a wee boy that I remember many nights crying myself to sleep as a wee boy saying how come all my pals I've got a mum and dad and I've only got a mum how come all my pals when I stay with them they've got loads of food in the morning and when we got up in the morning there's nothing there's many times my pillow was wet crying my eyes out but I want to tell you something see the fears and the difficulties when we went to Drum Chapel God used them I was able to get along beside people and talk to them and they used to say this last year
[32:30] Cathy Cohen you'll read about it if you take a wee testament about Cathy was a real tough nut Cathy was a skinny woman a real a skelf but she was a real tough you wouldn't mess with Cathy and anyway Cathy was the type of woman she was walking round the corner I'll be finished in five minutes she was walking round the corner and there was a double decker bus outside where the Baptist church was it was number nine terminus and this guy came with a knife and they slashed the bus driver down there and he says to him next will be your face give us your cash and Cathy comes round the corner she says ha you beat it and you'll have to deal with me and the guy with the knife says sorry Cathy and left and that's what Cathy was like I remember going over to see Cathy she wanted nothing to do with the church they're all I'll not tell you what they all were and she wouldn't even go near the fence round the church and we started going in and witnessing to her and I never forget what she says to me she says what are you doing in my house and I says what do you mean she says what are you doing in my house she says ministers don't talk to the likes of us ministers don't talk to the likes of us
[33:52] I says Cathy do you think I was brought up with a silver spoon in my mouth she says yes you're the minister I says Cathy have I had a silver spoon when I was young I never owned it I stole it and I just shared my life with her and she got married in her living room she wanted to get married they had no cash they got married in her living room I married them done the photography my wife done the cakes and all that the food a good friend and God worked in her life a guy Eddie you'll read about in the wee testimony book Eddie was he was known I can tell you he was supposed to have killed I heard it was six or eight people he threw them see the high flats you know how high flats get 17 storey high the big blocks he threw them out the window he was a drug dealer and he was a real evil man and there was people who he had to deal with and he threw them out the flats and that was classed as suicide it was
[34:53] Eddie and Eddie would have a blade and a few sizing against him he'd go like get you to your mouth and put it in your mouth and slice you all down there and he says if you want to talk about me I'll give you a big mouth that's the type of family it was and I believe God was telling us to witness to him and I remember going up to see him and he lived in the flats 13 stories up he didn't know that I knew what he used to do and he used to smoke and his house was covered in smoke and he says Gordon do you want me open no you're fine Eddie I don't mind just keep the windows shut he didn't know what I knew and Eddie's brother Cliff says to me Gordon don't get near him he says don't think because you're the Baptist minister he'll not hurt you he says he'll get you battered he'll get you stabbed or he'll get you murdered but
[35:57] I really believed it was of God I started witnessing to him talking to him cut a long story short he ended up in Bolin prison and he phoned his sister and said see that man that wants a coffee with me because the police listen in to your calls tell him to come in and talk to me so he set him out a pass to go and see him now to tell you Eddie he had sliced himself across there because he wanted to get rid of the demons that he thought was in him he sliced himself open and he paid money to get all his blood out of him because he says if I get my blood out of me I won't be evil you know what happened in Bolinny prison as you get a minister you get a room to yourself in Bolinny prison he was a big fella in Bolinny prison Eddie and I got down on our knees and
[37:00] Eddie cried out to God for God to save him and he became a Christian and his life was changed and when he came out of prison there's a few millionaires he knows who have made money through dirty money and he used to go and shut their door and he says God knows what you're doing and God knows how you can't trust in Jesus or you're in trouble and he used to go around and witnessing to the guys who had all the big cash and tidying their life a bit and he used to say to me Gordon I want to get baptized he says because I think they're going to put a hit out of me he says I think I know too much he says I think they're going to I took him out for lunch one day and we're sitting having lunch and he says to me
[38:01] Gordon I must get baptized I want to be baptized before they kill me they've just got to shoot me and I'm sitting up with my lunch for him and I says Eddie do you think they'll come for you during the day he says I don't know I was there I maybe like witnessing but you've got to be sensible and it was just amazing how God saved his life and the difference and even people talk about him today because something did happen to him they did pass away but there was nothing to do with somebody killing him and I want to tell you there's other stories I could tell you but I tell you that because I am absolutely nothing nothing my reading ability is a 12 year old I make mistakes but hallelujah I know where I get my strength from and I want to say to you if you're here and you're struggling and you've got fears
[39:02] I want to tell you come and surrender your life to God because little is much when God is in it and I could still be living a wee frightened timorous wee beastie if I lived that way but I don't want to live there I want to keep looking at him and I know I'm dyslexic I know I make mistakes but hallelujah he takes the weak things of the world and praise God he wants to take you and do something with your life and you're here as we finish and you're not a Christian all I can say you are robbing yourself there's the family of God and if you're here and you're a Christian and you're living in fear that's the devil's ways packet God wants to set you free and God wants you to just open up your mouth and he will fill it and he'll tell you what to say and great it's great when you just come say
[40:11] God I am nothing but I know that you are everything and take this nothing and do something with it amen I'll not answer that I want to tell you something I will tell you very quickly because you'll be wanting your bed about seven or eight years ago I was going from Glasgow to either Fort William or Inverness for a meeting and I was going up by Lough Lomond and then you come to the green well and then you can turn left to go to open or turn right to go up Fort William so up that road I know that place where there's a statue it's called a commando or something like that it's up there anyway so I stopped there to get a bacon roll out the burger van and had a bacon roll or maybe two and a cup of tea and the amount of traffic minibuses buses the amount of tourists that stopped there and the length of time that I was there was absolutely amazing and I thought my my imagine coming here for a few days and just staying here and your congregation would be thousands and I'm not joking and I thought imagine coming and with literature and just giving out literature to all these people from all over the world so I started praying that
[41:38] God would provide a van for us and I told my wife and she says the only way you'll get a van is if it comes through that letter box because we couldn't afford one and so I started praying about six seven years ago and probably maybe over a year ago maybe two years ago I woke up on a Saturday morning and what's outside my window is a mobile home so I'm shouting Jehovah Jireh which means the Lord shall provide Jehovah Jireh Jehovah Jireh get up girls God's given us a mobile home look out the window they weren't chuffed I've got three women and so because I was waking them up so I gets dressed goes downstairs looks in the wee room the porch where's the keys where's the keys couldn't find the keys so goes away out and sees this van and the windows are all closed and the blinds are down I thought I think somebody's in there now I'm looking somebody video me to see my reaction nobody there and goes way back in to see if the keys were there no keys and so
[42:46] I sits in the living room my wife comes down and says what are you doing sitting in here I'm waiting to see what happens to that van if it moves so it did start to move and so I goes out I took my wee test book with me and it runs after it and it reversed down the road cut a long story short there's a guy who rented his house out he lived down the road but he rented it out and he was there for an overnight and he parked outside our door so I'm laughing I give him my literature and actually I was told it was actually a guy who was free church but he's backslidden and so anyway I got a good chance to witness anyway so I'm laughing and my kids thought it was a nutter so that was fine so I kept on praying remember this is six seven years ago this happened a few years ago just before Christmas a few months before Christmas I got a text from this man about a mobile home and I thought he was winding me up so I text him back being funny and he texts me back saying
[43:48] Gordon I'm not joking I'm serious and this man to save you time this man says to me I can't witness the way you witness he says he's a shy man there's many parts of the ministry but this man God had blessed him financially he'd made investments and they must have come in he says I want to give you money to buy a van and I thought he was winding me up and so cut a long story short he bought a van for us a wee mobile home a Volkswagen mobile home so I couldn't use it and I'll tell you what happened so we went away down to Birmingham to get it we flew down and then we had to drive 320 miles back and I'm no good at driving I ended up falling asleep and God was in it because I stayed awake for the year 320 miles we almost stopped twice for coffee and what happened is we went to get the van and I had to get insurance which was £305 road tax which is £275 £98 for diesel to fill it and my wife says to me she's very practical
[45:03] I hope you have not bitten off more than you can chew because it's not faith mission bills it's my bills it's nothing to do with faith mission I said what do you mean how have you got to afford to run this I said if God has given us a van Janice he'll provide everything else and she was a wee bit panicky so anyway we drives home get into the house and I'm not joking the van engine wasn't even cold right and I got a phone call and this couple we know says did you get your van yes how much was your insurance £305 what was your road tax £275 give me your bank details we've got to sponsor it for a year my wife says I don't believe it I just don't believe it I didn't think it would happen as fast as that right and then I need to tell you this because this is what happened in God to the glory we wanted to get a tent for the side a big awning for the side so that say we come up sometime and you have this big awning and say it's a windy weather you open up the side we'll have tables and chairs and say you want to come in a wee cup of tea come in soft recharge and a bit of home bacon and so we're hoping to do that maybe go to different places so you've got a big awning that means folk can come in and sit so I went to see these awnings and they were 800 pounds
[46:24] I had 200 quid at my bank at the time so I thought says to the guy go outdoors whose every second word was a sweary word and I says I can't get it now but if that's for me that'll be there when I come back so anyway I gave him a wee testimony book I says that's my life story I was walking up the street in Mogai where John MacLeod is the minister and a woman stopped me and says I heard you get your gospel van I says yes it's lovely God's really provided it's a beautiful van she says I'm going to give you 500 and you buy what else you need for it so I says you're beauty so on the way down to go outdoors this thing was half price and they gave us it and they put some other stuff in we needed for it and the man who remember us telling me Davey's name is pray for him every second word was a sweary word he says
[47:24] I didn't know you were a minister he says I used to be interested in religion I was a Jehovah witness I says oh how long ago it was years ago it takes Jehovah witness behaviour and he says I never swore once I gave him my phone number he says give me a phone Dave and you and I will meet up for a coffee and so we got this van and it's a dream of maybe going to holiday places and just parking up I love just chatting to people about Jesus and just to have it and have loads of literature and just talk to them about the Lord or say you go and you take photographs of somewhere in Scotland and then we'll get them printed up maybe a couple of thousand and them turned into postcards with the gospel in the back and if you're a tourist and I show you somewhere in Harris and say here we like this photograph of
[48:27] Harris oh yes I'd love that and then they'll have the gospel in the back and so God's provided and it's amazing one of my friends says to me it's amazing that all the years ago you gave faith mission 13 thousand pound to buy a gospel van to go round the highlands of Scotland with John Macdonald doing it and now God's provided a beautiful 2017 Volkswagen van with a lovely kitchen and I'm 56 and I need a wee portable in it as well I've just got the old man's problem early and it's got a wee portable in it as well you can work out what the portable is anyway God is good