24.1.21 Evening Service and Murdo Macsween Testimony

[0:00] Good evening and a warm welcome to this service this evening, those who are watching online and any who are listening in on the telephone. It's good for us to come together once more and to worship God.

[0:34] This evening is slightly different in that I'll share a shorter message and we look forward to hearing a word of testimony. Murda McSween, one of the members in the congregation here, will share a word of testimony, meaning a word of what the Lord has done and is doing in his life at this time.

[0:56] And so we look forward to hearing from Murda in the course of the service. And we'll begin by singing to God's praise from a psalm that Murda's chosen. Psalm 46, we'll sing from verses 1 to verse 7.

[1:10] God is our refuge and our strength and strength, a present aid. Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid. We sing down to the end of verse 7 to God's praise.

[1:24] God is our refuge and our strength, in straits of present aid.

[1:42] Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid.

[1:57] Though hills amidst the seas be cast, though waters roaring make and troubled be, Yea, though the hills by swelling seas do shake, A river is whose streams do glad the city of our God, The holy place where in the Lord most high hath is abode.

[3:09] God in the midst of her doth dwell, nothing shall her remove.

[3:26] The Lord to hell and help her will, and that right early prove.

[3:44] The heathen rage tumultuously, the kingdom's moved well.

[4:02] The Lord God had heard his voice, the earth did melt for fear.

[4:20] The Lord of hosts upon our side doth constantly remain.

[4:38] The God of hosts upon our side doth constantly remain.

[5:08] Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, your day. We thank you that once more we are gathered around your word.

[5:20] And we thank you that we are able to sing with the psalmist that God is our refuge and our strength. We are aware all too often that we need a place of refuge to go to.

[5:35] Our world is a place where there is so much unrest, there is so much in the way of trouble. We see political turmoil as we look over towards the states.

[5:49] We are aware of political turmoil all around us. And we are aware of the stresses and the strains of life at present.

[6:02] We feel the anxiety of this pandemic. And as we are aware of those who are struggling all the more close to our own shores.

[6:17] We thank you that we can look to you as the God who is our refuge and our strength. We thank you, Lord, that in the temporal sense, we can come to you with the things that burden us, the things that worry us.

[6:33] We thank you that when we feel that physical weakness and vulnerability, we can seek that strength and that protection that you alone can give. But, Lord, all the more we thank you that we can seek that eternal refuge and strength that is found only in the Lord Jesus.

[6:57] We are those who are conscious. We are sinners who are deserving of punishment. We are deserving of your wrath. And yet we thank you that you are a God of mercy who shields us from the wrath which is to come.

[7:16] And that shield is in Christ. We thank you, Lord, that as we acknowledge our own weakness, our own inability to save ourselves, we thank you that we are able to look to Christ as our Savior.

[7:33] The Lord is our strength and our salvation. And we thank you that when we are in him, we have no one, we have nothing to fear. And even death itself is something that we are carried through to that life that's everlasting.

[7:51] So help us, we pray this evening, to be those who are looking to the Lord. Open our eyes, we pray, that we would see Jesus. Open our ears, that we would hear the words of Jesus.

[8:03] And stir our hearts, that they may be made ready. That they would be that good soil in which the gospel can take root. We thank you, Lord, for Murdo, as he is willing to share testimony this evening of what you have done and what you are doing in his life.

[8:24] We thank you that you are the God who works in the life of your people. And we pray that you would help Murdo. Both in the sharing of testimony and as he seeks to be your ambassador in this place at this time.

[8:42] And help every one of us, we pray, those who are Christians, to be ambassadors for Christ. Help us in the way that we act and react. Help us in the things that we say and leave unsaid to be those who bring glory to your name and not shame to the name of Jesus.

[9:03] Enable us to be salt and light in this world. Help us, we pray, to be those who are ready always to speak of the hope that is in us through all that Christ has done.

[9:17] So bless Murdo, we pray, and bless all those who are trusting in you. And we pray for any of this evening who may be listening in or watching who have not yet come to faith in Christ.

[9:31] We pray that you would be working in their lives. Help them to see the danger that there is of being outside of Christ. And help them to see the salvation that has been provided.

[9:45] In and through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. We pray that as Jesus is lifted up, many may be drawn in faith even this evening to him.

[9:59] So hear our prayers. Take away our sin. Meet with all those who are in particular need this evening. As we continue to pray for those who are sick.

[10:10] As we continue to pray for those who are struggling with illness and with anxiety and with stress. As we continue to pray for those who are grieving.

[10:24] We thank you that you are the God who meets each one at the point of their need. As we come to you and as we carry others to you in prayer. So hear our prayers and go before us we ask.

[10:37] And we ask all these things in Jesus name. And for Jesus sake. Amen. We'll read now from God's word.

[10:49] John chapter, not John. Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3. And we'll read from verses 1 through to verse 20. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod Tetrach of Galilee, his brother Philip, Tetrach of Aeturia and Trachonitis and Licinius, Tetrach of Abilene during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, The word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert.

[11:30] He went into all the country around Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

[11:47] Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low, The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth, And all mankind will see God's salvation.

[12:02] John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.

[12:19] For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, And every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

[12:33] What should we do then? The crowd asked. John answered, The man with two tunics should share with him, Who has none, And the one who has food should do the same.

[12:47] Tax collectors also came to be baptized. Teacher, they asked, What should we do? Don't collect any more than you are required to, He told them. Then some soldiers asked him, And what should we do?

[13:01] He replied, Don't extort money, And don't accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay. The people were waiting expectantly, And were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.

[13:15] John answered them all, I baptize you with water, But one more powerful than I will come, The thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, And with fire.

[13:29] His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor, And to gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

[13:41] With many other words, John exhorted the people, And preached the good news to them. But when John rebuked Herod, The tetrarch, Because of Herodias, His brother's wife, And all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all.

[14:02] He locked John up in prison. Amen. And may God add his blessing to the reading of his word. Sometimes in life, We can find ourselves At the right place at the right time, Or perhaps sometimes at the wrong place at the wrong time, And we end up seeing something.

[14:31] Maybe an accident, Maybe a crime, Maybe something positive, It might be something like a remarkable act of kindness. And later on, We're asked by somebody, Tell us what did you see?

[14:47] Tell us what you know about this situation. Tell us what you know about this person that you encountered. And in that situation, We're called to be witnesses.

[15:01] We're called to share testimony Of what we saw, Of what we heard. Now tonight, We're looking forward in just a moment To Myrdo speaking.

[15:14] He'll share testimony with us. And that means essentially that he will be a witness. And he will be a witness Who will speak about the Lord Jesus, About who Jesus is.

[15:31] About what Jesus has done for him, And is continuing to do in his life. Myrdo will share something with us, Of what he knows, Of what he knows, Of the Lord Jesus.

[15:44] And that's what every believer, Is actually called to do. Jesus was speaking to his disciples, Two thousand years ago, And yet, It's the same message that comes to us today.

[15:59] We find it in Acts chapter 1, Verse 8, Jesus says to the disciples, Back then, And still now, You will be my witnesses, In Jerusalem, And in all Judea, And Samaria, And to the ends, Of the earth.

[16:15] Now one remarkable witness, Who came to prepare the way for Jesus, Was John the Baptist.

[16:28] And as we were in Luke chapter 3, This morning, I want to look briefly, This evening at John the Baptist. And John is somebody who's well qualified, To teach us. He comes very highly commended.

[16:41] Jesus, In Matthew chapter 11, Verse 11, Says, Truly I tell you, Among those born of women, There has not risen anyone greater, Than John the Baptist.

[16:55] So what was John like, Is my question. And as a witness, An exemplary witness, What can we, Learn from John, As we consider, Our calling to be witnesses, For Jesus.

[17:13] Five very short points. Point number one, We are called to be proactive. We're called to be proactive. We read about John there, In verse 3, That he went into all the country, Around the Jordan, Preaching a baptism of repentance, For the forgiveness of sins.

[17:38] John didn't sit on his hands, He's been given this message, He's been given this job, He's been given this calling, And he doesn't sit on his hands. He doesn't hide away in his house. He went out, Verse 3, Into all the country.

[17:51] Now why did he do that? Why did he go out to all the country? Why did he travel, So widely? And the answer is, Because he knew, That there were people, All over the place, Who needed to hear about Jesus.

[18:07] And so John went out to tell them. John was not silent. John was not somebody, Who was reluctant to open his mouth.

[18:20] No, He was somebody, Who was ready to tell the people, About the need to repent of sin, And look to the Savior. He was proactive, John.

[18:33] Remember a man, That I knew well over, In Applecross, The session clerk, In Applecross, In days gone by, He's now in glory. His name, Was Euston Ferguson, And he used to, Regularly say, When he was speaking about, God's work, We need to be those, Who are up and doing.

[18:52] We need to be those, Who are up and doing. And that was John. We find him here, He's up and doing, For Jesus sake. And it should be us, Too.

[19:05] We should be up and doing, For Jesus sake. These days we, You know, We wear these kind of watches, And sometimes if we've been sitting around, For too long, Our watch, Gives us a wee alert, And it'll say, It's time to move.

[19:22] It's got these monitors, Where our movement, Our activity is checked, And if we've been sitting around too long, That we get that prompt, It's time to move. And maybe, As we look at John here, And his example, As a witness for Jesus, Maybe the Holy Spirit, Is using this picture, To say to some of us, It's time to move.

[19:46] It's time to get up. It's time to speak up. It's time to be proactive, In the calling placed upon us, To bear witness to Jesus.

[19:59] So John, We learn from him, To be proactive. The second thing here, Is what we learn, To be salvation focused. Because as Luke here, Tells us about John, Luke connects John's activity, His proactivity, With God's promise, From Isaiah.

[20:19] John, In verses 4 to 6, Of Luke chapter 3, Here it says, As it is written, In the book of the words, Of Isaiah the prophet, Every valley shall be filled in, Every mountain and hill made low, The crooked roads shall become straight, The rough way smooth, And all mankind will see, God's salvation.

[20:44] And John is one, Who has a very clear focus, On salvation. John is very much, Aware, Of these eternal realities, Of sin, And salvation.

[20:58] He's not caught up, With the trappings of this world. Jesus taught, In Matthew chapter 6, Verse 25, That, We shouldn't be those, Who worry, And fixate, On what we will eat, And what we will drink, And what we will wear.

[21:17] And John didn't. John, We're told in Matthew chapter 3, Verse 4, John's clothes, Were made of camel's hair.

[21:28] That wasn't high fashion, In that day. And he had a leather belt, Around his waist, And his food, Was locusts, And wild honey. It's not high dining.

[21:42] And so we ask the question of John, Why does he have such a, A frugal wardrobe, And diet. And the reason, That he had that, Had that mark about his life, Was that, His focus was not, On this world's, Securities and comforts.

[22:02] His focus was on the need, For people to have, Eternal salvation. John can see past this world. John knows, There's no continuing city here.

[22:19] And he's, Desperate for people, To see that there is salvation, That is offered in Christ. He's salvation focused, And that's a focus, That we need too.

[22:34] If we realize, That we're only here for a while, Just a short while, And then there's eternity, There's either heaven, Or there's hell. If we realize that, If our focus, Is on that, Then we will be a people, Who are much, Readier, To trust, In Christ, And tell other people, About the salvation, That's offered, To those who will repent of sin, And turn to Christ.

[23:05] So John, He is, He's salvation focused, He is one who's proactive, The third thing here is, He's courageous, Verses 7 to 9, John said to the crowds, Coming out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers, Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

[23:25] Produce fruit, In keeping with repentance, And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father, For I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham.

[23:36] The axe is already at the root of the trees, And every tree that does not produce good fruit, Will be cut down, And thrown into the fire. It's quite an introduction to a sermon, Isn't it?

[23:52] John pulls no punches, He doesn't mess about in any way, His message is full of courage, He tells the truth about sin, He calls everyone to repent, And he tells the people, That the consequences of not repenting, Are serious, He talks about being cut down, And thrown into the fire, And these are images, Of hell.

[24:22] J.C. Ryle in this chapter, Says, The subject of hell, Is always offensive to human nature, Men love to hear smooth things, And to be told of peace and not danger, But the subject is one, That ought not to be kept back, If we desire to do good to souls, It is one that our Lord Jesus, Brought forward frequently, In his public teaching, That loving saviour, Who spoke so graciously, Of the way to heaven, Has also used the plainest language, About the way to hell, And we see this in John, Also, That courage, Whereby, He speaks, About these realities, These eternal realities, Of heaven, And hell, And the straightforwardness, The straight talking, Of John, The courage with which he spoke, It didn't make him Mr. Popular, It didn't get him,

[25:26] A big social media following, In fact, It got him into, A lot of trouble, We see at the end of the, Of the passage that we read, In verse 20, That John's, Readiness to tell the truth, It got him thrown into prison, And shortly after that, He would be, He would be executed, Because of the, The faith he had in Christ, And the readiness he had, To tell people about Jesus, John had the courage, To tell the truth, About sin, So that the people, Would look to Jesus, As the saviour, And we need that courage today, Murdo, I think, Refers to, To Rory Morrison, As he, Shares testimony, And the courage, With which Rory Morrison preached, And that's something,

[26:28] That we need today, To have that courage, That John shows, Telling people today, About sin, As God defines sin, It's a dangerous thing, Telling people, About Jesus, And the fact that there's salvation, In and through Christ, And there's no other way, That draws, Heavy criticism, In a very, Pluralistic world, And gets us into trouble, We might, Get trouble in school, We might, Have trouble, In our workplace, We might end up, With trouble, In our relationships, With family and friends, When we speak about Jesus, And so we need this courage, That John had, Fourth thing, We're taught to be consistent, John, As we look at his life, He teaches us,

[27:32] Through his example, That the lives of those, Who are repentant, Should look, Should look different, He preaches that, When people come to him, And say, What should we do?

[27:45] Then John is, Is very straightforward, In saying that, Those who are repenting, Should, Should show that they're repenting, If they profess, To be repentant, Then that should be evident, In their lives, Whether they're soldiers, Or whether they're tax collectors, These fruits, Should be there, There should be a consistency, Between what is, Professed, And what is practiced, And that certainly, Is something that is evident, In John's life, He was consistent, Not compromised, He wasn't a hypocrite, He's somebody, Who had that, Deep life, Integrity, So what, John preached, And the way that he lived, They married together, And they brought, A credibility, To what he said, About Jesus, And that's, What we're called to also, We're called, To that life,

[28:47] Of integrity, We're called, To have that, Consistency, And if, What we see about Jesus, Is to be, Taken seriously, There needs to be, That consistency, There needs to be that, There needs to be that, Consistency, Consistency, There needs to be, That integrity, That we see in John, If we are to be, Credible witnesses, As he was, And the final thing here, Is we're called, To be Christ exalters, John, At this point, As we read, In Luke chapter 3, He was drawing a crowd, There was a buzz, About John, And the ministry, That John, Was, Was, Was practicing, And the people, Started to ask the question, Could this man, John, Could he be the Christ?

[29:47] Could John be the one, That we're, We're actually waiting for? Verse 15, The people were waiting, Expectantly, And we're all wondering, In their hearts, If John might possibly, Be the Messiah, And if you think about this, From John's perspective, What greater compliment, Could you ever have, Than to be thought, Possibly, To be the Messiah?

[30:16] And I'm sure the devil, Was whispering in John's ear, Why don't you just enjoy, This moment, John? I mean, After all the, The sacrifices, The integrity of your life, The consistency of your walk, Just take a moment, And enjoy this praise, Just scoop a wee bit of this, This praise and this glory, Up for your, For yourself, The people are putting you up, On a pedestal, Why don't you stand up on it, For a wee while?

[30:46] But John said no, John was determined, To push down self, And lift up Jesus, He said elsewhere, He, Christ, Must increase, I, John, Must decrease, And so John, When people start looking at him, He points them past himself, And he tells them, About the one, Verse 16, The straps, Of whose sandals, I am not worthy to untie, He tells them about Jesus, And Ryle, When he speaks, About those who follow, The example of John, Says, He will be content, That his own name, Be forgotten, So long, As Christ crucified, Is exalted, And that's, The kind of witnesses,

[31:48] That we're called to be, Those who are, Very much ready, For our names, To be forgotten, So that Christ's name, Will be remembered, A good witness, Will not, Draw attention, To himself, But will speak about Jesus, The life, Of Jesus, The perfect, Sinless life, Of Jesus, The death of Jesus, Where he, Died, For us, And the resurrection, Of Jesus, Whereby we, Are given that promise, Of eternal life, The hope, That is in us, If we are Christians, Is because of him, And so our calling, Is to lift, Him up, Be Christ, Exalted, We'll pray for a moment,

[32:50] Lord God, We thank you, For the example, Of John, We thank you, For what he teaches us, Of what it means, To be a witness, And we pray now, That as Myrdo, Shares testimony, As he bears witness, To Jesus, We ask that you would take, The testimony, That he shares, And Lord, That you would use it, For your glory, And for the encouragement, Of your people, And for the salvation, Of those who have not yet, Put their faith in Christ, And we pray these things, In Jesus name, And for his sake, Amen.

[33:27] Good evening everyone, It's an honour, And a privilege, To share my testimony, With you tonight, And if I'm honest, It's not very easy, For me to do this, Because I'm not really used, To speaking in public, But I pray that God, Would give me the words, To say, And that I'd honour his name, And as his word says, Have I not commanded thee, Be strong, And of good courage, Be not afraid, Neither be thou dismayed, For the Lord thy God, Is with thee, Wherever thou goest.

[33:57] So, If it'd be okay, We could start with a word of prayer, So we bow our heads. O Lord and Heavenly Father, Tonight, O Lord, As we stand before thee, At the throne of grace, We acknowledge, That thou art our sovereign God, The God that knows us, Better than we know ourselves, For we know, Lord, There is no hiding place from thee, For they are the God, That can see into the deepest part of our hearts, And Lord, We ask this night, O Lord, That thou would pardon us from all our sins, For we acknowledge, Lord, That we are sinners, We confess thy sins, Of the past, The present, And the future, And O Lord, We know that we cannot save ourselves, We can only be saved by thee, And through thy Son, Through the precious blood of Christ, That was shed on the cross of Calvary, For the sins of mankind, And Lord, We pray that more would come to know the Saviour, Who died for him on the cross, For as we know, Lord, Here we have no continuing city, As we are reminded so often, That our lives are but a vapour, We are here but for such a short time, And then the eternity, And our hope and prayer is, Lord, That our children, All our relations,

[34:57] Our friends, And Lord, The billions that are only known to thee, Would come to a saving knowledge of Christ, So we ask, Lord, That thou would go before us now, Bless all that shall be said and done here, In this thine own hole, In this thine own, In all, In thine own church, And we pray, Lord, That thou would bless us, And forgive us, Once again, Lord, For Jesus' sake, Amen.

[35:16] Once again, I'm thankful to be here tonight, And to give a word of my testimony, Of how Christ, And God, Come into my life, And to change my, My world forever, For the better, So, My name's Murdo McSween, And I'm from Scalpby and Harris, And I've lived there all my life, And I was, Thankfully, I was raised by Christian parents, So I'm very grateful for, For doing this, And I'm from a family of six, Three boys, And three girls, There was myself, Obviously, And DA, My brother, And Donald, And my sisters, Joan, Katie, And Dolly, And as I said, I was away for most of my life, Apart from possibly, Well, A year and a half, I was in Stornion College, After I left school, And by God's providence, Is when I met, Carine, My future wife, And, We were going with each other, For about eight years, Before we married in 1992, And have been blessed, With three daughters, Lauren, Ailey,

[36:16] And Gillian, As I said, When I left, When my career, Up to present day is, Well, I was fishing, After I left college, I was fishing, With my father, And my brothers, For a short time, Because, When I was in college, I didn't see, It was like a stepping stone, To get into Arnish, And Arnish, Was kind of drying up, With work at the time, So, Decided with my father, What the best options would be, And, And we decided, And we decided, Just to come home, And start fishing with him, So, I was fishing for, A few years, And, I then, My father, Ran the Scalpy Ferry, As well, And my uncles, And, When they retired, DA, My elder brother, He got to start, Probably a year before me, And I started, About 1990, And, I was there, For seven years, Until, Until, Until the Scalpy Bridge, Opened in 1997, But,

[37:17] I was also working, With Donald McSween, Or Don Kate, As we called him, From Scalpy, He was, The elder, In this church, And, He was working with us, As well, On the ferry, And, Then, After, Once the bridge, Opened in 1997, We moved on to, The Berger Ferries, Then, In Calmac, Because we were self-employed, We weren't really, In Calmac's books, As such, A local Calmac ferry, But, Thankfully, Calmac, Kept us on, And, We went on to the Berger Ferries, In 1998, And I've been there, I've been there ever since, Till present day, I'm actually working on the, On the Tarbird ferry, The Harris ferry, And, I'm hoping to be there, Till the day I retire, If it's God's will, So, If it'd be okay, We could just start with, A reading in God's, In God's word, In John chapter 3, Verses 1 to 21, There was a man of the phallicies, Named Nicodemus, A ruler of the Jews, The same came to Jesus by night, And said unto him, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher,

[38:18] Come from God, For no man can do these miracles, That thou doest, Except God be with him, Jesus answered, And said unto him, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God, Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born, When he is old?

[38:35] Can he enter the second time, Into his mother's womb, And be born? And Jesus answered, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, And of the Spirit, He cannot enter into the kingdom of God, That which is born of the flesh, Is flesh, And that which is born of the Spirit, Is spirit.

[38:53] Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again, The wind bloweth, Where it listeth, And thou hearest the sound thereof, But canst not tell whence it cometh, And whither it goeth, So is every one that is born of the Spirit.

[39:07] Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? And Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, And knowest not these things? Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, We speak, That we do know, And testify that we have seen, And ye receive not our witness.

[39:26] If I have told you earthly things, And ye believe not, How shall ye believe, If I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, But he that came down from heaven, Even the Son of Man, Which is in heaven.

[39:39] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so, Must the Son of Man be lifted up, That whosoever believeth in him, Should not perish, But have eternal life.

[39:50] For God so loved the world, That he gave his only begotten Son, That whosoever believeth in him, Should not perish, But have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world, To condemn the world, But that the world through him might be saved.

[40:04] He that believeth on him is not condemned, But he that believeth not is condemned already, Because he hath not believed, In the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, That light is come into the world, And men love darkness, Rather than light, Because their deeds were evil.

[40:21] For everyone that doeth evil, Hatheth the light, Neither cometh to the light, Lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, And that his deeds may be made manifest, That they are wrought in God.

[40:36] As I said, As I was growing up, In my earlier years, When I was a youngster, I always, I mean, Having Christian parents, We were always taught about the Bible, And the things of God, And stuff like that, But yet I just, I didn't know how to be saved, And that was my biggest question, How can I be saved, And what do I have to do, And I used to think, Well if I live a good life, I'll be saved, And you know, God will have pity on me, But that was the way I used to think then, And I always remember, As a young, As a young boy, In bed one night, And I was reading, The children's Bible story, And it was a picture of Christ, Being crucified on the cross, And I remember, I was, Crying my eyes, Looking at this picture, Thinking, Wow, What have people done, To this poor man, Who came into this world, You know, Who led a perfect life, And yet, They crucified him, What a terrible thing to do, Not realising at that young age,

[41:37] It was myself, That actually sent him, To the cross, Along with everybody else, So, I was always brought up, To go to church, Like many people were, In the islands, Twice, On Sunday, And to Sunday school, And, I would encourage, I would encourage, The children to carry on, Going to Sunday school, The ones that go to Sunday school, Throughout the islands, And throughout the nation, Because, You learn so much, About the love of God, And, The stories that the, The Sunday school teachers, Teach us, And, The thankful we should be, That we have Sunday school teachers, And, We pray, That we should pray for them, And, For the work that they continue to do, And amongst the young ones, For us, The word of God says, Wherefore, The word great, O Lord God, For there is none like thee, Neither is there any God beside thee, According to all that we have heard with our ears, Because the things that we do here, They stick with us, For the rest of our lives, Thankfully, And we can, Meditate on some of the things, That's, The Bible verse has come into our head, And the stories that we've heard, So I would really encourage,

[42:39] For the young ones to carry on, Going to Sunday school, And for the parents, To send them to Sunday school, So like I said, When I left school, I started, In college in Stornoway, Obviously in Scalpia, We used to have the, The primary school up to second year, And then we came to Tarbert then, For third and fourth year, And then if you wanted a further year education, You either went to the Nicholson, Or to the Lewis Castle College, Which I did, So I decided to do a, A general engineering course, I don't know why, I just, I didn't know what I wanted to do, So I thought, Well, We'll give this a bash, So I was there for a bit, A year and a half, And of course, Once I left Scalpia then, The shackles were off, I wasn't under my parents, Eyes anymore, And I thought I could do whatever I wanted, Not realizing that God sees us, Wherever we are, And of course, I used to go, Get up to the usual shenanigans, Of going drinking, And stuff like that, Just to stay in with the friends, The friends that I had at the time, But then when I used to come home,

[43:39] At the weekend, We used to be in college, From Monday to Friday, And then we'd come home, Back home to Scalpia, Then on further weekends, And I used to go to church, Just out of respect for my parents, Not that I really wanted to go, Because at that time, I was just, I was young, And I even didn't, Didn't think it was very cool, To go to church, But anyway, I still went to respect for, For my parents, And, That's always, I used to see, Other Christians, And I used to think, Oh well, I want to be saved, But yet, I'll leave it, Till I'm old, Till I'm in my 70s, Once I've lived, Lived my life, Like everyone else, And I'd become a Christian then, But at the same time, I still wanted to be saved, And at that time, At that age, My elder brother, The A, Was Christian, As well as my sisters, Dolly, Katie and Dolly, And they used to go to the prayer meetings, And to church, Communions, And all this, And I used to, I was very thankful for them, But yet I used to think, Oh man, I couldn't get,

[44:40] You know, I wouldn't be able to go to church, I wouldn't be able to go to football, I wouldn't be able to go to, To all the things, That I used to do with my pals, And even Top of the Pops, Was on on a prayer meeting night, And I thought, Oh, I'll miss that as well, And I was a young one, So I wouldn't know what Top of the Pops is, But that was, The devil trying to keep me away, From going to church, And, But, I remember as well, When we reached secondary school, A few of the girls, In my class, And some of the older ones, They went to, Like a youth rally over in Stornow, For a weekend, And, To the Church of Scotland, And, When they came back, It was amazing, And a few of them, They were converted, And they, They turned to Christ, In their lives, At a young age, And I was really envious of them, Because I knew that they had something, That I didn't have, And they were so happy, And content, And I desired, I wished that I was the same, But yet, Something was keeping me back, But, At the same time, It was really encouraging, You know, And, Because,

[45:40] They even, They were telling us, The sermons that they were hearing, It was really interesting, And, I remember, I think it was Ronnie Morrison, Ronnie Morrison, That was the preacher at the time, And, It always stuck in my head, That he, The ceremony he preached on, Was, If I, If I, If I, If I, Plug it out, And, This was the turning point, In a lot of their lives, So, That kind of stuck with me, And, And, At that point, I had met, Carine, By, God's providence, In Stornoway, And she was, As I said, To become my future wife, And, We started going with each other, When we were quite young, And we were going with each other, For about eight, Eight years, And, We both used to talk about, Being Christians, And, We discussed it, And she wanted to become a Christian, As well as I did, So, That was nice knowing that, That we both desired that, And, So, We did that, And, Following Jesus, Did come up in our conversations, Quite a bit,

[46:41] And then, When I used to come, Obviously when I was saying, When I used to come back home, When my family, Or my sisters, And they used to have people home, For communions, I used to love it, And, And, I used to love being in the company, Of Christians, And, I just, I was just, Deciding it more and more, As I was getting older, Because, We used to go to the youth fellowships, As well, When, In Scalp, There was some, Missionaries used to come over, And, And we used to have it in the school, And, I used to love hearing their stories, Of, How they dedicated their lives, To Christ, And, And the countries, Where they used to go, And, How they used to try, And teach the gospel, And, So many people were coming to Jesus, By the work, And by the work of the Holy Cross, And, And, And, And, And I knew, In my own life, There was a big hole, So, I really decided, I was really deciding to become a Christian, But, As I said, I just didn't know how, But this particular time of Communions in Scalp, In 1989, Um, The house was full, With young Christians,

[47:42] And, That was the turning point of my life, I mean, My, My conversion wasn't like a Damascus conversion, It was a gradual thing, Uh, But that night, I decided, That's it, Lord, To take over, Because, Uh, I, I asked God to come into my life, And to forgive me for my sins, And that night, My life changed, Uh, Forever, Because, Uh, I was just, I was just so high, I just couldn't believe, How I couldn't, I wasn't seeing things, Like I was seeing before, Like, Um, The grass so green, And the seas, The hills of Harrah, Everything was beautiful, And even people that I didn't know, Or come into contact with, The following few days, The love I had for them, Was just, It was just, I couldn't explain it, But it was such an amazing feeling, A feeling that I just, Normally you get a gift, You want to keep it to yourself, And not share it, But, With a gift, That Christ came into my life, I wanted to share it with everybody, I just couldn't understand, Why nobody else could see it, Um, And I hope that they would all come, To know Christ, Um, In their own lives,

[48:43] Um, And then, So then, After that, After I did, Uh, Decide, Or, When, When Christ converted me, I started going to the, The week, The midweek, Uh, Prayer meeting in Scalpy, And, Uh, Just shortly after that, I started going to the Saturday night prayer meeting, And once you went to the Saturday night prayer meeting, That was it, It was, Set in stone then, That you were a Christian, And, Um, Um, And then, Just a few years, Well, Maybe, Two years after that, I think, Myself and Kareem, We both, Went forward, So, We've been Christians now, Really, For the past, 30 years, And, Um, I'm so thankful to God, That he put Kareem into my life, And, Uh, That we've, Uh, Raised, Uh, Our own family, And we've left home now, Um, But as I say, We are all ambassadors for Christ, Uh, And when we are converted,

[49:44] Our mission field is, Is really, Wherever we are on this earth, And it is our duty to shine forth, Uh, That light that Christ put into our lives, So that others might see it, And, Even to witness in our workplace, I know it's not easy sometimes, But, Uh, We have to, Ask that God, To put the right words into our mouths, And, Uh, And, Uh, That we would take them to the throne of grace, Uh, And to remember that he is with us, Wherever we are, And, Um, Our hope and prayer is, That more will come to faith in Christ, As there is yet time, Because, Uh, It's this amazing grace that saved, A poor Richard sinner like me, And that is, Waiting, And Christ is waiting to, For you to call upon him, To, Uh, Forgive you, To give your sins as well, And to ask him to come into your lives, So I'd like to close now, With a word of prayer, O Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord we ask, O Lord, Uh, Once again, That they would forgive us for all our sins, Lord we pray, That they would bless us, Uh, Where we are tonight,

[50:45] And, Uh, That they will continue with us, As we go our own separate ways, And our hope and prayer is, Lord, That more will come, To know the one that died from the cross of Calvary, For we know there is no other way, Given unto man but to, Through thy, Through thy blood, O Lord, And through thy forgiving blood, On the cross of Calvary, We ask now, Lord, That they will go before us, Keep us in much old, Lord, And to thy name, Be the glory and the honour, For Jesus' sake, Amen.

[51:08] Here is love, Past as the ocean, Loving kindness as the flood, When the prince of life, A ransom, Shared for us, His precious blood, Whose love cannot remember, Who can cease to sing his praise, He can never be forgotten, Through our tent eternal days, On the mount of crucifixion, Ventons open deep and wide,

[52:10] Through the floodgates of God's mercy, Full of us, And gracious tide, Grace and love, Like mighty rivers, Bored incessant from above, And heaven's peace, And heaven's peace, And perfect justice, Kissed a guilty world in love, Here is love, Here is love, One of the peace, Here is love.

[52:57] pleadingこの어라 Л Gamble so far, Locke isn't her grace, No ratherняя legislators, Thank goodness maker, She reward the doors, But when the naps,ica and the truth are Leading condition,риг 온� tranquility, Up to the sky, The peace is five h immigration, There is love, Happy one checking, Thanks and fraction number, Who know if none areuição, Who know if none are�, Who able to have Einstein, Who know if none are, Who know what are they, Who know if they're still alive, to sing his praise he can never be forgotten to attend eternal days the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all both now and forevermore Amen