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[0:00] Good evening and a warm welcome to the service tonight, those who are here in the building and again those who are watching online now or later.

[0:15] Especially I'll give a welcome to those who may tune in to hear Farraker McLeod's testimony. I'm not going to say very much this evening but we're thankful to have Farraker sharing testimony and he'll do that in just a wee while. But we'll begin this time of worship and we'll sing to God's praise. We'll sing from Psalm 116 and verses 1 to verse 6. So that's Psalm 116 verses 1 to verse 6. I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear. I while I live will call on him who bowed to me his ear. Of death the cords and sorrows stood about me compass round. The pains of hell took hold of me. I grief and trouble found upon the name of God the Lord. Then did I call and say, deliver thou my soul, O Lord. I do thee humbly pray. God merciful and righteous is, yea gracious is our Lord. God saves the meek. I was brought low. He did me help afford.

[1:20] These verses to God's praise and we'll stand to sing together. I love the Lord because my voice and prayer she did hear. I while I live will call on him.

[1:56] O Lord. O Lord, maybe our Wochenende рекal 내 revenir. I shall be seated on him, but he will Dennisonjaard wonderful.

[2:09] O Lord, may our John are the next杯 of heaven. After my hearts and sorrows did about me compass round. The Psilk of heaven The pains of hell took hold on me, I grieve and trouble found.

[2:40] Upon the name of God the Lord, then did I call and sing.

[2:58] Deliver love, my soul, O Lord, I do Thee humbly pray.

[3:14] God merciful and righteous is, yea, gracious is the Lord.

[3:33] God saves the meek, I was brought low, He did me help afford.

[3:49] Lord. Let's unite our hearts in a moment of prayer.

[4:06] Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, once more we thank you that you've given us the opportunity and the desire to come into your house this evening.

[4:22] We thank you that towards the end of the Lord's day we are found in your presence and waiting upon you. With that expectation that you will meet with us and speak to us through the word that we have sung and we will read and we'll meditate upon.

[4:43] And we thank you, Lord, that not only do you speak to us through your word, but you listen to us as we cry out to you in prayer. We thank you that we can sing with the psalmist that we love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear.

[5:00] And we thank you, Father, that you hear us not because of who we are, but because of who Jesus is as your Son and our Savior. We thank you, Lord, that he is the one who has given us a testimony like the psalmist had.

[5:19] We thank you that as we look to him in faith and as we call upon his name, as we put the faith that you give to us in the finished work of Jesus, we thank you that we are saved.

[5:31] We thank you, Lord God, that you reveal yourself to us in Scripture as the God who is merciful, the God who is gracious, the God who is holy, the God who is almighty, and the God who is with us.

[5:50] And we pray that we would never take that for granted, the fact that you are the God who draws near to us and who is with us.

[6:02] We thank you, Lord, that your grace is offered to us as individuals. We thank you that your forgiveness is something that we can know in our own hearts.

[6:16] We thank you that your love is something that we can experience, something that we can know. It's something that we can bathe in. We thank you that you are the God who draws near to us as we seek to draw near to you.

[6:37] So, Lord, we pray that you would receive us this evening as we pray in Jesus' name. We pray once more, as we did this morning, that you would cleanse us from sin.

[6:52] Because our sin is ever before us, and we would say with the psalmist against you, and you only have we sinned. So, cleanse us afresh, we pray.

[7:06] Wash us once more in the blood of Jesus, and give to us the Holy Spirit, we pray. We thank you for the encouragement, even as we think back upon this morning, that you, Father, will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

[7:24] Because of your love for us, and so we ask once more, that you would pour out your Spirit upon us, that you would soften our hearts, that you would open our eyes and unblock our ears.

[7:37] Lord, that you would speak to us. We pray for Farrakhar as he shares testimony in just a short while. And we ask, Lord, that you would give him the words to say.

[7:50] We thank you for his witness amongst us in the congregation and in the community. And we pray now that as he speaks, that we would see and hear something more of Christ.

[8:05] We know, Lord, that as we share testimony, our desire is that we would decrease and Christ would increase. We would pray that we would see more of Jesus this evening, even through these personal words and experiences that Farrakhar may share with us.

[8:27] Lord, as we sing your praises, we ask that we would sing from our hearts. We thank you once more that we are able to unite our voices. Help us, we pray, to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day.

[8:42] And we ask, Lord, that as we sing, our hearts would be thrilled, as we speak of the Lord Jesus, that our hearts would be touched. to hear our prayers and lead us and guide us in the power of your Spirit.

[8:59] Once more, Lord, we pray for those who are in need. Once more, we pray for those who are struggling, those who are anxious, those who are sick, those who are grieving.

[9:12] Amen. You are the God who is able to meet us at the point of our need, our spiritual need, our physical need, our material needs. And we say, Lord, as is written in your Word, we are poor and needy.

[9:30] And so we ask, Lord, that you would hear our prayers and that you would help us. And enable us, Lord, we pray, not only in testimony evenings like this, but as we go out into this week and the meetings that we'll have and the encounters that you will arrange within our lives, we pray that you would help us to be salt and light.

[9:58] Help us, Lord, to share our Word in season. We pray, Lord, that our conversations would be seasoned with the grace of the Gospel and that we would, through our words and through our actions and our reactions, show people the reality of Christ in us.

[10:19] And for any who do not yet have Christ in them, for any who are outside of Christ, those who may be in the building here, those who may be watching online at a distance, we thank you that this is still the age of grace.

[10:37] We thank you that as we hear your voice, we are not to harden our hearts, but we are to seek to trust in Jesus. We are saved by grace, the finished work of Jesus, and even the faith that enables us to take hold of that gift of grace as something that you give to us.

[11:00] And so we ask, Lord, for it. Give to us faith, increase our faith, and enable us to walk more and more closely with Jesus.

[11:13] And we pray all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We're going to sing again from Psalm 116.

[11:25] Psalm 116, and we're going to sing two verses of the psalm, two stanzas in Gaelic. Verses 7 and 8, as I have them printed here.

[11:38] O thou, my soul, do thou return unto thy quiet rest, for largely lo, the Lord to thee his bounty hath expressed. For my distressed soul from death delivered was by thee.

[11:51] Thou didst my mourning eyes from tears, my feet from falling free. These two stanzas in Gaelic, and we'll remain seated to sing in Gaelic.

[12:06] O man, pay of compendionish, between us is good hand. O man, pay of compendionish, and he'll remain Again, and he'll be with you.

[12:53] Oh Oh Oh

[13:55] Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh If you could turn in your Bibles now just for a moment please to Psalm 116

[15:07] Psalm 116 And we'll read the first Seven verses I think This is God's word I love the Lord for he heard my voice He heard my cry for mercy Because he turned his ear to me I will call on him as long as I live The cords of death entangled me The anguish of the grave came upon me I was overcome by trouble and sorrow

[16:09] And I called on the name of the Lord Oh Oh Lord save me The Lord is gracious and righteous Our God is full of compassion The Lord protects the simple hearted When I was in great need He saved me Be at rest once more Oh my soul For the Lord Has been good To you Amen And may God bless That reading Of his word to us I'm just going to take five minutes I think it'll be about five minutes Maybe between five and ten But no more than that And I want to just think for a few minutes about the psalm that we sang And the psalm that we just read The verses that we read The reason I'm going there

[17:09] Is because this is Farrakhar's favourite psalm It's the psalm that he chose For the praise this evening And so we've read it And we've sung it And I want to just take one verse actually And really one phrase within one verse And consider it It's verse six And it says there The Lord protects the simple hearted When I was in great need He saved me He saved me And within that one verse I want to take hold of that That phrase In the middle of that verse It's that phrase Simple hearted The Lord protects The simple hearted When I was in great need He saved me Now today we live in a world

[18:11] That is not simple We live in a world that seems to be Increasingly complicated There's a lot of things going on All around us And there's so much information That seems to be flying at us From all directions Relentlessly So it's very hard for us Not to To be distracted By so many calls upon our time There seems to be so many things That are so urgent We have our phones in our pockets And if they're not switched off They're constantly buzzing And vibrating And pinging And bleeping Telling us that there are notifications There are urgent things That we must attend to But the reality is 99% of these things Are not very urgent at all

[19:13] And they're far from important The danger is In the world that we live in We are consumed We are consumed With constant calls Upon our attention And we miss The most important things Because of all these distractions All these complications We need to be simple hearted That's one of the messages From this psalm We need to be simple hearted We need not to be looking at The thousand distractions But the one most important thing And what's the one most important thing?

[19:55] Well it's our hearts Not our bank balances Not our exam grades Not our bodies Or our reputations The way we look Or the way that people perceive us The most important thing The most important thing Is our eternal souls And the need for us to be saved So I really want to just cut to the chase this evening And ask all of us Whether we're very young in primary school Or whether we're a bit older Or whether we're well up in years Let me ask the question to those here And those who may be watching at a distance Are you saved?

[20:46] Are you saved? Are you a Christian? And if not Why not? Now some might ask the question Well saved from what?

[21:03] It's a word that we hear used all the time in church circles People need to be saved People need to be saved But what do we need to be saved from? The psalmist tells us what he and what we need to be saved from He speaks in verse 3 He speaks in verse 3 About the cords of death He speaks about the anguish of the grave He speaks about trouble and sorrow and unrest And all these things can be traced back to the core problem And that's sin And so we need to be saved from sin And the wages The consequences Of sin That hit us at all these different levels That was the psalmist's problem That he writes about in this psalm And it's your problem And it's my problem We need to be saved So how can we be saved?

[22:01] That's actually the most important question That any of us can ever ask How can we be saved? How can we find heart and soul protection?

[22:16] And the answer comes through verse 6 We need to be simple hearted We are to be the commentator says Simple hearted Simple hearted does not refer to ignorant Or superstitious people But to childlike believers With sincerity and integrity People who dare to believe That God means what he says So to be saved We have to believe what God says It's that simplicity of faith That we're called back to here Remember in Matthew chapter 18 Verse 3 Jesus says Except you become converted And become Except you are converted And become as little children You shall not enter the kingdom of God It's the same idea

[23:19] Simple hearted Like little children And if you scan through verses 1 to 4 We're given guidance as to how we can be saved And there's nothing complicated about it Because the psalmist in this psalm He tells us his problem He shares with us that reality That he is experiencing That sense of need That sense of danger The psalmist knows his sin And so he cries out for mercy The psalmist knows that he is in A very real heart danger And so he asks for God's help The psalmist knows that At some point he is going to face death It sounds like it's imminent And so he asks for protection He calls upon the name of the Lord

[24:21] Oh Lord save me And the Lord saves him And he writes then in verse 7 About this rest for his soul It's very simple It's very simple It's very straightforward And we understand this in life experiences When we are in danger When we are in need We cry for help If we become sick What do we do?

[24:58] Well we call for help If the house goes on fire What do we do? Well we call for help If our car breaks down We are stuck in the middle of nowhere What do we do?

[25:13] We call for help And in the spiritual sense We learn here And right through scripture We are in great need We are sinners God loves us enough to tell us that And we can't save ourselves And apart from him We have no rest for our souls in life No matter how much we get No matter how many accolades Or how much possessions Or how much popularity we have We have no rest When we are apart from God In this life And when we are apart from God We have no hope in death There is only a lost eternity We are in great need So what do we do?

[26:10] Well we call for help It is that simple We call upon the name of the Lord Jesus And when we do so in faith We will be able to say With the psalmist In verse 6 When I was in great need He saved me And Farrakhar Just in a moment Is going to come up And he will be telling us that I haven't heard his testimony I don't know the details of this But I know within that There will be the echo of that truth When he was in great need The Lord saved him It is as simple as that Now some might be saying Surely it has got to be A bit more complicated than that The truth is

[27:11] No it is not You might be saying Well don't I have to do something Isn't there some kind of Religious credit that I have got to To earn before I can approach God And the answer to that is no There is nothing that we have to do Remember what Jesus said on the cross He cried out in a loud voice It is finished The work of salvation It is done Don't we have to pay something for this salvation?

[27:41] Well no we don't Because Jesus paid it all The debt of our sin Was paid in full When his blood was shed for us So what do we have to be?

[28:03] We have to be simple hearted Believe in the Lord Jesus Call upon his name And we have the promise That he will save us He will make us his own He will make us Christ's ones Christians So I want to simply encourage us this evening Does anyone here Who is hearing this?

[28:42] Who knows That they are sinners Don't over complicate this With a million thought processes Simple hearted Is what we need to be If God shows us our sin He is pointing us to the Saviour And all we have to do Is look in faith to Jesus Call upon his name And we have the promise We are saved And we have a testimony To share We are going to sing now The first of two Hymns That Farrakhar has chosen We don't have them in the book But we have the words on the screen And Farrakhar asked that Anna Would lead

[29:44] In singing We are all going to sing together She is very nervous So we must all sing together So let's sing to God's praise The words on the screen Our sins they are many Is the chorus His mercy is more So in just a moment We'll stand And we'll sing to God's praise Let's stand Let's stand You Christ Yes

[30:45] Christ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Well L соответ Yes Yes You You You Yes Yes Who's there are many, his mercy is more.

[31:13] Tell the Lord, his mercy is more. Stronger than darkness, new and remorn.

[31:31] Our sins may are many, his mercy is more. Who's there, his mercy is more.

[31:45] He's a wish of us. His blood was the way that his life was a cause. We stood with a debt we could never afford.

[32:01] Since they are many, his mercy is more. Praise the Lord, his mercy is more.

[32:21] Stronger than darkness, new and remorn. And send me your mercy is more.

[32:33] Now hand overnight to Farachar.

[32:48] Well, I stand before you this evening, a sinner saved by grace.

[33:11] And when I call to remembrance what God has done in my life, I stand in awe and amazement, thinking of the God who is of so pure eye than to look upon sin.

[33:32] And yet he stooped down and took into his arms a poor, sinful wretch such as I am.

[33:44] And I stand before you tonight and I'm going to try and tell you how Jesus came into my heart and into my life.

[34:01] My name is Farachar McLeod. I live in a little village called Luskintyre on the west side of Harris.

[34:14] I'm the youngest of 14 in a family. Although both my parents were devout churchgoers, yet they were not professing Christians.

[34:34] They were free Presbyterians and I was brought up a free Presbyterian. Family worship was held in the home morning and evening.

[34:48] And grace and thanksgiving was offered before and after every meal. And we as children, when we were going to bed, we were made to kneel down by our bedside and repeat the Lord's Prayer in Gaelic and for every evening.

[35:14] We were also made to go to church. Maybe we weren't very keen at that time, but we all went to church. There was no church in Luskintyre at that time.

[35:27] The schoolhouse was also the mission house. And the minister at that time was Reverend Angus Cattnock and he was ably assisted by three missionaries.

[35:41] Alistair MacLennan Finsby, who was the father of the Reverend Donald Angus MacLennan, who passed away two or three years ago. There was also Norman Mackay, and there was John MacLennan, and I remember Alistair MacLennan.

[36:02] His preaching frightened me. I don't know what it was, but his preaching frightened me. I've never forgotten.

[36:12] I can't remember what it was, but I always remember that. Not as much as it frightened us when we went home and we didn't know where the minister was, the text he had.

[36:26] We had to know that when we went home. Our parents would be asking us that. And after our meal, we would be questioned in catechism, and we got a good grounding there.

[36:40] I was one term in Luskentire School, and then I went on to Shilabust School. And our morning and evening, our morning began and the evening ended with the Lord's Prayer.

[36:56] And on consecutive mornings, we would have a verse of Gaelic Psalm to learn, and the following morning, a catechism. And a story would be read from the Bible.

[37:11] And afterwards, we would be questioned on that. And we got a good grounding, we got a good hold of those lovely Bible stories at that young age.

[37:29] And also, the teachers at that time, they used to ask the children, what are you going to do when you grow up? And more often than not, the girls would always say, well, I'm going to be a nurse.

[37:42] The boys were going to be plumbers and joiners. I was different. I was going to be a minister. Every time I was asked, I was going to be a minister. But everyone knows I'm not a minister.

[37:55] I never will be. But after Shilabust School, I didn't pass a bursary, so I went to Leaver Hill Memorial.

[38:07] And we had assembly there every morning. The Lord's Prayer was recited. We sang a psalm. And one of the pupils would read a passage of scripture.

[38:21] And then the classes would begin. I left school. I had no O-levels, no A-levels. I had nothing. But I praise and thank the Lord I have never been without employment, even to this present day.

[38:37] I left school at the age of 15. I'm going out into this big world to seek my fortunes.

[38:49] I was very dating in my young days. And I'm going to tell you a wee story of one of the incidents, one of the many incidents.

[39:04] And before we left school, there was four boys and four girls in our class. And to be with the in crowd, you had to be smoking.

[39:16] So I took up smoking. And that filthy habit followed me when I left school. And one day I was down at the shore.

[39:28] I always had a soft spot for the sea. My two brothers nearer me, they both went to sea. And my dream was to follow in their footsteps.

[39:41] But that never happened. I was down at the shore one day. And if you were in Luskintar, I could show you this small ledge I was standing on, puffing away at a cigarette.

[39:55] I couldn't roll my own, so I had a wee machine to roll them for me. I was playing a wee tuna mammothie. And happy as Larry, on my left side, I would walk into the sea.

[40:10] In the front of me, the brickers were rolling in. To the right of me, there was a deep gorge. And behind me, I had to scale a rock fist to get out the top.

[40:25] And then this huge, big roller came in. And what am I going to do? I turned my back to this wave. And I grabbed hold of the rock.

[40:37] And the next thing, I was in the water. Down in that deep gorge. And this wave was dragging me out. When the wave went out, it was a shingle bridge.

[40:47] And the wave was dragging me out. And to this day, it's divine intervention. When I, first inkling I had after that was, I was standing on the shingle bridge safe.

[41:02] And I could tell you many more things like that. And I always gave myself a pat on the back. Oh, you did so well.

[41:13] You saved yourself there. But when I look back on those instances, I see the hand of God. And I praise my God that he saved me.

[41:28] The many times he could have swept me into eternity in my ignorant state. And yet, at a very young age, I always wanted to go to heaven.

[41:45] But I bargained. I promised myself long years. I was saying to myself, when you're 70 or 80 years old, you come to Jesus and everything will be just fine.

[41:58] How dangerous and how slippery was the path I was treading. But in his great love and mercy, the Lord saved me.

[42:13] And I went on in that state for many years, going to work every morning, working on the croft, helping out with all the chores that was to be done.

[42:28] I loved the parties. There was two old men at the next door to me. And that was our gathering place. That's where we held our parties. Singing and dancing and telling stories and drinking, of course, playing darts.

[42:46] I loved it. I loved the dance hall as well. And I also loved the public house. And it was at one of these dances that I met my wife.

[43:03] And she must have been very keen on me because a bit over a year after that, we were married. And the Lord blessed us with three children.

[43:14] And now we have eight grandchildren. And I pray for them every day. Sometimes I despair and I say to the Lord, Oh, Lord, supposing I never say it, but Lord, you save them.

[43:30] Let us never give up hope of praying for our children and our grandchildren. I kept on in this way of life for many years, for several years.

[43:47] And I used to be quite a jolly fellow with a few. I was never a heavy drinker. I used to be quite a jolly fellow with a drink in me, but the day came when I wasn't such a nice person with a drink.

[44:07] And I knew that's the time to stop. And I did. I did. And we were living in a caravan when we first got married.

[44:20] And the roof got blown away a couple of times. Repaired it. The third time it got blown away, we got a council house in Tarbird, in Scott Road.

[44:31] We were living there for 10 years in Scott Road. And I remember the houses were being renovated there. And the council put us in caravans.

[44:46] And I remember one night, my wife was out visiting one of the neighbours. And who came along visiting but Reverend Norman McKeever. We were in the Church of Scotland then. And I rushed to the TV to put it off.

[45:03] I was watching something. I was a bit embarrassed when a minister walked in. I may as well tell you what it was. I was watching Benny Hill. I quite liked it at the time.

[45:14] And in comes the minister. And that TV never went off as quickly as it did that night. And Reverend Norman McKeever will always have a special spot, a soft spot in mind.

[45:30] He was the first minister who ever spoke to me about my soul. And I can't remember the gist of our conversations, but he was with me quite a while.

[45:46] And a couple of weeks after that, my wife was out again visiting the neighbours. I think the minister must have been watching you at home. And every time he got me alone, in he popped.

[45:58] And he came and he had this book for me here. It's called Read, Mark, Learn. A lovely little book that helped me quite a bit.

[46:13] And from there, I began to think spiritual ways.

[46:28] My wife used to be the first in bed every night. And I remember, all of a sudden, I started dragging behind.

[46:38] And she wasn't questioning this. So what I was doing was, once I got her to bed, I would go down on my knees in front of the sofa.

[46:50] And I tried to pray. I didn't have a prayer then. But I tried to pray. And I was asking God to come into my life, to forgive my sins.

[47:08] As I said, I didn't have many words then. I didn't have much prayer. But she tells me nowadays that I'm too long-winded and that I should keep them a wee bit shorter.

[47:26] So I went from there. I was working down in Liverpool. And when I think of it, rushing home in the evening. The prayer meeting then was on a Thursday night.

[47:39] The uncomfortable journey the boys with me had, me rushing home madly to get to the prayer meeting. Wouldn't miss the prayer meeting for anything. And how many times that I think back to those times and I say to myself, oh, where is the blessedness I had then?

[47:59] I felt so alive. Where is the blessedness I had when first I knew the Lord? Never miss the prayer meeting.

[48:15] I still don't, if I can at all. And we used to have what we called the Orstian Picket then in the Church of Scotland, evangelical meetings.

[48:30] And we had them down in Scadabay Mission Hall and Drenishder. And after the service was over, we used to go to William MacLeod's house in Scadabay and sometimes Alistair Campbell in Prokable.

[48:45] And we had some lovely times there. I just, I could spend all night listening to the old elders talking about their experiences when they used to go to communions and the stories they had.

[49:06] And there was an old missionary, an old gentleman. Oh, there was a lot of those men that I looked up to. I just, I loved them.

[49:17] And I learned so much from them. And I wish that I could be something like them. There was an old man called Angus Morrison. Nisconel Catrionum. I'm sure many of you will know him.

[49:29] And he couldn't drive. And I used to take him to those meetings. And my wife used to scold me for keeping an old man out till two and sometimes three o'clock in the morning.

[49:45] And I'm going to tell you a little story that Angus told us one night. It must have been at the Evangelical Wakenings in Barbas.

[49:58] I think it was 1947. And Arthausic and Bunavinyetra were full of Christians at that time.

[50:09] And they used to have house meetings. And after the house meeting was over at probably one o'clock in the morning, the Arthausic crowd would walk the Bunavinyetra crowd home and they would be singing and they would be praying and praising the Lord.

[50:28] And when they reached Bunav, the Bunav crowd would come back to Arthausic with them doing the same. And they went back and forth like this until the dawn broke. And they went home for their cup of tea or whatever it was.

[50:42] And they went off to work. And they were never tired. And that is the way I felt as well. Going out home at three o'clock in the morning, couple of hours, off to work again.

[50:54] I never felt tired. It was wonderful. I remember one time and I heard that one of the boys had a rock had fallen on his toe and he was taken to hospital.

[51:07] And I remember I was down on my knees on the verge of the road praying for that boy. Oh, how times have gone.

[51:18] And I spent many years like that. Two or three years, communion season after communion season came and gone.

[51:31] And I wasn't going forward. I wasn't good enough. I wasn't ready. And you know something? I am right. I'm still not good enough. But one night, one night, the minister was absent.

[51:49] He must have been away to communion or something. And one of the elders took to prayer meeting. It was Archie McLeod, whose house we have as a man's today.

[52:02] He took to prayer meeting and he was preaching about Lazarus. Lazarus, who was dead and buried in the grave four days.

[52:18] And the verse that he took was John chapter 12 and verse 3. Verse 2, sorry.

[52:29] There they made him a supper and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with them. Lazarus, who was dead and buried. I was dead in trespasses and in sins.

[52:44] And this is the verse that spoke to me. And when I went home that night, I said to my wife, well, I found what I was, what was missing.

[52:59] I didn't know then what was my expectation. I think the Lord was going to deal with me in a miraculous way. But this is the way he took.

[53:13] That verse spoke into my heart and into my soul. And I came forward on the evening of Friday, the 9th of March, 1990.

[53:25] and the preacher that night was Reverend William McLeod Eugen. And he was preaching about the three gates in the north, three in the south, three in the west and three in the east.

[53:40] And I remember as I came down to the church that night, an old elder that I looked up to greatly and he said to me, don't leave it too long.

[53:57] It didn't mean too much to me then, but I know what it means now. When we leave it too long, we can get so hard in our hearts that we can't come to the Lord.

[54:13] I came forward that night, I was trembling, I was literally trembling, shaking with fright. Angasali came to get me, take me in.

[54:25] I was in the wee hole and I went in before the session and they were so gracious to me and so kind. And if I remember rightly, Angasali is the only member of that session that is still alive.

[54:42] All those lovely men are all gone. and I remember going out to that church and the minister went out and he had his arm round me.

[54:55] And I went out that night and I felt as if I was walking on air. That's the way I felt. Saturday was to say I had this buoyant feeling as if I was walking on air.

[55:10] but my goodness when Sunday came and I sat at the table and Satan came, Satan came to me and he said what are you doing?

[55:22] You have no right to be here. You can't pray. You don't have a prayer. You can't speak to the question.

[55:33] You will know what to say. and I was absolutely devastated at that. And many a day Satan has come to me since.

[55:52] I professed that day and there's a wee anecdote I should have told you before now.

[56:06] That's the way my mind works. When I was partying and all that nonsense and you know coming home at all hours in the morning and parents were worrying about you would you come home safely and it didn't bother me in a bit.

[56:27] And my mother used to say to me oh that you would be like the one you're named after.

[56:39] I was named after my uncle Faraghar and he was an elder in the Free Presbyterian Church in London. He was also a presenter and he would take the occasional service when the minister was absent and this is what my mother said oh that you would be like the one you're named after.

[57:09] So I came forward at that time and I praised the Lord and I thanked him every day. he saved me many a time and we heard the exposition tonight already.

[57:27] I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear. I wasn't praying at that time when I the story I told you about but I have come to love the Lord because of all he did for me.

[57:45] The way he remembered me helped me and guided me to this present time. And I remember my mother in law gave me a cassette tip.

[57:59] it was Reverend Murdo Campbell who hailed from Rainigadil and if I remember rightly he was a minister in the Church of Scotland at Dhrimla Dhruchet and he passed away three or four maybe five years ago.

[58:16] And the sermon on that tip was Christ on the Cross and he told a little story about Barabbas Barabbas who was supposed to have been in the place of Jesus but he was set free and seemingly when Barabbas was set free he was walking along and looking up at the middle cross he stopped and seemingly he was heard to say well I don't know who you are but if you weren't there then I would and isn't that true of every one of us if it hadn't been that Jesus died on the cross taking the punishment of our sins in his own body that surely would have been our place and I praise and thank him every day that he looked the way I was and that he saved me now I don't you probably have noticed in my testimony that

[59:34] I don't have quotes there are lots of testimonies and there's a lot of quotes and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that but I just if I things like that came to me I just can't remember but the one thing I do I can say along with the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 10 by the grace of God I am what I am and it is with shame that I have to say and confess that many a day that I have failed my Lord many a day I have fallen flat on my face and I have failed him but he has never failed me I am in the hands of the potter and he's having an awful job with this old lump of clay he is still molding he is still shipping he is still chipping away but one day by the time he is finished

[61:04] I hope that I will be like him I know the time is going by and if there is anyone listening in who has not yet given their life to Jesus I would encourage you to do it now we hear so often from this pulpit how quickly time goes by give your life to Jesus today we see so often how people are in the twinkling of an eye cut down and some even into eternity the Lord could have swept me into eternity empty times but by his grace and love there's a wee chorus that we used to sing with the children years ago there's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin there's a door that is open and you may go in at

[62:25] Calvary's cross is where you begin when you come as a sinner to Jesus and that is where we all must come to the foot of the cross to see Jesus there and what he has done for each one of us and if I can be of any encouragement to you at all then I would give you Psalm 37 and I'm going to finish with this Psalm 37 and verse 3 set thou thy trust upon the Lord and be thou doing good and so thou in the land shalt dwell and verily have food delight thyself in God he'll give thine hearts desire to thee thy way to

[63:27] God commit him trust it bring to pass shall he could sit the God is an in deal stand in mass lot son a shins sir bian doing he space ruck up gap lock in you is for a good long room to the year that you have to year that this sp good great amen and may the lord bless anything in the mindset of his spirit well thank you Farrakhar for sharing that word of testimony let's pray for a moment our heavenly father once more we thank you for the wonder of your work in us and we thank you for all that

[64:29] Farrakhar has shared of your word and of the testimony of your work in his life we thank you for what he has told us of and we thank you for what we have seen and heard from him over the course of time we pray that you would bless him and Katrina and the whole family lord that you would continue to watch over them and be near to them we thank you lord for the work of your salvation that you open our eyes to enable us to see that cross we thank you that we are saved through trusting in jesus and we thank you lord for the sanctifying work that farrakhar has spoken of also you take us lord as as a clay in the potter's hands and you mould us and shape us to be more and more like jesus and we pray that you would make each one of us lord who are in christ more and more like christ and we thank you for the promise that you have given us that when we are called from time into eternity if we are in the lord then we shall be like him so enable us we pray to seek to live lives which will bring glory to jesus and as we've heard the challenge through farrakhar to any who have not yet trusted christ we pray that they would not let the time pass the hearts would not be hardened but even tonight through the testimony shared there may be someone who puts faith in jesus and comes to know the reality of that salvation and the joy that accompanies your salvation we thank you for mr mckeever as well norman as we've heard of his work and for all that he shared and all that has blessed the souls of many of us here over the years and we pray your blessing upon him we thank you that your word endures forever things change circumstances change nations rise nations fall but we thank you that the word of the lord endures forever and in the power of the holy spirit you bring it back to our mind and memories sometimes long after we have heard a sermon or had a conversation so work lord we pray minister to each of us we ask and we thank you for your grace we pray this in jesus name amen and we'll sing to conclude the hymn i think this is the one you chose farrakhan is it your grace that brought this sinner home and we'll see the words on the screen in just a moment and we'll stand to sing now to god's praise your grace that leads the sinner home from death to life forever and sings the song of righteousness by blood and not by merit let's stand to sing to god's praise the offense that leads to him from death to life forever and sings the song of righteousness by blood and not by merit.

[68:15] Amen. Amen.

[69:15] Amen. Amen.

[70:15] Amen. Amen.

[71:15] Amen. Amen.

[71:46] And now may that grace of the 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.

[71:56]  Amen.