Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.northharris.freechurch.org/sermons/10815/14321-pm-cammy-and-chrisalda-morrison-testimony/.

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[0:00] Well good evening and a warm welcome to the service this evening. Especially I would welcome those who may be tuning in for the first time or those who are tuning in specifically to hear Cammie and Crisalda's testimony.

[0:17] It's good for us to be able to come together and to worship God and to hear how God has worked and continues to work in the lives of his people.

[0:28] So we're going to begin this time of worship by singing to God's praise while we hear God's praise sung. Psalm 145, the second version of the psalm and verses 1 to 6.

[0:45] O Lord, thou art my God and King, thee will I magnify in praise and I will thee bless and gladly sing unto thy holy name always.

[0:55] Down to the end of the verse Mark 6. We hear God's praise being sung. O Lord, thou art my God and King, thee will I magnify and praise.

[1:17] I will thee bless and gladly sing unto thy holy name always.

[1:32] Each day I rise, I will thee bless and praise thy name time without end.

[1:47] Much to be praised and great God is. His greatness none can comprehend.

[2:01] Grace shall thy works praise unto race. Thy mighty acts show done by thee.

[2:16] I will speak of their glorious grace and honor of thy majesty.

[2:29] Thy wondrous works I will record. By men the might shall be extolled.

[2:45] Of all thy dreadful acts, O Lord. And I thy greatness will unfold.

[2:59] Let's unite our hearts now in prayer. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening.

[3:12] We thank you that we're able to come together. We're able to open your word and to sing your word, to sing your praise. We thank you that we're able to read the scriptures in a language that we can understand.

[3:25] And we thank you that we have the promise that where two or three gather in the name of Jesus, you are with us. We thank you that we have the promise of the Holy Spirit to be our helper, to illuminate our minds that we might be unable to understand what we sing and what we read.

[3:42] We thank you that this is your revelation of yourself to us. You show to us that you are the God who is gracious. You show to us that you are the God who is good.

[3:54] The God who works in our lives and the God who works across generations. And we thank you for the prospect of hearing the testimony of how you worked in Cammie and Cresalda's lives thus far.

[4:10] We thank you for them and their willingness to be able to share something of their experience with us. And we pray that in all that they say and in all that we meditate upon for a few moments in this psalm as well, that you would be lifted up.

[4:29] We pray that we may see Jesus, that we may see our need of Jesus. We are sinners who need saved and he is the Savior. And we pray that you would give us hearts that are warmed, that are responsive, that are ready to put our faith in Christ.

[4:48] We thank you for the great love of God seen for us in Jesus. For God so loved the world that he gave his Son, that he came into this world.

[4:59] We thank you that we see the fullness of the extent of love and the fact that Jesus went to the cross to be the propitiation, the one who would die, to take the punishment for our sin so that we could be shown forgiveness and everlasting life.

[5:18] We thank you that the gospel is so simple that the youngest child can grasp it. That if we come to Jesus asking for our sins to be forgiven, we can be cleansed through all that he has done for us on the cross.

[5:32] We can be washed clean in and through his blood. And yet we know, Lord, that the gospel is something that the more we meditate upon, the more we see within, the depths of it we cannot plumb.

[5:46] And for all eternity, we will be in wonder of your great love for us. So help us to see that, help us to feel that. Help us, each one we pray, to respond to that.

[6:00] We pray for any who may be listening or watching tonight, who wouldn't normally come to a church service, or who may not normally tune in. We pray that you would be working in their hearts, that they may be drawn to the Jesus that Cammie and Crisaldah point us to.

[6:18] We pray for any who may be trusting in Christ already and who have not yet come out and said that and made profession of faith. We ask that even this evening, they may be moved to tell somebody that they are trusting in Jesus.

[6:35] So hear our prayers. Help us, we ask, in this short time of worship. We pray for the children as well. We see the generations mentioned within this psalm, and we pray for the children who met in Sunday school earlier today on the computer screens.

[6:52] We pray for the YF who meet just after the service this evening as well on the Zoom platform. And we ask that you would bless these meetings, that these young ones would grow up knowing and trusting you.

[7:07] And even as they prepare to go back to school tomorrow, we pray that you would protect them, that you would bless them, and that you would be with their teachers as well. We thank you that everything that troubles us, everything that may worry us, we can bring to you in prayer, knowing that we have a friend and a saviour in Jesus.

[7:25] So hear our prayers. Continue with us, we ask, and we pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. I'm going to read now the psalm that we sang at the beginning of the service, Psalm 145.

[7:45] We'll read the whole of this psalm. A psalm of praise of David. I will exalt you, my God the King. I will praise your name forever and ever.

[7:58] Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. His greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another.

[8:11] They will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty. And I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works.

[8:23] And I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

[8:39] The Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all he has made. All you have made will praise you, O Lord. Your saints will extol you. They will tell of your glory, of your kingdom.

[8:53] And speak of your might. So that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And your dominion endures through all generations.

[9:06] The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving towards all he has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

[9:19] The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in their proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

[9:29] The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving towards all he has made. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

[9:41] He fulfills the desires of those who fear him. He hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

[9:52] My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name forever and ever. Amen.

[10:06] I just want to take a moment, less than five minutes, to think about this psalm. You might wonder why did we read this psalm and why did we begin with the psalm?

[10:20] Well, the reason we read it and sang it is, well, there's two reasons. First of all, we've been going through the psalms and we were in Psalm 144 last week. So we're reading Psalm 145 this week.

[10:34] And the other reason is it's because it's Cammie asked me to begin the service with this psalm. And on reflection, it very much connects with what Cammie and Casalda are doing tonight.

[10:50] And so I won't preach on the psalm this evening. We'll come to that next week, God willing. I just want to draw three short lines of connection between the psalm and what we're actually doing this evening.

[11:03] And the first thing I want us to see is that there's a profession of faith in the psalm. David in the psalm. David's the psalmist. He begins by professing his faith.

[11:13] He's telling the readers that he is trusting God. And why is he trusting God? Well, he's trusting God because of who he is, who the Lord is, and what the Lord has done for him.

[11:27] And we hear that all the way through the psalm. Let me give just a few examples. Psalm 1, verse 1, sorry. He says, David the psalmist, he is emphatic in the fact that he wants to profess that his faith is in this great God.

[12:01] And Cammie and Crisalda this evening, they're doing the same thing. They, in giving their testimonies, are professing faith.

[12:15] They're telling us openly that they are trusting in the Lord. They're trusting in God. They're trusting in Christ as their Savior, their Lord, their King.

[12:29] They're not hiding that. But they want everyone to know. Just as David the psalmist did. So we hear a profession of faith in the psalm.

[12:41] And we'll hear a profession of faith through these testimonies. And I want to maybe just ask the question, is this coming as a challenge to some? Is it possible that there's someone who's watching this evening, someone who's listening, who is trusting in the Lord, who is benefiting from the saving work of Jesus, who knows that their sins are forgiven, who knows that they are saved eternally?

[13:10] And yet, perhaps for some, you haven't yet come forward to say, I am trusting in the Lord and he is my God.

[13:20] This would have been a communion weekend. It would have been the weekend that some may have perhaps come forward for the first time to say, Jesus is my Lord.

[13:31] He's my Savior. I'm trusting in him. And I want to leave that general challenge with you this evening. If you are trusting in the Lord, if you are saved, if you have asked for him to come into your life, take your sin away and do a work in you, then although we can't sit around the Lord's table, you can tell someone.

[13:54] So be encouraged to profess your faith, to tell somebody that you're trusting in Jesus. So we hear, first of all, a profession of faith. The second thing we can see, the second connection we make, is that this is a psalm where prayers are answered.

[14:11] Every psalm, in part, is a prayer. It's a prayer book of 150 prayers. And in this psalm, David is praying not just for himself, but he's praying that the generations that are following him, that they too will be trusting in the Lord and praising the Lord.

[14:30] Verse 4, he says, One generation will commend your works to another. They will tell of your mighty acts. And that's David expressing his wish, his desire, his will, his prayer.

[14:43] He wants the generations to come to know and trust the Lord. So in this psalm, he tells the generations to come about the greatness of God, about the grace of God, about the compassion of God, about the love of God.

[15:04] Look at verse 8. He says, The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love. The Lord is good to all.

[15:15] He has compassion on all he has made. He tells the generations ahead of him that, in the hope and prayer that future generations will believe.

[15:26] And it's a prayer that was answered. It's actually a prayer that's still being answered. Because we're sitting here two and a half, three thousand years perhaps later, with this same prayer, this same app, with the same psalm open.

[15:45] And we're learning of who God is through David's profession of faith, through David's expression of who God is.

[15:58] So this is a prayer that for David was answered and is being answered. And we actually see that same pattern of prayers answered being repeated, even this evening.

[16:15] because the fact that Crisalda and Cammie are telling us about Jesus is an answer to the prayers of previous generations who told them about Jesus and his love.

[16:36] So in the psalm we hear a profession of faith. We see the reality of prayers being answered. And in the psalm finally, we have a personal invitation.

[16:48] Because it might be for some that you're listening with genuine interest in what God did in David the psalmist's life so long ago. It may be that you've got even greater interest in what God has done and is doing in Cammie and Crisalda's lives, the people that you know.

[17:06] But you may be wondering, how does this connect with the rest of us? How is this personal in any way to you? And what I want to say in response to that is that this God whom David the psalmist trusted, this God whom Cammie and Crisalda have trusted and are trusting, he's speaking to all of us tonight.

[17:34] Take a look back through that psalm. It just struck me as I read it, although it's not in my notes. How many times does David the psalmist, as the Holy Spirit inspires him, use that word all?

[17:47] It's a wide open psalm. And that word all is a personal invitation for us to respond. We're hearing even through that word all that God is, he's not shutting anyone out.

[18:02] He's not pushing anyone back, but he's speaking to all of us. He's not far away from us. He's not out of reach, but as it says in verse 18, the Lord is near to all who call on him.

[18:16] To all who call on him in truth. And you and I are included in that all. David the psalmist, he called on him, he called on the Lord and he was saved.

[18:32] Cammie and Crisalda, they called on him, they called on the name of the Lord and they were saved. And if we call on him tonight, if we pray, if we call on the name of the Lord Jesus tonight, we have the promise that we will be saved.

[18:50] So let's be encouraged as we listen to this psalm and these testimonies.

[19:01] Let's be encouraged to respond to the personal invitation of God. Let's not be simply content to listen to what God was doing in David's life long ago. Let's not even be content to listen to what God is doing in Cammie and Crisalda's lives today.

[19:19] but let's be encouraged to respond to this God in our own hearts and ask him to come and do a saving work in our lives because we're promised if we do that, he will come.

[19:42] Heavenly Father, thank you for this psalm. Bless it to us, we pray. And be with Cammie and Crisalda as they've shared their testimonies and as we hear these testimonies, we ask that you would use them to speak to each one of us tonight.

[20:01] We pray that there may be some who may, even for the first time, either trust in the Lord, call upon the Lord, or profess faith in the Lord who has saved them. And we pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake.

[20:15] Amen. Well, good evening and thank you for joining us this evening. As myself and Crisalda come together to say a word of testimony.

[20:27] We thank you for being here and we hope that God will work through us and he'll be able to show you how he has worked in our life as individuals and also as husband and wife as well.

[20:40] and as part of the family of God. So, before we start, if you could join us in prayer, that would be great. Thank you. Our Heavenly Father, as we come before you this evening, we thank you, Lord, that this is the day that you have made, this is the day that you have created, Lord, and we thank you for this opportunity that we have to come together, this opportunity that we have to testify before the congregations that you are our Lord, you are our Shepherd, you are our Saviour, Lord Jesus Christ.

[21:12] We thank you, our Father in Heaven, that you are the one who has created the heavens and the earth and put the stars in the sky. You are the God of the land and the sea and all that dwell there.

[21:24] And we thank you that we can say through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Shepherd, that we are saved this evening if we are in Christ. So be with us this evening, Lord, help Cresada and myself as we speak about how you have worked in our lives and Lord, we pray that you would work through us this evening and that if there is anyone out there this evening that is seeing God working in our lives and working in their lives that they would respond with the good news of the Gospel and the wonderful truth of Jesus.

[21:54] So be with us this evening, be with us in the week ahead, protect us and uphold us as a portion of your people. Be with us throughout this week and guide us, show us the way, Lord, and forgive us for our many sins.

[22:07] In Jesus' precious name, Amen. Well, I suppose you know myself and Cresada. We very much work in the community and involve in the community in Harris and we were born and brought up here and we're going to keep it relatively short tonight and not drag it on too much but we just hope and pray that you can hear the message we have to say or the message that God has to say through us.

[22:30] So I'll hand you over to my wife, Cresada, and she'll say a few short words first of all. So I'm sure everyone knows I'm Cresada and I am married to Cami.

[22:45] We've got two children, Alistair is 11 and Elie is 9. We've both been brought up in Harris and I work as a community nurse in Harris.

[23:03] I've got one sister, Catherine and her upbringing was such a blessing by being brought up by wonderful Christian parents Angus, Alec and I now who I'm sure everybody knows my mum and dad.

[23:24] All through my childhood I was always surrendered by Christians. My dad was the elder and the church officer and still is at the age of 84.

[23:36] we attended church every Sunday and Sunday school. Our home was absolutely jam-packed every communion with people coming up for fellowship after services and it's one of my memories as a child of sitting listening to all these people singing and praising the Lord and the house was absolutely full to the brim.

[24:19] People sitting on the stairs. It was a really, really great time. These meetings would go on until one o'clock or two o'clock in the morning.

[24:31] I always loved these fellowships but maybe some of it was to do with some of the antics we used to get up to.

[24:43] The kids were left to our own devices and better not to mention any names but there was one occasion a certain person decided it would be fun to sit on all the hats upstairs that were laid out on the bed.

[25:07] We sat with all the hats and thought this was great fun until all the ladies came up to get their hats before church in the evening.

[25:18] We got into quite a bit of trouble for that. It just brings me to Proverbs 22 verse 6 and start children off in the way they should go and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

[25:37] I have so many amazing memories of our home being filled with joy and laughter but that was not always the case for my mum and dad before we were born.

[25:49] they lost two children both at a very young age and it was always you know we always knew about it and mum and dad talked about them and just having our two children just could never imagine the suffering that my mum and dad went through.

[26:15] And I have to say mum and dad gave us so much encouragement and their continuous prayers for Catherine and I as we grew up were just so evident all the time.

[26:27] I left Harris after school and I left with a very heavy heart and started my nursing in Aberdeen. I'd never been to Aberdeen so I really struggled with homesickness.

[26:44] And I think if it wasn't for my mum and dad's encouragement once again I think I would probably have been back home two weeks after arriving. When I was in Aberdeen I went to Bonacord Free Church a few times with a couple of people that were in the nurses' home with me.

[27:09] It wasn't regular at all and really wasn't important to me. At the stage of life I was at I was far more focused on getting through my nursing and enjoying my time with my new nursing pals.

[27:26] I really loved coming home but at that point in my life becoming a Christian was far from my mind.

[27:37] So I finished my nursing and I worked in Aberdeen for two years and a friend that I was working with went to Australia and before she left she asked me to join her.

[27:59] I thought about it and thought I would love to do it but I could never see myself going so far away from home. At the first opportunity I was on that A96 heading home but I remember my mum phoning me and asking me if I was going to Australia and I said well no I would be too homesick and it's so far away but mum just said to me if you want to go you should go.

[28:35] So I think Catherine would say the same that despite the tragedies in their lives they never held us back from doing things.

[28:52] So I spent about a year in Australia with absolutely no word of God. I was just enjoying life in Oz.

[29:05] The time came to come home and a job came up in Tarbert so I applied for it from Australia and I convinced myself that going back to Harris was just very temporary and that I would stay at home for a while but I would probably move away again.

[29:36] little did I know that this was all of God's plan for me. So I met Cammie a while after coming back from Australia and we married in 2008.

[29:54] my sister and two of my friends had become Christians and I really struggled with this.

[30:10] I was just a bit annoyed but probably envious at the same time.

[30:22] We both attended church regularly after we got married and I could see a change in Cammie. He was really eager to go to church each week and started to go to the midweek prayer meetings.

[30:42] I carried on thinking everything would be okay. I was going to church but my heart was so hard. I was annoyed that my sister and my husband were both Christians but at the same time I was envious that God was working in their lives but not in mine.

[31:02] even my childhood friend who had sat on these hats all those years ago had turned his life around to follow the Lord but still I put my thoughts of God's plan to the back of my mind for a few years but I know now his plan was about to be revealed to me.

[31:34] So it was the October Communions 2016 and we had just come back from a holiday abroad.

[31:47] Just come back on the Thursday. It was Ailey's birthday. I had a party to organise for Ailey's birthday on Saturday and I liked to be really organised.

[32:01] So I think it came of a shock to my sister when I called her to ask her if she would babysit while I went to church with Cammie to the Saturday lunchtime service.

[32:17] Catherine seemed quite surprised and said of course but what about the party? and I said oh it'll be fine. The service won't go on for long.

[32:30] So the services were in the community centre at that time. I went with Cammie just like any other service. The preacher was David's father, Dolom McLeod.

[32:49] I came out of that service with a huge conviction. of my sin. The service came to an end and although I had this feeling I just couldn't wait to get out of the building but it was quite evident I can't hide my emotions that I was under conviction.

[33:12] So I came home to my sister and told her how I felt but I still struggled with my sinfulness and couldn't see how I could go forward to become a Christian.

[33:24] So I went through that communion weekend in a bit of turmoil. the next few months as I spoke to my mum and dad, Cammie, my sister and other Christians I felt stronger and I went to the Lord's table the following communion.

[33:42] And I just want to read Ephesians 2. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

[33:52] So since then we've continued as a Christian couple although it's not always been easy and the devil is always there in the background trying to cause problems.

[34:10] But I'm so thankful to God for the gift of Christian marriage. Before my conversion probably on the outside people would have seen a married couple with two kids and both had jobs and had a house and nothing to worry about.

[34:39] And I'm sure Cammie would agree we were a happy family and life was good and we had all we needed and we wanted for nothing in this world. But we knew we could never be complete until Jesus became the Lord of our family.

[34:57] And I thank God for giving me such wonderful parents and a sister who has never stopped praying for us as a family.

[35:08] I just thank God for his provision and his guidance every single day and for all the blessings he has given us as a family. God as well for the wonderful saving and sustaining grace which comes from him through his son, my Lord Jesus Christ.

[35:30] And I just hope and pray this message has come through me this evening and eyes in ears may be opened and to receive this free grace given to anybody who wants it.

[35:52] Thank you. Thank you Cresarda. So yeah that's Cresarda's story so far and you hear a little bit of my story. I tried to do a testimony five, six years ago in the community centre and it turned into more of a mini sermon and so David asked me to come again and do this with Cresarda tonight and I don't have a great testimony everyone's got a testimony to tell.

[36:16] Mine's not dramatic as such but there is things I like to tell you tonight where God has certainly worked in my life quite clearly and I hope you'll see that as well as I go through.

[36:29] In my childhood most people start with their testimony as a childhood and I wasn't really brought up as a Christian or in a Christian environment but as I do look back my mum always told me about Jesus and told me about God and so I knew there was a creator I knew from an early age about God and I knew about Jesus I'm not too sure about him dying on the cross but I do know that Jesus loved me or learnt the song Jesus Loves Me and of course we learnt the Lord's My Shepherd that's probably most people will know that psalm anyway so I learnt that in early age and my dad he was well you all know my dad and he's quite cultural and so I was brought up trying to teach me Gaelic and not very successfully and also he would bring me to church I remember down the church of Scotland we used to be down in the old where the prayer room meeting is now and it's Reverend Macrae he would be preaching there it's actually the Macrae centre now and there used to be old wooden pews there we'd just sit in the hard pews and I used to go to church there and my dad and my brother and sister came my brother and sister they went to Sunday school during the early years

[37:42] I never went to Sunday school didn't understand what Sunday school was all about my brother sister would go skipping down to Sunday school on a Sunday I'd stay at home and watch telly and they'd come back I didn't resent it I just didn't feel the need to go and I didn't have to go I wasn't forced to go it was my own choice but I do remember the first probably psalm outside of psalm 23 it was probably psalm 67 I heard my sister used to record it on the old tape deck Lord bless and pity us and shine your face upon us and it was the first time I heard that psalm and I really felt it but I didn't know what it was all about and I actually she wasn't listening I was rewinding it and playing it and I was learning it myself but I wouldn't sing it because I wasn't really a very good singer at the time but my sister used to sing in mods and things I used to go to mods my dad used to get me into the cattle and the sheep and things like that but I was never really into it and then I remember as I got older I used to resent sometimes my parents when I used to have to go home early than everyone else I used to get mum or dad would come down looking for me and take me home at 8 o'clock and all the boys would stay out until 10 o'clock and I couldn't understand when my dad would take me back this early and I remember when I came into my teenage years there was

[38:54] I think some of the younger folk here might not know there's discos and there was dances in the hall and all my friends most of them would go to the dances and to the discos and I was never allowed to go and I did I had a few fallouts from my parents then I didn't understand why I wasn't allowed to go and why all my other friends were going but I know now that my parents love me and they want the best for me and they want to protect me because obviously with these dances there was other things that went with the dances as well you know alcohol and drink and things and I know now that they care for me and they want to protect me from these things but at the time I was quite resentful of it you know I also moved on in later teenage years I went to Storny I went to the Nicholson Institute and looking back now that wasn't a great time either for me I met a lot of friends and good friends I say love today but I was also influenced a lot there as well and it gave me a bit more freedom to almost rebel I remember I grew my hair quite long and I got my ears pierced and I was just basically trying to rebel against my parents and that was the first kind of friction

[39:56] I had with the family and I was almost fighting against everything my mum and dad brought me up to believe in and I was into heavy metal music and I was trying to join my bands and stuff and yeah I was pretty much a rebel at that time but I thank my parents as well I don't think I've done this before but I really thank them for sticking by me and even when I went away to college to Glasgow and they supported me and they financially helped me and they all sent down food partials for me and they're always encouraging me to succeed and they did everything they could to help me succeed and I didn't go the right path that everyone thought I didn't go to university didn't get a degree but I was working down in Glasgow but still I was still rebelling rebelling against even God to some degree there I believed in God I knew there was a God I still knew there was a creator I believed in Jesus but I was still living for that weekend and I remember once I wouldn't hardly eat all week

[40:56] I had a bag of chips rather than have a proper meal so I could go out and enjoy myself that weekend in the pubs but I'm not going to go too much into that I mean basically I was still rebelling but there's one point in Glasgow I remember that God was working in my life and he clearly literally saved me from an early death and there was a few situations I don't really go into them but this one in particular we were walking to a place called the Kelvin Bridge it's quite a big bridge in Glasgow it goes across the River Kelvin I used to have this I thought it was a party trick of jumping over and landing on the ledge but this night we're heading up to another place later on I jumped and I missed the ledge and I went down this drop it's a huge drop about 50 feet into the River Kelvin and not many people have heard this story but I actually came out of it alive I wasn't hurt at all and I gave my friends a real fright and it wasn't a clever thing to do I know that but the next day we went down and we looked over the bridge and it was a summer time and it had been really dry and there was shopping throtties boulders rocks and very little water and where I had landed there was a small pool and I remember going through the air when I missed it and I thought

[42:05] I'm going to die here and I said a wee prayer in that split second but when I came out there I walked home and I thanked the Lord and I was praising him and I was praying to him and just thanking him for saving me but the next morning even when I went down I saw clearly that pool of water had been saved for me I still didn't come to the Lord yet and I soon forgot and carried on my ways there was other circumstances that God was working my life as well and I did thank him when he saved me I did thank him when he rescued me from situations but I always forgot and I always just went back to my old ways I came home in 1998 came home and before that I applied for a job in Perth as a duty manager in a sports centre and I was just about to go for an interview there and one of my pals said we do a wee trip round Europe so I went a trip round Europe and I came home here in 1998 I only meant to come home for a few months I got a job on the fish farm and I was in my early 20s then but I was still

[43:06] I was staying with my parents I was still in that rebellious state I was still living for the weekend and yeah I used to think some of my best memories were at this time but they were quite dark times I was rebelling against my parents but my parents would still support me even though I was a grown adult but I was still very immature both spiritually and the way I lived my life and I was still not living for God at all even this is probably the furthest I was away from God probably at this time this was the early 2000s and then in 2002 I met Cresada and we started going out together and we started seeing each other and I was still a bit of a rebel then I was still not living the best way I should have done but at that time I got to know Angus and Ina better and I could you know I could feel warmth in them I could feel the Lord was in their lives and I started going to church and I was still rebelling a wee bit the weekend but on Sunday

[44:06] I would go to church and I would give Ina a lift to church and Angus and Alec would go and pick up Alistair and Artazig and just yesterday Ina was telling me this story she was telling me of how one day I just looked out the window and looked across the Westloch and I said I just can't believe that people can't see God in creation but I know now that if you are blind it's only God that can reveal this to you and God was working my life and he was revealing this to me and I was starting to believe I didn't realise at the time and the other thing Ina was explaining when I went to church I used to have the Bible under my jacket and as time went on I used to bring the Bible out and I used to be walking with the Bible not ashamed of the Bible and she could see things were working in my life and when I was speaking to her she was watching she never mentioned things she'd encourage me but she just knew the Lord was working in my life and that was quite amazing and that reminds me of Psalm 8 which reminds me from basically it's about God's creation and then Psalm 8 says

[45:08] O Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth you have set your glory above the heavens from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is man that you are mindful of him the son of man that you care for him you made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour you made him ruler over the works of your hands you put everything under his feet all the flocks and herds and the beasts of the field the birds of the air and the fish of the sea all that swim in the paths of the sea I could start as God was working my life and as I could see the creation around me in Harris I could see God was starting to come into my life so basically I had been working the fish farm and then in 2004 I got a job at the sports centre in Tarbert here and again that part of the job and part of the role of that job

[46:10] I had to take more responsibility so I had to start to look at being more sensible in my life because the job went with that with teaching children but in the background I didn't realise that God was working God was working through me God was working and giving me these opportunities and taking me out of this already taking me out of this mighty clay but still I wouldn't accept him yet so basically I started going to church and basically God made a big move in my life in 2013 it was my 40th birthday and we were having a party my brother and my family had organised a party in the hotel with my friends and it was all going quite well and I remember that time one of our friends Derek Pluto some of you might know him Derek Pluto he works on the radio at the moment he got converted around that time and one of my friends Lachie he turned round to me and said you know what Cammie you're going to be next and he said it half tongue in cheek but at that moment it hit me like a bombshell it just hit my heart and I knew then that something was happening in my life and I knew this was God working my life and I had to do something so that was August in 2013 and I had a bit of a turmoil going on then so I started reading the Bible then

[47:22] I started in the Psalms I think most people know now that I find the Psalms a very good place to start and I go back to the Psalms quite a lot and I went to Psalm 22 there's three Psalms together Psalm 22 we've got Psalm 23 and Psalm 24 and Psalm 22 I know now it's more talking of Jesus but it's a way of describing the Bible it's got lots of layers in it obviously it can have deeper meaning but also for someone who's seeking God can speak through the Bible and through the Psalms especially for me can speak directly to me and through Psalm 22 I felt that God was speaking directly to me even though I know it has a deeper layer and deeper meaning to it when David wrote the Psalm but for me from verse 6 this is how I felt and this is how I felt what's going to happen to me if I was converted what was going to happen in my life and it says here at verse 6 but I'm a worm not a man scorned by men and despised by people I thought this would happen to me if I suddenly declared my faith in God and Jesus all who see me mock me they hurl insults shake on their heads he trusts in the Lord let the Lord rescue him let him deliver him since he delights in him yet you brought me out of the womb you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast from birth I was cast upon you from my mother's womb you have been my God do not be far from me for trouble is near and there is no one to help and I felt again many bulls surround me strong bulls of Bashan encircle me roaring lions tearing their prey upon their open their mouths wide against me

[48:53] I am poured out like water and all my bones are at red joint my heart has turned to wax it has melted away within me my strength has dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks the roof of my mouth you lay me in the dust of death dogs have surrounded me a band of evil men have encircled me they have pierced my hands and they have my feet I can count all my bones people stare and gloat at me they divide my garments among them and cast lots from my clothing and I realise that now is about Jesus but then this came here but you oh Lord be not far off oh my strength come quickly to help me deliver my life from the sword my precious life from the power of the dogs rescue me from the mouth of the lions save me from the horns of the wild oxen I will declare your name to my brothers in the congregation I will praise you you who fear the Lord praise him all you descendants of Jacob honour him revere him all you descendants of Israel for he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help from you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly before those who fear you

[49:57] I will fulfil my vows the vows are a very important thing when I got married to Kisada in 2008 basically I had taken vows before the Lord about marriage and about how he lives as man and wife and that was important that was in the back of my mind all the time as well when we had children Alison Ailey we got them baptised and took vows again before the Lord so this was all in my head all that I had done and I was looking at Psalm 22 and that was stirring me up and I knew it was a real battle I had but I told Rory Morals at the time what I wanted to do but I hadn't been baptised so I would have to be baptised so later on before the next communion that was the August communion sorry the autumn communion so I went to the next communion spring but before I went to the forward I had to give up tithes so I went and got baptised and won the prayer meetings as I said I had started going to the prayer meetings already and the prayer meetings again are an amazing place if you feel the call of the Lord the prayer meeting is an amazing place to go to and it's somewhere where God can speak directly to people many a prayer room people are being converted is a place of great prayer and the power of prayer is very evident if you go to a prayer meeting so it's do not be afraid you won't be asked to pray but it's a great place to be so I used to go down to the prayer meetings and sit with Donnie Martin in the back and I really enjoy going to the prayer meetings when I did profess my faith in Jesus

[51:29] I carried on going to the prayer meetings apart from the first time I got asked to pray Roddy Morrison I was just minding my own bills in the back and Roddy Morrison his eyes fixed at me and he said Cameron would you like to pray and I got up and I didn't have a clue what I was going to say but I just prayed the best I could and then I sat down and even to this day when I'm asked to pray I still get so nervous but it's important it's part of my witness it's a privilege to be able to pray in the public and to be gathered together so it's important to never give up gathering together and being together in prayer and I find that even though we still get the devil still comes in and tells you not to go to the prayer meetings keeps you busy takes you away from the prayer meeting especially after a while of being a Christian when you become a Christian to begin with you want to go to every prayer meeting and you love going there and then as you go on there's more excuses not to go to the prayer meeting so I keep having to bring myself back to go to the prayer meetings and that's one of the things of this lockdown we've managed to meet as a family in a prayer meeting and it's really good we can meet together and we hope maybe to meet together as a family when we meet back in this building again so the prayer meeting is a wonderful place and it strengthens you as a Christian if you're looking for God you're hearing God calling you it's a great place to hear God's voice through the prayers of people and through the reading of his word it's really good so yeah

[52:48] I was torn in Psalm 22 but God took me forward this time I was baptised and I took my vows again and this time I was taking my vows and I knew I was in the right direction and yeah so I went forward in the spring of 2014 but as we say we were married at the time but that was a significant time in our marriage as well when I became a Christian and then as Cassandra said she became a Christian later on and before we became Christians like Cassandra said we had good jobs we had children we had a decent house decent way of life but we're still living in sin even though it didn't look like people would think they're fine but we still were conscious of living in sin and it's only when I became a Christian and Cassandra always deep down wanted to be a Christian we used to cry with each other we used to speak to each other talk to each other and then when she came forward that was when Jesus became finally he became the head of our family and our family became closer together as one family

[53:53] Christian unit and it's been an amazing blessing to be part of a Christian family as Cassandra it's not an easy thing to be in a Christian family there are always going to be frictions there's going to be the ways of this world that we find challenging but we never lose the joy of Jesus in our life we have that foundation Jesus and the family as the foundation and as the head of the family and he's with us by spirit and it's amazing that that cannot be broken if we stay faithful and we profess our faith that faith cannot be broken no matter what the world throws at us and it's a real reassurance to have that and we keep praying we don't know what tomorrow brings but we keep praying that God will strengthen us and uphold us as a Christian family we bring our kids as Cassandra mentioned in Proverbs there bring our children up to know Christ at an early age so yeah there's just there's so much there it was yesterday I think it was in Psalm I'm just about to finish off Psalm 144 David was preaching and it came I was here yesterday presenting and it's Psalm 144 if I can find it the first verse of 144 it's it's it's it's it's kind of the voice it tells you about being a Christian it says praise be to the Lord my rock who trains my hands for war my fingers for battle he is my loving God and my fortress my stronghold and my deliverer my shield in whom I take refuge who subdues people under me and that is the call of a Christian we can say that but I was just thinking yesterday when David was preaching on this

[55:24] I was thinking now as a married couple we can actually say together praise be to the Lord our rock who trains our hands for war our fingers for battle he is our loving God and our fortress our stronghold and our deliverer our shield in whom we take refuge who subdues people under us so it's an encouragement that we are now we are still one but we're together in marriage and let's go back to Psalm 23 it's a psalm that we all sing at funerals at weddings but we can actually say now that the Lord is my shepherd and is our shepherd and that psalm even though it's so commonly sung we all know Psalm 23 but it speaks of our witness Psalm 24 again it speaks of revival it speaks of rejoicing and then we go to Psalm 25 and we're talking about the path that God takes us on our journey so the three psalms 22, 23, 24 and 25 they're almost intertwined as part of my Christian life and probably a lot of people's

[56:24] Christian life the one psalm that reminds me of where I was and where we are now and it's a common psalm and it speaks to most Christians and Psalm 116 and that's another one that speaks to the battle you can have what you were and what we are now and it's Psalm 116 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 then I called on the name of the Lord O 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 O my soul for the Lord has been good to you for you O Lord have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears my feet from stumbling that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living I believe therefore

[57:26] I said I am greatly afflicted and in my dismay I said O men are liars how can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord so I would say if you're feeling you're hearing God calling you if you're feeling the pull of God towards you take up that cup of salvation if you come to the Lord's table if you come it's such a difficult thing to do there's such a battle going on there's spiritual battle it's not this world it's a spiritual battle but the battle is always going to be there but remember the war has been won if you come to the table and we lift that cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord and fulfil our vies to the Lord in the presence of all his people as it says again in that last version 116 then you will be saved so I just thank you for listening and I thank you for listening I've probably gone a bit long as usual so David won't have to say much tonight but we hope you've heard God speaking through us and we'll just close a wee word of prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for this time that we've had to testify what you have done in our lives we thank you that you've worked individually in myself and Gersada's life we thank you you are still working in our marriage and in our family and we ask Lord you would bless the wonderful gift of marriage between man and woman and we thank you Lord that we have the opportunity to bring up our children to know Christ in the days of our youth and Lord for all those who are still not married yet or haven't got married we know that there will always be in the family of Christ in the loving arms of Christ with brothers and sisters in Christ and we thank you Lord that we stand here in Christ this evening go before us now go before us in the week ahead be with us every step of the way and help us to keep looking to Jesus looking to Calvary and forgive us for our many many sins in Jesus most precious name thank you

[59:20] God bless well thank you to Cammie and Casalda for your willingness to share testimony and we pray that the Lord will bless that and bless them in the sharing of that testimony there's the opportunity to respond to that even now in this final praise that Adam sings mission praise 506 the familiar hymn How Great Thou Art but notice how it starts it starts by saying O Lord my God when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hands hath made so let's be encouraged to say in faith O Lord my God as we sing through the words of this hymn O Lord my God when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made

[60:24] I see the stars I hear the mighty thunder the power throughout the universe display then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art when through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art and when I think that God his Son not sparing sent him to die

[62:30] I scarce can't take it in that on the cross my burden gladly bearing he bled and died he bled and died to take away to take away my sin then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art when Christ shall come come with shout of acclamation and take me home what joy shall fill my heart what joy shall fill my heart then shall I bow in humble adoration and there proclaim my God how great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my Savior God my Savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art how great thou art and I may the 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

[64:49]  Amen