It's good to have our brother Keith Lindsay with us, and Keith is going to come down perhaps to the front and speak to the boys and girls. So boys and girls, if you would like to come up to the front, Keith will come down and speak to you just now. Thank you. Well, good morning. Oh dear. We're all asleep, are we? Yeah? You all asleep? No? You wish you were? Yeah? Some of us do still. Yeah? OK, we'll try it again one more time. Good morning, boys and girls. Good morning. Very quiet one this morning. Well, very good. Good to be with you again today. And while I've been here sometimes before, and some of you will know that I work with a mission organization, a missionary organization called Acre Gospel Mission. Remember, or do they think they remember where we work? One of the countries, yeah. Where? Ukraine, no, never been there. Brazil, yes, of course. Brazil, and I brought the flag with me this morning of Brazil, because I want to take you there. Anybody ever been in the jungle before? I was in Balna Hinch High School last week or the week before, and somebody there told me that they were in the jungle, but I don't think they were. I think they were just making it up, OK? And I have to be very careful, because I remember being in a meeting way down in the south of Ireland one time, away in the very tip of Cork, in a place called Bantry Bay. And I asked there, had anybody ever been to Brazil before? A little girl put her hand up, and I thought, hmm, she's just put her hand up. And afterwards, they said, yes, she's Brazilian. So I had to really watch myself. So I want to take you to the jungle this morning, OK? What do you think lives in the jungle? Yeah? Snakes? Yeah, there are snakes. Uh-huh, yeah. What else do you think might live there? Monkeys, yes, of course. There are lots of monkeys. And you have to watch what you put down, because if you put something down, the monkeys would come and get it. And one time we were there, the monkeys were coming down off the trees nearly on top of us. They were looking for food from us. And all I had was sweets in my bag. And I was giving them the sweets with the wrappers on them. And they were very clever, because they even took the wrappers off to eat them. So they were very clever, those monkeys. Away in the middle of the jungle, whenever we were up on the Amazon River one time. Well, I want to take you there, but I want to take you back a long time ago, because there was a man called Pedro. And Pedro lived in the forest. And Pedro, well, whenever he wanted to go for his dinner, or look for his dinner. He didn't go to Tesco's or Marks and Spencer's or Lidl or some of the shops that you go to shop in. He had to go and look for his dinner. Has anybody here had to go out and search for their dinner today? You had. In Tesco's. OK, well, he had none of those shops to go to. So way back in those days in the forest, and many today still do the same, he had to take his bag with him, his hunting bag, and he had to take his knife in it. and he had to take his gun with him, and he had to take his spear with him, and out he would go into the forest and he would find something for dinner for his family. Sometimes he would go fishing and he would get fish, but this day he was out away in the heart of the forest, away in the jungle, and he was looking for something to eat. Has anybody ever had monkey before? No, I'm glad I haven't had either. Turtle? No, it's really nice, believe it or not. I've had turtle before. And lots of different types of fish and all those things. Well, anyway, he went out hunting. And as he was walking through the forest, he saw something out of the corner of his eye that he'd never seen before. And it was an old wreck of a house. And he decided he was going to have a wee look at it. So he went over to it. And the door was hanging off. And the shutters were hanging off the window. And the branches of the trees were growing in through it. And all the greenery was coming in through it. And he thought, I'll go in and have a wee nosy inside. So he tiptoed. Well, there was nothing there. He was very happy there wasn't. There was no snakes in it either, thankfully. And all he could see were lots of leaves. But the people who had left, lived in the house, they had left and they'd taken everything with them. So there was no table. There was no chairs. There was no pots and pans. Everything was gone. It was empty. But then he saw something sitting on a shelf. And he thought, hmm, let's have a look at that. So he took it down. And the termites, the little insects, it had holes all the way through. It was a book. And there was holes all the way through it. But he thought, well, it mustn't be very important, because the people took everything else. But they left this book here. And he began to open it up. And he began to look at it. It was just full of words, words, words, words. Does anyone think they might know what it was? What do you think it was? A Bible, yes. It was a Bible. And, well, he thought, well, it's not very important to the people who lived here, but I'll put it in my hunting bag and I'll take it home with me. And Pedro took it home with him. He had never seen one of these books before. He had never, ever had a Bible. How many folk here have got one Bible? Hands up if you've got a Bible. Has anybody got two? Has anybody got three? Has anybody got four? Well, we asked the adults, okay, right? Anybody got more than four? Five? Six? Seven? Eight? Hands are still going up. I don't even know how many I have. I have lots of different ones. He'd never, ever seen a Bible before. And, you know, whenever we go to Brazil sometimes, there are boys and girls that have never had a Bible. They've never seen a Bible. They've never read a Bible. And they don't really know anything about the Bible at all. Well, Pedro put the Bible in his bag, he took it back to the village that he lived in, and he began to read it. And he read of a man called Jesus, and that Jesus did something very special for him because he loved him. that he went all the way to the cross and he died for him. And then he heard that there was a program on the radio that he could turn the radio and tune it into called the Voice of the Andes. And there he heard the gospel message. He heard that Jesus loved him and died for him and that Jesus wanted to be his savior because he lived. He rose again and he lived in heaven and he was the one who heard and answered prayer. And Pedro asked the Lord Jesus into his heart and into his life. to be a saviour. He'd never met a missionary, he'd never been to church, but God spoke to him through the Word of God. And you know, as I thought of that, and thought of all the Bibles that we have, you know, there are many people who have many Bibles, as we said, and well, the Bible, if you went out into St. Field, and you asked the people in St. Field what they thought of the Bible, you'd get lots of different answers, wouldn't you? To some people, the Bible is just an empty book, isn't it? It doesn't mean anything to them. They maybe don't have one in their house, they've maybe never read one, they don't think it's important to them, or relevant to them today, so it's an empty book, isn't it? A book that's just full of nothing, they think. But there's other people, and they've maybe been to church, and maybe they have a Bible, and maybe they've read the Bible sometimes, and to them, it's just a book that's full of stories, isn't it? Yes, and they know all the stories of the Bible, how Jesus walked on the water, how that he stilled the storm, how that he fed the multitudes, how that he went to the cross and died on the cross for them. And they've heard all the stories. And they know all the stories. But to them, it's just a book that's full of stories. It's not a book that's full of nothing. It's just a book that's full of stories that's not really relevant to them today. But then whenever we come and realize that the Bible's true, and whenever we ask the Lord Jesus Christ into our heart to be our savior, then the Bible becomes something that's a living book, doesn't it? It becomes something that is real, something that we understand. The Bible tells us in the Psalms that thy word, God says, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And I wonder, boys and girls, what does the Bible mean to you today? Is it a book that's just full of nothing? That's not important to us? Is it a book that's just full of stories? Or is it a book that is real? Because we have asked the Lord Jesus Christ into our heart. Does anyone know how many books there are in the Bible? How many? 66. Okay, well, I'm going to ask everybody and see if they're all awake still down there, okay? How many books are in the Bible? Okay, there's two parts of the Bible. Does anyone know what they're called? Okay. Yes, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Now we'll be really clever and say, how many people know how many books are in the Old Testament? Okay, you're answering all the questions, right? Okay. 39 books. Okay, how many are in the Old Testament? How many? 39. So if you take 39 away from 66, how many are in the New Testament? Right? 27 in the New Testament. Does anyone, or can anyone, recite all the books of the Bible? No? Any of the adults? Well, whenever we taught camp, whenever we did camps many years ago, and at our children's meetings, we often taught the boys and girls the 66 books of the Bible, okay? There was a little girl, and I was speaking to her just a couple of weeks ago, she's now a big girl and she's married, but she was a little girl, she was only about that height, and she stood at the front of the church in Ruff Island, in the Baptist church there, and she sang all 66 books of the Bible for all the adults who were there. Do you want me to try it this morning? Have I time to do it? Right, okay, well, we'll try it and see. All right, it goes like this. I'll probably not be able to sing very well this morning, and I'm singing tonight, so you'll not come back. All right, it goes against 66 books in God's holy word, telling the story of Jesus my Lord. The books of the Bible I love to read. The books of the Bible I love to tell. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, Kings, Kings, Chronicles, and Chronicles. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Abel, Sobodiah, Jonah, Micah, Dale, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 2, Colossians, Thessalonians 1 and 2, Timothy, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1st and 2nd Peter, 1st and 2nd John, 3rd John, Jude, and what's the last one? Revelation. OK, so there's something for your Sunday school teachers. And then whenever somebody comes to preach, Whenever somebody comes to preach and they're way into the minor prophets, you'll be singing it to try and find where it is. Isn't that right? Yeah. God's word is so important for all of us to learn, to understand, and to read because it's our guidebook for life. So boys and girls, remember that, would you, today? That it's a book, that it's a living word, and a book that wants to change our lives. It changed Pedro's life all those years ago in the forest, and it will change your life and my life as we read it today. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you. and we welcome you in the Lord's name. It's also good to have our brother Keith with us. We appreciated his fellowship in the past, and we thank him for coming along and taking our services today. Hard act to follow that, isn't it? But yes, that was very good and very helpful. I think it must be maybe BB enrolment or GB enrolment this morning, because one or two of the boys are down, but it's good to have the boys and girls. with us this morning. I'm sure, boys and girls, you want to find out how that Bible worked there that he had in his hands. If you speak to Keith at the end, he'll be able to explain that to you, but he'll probably be more interested in sharing with you the truth of God's Word if you want to come and chat to him as well. The latter part of service, wait behind, remember the Lord Jesus and the breaking of bread. If you're saved and you're seeking to walk with Him, we encourage you to wait behind, remember Him with us this morning. Then 6 o'clock this evening is our prayer time. 6.30 is our gospel service. Again, our brother Keith will be along this evening, and Keith's wife Karen will be with him this evening, and they'll be singing for us, so we appreciate his help in that. And after the gospel service, the Youth Fellowship meet. They'll be finishing around 9pm this evening. Again, we're keeping Keith busy today. Keith will be sharing opportunities to serve with ACRI, so we thank him again for that. Again, trust indeed the Lord will bless as young people gather together. Also, in parallel with that, we'll be having our time of prayer. meet together whenever the young people are on to pray for the young people, and also to pray for the pastoral vacancies, so please plan to wait behind to pray with us this evening. Then Wednesday night, 6.45, searchers. 8 p.m. is our Bible study and prayer meeting, and Raymond Muir will be along with us for the third of the three Wednesday nights that he's with us. Then Thursday morning, so back to your busy week, Thursday morning, 10.30 is tiny tots. Then Friday night, 8 p.m. is the men's fellowship. Two doctors will be along to speak on men's health, so I encourage many to come along, encourage others to come along to that. I believe that will be important, and there'll be some supper afterwards as well, so that's Friday at 8pm. Then Saturday, it's the ladies' turn. They're heading out for their outing to Bambridge, leaving the church at 10.30am. There was a list in the foyer, I'm not sure if the list is still there, but I'll speak to one of the ladies who are planning to go along to that. I'm not sure there's any link between the men's health and the ladies going out on the Saturday or not, So again, I encourage both the men and the ladies to be present at those two events. Then next Sunday, it's our Suffering Church Sunday. Sunday School and Bible Class, they meet at 10.15. But in the morning at 11.30, Stephen McElroy will be along representing the work of Reliefs International. And then in the evening at 6.30, Stephen Houston will be along and he's representing the work of AsiaLink. Obviously, due to the sensitive nature of the reports, The meetings won't be live-streamed next week, so if you're listening in online this morning, we apologize for that, but the meetings won't be live-streamed next week. And then the offering throughout the day next week will be shared between the two works that are represented next Lord's Day. And just one further announcement, just encourage you to pray. There's a team from Faith in Action. They're traveling out to Ukraine, leaving on Friday. That includes their brother, John Henderson. They're taking some aid out to Ukraine on Friday, so please pray for them. The Lord's hand be upon them. and keep them safe. I think that's all the announcements. Adrian's one or two he's going to mention. But I think that's all the announcements from me this morning and always made subject to the Lord's will. Thank you to Brian. As you know, Israel and certainly the Hamas war has been much in the news over this past number of weeks. And our brother Dennis Lyle is coming to us on the 3rd of December. Now some of these little invites are printed. There are some in the foyer. Please take one. He's coming on the 3rd of December at 6.30. Maybe your friends and colleagues in your workplace, maybe this is a topic of conversation. We'll then use that, take one of these with you, and invite them along. So that's Sunday, the 3rd of December at 6.30. And also, can I ask the media team just to plan to wait just for a few minutes after the table, say next Sunday morning after the service, please, just for a few moments. I don't want to keep you too long. Next Sunday morning. Now let's turn before Brother Keith comes. And in our books or on the screen, number 655, please. 655, hear from the world we turn, Jesus to seek here, may his loving voice graciously speak. Jesus, our dearest friend, while at thy feet we bend, oh, let thy smile ascend, tis thee we seek. Surely that should be our attitude this morning as we come to the word, that we would be here and waiting for the Lord to speak. Let's stand and sing this lovely hymn together, 655. you Northern Ireland and went there way back in the late 70s and to see what God has done through the sowing of the seed of the gospel there is exciting. We now have 17 pastors and their wives and families serving with us there. We have number 18 joining us now before Christmas, God willing, in a town called Pasifika. To travel around the churches and to visit the churches and to see what the Lord is doing, it absolutely thrilled our hearts. It's exciting. And we trust that you're excited and thrilled as you read of the work and hear of what the Lord is doing there. We thank the Lord for that. One of the big things that we prayed very much for and have been over a number of years is someone to join in Manaus, Pastor Jose Carlos, who's our mission president there, to work alongside him. And last year, in March of last year, we had five Brazilians over staying with us. They're a great family, they run and own the two Christian schools that we work alongside in Manaus, the eBay schools there. And, well, whenever they were here, Cesar, we took him to the north coast one day, it was stormy, very stormy. Grannies about this height that was with them, the mother and her three daughters and son-in-law that came over. And we had to hold her down, literally, up at Ballintoy Harbour, because the wheels were coming right out onto the car park, and they insisted that they had to get out of the car. Now, they're coming from 40-something degrees, like a sauna in Manaus, so they're very happy to get the cold weather, but it was wild. But on the way home, Cesar started to cry. And he said, people are always saying to me, what do you want to go to Ireland for? What do you want to go to Ireland for? And he said, I want to go to Ireland to thank the people who sent and supported the missionaries who came to Brazil to tell us that we needed Jesus Christ to be our Savior. He was saved through the ministry of Fred Orr. And Cesar and Sulamita are a great couple. She's one of the principals of one of the schools. And Cesar is involved very heavily in the Hebron church there in Manaus. And when he was here, I said to him, Cesar, would you ever consider coming into the work of the mission? helping us. Pastor Jose needs someone to get alongside him and help him. Jose had a liver transplant over 20 years ago and he can take sick just in a moment and we needed someone to be there to work alongside him. And he laughed at me, oh I wouldn't be good enough for that. So we left it at that. And then whenever we were there in June time, again, he was telling us how that he trained to be a dentist. Now he has a glazing company, but he trained to be a dentist, not that he could make a fortune of money. Any dentists here? No, I'm going to the dentist in the morning in Balna Hinch. I need to bring a mortgage with me, never mind a cheque book. Anyway, he trained to be a dentist, not to make money, but that he could go out of the rivers. And they can help people that have no money along the rivers. And so he was on a number of trips for two and three weeks at a time doing that dental work. And anyway, we were talking to him about that. He said, I'd love to go to the Acri state. I'd love to go to all the towns that Fred and all the missionaries used to talk about. Rio Branco, and Tarawa Ka, and Faisal, and Manila Urbano, and Santa Madureira, and all these towns. I'd love to visit them. Well, we're going over down in February again, God willing. And we'll be visiting those towns. And I asked him if he would want to come with us on the trip. And he was just so excited about that. And then I said to him, would you ever consider coming into the work of the mission? I asked you that last year. He said, you know, Sulamita and I have been praying about what you said last year. And he said, we prayed just before you came. and said, Lord, if it's your will, the mission will bring it up again. If it's not your will, they'll not mention it. And over that mission convention that we were speaking at, God very clearly spoke to them and confirmed to them that it was His will that they would come into the work. So please pray for Cesar and Solomita. They're making a tremendous impact already in the work. And we're so thankful for them, and they're such a blessing. As we were driving out to the airport to get our flight in just after, well, we had to be there for midnight. We were able to tell them, because we talked to the folk at home, we talked to Jose over there in Brazil, and we were able to tell them that that they would be able to come into the work, we would accept them into the work of the mission. Very, very fast, but we're so thrilled at that and we're thanking the Lord for what he's done in the past, over 86 years, and we're looking to the Lord for the next 86. I don't think I'll be around in 86 years, but for the next years that God will continue to go before us and go with us as a mission. We'll know the Lord's hand, we'll know the Lord's leading and guiding and direction in all of the different areas of the work, whether it's in Portugal. We just had our Kilihevlin break and then a skilling with Barry and Raquel Henry who work in the south of Portugal with the Portuguese church there in the Algarve. Amazing to hear what God is doing there. Thrilling to see God's hand at work and souls coming to the Saviour. You know, so often we think nothing's happening, and yet God's at work, and we're thankful for that. And the work in Lanzarote, we were over there earlier on in the year, and the FIEDE is the Federation of Evangelical Churches had asked us as a mission if we would consider branching out into the other islands and working there and getting alongside the churches there as well. So we're looking to the Lord for his direction in all of these things, and for his continued blessing and you're part of that as you pray for us and stand with us and we really really appreciate that today as well. Let's have a wee word of prayer and then we'll come to God's word this morning. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for all that we have said and sung already in our meeting this morning. We thank you, Lord, for the blessings of God that you have allowed us to be here today. Lord, we thank you for again ever reaching into our lives and saving us. We thank you, Lord. Lord, we thank you for the blessing of being here in your house today. And Father, we thank you, Lord, again for just the opportunity of coming with freedom around your word. And Lord, we pray as we share just simple thoughts from your word today, that, Lord, you will take these thoughts and that you will bless our hearts, that you'll encourage our hearts, that, Lord, you'll challenge our hearts today as we look at the world around us and the need that we see. Bless us now, Lord, and give help, we pray, in these closing moments in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you have your Bible, we're turning to Matthew chapter 14, please. And the first verses speak of the death of John the Baptist. And then from verse 12, please, of the chapter. Matthew chapter 14 and commencing at verse 12. And his disciples came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus. Verse 13. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past. Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vituals. But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart, give you them to eat. And they said unto him, we have here but five loaves and two fishes. And he said, bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down in the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes. And looking up to heaven, he blessed and break and give the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And then it all eaten were filled. And they took up the fragments that remained 12 baskets full. And there that had eaten were about 5,000 men beside women and children. Ending there at verse 21, and we know that God will bless just his word to our hearts this morning. The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is the only one that's recorded for us in all of the four gospels. All of the Lord's miracles were illustrations of his power, of his grace, of his mercy. He performed miracles in the natural realm to show us what he was willing and able to do in the spiritual realm. And of course, this miracle is a parable or picture of spiritual truth. Here we see a great crowd of people in great physical need. They had seen the Lord Jesus perform many miracles. The sad thing was that many of them only wanted to see the miracles that he could do. They failed to see that he was the savior of sinners. and that he was the son of God. Matthew reminds us in verse 21 that there were not only 5,000 men who were there, but women and children also. And they estimate that the number would have been closer to 15,000 people who listened to the Lord Jesus that day on that hillside. They'd walked about nine miles around the tip of the Sea of Galilee to meet the Lord Jesus and his disciples whenever they came ashore. And Jesus met the need of the multitude with the cooperation of the disciples that we have read together here. You know, as we look at our world around us today, go outside the four walls of this church, we see a people in great physical need, don't we? But we also, most importantly, see a people in great spiritual need. Multitudes of men and women and young people and boys and girls in desperate spiritual need today. Someone said, when the law of God is broken, the authority of God is questioned. And as we look around us today in our society, we see that the laws of God are broken. The laws of God mean absolutely nothing to most people today. When the law of God is broken, the authority of God is questioned. People have no thought of God. They have no time for God. They have no time for the things of God today. Sadly, people around us, like many of these people who listened to the Lord Jesus that day, are blind to the saviour of sinners. They want God when things are tough. They want God when things are difficult, for physical relief, for financial relief, but not for soul relief. We hate to mention the word COVID, don't we? We're sick of it. talking about COVID and listening about all those things that happened and losing nearly two years because of the pandemic. But at the beginning of the pandemic, whoever would have thought that our world would have shut down in a moment? Who would have thought that everything would grind to a halt practically? I remember just before the pandemic said to one of our committee in the mission, I'm exhausted. I really need a sabbatical. And he laughed at me. He said, who's going to run the mission if you take a sabbatical? But then I ordered other plans and it was lovely for the first few weeks, wasn't it? Whenever you were locked in at home and you couldn't get out. And then, things changed. You get tired sitting around. The lady next door to us said, your car won't know what's hit it, for it's never sat as long on the drive in its life. Which was true, probably. But you know, people got afraid, didn't they? People were scared as they watched the news and they heard of people all over the world that were dying because of the pandemic and they shut themselves away in case that they would catch it. And I know in our own family circle that many got afraid. They were watching the online services because they were afraid. But then as things eased off and things changed, God was set to the side again and forgotten about, sadly for many people. Only the Lord can meet the need, but he desperately needs us to cooperate with him. And in this account of Matthew we see just a few simple points that I want to leave with you this morning. We see, first of all, the crowd that he saw. We read in Matthew 14 the size of the crowd. It tells us here that it was a great multitude, as I said already, around 15,000 people who were there. We see the condition of the crowd. It was evening time. The people were tired and weary. It was a desert place. And they were hungry. The word perishing here describes the condition of these people. And what does the word perishing mean? And I often use this illustration when I preach, and especially the gospel, or you're preaching in John 3, 16, where it reminds us therefore, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. but have everlasting life. Perish means not to serve the purpose for which it was created. You know folks looking at me, I like bread. And I like the bakery. And in the bakery in Safefield, the folk will go in during the night, and they'll get all the ingredients out, and they'll get it all mixed together, won't they? And they'll get it all cooked, baked. They'll bring it out and cool it, and they'll have it in the shop shelves for you coming in in the morning to buy it. And you'll go out and you'll buy your loaf of bread, say, in the bakery here in Safefield, and you'll take it home, and you'll put it in your cupboard or your bread bin for six months, won't you? And then you go to take it out, and there's a wee beard on it, or maybe a very big beard on it. It doesn't serve the purpose for which it was created. The catechism that I learned as a little boy said that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And so, to perish means not to serve the purpose for which it was created. And here we see a picture here of men and women kneading the bread of life, a picture of humanity without God. Jesus said in John 6 verse 35, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Many people around us today are spiritually hungry, looking for something to satisfy their souls, and they will try anything and everything to get satisfaction, but it fails. The drink will fail, and the drugs will fail, Their money will fail. All of these things will fail. Jesus is the only one who can give lasting satisfaction. He's the only way. He is all that we need, and he is all that they need today. Richard Haldane once said, no man or woman can be a true believer if they're unconcerned for the salvation of souls. Do we see the multitudes around us today? People who are lost in sin? I need a saviour. As we look at the town of St. Field alone today, hundreds of houses, hundreds of people that don't know Christ. Are we concerned? Someone said, when we as believers catch the vision and go out into a world in need, then souls will be saved. Many are just waiting for someone to tell them. A few years ago we couldn't go, and I maybe mentioned this the last time I was here, we couldn't go to Lanzarote like we normally do in the summer, we couldn't go abroad because of the pandemic, and we decided to do outreach in other towns that maybe we wouldn't normally go to. So we went to Dromines, we went to Warren Point, we went to Castle Rock, a certain part of Korean We went to other places that have just gone out of my head now, because I'm getting old and forgetful. And, you know, we went to these places because we knew that not often people reached out in them. At one point, we went to two huge housing developments, housing estates. And, you know, in talking to some of the folk in that housing estate, there was one lady, and she said, are you Christians? We said, yes, we are. She said, well, I'm glad to hear that, because I got saved last year, but I don't know where to go to. And as I looked around that estate and we talked to some of the people and heard some of the needs of those estates, one lady said to us, I've lived in this house for 34 years and an evangelical has never knocked my door once. I've had Jehovah Witnesses, I've had Mormons, I've had others come, but an evangelical has never knocked my door and told me what you've told me today. That broke my heart. The need out there. I remember doing a mission outside Ballycastle, away in Faith Mission Days, over 30 years ago. And a lady came out to the door and she said, oh, I'm a Jehovah Witness. It's wrong, isn't it? Well, that was great. We had an opportunity of getting into the house and taking out the word of God and sharing the gospel with her. And her husband and her daughter came to the mission, and they got saved. And she got saved. And they started to go do a brethren assembly up there. It was amazing. just to see God working in her life as someone who was searching behind the door. And behind the doors in St. Field there are people who are searching, searching to hear the truth, searching for the truth. But who will go? The Jehovah's Witnesses will go, they'll knock on our doors, the Mormons will come round the doors. And so often we neglect to go and reach those who are lost. Someone once said, in a day when false sects such as the Jehovah's Witnesses are thriving because their workers, false workers, false witnesses, dare to take the message directly to the doorstep, the Church of Christ needs desperately to regain urgency, compulsion, vision, to go or we fight a losing battle for the minds and hearts of men and women. Folks, what's our vision today? What's our vision as a church today? What's our vision as individuals today? What's our vision? Because without a vision, the people perish. That's something the Lord has been really challenging my heart about over the last while. What's my vision as an individual? What's my vision for a mission? What's our vision? If we have no vision, we might as well close the doors and go home. over five million people in Ireland. Barry Henry, one of our workers in Portugal, is originally from Limerick. And Barry was sharing how that in the summertime he was down home. And he said the need in the Republic of Ireland, less than 1% of the population are evangelical in the Republic of Ireland. He said it's the least evangelized country in all of Europe. the Republic of Ireland, just a few miles down the A1, people that need Christ, that need the Lord. In Portugal, 11 million, 0.04% are evangelical. Brazil, 213.5 million, many that have still not heard the gospel on their need of a savior. The crowd that Jesus saw. We see secondly, and quickly, not only the crowd that he saw, but the compassion that Jesus felt in verses 14 and 16. This is brought before us, isn't it? The disciples wanted to send the multitude away. But Jesus said, they need not depart. You see, the disciples felt powerless in the situation. They felt powerless. And because they had no real concern for the people. They thought that nothing could be done to resolve the problem. It was evening, it was a desolate place. It's like so many today, isn't it? It's not the right time, it's not the right place to reach out to people. So often we make excuses, and how guilty we are in our attitude towards the spiritual condition of the law. Instead of looking to the Lord Jesus and saying, you're the one who to whom nothing is impossible or no one is impossible, you changed the water into wine, you healed a man who was sick for 38 years, surely you can feed the people as they saw him do so many miracles. But the disciples had no real concern. We were speaking to some missionaries a while ago and we were talking about in our churches here in Northern Ireland that the ladies do a thing called Fit for Life. Now, I don't know whether you've done it in St. Field or not, but I've been speaking at a few of them. Now, look at me. I'm certainly not fit. But anyway, opportunities to do this. And we were suggesting to them about different types of outreach they could do with their church, that they could maybe reach out in some way. And well, we said about Fit for Life. And we talked about what it entailed and all the rest of it. And this missionary turned around to us and said, there's no fat people in our church. And I said, well, that's really not what it's about. Whether you're fat or not, it's getting fit and reaching out to them and getting the gospel to them. And so often we can make excuses, can't we? So often. A pastor friend of ours recently, where we're chatting together, and he said this, he said, we sit in our beautiful churches expecting sinners just to drop in. It's like a policeman sitting in the police station waiting for the criminals just to drop in. So true, isn't it? What breaks the heart of God more? A world that will not come or a people that will not go? Jesus was moved with compassion in these people. Compassion means to have one's inner being stirred. It's stronger than just having sympathy for them. It means to have a broken heart. Didn't he weep over Jerusalem? Would I not have gathered you as a hen doth gathereth her chicks? But he would not. And this word for compassion here is used 12 times in the New Testament, and eight of those times, it's in reference to the Lord Jesus. So often we send perishing souls away, empty and unsatisfied, simply because we're so preoccupied with other things. Sadly, in our churches so often, We're preoccupied with so many other things that we don't have a vision for the lost around us. May God forgive us. I've been working with some churches in the past, working alongside them in the past. I remember being in one church in particular, and there was a row going on in it. And in the prayer meetings, we were praying against each other. And I wasn't a pastor of the church, and I didn't have the authority to stand up and say, that's enough. Another church that I was in, they were fighting over where the flowers would sit in the front of the church. And there was a row about that. And nearly solicitors' letters going on about it, because the flowers weren't sitting in a place that the person wanted them to sit. And I thought, Lord, forgive us. We're so caught up in all this trivial nonsense. And we're forgetting there's souls out around us. her in their way to Christ's eternity. Oh, that God would create a greater compassion within our souls, within our lives for the souls of men and women. Amy Carmichael, that young woman from Belfast, who was born 100 years before I was born. I was born in 1967, she was born in 1867. God gave her a heart and a broken heart, didn't he? for those shollies, the mill girls in Belfast. And even though many people didn't agree with what Amy Carmichael was doing, Amy Carmichael's burden and her concern and her vision for the lost and her broken heart for those girls inspired her and enthused her to go on. And of course, the Welcome Hall is still even open today because of the vision that Amy Carmichael had. And in my desk, in my office, I have the little phrase that she often used. Oh, for a passionate passion for souls. Oh, for a pity that yearns. Oh, for a love that loves unto death. Oh, for a fire that burns. Oh, for the pure prayer power that reveals, that pours itself out to the lost. Victorious prayer in the conqueror's name. Oh, for a Pentecost. Folks, is that what we long for today? In our lives as individuals, in our church in St. Fields, are we longing for God to move, really, in these last days? That souls will be saved. Amy Carmichael talked about the Christians sitting making daisy chains, didn't she? Sitting in little circles on the top of the cliff, making daisy chains while people were falling over the cliff to their death. And so often we're guilty of that, aren't we? They were preoccupied with trivial things and were not seeing the world that is lost around us. The Lord Jesus had compassion. The crowd that he saw, the compassion that he felt. We also see the command that Jesus gave here quickly. We see that in verse 16. He said, give them to eat. You see, they needed the bread of life. This is why the church is here. This is why evangelism is here. And so often, as I said already, we're slow to obeying the Lord's command. Maybe it's because we look like the disciples at our own inadequacy. Maybe we look at our poor resources instead of looking to his power and his sufficiency, because God has unlimited resources today. We look at our five loaves and our two fish. Like Jeremiah, we say, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord says, be not afraid of their faces. I am with thee to deliver thee. Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. We fail to remember that God's commands are God's enablings, that God commands every one of us, if we're saved today, to go into all the world and to present the gospel. And he says, I know I am with you always. even to the end of the world. Joshua 1.9, have I not commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thy goeth. God promises to his children, doesn't he, if we sow in tears, we will reap in joy. If we go forth bearing precious seed, that we will doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with him. that he will enable us for the work, that he will do the work through us. And that's exactly what happened here, isn't it? You know, sowing isn't easy. It's not easy to reach out to family. It's not easy to reach out to neighbours. It's not easy. It can be a very hard work preparing the ground, breaking up the ground, tilling the ground, sowing the seed. It can be a very difficult work. I said earlier on about James and Dorey Gunning, that wonderful, wonderful couple. James and Dorey, as they went to the northeast of Brazil, went into a place that was very highly persecuted. But they sowed the seed all those years ago, over 40 years ago. They sowed the seed. And today, we're still reaping the harvest of the seeds that James and Dorey sowed then. The command that he gave, we see quickly, because time has gone, The cooperation that Jesus needed. Jesus performed the miracle. He supplied the food, but he needed the help of the disciples. He could have done it on his own, couldn't he? But he wanted to use the disciples to distribute out the food. He wants to use us today as his disciples, to serve him, to live for him. There's a wee song that Karen and I sometimes sing and it says, just a tool in your hand is all I long to be. just a part of your plan, seeing captive souls set free, just a blessing to your children as we tell about your love. Give us souls for our labour, give us strength from above. The disciples had limited resources, but they surrendered their limited resources to the Lord. This little lad's lunch, only just five loaves and two fish, it wasn't much, was it? They said there were two miracles that day. One was the feeding of the multitudes and the other one was that the little boy hadn't had his lunch already. Jesus said, bring it to me. It was a wanted gift, it was a willing gift. The little boy didn't hold back. If only we would place our inadequate resources into the hands of the Lord and give it to the Lord's disposal. If only we would give him the little that we have. The song says little is much when God is in it. That we would give our lives for the one who gave his life for us. The history of the church is filled with men and women who have given their little and God has multiplied it. We need to place the little that we have into his hands and he will do the rest. And I could give you illustration after illustration this morning of people that I know who have given their little. And God has multiplied that and made it much. We think of Bill Woods. Bill Woods, who served with us for over 60 years in the work of ACRI. Young man who went from Belfast, that boy from Belfast who God saved at the age of 14. Who God took out to the mission field as a young missionary. He had no medical experience and yet God challenged his heart and he said, Lord, I've never passed an exam in my life, but here's my life. Who after five years of medical school came out as the top student in the faculty. Who God took to India and other places to learn about ophthalmology and leprosy and took him back to Brazil. Just a humble young man. He said, Lord, here's my life. And how God has mightily used him as he gave his life to serve the Lord. We get a rater at that, couldn't we, over many people today who we know and have heard of. And God can take us, no matter how old we are, how young that we are, God can take our lives that are given over to him because God can do far more with it than we can. Our inadequate resources, God can take them as they. Disciples here, they took the inadequate resources, they trusted the Lord to do His mighty work. They maybe didn't have a lot of faith, but they had enough to obey His command. And they placed their inadequate resources in His hands. And then He performed the great miracle. I wonder today, do we really believe in the miracle working power of the Lord? Do we really believe today that God is able to save? Maybe people that we've been praying for for years, do you think that God is able to save them today? He is. Situations that we face that God is able to work in them, He is. Matthew 13 verse 58 says, He did not many miracles because of their lack of faith. God's not looking for ability. He's looking for all of us to be available to Him. They were active in their service for the Lord. The Lord Jesus told the people to sit down in the grass. Jesus took up the bread and the fish, and He gave thanks for it. He gave that to the disciples, and He gave the disciples to the people. It tells us here that they ate and were satisfied, and they picked up 12 baskets of leftover. The miracle didn't take place when Jesus prayed, but when the disciples distributed the food. Just like Elisha and the widow's oil in 2 Kings 4, as they poured it out it increased. If only when we take what Christ has blessed and give it to others in His name, we can stand back and we will watch God at work. You know today we need to start with what we have. We need to give to God what we have, obey His commands, and as I said already, whenever we give to God our lives, we never lose. We always end up with far more blessings than we started. God can take mere human instruments empowered by His Holy Spirit and help us as we reach out to a world that is lost and in turn see them come. to the Saviour. Somebody said that a hungry word is feeding on empty substitutes. Will we deprive them of the bread of life? Is there somebody you know today who doesn't know the Lord? We all answer that question, I'm sure we can all say yes. Our neighbours, our family, our friends, have we ever invited them to church? So often the gospel meetings in our churches are the smallest meetings, quite often in our church calendar, aren't they? I read the illustration not that long ago about a man who was a Christian and he lived beside other families where he lived in his development and every Sunday he would come out and if the weather was good at all the man was out washing his car across the road. The man came out with his suit on, his shirt and tie and his Bible under his arm and he used to see the man across the road washing his car and he would thought, look at him, never think of going to church. And this went on for years. Saw the man out washing his car on a Sunday morning or cutting his grass on a Sunday morning. And one Sunday morning he had enough of it. And he shouted at him, would you never think of going to church? And the man shouted back and he said, would you never think of asking me? Isn't that so true? Maybe there's someone you could bring to church tonight and ask. I know it's not easy. Don't get me wrong. It's not easy. But maybe there's someone the Lord will lay in your heart today that you can invite tonight. Because next Sunday could be too late for them. One of my best friends, we got a... I was talking to him last Saturday or Sunday on the phone, lives in Scotland. He's been my mentor, my Barnabas, for nearly 40 years. And he said, I'm going in for a procedure on Tuesday. And I said, I'll phone your wife on Tuesday night and see how things go. And he said to me, oh, don't be worried about that. You just enjoy the Kelly Heflin I'm sure. I'll talk to you next week ahead. During the meeting on Tuesday night, my phone started ringing and Karen took it out to answer it from his wife to tell us that he was critical. Just a mere ordinary procedure. that they thought would take just a few minutes. But things went wrong. And we got a message at six o'clock the next morning to say that he'd gone home to be with the Lord. Life is short, isn't it? I'd expected to talk to him this weekend again. I'd expected him to come over in a few weeks' time to stay with us. That won't be happening. But he's better off today because he's at home with the Lord. None of us know what tomorrow holds, or for those around us, who we rub shoulders with in our workplace, those around us that we talk to in the shop, that we live beside in our families. None of us know. What are we doing for God today? I think as you get older, you start to realise these things, maybe more. I'm 56 now, so I'm very old. And you think that someday I'm going to have to stand before the Lord. You know, whenever we're younger, we're living for life and all the things that we want in life, aren't we? And so often we're building for time, so often. And we're not building for eternity. And we have to leave it all behind, whatever we've built in life. And eternity's forever. And I think so often of having to stand before the Lord someday and give an account of my life. and what I should have done and what I didn't do, what I haven't done. But that shouldn't stop us today, should it? Because from this morning we can say afresh, Lord, here's my life. Here's my inadequate resources. It's not very much, but Lord, here's my life to live for you and to serve you with all of my heart. Today we are Christ's disciples. Let's step out in faith, giving those inadequate resources our time, our talents, our tithes. And as we take what Christ has blessed, then we can stand back and watch God at work. In our church, in our mission, let's be hands extended and truly feed the multitudes. with the bread of life. The compassion that he saw, sorry, the pride he saw, the compassion he felt, the command that he gave, the cooperation that he needed. I spoke to a lady in Closing just at a meeting there, a missionary meeting I was speaking at just a number of weeks ago. She said to me, I wish it was 21 again. This woman's away in her late 70s. She said, I wish it was 21 again. She served the Lord all these years. She said, because I would serve him better. that I ever did before. May God help us to do that again this morning. We're going to sing this in closing, please. Oh, time has gone. Number 900, sorry, 698. 698 in our hymn books. Oh, Jesus, I have promised to serve thee to the end. Be thou forever near me, my master and my friend. We'll just sing the first and the last verses, if that's OK, just for sake of time, because time is marching on. First and last verses of 698, please. through our hearts. Help us, Lord, we pray, not to hold back, but help us, Lord, to hand our lives afresh to the one who can take the little and make it much. That, Lord, that you will use us all as individuals today. And in the days ahead, that you will use us for your honor, for your glory, and for the extension of your kingdom. Bless us now, Lord, for those who must go. Keep your hand upon them, we pray. And for those who remain behind around this table, We pray again that your continued presence will be with us, under your blessing, in Jesus' name, amen.