Well, folks, I do want to thank you. I'm just going to pour myself a wee glass of water. I must apologize in advance if I sound a little husky. I haven't got the cold. I was just sharing with her brother earlier on that whilst no longer a footballer, retired many years ago, I do still try to play a wee bit of cricket. And as captain of the cricket team yesterday, I lost my voice briefly in the middle of the match. I get some stick from my fellow players about being so loud. momentarily during the match when I lost my voice, I immediately thought of this service, but it came around very quickly last night. But it is a pleasure and a privilege and an honor and a great blessing to be with you tonight. I want to thank your pastor for his kind invitation to share with you a word of testimony, simply my life story. And in that story of my life, my testimony, I hope and pray that not only will precious souls that are here tonight in the meeting come to know my Savior, and come to know the Savior of many here tonight, but God's people will be encouraged. I always say that at the outset of a word of testimony, that it should be an encouragement. Because, as you'll see going through my testimony, it is a wonderful thing. to see and to understand and to know the providence of God, to witness the providence of God in your life. And I've found out as I get older, and I'm sure older believers are the same, that the longer we walk in this scene of time, the more we realize and the more we see of the hand of God and the providence of God in our lives. But I want to share with you just briefly a couple of portions of scripture. I want to go to Psalm 34, first of all, and then to Romans chapter five. Psalm 34, the first few verses, and likewise in Romans chapter five, the first few verses as well. In Psalm 34, verse number one, the word of God says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked on to him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Now go with me please just to Romans chapter five in the New Testament. Again, the first eight verses I want to leave with you. Romans chapter 5, beginning to read at verse number 1. The Word of God again says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience and experience hope. And hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commandeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I want to repeat that verse 8, folks. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 8 is significant in my life, because if I were to say to you, I grew up in a home that was not a Christian home, in a little town called Makara in County Londonderry. And that home on my bedroom wall, there was a little picture. And in that picture was that single verse of Scripture, Romans 5 verse 8, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I'd grown up in a home that was not a Christian home and grown up a home where I was rarely sent to Sunday school as a young boy. I can never recall when my mother and father were ever in the house of God, other than for a funeral or for a wedding. But we were sent very briefly, very occasionally as children to Sunday school. But to give you an idea how little time I spent in the house of God at Sunday school or any meetings, this was probably the only verse that I would have known off by heart, that I would have known as a young boy or as a young teenager, as a young man, that I could have recited from the word of God. And again, an indication of how little time I would have spent in Sunday school or my brothers or my sisters. There was six children in our home. There was three boys at the start and three girls came thereafter. I can never recall or never did recall the name of any one of the Sunday school teachers that taught me at Sunday school. So it gives you a wee indication of how little time that I spent in what was supposedly called our church at home. But you know this, I always say this, folks, that even as a young boy or as a teenager as a man, I was without excuse. with regards to the gospel. And I'll say this sincerely today, because even though I didn't grow up in a home where I was presented with the gospel, I was presented with the gospel here, there, and everywhere as a young boy. And I want to say this, and I always do this in my testimony, I want to mention to you godly influences in my life. And I hope by way of this, that this will be an encouragement to you, God's people. Because we need encouragement. We need encouragements in our walk with the Lord. I think primarily of a grandmother. I lived on a housing estate in Makara, and in that housing estate, there was our family, but I had numerous aunts and uncles and cousins that lived in that housing estate. My granny just lived about 200 meters away from me, so there was quite a big family connection in our home, or sorry, in our neighborhood. But very often I was found, as my aunts and uncles were back in those days, the days before internet, the days before even television and stuff, in your grandmother's home, and people just sat and they chatted and they talked. and the kids were there as well. And if I told you I was suffering in the region of 40 to 50 first cousins, that gives you an idea of the size of our family. They didn't all live in that neighborhood, I can assure you. It was tough enough fighting with three or four cousins or whatever than fighting with 40 or 50 of them. But very often we sat in our grandmother's home. But I can recall a change in my grandmother's life. Sometime around the mid-70s, I was only a little boy, and that change was simply this, that she had trusted in Christ as her Savior. And immediately, she began to tell her grandchildren, she began to tell her own children, she began to tell anyone who would listen about her Savior. So I was presented with the gospel from the lips of my grandmother at a very early age. No Sunday school or little Sunday school or children's meetings or anything else, but I heard about Christ in my grandmother's home. A wonderful influence. Is that an encouragement to grandparents here tonight? with children, with grandchildren, maybe great-grandchildren, and you're presenting them with the gospel, and maybe you're discouraged. Tonight, I want to encourage you. I never forgot those days when my granny first came to faith in Christ. She sang hymns. She told us about our need of Christ. Another godly influence, and by way of this, let me encourage young folks that are in the meeting tonight, was a young friend that I had. The neighborhood that I grew up in, I must say this, nearly all the fellas that I ran around with, maybe a year older, maybe a year younger, two years younger, whatever, and there must have been a dozen or more fellas of that age in our housing estate that we paddled about with. They all came from similar backgrounds to myself. No real Christian background, no, very little Sunday school, very little children's meetings, nothing like that. But I had one friend who lived just outside of town, maybe about a mile away. And he came from a Christian home. And the reason why we were friendly was simply this, we had a passion for football. He used to come into the town. He heard about us arranging five-a-side matches or whatever, and would come into the town very often. We knew he was a good player. You get invited along if you're a good player. And he was a good player, so he was asked to come in. But he came from a fine Christian home. And I frequented that home very often as a guest of my good friend Ian. But here was another influence in my life. Even though I'm surrounded with young fellows like myself, Ungodly young fellas. No time for the things of God. Reckless young fellas. From reckless homes, if truth be told. Here was an influence in my life that the Lord had planted in my life. He was different, and let me encourage the young believers, that he was different on the field than any of the rest of the boys. His language was different. His behavior was different. Why? Because he loved the Lord. And there was an influence in my life again. Rarely set my foot through the door of a church, children's meetings, or anything else, but the Lord was speaking to me through that godly influence. And I would encourage our young folks, and you go to school, or wherever you go to, and you frequent with children of your own age, and they're not saved, but you're saved. You speak up for Christ in the words that you speak and the life that you live. It's never lost. It's never lost on the unsaved. And I thank God for a granny who was a godly influence. I thank God for a friend who was a godly influence. And let me say this as some encouragement for families in the meeting tonight. In that neighborhood, I've painted a wee picture of the sort of friends that I had and the families from whence they came. But there was one family I can remember specifically in the middle of our neighborhood. It was some neighborhood, I must say. There were six in our home. Next door to that, there was 12 kids. Next door to that, there would have been three. I'm trying to think of who moved in and who moved out. And five, and six, and five, and so forth. It was some neighborhood to grow up in. There were kids everywhere. I always say there was a lot of fun and a lot of fighting back in those days. But there's a wee family lived about five or six doors up from us, mom and dad and five children. Christian home, a Christian family, was a mighty influence in our neighborhood. And why was that? Because I remember as a little boy, they used to go to a little Elam church in our town, and they used to ask us kids, all the kids in the neighborhood to come along to a little Sunday afternoon meeting. We might have been at that time, six, seven, eight years of age, can't recall exactly, but we would have went along. And there I was presented again with the gospel. The simple gospel message that Jesus saves. The simple gospel message that I was a sinner and I needed Christ. The simple gospel message that Jesus had shed his blood for sinners. I was without excuse. All through my life, I could go on even more and tell you of more. A grandmother, a friend, and a family. God's people, you're maybe a family somewhere in the heart of a neighborhood. seeking to be witnesses for the Lord. Someone's watching, someone's listening. You remain faithful and God will bless you. I never forgot that family. They moved out of our neighborhood not long after, probably whenever I was about 12 or 13, they had two boys that were the same age as me and then we moved away to Coleraine. And remember Sharon, The news with one of those boys, I met him years later, that I had come to faith in Christ and telling him that his family had been a light for Christ in our neighborhood. To be able to tell him that was a wonderful thing. But you know, when I went in my sin as a young boy, what connection had I with church? I would say, really, the only connection I would have had with church was probably Boys Brigade. I was the sort of guy that, I have to be very honest, I joined the BB, which was linked to the Presbyterian Church in town. And the Boy Scouts was linked with the Church of Ireland in town. And I've been half decent at football. The guys in the BB or the Boy Scouts used to tell you about football competitions coming up. So you very cleverly joined the BB with about a month before the football tournament. And then you left it about two weeks afterwards. Then you went and joined the Scouts. So that was the sort of character that I was. I shifted about. Life was good around football, to be honest with you. little or no connection with my family's church as such. Let me be very honest with you. As I came into my teenage years, I remember well, our church had a policy where they sent out the annual yearly report. And their policy was to send out their financial report, and every family connected with the church, their name was on their financial report. And I remember being very embarrassed by the fact that our family had, there was no money. We'd given no money, understandably so, because we were never at church. But I, as a teenager, would have gone to church once or twice, three times a year, just so that there would be money against our name, our family's name, in the financial report. Strange but true. It was the reason why I went to church, no other reason. Through my teenage years, was I invited to missions? Yes, I was. As a young man, yes, I was. Was I confronted with Christians? Yes, I was. Godly influences everywhere I looked. But I will say this, and again, I want to use this as a word of encouragement. Those years, those teenage years, were dark years as far as My life as a sinful young fellow concerned, no time for God. But looking back, as I've said about the providence of God, could you have got me into a gospel mission? Not a chance. I had many an excuse and many a lie to tell anybody that would have a concern for my soul. I had somewhere else to go, I had something else to do, and I'm pretty sure that resonates with people in here. You understand what I'm saying? running away from the things of God, no time for the things of God, not interested. But isn't that amazing? And again, I hope God's people are encouraged, those of you who are involved in outreach work, and I speak primarily of gospel tract distribution. With all that sin, and with all that rebellion of heart, and with all that reckless living, as you can imagine from a young teenager and a young man, somehow or another, And it's only of the Lord. The gospel tracts had a certain fascination for me. Why was it? I don't know. I'd always had a fascination. I was always an avid reader. I read much of the world's filth. I read much about sport and football and so. But I was fascinated by the short stories of how God had met with men and women, boys and girls. Wherever I would have got a gospel track, should it have been at a band parade? Should it have been one that was put through the letterbox at home and sitting on the mantelpiece? See, it's strange. She could not have got my father into the house of God. Not a chance. A gospel track was never discarded. A gospel track would have been sitting on the mantelpiece at home for someone to read. The providence of God. And I used to be fascinated by the stories, the short stories of how God had saved people. Loved it. I've seen me very often making my way towards someone, some believer that was distributing them and taking them off them. And you know what it's like? Once you were taking one, you can see stuff torn up in the midst of the faithful distributor, stuff being discarded, thrown away. So let me encourage you folks, and I'm sure there are many of you, have done it, are involved in it. There are those that the Lord is reaching through the gospel tracks. And throughout all of that bravado from a young fella, young teenager and a young man about not wanting to know anything about the word of God, all the time the Lord is speaking to this sinner's heart, writing truths in my heart I didn't even know it. But on I went. Let me again paint a picture of my life as a teenager The home that I grew up in, the neighborhood that I grew up in, my memories of it were, as I say, one without any real gospel influence. I came from a home that was troubled greatly by alcohol, as were a lot of the homes in my neighborhood, and I despised it, even though an unsaved young man, I hated it, I had nothing to do with it. But let me say this, before too long, as you're a teenager and you're leaving school, and you get money in your pocket, the young man that despised alcohol, that hated it, that despised what it had done in our home. Our home could have been a place of tranquility and peace and happiness for so much of the week, but when alcohol came on the scene, when then it wasn't, it was different, completely different. But it didn't take me long as a young fellow, young man, getting money in his pocket, finding myself in the barstool, finding myself enjoying the very thing that I despised. You know, I'll say this, folks, Whilst I was a young fellow that was very much into sport and everything else, the attitude that I had thereafter with regard to alcohol and the pleasures that I enjoyed, they took me deeper and deeper and deeper into sin. I was foolish. I was very foolish. Around that time, I left school with no real, excuse me, no real ambitions to do anything other than, I left school in 1981. And anybody that's my age or older than me will remember the early 80s were very difficult times economically. I had a brother, my older brother, was in the forces. He had been away in the army for about two years. And the job prospects at home were terrible. I had been, believe it or not, I had been head boy at our school. And that was only because of sport, nothing else. I may have been in the A class through my school years, but I couldn't believe it whenever they came and told me that I'd been nominated and selected as head boy. And that was only to do with what I was doing on the football pitch or the athletics track. But I left school with moderate O-level results, whatever it was. with so little job prospects, and again, I'm gonna touch on the providence of God. My brother was sending back to me, back home, all the news about what it was like in Central America with the army, what it was like in Germany, what it was like in Kenya, what it was like all over the world, and I was very envious. And myself and a good friend, or a couple of good friends in our neighborhood were saying, right, this is the life for us, we're going. And I was set, I was set for the army. And I can remember well in the, In the early months of 1982, I'd left school. I was doing a bit of work here and there, but couldn't settle into a job at all. And I'd done my exams in England, my physical exams and everything else. And I remember sitting across the table from a major or a cap, and I can't remember what rank he was. And it was in the month of April, about this time, back in 1982. And he says to me, he says, well, you've done really well. I wanted to go into the pay corps. And he says, you've done really well. You've done well enough in your exams. Physically, you're fine. We'll bring you in in the May intake. And that was about four weeks away. And I remember my initial reaction was, yes, at last. But in an instant, he changed his mind for whatever reason. And he says, nope, we'll change that. We'll bring you in in August. I wasn't too disappointed as far as I was concerned. I've got a date in August. My whole train of thought was simply this, I'll have a great time to myself about Makara before I go to the army. But it's amazing, folks, and again, this is simply the providence of God. Because when I get home, basically, the moment I stepped off the plane, the desire had left me, and I couldn't understand it. Couldn't for the world to be understand what had happened between the moment I was sitting confronted with this guy giving me a date to join the army, to this moment now when I had gone. I remember telling my best friend, who was in the same process of going to the army, I said, look, the desire has left me. I can't go. I don't want to go. He called me every name imaginable. He called me a card. He called me this, that, and the other. He went to the army, never came home. I immediately started to look about work in the local neighborhood, took whatever the first job that came my way. The first job that came my way, working beside a Christian. The only way I could get to work was to travel with a Christian. A few months later, I'm talking about October, this is May time, October time, I was to meet the young lady I was to eventually marry from a Christian background. A few months later, around about October the same time, I was to find myself getting the opportunity to play football for Glen Torn Football Club in Belfast. For a country boy, it was quite a challenge. But again, everywhere I went, even Glen Torn Football Club, there was a godly influence. Those men who are in the meeting tonight who maybe followed Irish League football, maybe do follow Irish League football, Johnny Jemison was a player at Glen Torn Football Club. Johnny Jemison made the headlines in 1982, around the time that I had said, I can't go to the army. And he made the headlines simply because of this. And it's astounding, because in May 1982, or the summer of 1982, Northern Ireland were playing in the World Cup in Spain. Now, I'm not going to bore you with the details. But during that tournament, Johnny was selected to play for his contract. And he was a believer. But he was selected to play in the Lord's Day. But he refused to play in the Lord's Day. Now, my thoughts, as a young unbeliever, were headcase. He's a nutter. but I remembered the name. As far as I was concerned, get somebody else a jersey, get the match on, let's enjoy the match. But a few months later, here am I, in the same club, in the same changing rooms, as this guy that I thought was a headcase. But I knew he was a believer, so I observed him. Again, the providence of God. every step of the way, and we only realize these things and learn these things as we look back on our life. And he was a fantastic witness, an amazing witness to me. Why was that? Because as I observed him in that football environment, a tough environment, a hard environment, We really had no time for Johnny, and many times was laughed at, was mocked, and everything else. But as I observed him, I realized that he had something that none of the other fellas had. There was something about his life, his contentment, his joy, his peace. And it didn't depend on results. It didn't depend on trophies. It didn't depend on success. Whilst it was important to him as a semi-professional, he had something that none of the rest of us had. And I observed him. But all through that time, and I'm talking whenever I went to Glen Torn in 1982, things went so well for me as a young lad. It was a fearful thing for me as a country boy going into the city to play football. It was a bit frightening. You know, the Belfast boys are intimidating. You know, they're loud. You know, not as loud as me, of course. But it was intimidating, but went well. For me as an individual, for the club, it went so well. But let me say this, looking back at those years, whilst things were going well, if I look at that period of time, a year down the line, I was playing Irish League football as a young teenager, enjoying all the success. I was holding down a regular job at home that was allowing me to pursue my football career. I was going with a girl that I knew I was going to marry. Life was good. Life was good for me. That was it. Your name in the newspapers, getting mentioned on the radio because of your football results and your performances. That was all that mattered to me. Maybe folks, you're sitting in this meeting tonight, and you look at your own life, and you're not saved, but you're content. You're content with everything that you've got. You've got everything that you believe that you need. That was me. I believe that was it. This is it. Happy as could be. And on I went. And I can tell you this, those years from when I went to Glen Torn, just short of my 18th birthday, for the next four or five years, I always think whenever, to best describe that period without going into too much detail, simply is when I think about it, I think about The way the Bible describes the prodigal son, when he went into the far country, the word of God tells us that he wasted his substance with this, now listen to this, with riotous living. And that was my life. It was riotous in the extreme. No time for God. I may have been observing Christians, I may have been reading the gospel tracts, but I was far from God. I had no time. This was a time whenever you couldn't have got me into a mission or anything, no time for it. Mocked the things of God, blasphemed. A sinner that was living a riotous life, reckless, ruinous. And looking back, I just thank the Lord for his hand upon me in those dark, sinful days. I was a fool. I was simply a fool, thinking that all that I needed was these worldly, secular things that were bringing me peace. But let's go further down the lane. I'm gonna take you now to 1987. And 1987 was the year that I was to marry the young lady I was telling you about. It was also to be, thank the Lord, the year the Lord was to step into my life. And how that came about was amazing, because I was sailing along in life by this stage. I was a well-established Irish League footballer. Life was good. 1987 was, as the older folks will remember, the Troubles were at their height. And there were certain things that happened. In our neighborhood, certainly, the Troubles, there were certain brutal murders that happened that stopped me in my tracks. And I began to think about eternity. And you wonder, how does that happen? But it is only of the Lord. It's the Spirit of God speaking to you. I remember back at that time, and again, the older folks remember what I'm talking about. This time of the year, late spring, early to late spring of 1987, you'll recall, the older folks will recall, the Zabruga disaster. when a ferry left the shores of Belgium to travel to Britain. And it didn't get very far before many people perished in the cold seas of the North Sea. Somehow or other, that startled me. That shook me up. Around that same time of 1987, the older folks will remember, the whole world's media was taken up with the whole AIDS virus, the whole epidemic throughout the world. And that startled me. Because here was death that came to people in an instant, through the troubles, through the ferry disaster. And here was death that came in a different form. And I, as a worldly young man, was troubled greatly in heart. I didn't know why I was troubled. I looked at different people at the football club beside me who were living lives, living a life that was similar to mine. I looked at people at a work beside. I looked at brothers, friends. But somewhere or other, I became troubled about my soul. I have brought along with me tonight, and I always do, and some of you folks will recognize these Little Gideon's New Testaments. Now, as I said, it was 1987. The date in my Little Gideon's New Testament is the 20th of April, 1977, the day I was given that at high school, my first year at high school. Now, 10 years have passed since I was presented with that Little Gideon's New Testament. little or no time for the things of God, but all of a sudden, I found myself delving in to this wee book and searching it. Somehow, looking for something from the word of God. You see, at the front of this, my heart was troubled. Let me, let me just put it bluntly. I was troubled over my sin. The spirit of God was dealing with Alfie Stewart. The spirit of God was moving in my heart. So, I began to a little piece of scripture that I had, says here in the first two or three pages of these little Gideon's New Testaments, it says, where do you find help when afraid? Where do you find help when fearful? Where do you find help when in trouble? And I searched this, and I looked, and I read, so much so I find myself reading it outside my workplace. long before it was time to start work. That was unusual because I was the sort of guy that was clocking in, bang on eight o'clock for work. But you see, under conviction of sin, folks, and those that have been through conviction, conviction of sin is no easy thing. Sleep left me. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't find no peace. I couldn't find no rest. The Lord was dealing with me. It didn't matter what I If I looked to my left, or looked to my right, or looked to my left, or looked at anybody else, it didn't matter what I thought about other people. The Lord was taking a deal with my heart. And I was ashamed. I was ashamed of my sinful life. I was afraid. What if, what if suddenly I left this scene of time? Would it be heaven or hell? For me, it was hell. What if the Lord was to come? Was it heaven or was it hell? It was hell. I was deserving of hell. I had rejected the Savior. I had refused to trust Him. I had refused to believe. And it didn't matter how often I read the gospel tracts. It didn't matter how nice I was to my Christian friends. It didn't matter anything about, oh, I had not Christ. I had not trusted Christ. And you know, friends, it was as simple as this. And I learned it just so simply what I knew from the gospel tracts and what I'd read in this little Gideon's New Testament and what I'd heard from friends in the past was simply this, that all I needed to do was come to Christ and ask Christ to save me. And I did it in the simplest way. I think of the old publican. And his cry was simply this, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And my first cries unto the Lord were simple. Remember the sort of person I was? I knew little about scripture. I knew little about anything at all. But I knew this, folks, that if I called upon the Lord, he would save me. The word of God says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I love that verse. There's no ifs. There's no buts. There's no maybes. The moment I called upon the Lord to save me, and it was a cry, 22 years old, seemingly unstoppable, and I say seemingly, I highlight that, super fit, super strong, the Lord humbled me. At 22 years of age, it was the Lord that broke off his shirt and brought him to his knees and to surrender to Christ. Thank God for that moving of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Let me tell this, at all times, friend, you'll forgive me, brother. The providence of God, I worked with a guy through that period of conviction of sin where I could not share it with any other man. I remember a teammate of mine saying to me, because we traveled the roads week in, week out to matches all across the country, and he says, Alfie, what's wrong with you? I couldn't share it with him. He wouldn't understand. How would a man who didn't know anything about salvation, I was almost afraid or embarrassed to talk about it, but the old hymn says simply, where could I go but to the Lord? See, there comes a time in your life, folks, when it is just simply you and the Lord, you and your creator, you and your savior. And that's what it was. The applause that I was getting week in, week out at the Oval, the multitude of fans who praised you, sang your name, applauded you when you were lifting trophies, whether individual or team, could anybody help me? Nobody. With the sin, with the burden of sin, nobody. And folks, you may be sitting in this meeting tonight, you may be surrounded with family, and you may be burdened with your sin, just take it to the Lord. I worked with a guy through a period of conviction. I can't remember how long it was. I remember coming into work just shortly after he got saved, maybe the day after, I can't remember, and I said to him, I said, Kenny, I've put my trust in Christ. I hadn't a clue what was going on. It was amazing, working side by side for weeks on end. I was under conviction of sin, and the same guy was under conviction of sin and had trusted Christ about a day after I did, and I hadn't a clue. And you could be sitting beside someone tonight whose heart is troubled, broken over their sin. We don't know each other at all, do we? But the Lord knows. The Lord knows our hearts. The Lord knows our thoughts. It was the Lord who created us. He knows everything about you. young person, older person, knows your thoughts, knows everything. Side by side, we worked, and I hadn't a clue what was going on in his heart, and he hadn't a clue what was going on in mine, but the Lord was saving the two of us. I went to church. I'm pretty sure that caused a bit of a stir when they seen me walking down the aisle towards the church, because I knew my young friend would be there, the young guy I told you about earlier on. And I said to him, I says, Ian, I've news for you. I've trusted in Christ. And with tears in his eyes, he says, we've been praying for you for years. His family had prayed for me. Johnny Jemison, the footballer at the Oval, same thing. He says, Alfie, I've prayed for you from the day you came in through the door, five years later. And I'm often wondered as he watched me and my sin, but he prayed. Folks, keep praying. Pray for your family. Pray for your friends. Pray for your work colleague. The Lord is mighty. The Lord is able. I've seen family, friends, the brother I had in the army. I'm going away on a few years here now. I remember getting a phone call, middle of the night. He was home on leave. There was a funeral in Makara, like a family friend. He went to the funeral. He heard the gospel for the first time in his life. He went back to the army. He phoned me in the middle of the night one night, troubled about his soul. So troubled that he says, I have to come home, he says, and get saved. I said, you don't come home. You'll be arrested. You'll be AWOL. You can get saved right now. And I led him to the Lord over the phone. A soldier, tough, hard. The Lord can save anyone. Anyone. You who are in the meeting tonight, the Lord answers prayers. Let me say this, folks, because time's hastening on. I thank God that I was blessed and my marriage were blessed with two children. Two children that came to know Christ very early in life. I thank God that I had the joy of seeing brothers and sisters come into faith in Christ. I thank God that I was able to lead my wife to Christ some years after I could save myself. And I thank God for household salvation, because the word of God does say, clearly in his word it says, that man that is born of a woman is of few days, and our life is but a few days, full of trouble. It's very true, folks. Any of us can look back over our lives, and there are days of sunshine, there are days of laughter, but there are days of sorrow. And I look back, and I'm taking you back now some 10 years. September 2008, and I must hasten on quickly. September 2008, we were made aware that our father was very ill. He'd been diagnosed with cancer. My brother made a phone call to me at work one day, and he says, Alfie, the news is not good. He says, it's what we feared. It's terminal. Just a few minutes after I received that phone call, my wife, Lorraine, phoned me. And she says, what's the news from your dad? I says, it's not good. It's what we feared. It's terminal. My words to Lorraine that day were simply this, in September 2008, it's going to be a long, hard road to Christmas. See, I had foolishly put a time scale on my dad's life. In reality, I didn't know anything. My words to her were, it's going to be a long, hard road to Christmas. And so it was, folks, because three weeks after I uttered those words, Lorraine was ushered out into God's eternity. 42 years of age and good health. Driving the car, my son's car, taking him. He was in his first steps as a footballer as well, in Ballymena. Taking him and my daughter. Lana was 16, Aram was 18. And driving the car, she says to my kids, I feel faint. And that was her last words. your kids. But thank God she was saved. You see, man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble and our family was cast into a time of great sorrow, great pain, great turmoil, great grief. But we knew the Lord as a family. And as I said to you earlier, there'll be times in your life, there'll be times in your life when you'll be confronted with problems, and man can't help you. Man will not be fit to help you. And I was confronted with one of those problems, and I had one or two faithful brothers in the Lord who were so faithful in a time of storm. But in reality, when your back's to the wall, it was only the Lord. can help. I had great fears with my teenage children whilst they were saved. I had great fears. I need not have feared. I watched my children grow closer to the Lord. In the midst of the storm, they took shelter in their Savior. And what a joy it was, what a comfort it was to watch them serve the Lord even more. But you know, friends, I'll say this, that in the midst of that great storm, the promises of God that I had never had to lean on, I learned so much about the Lord. I learned so much more about the Lord in a time of adversity than I ever did in a time of sunshine. It was not easy, and still not easy, even though the Lord has blessed me with a new wife some three years ago. The Lord has blessed me with a grandchild. I watched my daughter go into Bible college. I watched my son serve in the Lord. But friends, let me urge you. Man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. I do not know what trouble will come for you. Let me say this. I'll take you back some five years ago. On a Monday, I got a phone call from a friend of my son. He says, Alfie, Aaron's been involved in a car accident. But he's OK. The cars are right off, but he's OK. Now momentarily, folks, trouble had visited again. Momentarily, fear visits your heart. And you all know what that's like. The very next day, around the same time, I got a phone call from another brother. He says, Alfie, mum's been rushed into hospital. But don't worry, she's OK. And again, momentarily, trouble has revisited. And the very next day, on the Wednesday, I got a phone call from my brother again to say, our sister's been found dead. Trouble. But she was saved. Friends, the Lord is everything in this life. The Lord is everything that you'll ever need. I look back on my life as a footballer with all the trophies and the medals that I enjoyed and the success that I enjoyed, and I enjoyed one of them. But what are they in light of eternity? What are they? What are you putting before Christ? Is there anything, is there someone, is there something you're putting before the Lord? Let me just finish with this, and I will finish, brother, I apologize. Going back to that time, I'll leave this with you. In 2 Corinthians 5 and 7, this is a little daily reading that I wrote down many years ago. 2 Corinthians 5 and 7, for we walk by faith and not by sight. It seems that God chooses the hour of extremity to teach us most surely the greatest lesson of all the scriptures, and it is this, folks, that we walk by faith, faith in our God. God would have us in the time of storm as well as when the Caesar came to trust him, him alone implicitly. He would have us commit our way onto him and lean not onto our own understanding. Could there be things in our lives that we won't understand? He would have us believe that all things work together for good to them that love God. All things. Could I argue with God that he had taken home my wife at 42 years of age? No, I couldn't. Whilst we grieved greatly, and sorrowed greatly, and the pain was great, the Lord had taken her to be with himself. And the Word of God tells us clearly to be with Christ is far better. He would have us so rely on his wisdom and discretion that we can add a staunch amen to Job's tribute. And here is Job's tribute. Job with all his pain, Job with all his sorrow, he says, though he slay me, yet I will trust him. It's amazing. Though he slay me, yet I'll trust him. Folks, I want to thank you for your attentiveness tonight. Can I just urge you again, if you're unsaved, don't go another hour, don't go another minute without Christ. You know not what the night brings for you tomorrow. We don't know. But I'll say this. There's only one thing we need, and it's Christ. Christ and Christ alone. to save you, to keep you, to take you home. Take you home to be with himself when he comes or when he calls. Please do sultanate. God's people be encouraged. Keep praying, keep believing, keep trusting, even through the storms. We have a great God and a mighty God.