with you tonight, even here in Armagh. Already, we've been blessed already through the singing, even of the hymns and of her sister, the pieces that she's brought even to us tonight. Some years ago, a man said to me that there's two things that will change your life, and that are the books that you read. and the people that you meet. So let's turn to the real book, the book of books to Matthew chapter 21, please. Matthew 21, just going to read a few verses here as we lead into the word of testimony. Always good to wait until the rustling stops, so. Matthew 21, commencing our reading from verse one. And when they drew near unto Jerusalem, were come to Bethpage unto the Mount of Olives. Then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied and a colt with her. Loose them. and bring them on to me. If any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, the Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying, tell you the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, make and setting upon an ass, and a coal coat the fold of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the coat, and put on them their clothes. And they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before and that were followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who is this? And the multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. May God bless the reading of his precious word even to our hearts this evening. Just for a moment, let's come to the Lord in prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank the Lord for thy goodness to us tonight already. We thank the Lord for it's been a blessing even to be here. I know, God, we pray that you would take the simple words of man tonight and, Lord, that you might use them even to the furtherance of thy kingdom. Bless each and every one in this service tonight, we pray. May we know the infilling of thy spirit. In the name of Christ, we ask it. Amen. I feel there's always a danger sometimes whenever we come to give a word of testimony. Because we can run into that thing of glorifying sin or uplifting of man, and I do not want to do that tonight. And then there's others who love the sensational, love to hear about those who are involved in criminal activities, those involved in drugs, alcohol, whatever it might be. And yet maybe among the service tonight, there's those who think themselves and sometimes put themselves down because they never went through any of those things. They were just a plain person who come through life, get saved. My, you've got a greater testimony tonight than all those, the sensational ones. And again, tonight, I want to just use what I've got tonight and to say how God has taken someone who should never have been saved of his own, and yet the Lord had mercy upon him. And it is our prayer tonight that even as we speak, the Lord will take some of these things and use them for his glory. God would move from heart to heart tonight and encourage believers bring those are cold of heart even back to himself and those maybe tonight who are not saved even onto him. I'm sure I was like many people and not brought up in a Christian home. I didn't have that same privilege that many people within our churches even have today. Yet there was Christian influences My granny was a Christian and she attended the local Baptist tabernacle as they called it. A woman who I believe was very godly. A woman who was found reading the word of God on a regular basis. But yet even within my own home and because of the many examples, there were certain things that you had to abide by. Even though my parents weren't Christians, they still knew some of the things that they should be doing. So for instance, I wasn't allowed to polish my shoes on a Sunday. And maybe that seems a very small thing, but I believe it is a very large thing, even the regard to the Sabbath day. And I know that even in my own life, that has become something which has been very strong to me. And even to the point whenever I was in a place of employment, That place of employment took me from Northern Ireland over into Wales, where I first met our brother in the local church there in Wales. I ended up going to his church on a Sunday because the training I was doing was going to be on a Monday. And because it was on a Monday, I wouldn't fly over on a Sunday. I always flew over on a Saturday. And I spent the Sunday at the place of worship. And that was the aim of my heart, to be there. But even as I went on further within my place of work, I got promotion. And I was then asked to, before that even, taking on the role of an area manager, I had to go in front of the HR person from London. So I sat in front of him. There was this desire among the network to open the places of business on a Sunday. So I asked the question, was that going to be the case? And he made the comment, he says, it may be. But my boss had explained to him that I was a committed Christian, as he put it. He said, but you wouldn't have to work on a Sunday. But as I left that place, I had a heaviness of heart. And I said to myself, if my employees as such are going to work on a Sunday, then I feel as if I'm working. I had to ring my boss the next day, and I said to him, I'm sorry, but I'll have to turn you down. I can't go forward with that employment all to do with a Sunday. And he made the comment to me, he says, don't worry about it. We'll see how it works out or something like that. So I felt that that was all finished and closed and someone else would get the job. And lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, I got the phone call from him to say I had been successful. I'm glad that the places where I worked never opened on a Sunday while I was even here in Northern Ireland. A Sunday is a day which is different in many ways. So I had Christian influence as such through my home and a good home brought up well. The verses of Scripture that I've read tonight is important Scriptures, I believe, because, firstly, I want you to see even among the Scriptures there is redemption. Now, you may ask, where do you find redemption in this verse of Scripture? Well, in verse 2, it talks about the ass and the colt were tied. and they were there. Well, the redemption's there because back in the book of Exodus, it says in chapter 13 and 13, and every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb. And if thou will not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck. Not the firstborn of a man, among the children shalt thou redeem." The very ask and the colt were there, and I believe there we can see a picture of redemption, how that colt had been paid for, it had been redeemed. So there's redemption in this verses of scripture. And I'm quite sure the colt didn't understand that. And that's exactly the same situation that I was in as a young boy. I did not understand that Christ had died for the ungodly. I didn't understand that Christ had paid the price of my sin. My early days, I had no understanding of salvation. I was sent along to church on a regular basis. I attended the local Presbyterian church in Bushmills. But all for me, it was, you went along to the first part of the service, and then after you went to a small classroom, and I believe there was some catechisms, there was some coloring that was done, but I never knew. My eyes were never opened to the need of the gospel. At that time, my mother was in conversation and was being witnessed to by someone in her place of work. And she attended the Ballymunny Free Presbyterian Church. My mother, through all of that, started to attend the church in Ballymunny and had come under conviction of sin. And my mother got saved all those years back. And because of that, then I not only had to go to church once on a Sunday, but I was taken not only to Sunday school, to church in the morning, but also church at night. Life for me changed in that way. where I had to attend, and that was the first time that I can recollect I heard the gospel, I heard my need of salvation. And I remember sitting in those Sunday evening services, hearing the gospel, and being convicted of my sin. knowing that I was unsaved and knowing that if I died there and then, I would go to hell as a boy of seven years of age. It was clear in that sense. And I remember they used to always sing that invitation hymn. And I remember trying to show people I wanted to be saved. I remember trying to get my hand up to show people and finally one night I raised my hand. I went along to the inquiry room as a boy of seven, and I'm sure the man at that time dealt with me, but I can never honestly say that I actually prayed a prayer for salvation. My mother was there, the minister at that time was there, and he asked me that question, did I pray the prayer of salvation as such? And I said that I had, but I hadn't. And yet as I left that small inquiry room, my mother went back with that joy in her heart that I was saved, I had become a Christian, went home and told my father, went home and told my granny. And for all those years later, I suppose I went through life believing that I was a Christian. Primary school, in many ways, was easy. Never was any concern there. Even if I went into secondary school, there was no major concern. I never fell into the vices of the world. I never had interest in alcohol or any of those things. But whenever I was about 15 years of age, the Coleraine Church was opening the new building, which was just on the edge of town, and it was closer to where we lived. There were special gospel services going on at the opening of that new church building. My brother, Reverend Paisley, he was there preaching. on those Sunday afternoons. And I remember there's a young boy of 15 sitting in the gallery, third row back, I believe it was. I remember thinking to myself, Andrew, your life is not right. There is something missing from your life. At that time, In very simplistic terms, I knew all the things around religion. I knew all the things around the gospel. I could understand it. And at that time, I bowed my head there, just at the end of the service. I didn't go into any meeting, didn't go into an inquiry room. I bowed my head very simply and I said, Lord, take my hands, my feet, my all. It was me surrendering to him. You see, at first I didn't know about the redemption. But as the Holy Spirit was dealt in my life, I knew that redemption personally. And because of that, just like the quote and the assets in the story that we read tonight, I was released. I was set free in that sense. You know, I had great interests at school. Two things were my main interests. Number one, religion, Christianity. I read books on it, studied it. My second thing was politics. Loved politics. It was one of those things that was in our house. Politics was a big thing in our house. But it was also a thing which I really got into, read about, and studied. School for me, even at that stage, was easy as a Christian. And I sought to be a witness to those round about. And as I left school, around 18 years of age, I got myself a job within the tire industry. I must've only been there for about a year or so. I was only intending to stay for a year. I had ideas of doing something greater and better. But during that year, you know, you need to be careful how you walk in life. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12 says, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. And sometimes we get so caught up in ourselves that we can forget certain things. And I got so engrossed in the politics, and I went to more protest after protest, and I got involved in different things. You know what? You can't blame. I can't blame the politicians. I can't blame my parents. We all have to take 100% responsibility for our own lives in that sense. But I ended up going down some of the wrong paths. Remember one night we heard that Tom King was going to be at the Giant's Causeway? Well, I was the first one there to protest. I was the one who was going to stand in front of his van along with a couple of other people. But as the local authorities come to try and remove us, the only one way I could find, and that was on top of the van. Needless to say, that didn't last too long. I ended up in a local police station in Ballymunny for an evening until they decided to let me out. But, you know, as I got involved in more things and got involved with the wrong people, the wrong associations, I ended up to not come at the door six o'clock in the morning, or thereabouts, and they whisked me off up to the Castlereagh Road for a short time for a questioning session. You know, it's quite strange, but the one thing I took with me was my Bible. I'll always remember that. Because, you see, I felt that the things I was involved in, I was right to do. I didn't think that I was doing anything wrong. How sometimes our thinking gets so messed up. So that led me to the Castlereagh Road, so much so that they decided that they would keep me for a while longer. And I ended up in Crumlin Road Jail for the weekend. I had a different minister that weekend. But that's where I ended up in the Crumlin Road Jail. I remember getting into a room. I had to share a cell with this man. His name, I believe, was Joe Doak. Whenever I explained to him what happened and what type of person I was, he said to me, Andrew, you shouldn't be here. And here's a man who was unsaved, more wisdom than me. And he was right, I shouldn't have been there. But I ended up being there and over the weekend until I could come up for, see whether they would give me bail on the Monday or Tuesday, whatever it was. But remember the old coming through, you come through the tunnel in the old Crumlin Road, if you get a chance, you should always go and visit it. Going through that old tunnel, you're always taken there by the prison wardens. Some of them might even know the way quite well in here tonight. But as you walk through there, you come to a holding cell. You're kept there until your case come up, come up into the area where all the accused will have sat. I remember the judge made it quite clear. He said, if you're with the crows, you'll be shot at. And what he was saying in a simple way was, wrong associations, whether you've done or you think you've done anything wrong, your associations are enough. There was another man in America, a man called Jim Rowan. And he made a statement one time. He said that we become the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Now that's a challenge for each one of us. And I wonder tonight, who are you spending time with? Who are you spending time with? Because those people will have the greatest influence in your life. And you'll become the average of those five people. I know from a business point of view, people will do it in relation to the finances and the money and the wages that they earn. And it's normally right, the people you associate with is near enough average of what you earn. But I believe also in the sense, the normal sense, the values and stuff of the people you spend time with, you'll become like them. Do you know, I got out on parole at that time, or a bail at that time, and different things went through and I ended up being convicted of certain crimes. I paid my price, cost me a lot of money. But anyhow, but because of my association, All of a sudden, my name was on the top of a list somewhere, I'm sure. There was other trouble in the area. The next thing was I was arrested again one morning. I was taking this time to Armagh, and I spent an evening there. I hadn't done anything wrong this time. In fact, they were going to let me out and just send me home. And I said, well, I'm not going home until you take me home. So I made them drive me the whole way back to Bushmills again. But I was the one who was always against authority as a young person. I remember driving a car, excessive speed, three cars, four cars in front, overtook them all, and there was a front car, it was a police one. You know, typical. The policeman says, do you want me to book you? And I says, well, do whatever you want, whatever you have to do. With that, his hat blew off into the rain. I remember standing laughing at him as well. If that happened now, I would have hit that young boy a slap. Maybe he should have done that, maybe. But you know, as we come to the scriptures, we get so caught up in this thinking and wrong thinking where things are so wrong. And the Bible says there in John 8, 31 and 32, then said Jesus to those Jews, which believed on him, notice this is believers. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And so it is. With each one of us, it's the truth that sets us free. There is that other verse over in 2 Corinthians 10, in verse four and five. It talks there about pulling down of the strongholds, casting down imaginations, every high thing exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. I had wrong thinking in my life, and I wonder tonight, is maybe there's some things in your life that are wrong. You've got some wrong thinking. My, how we get in churches today of bitterness and things against people, it's wrong thinking. And so how we can get caught up in so many things, and it goes against Christ. But you know what I realized also, as I look back at my life, your past does not have to determine your future. Your past does not have to determine your future. The minister tonight mentioned Peter, how he fell in many ways. But yet at the very end, Christ said to him there over in John, he said, feed my sheep. Oh, he repeated it. But the final was, feed my sheep. And there was more for Peter to do. There was more for him to do for him, to do for the Lord. I mentioned at the very beginning, two of the greatest things that impact your life, the books you read and the people that you meet. One of those books I read at Martyrs Memorial one time at the Easter convention was a book called Dancing with Demons. At that time as I read it, I read it very quickly and it really highlighted the dangers of rock music and also the dangers of Christian rock music at that time. Many Christians who I knew were also caught up in that Christian rock field. And I thought to myself, well, this is a really good book, and I really loved the writer. And I thought I would write to him and see if he was ever going to be in Northern Ireland or even the UK. So I wrote off to him in America. And I just basically said, if you're ever over in the UK, I'd love to come and hear you speak. He had never been out of the United States in his life, this man. And he said to me, but if you want to organize meetings, I'm willing to come. And that's what we did at that time. We organized meetings, and we put it under the name of Freedom Ministries. We started off with meetings in Belfast, central, our venues, general venues. We met in the ice bowl, a hundred odd people there the first night. We then went to different churches, some evangelical Baptist churches, some of our own free churches at that time. And we finished up with a large meeting in Corrie in the Azure Center with over 500 people being there. The interesting thing was there was one man who followed us nearly right the whole way through on Save Manon. Ended up, it was a young person, died. in his son, but he was given a gospel even through that. It wasn't just about seeing people set free from music and rock music, but also set free from the devil. Even through that, I met, he became a really good friend of mine, a person called Steve McLean. And Steven is now an elder in our Korean church. He was involved in Christian rock music. And through these meetings, we met together. I often wonder how life moves, and through that book and having that man over, he was over more than once as well, and getting involved in that, I was then introduced to a person called Dave D'Caneo through one of the CDs or DVDs that he had made. And Dave D'Caneo, I'm sure many of you know, but Dave D'Caneo at that time wasn't in the free church. And we ended up having Dave D'Caneo over in Northern Ireland. And that was interesting as well. And even through that, I met another man called Dave Brown, out in Wisconsin, all because of reading a book. We also met an American man who was in Palomino at the time doing some work, sort of missionary work. We become good friends through those meetings. So much so I've spent time with him in the States, and he's now serving the Lord out in the Philippines. It's amazing how God takes you and brings you along a path. But also part of that outreach, or part of that work, there was always an outreach part to it. And as a result of that, we did some outreach work outside nightclubs and musical festivals. And again, as I look back at the pictures of even the one we did down south at one of the big musical festivals, there was a great bunch of people went that day. And many of those people are now involved in the Christian work and Christian service. And some trained to become ministers, and some are now pastors of other churches. We started then a website called eternityware.com. And the website, a very simple website, basically like a large gospel track. It had sermons on it and gospel tracks on it as well. And we have some little cards on the outside. As you go there, you can lift them. They're just like wee business cards. You can give them out or leave them places. And we also have some car stickers on the back, and it says eternityware.com. The very first time I seen EternityWare was on a car in Port Ballantrae. I remember a man there, he was a brethren man, and he had a big sun visor, EternityWare. How things have moved in the digital age, so we now have eternityware.com. But I mentioned tonight about the redemption that's in these verses of Scripture. I also mentioned there about the release, in many ways, the release from Satan, from sin, but also even the fact of sometimes wrong thinking or other things or habits that we get involved or have had in our life, how the Lord releases us from them. But the third thing I want you to notice, and very, very quickly, is the requirement that's in this. You see, Christ had a requirement for this ass and this colt. And it was for one thing and one thing only, and that was to carry him into Jerusalem. That was the only job it was to do. And so it is tonight, you as a Christian here in this service, you have got a job to carry Christ into your city, into your Jerusalem, in this area. And I, in my own life, have sought to be a witness for Christ in everything I've done. I'm quite sure I have let him down in many ways, but let's keep moving forward. I've been blessed over these last year to be part of a local church. both in Coleraine and then also in our home of church where I moved to because of my work. I've been involved in children's meetings, Sunday school. I'm involved in a Bible class, junior Bible class, and now also in senior Bible class. What a blessing it is. You know, I remember going to a church one day to speak and there was 20 people there. You know, I have 25 to 30 children in our senior Bible class now. That's a blessing to have that opportunity. I've been a deacon in our church for 15 years, and I've been an elder for approximately four years now. How the Lord, how your past doesn't have to determine your future. And as an elder, I got involved in an outreach program, even our own church. helping to instigate that. We covered Oma with gospel tracts and invitations over the last number of years. Also, we started going to the local farming show to do outreach work. Also, keeping a personal witness. I've had the joy recently of witnessing to a Muslim man, to atheists. I even met a woman on the train who was a backslider. Recently, it's just an opportunity of reaching out. In Philippians 3, verse 13 and 14, it says, Brethren, I count not myself to apprehend it, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth onto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That becomes very real to you in a physical sense. Back in 2012, I completed the Belfast Marathon. And I can tell you, whenever I came to that finish line, how much great joy there was. The prize of a simple medal was enough to motivate you. But even as I think of that, I think of the destination which we are now on. Where are you going to? Who are you following on that journey? And what is your goal? I have been blessed over these last number of years with a godly wife, blessed with a good family. I started working on my own over about five years ago. And my mission in life is very simple. I take from Esther 10 in verse three. It's the words of Mordecai. Mordecai says he looked to the wealth of his people. And that word wealth is the idea of betterment. So my mission in life, even through my business, is to be that better, to be that to other people, that wealth to other people. In business, we hear a lot about setting goals in life. We're born at zero. We are where we are now. I'm around 50, let me just put it like that. And I know that there is also what I call the COD or checkout date. The average checkout date now is about 83 years of age. So approximately I've got 30 years to live, 30 years left in this world. But then we must also think of the fact that we have to sleep a third of that time. So in reality, I've only got about 20 years of active work left. I wonder, It brings us an urgency. For us Christians, what are we going to do in those 20 years, or whatever the timescale is for you tonight? It's still a very short time, isn't it? But I wonder, as I think of that COD, that checkout date, what is your goal for after the COD? What's your goal? I know that after my COD, I'm going to heaven. But maybe tonight you're in a service. You haven't thought about that. Maybe you're like the ass in the cold that didn't even know about redemption tonight. But our prayer that God would speak to your heart, open your eyes and draw you onto him, that you might be saved. You might know the redemption, that you might know that release from Satan and sin, and that you might be used of Christ to further his kingdom. And God bless, giving these few words to your hearts tonight.