I want you to open your Bibles with me, please, in the book of Isaiah, and the chapter is 42. The 42nd chapter of the book of Isaiah. And as we open this book of Isaiah, the 42nd chapter, there are three verses I just want to read to you because of time. And the verse is verse number 1, and then the verse number 6, and the verse number 7. And as we read these verses, I believe that indeed these verses can simply divide up for you my testimony that I want to share with you this evening of the saving grace of God. In Isaiah chapter 42 we read these words, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Verse 6, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light to the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. And God will add his blessing to the reading of his precious word for Jesus' sake. Amen. Many years ago there was a godly lady, she was called Frances Ridley Havergill. If you look at your hymn book, you'll find that a number of the hymns in her hymn book were written by Frances Ridley Havergill. And what a godly lady she was. And she was a gifted lady to the Church of Christ, and we are greatly indebted for the lovely hymns that she left behind. But at an early age, Frances Ridley Havergill came to the end of life's journey. And one day, as she lay down, she asked a friend to read to her from Isaiah chapter 42. And as they read chapter 42 of Isaiah, and she came to verses 6 and 7, Francis Ridley Havergill made a commentary, a little commentary, a little, as it were, hook to put the verse upon as the verses were read. Verses 6 and 7. And the verses were read like these, I, the Lord, have called thee And Francis Ridley Haverkill says, called. I have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and she said, held. And will keep thee, and she said, kept. And give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house, and she said, used. I want to add one to what Francis Ridley Haverkill said from my testament this evening, and it's in verse number one. It says these words, "...in whom my soul delighteth." In other words, that's love. And so I want to say just five simple things. I want to say that I am loved, I'm called, I'm held, I'm kept, and I'm used. And I say that that is all because of God's amazing grace. and because of God's tremendous love. We sang to Him this evening, loved with everlasting love, led by grace, that love to know. And that's the first link in the chain. I am loved. You know, that's a wonderful thing to be loved. And I look back and I think of our family. And I was reared outside Stewartstown, two miles outside Stewartstown, in a country farm. There were five children, there was a brother, there were three sisters and myself. I became, I was the baby. My dad said to my mum the last, whenever I arrived, she says Bob, or my dad says Siddy, that was the one we were looking for all the time. And so therefore I was the final one of the five. And there were just steps and stairs because my brother was the eldest and I was the youngest. And the day I was born, number 5, my brother was 4 years, 7 months and 6 days. So therefore there was nothing else, only wee steps and stairs. That was between the 5 of us, 4 years, 7 months and 6 days. But the Lord was good because I was born in no home where there was love. And friend, you say, well that's natural. No it's not. Just simple as that because there are many children who are not loved. There are many homes where children are not loved at all. I can think of a child one day that I was at a certain place and the child came with tears running down his cheeks and says, my mum doesn't want me anymore. And that child's heart was broken because mum didn't want the child anymore. But God gave me a home in which I was loved. My mum and dad loved me very much. Now whilst it's true there was a love of parents, I never had the privilege of a love of grandparents. I always say as a grandad, and of course there are some of those who have reached that illustrious position, I believe today, Barry and Ruth, grandad and granny, I believe this afternoon, but nevertheless, whenever you reach those things, Ruth was quick to tell me she's a young granny, I said those two words don't go together, young and granny, but nevertheless that's just by the way. But you see, whenever I was being reared, my grandparents, from my mum's side and my dad's side, they were already gone. I never saw them. I never sat on a granny's knee. I never sat on a grandfather's knee. I never heard a word of wisdom that I believed that they had to give. But my mum used to tell me about them. And that was special because in our home of love, where we were reared, my mum used to tell us those things about her parents and also my grandfather and grandmother on my dad's side. She used to remind me of the day when death came to the home, when her mum was leaving a little family behind, just a little family of steps and stairs. And you know, those little children were gathered there, and in those days, whenever death was coming into a house, the place was so quiet. There was so much stillness and quietness. And as I sat there in that home down on the verge of Arbo, right near the loch shore, when my mum and the rest of that family with the father was sitting there in the room just waiting in the stillness of the night, waiting for death to come, they heard a voice. And it was a voice that was singing. They made their way down to the room because they couldn't understand who was singing, because a mother was going into unconsciousness as they believed. And they went down and they stood at the door and they looked in through the door and they could hear a mother singing. And the words she was singing were these words, We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spread the glad news all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. And I've always said that I never had the privilege of meeting my granny, but I'll tell you this. God gave me the privilege to do what Granny sang about in her deathbed. I've climbed the hills, I've crossed the waves. Onward tis my Lord's command. And do you know what I told them? Jesus saves. Jesus saves. And friend, that is the heart of the Gospel. For thank God that He loved us, He gave Himself a ransom for us. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Mum used to tell me about the night whenever her mum passed away. And then death came again and took the youngest of the family. It was the young little girl of the home. And death came to that home once more. But that little girl loved Jesus as her Saviour. She knew the truth of what mummy had sung in her deathbed, that Jesus saves. And that young girl, as she was dying, and the family again were gathered round her bed, that young girl looked up into the face of the eldest sister who acted as mother, took mother's place in the home. And she said these words, Ah, sissy, heaven's lovely, heaven's lovely, good night, sissy, good night. And then she said, Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child, suffer my simplicity, suffer me to come. She reached out her hands, and it was over, to come to thee. And she went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, only a young girl, but she knew what it was of the truth that Jesus saves. And then my mother would tell me about McRampton Macrae, the one whom after I was called, and he was a godly man, he was a man that always stood up for the things of God and the things of righteousness. He loved the Lord. I always say those old men and women, they lived close to the Lord. And one day my dad was putting in the field of turnips, and as he was finishing the turnips and putting in the field, my grandfather called him to the house and said to him, Bob, Bob, hurry up, hurry up and finish the field, son, for I can hear the shepherd calling. He was talking about the Lord calling him home. And my dad finished the field, and my dad came into the house, and when he came into the house, that night the shepherd called. the shepherd called. You see, some years before that, my dad had a, they say if it's old men shall see visions, and young men shall see visions, old men shall dream dreams. Well, my dad had, my grandfather had a dream. And in it, an angel appeared at the bottom of his bed, he said in the morning, and the angel said that he was going to take, that God was going to call the youngest of the family, the youngest of the home, and God was going to take them home. and that God would give him so many more years, and told him of many years that God would give him. Whenever he told them in the morning, they laughed. They thought it was just an old man, just some old thing that happens in old men, that really it wasn't true. But, Finn, let me tell you, the youngest of the family fell off a horse and broke his neck. And God called him home, but he too was saved. And thank God he too went home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, There is a city bright, closed are its gates to sin. Not that defileth, not that defileth, shall ever enter in." And Uncle John went home to be with Jesus Christ. You see, the Lord completes the family even on the other side, and there the Lord was taking them home. And friend, my mum used to tell me this, and I used to think, you know, I'd have loved to have been able to have met my granny and granddad, but I never had that privilege. I never had that joy of sitting on their knee. But I did know that I was loved in the home that I was born. But I knew also something else, that God loved me. You see, I went to church where, I have to honestly say, I never heard that I needed to see Him. The minister never once told me from the pulpit that I was a sinner, that I was lost, that I was on my way to Christ's eternity. If I died in my sin where Christ would be, I would never be. He never told me that. But I had a faithful Sunday school teacher, Joan, and that faithful Sunday school teacher gathered that little class around her and she told us that the truth of the gospel, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to save sinners, and that we were all sinners, and all she told us. about the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. She used to say to us, you know, the Scripture says, two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two shall be lying in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. And she used to talk about the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then she used to tell us that one day we'd have to die. One day we would leave this old body behind and our soul and spirit would be taken out into eternity. And in eternity there was a heaven for the saved, but there was a hell for the lost. And John used to tell us faithfully about those things. And that had a mark in my life. Now, I was only eight years of age, but that had a tremendous mark in my life because I can honestly say I used to go to bed and I used to pray. We were taught to say the Lord's Prayer. You never went to bed without saying the Lord's Prayer. But you know, I was on scene, and I didn't know really how to pray. But I used to cry to God at night, and I used to pray two things. I said, Lord, Lord Jesus, don't come tonight. Don't let Jesus come tonight, O God, because I'm not ready for His coming. Then I used to say, Lord, don't let me die tonight. Please don't let me die tonight, because I'm not ready for death. If I close my eyes in death, Lord, I'll be in hell. And I didn't want to go there, but I wasn't saved. And then God stepped in and God started to work on our home and family. I remember the night when my brother came in and told my mother I was up in a room. Daddy was out in the pub. And I remember out of my mum's room, we were lying there on the top of the bed, and my brother came in and said to me, Mommy, I've something to tell you. She said, What is it, son? He said, Mommy, I got saved. And you would just seem to come out like a dart out of the blue. I got saved. And my mother, as quick as a shot, she turned and said, well son, she didn't really know what to say, but she said these words, son, I'll help you the best I can. Do you know what God started to do? God started to work because God took the very words that my mother said and spoke to my mother's heart. And God said to my mother, how can you help your son in the things of God when you're not saved yourself? Now remember, she had a godly mother. She knew about it. She had a godly father and mother-in-law that knew about and loved the Lord Jesus Christ. So she knew about salvation, but she wasn't saved. And so she said to her son, son, I'll help you the best I can. But in reality, she couldn't help him with things of God, for she was out of Christ. She didn't know the Lord. God used that to speak to her heart. And God challenged her, well, why aren't you saved? Why haven't you given your heart and life to Jesus Christ? And God spoke to my heart. my mom's heart. There's a little mission hall beside us at home, Kirtlassen Mission Hall. And it's just a few, really a stone's throw from my mom's house now. And in that mission hall there was a meeting and there was a preacher that came along, his name was Reverend Leonard Ravenhill. You'll find a little booklet he wrote and I commend it to you, Why Revival Tarries. And Leonard Ravenhill wrote that book and he was coming to the mission hall to preach. And he came that night, and I was sitting beside my mother, just beside her that night in that meeting. And whenever she was sitting there, God was speaking to her heart. And I didn't know, because I was only a child, that God was challenging her about her own salvation. Came to the end of the meeting. The appeal was given. And I didn't know, but Mom was saying this in her heart. She says, Lord, if somebody else comes, then I'll come too. And friend, no sooner had she said it in her heart, that the preacher said, Mr. Ravenhill said these words, God bless you, little girl. And just sitting in front of my mother, there's a little child. And the preacher says, God bless you, little girl. She indicated her desire that she was coming to Christ. And God said to my mum, now there's the other. What about you? And that night, my mum left that seat and I walked with her, went into the little inquiry room at the back of Curtassin Mission Hall My mum called on Jesus Christ to save her. And she received the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour, friend, and as her Lord. And I knew she was different. And I remember us coming out, and the rest of the family were walking down towards home. Our place, they used to say, was like heaven. There was no night there. My father never believed in going to bed the same day that he rose. I don't know why, but that seemed to be a trait in the family circle, that you sort of had to follow the heritage on. And it sort of was rubbed off in some of the rest of us. But nevertheless, we went out for, the young people will not understand this, we went out for a killie. Went out for a killie, really, maybe around about 11 o'clock at night. And when everybody else was going to their bed, we would head to Argo, down to where my aunt And my uncles, there were none of them married, and down where they lived, and we always went out. Well, we loved to go there, because my aunt always put the pan on. No matter what it was, 12 o'clock at night, she always put the pan on. You had sausages, you had bacon, you had everything under the sun. And friends, let me tell you this, to talk about Greece and to say that it's bad to your heart, pay down nonsense. Because let me tell you this, the Greeks were running down our cheeks, and have never done us a button of harm. My father lived till he was 85, and mummy's 86. So therefore, never done them a button of harm. I'll tell you the difference, however. In those days, you worked it off. Now you don't. Now you sit and you get fat instead of working at all. And then you have to go on diets and you starve yourself and all the rest of it. But you see, we loved it because we always loved to go down there, for we knew we were going to get a feed. And I must confess, I love the feed. And still do. And we went down there. Now listen, we were heading down from the mission vault. Think of the scene. And as we were heading down the hill down to our house, we saw my father's car coming up the hill. We were going for our killing. And you know, my mum said, now listen, don't you tell your daddy. Don't you tell your daddy what happened tonight. Now just be quiet. Of course we said, mummy, no we'll not tell, we'll not say anything. And of course neither we did. We got into the car. My father never really asked about those things. My father was a good man. But as far as those things were concerned, I have to honestly say, that he never asked about those things. Because of course you've got the upbringing, I suppose it came too close whenever you started to speak about those things. But you know, God did a different thing. Remember what mum said? Don't say anything. My father started to talk to us in that car as we were heading down to the lower bath, as he never spoke to us before. Because my father said to us, well, how'd the meeting go tonight? And of course, not one of us hardly spoke, just left the mum to speak and said, yes, it was a good meeting, were there many there? Yes. Well, did anybody get converted? And you know, we just nearly froze in the back seat. Because we knew, we were told about silence, and we looked at each other, you can just imagine, because five sitting in the back seat were just like wee herns in a barn, and so therefore we're sitting there, and we kept as quiet as mice, and you might think that's a miracle, but it happened. And we kept as quiet as anything, and my mom sort of looked sideward to us, said nothing. But you know, God works in a wonderful way, let me tell you. He's a wonderful God. Because you see, God was going to start to work that night, but God has never finished to this day. Let me tell you. Remember my mom said, don't tell your daddy. Perhaps she wanted to be a seeker. I said, I don't know. But there she was, and my dad said, did any... She said, yes, there were a couple. He says, well, who were they? And my mum said, there was a wee girl. There was a wee girl. Who was she? And you know, it just seemed as like talking about extracting teeth. Well, it was just wee bit by wee bit, and there she was. Well, she said there was a wee girl, and I honestly can't remember who the wee girl was, but my mum told him who she was. And we thought it was over, and then my dad says this. Well, who was the other? And then the next words, I'll never forget, my mom says, Bob, the other was me. And I'll tell you what God did that night, because God made my mother confess Jesus to Daddy. And my mom's 86 years of age, and she's in the hospital tonight, and I can say this, she's still confessing Christ to this very moment. She has never stopped ever since. She is not ashamed of her Lord and Saviour. You don't have to ask. You don't have to expect it out of her anymore. I can tell you, she's only too happy to tell you that she belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ then. And you know, I'll never forget that because God saved my mum that night. That was my brother, my mum, and then my three sisters, and God stepped in one night in a gospel mission conducted by the late Mr Sandford. And Mr. Sanford was preaching a gospel mission, and there that night, my three sisters gave their heart and life to Jesus Christ. That left my father and me still on sea. Remember, I was still asking God, please don't let me die tonight. And Lord Jesus, please don't come tonight, for I'm not ready. And God was speaking to my heart, and I never forget the night. It was the 4th of June, my sister's birthday. The 4th of June, 1957, as a little boy of 8 years of age, I gave my heart and my life to Jesus Christ. Now, if some of you don't know my age, so you don't have to waste your time for the rest of my testimony counting it, I'm 56. And so therefore, you can forget about all of that, I was 8 years of age in 1957, the 4th of June, when I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Lord and be my Savior. You know what I found out? I found out that Jesus loved me. And I found out that he loved me so much that one day he went to Calvary and he shed his precious blood to take away my sin, to wash it away, never to be remembered against me anymore. I was loved with an everlasting love. But then I was called, because that night in the mission conducted by Mr. Sanford also, I gave my heart and my life to Jesus Christ. Yes, God convicted me of my sin, but praise God, He converted me and brought me to Christ. And He saved my precious, precious never-dying soul. I was there when it happened. Maybe some of you remember Mr. Sanford. He used to have a little concertina, and he used to play at all the wee missions that he held around the countryside. And one of the hymns he used to always sing, every mission you were sure to get it, I dreamed I searched heaven for you. Oh, God was really working, and God was moving, and God was saving, and God saved me. Oh, I remember one night we were coming down the road from the prayer meeting. After God saved me, I wanted to go to the prayer meetings. I didn't have to be told. I wanted to go to the prayer meetings. I wanted to go to the children's meetings. I wanted to go to the fellowship meetings. Remember, my preacher wasn't saved, and therefore I had to go somewhere else. I went over to Dinaki Congregational Church in there, and I joined the youth fellowship there. And I went to the prayer meetings, and my brother took me to a late night prayer meeting. Mr. Albert Adams used to have a prayer meeting, and I went to Albert's prayer meeting late night on a Saturday night, prayed through the night there. And I remember I just loved to get to the meetings. I never understand people who really love the Lord and don't want the fellowship of God's people. I don't understand that, for I really wanted it. I wanted the fellowship with the people of God and be a part of it. And then I wanted to testify, and I wanted to give out gospel tracts, and so we did. But daddy was still unsaved. We started to pray that God would save my daddy. And let me tell you, friend, God answers prayer. Used to gather as a family around mum and dad's bed. Just six of us. Dad was number seven. And he would be out in the pub. And you know, he loved the drink. My dad was a master of the Orange Lodge. He was master of the Lodge for 20 years. My grandfather was master of the Lodge for the 20 years before that. Every first of July there used to be a parade out to our home. They paraded out from Chambray's L.O.L. 171, paraded out from Stewartstown, the two miles, and they paraded the band and some of the orange men and they paraded and they were the orange men when the band were brought in and the people of Stewartstown in those days, the loyal people, they would have come out as well and they sat around the gardens and we'd give them tea and juice and all the rest of it. And that was the upbringing that you had. But my dad wasn't saved. Always remember, you know, the 12th of July was a special day. For you see, I thought I was his deputy. He was a master, and I thought, well, listen, I'm his deputy because he always said to me, you walk beside me. And I didn't need to carry the strings. That was someone else's job. I was walking beside my father, for I was King Billy's second in command. And so therefore, we always walked there. Let me tell you this. My dad, we never left each other that day until the parade was over. Whenever the parade was over, let me tell you, my father and me separated. I'll tell you why. George Forrest had a pub. George Forrest was the MP in there, the pub in Steerstown. And at the end of the day, when everything was done and all the collarettes were put away, my father used to say, go to your mommy. And I would have to go, and I would go to my mom, and my dad would go up to the pub. And I remember as children used to go up and sit in the car and steer us down in the diamond air, and as we would sit, we'd wait and wait. The milking was still to be done, the work around the farm was still to be done, but Daddy didn't come. I remember sitting there till near midnight hour, Mum would send us up to the door and knock the door, is Daddy in? Say yes, please tell Daddy to come, we have work to do. But Daddy didn't come. I remember at midnight hour, mother and five children walking out the two miles home in the dark. Start to work, because daddy didn't come. Fenty loved to drink in his unconverted days. He was good to us. I'm not saying anything against that, but he loved also the drink and the booze. But you know, we gathered round daddy's bed and we would pray and we'd say, God please save daddy. And I'll never forget, it was May, 1959, at a mission conducted by Edwin Sanford again, in a tumbledown schoolhouse at Banner Maguire Schoolhouse. And I remember well, it was the final evening of the mission. Mr. Sanford preached upon my spirit and on all the strife of man, I think. And I remember the meeting and the presence of the Lord in that meeting and the Spirit of God speaking. And I remember we just prayed together, and we prayed, Oh God, please save Daddy. But Daddy got up and walked out. He made his way back to the car. We were walking up to the car, as we were walking up to the car, a cousin of mine, a teenage girl, she stepped up and she said to Mummy, Aunty Sadie, I want to speak to Uncle Bob. And so she left, we waited behind, and she went up and she got into the car with my father, And they sat and they talked for some while, and we wondered what was going on, and we didn't really know, but we believed, yes, this girl was saved, and we thought that she had a burden for her uncle, and so she had. And then we saw the doors of the car open. Cecil stepped out, and my father stepped out, and they walked down the road together back to the little schoolhouse. And there my dad went in, and he knelt down in no form, and he asked Jesus Christ to be his Savior. Friend, that was the night I got a new daddy. My dad was changed. He didn't need the booze anymore. He didn't need the things of the world anymore. He was changed. The Word of God says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. And daddy honestly was changed. He too was called, just as I was called to the Savior. And God saved him that night and changed him completely. And I can remember, as we as a family would go and gather the hay A lot of work had to be done. My father believed that every one of us had to do the work, the boys, the girls, mum, every one of us. But I can remember us going across the field in the tractor and the trailer, bouncing along the trailer. And I can remember us singing. We sang it a moment ago. When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the roll is called up yonder, we'll be there. And friend, the Lord had changed. He changed our home. changed our lives because mum and dad were now saved by the grace of God. Life went on and I would hand out the gospel tracts, I would go to little missions, I would sing the gospel hymns and we had a choir in Dinache. We used to go round all the pilgrims meetings everywhere. There was about 40 of us and we went around the countryside singing here, there and everywhere. In actual fact, that's why perhaps the lessons didn't get too well done because we were so busy going round here, there and yonder. just testifying and singing for our Lord and Savior. But we had all loved it. My, we loved it. Listen, young people, we loved it with all our hearts. You couldn't have kept us back for love or money. Nothing else was as sweet to our taste. We wanted to share the Lord Jesus Christ with people. And then death came again. I had an uncle and aunt. My aunt used to come to this congregation. She died when she was 94. She was buried actually out in the graveyard here. And my aunt and uncle, they had no family of their own, but they loved us very much, especially my sister Ivy and I. We were their children. But my uncle wasn't saved. And I can remember well my uncle being taken ill and taken to hospital. I remember going into hospital to see him, and that day he'd got his legs amputated. And you know, my uncle was in awful pain. That night as he was lying in hospital, He loved us very much, but he didn't know Jesus. And as he lay in hospital, coming near the end of the journey, I didn't know that. I went home that night, the early hours of the morning, just waiting for news and hoping that the morning would break a different news. But you know, whenever I amped him home, it was to tell me that Uncle George had passed away, had gone out into eternity. In the last words that he said, As far as time was concerned were these words, Oh hell, hell, hell. He died. Stepped out into God's eternity without Jesus. He loved us and we loved him. Many a night we cried ourselves to sleep. I cried myself to sleep so many times because I thought of being lost. How tragic. for him to be lost. And I wanted to share the warning with others and I said, Lord, I want you to know I'm available. I'm available. I want you to take me and I want you to use me. Oh God, please, if you ever call me to preach, if you ever call me to preach the gospel, I'll never fail but tell people and warn them that there's not only a heaven for the saved in eternity, but there's a hell for the lost. Men and women in this gathering tonight, We're on your journey. We're traveling through life and we're headed to eternity. If I'm God, I can honestly say, all because of God's amazing grace, I'm headed to heaven. That's my home. But is there someone listening to me, perhaps you've preached for years? Is there someone sitting here? And be honest before God, you're headed to hell. And if God was to stop the clock tonight, And the old ticker inside was to cease and you breathe no more. And to pull down the shutters of life. And you're called into God's eternity. Friend before God you know this. Without Jesus Christ you'll never ever be in heaven. You'll never ever be in heaven. But be shut out in the mad house of eternity. The place that God calls hell. And that broke my heart. And God spoke to my heart and I wanted to share with others and tell them and warn them and I wanted to share, I wanted to preach. As a young teenager I wanted to preach. I used to get gospel tracts, I loved the wee gospel tracts. I used to get the gospel tracts out and used to read them as if I was preaching them. And friend, I must be honest, I used to preach. I preached everywhere. I preached in the barn. Probably there was no need of rats in the place, but I preached anyhow. I preached on the side of the road. I remember standing on the bank of the road. I'm standing. I put the dog into the field to bring the cows in. And the dog went in and as the cows were coming out, and the cows were coming past me, there I was standing on the side of the bank preaching away, telling them they needed to be saved. Somebody said, did any hands go up? No, but many a tail went up. But nevertheless, it was my honest desire, my honest desire to preach. Just at that time, I remember another uncle and aunt going past in the car. And I remember them telling a friend of ours, see that wee fella, he's going cooking. He's definitely going to diet. Because as we were going past, he was standing preaching on the side of the road, and cows were going past. He's definitely not wise. Well, so let it be. But I wanted to tell, I wanted to share. Can I ask you a question? You see if you can tell me, do you want to share that? You've got good news tonight. You have the greatest news that any person could ever give. Men and women are dying. Men and women are lost. Men and women are going to hell. Men and women are dying on their sin front. They'll soon be gone. You've got the message that can deliver them from the power of sin. Do you want to tell it? Do you want to share it? You do not well if you keep silent. You say, I just want to be a secret disciple. Let me tell you, my friend, what an awful thing to let them perish, and yet you have the answer. You let them die in their sin, and yet you have the message that can deliver them, the message of Jesus, the mighty to save. Yes, I was loved, and I was called, and then God called me into His service. I was in civil service. When God called me into the service, I wasn't long there. Remember the day I went in to sit down in front of the manager in Cookstown Branch of the Department of Health and Social Services? He was a believer. I remember going down and saying to him, Sir, I want to tell you I'm leaving the civil service. He says, What for? I said, No, nobody's said anything yet, but God has called me. He says, Where are you going? I said, God's called me to the Free Presbyterian Church. He says, What? I said, God has called me to the Free Presbyterian Church, and these are the words he said to me. He said, listen, he said, son, let me tell you. If you stay in the civil service, now here's what he said, he said, if you stay in the civil service, he said, it will not be long until you'll be sitting in the seat I'm sitting in. And you know, that was his word, his word, stay. But God said to me, go. And God gave me the grace for him to say to him, no sir, I can't. I can't because God is calling me and God is calling me into full time service and God is calling me into His work and I have to go. I applied to the Free Presbyterian Church and Brother Greenfield and I were interviewed the same day up in Sandown Road up in Belfast. And I can remember going in that those days you had to preach to the Presbytery. You had a stand, they'd give you a text of Scripture, they'd give me Galatians chapter 1. And I had a stand and preached to all of these, Dr. Paisley and Dr. Douglas and Dr. Cook and all the rest of them. And I was doctored nearly the whole time that I was there. And I had to preach to them. And it was a gospel message to these saved ministers and elders that were sitting around. And then they interviewed you. And I can remember after we were waiting for to hear the result, and I remember opening the Scriptures and God gave me a verse. And I said to Fred Greenfield, and that was the first time I met him, I said, Fred, let me tell you, God's called me and I've been received. And he says, how do you know? I said, because God's told me. And he said, where do you find that? And I said, I found it in Isaiah chapter 43. Fear thou not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall a flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." And he says, God has called me by my name. He says, I'm his, but he's also called me into his service. And then I was accepted into the church, but I had to tell my mum and dad because they were Presbyterians. And I can remember as well going out and I was, I thought I'd, nobody knew about it. My sister, who was a nurse in Belfast at the time, she took me up to Sandine Road and left me there and then she collected me and brought me back. And I really said nothing. And my mum, as I said, she was always close to the Lord. And I was out in the upper bar, I was shaking the hay. And my mum came up to the bar and she said to me, William, could I speak to you a moment? I said, yes, mum, what's wrong? She says to me, son, can I ask you a question? Were you accepted into the ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church the other night? I said, mum, I was. And these are her words to me, thank God that's answered a prayer. And you know, let me tell you, I was afraid to tell. My dad was a committee member in the local church, I was a Sunday school teacher in the local church, but I knew things were not well. I knew the minister didn't tell the congregation they needed to be saved, didn't warn them of the need of God's salvation, and I knew that wasn't for me. And so therefore I joined the Free Presbyterian Church, and my dad, believe it or not, took me to the services up in Armagh. That was the only nearest congregation to us was Armagh. And he took me there to those services, and then I went into the college and I started in the ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church, and there the Lord held me. And He held my hand, there was great opposition. And as a matter of fact, the last place that I testified in before I went into the Free Church was actually in MacDuffell, in the CWU Hall. I said it was the last place that I actually testified in, and that was true. Because it was a few months after that we looked for the CWU Hall to hold a gospel mission, and they wouldn't let us through the door. Although there was a couple of godly men, and I can remember Brother Diddy was one of them, and he fought the case and tried to get us in. There was a couple of others, but they wouldn't let us through the door. There was reproach that you had to carry, friend. People didn't want to know you. You were ostracized. You were the off-scarring of the earth. But, friend, it was a joy. There was a joy in your heart. There was a joy that you got freedom. I wasn't sitting under unsaved ministers anymore. I wasn't sitting under unsaved elders anymore. I had the freedom that I was in a place where the Word of God was being preached, and I was being taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I was being taught the Word of God and the doctrines of God's grace. So I went into the college, and shortly after that, Dr. Paisley asked me to become his assistant. I was his assistant in the Ravenhill Church at that time, and Dr. Paisley, just like my dad, he believed in working every hour that they came, and he never really thought that you had to go home at any time until, of course, his day was finished, and I can assure you that was the early hours of the morning. But boy, we went to missions, and we went to the meetings around the countryside, and I can remember the Tandra Ghee mission, and I remember the Dunedin mission, All of those meetings, I remember I put my foot in it and done Dungan a mission, Dr. Paisley took ill. And he had the big, big tent in Dungan. And because there was nobody else to preach that night, he took ill just before the meeting. And Mrs. Paisley took ill at the same time as the bug that was going around. And I can remember well, he said, listen, brother, you're going to have to preach. And I said, preach? Because the big, big tent, Dr. Pacey's big tent, someone like George's tent, that we had for the mission down to Castle Dawson roundabout. And I remember going to it, and I was in fear and trembling. And I said, I'm sorry, Dr. Pacey, I have to stand up to make Dr. Pacey's in bed with his wife. And I really meant that they both were down sick. They both of them were ill, but I was that nervous. I really didn't know what I was saying. I nearly got myself into trouble. because announcing that across the mission that night. But God bless us, boy there was power in his name. Let me tell you this, those days were days of revival. God was moving across this land and God was really stirring and God was holding our hands and no matter what opposition came, let me tell you this, you weren't afraid of the opposition. You were able to take it. You got it on the chin, but you went on. Why? Because you weren't ashamed of the gospel of Christ. You were glad to be a separatist. You were glad to be outside the camp. You were glad to leave apostasy. You were glad to leave the places that didn't preach the gospel. You weren't harking back after them. You weren't wanting to get back into them, friend. You were glad to be out yet. Freedom, gloriously freedom. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed. So those meetings were powerful meetings, and God held the hand of His people And praise God, not only did he call us, but he held us, and then he kept us. God called us to this part of the Lord's vineyard. George will remember this, we wanted to start a mission here. And a few of the brethren asked us, could we start a gospel mission here? And then we had nothing to start the mission in. We had no place. They turned us down, and they hauled down the town. They wouldn't let us in. So we had nowhere to go. So therefore what were we going to do? Get a tent. but really couldn't afford a tent. But then we heard about an old tent, which was a car key tent, and actually in fact it was an old army reject tent. And mind you, the army rejects, as you know, they're not much good. It was an old reject tent, and let me tell you this, this is how this work started. That old army reject tent, let me tell you, whenever it poured down, I remember the meetings, and us sitting in the meetings, and the umbrellas inside, not outside. Because the water would come through the holes in the old army reject tent. And I can remember them sitting there with the umbrella one night, sitting there, and all it did was run on, the water run onto the knees of the next person behind them. And you were just getting soaked. But boy, I tell you, it didn't stop the people from coming. But there was no place to put the tent up. And so a man in this town who was a professing believer said, we asked, could he give us the ground down the town? And he said yes. And so we were making preparation for that. But fair to be honest, we couldn't afford the tent. We couldn't afford the tent. Nobody had any money. But there was a cow in our farm that went sick. She went down with milk fever. And when she went down, let me tell you, she went down on all fours. And you had to try and strengthen her and get her back up again. You used to put the ropes around, out in the hay shed. And the rafters, we used to pull the ropes and you pulled her up to try and get her back under her feet again. And to be honest, before God, the old cow, she wasn't making any of it. And one night my mother was praying, listen friend, let me tell you, this is how God works. My mum was praying and she says to God, she says, God, you put that cow back on her feet again and God I'll give her to you. Now it wasn't really my mummy's to tell you, the truth was my daddy's. And in our home you're very dangerous to make any offer that daddy doesn't agree with. But nevertheless, she says, God, I'll give you the cow. And friend, let me tell you, the cow started to get back onto her feet, and the cow was sold. And I think it was George actually put the rest of the money to it, to get us the old army reject tent for the first mission. But just in the birds of the mission, that believer said, no, you can't have the ground. And he said, you can't have the ground because the meetings will be for politics, not for salvation. Which wasn't true. But we found out he was told to reject the mission. But let me say this. Our hearts were broken over that. But there's a man called Willie Lees on the top of the hill there, Mullet Boy Hill. Now he was on the scene. And somebody told Willie Lees about that we couldn't get a piece of ground, put up the mission. And Willie Lee said this in the town one day, never let it be said there's no place to put a gospel mission, or to have a gospel mission in Maccrafelt. And he says, I'd take a field up there just at the top, the next field, I'd take the ground and I'd allow you to put the tent up there. And friend, he did take the ground, and I have to tell you this, it cost Willie. Because he had taken that field for a number of years. When it came to the next year after he gave it to us, we wouldn't let it to him. We wouldn't set the field to him anymore. Because he had given it for a gospel mission. But God works in his own way. Here was a professing believer, and he rejected us. Here was a non-safe man, and he opened the door for him. And let me tell you, Willie and Mrs. Leaves, two of the family were saved in that mission. God was working in his own sovereignty. and His own gracious, wonderful way. And God called us back to the work here on the top of the hill and God established the work and we started an old, we had an old wooden hall, Mr. Beggs' Hall. Now it was a good hall to be honest. No windows in it. They were just flaps. You put them down and really you didn't need to put them down, that was to let the air in or to let the hot air out. You really didn't need that because there's enough wind to come through the floor. But I tell you, we thought it was great. We had our first little meeting there in that wee hall of Mr. Begg's. And then we put up the corrugated iron building. And the corrugated iron, we thought it was a palace. We thought it was the greatest thing. Jim Hamilton came down. I can still see him coming down the hill, and Jim wasn't seeing. And Jim came down the hill, and he'd heard about this tent of Paisley's was going up, or this hall of Paisley's was going up in Macclefell. And curiosity got into his heart. And he came down, and I can remember him coming down to tell you to come down to talk to me. And we were finishing the hall and we had to get open, and I must be honest, we hadn't time to talk. And Jim was only going to keep us back. So I just said to him, I said, listen what I tell you, but I don't know about you, but I'll tell you what you do. Can you hold those nails? And Jim fed me the nails and I hammered, and I tell you this, I hammered my own nail as many as others because I'm no good with a hammer. But nevertheless, Jim, is that correct, Jim? You fed us the nails and we put it together and we opened our first wee hall, and let me tell you, we thought as much. I can remember taking my aunt Lucy through the hall just before it was open. And I tell you, we thought that we had landed. We had gas lights. I mean, this was really, with no, water, running water, with no toilet and all that. It was great! Tremendous! It was great! We thought we'd arrived, and the Lord undertook and blessed us there. Timothy, he was the first one. We did get a toilet then, and he used to walk with a bucket over the fields. I remember Bertha Norman, the Negro singer, and she waltzes in this night. She waltzed into Macrafelt, and she said, this brother came around and said, Bertha's wanting to go to the lily. She's right, she is. The first gate on the left. And I can remember it as well, and honestly, we'd just got the old dry toilets up, and there wasn't even lights or anything, not even gas lights. With a bit of cellophane up at the top. Isn't that right? A bit of cellophane at the top, that let the light in. And boys, I can tell you, when they said that to me, oh, did you ever feel sorry for yourself, and oh dear, dear, dear, so ashamed? Ken, let me tell you this. The Lord came down. The Lord blessed her with an old organ. And the old organ, to tell you the truth, it was tied with baler twine. That's the truth. Tied with baler twine. Bertha Norman brought this wee girl, Evelyn, to play. This negro's girl, she was there to play. And Bertha was singing. She was a real operatic singer. And boy, she had some lungs, and she could nearly lift the roof. And I can remember as well, she said to a wee panel organ, and she says down from the public, she says, Evelyn! Would you please, would you peddle it? She says, I'm peddling, she says. I'm peddling. She was out of breath, she was peddling that much. Let me tell you, we said she'll never be back. She'll never be back. Oh, Macrafel, when she goes back to America, she'll talk about these people, a hole in the hedge. Oh, a hole never meant a hole in the hedge. But let me tell you, she came back a few years after that, and what did she say? The first place I want to go, be sure I'm going to Macrafel. The presence of the Lord was there. And let me tell you, little's much when God's in it. Thank God for the building that God has given us, but let me tell you, it's where Jesus is. That's heaven there. And the Lord came down, and God blessed, and people were getting saved. And then, prison. We went to a fray where we were told all the orange men were to go to Don Given. were to go, they were banned, walking and being given and we were all told to go by Mr. Smith. He told us to go and funnily enough he stayed away. But nevertheless we all went, 7,000 of us went. And I can remember it as well as if it was yesterday. I remember it because it was a very special occasion and I can remember well going to it. And I remember well we'd come up to the bridge and they had the bridge blocked and some of the folks seemed to push me forward for some reason or other, I can't understand it. But I had a bowler hat on my head. And I had this bowler hat on my head and there was a big soldier and he had got a baton. And I don't know how it happened, to be honest, to tell you the truth, but the baton and my bowler hat connected. And I saw a photograph afterwards, and it's true in here, the bowler hat was down like this. And I was like Andy Capp. And then I was taken and they lifted me and they took me to the bee hut in Langevin. And there they went through all of these things, and then they said, listen, there's a riot in Dungiven. Would you get them round there to quiet the people? So they sent me round, and when I got around, they were firing the CS gas. And I can honestly remember, I can tell you, if ever you've got a whiff of that, I can tell you, you know you've got a whiff of it. Because it just put you to the ground. And I remember holding myself, and I could hardly get a breath, and I said, I left a good place in Macrafelk to day along the road outside Dungiven. My friend, let me tell you, so it was taken to court and in between, I got married on the 25th of June 1971 and then I went into hospital just practically immediately after that, got my appendix out and then I went to court and I had the tube still out of my side and I remember R.M. Shearer sitting on the bench and he didn't like Dr. Paisley He was going to teach these boys a few lessons and I remember sitting there and Desmond Bole was my QC and standing up and Old Sierra says, would you prisoners sit up! And I remember Bole saying, Sir, he's only out of hospital this morning and he's got a tube out of the side. I remember what he said at the end of it, never forget it. And to tell you the truth, it didn't feel like laughing. He says, I sentence you to six months imprisonment in Her Majesty's Prison, Cumberland Road, Belfast. And I realised it was me he was talking about. And to tell you the truth, I felt like crying. And the next thing I hear, a thud. And I looked and I saw a arm down in her mouth, and no, she was in the ground. She went out for the count. I felt like going out for the count, but I couldn't. But she went out for the count, and I was taken back to the hospital, taken back to the Middlesbrough Hospital, and I was taken back onto the top corridor there, and I could hear the people who were going past the door, he's in there, he's in there, he got six months, did you hear it? I felt like saying I could nearly a pound a peep. You can come and take a look. But for the prison I was going. And I had to go to prison and the Lord was good. Remember, I wanted to preach my last sermon before going to prison. And I had to give in and let them know that I was sort of surrendering myself. And so I sort of had to go on the run for a few days. I went down to Scotch to get there, and I remember the police coming to... I thought they were coming for me, and I had to get out the back window and went into the next house through the back window, because I wanted to preach on a Sunday night. Do you ever feel like a fugitive? Well, that's exactly what I felt like. And I remember going there, and the morning came, and thank God for good friends. One of them, you know what she done? She took me to... up to the police station for to send me to prison, Ruth Stewart. Imagine anybody taking you up for, to go six months to prison and she says, I'll drive you. And she drove me to the police station for to go to prison. Friend, listen, when I went into prison, I'll tell you this, they gave me one privilege, my Bible. And I remember going in, remember this, that wasn't my upbringing. That wasn't where I was brought up and that wasn't the upbringing that my mum and dad gave me. It's as far from the prison door, they were never in trouble in their lives. And here their son a preacher. was going to prison for six months. Sentenced to six months. And I remember going in through the door, friend, and you had to go through the whole rigmarole and they had to wash and give you the prison clothes and all the rest of it. But the only thing they gave me was my Bible. I remember going into the basement of the prison. Do you ever feel sorry for yourself? Well, I did. Poor me. And I shouldn't be here and all the rest of it. All the guilty boys were outside and the innocent one was in. And friend, I must be honest, I was broken And I remember kneeling down beside my bed in the prison, down in the basement, and I says, God, if you don't help me through this, I'll never make it. And I remember looking down in the Scriptures, my Bible was sitting on the bed. And when I looked down at the Bible, this is what I read, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, nakedness, famine, pearl sword, me and all these things, We're more than conquerors. I remember looking up at the bars, and there were two sets of bars. And I remember looking up and I said, Lord, I'm separated from Anne, and I'm separated from the congregation, and I'm separated from my mum and dad, but Lord, I'm not separated from you. Nobody can separate me from you. And the door opened, and this big warden stepped in through the door. And another fella, and he had got a five gallon cup of tea, a can of tea. And I remember coming in and he sat this stuff down, which was supposed to be food, to the best of my knowledge. I didn't take it because, to tell you the truth, I still was feeling sorry for myself, and I didn't like it. It looked like treacle. But there was tea, and the mug was as yellow as a duck's foot. About, I don't know, many tens of thousands used it before I got it. I'm talking about giving you the job, so let me tell you, I felt like it when I looked at Don Mugg. And I sat down, and the boy walked in through the door, and he says to me, are you, are you the Reverend MacLean? I says, I am. Well, he says, don't worry, he says, I've asked the, I've asked the, the governor for you to come to my cell. And you know, when I went out through the door, I wondered to myself, what on under earth would any person, as he's seeing, what would he want to preach on his cell for? I'm trying to be honest before, but he wasn't seen. In fact, he had been the sword orderly at Princess Alexander's wedding. He was a prisoner now for UBF membership and gone. And he asked that I would be for his cell and that I would go down to the cookhouse and I'd be with him in the cookhouse. And friend, let me tell you, God was working for him, let me tell you, through that time of my imprisonment, and after that came out. I remember one night, I always read to him at night, always read the Scripture to him, always prayed with him. Then the light would go out, and when the light would go out, they'd lock the door, the light would go out. Then he would get down on his knees beside the bed and he would pray privately. And I remember one night he said to me, William, what are you doing? I says, Derek, I'm just praying. He says, would you mind if I joined you? And he knelt down in the cell beside my friend. And Derek said to me, saved by the grace of God and telling others the good news of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I had to go to prison to be able to reach him with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ there. But yet God does everything well, doesn't he? God does everything well, and there God was giving me an opportunity to reach Him with the Lord Jesus Christ. Just let me say this in passing, and I'd better finish quickly, but I'm only touching the surface. Ladies, never you complain about cooking again. Never, ever. If I hear you complaining about cooking, let me tell you something. Every Wednesday morning, I cooked, fried 1,000 eggs. 1,000 eggs, somewhere like Banty's. Banty eggs, you could hardly see them. But I cooked, fried 1,000 eggs. You started at 4 o'clock in the morning. And you fried those eggs. So never complain about what you have to do. Because I can tell you, well of course, the Queen, as Her Majesty should tell, they were wanting the good cooks, so they sent for me. And I was happy to oblige. But I can tell you, I made the soup. I also made the soup in the prison. And I must be honest, Dr. Paisley, he wasn't as gracious about it because he always called the soup donkey vomit, whatever that is. I made the soup and I tell you, the soup was made, the potatoes of the day before and everything else. Everything went into the mixer. If there were carrots, they went through the mixer. If it was the beans, they went through the mixer. Whatever it was, went through the mixer and all went into the spuds and was all scooped up for the next day. I remember one day, there was a principal officer and he says, where did those mince balls go? I said, sir, they're in the swill. What are they in the swill for? He says, get them out. They're for the soup tomorrow. And the swill was for the pigs. And we had to search through the swill to get the pigs, the mince balls out to put them through the mincer. So the boys never knew what they were getting. It's done them no harm. But friend, let me tell you, those were hard days. It's all right. I can talk about them now, and you can look back and laugh, but I can tell you, those were long days. Those were loneliness, but God was good. There was a sweet presence of the Lord in that place and God was gracious to us and God kept his hand upon us. I remember one night being taken to the station. I went into the station and I can remember it was Frank Flynn, who was the superintendent at the time, he used to always say, any questions? And I remember Frank was in the station and he said to me, he said, sit down there, Mr. Macrae. And I sat down and I noticed, and I can honestly say this, I noticed there were arms on the seat. I said to myself, what have I done? Because he wouldn't let me sit down on a seat that had no arms. And I thought to myself, I'm going to be interrogated. And he said, sit down there. And I sat down in the seat. He said, listen, Mr. Macrae, I have bad news for you. I said, what's wrong? He said, you're to be murdered this weekend. I said, what? He says, I would take the smile of your face, Mr. Macrae. He says, you're to be murdered this weekend. Now he went on, and this is what he said to me. He said, we'll be able to tell you at five o'clock whether it's on or not. And I couldn't understand that. Around about twenty to five or so, he and all the senior officers went out of Macrath station. And they left me with one policeman. And I must be honest, I didn't know what to think, because that was the first time I ever was told, you're to be murdered this weekend. And I wondered, what's going to happen here? And I was hoping they'd come in and say, no, no, sorry, misunderstanding, mistake. I remember him coming back through the door and they all sat down again. He looked over at me and he said to me, I'm sorry to tell you it's only too true, but you can be thankful. I said to him, to be murdered this weekend and you said to be thankful? He said yes. The reason why that we're able to tell you this, listen to this way, the reason why we're able to tell you this is because one of the group that was to be sent to do the job, that has been sent to do the job, one of that group has told us about because you helped his mother and father and he can't get over it you helped his mother and father when nobody else would help them and he can't do the job and he's let us know I don't know who he is yet but I know that God does And God used that IRA man, whoever he is, and he couldn't do the job. Now they came to do the job, but it was a Friday night, and we used to have a wee hall in the front there, at the church in the front. And they came on that Friday night, but the police had gotten notice of it, and therefore they were surrounding the church and they had to disappear. And they went after them, but unfortunately they got away. But God's hand of preservation was upon us. They sent for my 40th birthday. They say life begins at 40. My 40th birthday they sent me a ball. I'd just gone away to the States. God was good. Let me tell you, we get magazines in this church, Trinitarian Bible Society, and we get them in a parcel. They already knew that we got those magazines. and they knew it was the Trinitarian. The only mistake they made was one word. Trinitarian Missionary Society, they wrote on it, not Trinitarian Bible Society. That was the only mistake. They also knew that I opened every parcel. And they also knew something else. Where I opened every parcel, where I opened every letter, it was in a certain seat in my living room with my back to the window. And the triggering mechanism of the bomb was the light. My youngest child always came when I was opening parcels and opening letters, and she said, Daddy, I need the stamps. And Fanny would not only have blown me to bits, but had blown her to bits too. She didn't care. But God and His sovereignty had me away. There are those also in this place who know exactly how it happened. Rodney left the parcel in the living room, but remember we were away, so therefore the room was put in darkness. The curtains were pulled. Isn't God good? He left the parcel there, I think it was Pearl who saw the parcel and she decided that of course there was a parcel on the table and it should be opened just in case there was someone in it that needed to be cut out. And so she told Rodney about it and she must have kept on because he went and opened the parcel and then he realised it was a book, the size of the parcel but it was a book where all the centre was all cut out and the bomb was put in there and the trigger mechanism was the light. He says, it's a bomb. Perth says, don't be so silly, it's not a bomb. She decided to have it keep two, but I can tell you it wasn't long since she put her hand down. I left it, and they had to detonate the bomb in the very room. They couldn't take it out. They left off the detonator in the living room on Hayfield Road. But God preserved our lives. And then I look back one other time, and that was That night, which I certainly will never forget that night, I was going to the States on our holidays, and I can remember very well, Barry and Ruth were just leaving here, and I think Ruth, because I was going the next day and I wasn't going away for a couple of weeks, she just sat and chatted for a while. I needed really to actually put, fill my case because I hadn't that done, I was going away the next morning. But we sat and chatted for a while, and God was good because in actual fact God was preserving my life. Anne and the children, Paul and Christine and the children were going into the house. They were going into the house that night. Faith ran up the stairs to change her clothes to come down again as opposed to get her supper and then goes to... She went over to the window and looked out the window. Well, they thought she looked out the window although she saw nothing. She went over to the window just for a split second And unknown to her, there were two men sitting with AK-47 in the car down below. They believed that they were seen. So therefore they couldn't wait any more. This was the last hero's act before the ceasefire. This was their last bravado act. It was the murder of this preacher and their family. They couldn't wait any more, but God had strapped me here. And so they got out and they riddled They fired to the very window, the very spot where faith had been standing. They were willing to murder a child, but also murder Anne and the rest of the family, Christine, Paul, a lot of them. They didn't care. And they riddled the house. But God preserved his friend. Not a hair of her head was hurt. I look back and I say, Lord, I have been kept. I've been kept, kept by the merciful hand of God for all of these years." And then she said, lastly, used. I had the privilege of preaching the gospel, not only here, but in many parts of the world. I've climbed the hills of Peru and told them Jesus saves. I've gone up the muddy waters of Brazil, up the Amazon, And there I told them again that Jesus saves. I went after the fall of Chichescu to Romania and in that land to tell them that Jesus saves. I went to Puerto Rico recently and there I told them the same message that I told the rest and I'm saying to you, Jesus saves. Jesus saves. I want God to use the little that there is of my life. Many people are still unseen. I remember one night being called to the hospital. There was a man in the hospital. In actual fact, he was very, very ill. He was lying in the hospital bed. The nurse, the Roman Catholic nurse, said to him, if you want me to call a preacher, call a minister. He was so distraught, so troubled, He said he was dying, they said he wasn't. He was absolutely distraught, he was in torment, torment of mind and torment of soul. He was a chiropodist in this time. His own minister, I don't know whether they actually called, but this Roman Catholic nurse said, do you want me to call your minister? He said no. Do you want me to call the Reverend Macrae? He said no. which he said, he's always in and out here, his father, my dad was in hospital at that time. It was in the early hours of the morning, the phone rang and the nurse said, this is the Madolster Hospital, could you come to the hospital? Someone would like to speak to you. Because that man called that nurse again and said, did you say to Reverend McRae, would you tell him I want to speak to him? I went in to speak to him, and as I went into the little room, the very room that Roberta was in, George, and that we enter part of the intensive care. And then I saw a soul on the verge of God's eternity, it seemed. And it was absolute turmoil, as if he was on the verge of hell. And he said to me, he begged me, he said, listen, I'm dying, but they won't listen. I know I'm dying, but they won't listen, and I'm afraid. And then I gave him my testimony. I told him how God saved me. Then as I stood in that room and his family were sitting around, I don't think one of them saved. I had the joy of leading that man to Jesus Christ. And I led him to the Saviour and the peace of God. And then he gathered his family and one by one he called them to his side and he said, listen, listen, meet me in heaven. And if you're ever going to meet me in heaven, you'll have to come as a sinner just as I came. You'll have to receive Jesus as your Saviour too. I remember the nurses wanted to change him and turn him. And I remember us going out and I remember his wife saying to me, you know, I think I'll go down and get a rest. The nurses said he's completely quiet, he's completely still now and everything's well. And we were sitting in the little room, and as we were sitting in the little room where the patients, or the families were sitting, I said to her, I said, listen, you can go home and rest, but let me tell you, if the Lord calls him, he's ready to go. God has changed his life tonight. He's gloriously saved. And friend, as I was staying, just sitting there saying that to him, the nurse ran in through the door of the little room, she said, Reverend McRae, I'm calling the lady by her name. Come quick, come quick!" And we walked into the little intensive care, the inner intensive care room. Remember he said earlier on, I'm dying, they don't believe me. I'm dying, but they won't listen. Then let me tell you, in a few moments, he was dead. But thank God he was saved. My earnest prayer is that many more will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior too. Maybe you've sat and listened to my preaching for years, friend. Maybe just recently, I don't know. But can I ask you a question? Are you saved? If the Lord was to call you tonight, if the Lord was to say, This night thy soul shall be a part of thee. Will God say to you, thou fool, because you're playing with your soul, friend. Listen, to lose your wealth, that's sad indeed. To lose your health's more. But to lose your soul, that's such a loss that no man can restore. Friend, are you saved tonight? Some of you are past the preschool year in ten. You're not saved. Friend, what are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? The Spirit in the bride says, come! You say, how do I come? You come as you are, as a lost, guilty, hell-deserving, ill-deserving sinner. And you come and you cry out to God and say, Lord, save me, I perish. Thank God he will. My uncle died. He never come back for him. He never leave the place that he headed to that night. And I can't change it. But you're in the day of grace. You can come tonight. May God give you grace to come in Jesus' name. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray in Jesus' name that thou will draw precious souls to the Saviour. Thou knowest how precious this moment is. Men and women and young people are standing in the very vestibule of eternity. They're not ready. Maybe there are those that have wandered away. The more they've wandered away from me and their hearts are cold and they're careless and they're not living the way they ought to live. And they're living wasted years. Oh God, bring them back to yourself. As their heads are bowed and eyes are closed in the closing moment, friend, you come to the Saviour. Is there someone in this congregation, friend, that will die in their sin and one day I'll be called to the judgment to witness against you? I preached the Word. I warned them of their need of Jesus, but they would not come. And where Christ is, you'll never be.