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Can I just say it's great to
be here with you in Cumber this evening. And even though he's
already received a warm word of welcome, I'll be the third
man to tell you that tonight, that you are very, very welcome.
blesses and encouraged me. I'm sure your minister here and
the elders in the committee here are really encouraged to see
the turnout here tonight. And I would just like to say personally
how thrilled and how grateful I am to be here and for you to
be here as well. Also, as our brother has said,
I would just like to thank him for his friendship and for his
encouragement, as he mentioned. I give my testimony whenever
he was a minister in Lisburn and also as I said I have given
my testimony quite a few times now but do you want to know what
as I was saying today there's still people that needs to hear
what the Lord has done in my life and even though at times
I feel like a broken record that's just sometimes how I feel but
it still amazes me yet to this day of what the Lord can do in
somebody's life if you're willing to give up your life and to follow
Him. It really is worth it. And I
speak to the youngest here this evening right to the eldest. If you make that decision this
evening and come to Jesus with childlike faith to say, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. And see, once you do that wholeheartedly,
your life will change forever. I can guarantee and I can rest
assure you, and I can look at every single one of you straight
in the eye and tell you that from personal experience. I would
like us to turn in our Bibles just to give you a wee verse,
please, to the New Testament of 1 Peter and the chapter 3. 1 Peter and the chapter 3. As I was praying about the meeting
here this evening, I was praying for the Lord to give me a verse.
Generally, whenever I give my testimony, I tend to kind of
stick to the same verse. You know, I would switch at the
odd time, but I thought this would be nice. And the Lord has really
spoke to me in this verse, and I hope he speaks to you as much
as he has to me. So without further ado, if we
all there, 1 Peter chapter three, and we're just going to read
one verse for time's sake. 1 Peter chapter three and the
verse 15. And God's word says, but sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and with fear. I don't know about you, but whenever
I read that verse, I ask myself the question, and I ask each
and every one of yous the question, if somebody was to ask you the
night, what is the reason of the hope that is in you? What would be your reply? Think about that for a wee minute.
If you were asked to give a reason of the hope that is in you, what
would you say? I know what my reason would be.
I had tried the pleasures of the world and of what the world
has to offer. And our brother touched on it.
It's just funny how the Lord works and it all ties in with
what I'm going to say. And do you want to know the result whenever
I tried the things of the world and what the world has to offer?
It leaves you completely empty. And do you want to know what?
Yes, the world has things to offer, and they're appealing,
and they have a pull to us, but what does the Bible say in Hebrews
chapter 11 and the verse 25? The Bible tells us that yes,
sin is pleasurable, but what does the last wee bit of that
verse say? It's only pleasurable for a season. Everything that
this world has to offer us, basically, as only temporary, everything
that God offers us as eternal, and we praise God for that. But
there comes a day in each and every one of our lives where
we have a God to meet. And the Bible also tells us that,
and it says, prepare to meet thy God. And the question is
I have for each and every soul here gathered tonight on Sunday,
the 23rd of May, 2021, if it was God's will for him to take
you from this world this evening, would he be your judge or would
he be your friend? The pleasures of this world leaves
you empty But what does the relationship with Jesus do? Well, the Bible
tells us in Matthew chapter five and the verse six, it's actually
my life verse. I don't know if it's used, but I have a life
verse. It's my favorite verse in all
the Bible. And it's in one of the B attitudes. And it says,
blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. For what? For they shall be filled. Do you see the difference already?
The word leaves you empty. You can try it. It'll leave you
empty. Whenever you have the Lord in
your life, you'll be totally filled. Have you ever felt empty inside? I know I have. I'm not ashamed to say I felt
empty inside. But with Christ in my heart and
my life, I can truly say I'm filled. everything that we all once were
seeking for before we could see if what was that there was always
there's that missing void and Each and every one of our lives
and that missing void as a living walking relationship with our
Savior the Lord Jesus Christ The Bible also tells us in 2nd
Corinthians 5 and the verse 17 therefore if any man be in Christ
He is a new creature old things are passed away. Behold, all
things are become you. You see, whenever you make that
most important crystal choice in your life to reject the gospel
or to receive the gospel, whenever you receive the gospel, there's
that change that comes into your life. There's a wee verse in
Joshua 24 in the verse 15, and it says, choose you this day
whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord. Can I ask you another personal
question tonight? Have you made that choice? Have you made that
choice to pick up your cross and to follow him? Without Jesus, Matthew Hunter
is absolutely nothing. And before I start sharing my
testimony, Can I just say this is nothing of what I have done
in my life. I give all the glory to my savior,
the Lord Jesus. I was born and raised in a little
town called Randallstown. So I'm quite well traveled this
evening. It's nice to get out a wee run. And it's a nice part
of the country, I do have to say. And I attended Randallstown
Central Primary School as a young boy. And I'm not going to go
into too much details tonight, but to give you a rough background
of what my life was like as a child, I attended Sunday school with
my granny and my granda. I went to the Friday night meetings.
I went to the youth fellowships. And believe it or not, I actually
made a profession to get saved as a young boy. I acknowledged
and realized as a young boy that I was a sinner and my need for
a savior But the problem with my profession was there was no
fruit. There was nothing to say in the
life of Matthew Hunter, there's a fellow's life that has changed,
even as a young boy. And I really struggled with going
into primary school. There were things that happened
in my life growing up that was really, really hard on me. And
by the age of 12, I suffered depression. really,
really badly by the age of 12 years old as a young boy. And
I was put on antidepressants as a 12-year-old. And I was actually
placed in a hospital because of my mental health that had
deteriorated so badly. And this was at the age of 12.
And my family got me out of there, thankfully. And I kind of healed,
but I never really healed, if that makes sense. And unfortunately,
as often times as it happens, maybe I'm speaking to some young
boy or girl in here tonight, and maybe even a wee bit older,
maybe in your late 20s, and you maybe don't know what I done,
you went to the youth, you were brought up through Sunday school, but
you know, there comes a time in your life, and may I just
add for parents here, for mothers and fathers, there's a wee verse
in Proverbs that says, train up a child in the way he should
go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And a mother
and father's prayer and jibbe, and burden is to raise up their
children in the best way that they possibly can. But there
comes a time in a young person's life where they're old enough
and big enough to make their own choice. And that is to follow
the word or to follow the Lord. And unfortunately with me, it
was to follow the word. I'll be honest, it got to the
stage, the age I was at in my life, where church was boring.
Our brother touched on it. People are led to believe that
the Christian life is a boring life. I can tell you, it's far
from it. I laugh at times and the tears is tripping me. And
it's not with sorrow, but it's with joy. I have never been as
happy in my life. And that was my thinking as a
young boy. It was boring, it was unappealing,
couldn't be bothered, didn't want to do my own thing. He's
know the trend, he's know how it goes at times. And little
did I know that that decision that I would make would become
influential in the wrong ways in my life. Because really what
I had done was, I turned my back on God. And stopped going to
church, didn't want to do it anymore. Matthew wanted to do
his own thing. Went to secondary school, went
to Cullabakie secondary school. I got bullied at school as well,
from time to time. And this was along with the depression
as well. So you're kind of building up
a picture in your head now of what my life was like as a young
boy. It was pretty, what would you say, troubled, you know,
as a young boy. I have to say now, my mother
really done a good job of raising me and my sister. She done the
best that she could. And unfortunately, the bullying got so bad that
I got pulled out of that secondary school. And sorry, I told you
Kalabaki. I went to Park Hall for my first
school, and then I made the transition to Kalabaki in second year. And
the bullying continued. But this is whenever we're starting
to get into the story a wee bit here. Hopefully I'm not being
too long-winded, by the way, already. And sin really started
entering my life. And you'll say, Matthew, what
do you mean by that there? Well, as often times it happens, a
child makes that transition, that huge transition, may I add,
from primary school, and you go on to high school. And you're
exposed to a lot of things, and you've a lot of choices to make,
a lot of good choices to make. And I started smoking, started
off smoking with me. Call it what you want, peer pressure,
because the ones I was on the bike with was doing it. And by
the way, see what took place in my life? I don't blame anybody
for it. It was all my own doing. Started
smoking, started smoking cannabis, started taking and experimenting
with harder drugs, ecstasy, speed. This was all at high school,
by the way. And I'll be honest with you, I had no interest in
school at that time. Couldn't wait to get left school.
Always had an interest to work. And I don't know if there's any
farmers in here tonight, but I actually loved farming whenever
I was younger. I would have milked cows, I would
have drove tractors and got on, I would have worked in car washes,
always worked, always wanted to get my hands dirty. And I
would have rather worked than went to school, to be honest.
I was more interested in working than getting an education. And
that's one thing I do regret, was not doing better at school
with my education. Whenever I was still at school, I landed myself
with my first proper job. And basically, due to my sinful
actions, that didn't end too well. And I got fired from that
job. And even though I knew what I
had done that day, I was totally devastated that I had got, this
job was no longer. And I was out of work for a period
of time, for probably about six months, the only time I had ever
been out of work in my life. And my uncle had this vision
to open a business. This was back in 2007. And the
recession, if you can remember, had hit really bad at the time.
And he opened up a bodybuilding gym in the town of Ballymena. And I started off working in
there part-time. Now, I am still quite, what would
you say, naive, I was quite sheltered, I wasn't really exposed to what
was going to happen next in my life, if you get me. Yes, I had
smoked and I took a drink, turned my back on God, but in my eyes
I was quite sensible. And I was working in that gym,
a very brief time, and I got introduced to the drug called
cocaine. It's a white, powdered substance.
It was as simple as this. It was offered to me, and I tried
it. And do you want to know what?
As sin always starts off with, it was all fun and games at the
start. You could have took it or left it. But gradually, as
it happens, the Bible tells us, sin when it is finished bringeth
forth death. And this drug, cocaine, was starting
to take real control of my life. My family became aware of it.
They were totally disgusted, ashamed, embarrassed of what
I was doing. But as somebody on addiction
does, what did I do? I told a lot of lies. I manipulated my family. I had
the promises of change that never came. I'm sorry, mum, I'll not
do it again. I'm sorry, Granda, for what I'm
putting you through. I'm sorry I'll change. I was
like a broken record. The change never came. As if that wasn't bad enough,
it had really, really started consuming my life. This drug
had total control of me. I had no control over it. And I'm not going to go into
too much detail, but in 2015, I got badly beat up due to taking
drugs. And the result of that incident
was two broken cheekbones and a fractured eye socket. I nearly
lost the sight in my left eye. I have plates in my face. And my family were totally devastated. They were heartbroken. the scene what drugs was doing
to a loved one, the scene what sin was doing to a loved one,
the scene how it changed Matthew into somebody that they didn't
know anymore. And see after that there happened, it still wasn't
even enough for me to change. And do you want to know why it
wasn't enough? It's very simple, because I still hadn't hit rock
bottom. I was still, would you believe, I was still taking pleasure
in taking this drug. Once I was healed up, I was straight
back at it again, taking cocaine. And with that being said, I was
at it all the harder. I was taking it more. Why was I doing that? That was an escape from reality.
And isn't that what people do? You take drink to numb the pain.
You take cocaine to forget about that late payment on the car
insurance or the mortgage or whatever it may be. You block out the pain. You come
off the high and you hit the low. What happens? You're still
faced with the problem. It doesn't go away. My sin finally found me out,
as the Bible tells us. And that was 2017, I believe. So I continued from, I got that
vicious attack. I continued for about another
two years. And it really, really, really
did, it got a lot worse. And I was finally caught out. And again, basically what I'd
done, I'd done a very sameful thing. I stole money off my uncle. to get more drugs. And he caught me out. And it was a fella's wedges that
I had took for more drugs. And my uncle rung me up. And
he knew rightly, because the trust was broken. The trust was
gone. Trust is a very hard thing to gain, but see,
once it's lost, it's also very hard to gain back. It takes time.
You see, somebody in addiction, it just doesn't affect the individual.
It's like wildfire, it's like the domino effect. It affects
every single person. And there's never a truer saying,
you hurt the people that you love the most. And that was the
truth, and that was the case in my life too. And my uncle caught me out, and
he had realized what I had done. And he says, Matthew, that's
it, I'm sorry. He says, I'm gonna have to let you go. And I can honestly say I was
on my way to get more drugs that evening and I turned the car
and I came straight home. My heart was beating, as a man
says, like Joe 90. I had realised the penny had
finally dropped what I had done. And another thing was the money
supply for my habit was gone as well. That was another huge
thing and I thank God that he finally, this was his final warning
for me to bring me onto my knees and to say, Matthew, when are
you ever gonna learn? There's a wee verse in Romans
chapter 12, and I'll quote it, and it goes along the lines of,
I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies a holy, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable onto God. And what does that verse mean?
God gave everything for us, his son, to die on the cross for
the sins that me, that I have committed. Why not you, Matthew,
give your life to him? It's the least you can do is
give him a reasonable service. And I can honestly say throughout
my addiction, I was really searching and I was really seeking for
help. And this is where the story of, you'll all know him, most
of you will know him, and again he's a real good friend of mine,
is Chris Killen. And he has a Facebook page called
The Answer to Addiction. And basically I was on one night
and I was looking for help and there was this, Chris was advertising
a meeting and I remember there was another man testifying who
was caught up in drug addiction, gave his life to the Lord, and
the Lord changed his life. And I can just remember the tears
was just rolling down both sides of my face. Why? Well, suppose, number one, I
was broken. I was desperate. I didn't know
how to get out of what I was in. And I wanted what they had. I knew what they had was real.
I knew it wasn't fake. I knew it wasn't a temporary
thing, like I had been involved in before, all temporary things.
This was everlasting. My aunt knew nothing about me
watching these videos, and my aunt didn't know what to do.
And who did she ring? She rung Chris Killen. And Chris
Killen came out and seen me. It was one Sunday evening, I'll
never forget it after church. And I was in a bad, bad way. I more or less said to him along
the lines, Chris, what can I do to get help? I'm willing to do
absolutely anything. And that's the thing I want to
say to you as God's people. See if you're praying for a loved
one, for a family member, never give up in prayer. Be faithful
in prayer. Why? My family was praying for
me. I had people praying for me.
That's why I'm standing here this evening. It is but the grace
of God. I am what I am. And I was destined to go to a
Christian residential program in Dublin, in the south, called
Tala. And it was a year program. Filled
out the application. I was ready to go. Now, let me
just emphasize, going to the program wasn't going to be the
thing that changed my life. A program is a tool. that's used
to get you in a relationship with God and to cover all the
areas of the problems that you have and to see yourself as a
person for who you really are. And there's no better thing to
see yourself whenever you read this. The Lord had other plans. I didn't
actually end up going to the home in Dublin. I would have
had to wait, this was December 2017, I would have had to wait
up to January 2018. And I get a phone call, and it
was put to me, Matthew, would you go to America? And I was
in the kitchen with my mum at the time, and I says, America? Now bear in mind, I'm not well-travelled. And I said to myself, sorry,
I said to Chris, I says, when do I go? Because you see, the
thing is, I got to the stage in my life where I oftentimes
say, I would want to China to get help. That may seem a bit
far-fetched, But I had totally came to the end of myself. And
I realized what I needed to do, and that was to surrender my
life to God. Because I had no life to begin with. And I flew
out to America. I'm very grateful for the people
that was involved in getting me out to America. And I was
through a Baptist church, North Love Baptist Church. And the
name of the ministry is called Reformers Unanimous. And Paul
Kingsbury is the pastor. I do believe he has preached
in some of our churches over here. And I went over there on
the 20th of December, 2017. And whenever I got there, I fully
surrendered my life to the Lord. I asked him to forgive me. And
I was genuine. I wasn't just saying this for
people pleasing. I was genuine. The tears was
trickling. I said, Lord, forgive me. The things I have done, I
says, please forgive me. I give my life to you. You have
your own way, Lord. And I'll do whatever you want me to do.
And I can honestly say from that point on that my life has truly
changed forever. I came home and I was praying
about it, about what to do next. And I worked in the men's home
where I was originally meant to go to for 10 months. And it
was a very, very humbling experience because I was now in the position
of helping other people. and to share with them the gospel
that sets men and women free, to find out their purpose in
life. What is life all about? Jesus says, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. Worked on there for 10 months.
And I'll be honest with you, I'm a wee bit of a home bird.
And I was down in Dublin for nearly a year, and I was missing
home. But I said to myself, right,
Lord, I'm in your will. I'm happy. I'm content. The next
thing, again, another phone call. And it was a man from up home
here, he had offered me a full-time job. He knew all about my background. He was one of the men that helped
get me away to America, so he knew everything about me. And this
man was willing to give me another chance, a chance in life. And people may say, Matthew,
why did you leave the Lord's work to go to a circular job?
I believe that the Lord, I'm in this season of my life where
the Lord is humbling me, he's shaping me, he's moulding me,
and he's developing me for the bigger and better things that's
yet to come. My heart's desire is really, in full-time ministry,
to reach out to men and women that's lost, to do what Jesus
would do if he was on earth today, to reach out to the lost. I've
now been working full-time for two years. It's actually coming
this week, this coming week, I'll be two years working full-time.
And I'll be honest with you, and you'll laugh at me, I call
myself normal. And you'll say to yourselves,
it depends what you class as normal. You think I'm not wise.
But I actually class myself as normal now. I'm working full-time. I'm earning a full-time wage. My family relationships has been
totally restored. In fact, we're the closest we've
ever been. My mom has came out with me to gospel missions. My
wee nephew is going to Sunday school. I'm a Sunday school teacher. I used to be a drug addict less
than four years ago. I'm a member of my church in
Randallstown. I get the opportunity to take
midweek prayer meetings, get the opportunity to share my testimony,
I got the opportunity to help Chris. Now, I have to say, I
don't get out as much as I would like to with my full-time job,
but my phone is always on for people that need help. But my
time has gone this morning. It's shifting quickly, and I
could talk on and on and on, to be honest with you. But I
just really want to say to you is if, and I genuinely mean this
from the bottom of my heart, If there's anything I can ever
do for anybody in this church, young or old, or somebody listening
to this broadcast, if there's anything I can do, even a phone
call, even a chat, a conversation, a coffee, socially distanced,
anything at all, that I can be of help, I want to try and to
help you. And maybe for somebody here that
hasn't took that step of faith yet, to come and to ask Jesus
into their life as their own and personal savior. You know,
sometimes people think there has to be these big fireworks
and stuff whenever you get saved. It's not like that at all. All
you have to do is say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Genuine
repentance, meaning it from the heart, not to people, please.
Don't be worrying about what your neighbor says or about what
your workmate says or a family member. Please don't let that put you
off. Would you come tonight to the one who can change your life
forever? I'll hand back now to the mother. Well, we do thank our brother
Matthew for sharing with us that personal word of testimony. And
as he said, he could talk all night. There's so much more in
his life that he hasn't shared with you, but he has summarized
it in the time that he has taken. But what we're staring at tonight
is reality. Some people in the world will
mock Christianity, and they will say it's the figment of your
imagination. They say it's not for me, and all this nonsense
we hear. But what we're facing tonight
is reality. People may even say, well, I wouldn't become a Christian
because the church is full of hypocrites. And there might be
hypocrites, but there are hypocrites everywhere. but we realize if
someone says, well, you know, there are people and they're
just counterfeit. Well, if they're counterfeit, then they have,
there has to be reality. It can't be a counterfeit if
you don't have something that's real and what you're witnessing
tonight is something that's genuine, that's real. He said it himself
four years ago, he was an addict. Four years later, he's a People don't realize the change
in the gospel. They'll be saying, huh, we know there's an addict
in Randallstown and he's teaching Sunday school. but he's converted. He's saved by the grace of God.
I did have a little chuckle to myself sitting there when he
mentioned that he moved from one drug to the next, and then
he eventually moved on to cocaine, and he spoke about being high
on cocaine. And then the next breath, he says, and I love farming.
I thought to myself, you don't have to be high on drugs to love
farming, surely not. And there are a lot of farmers
here. Don't go to the door, that's all I can say. you'll get a handshake,
and it'll be like sandpaper. And that's just their wives.
Their men are worse than that, I can tell you. But I did have a little
chuckle because there's plenty of farmers here, brother, and
you're right company if you love farming in this house. But we
have seen reality tonight, the grace of God, a transformation. There are many young people out
there tonight, and they need the Savior. They really do. They
have no purpose in life. empty. It's empty. It is empty.
You talk to them. That's why suicide among the
young is rife. How could a young person at sixteen
or 19 years of age say of nothing to live for? How could they ever
get to that place? Because they don't have the lord.
They don't have the lord. And if they have Christ, Christ
comes to Life with a capital L. Life that
has quality about it. Life that brings joy and contentment. It's not a bed of roses. It's
not. And we're not saying that we walk about with a coat hanger
in our mouth with a smile all the time. We don't. We go through
our trials and tribulations. But with Christ in the vessel,
we can smile at the storm. We know he's in control. He's
ordering our lives. He's directing our affairs and
everything's working out for our good because he loves us
and he's with us all the way and he never leave us nor forsake
us and that's why we convene meetings like this that you too
might come to know Christ as your savior that you might be
saved that you might enjoy the salvation Matthew spoke about
that you might come to Christ tonight and a free Presbyterian. You're not
becoming a Baptist or a Pentecostal. You're not becoming some Anglican
or anything like that. You're becoming a Christian.
That suggests you're not born a Christian. You've got to be
born again. You have to have that time in
your life and experience. And you know, I want to tell
you this. We could bring dozens of converted drug addicts to
this meeting house. And maybe in the future when
these regulations are relaxed, we will literally bring them
to this house from that very home that our brother was speaking
about. Dayton Kelly and all those men.
Bring them to this house. And I tell you something, those
stories are horrific. Of ruined lives. And yet they're and the lord spurs us all. I
would like those men to come up here with our brother Chris
Killen and they will share with you what the lord has done for
their souls. Remarkable testimonies. Remarkable. Now, what about you tonight?
As we close, where do you stand with god? Face up to reality sin? Have you repented of your
sin? Have you believed that Christ alone can save you? If not, why
not come tonight? Young person, older person, and
receive Christ into your heart and into your life as your own
and your personal savior. You can go away tonight with
the joy of sins forgiven. Peace with God. You can lay your
head on the pillow tonight knowing that if anything ever happened
to you, should you or if the Lord was to return
again, it's well with your soul. You're cleansed in the blood.
You have peace with God. Money can't buy that. Nothing
in this world can give you that. Oh, to have God's salvation and
to know for sure that you're heaven bound and that Christ
is your savior. It's something more than gold.
It's something more than all the riches of this world. I tell
you what it is. It's everything. It's everything. And our brother Matthew has related
that story of his conversion and then the change. Here's the
reality of the gospel and what the Lord has done for Matthew,
he can do for you tonight. He can change your life. We don't
want to prolong the meeting, but I could say to you, I could
bring people to this pulpit right now. church. I just hear they're
in yonder from upstairs from young to the eldest. I could
bring him to this pulpit and say just just tell us how it
happened. When we're in high and they'll
tell you of a time in their life when they were saved. It's a
common experience. It's not something we make up.
You couldn't write the script for the church. The world don't
believe it. The world just cast scorn upon and it can be you tonight. Now,
we'll not march you into a pulpit. We'll not say, well, once you
get saved, you're up here. Now, tell us how it happened. No,
no, no, we'll not do that. I wouldn't embarrass you. You
see, it's a personal thing as well, isn't it? It's between
you and God. Now, will you do something tonight? Will you settle the matter of
your soul's salvation with God? Will you do it? Have you said
to me, well, I don't know how to do it. Well, if you would
like to speak to Matthew, If you want to speak to myself or
some Christian friend that you know in this congregation, well
able to point you to the Savior, well, please do that. Don't go
away without Christ tonight. Don't leave this house, young
person, older person, without the Savior. This is the night
that you need to be saved. This is the night that you need
to get right with God. God is here. Christ is here.
His arms are open wide. He says to you, come unto me. Come to Christ tonight. you. He will welcome you. He will
pardon and he will forgive you and he will save you and then
the Holy Spirit will come into your life and you'll have a new
dynamic, a new power. Why has he not returned to cocaine?
Why? Has he not gone back to the nightclub?
Why hasn't he gone back to drink or to smoking? Why has he not
gone back to those other He's got something far better.
And there's no comparison. He is Christ. I wonder, do you
have what Matthew has? Maybe you said, love to be a
Christian. I'd love to get saved. I'd love to know Christ. But
I just don't know how. My friend, I want to tell you
how. You've got to admit you're a sinner. Do you believe that?
Do you believe that you have sinned against God? Do you believe
also that your sin is an offense to God? and it must be paid for,
and you have nothing to offer God, not a single thing. No good
works, no church attendance would ever get you to heaven, nor would
it deal with your sin. In fact, you're helpless and
you're hopeless, and until you get to that place, you'll never
be saved. But if you're there tonight and
you say, preacher, I agree with everything that man said, I believe
I'm a sinner. I believe I'm lost and perishing.
I believe I can't save myself. But do you believe that Jesus
Christ alone died on the cross to save you? Do you believe that
he shed his blood, that your sins might be forgiven and God
would accept the sacrifice of Christ for you? Do you believe
that? Yes, I do. Well, friend, you're not far
from the kingdom, but you're just not in there. You're just
not saved yet. But will you come? would you
say to the Lord Jesus, I believe you died for me and I truly repent
of my sin. I turn from my sin just as Matthew
did. He yielded his life to Christ.
He put all on the altar and he says, Lord, every piece of me,
every part of me is yours and he gave his heart and his life
to Christ and he invited the savior in and Christ came in
and saved him and now the Holy Spirit lives and to teach Sunday school, and
to do many other things that he is doing, and to witness to
other fellow addicts, although he's now converted one, and to
tell them how they, too, can have victory in Jesus' name.
Will you come tonight? If you say, Preacher, I'd like
to talk more about that, I would like just to chat to you. Well,
listen, friends, we have all night, believe me, we have all
night. We are in no hurry away. I don't think so. Anyway, Matthew,
I'm talking for you as well. You work in the morning. I only
work one day a week so I'm alright. Finished tonight at twelve midnight.
I'm only jesting. But I tell you we will wait till
next Sunday if it's needful. Just to point you to the Savior.
That you go away tonight with the joy of sins forgiven and
peace with God. And you would be saved by God's
grace. Now we can't save you. We can't do it. but you've got
to come and he will, Christ will save your precious never dying
soul. Can I just say in closing? that
we have some free publications tonight. He talked about our
brother, Chris Killen. Chris has a little booklet just
produced recently, and Teaching the Truth in Relation to Drugs. This is a free publication. You can take one or more of these
tonight as you leave. They should be at the door as
you're leaving, and then the two exit doors here as well,
and probably going out from the gallery. If you want a copy of
that, you know someone would benefit from that book if you'd
like to take a couple. would ask you please not to take
30 and 40 and sell them on the black market. No, they're free
of charge. They're designed in the gospel
to teach the truth about addiction and about drugs. We have handed
these out to the Sunday school and some of our young people
here in the church. It's not only educational, but
it's the answer to addiction. Addiction. Christ is the answer.
And then we have, again, a book that has gone very, very quickly.
It's free of charge. It's in relation to mental health.
And we know that during COVID-19 and lockdown, so many people
are facing mental health issues. And they're very lonely. You
ever think in the book of Genesis what God said when he created
everything? He looked upon it and he said these words. It was
very good. But there was one thing in a
perfect world he said wasn't good. And he says it's not good
that man should be alone. loneliness leads to mental health. This booklet by Dr. Nigel Campbell
and the Reverend Colin Mercer is basically based on the Psalms
42 and 3. It's a tremendous little booklet.
Take it tonight, it's free of charge. If you want to give it
out to some people you know that would read it and benefit from
it, then that's available tonight. Sorry we can't give this book
away. It is priced not because of ourselves but because of the
publisher. It's $6.95 and it's simply Boy
Matthew. It's the story, the tragic story
of tragedy and grief and the loss of young Matthew Arnold. four years of age and was killed
on his motorcycle. And I did the funeral service
along with the Reverend Paul Thompson and Phyllis and Hartford
Arnold, who lost two children, Thomas and Wensley, and lost
a third child to that motorbike accident. It's called Boy Matthew,
and it outlines just their reflections upon their son and how they have
dealt with that tragedy and that grief. Now, we're sorry we can't
give this away tonight. We'd like to do that, but it's
priced at 695. You can take a copy, leave your
details with the, I guess our brother Jackie, and then you
can furnish the finance a little later on if that's possible.
So, two free publications. You can't say the free pre-church
don't give anything away. The name free hardly means anything
in this denomination, you know. We always have a basket at the
door. free. But these are free and you can say I got them free
in the freeze, okay? But I had to pay for that one.
So, keep that in mind. And the meeting's over and we
thank you very much for your attention and we wish you godspeed. May the lord bless you this week
and meet you at the point of your need. It is with joy and
thanksgiving that we have heard once again the wonderful story
of conversion. We thank thee for the grace of
God and the mighty working power of thy gospel and spirit in the
life of Matthew Hunter. We thank thee, O God, for what
God hath wrought, and, Lord, our eyes have seen the grace
of God. We have heard just a little snippet of what his life was
like before he was saved. And now Lord, we look at him
and what a change, what a transformation. He quoted the verse himself,
if any man be in Christ. He is a new creation, new creature. All things are passing away,
and all things are becoming new. And we pray you'll bless Matthew.
Remember his girlfriend. Remember the wider family circle. For those that are unconverted,
Lord, save them. And then the hope he has given
us for our children and our grandchildren, that we might pray for them,
that they too might come to know the Savior and be transformed
by the grace of God. And loving Father, we thank thee
for the ministry and song. bless thy servant Sarah, and
as she sings around the churches and in other places, use her
gifts and talents in the gospel, bring glory to thy name, be with
her dad tonight and her mum, and undertake for them. And we
pray, Lord, you will part us now in thy fear and favour, and
those of us who are saved, may we leave this house prayerfully
and very carefully, pondering the things we have heard, but
for those who as yet are not saved, this be the night that
they wait behind that they seek the lord and they come to know
christ as their savior so take of our thanks for today and loving
father in answer to prayer be pleased to glorify thy son and
the people of god said amen
Testimony of Mr Matthew Hunter
| Sermon ID | 52321193518568 |
| Duration | 48:20 |
| Date | |
| Category | Testimony |
| Language | English |
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