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The Republic of Ireland is our
Samaria. I think it's part of the Church's
duty to bring the Gospel there. And if one soul in the Republic
of Ireland comes to the Lord, it will be worth it all. Instead
of thinking about evangelising the South, or dreaming about
it, we should actually get up and do something about it. And we have a missionary station
as we're a mile or two across from our province. And surely
it's natural that we should seek to reach there as much even as
a church reaching right across the world itself. And I believe
that there are perishing souls just on our doorstep across the
border who need to be reached. And just like Ezekiel, we need
to go and get ourselves to them, whether they will hear or whether
they will forbear. We wish to see the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ brought to those homes and the people
in them. And when we think of 400,000 people, it's our purpose
and desire to see them challenged with the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the seed of the Word of God sown in their heart and
them coming to know Christ as their Lord and as their Saviour.
Who knows in days to come how far the campaign will go, but
it's reaching out like circles when you throw a stone in a lake,
we know how the circles keep going out from it. It began in
Northern Ireland and now the circles are beginning to spread
out. Start at the border counties, work out from there. When we
look at the physical landscape of the five border counties that
we intend to reach. We think of County Donegal and
the mountainous regions that there are there. When we think
of County Leitrim, it seems to be a very sparsely populated
county and seem to be good at growing rushes if nothing else.
Counties Monaghan and Cabin with their little hills and lakes.
And then we come into County Louth and the rich, arable landscape
that there is and such a diversity of the physical landscape. But
when we think of the spiritual landscape in the five border
counties, it's all the same. There's barrenness, there's dearth. And when we look at virgin landscape,
it looks unattractive. There doesn't seem to be much
potential there but if it was only ploughed and sown then who
knows what can be reaped. And a classic example is when
you look at the American Midwest when it was colonized many years
ago and the virgin soil was ploughed and it is now the grain belt
of the world. And who knows the potential that
there could be from the five border counties. My own father
is a Monaghan man and my mother's parents come from the south of
Donegal. The Republic of Ireland is our
Samaria. I think it's part of the Church's
duty to bring the Gospel there. And I think too, whenever we
think of these border counties especially, many people in Northern
Ireland have got a background there by way of their heritage
and their relatives. Personally, my grandfather was
converted at the age of 19. He came from a place called Coodhill
and having found Jesus Christ the Saviour because of circumstances
was forced to move up north but there's a background there and
I think from our heritage we have that identity and certainly
we want to be bringing the Gospel message into those areas and
getting the people to learn something more of the Word of God and especially
coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. This
is a time when we should jump on board and place the food of
the Gospel within the people's reach. I think it's vitally important
that our church gets involved in an effort to bring the Gospel
to the Roman Catholic people. They need the Word of God. they
need to know Christ as their Lord and Saviour. And we have
a duty to bring the Gospel to their souls. And I trust that
in this campaign the Lord will use the seed that is soul. There are some times today you're
given tracts and they leave a lot to be desired. They don't really
get to the core of the Gospel message. And this leaflet will
concentrate on Christ. Christ is the only mediator for
man. And that's why I'm very supportive of this campaign to
exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and to hold him forth before sinners.
So it is our desire to see the Word of God spread, getting it
into those homes that are there. And if we think of the border
counties especially, there's 400,000 people that need to be
getting the Word of God into their hands. It would be our
desire that they would consider Christ the only high priest who
is qualified to forgive sin. And that is why I believe we
should support fully the Consider Christianity in the South. Instead
of dreaming and thinking about it, we should go and reach our
own Samaria. And if one soul in the Republic
of Ireland comes to the Lord, it will be worth it all. And
yet at our heart, we want God not only to save one, but to
save many for His honour and for His glory. And I believe
in the power of God and in the power of God's Word to do these
things. Well the Free Presbyterian Church
members have always been very generous when appeals are made
but I must say on this campaign they exceeded themselves. Some
of our smaller churches actually gave tremendous sums and it was
very encouraging to see the response throughout our congregations.
I think they took it to heart when they thought of the great
effect this could have. challenge put towards them that
they could actually put a piece of gospel literature into every
home. No one assesses the frequency
in church. There is always that background.
that we desire to preach the gospel and to reach the lost.
And our people truly came to the fore in seeking to spread
the word of God in our province and to reach as many as possible.
And so it encourages us that our people still, the majority
of them, have a nation and a burden for souls and for the cause of
Christ. I was very encouraged by the
response from many people. There are times when individuals
don't feel confident about evangelising themselves and sometimes they
need a wee bit of leadership in showing how to go about it
and I believe that when leadership was shown in the Consider Christ
campaign in Northern Ireland that many people did throw their
lot in and I was greatly encouraged with their response people were
enthusiastic in giving out tracts in their own region, their own
area, their own park, their own country road or whatever it might
be. Our people responding in the manner that they did, it
showed a great sense of unity and a desire to see the gospel
spread throughout our province. In many ways it was our first
occasion to reach every home in the province. All of our churches
throughout the years of the history of free Christmaterianism, we've
had our missions, we've had our outreach works, but here was
a time that simultaneously the word of God was going to enter
every home across Ulster and that we as a church had that
desire and that vision to reach out with what God has given. Whenever we had the regional
rallies that emphasised that spirit of unity and the great
purpose of bringing the gospel to many throughout our province
and so for me that was the most encouraging thing to see in the
Free Presbyterian Church. The way that we did it was we
were involved in the buses, involved in the billboards and we had
to make contact with the different people who had the opportunity
to provide those things for us. I loved speaking to them. I loved bartering them and seeking
to get the best price that we could for Christ. and as much
coverage throughout the province in the different areas where
our churches was, and being happy in my heart and mind that God
led us and directed us in the right way and to the right people
and had our heart ready to make deals and bargains that we were
certainly amazed and surprised at and happy to get so much coverage
that we did. It's still amazing to see Bustos
here and there, still with the Consider Christ advert, months
after the campaign last year, still there. When we're branching out into
the five border counties, when we think of the three counties
of Ulster that are across the border, That would mean that
all nine counties in Ulster, every home in those nine counties
will have been reached with the Gospel. When we think of going
into County Leitrim, That straight away tells us that here's a first
step into the province of Connacht and into County Louth, there's
another first step being taken into the province of Leinster.
And we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature as the Lord Jesus Christ said in the Great Commission.
Consider Christ: The Border Counties of Ireland Our Hopes (2nd Information DVD)
Series Consider Christ Campaign
| Sermon ID | 6510516130 |
| Duration | 11:05 |
| Date | |
| Category | Miscellaneous |
| Language | English |
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