Ecclesiastes 3 in verse 1. I just remembered to turn my mic off mute. Let's begin. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate. A time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he hath set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now, and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth that which is past. Amen. We'll end our reading there. We ask God to bless his word to our hearts, even as it has been read in our hearing. Let's just have a moment of prayer before we continue. Father in heaven, it is to Thee, Lord the Almighty, that we come now in prayer with the boldness given to us because of our union with Christ, His blessed person and His finished work. And Lord, having been clothed with His righteousness and confident of the open ear of the Almighty, we now come to Thee, Lord, and seek Thy help in this time. Lord, man's help is vain. Lord, the circumstances of this meeting and all the details surrounding it are all known by Thee, and so we rest only in the help of the Holy Spirit for the time that follows for this testimony, the thoughts brought from this verse, and Lord, then the time of prayer that follows. We leave everything before Thee and we ask and plead for the help of the Holy Ghost. Come and draw near to us, Lord. Make this a time of blessing. Make it a time when our thoughts will be directed toward God and towards our Saviour. And may I be a channel of blessing. May I be one who magnifies Christ, even in what will follow. We ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. So as your pastor has said, my name's Stephen Greer. I am 33. I'm married to Nadja, and we have two little girls called Eliana and Evelyn. We live in Northern Ireland near a town called Ballymena, and that's where I've been for about 23 years now. I'm very thankful, however, to be here tonight and to have the opportunity to speak to you and to spend a number of weeks assisting with the labor of the Lord here. In verse 14 of Ecclesiastes 3, we find words that I often return to when I give testimony to God's work and God's grace in my life. Ecclesiastes 3, 14. It would do us good to stop and think about this world, think about all the people groups, all the false religions, all the people who try to earn God's favor, all the people who have been receiving false teaching, who have been born into ungodly circumstances, who are born into homes that are controlled by sin, and then think of what you personally have received, and what I have received. And we remember that we have so much to thank God for. And God's grace and God's work in my life begins with this environment of a Christian home. It's a priceless blessing, and therefore my personal background is one that was saturated in Scripture and the teaching of the Bible, both at home and with regular attendance at church. And as I look back, I can see how my parents made every effort, as much as possible, to keep our home free from sinful influences, worldly influences, and sheltered us, and taught us the Word of God. And as a child, you never appreciate that, but now as a parent, I certainly begin to appreciate it a little more. But saving grace experienced by the parents is not saving grace to the child. And so, even though I was born into a Christian home and owned several Bibles and learned the catechism and attended church at least three times a week, none of that changed my state before God. None of that changed my sinful heart. I was born in sin, personally. I had iniquity and transgression because I had broken God's law. But I was reminded regularly through God's work, through my parents, through my church, that my heart could be changed and made new by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. and seeking forgiveness. So I thank God that he did call me to himself at a young age. I think it was around the age of five or six. And I was thinking about my granny, my dad's mother, Granny Greer, who had passed away the previous year. And I realized through thinking about those circumstances and knowing her testimony, that if I were to die, that I would never go where she had gone, and I would never see her again. And it was that Very simple fact, but a very personal circumstance that impressed upon me my need to be saved. And so that night I waited until dad came home from wherever he was and I prayed with him, with his counsel, that the Lord would save me and that he would help me to not be bad anymore. And without making it a cliche, the second part is a work in progress. But when I look back now, I believe the Lord did save me that evening. But sin would bring doubt, and sin would bring a lack of assurance. Up until the age of 11, when we were still living in Malvern, I don't remember very much about my spiritual life. Childhood, not a difficult time, a very good time. And then after that point, we lived in Balamina. And I started to get the opportunity to make new friends. I was attending a Christian school. But even there, in that Christian environment, in that very scripture-focused environment, of course, sin finds its way in, because wherever people are their sin and I wanted to fit in so I found myself being led by what seemed cool or what seemed funny that was clearly inappropriate and then very soon I stopped standing up for God and stopped adhering to the principles that I had been taught in little things and then it gave way and then it was that I accepted sin and I allowed myself to sin in greater things. And while many people looked at me and thought, he's a good Christian young man, good Christian boy, and there was evidence to point to that, I was not happy. My heart was not close to the Lord. I was not in close fellowship with him. I found myself, as time went on, sitting in church week after week, feeling miserable. and the preacher my dad would preach. And many times, especially as the gospel challenge was laid out or as sin was challenged in the life of a believer, I would resolve within myself to do better and that this would be a better week than before. But nothing seemed to make any difference. Many years continued. I was even taking opportunities to serve in the local church, but I wasn't in close fellowship with the Lord. And it all stemmed from a lack of God's word. It all stemmed from not reading the scriptures and not praying, and therefore not using the means of grace. I was not receiving grace in the way that I could, and it made me absolutely miserable. It was a far cry from what people would have thought when they looked at me. But one night in 2009, this is now well into my teenage years, 19 years old, the Lord dealt with me after a prayer meeting. I found myself absolutely broken. and I went to find counsel. I discussed things with my dad. I was penitent over my sin. I called on God to forgive me. And this reminds me then of this part of Ecclesiastes 3 verse 14, which I've taken tonight to speak of God's work in my life in the matter of my salvation. The second, the central part of the verse reads, nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. We're speaking here about what God has done in my life. And if you're a Christian this evening, what God has done in your life. Nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it. I was in the position of needing to seek forgiveness because I had sinned. I had not walked with the Lord as I should. I had brought shame on my own testimony. But salvation is of the Lord. And the work that God had begun in me is one of free grace and nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it. And as you well know, though I had failed the Lord and had grown cold and had disobeyed Him, still I was His child. And I can say from experience that concerning my union with Christ and my position in the family of God and my personal hope of eternal life, that nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins because we are His children. The Lord had that always open ear that he promises in the scriptures to have towards his children, whether we come in a place of confidence towards God or whether we come in a time of repentance and we ask God for forgiveness. The Lord hears. The Lord answers prayer. And that's what he did for me. Now, that was an interesting night. It was a Tuesday night. And even after having received counsel and prayed and sought the Lord so genuinely and so brokenly for forgiveness, I find, and this is going to connect us to why I'm here today, that I still couldn't settle emotionally. And there was something else that was annoying me. And this time was running on. I was probably in there with my dad and his study for a long time. I still couldn't settle. He just quietly waited, and I continued. I was crying, and I had prayed, and I believed, and I discussed this all with him, but there's something else still annoying me. And then he asked me, looking back now, the Lord surely led him to do it, but he asked me, do you ever think about the ministry? Out of the blue, as far as I was concerned. And at that stage, all I could say was, sometimes, because I had, but I'd never breathed the word about it to anyone, not a soul. So that is in 2009, I completed the course in university that I was studying, civil engineering, 2013 then began working. And then the next time this possibility that God would lead me towards ministry, the next time it hit me between the eyes was in 2014 on a youth weekend, again after a time of prayer, and there's a theme here, that the Lord dealt with me. And that time of prayer was very good. It was very special. I remember the Holy Spirit helped many young people to pray. It was a special time. And afterwards I was, to use a Northern Irish expression, I was in bits, emotionally broken. I couldn't understand why. There were no clear, concise thoughts coming to my mind as why I was in this state. I'm not a person who emotionally falls apart easily. This was very strange and very powerful. And in the circumstances, it was clearly God speaking to me and getting my attention. But ever since that, it was the same year that I met Nadja, and as we spent more time together, then I would start to drop hints to her that someday I thought perhaps the Lord would lead me to be a preacher and to be a minister of the gospel, and she seemed okay with it, which I took as a token for good for the relationship. And then in 2016 at another meeting the Lord continued to speak and at that time I was prompted to go and find someone. I don't know if you've ever had the experience after a meeting when perhaps on many other occasions you were hesitant and you just kept your thoughts to yourself. But then there comes a particular night and It's the Lord, but you are just lifted off your feet, and you get up and go, and you don't think twice. And I went and spoke to someone. It was Reverend Ian Harris. I don't know if you're aware of him. He's a minister in Northern Ireland. He spent time in the mission field in Kenya, and now pastors in Anaheim. I knew he was a sensible man. I knew he'd be honest with me and tell me exactly what he thought, and that's what I wanted. He listened to what I explained, which is some of what I've told you tonight, and he said, it seems that God is certainly leading you in this way. You need to seriously pray about this. Naja and I were engaged at that time, and we married the following year. Now in the providence of God, he appointed a particular circumstance, and I want to just take you to some verses in 2 Chronicles 25, because this was a very important lesson for me to learn, and I want to share it with you. 2 Chronicles 25 tells us about the life of a king called Amaziah. And in my life at this time, knowing that the Lord was certainly impressing upon me, the ministry. It was not something about which I was sure. I was not at that point, but it was very, very, very, very strong. In 2 Chronicles 25, we read of this king called Amaziah who goes to war, but he doesn't rely upon God to use the soldiers that he has in Judah. He goes and takes money, and he pays for help from Israel as well. And in our lives, without going into detail, we had come to a situation which I thought would be a good idea. And then it didn't work. And it didn't follow through. And the lesson that I had to learn was the same lesson. as the king of Judah had to learn in verse nine of 2 Chronicles 25. Bear in mind, he has made a mistake. He has gone and sought help from a foreign army, and the man of God comes to him in verse seven and says, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel to wit with all the children of Ephraim. And then in verse nine, Amaziah said to the man of God, but what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this. This is probably one of the most powerful lessons that Nadja and I have learned in our lives since we were married, about doing the will of God in the way that He sets out for us to do, and not in ways that rationally make great sense. It was, in every way, it made a lot of sense, but it wasn't God's will, and it didn't work, and I had to learn Psalm 118 verse 8 says, God was so gracious because in the middle of this difficult situation that we weren't going to be able to easily resolve or quickly resolve, The Lord brought this verse to me as I read, and it was one of those special times when the words were impressed on me, and I knew I wasn't reading into the Scriptures. I knew that it was genuinely a word from the Lord, and I thank Him for it. And the Lord did meet all our needs, and He provided what was needed. Now I want to tell you that in the middle of this difficult time, I received more goodness from God because I realized, as I thought about the situation that we were in, that right then, as things stood, I wouldn't have been able to go into Bible college if I wanted to. And I felt genuinely grieved. at that thought. And I had never felt that way before. Beforehand, I had always been running away from the idea of the ministry in my mind. I was scared of it. Because I'd been brought up in a pastor's home, I was disabused of any notions that it is a glamorous life or that it's a life you'd go into to seek for popularity or fame or wealth. And this experience taught me to follow the will of God, and that the Lord is able to give thee much more than anything that we might seek for ourselves. That was a wonderful lesson. And God taught me even through how I felt that disappointment that I felt. about the prospect of Bible college being removed, at least for the near future. But God provided, God gave us what we needed. There were many signs, and I better move on for sake of time. There were many signs in my life that this was a genuine desire. And when weighing up whether we are truly called, the desire is very important and it has to be evaluated. And I would find myself doing inexplicable things, like at work one day, a manager gave me a nice compliment. And I thanked him. And then in seconds, because we were walking from the factory to the office, I confessed to him, you know, Brian, I'm not sure if this is what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life, which is a really stupid thing to say to your manager if he likes you. But that was just an evidence that I was telling him what was on my heart. and I was just being honest with them. There were some other signs perhaps I would have an opportunity to preach in a youth fellowship meeting and some of my friends in the youth committee would encourage me after I stumbled my way through what was supposed to be a sermon. Some people in my local congregation were very encouraging and they exercised a ministry towards me in this way that they must have been led by the Lord or perhaps as they watched me to come and ask One day a man came over and said, do you ever think about the ministry? Just after Sunday morning service, I hadn't been talking to him. We're not particularly close. And he just came over and asked. And I said, well, yeah. And then the next week he came back with a copy of Spurgeon's Lectures to my students. Another couple in the church one day just came up and told me that they were praying for me. And I had never told anyone about this. This was completely unsolicited. But the Lord was being kind and was encouraging me through these signs. And I'm thankful for it. So moving on to 2019. Now, the Reverend Andrew Stewart, who's one of the ministers in Ballymena, was placed there during his fourth year of study in the Whitfield College. And he preached a message on the 19th of May from Acts 16 called, When God Says No and Then Says Go. Now, if you would please turn to Acts 16, I want to read a few verses. Acts chapter 16, and we'll read verses 6 to 10. And it says, now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they had said to go into Bithynia. They tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. And they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. I think it's probably obvious to you why this passage was used by God to speak to me. But I remember that particular Sunday morning sitting beside Nadja before the service with what is sometimes not our experience, Christians, as often as we would like. That before the meeting you sit there and you're mentally prepared and your heart is quiet and you're just ready to hear the word of God. Especially now with children, that's probably gonna be even more rare for a while. But that's something that perhaps we don't experience enough. It's something we should all seek after, even when we come to the house of God on a weekly basis. that we would be ready. And that day I was ready. Everything was so calm mentally. I was ready to hear what the Lord was going to say. And I could feel the nearness of God's presence throughout the entire meeting. And then when Reverend Stewart read the passage, well, of course, my heart started to beat a little more quickly and he worked his way through the message and he kept me waiting. But in the third point, he dealt with the matter of young men who may be feeling called to the ministry. And it was remarkably appropriate to my circumstances. And there was absolutely no getting around this. There was no excusing this. And the Lord graciously spoke to me in a way that I couldn't find any other way to interpret other than he was calling me specifically and definitely to the ministry. And after hearing that message, a few days later, I discussed it with Mr. Stewart, I discussed it with my parents, with Nadja, with another friend in the ministry. I reflected on my circumstances and all of this, which I've hurriedly explained to you tonight, with help from a series of lectures and sermon audio from Albert Martin. It's called Call to the Ministry. There's a five-part series, and I've recommended that series to so many. Any opportunity I've had to testify, I've mentioned that because they were so helpful, a framework to think through and evaluate my life and my own desire and the leading of God. They were wonderful. But as I reflected and thought, and prayed, the Lord gave me a total peace about the matter. And this is something I had never had before all along in university. And then in my in my the two jobs that I had after university before Bible college, I always felt like this, the job and my life at that point was about 80 percent of me. There was this other part that just was waiting and hadn't kicked in yet. And then when you come to May 2019 and the Lord graciously spoke and guided, that feeling was gone. And now I know. what God's will for my life is. I know he's called me to preach the gospel, and we wait to see now how the Lord will guide. In the future, college began in September 2020. There are four people in my year, myself included, and I'm thankful for even God's provision of good friends in Bible college, men who are naturally more studious than I am, and who are a good influence on me, and we sharpen each other. And we enjoy a good fellowship together, God willing, in about a year's time, a little over a year from now, I'll graduate and I'll complete my studies. And we trust the Lord to lead us because, coming back to the verse as we wrap up, Ephesians 3.14, as you know, finishes with these words concerning the work of God and whatsoever God doeth. God doeth it that men should fear before him. The outcome, I hope, of this testimony is that you'll see that a sinner who on his own was lost and hopeless and completely rudderless has been guided and steered through life by a kind and gracious God. One who has redeemed me with the blood of his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who went and suffered on the cross for my sins. and who purchased me with his blood, and that God has begun a work in my life, and whatsoever he has done in my life shall be forever. Nothing can be taken away from my salvation. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. He is the one who is able to keep me from falling. And He is the one to whom I entrust my future. And as it says at the end of that verse, that God doeth it that men should fear before Him. That is the outcome that I would desire tonight, even from what you've heard. God has done this. And that we should have that reverential fear. In the little circumstances of my life, He's been there every step of the way. He's guided. He's provided in so many ways. I would be delighted if tonight, why not tonight, someone would come to trust in Christ, and someone would see a work of God begin in their life, the work that He will continue, that He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God doeth it that men should fear before Him, and may we fear God tonight, may we reverence Him and thank Him, As we come to him in prayer, I want to thank you for your attention. I hope I didn't speak too quickly, nor too, well, you'll say Irishly. I'll forgive you for that, for you to understand. And I trust the Lord will bless this brief testimony and these few thoughts to your heart. Thank you.