We shall be opening God's Word of the
Gospel of Luke.
We're reading some verses tonight from Luke's Gospel,
chapter 12, and the reading begins at verse
32.
The Gospel of Luke, at the chapter 12,
commencing at verse 32.
We'll read to verse 53 from verse 32,
Luke's Gospel, chapter 12.
Fear not, little flock, for it is your
father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell that ye have, and give alms.
Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a
treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where
no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also.
Let your loins be girded about, and your
lights burning, and be yourselves, ye yourselves, like
unto men that wait for the Lord when
he shall return from the wedding, that when
he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto
him immediately.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when
he cometh, shall find watching.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall
gird himself, and make them to sit down
to meet, and will come forth and serve
them.
And if he shall come in the second
watch, or come in the third watch, and
find him so, blessed are those servants.
And this know that if the good man
of the house had known what hour the
thief would come, he would have watched, and
not have suffered his house to be broken
through.
Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son
of Man cometh at an hour when ye
think not.
Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou
this parable unto us, or even to all?
And the Lord said, Who then is that
faithful and wise steward, whom the Lord shall
make ruler over his household, to give them
their portion of meat in due season?
Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when
he cometh, shall find so doing.
Of a truth I say unto you, that
he will make him ruler over all that
he hath.
But, and if that servant shall say in
his heart, My Lord, the lathe is coming,
and shall begin to beat the men's servants,
and maid's servants, and to eat, and to
drink, and to be drunken, the Lord of
that servant will come in a day when
he looketh not for him, and in an
hour when he is not aware, and will
cut him in sunder, and will appoint him
his portion with the unbelievers.
And that servant which knew his Lord's will,
and prepared not himself, neither did according to
his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
But he that knew not, and did commit
things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with
few stripes.
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him
shall much be required.
Unto whom men have committed much, of him
they will ask them more.
I am come to send fire on the
earth, and what will I if it be
already kindled?
But I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straightened till it
be accomplished?
Suppose ye that I came, or am come
to give peace on the earth, I tell
you, but rather division.
For from henceforth there shall be five in
one house divided, three against two, and two
against three.
The father shall be divided against the son,
the son against the father, the mother against
the daughter, and the daughter against the mother,
the mother-in-law against her daughter-in
-law, and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law.
We look to the Lord to bless to
our hearts tonight this public reading from his
infallible word.
Amen.
As a denomination, we owe a tremendous debt
to the Lord for the ministry of the
Reverend John Hannam.
I know as mission board members we have
deeply appreciated the opportunity and the great privilege
that we have had of working with the
Lord's servant and his wife for many, many
years now.
He has been a real source of inspiration.
His ministry has been a great encouragement amongst
many of us, and I know that the
work in Spain has been enriched through his
leadership over these last number of years.
We are delighted that the Reverend Hannam is
with us tonight, and he is going to
come now and bring greetings on behalf of
the congregations in Spain.
It is a great joy and a privilege
to be here this evening on this very
special occasion as we recognize the ministry of
our good brother, Jorge Ruiz.
I want first of all to bring you
fraternal greetings from our congregations in Spain.
First of all, from the Reverend Lyle Boyd
in Corticos Nuevos, as well as our own
congregation in Alcorcon.
As I have just said, this, I believe,
is a very, very important occasion, not only
for the work of God in Spain, but
concerning even the very history of our missionary
work.
I think it would be appropriate here for
me to express our gratitude—that is, us in
Spain—to the Presbytery, the Ulster Presbytery here, the
mission board, and also the missionary council of
our church.
We have been very conscious of their help,
the encouragement that we have received from them
down through the years.
I was just thinking something of our history.
We are about to cross over the line
of, I think, about sixty years in the
history of our denomination.
I was thinking how, back there sixty years
ago, the Lord gave a very important promise
to our denomination.
It was, Though your beginnings be small, yet
your latter end shall greatly increase.
Of course, we have seen that take place
before our eyes right across this province, and
then as the work started to move abroad
over to the American continent, over to the
mainland, and then into Europe and to other
parts of the world.
Over thirty years ago, the Presbytery of our
church sent Dorana and me to Madrid to
learn the language.
When I look back at that time, I
realize just how green we were, still wet
behind the ears of us here around Balimony.
The Lord certainly had many lessons to teach
us in those first two or three years
as we set ourselves to learn the language.
I have been thinking about these thirty-three
years that we have been there, and I
think that promise is also very appropriate to
us, not to the same degree, of course,
when we think about the numbers, but certainly
in the spiritual sense.
Our beginnings were small, yet our latter end
is certainly increasing.
We were there about ten years when the
Lord called Lyle and Heather to come and
to work along with us.
After they learned the language in Madrid, they
made their way down to Villas de Segura
and have been laboring for the Lord there
all of these years.
But what has really thrilled my heart is
to see what the Lord has done from
amongst our own ranks out there.
I think one of the secrets of the
growth of our church here has been the
fact how almost every single congregation, in a
sense, has reproduced itself.
And I think that under God we certainly
owe a very great debt to the work
here in Marks Memorial, and very especially to
Dr. Paisley.
Every one of us who are in the
ministry, in one way or another, we owe
a lot under God to the ministry of
this man.
I remember when he came out for the
first time to Madrid.
We were only there about three years.
He came out, I think, on four or
five different occasions.
He was with us the day we opened
our present church building, and we had the
privilege of having with us to hear him
preach the Word of God.
I had the awesome task that day of
translating for him, and it was an awesome
task.
There was one stage he gets, he was
getting so much liberty that he just took
off, and I was trying to come in
to translate, and he was just pushing me
to the side, and he was just preaching
on.
And then when he preached on for about
three or four minutes, he stood aside, right,
go ahead, he says, tell them now.
And of course, I had to try to
sum up what he had said in those
five minutes.
But I certainly rejoice to think of how
the Lord has used our brother, and the
tremendous encouragement that he has been to us
down through these years.
And of course, also the Reverend Michael Veen,
what a great encouragement our brother has been
to us.
George McConnell is another man, we have to
mention, who has stood with us.
And of course, all of our congregations, all
of our people here have stood firmly with
us during all of this time.
But as I say, one of the characteristics
of our church is how our church has
reproduced itself here in Ulster and in different
parts of the world.
And of course, it is seeing how God,
through the minister of the word, raises up
men within our denomination to serve within that
denomination.
And that, to me, has been the real
encouragement.
We have had to fight many battles, we've
had many, many discouragements.
But the encouragement has been to see how
the Lord has put his hand upon men
like Angel and Jorge that we have here
with us tonight.
I remember very well the first night that
Angel came into our evening gospel service.
And he started to attend the service.
After about a year, he was gloriously converted
to Christ.
And within a few months, he was studying
in our Grace Bible College, and then, of
course, completed his studies here in the Theological
Hall in Northern Ireland.
And our brother was ordained to the ministry
by the Presbytery of our church.
But that wasn't the case with our brother,
Jordi.
About eight years ago, we made contact with
Jordi and his wife.
And in the will of the Lord, a
work opened up in the north of Spain.
And it's amazing just to see how the
Lord leads.
Because our brother had a son, his oldest
son, that he called Rodrigo.
And the reason he called him Rodrigo is
because that is a very common name from
the Castilian part, which is the actual part
where he's now laboring.
And even back then, the Lord had laid
on his heart this vision to go into
this particular area, this particular part of Spain.
And just as we made contact, the Lord
opened up a door, an opportunity under the
work in Alcorcon to commence a mission work
in that particular area.
Our brother and his wife prayed about it,
felt it was the will of the Lord,
and they had been serving the Lord there
for the last eight years.
This year, earlier, we had a number of
our men, our people who came out with
us on that joyful occasion when we opened
a new building for the preaching of the
gospel in Miranda de Ebro.
Now, our brother was ordained five years ago
under the session of the Alcorcon church with
the participation of members from the Ulster Presbytery.
And of course, it has always been the
burden of my heart.
When you get to my time of day
and you realize that the writing is on
the wall as far as the future is
concerned, and there is that longing and that
burden to see the link, the bond between
Spain and Ulster firmly established.
And that's why we have really prayed and
really pressed in this particular way that these
men that the Lord raised up, fruit of
the ministry of those that this church sent
out, will then also recognize that, take these
men under the wing to encourage them in
the future and be an encouragement to them
as the church has been to us in
the years that we have been serving the
Lord there.
So in many senses, what we're witnessing here
tonight is the logical outcome, the follow on
of what the Lord has been doing from
the day that Rana and I were sent
out to serve the Lord there in Spain.
I don't want to take up any more
time, but in closing, I really do want
to stress how much that we have valued
and appreciated your prayers on our behalf and
also for the sacrificial ways many times that
you have given in order to support financially
the work there in Spain.
We do not take that for granted.
We owe you a great debt in the
Lord and we want to acknowledge that tonight.
And therefore, I think we have to say
tonight in the words of the psalmist, that
the Lord hath done great things for us
whereof we are glad.
And I think that's what we need to
stress, especially tonight.
It's so easy in a night like this,
you know, to get your eyes on men
or on a man or on individuals, but
this is the one thing that we need
to really remember.
It's the Lord who has done great things,
not only here in Ulster, but he's been
doing great things there in Spain as well.
And tonight, we want to give the Lord
all the honor and all the glory.
And we believe that there is greater things
yet to be done, and hopefully we'll have
other opportunities, other occasions like this, when we'll
be able to gather together and worship our
God for the great things that the Lord
has done for us.
So thank you very, very sincerely for your
prayers.
Please continue to pray on with us and
for us that the Lord amongst our ranks
will raise up men of the Calvary, of
Anphel and of Geordie to serve the Lord,
as the Lord will open new doors and
new opportunities to serve him there and to
spread the work of the Presbyterian witness throughout
that needy land of Spain.
Thank you very much.
I'd like to thank the Reverend Hannah for
that word today.
It's been a real blessing, a great inspiration
to us, and I'm sure it has broadened
your vision and also given to you a
deeper sense of thanksgiving to the Lord for
his goodness and for his mercy to the
work in Spain.
I'd like on behalf of the Mission Board
to extend to all of you a very
warm and a very sincere welcome.
We're delighted to have some friends with us
from Ballymunny.
A goodly number have come, and we appreciate
the fact that you've taken the time to
join with us.
Also, our dear brother, Dr. Theo Danson-Smith,
we're delighted to see you, and I trust
the Lord will bless you and encourage you
as well.
We're going to sing now our offering hymn.
Dr. Paisley will make some announcements relevant to
the martyrs here in just a few moments,
but her offering will be for the work
in Spain, and we deeply appreciate the session's
readiness to give encouragement to the work that
we are thinking about especially tonight.
And the hymn is 513.
The hymn numbered 513.
Blessed is the service of our Lord and
King.
Precious are the jewels we may help to
bring down.
The passing ages words of counsel ring.
He that winneth souls is wise.
That's fine.
Well, we can sing another hymn.
Number 510.
We can sing that hymn.
High I praise thee, precious Savior.
We can have a second offering if that's
okay.
I'm not sure if we can work that
out.
510.
High I praise thee, precious Savior.
We'll let you sit for the first verse,
and then we'll stand to sing the final
verse.
The Reverend Hannah, I believe, has quite rightly
acknowledged the tremendous contribution to the Lord's work
of our servant and our minister, Dr. Paisley.
I know that words would fail many of
us if we were to try and to
describe a ministry that God has used over
many, many years, not only here in Ulster,
but right throughout the world.
I've been very privileged on a number of
occasions to have traveled with him to various
mission fields.
And on those occasions that Mr. Hannah referred
to in Spain, we were very happy to
accompany him on that journey.
We're just so delighted that he is with
us tonight to bring to us a word
of exhortation, particularly, of course, to our brother
Gorgie, but I know to all of us
who are very happy to be in the
meeting this Wednesday evening.
Dr. Paisley.
Thank you, my brother.
I have some very pleasant reminiscence of being
in Spain.
The first time I went to Spain, I
was in very good company of our brother
John Wiley was with me on my right
hand, and I knew if there was a
fight, he could fight well.
And then we had another little man, a
quite a strange man who called himself the
fighter.
I refer to a brother by the name
of Wharton, Harry Wharton.
How many of you do remember Harry?
Put up your hand.
Nobody.
Well, I remember him.
And of course, if you had been with
him for the time I was with him,
you'd remember him for all eternity.
He said, I am the prize fighter.
And he said, we're going in not to
fight the animals, but to fight the devil
and all his works.
And my, what a time we had.
Now, we couldn't, of course, in those days,
get in.
They didn't give out any passages.
The land was closed and Franco was the
remaining dictator of Nazism and fascism.
The preachers who were worth anything were all
in prison.
And those that weren't in prison were juking
from place to place to try and save
themselves from the persecution.
But I had a great longing in my
heart to get the truth of the word
of God into Spain.
And I was told by everyone, it cannot
be done.
And I said, who told you that?
Oh, well, you know what Franco's like and
so on.
So I said to do, but I know
what God's like.
God is a miracle working God.
And I believe the saints in Spain need
to be strengthened.
And I said, the best way we could
do a work for God in Spain would,
we could get the Bibles in.
See the Bibles were all looked upon as
papers to be burned.
And the Christians couldn't read their Bibles or
carry a Bible with them.
It was death to many who wanted to
kneel their colors to the masthead for Jesus'
sake.
So I said to a friend of mine
who was going to Spain for a holiday,
I said, what are the entrances like?
Could a man juke into Spain and get
in without powers not recognizing him?
He says, Ian, the best way to you
to go into Spain is to put on
the biggest dog collar you have, the darkest
suit you have and your long preaching coat,
and you'll go in as a holy father
and they'll kiss the ground to you.
And I laughed and I told John Wiley
and John said, well, I am a father.
He says, I so am I.
So we both went in as fathers.
Now we had to do it with great
dignity.
So the other little man who was supposed
to be the fighter, Harry Wharton, he went
in as our servant and he did the
driving and we did the criticizing.
And we got to the border and we
drove up to the border.
And when they saw us, they crossed themselves.
And I said, John, I never thought I'd
see a fella crossing himself for you.
And we got in.
Of course, we couldn't then register at a
hotel because you couldn't get a registration in
a hotel except you had a passport and
we couldn't get a passport.
So we had a fortnight in Spain.
We parked the car under the, it wasn't
a car, it was a truck.
We parked it under the larger tunnels and
larger valleys that we found.
And we lived here, there and everywhere.
And the only way we could get food
was to buy fruit.
So we were all eaters of fruit for
that time.
We had with us over 200 copies of
the Holy Scriptures and we got every one
of them given out.
I have one picture that comes to me
now.
It was on Sunday morning and we were
passing along this wild mountainside in the north
of Spain.
And I saw a man a way up
on the side of the mountain and he
was digging.
And I said, John, I'm going to climb
that mountain.
I'm going to bring out a scripture to
that man and give him a Bible.
And John said to me, that man is
far away.
I said, I don't care how far he
is, I'm going to reach him.
So I left.
John wouldn't come.
He said, I'm not going to walk away
up there.
Well, I said, I'll walk it.
And I walked up and after walking for,
I suppose, half an hour to maybe an
hour, I got to the man and I
brought out the Bible and turned it up.
I think it was John 3 and 16.
And I opened it up and I pointed
it to him and he grasped it, nearly
pulled it out of my hand.
And I put my finger across it.
God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
And a lovely smile came over the man.
And I explained as best I could to
him that he could keep the Bible and
he should read it and enjoy it.
And on the hillside he embraced me.
And I prayed with him and I left
him.
When I got down the mountain, almost an
hour afterwards, I turned round to look and
the man was still where he had been
digging the hole with the Bible in his
hand.
I'm going to meet that man in heaven
and I'm going to say, thank God, there's
power in the word of God to snatch
a man from the darkness of Nazism and
to bring him into the glorious light of
the gospel.
And from that day, I've always had an
interest in Spain and what is happening there.
And great things are happening for the honor
and the glory of the Savior's name.
If you want to know other matters about
the undercover exercises we did, when you get
this man here in good form someday, he'll
tell you some stories.
You'll not believe half of them, but I'll
tell you something, they're all true.
For God does miracles for those that trust
him to do miracles.
I have been struck recently in my study
of the scriptures on the place that an
evangelist has in the ministry of the church.
Some of us look upon evangelists as a
special office like the apostles and like others
who had special duties to perform.
But there's a difference when we come to
the evangelist.
For the evangelist is a man who has
a gift.
He may be a minister, he may be
a Sunday school teacher, or he may be
in some other task, but he has to
do the work of an evangelist.
The evangelist's gift is beyond the office.
It covers the whole life.
And I have been thinking a lot of
the fact that we need evangelists.
An evangelist is a person sold out on
the one business to introduce people to our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And we need to recover in our churches
the wonderful opportunities that God gives for the
humblest of his saints, the joy of being
an evangelist.
And I enjoy being an evangelist.
I remember going across to America once, and
through the benefit of a dear brother, he
said, Ian, you shouldn't travel on any other
part of a plane but in first class.
I said, amen to that.
Do you pay the ticket?
He says, I will.
So the next time I went to America,
I rang him up and I said, I
need a first class ticket.
He said, it's ready for you.
How much is it?
And he sent me a check right away.
And I got into this first class of
a beautiful plane to cross the Atlantic.
And I said to myself, I shouldn't waste
time here.
I'll never see these people again.
They'll never see me again, but I could
get the gospel to them.
And I had printed, as I had done
for many years before, a little personal testimony
to how God's saved me.
And I said, I'll give one to every
passenger.
And every passenger that passed my seat on
that plane, I said, I want to talk
to you.
And I brought out this little leaflet.
And I said, that's something I want you
to read.
And they were all very nice and said,
yes, I will read it.
And when I looked down the plane, all
the people that I had contact, they were
all reading this testimony.
And then something better happened.
The assistants on that plane, the people that
were looking after the inner man of the
passenger, two of them came down and they
said, Mr. Paisley, everybody wants this leaflet.
And will you give us a bundle of
them and we'll put them out for you.
And so I had first class workers doing
work freely for nothing and giving out to
all those men and all the word of
God.
I was in the front seat of a
plane one day, and there was a big
business man there.
And we ended up with both of us
weeping together.
And that big business man got out of
darkness into light and from the power of
sin and Satan unto God.
Every one of us should be overcome with
a passion for the souls of men.
Now, if you would turn with me to
this chapter that has part of which that
has been read to us, the 12th chapter
of Luke's gospel, you will find in this
chapter what God is looking for.
And what is he looking for?
He's not looking for a man who will
take all the thought for his life.
Look at verse 22 of chapter 12 of
Luke's gospel.
Is that not the man that is tied
up in this life?
For Christ says that the life is more
than meat and the body is more than
raven.
Consider the ravens for they neither sow nor
reap, neither carry their into the store or
the barn, but God feedeth them.
How much more are ye better than many
fowls, many fowls.
And then if you go down the chapter,
fear not little flock, it is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
If ever the church of Jesus Christ should
be stirred up on the question of evangelization,
it should be today.
50 years ago, our churches were brought about
because of evangelism and they prosper as they
are evangelistic.
And as a preacher has a desire for
souls, as the elders have a desire for
souls, as all the Sunday school teachers have
a desire for souls.
And if you read this 12th chapter of
Luke's gospel, you'll find many very important things
said and done and a call for obedience
from the people of God.
And we could get one person in this
house tonight on the altar for God, dedicated,
having asked God's forgiveness for him being a
silent Christian for far too long.
And if we could see one person baptized
with the burden and passion from souls, then
we would have the start of blessing with
that person and with the church to which
he belongs.
No shortcuts can be made to get the
power of evangelism into our soul.
This is a work of the Holy Spirit
in our hearts.
We have to start where God starts with
us.
And where does God start with us?
He starts with us in the place of
love.
He loves us.
And if that heart's love of Christ can
penetrate your heart and fill your mind and
your soul, it will then skip over into
the field where the sinners are, and you'll
get a love for the perishing souls of
man.
If you go home tonight and read this
portion of scripture, you'll find it's a call
away from the natural to the spiritual.
It's a call away for the way the
work of God is done today.
The lack of days ago worthiness of God's
people today.
And you'll come to a place where you'll
see only one life.
It will soon be passed.
Only what can be done for Jesus will
last.
I was struck when I was reading this
portion of scripture of the fact that the
Lord tells them that they are to get
their loins girt.
That stuck in my mind.
Of course, the people in Palestine wore long
clothes and long gowns, but you can't run
well with a skirt about you.
You have to get your legs and knees
into the place of freedom.
And it's interesting to notice there are two
people mentioned in this chapter about guarding.
The first one is you as a worker,
you have to guard up the lions.
You keep on the dress suit and the
suit for pleasure and the suit for your
own comfort and you'll get nowhere.
But if you get up the lions of
your mind, you will be prepared to get
something for Christ.
But it tells me this, that when Christ
comes, he comes girt up.
Just read the portion.
He himself, our God, our Lord is not
on holiday.
Our Lord is more busy than he has
ever been in the great work of the
redemption of lost souls.
Oh, to know what it is to be
girt up, to be loosed for freedom.
And then down that chapter, we read of
the burning and the shining lamps.
There are not many burning and shining lights
today.
When I came to this city many, many
years ago, there was a wee man that
had been converted through W.
P.
Nicholson when he preached in the Presbyterian church
down the road and had a great revival
meeting.
So many people came one night to that
church that the big pillars that separate the
two doors were shifted six inches with the
press of the crowd of men from the
shipyard fighting to get into the meeting.
Thinking about it, thinking about it, people fighting
to get into the meeting.
And there was one man there, the worst
drunkard on the Raven Hill Road.
He lived opposite us in our old church
further down.
He was a villain, a wicked man, a
drunkard, a sinner of the vilest of deeds.
And he was pushed by the crowd up
the stairway and into the front seat of
the gallery.
He hadn't been in church since he went
to Sunday school.
He was an old, aged, drunkard and sinner.
W.
P.
Nicholson preached a great message on salvation, what
must I do to be saved.
And at the end of an hour's preaching,
he took out his large handkerchief from his
top pocket and wiped away the sweat.
And then he said, I'm not going to
have any secrecy about my appeal.
I'm going to ask anyone in this congregation
that God has spoken to and you want
to escape from the wrath to come.
I want you to jump to your feet.
The first man to jump to his feet
was the man in the front of the
pew on the gallery.
And he cried out.
He said, Mr. Nicholson, if Christ will take
me, I will take him.
And he put his hand into his pockets
and his pockets were overflowing with bookie's documents.
He was a terrible gambler.
And he spread them over the congregation like
confetti from the gallery.
And that man from that day, not only
was saved, became one of the greatest soul
winners in this district and right over this
city.
He had learned to sing when he was
on the road to hell.
Now he had learned to sing the songs
of glory.
And if you had lived in this road
near to where he lived, it would be
nothing in the morning when he got up
to go to the yard, the shipyard at
seven o'clock to hear this man singing.
Would you be free from your burden of
sin?
There's power in the blood.
One of the greatest soul winners that this
city ever had.
A poor drunkard, a man who had given
the best of his life to the devil.
But thank God the best of his life
only came when he was changed by the
power of the gospel.
You know what we all need tonight?
We need to have our first love to
Christ restored.
We need to have our first desire to
know the Bible restored.
We need to have in our hearts a
desire to be like this chapter tells us
we should be warm, happy, and rejoicing in
the work of God.
What simplicity is in this chapter.
What wonderful wisdom is in this chapter.
What a joy is open to the children
of God in this very chapter.
We read here about the great reward.
We read here that we are to be
burning and shining lights.
We read here that we should have no
compromise with sin.
We read here that we should have discernment
of the times in which we live.
We read here about the work of the
Holy Spirit in the field of witnessing and
soul winning.
We read here that our talents and our
body and our whole man should be surrendered
to Christ so that we might do the
task that he wants us to do.
We need to see that we have a
burning and shining light.
We need to see we have plenty of
oil in our vessels so that when the
oil burns out we can keep the light
still lit and burning with all the glory
and baptism of the Spirit.
I want just to say tonight to you
we need to all go home and kneel
at our bed.
And as we kneel say Lord this bed
is an altar.
I'm on my knees.
Oh chain me to the altar of God
and give me a love for the souls
of men.
I was reading an old hymn book before
I came out to this meeting and there
was a hymn in it.
There's no name to who wrote this hymn
but its words are good.
Give me the wings of faith to rise
within the veil and see the saints above
how great their joys how bright their glories
be.
Once they were mourning here below and wet
their couch with tears they wrestled hard as
we do now with sins and doubts and
fears.
I asked them whence their victory came they
all with united breath ascribed their conquest to
the Lamb their triumph to his death.
They marked the footsteps that he trod his
zeal inspired their breath and following their incarnate
God they gained the promised rest.
Our glorious leader claims our praise for his
own pattern given by the dark cloud of
witnesses show the same bright path to heaven.
I trust that God will stir our hearts
and I trust that our brother here from
Spion who is with us in this meeting
and his loved ones may know the baptism
of power from on high and I trust
that all of us will return to our
first love and realize that Christ wants us
to shine for him that the glory may
be his alone.
I have had during the past four to
five months a great time going around the
large schools of England and ministering to them
in the gospel.
I have been at Eton and I've been
at the other great schools and strange to
relate that this day two days from now
on Friday of this week I'll be in
Trinity College Dublin in a joint meeting with
two other universities one the famous University of
Oxford and the other one of the Scottish
largest universities.
The door has opened and I have had
a great time in these last months visiting
these schools.
When I preached at Eton College the first
young man who walked out a fine young
fellow but by the 18th and he said
Mr. Pisa couldn't leave he said I'm a
Christian and he told me the story of
his conversion and he said you know there's
five of us here and we're all working
for the Lord.
Oh may God set our hearts on fire
and may our brother as he goes back
with his loved ones to bring the gospel
to Spain.
May his heart be filled with the love
of God that passes knowledge and all understanding.
Wake it up believer go out and witness
to all that God has done for you
and thank God.
Let's lift our eyes and say Lord the
best has yet to be and the end
is not yet.
Praise the Lord.
May it be so for Jesus sake.
Amen.
I'd like to thank Dr. Paisley for that
word of exhortation that we've been listening to
very much to encourage us and to give
us the direction that we should go as
the Lord's people.
There is that wonderful reference of the Apostle
Paul to Titus how that he was comforted
by the coming of Titus.
I know that the Lord's servant the Reverend
Hannah and the Reverend Boyd and uncle here
have been greatly comforted by the coming of
our brother Gorgie.
He has been a great help to them
and indeed a great encouragement and I'm going
to ask him now to come and just
speak to us for a little time.
We're delighted also to have our moderator with
us Dr. Johnson and he'll be closing in
prayer in a little time but Gorgie is
going to speak to us just now.
Yes I'm very very thankful for you and
for this occasion to be here.
I'm thankful also for our God.
He's a very encouraging time to be here
and it's a really significant to me for
my family also and for our ministry that
we are doing just in the north of
Spain.
Well and I would like also to give
a word of my testimony how the Lord
has called me to to him to know
Christ even if I am the only one
of my family to to be Christian.
I am of Roman Catholic origins.
All my family are Roman Catholic.
None of them are Christian believers or Bible
believers or believes in the gospel believe in
Jesus Christ.
I thank God because I was saved even
during my my youth when I was at
the age of 19 years old.
And well it was after a time of
rebellion or when I was yes in
rebellion against God.
I was obviously it is evident well I
was trained and educated as a Roman Catholic.
I was baptized and I was well I
took the first communion at the age of
eight or nine.
And well after that time I never returned
to the Roman Catholic mass.
But well even in the in the when
I was a child I believed yes in
God and I had some fear or some
reverence about God.
But when I was 15 years old as
a consequence also for the of the training
of the ideas in the school evolutionary teaching
and communist ideas also well I rejected all
religion.
I rejected also God.
And well it was during the 80s it
was the time of the opening of Spain
after the death of Franco.
Political opening but also an opening in in
morals.
And that day and these years it was
well became easier became easy to to people
especially especially to young people to to to
drink alcohol or to to use drugs or
to go out during night and during the
night.
And well I passed all my youth in
that way of living and in rebellion yes
against my parents against God losing time.
And also yes I can say that many
of the fellows that I had during that
time ended badly.
And well I am very thankful to God
that he preserved me in during the these
years that I took this rebellions stand against
against him.
But at the age of 70 70 70
years 70 years old I then I began
to pray because I I need I need
then God.
I prayed for help in my life and
at the age of 18 years old I
prayed also for him that to good this
kind of life with my fellows with my
friends.
And well I I prayed to reach the
university.
I thought that well the salvation for me
would be to reach a university study university
journalism.
And it was difficult but well he helped
me also.
And I began these studies and when I
reached university then I I realized that it
was no salvation in in that.
And and well but it was during the
first year that it was a conference an
evangelical conference in the university.
And I attended attended to to this conference
and at the exit they offered a new
testament with Proverbs and the Psalms and I
returned home.
And really it was a great great revolution
spiritual revolution to to to read Bible for
my own and to know about Jesus personally
in the in the gospel.
And really at that time well also I
I felt about about my sins.
And it was a friend of mine that
invited me also.
You did the that same year the first
year of journalism at the end of the
year that year he invited me to to
give to to attend also a biblical studies
in the university by a ministry of evangelical
students.
I attended and in that time well I
I fully understood the the gospel and I
received Jesus as my Lord and Savior repenting
of my sins.
It was when I was 19 years old
22 years ago and the Lord has give
give me the direction the calling to to
be his servant to to preach to preach
the gospel and to to bring the gospel
to bring the word of God to Spain
and to bring the the message of the
reformation to to my people.
And well I am very thankful to to
God because I I see that it's all
from his grace and and that's nothing that
I have married before nor after nor even
today.
It's his call but I the desire of
my heart is to be faithful to his
calling and also to to bring the the
word of God to to my people.
Well I would like also to to thankful
to thank for you for your prayers for
for that and thank you very much.
I'm very grateful to the Reverend Ruth for
speaking to us this evening and could I
just reinforce his encouragement to you to pray
for him.
His work is a very isolated work it's
not in the metropolis of Madrid or close
to that vicinity.
It is a work that I believe needs
much prayer and the Lord's servant is a
very gifted young man in the ministry of
God's word.
His wife also is an exceedingly gifted person.
They have three children and I trust you'll
remember them.
It is a challenge that they face daily
seeking to bring the lost to the savior
and I know that the Lord's servant has
a tremendous spirit of evangelism and that to
us has been a real source of inspiration
and I trust that that church there in
the northern part of Spain will reproduce into
other churches right around that region that our
brother represents.
We're going to sing now another hymn from
our hymn book and after the singing of
this hymn Dr. Johnson is going to just
close in prayer and then Dr. Paisley wants
to make some announcements relevant to the martyrs
here.
It is the hymn numbered 430.
All the way my savior leads me what
have I to ask beside can I doubt
his tender mercy who through life has been
my guide and could I just say that
your offering came to 637 pounds.
We're very thankful to you for that and
I trust that your giving will be truly
multiplied with your prayers and with your supplications.
The hymn numbered 430.
Just very briefly to re-echo what I'm
sure has already been said by the brethren
here to assure our brother that we are
praying for you and could I just on
behalf of the brethren of our presbytery assure
them that we are remembering him.
We rejoice in the work that the reverend
and Mrs. Hannah have accomplished over these decades.
When you get to my age you look
back how the years rolled by so quickly.
He still looks young though but it is
amazing.
We praise the Lord for all that's been
accomplished in Spain and under the mission board
the leadership of Reverend McElveen and the others
that serve on the mission board, the missionary
council, the giving of God's people.
Truly it's wonderful in our eyes and we
can say with the psalmist this is the
Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes
and we thank God for the missionary team
over in Spain and for the members of
our congregations who pray and who give.
I thought was running through my mind just
thinking of the meeting I'm not going to
preach don't worry but it does say over
in Mark don't need to turn to it.
The kingdom of God is as if a
man should cast seed into the ground.
Goes on to say how he would sleep
and arise and the seed would germinate germinate
and bring forth the blade and then the
fruit he knoweth not how and I would
encourage you brother to keep on sowing the
seed.
Keep on sowing because what the Lord was
saying there the work often appears slow.
It's night after night the farmer would go
to sleep there didn't seem to be any
results it seemed slow but silently the work
was going on and of course it went
on secretly down in the ground in the
blade it went on as I say slowly
silently secretly supernaturally but it worked sure and
the fruit came and thank God as your
faithful brother the Lord will reward you in
due season.
Be not weary in well-doing brother may
the Lord bless you.
Let's all pray now please.
Our father in heaven we do thank thee
for this service this evening we thank thee
for the reverend Ruth and his ministry there
in Spain we praise thee for the day
that thou didst call him unto thyself in
saving sovereign grace for the gifts with which
thou bestowed him.
We thank thee he's been born again by
the spirit of God and the spirit of
God has given the gifts of the spirit
to him to the public sign gifts of
preaching and teaching the people of God.
Lord we thank thee for his faithfulness but
Lord we pray that thou would continue to
give him that diligence even the patience of
a farmer to keep sowing the seed.
We pray Lord that thou would be pleased
to water it there in Spain and the
ministry of our other missionaries and there in
that most catholic Spain that many may be
brought to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bless the testimony missionary work of our denomination
in these days remember our whole denomination bless
everywhere here and on the mainland and in
the other places where thy servants are seeking
to hold up the banner of the cross.
Lord we thank you tonight that we're saved
we thank you tonight that we're in the
Lord's side we thank you for the privilege
of being able to share a part in
the work of God and Lord we praise
thee for that great day when the church
of God will be complete and will be
united around the throne and there'll be some
out of every tribe tongue people and nation
from Spain from Ireland from Brazil from England
from Scotland from Wales from Kenya from other
mission fields of the world and we'll sing
thou art worthy for thou hast redeemed us
by thy blood and Lord we praise thee
for the blood of Christ.
We pray now as we separate the one
from the other that the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the
Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
may rest remain and abide upon us until
the Savior comes or calls.
Amen.
I just want to mention to our own
folk because of this protest that will be
held by the unions the trade unions on
Friday our open air will not take place
this Friday at the usual hour one o
'clock but pray that God will continue to
keep that place open for the preaching of
the word of God and then could I
remind our own people of our services on
the Lord's day at 11 30 and 7.
I'm going to preach in the morning on
snatched from the darkness of death and in
the evening I'm going to speak on the
greatest killing ever executed.
So pray for the services and the Lord
bless us all as we seek to labor.
The Lord has brought us and we have
as taught us and we know people now
that we never thought we knew anything about
who would have thought that we would have
had a converted Romanist like on the platform
but we weren't saying the mass we were
preaching to the mass and that's a different
thing so we thank God and we take
courage the Lord bless you.
Amen.