Week of Meetings 1986-03
Stan Ford

Stan Ford (N/A–) is a British Christian preacher and evangelist known for his ministry within the Gospel Hall Brethren tradition, a branch of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Born in England, Ford was raised by his mother after his father died in the gas chambers of World War I, leaving her to single-handedly support the family. As a youth, he excelled in boxing, winning the Boy Champion of Great Britain title at age 13. Facing a strained home life, he ran away to ease his mother’s burden, earning money through boxing and sending half his first income of five shillings back to her. His early years were marked by independence and resilience, shaped by these challenging circumstances. Ford’s journey to faith began when he attended a Bible class at a Gospel Hall, taught by George Harper, a future noted evangelist in Britain. Years later, at a tent meeting organized by the same Gospel Hall group—who had prayed for him for three years—he intended to heckle the preacher but was instead drawn into a transformative encounter. After challenging perceived biblical contradictions, he spent hours with the evangelist, who refuted his objections, leading to his eventual conversion, though the exact date remains unclear. Ford became a preacher, delivering messages recorded by Voices for Christ, focusing on straightforward gospel truths. His ministry reflects a life turned from skepticism to fervent faith, influencing listeners through his testimony and teachings. Details about his personal life, such as marriage or later years, are not widely documented.
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the preacher focuses on a text from the Word of God: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" He emphasizes that this text is often disliked by many people, but it holds an important truth. The preacher highlights three key points: there is a fact to be explained, which is the ultimate fate of a person's soul; there is a force to be exposed, as life does not consist in material possessions; and there is a fate to be expected, where all people will be judged based on their actions. The preacher warns against pursuing worldly things and theories, as they cannot bring true life, but only Jesus can save one's soul.
Sermon Transcription
Thank you for being with us tonight, we appreciate it very much, and some of my friends from Raleigh, it's lovely to see them again. The Lord bless you. I want to read, if I may, those tremendous verses in the Gospel of Mark, and in Chapter 8, please. The 8th Chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Mark Chapter 8, and we will commence reading in verse 27. And Jesus went out and his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And by the way, he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist. And some say, Elias, and others, one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed. And after three days, rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked unto his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan. For thou savest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him, with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. And whosoever will save his life, shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. May the Lord just add his blessing to this portion of his own word. Now, I believe you have in front of you a course sheet. I was given to understand, there's one in each wherever it is, but we're going to turn to that little course sheet, and we're going to send one or two of these courses. And then again, I'm given to understand that I've done what I often do. I've chosen courses you don't know. Can't see coming all the way from Israel, picking up an American course sheet, and having to teach you some of them. Oh dear, dear, dear. But we're going to try, and I've chosen some of the oldest. Number 33, and I'm certain that most of us will know this one. Number 33, Jesus said that whosoever will, they can't. Number 33 please. Did you notice that singing brought two people in? Did you notice that? You'll have to sing a bit better. We've got a few more in. Really we will. And by the way, when we come to that high note at the end, I don't want you men to do what I do, stop and listen. You carry on now, and you ladies, come on, let's really reach it. Let's try it again. You know, it's one of the oldest courses on the sheet. That's why it's not a message anymore. Jesus said that whosoever will, they can't. That's just what he did say, and he included you, and he included me. So let's try it again. You didn't know it, Missy, did you? You did? You've made two mistakes. Oh, look at that. I never embarrass anyone, you know that. You know that. Come on, let's try it together again. Thank you. Jesus said that whosoever will, whosoever will, whosoever will. Sounded good. Let's try another. How about number 29? Number 29. He holds my hand. Jesus holds my hand. Safely to heaven he leads the way. He is my keeper from day to day. You know, I'm glad that's him. What a great gift our Lord. None shall pluck them out of his hand, the scripture says. So come on, let's sing. Number 29. Do you? He holds my hand. Jesus holds my hand. Jesus. I was wondering. Oh, I'm sorry. Four more people coming. Isn't that lovely? Not that side, please. Oh, we want the good singers on this side. Oh, look at that. One word from me, and they do what they like. Oh, dear. Now, do you know what that meant? Soon as we started singing, two came in, started again, four came in. Let's try just this one. Just this side on their own now, and we'll show them how to sing. Are you ready? Here we go. He holds my hand. Jesus holds my hand. Safely to heaven he leads the way. He is my keeper from day to day. Now, this side. Now, this side. Are we ready? Away we go. He holds my hand. Hope you like that. Because you never were very good at music, were you? No, we're not. Right, let's try just one other, if we may be. How about chorus number 14? Chorus number 14. One step more. One step more. You. One step more. One step more. Give me faith, Lord. You know, I remember when first we taught that chorus some years ago here. I reminded you then how he was on our strike. Oh, yeah. I know I frightened some peoness, but I didn't know I'd frighten them. Now, the first time we taught this chorus, remember I reminded you that that's what Christian experience is all about. Taking one step at a time and walking with the Lord. I meet so many folks, you know, they want to know what's going to happen in six months' time, in a year's time. Oh, my friend, Christian experience is walking step by step with the Lord. Step by step. But of course, you've got to take the first step. You remember the tremendous soaring of Adner? I sometimes say of Adner, you know, how serious was his danger? How stupid was his delay? How sudden was his death? You remember that because Asahel had been slain on the hill, Johann was chasing Adner to put him to death. But there was a city of refuge, Hebron. And Adner came to that city and all he had to do to be in complete safety, please, please remember, all he had to do to be in complete safety was this. That's all he had to do. One step. And if he'd taken that step and gone into the city of refuge, Johann could never have touched him. But how stupid was his delay? He just stood there, never took the step. And Johann came and drove his spear under his head, and Adner fell dead to the ground. You remember lamentation that David made over Adner? Died Adner as a fool, did you? Your hands weren't bound, your feet weren't put in fetters, there was nothing to take, stop you taking the step. But he never took the step. How sudden was his death. My friend, I have a city of refuge tonight. It's Jesus Christ. I thank God if you and I will come to Him, then death will never touch us in its deeper sand. You've got to take the sand. One step more, one step more. Oh, give me faith for one step more. Oh friend, make sure you take that step, and then walk on with us over here. Now the last walk, is it that one? I'd like you doing that. Oh, she's lost her joy with it. Now, we'll have number 105, please. Number 105. And what a glorious one that trust in the Lord, and don't despair. Please, I'm sure that many of you know the story of this of this course. Dear, dear friend of ours, dear Mr. Oliver, who served the Lord for many long years in Manitouri, was captured by the Japanese during the Ugly War, was in a concentration camp overlooking Nagasaki, when the atomic bomb fell, and 33,000 people were blown to smithereens in a second. They saw this great flash and this great fall of what turned out to be dust, but of course they didn't know what it was. And they ran those aged missionaries to the fence overlooking Nagasaki. They saw this city disappear. Mr. Oliver turned to them and said, let's say, and this is what they say, trust in the Lord, and don't despair. He is a friend, so true, no matter what your troubles are, Jesus will see you through. And I've got a strong feeling that if this course was suitable when Nagasaki was blown to smithereens, it's suitable for you and me to know, that whatever may pass, I've got a Savior in whom I can trust. Trust in the Lord. Thank you. Trust in the Lord, and don't despair. He is a friend, so true, no matter what your troubles are, Jesus will save you. Amen. Thank you. Thank you ever so much. Thank you. I'll give you the courses again tomorrow night, you see. All of you well. You know, it's good to sing together, and good to smile together. But isn't it a wonderful thing when, for a few moments, we can be serious together, and think of the things that count and matter. And that's what we're going to do now. So with your permission, we'll just ask God's blessing, and then we'll consider together his word. Shall we pray? O God and Father, we thank thee that thou art there, and we can trust thee. We bless thee that each one of us in this service this evening can come to know thee as the one who not only is our Savior, but our Lord, our Shepherd. And we pray that as we consider together that which is before us, that every heart here may be touched. O bring glory to thyself, and blessing to us tonight, for Jesus' sake. Amen. I am not going to do tonight what I did last evening. For you will remember that last evening, and yesterday morning, we considered together a text. And we looked at one text, and sought to see what God had to say to you and me from that text. Tonight, I want us to consider a text, but the context of a text as well. Some years ago, I was travelling down to the town near where we live. We didn't have a car, and so I went down on the bus. There is, in Britain, a society that displays portions of the Word of God in the public transport. And while I was waiting for the bus to come, there were others got into what we call a queue. You know, just the other day, Mary and myself got into a queue. And a person came, actually, we were, what were we doing, Moira? Ice cream, weren't we? Well, sometimes it's not what it was due for. Anyway, we were doing, and someone came up and said, where did you get that from? And I said, well, I put it over there, but you had to queue. He looked at me. I think he thought I was being funny or something. Now, please, if I use the English expression queue, simply means a line, simply means you get in line. And sure enough, I was in line in the queue. When he told the bus came, I sat next to a gentleman. And in a moment, he said to me, I've never met him before, he turned to me and said, fancy putting that on a bus. I looked around. Put it closer. That, he said. And there above was a text, the text I want to remind you of tonight, the text that's found here in this glorious portion we have read. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? I tell you something, I've got a feeling before we got to our destination, he was sorry that he ever mentioned that. Desperately sorry. I only know this, that it's a text that many people don't like. But it's in the word of God, and tonight around Mark 8 and 37, I want to pass a remark at it. As I look at the context and the text, I want to point out three simple truths. I want to remind you that first of all, there is a fact to be explained. Now may I repeat that? There is a fact to be explained. Jesus said, whom did you say that I am? And Peter looked at him and said, thou art the Christ. But oh, what a mystery there was about that expression. When the Lord Jesus explained the great fact that he was the Christ, Peter turned to him and rebuked him. And Jesus had to say to Peter, get thee behind me Satan. Is it not remarkable that a person who could walk in company with Jesus Christ for so long, could see the miracles that he did, hear the sermons that he preached, observe all that happened around him, had not come to realize that if Jesus was the Christ, he would be taken, killed, put in a tomb. But the third day was again. Oh, there's a fact to be explained. But if there is a fact to be explained, there is a falsehood to be exposed. May I repeat that? There is a falsehood to be exposed. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul? All around us today, there are people who are telling us that there is an answer to life. It is in getting things. Speaking to a crowd of young folks some time ago, I reminded them that there were three things young people I find go after. They go after things. They go after theories. They go after trails. They think that those things will bring life, and those theories will bring life, and those trails will bring life. But Jesus said, what shall it profit you if you've got all those things, and you lose your own soul? There's something more important than those things. But if there is a fact to be explained, and if there is a falsehood to be exposed, I will not be spending very long on it. But I must remind you that there is a fate to be expected. A fate to be expected. As the Lord Jesus reminded them, in those terrible words, let me read them again, and whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also, shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. There is a fate to be expected. First of all, there is a fact to be explained, and my heart is strangely warmed as I think of this. All those disciples wanted indeed the Lord to realize that they thought so much of him, and in answer to the question, whom do men say I am? And they told him that some said that he was John the Baptist, and some said he was Jeremiah, and some said he was some other prophet, Elijah. But who do you say I am? Oh, you're the Christ. And then we come across this expression, and he began. This was the first time that those disciples had ever begun to realize why Jesus came into the sea. My friend, if I was to ask you tonight, please now, if I was to ask you tonight, who is the Christ? What was the purpose of his coming into this world? What would your answer be? I meet many folk in different walks of life who have all sorts of answers. I meet folk who tell me that Christ came into the world to be a philanthropist, to minister to the needs of the poor. Oh, don't misunderstand me. Jesus did minister to the needs of the poor, and those who have been real philanthropists are those that have trusted Jesus Christ. But he never came to be a philanthropist. I meet men and women who tell me that Jesus Christ came into the world to be a teacher. Oh please, the greatest teacher that ever lived, he was. Why, he could pluck a little flower from the side of the road, and looking at it saying, Solomon in all his glory was not arraigned as one of these. And 2,000 years after, you and I look at a little field and enemy, and we say, Solomon in all his glory wasn't arraigned as one of these. That's preaching. Do you know, I'll tell you something, almost everything that I'll say tonight you will have forgotten by tomorrow, as I am no preacher. But Jesus, oh what a teacher he was. But he didn't come to live each night. Oh please, a part of the by-products of Christianity is teaching. I spend some of my time, as some of you know, in the University of Cambridge, and I never move amongst those colleges in Cambridge without remembering that almost every one of them had their foundation in the Christian faith. Jesus College, Christ College, Emmanuel College, Trinity College, St John's College. Oh yes, my friend, part of the by-products of the Christian faith has been learning, has been teaching, and he never came to be a teacher. I meet men and women who tell me he came to be an emancipator, and please don't misunderstand me. Don't misunderstand me. Part of the by-product of the Christian faith has been emancipation. I never look at the statue at Roboforce Park in the City of Hull in my land. I never look at the statue of William Roboforce without remembering it's the biggest lie that a person's a sculptor ever made. Do you see William Roboforce seated, covered with his gown, and all you see is the shunning face that William Roboforce was hunchbacked and pigeon-chested? He looked more like an ape than he did a man. Yet, when William Roboforce stood in the House of Parliament in my land and spoke on emancipation, his face shone as it was the face of an angel. The Emancipation Acts were passed, and he did it because he loved Jesus. But please, Jesus didn't come to be an emancipator. Why did he come? He said, I have come to be the Christ. Whom do men say that I am? But whom do you say you're the Christ? Please, may I again do it? You'll forgive me, but I feel I need to do it. Would you permit me just to take you back again to Sunday school? And if you sit there and say, oh, I've known that since I was a child, then I'll shout hallelujah. I won't want you to shout hallelujah. But you ought not forget that Christ is a name that's spring. It's not his ordinary name, it's his title. Jesus was his name, Christ was his title. You know this, don't you, that Christ is not even an English word. They have given us not a translation, but a transliteration. They took that Greek word Christos, and they brought it into our English language, and they changed it slightly and said Christ. But I'm not a Greek. If I was a Jew, I wouldn't say Christ, would I? If I was a Jew, I would use the Hebrew tongue, and I would say Messiah. It's the same word, it's just a different language. Messiah. But please, I'm not a Jew. I have nothing to do with it, please. I have nothing to do with it. But I am an Englishman. And because I am, I wouldn't say Christ, and I wouldn't say Messiah, would I? I would say anointed. Anointed! For that's what it, now it makes sense, doesn't it? Jesus the anointed. We can understand it now, can't we? You remember there were three classes of people God said had to be anointed. Prophets had to be anointed, so they anointed Moses. Priests had to be anointed, so they anointed Aaron. Kings had to be anointed, so they anointed David. And when we say Jesus is the Christ, we say Jesus is the prophet, and the priest, and the king. And you know, you know that a prophet was there to reveal, to tell people what God wanted them to know. A priest was there to reconcile, to bring the sinner back into fellowship with God. And a king was there to reign. And when we say Jesus is the Christ, we say he's the redeeming, reconciling, reigning son of God. But please, please, where did he reveal God? Where did he reconcile men to God? Where did he show his ability to reign on the hearts of men as God? Is it not a fact? Is it not a fact that it was that place called Calvary? And Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected of the elders, be killed, and after three days, rise again. That's what he tells us. That if I'm the Christ, I have come and I'll reveal God to you. And friend, could you think of a better revelation of God than at the cross? Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Could you think of a place better than Calvary, where God has reconciled man to himself? And when you think not only will he be rejected of the elders and killed, but the third day rise again, can you show me anyone more worthy to sit on the throne of your life than the one who has conquered sin and death and risen from the ground? I love to remind men and women, I'm sure I've reminded you, that they took my Lord down from Calvary's cross and they placed him in a tomb. They rolled a stone in front of it, and they set a seal on it, and they stood a soldier by it. But hallelujah, no stone or seal or soldier could keep him in the grave. And he rose from the dead. And I have a living Christ today. I have a saviour, blessed be his name, I have a saviour who's willing to make a relationship with you, who is willing to bring redemption to you. Praise God he's willing, because of his resurrection, to reign on the throne of your heart. He is the Christ. Oh, but hearken, hearken, if there's a fact to be explained about the Christ, in that light there's a foresoe to be exposed. For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Now, I want to say this to you, that that word lose is no favourite of mine. That word lose, to me, can be an awful word. To lose, to lose, to lose, it brings grief to the heart. He is a word that brings anguish to the home. To lose. It's bad enough when a man loses his money. When a man loses his money, when depression wades knee-deep in a man's affairs, then there's sorrow. It's worse if a man loses his health. Oh, what a terrible thing when the flower of strength fades away, and a person is suddenly found with no strength whatsoever. And as a minister of the gospel, I must say this to you, it's an awful thing when a person loses his life. I never stand by an open grave without I feel I couldn't clench my fist and say to death, just you wait, just you wait. For one day, praise God, that last enemy will be destroyed. But when one loses a loved one, there's nothing nice about that. But listen friend, you can lose your wealth, and you can lose your health, and you can lose your life, and not lose your soul. But if above all those things it has to be said that you have lost your soul, what an awful thing. To lose one's money, but you never expected to keep it, did you? I said the other evening, didn't I, that not even in America do they make a shroud with a pocket in it. When the end of the journey comes, what was said when a person asked concerning a rich person who died, how much did he leave? The answer, he left it all, and so will you. You didn't expect to keep it, did you? I suppose there's a sense in which we don't expect to keep our health. Oh, there's a time when, as a babe, as a lad, as a man, things go well. But then age comes along, doesn't it? You know, I hear some people talk as though they're gonna live forever. You see, I'm no longer a boy. I'd sort of reached the age when they call you a senior citizen. Nice expression, that. But I tell you something, I tell you something, that's what I expected. And there comes a time when life will slip away. We didn't expect to keep our health. If we don't expect to keep our wealth, and we don't expect to keep our health, we don't expect to keep our life, do we? For if the Lord doesn't come, please God, he may. But if the Lord doesn't come for his church, then every one of us will go the way of all flesh. There'll come a time when they'll look at us, and we'll find indeed that our life has dwindled, and dimmed, and dulled, and died. Rather solemn, isn't it? But what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world? Lose your soul. For there's no need to lose your soul. We may lose our wealth, and health, and life, but God has given us something that's eternal and immortal. And it's possible for you and I to have life, and that abundant. For Christ died that we might have a life that death can never touch. Christ gave his life that we might be recipients of it. I live, yet not I. Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. Oh, I say, whom do men say I am? John the Baptist, but he's dead. Jeremiah, but he's dead. Elijah, but he's dead. Elijah, but he's dead. The other prophets, but they're dead. I'm the Christ, and bless God, although they put me to death, I rose from the dead. I live, and because I live, you can live also. Oh, my friend, my friend, what about your life? You young folk who expect to live a long while, and please God, you will. At the end of the journey, what will it be? Little more than a speck of sand on the shore of eternity? To face God, redeemed by the precious blood, with life abundant. Please. There's a fact to be explained. There's a falsehood to be exposed. That life does not consist in the abundance of things that a man has. There's a fate to be expected. You see, there's going to dawn the day when all men who know not Christ as Savior will stand before God, and the books will be opened, and another book will be opened, and men shall be judged out of the things that are written in the books. Says John, I saw a great white throne, and he that sat upon it, from whose face the heavens and earth led away, and the man that sat on the white throne was the man who sat on the white horse, and the man who walked is the Christ amongst the sons of men, and went to Calvary's cross. How will it be when the books are open? Oh, people keep books, don't they? They want to know how much they've got in the bank. They want to know how much they've got invested. They want to know all just what's theirs, and they keep books. But one day, the books are going to be open. I know it sounds like old-fashioned theology, doesn't it? I hope it is. I hope what I'm saying tonight is not some new idea. Please, God, it's the truth that's been held by the Christian church right through the years. But I meet men who tell me, Mr. Preacher, do you believe God keeps books? Of course I believe God keeps books. I'd rather like the lovely old Negro spiritual, don't you? He hears all I say. He sees all I do, and he keeps on writing all the time. One day, he said, the books will be open. And I believe God keeps books. I believe God keeps books, not just because the 20th chapter of Revelation says it. I believe it because the whole Bible says it. Could I please, could I just for a moment to imagine, ask you to imagine that we're in a court of law, and here in the corner is the dock, and I'm going to put some men in that witness dock, and I'm going to ask them the question, does God keep books? Would you give your voice? Do you know who I'd put there first of all? I'd put dear old Daniel there first. That man who purposed in his heart to serve God. The man after God's heart. Daniel, tell me, does God keep books? You know what he'd say. He'd look at you and me and say, does God keep books? Have you never read the 10th verse of the 7th chapter of the book that bears my name? Does God keep books? Thousands and thousands ministered unto him, and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him, and the books were opened. Oh Daniel, are you sure? Am I sure? You'd go back and read the first verse of the 12th chapter of that book that bears my name. God keeps books, and at that time thy people shall be judged. Thy people shall be delivered. Everyone that's found written in the book. Whatever else you say, Daniel taught and believed that God kept books. But my Bible says in the mouth of two or three witnesses, it says a threefold cord is not easily broken, so let's put someone else there. I say let's place into that, into that witness box dear old Moses. Oh Moses, does God keep books? God keep books? Have you never read the 32nd verse of the 32nd chapter of Exodus? When my heart was so moved as I saw the wickedness of thy nation, that I turned my eyes to heaven and I cried, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book that thou hast written. God keep books? I say let's put someone else there. Let's put dear old Isaiah there, the king's courtier. Isaiah tell me sir, does God keep books? You saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. Ah, but before I saw him, I told you. For you remember the fourth chapter of Isaiah, and is it the third verse? Where Isaiah dares to say, those who are written among the living, those who are written among the living, all in the mouth of two or three witnesses. I won't take very much time to remind you of dear old Daniel, who in the 28th, dear old David, who in the 28th verse of the 69th Psalm said, let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. I won't take very much time to ask you to consider indeed other words of scripture, but I want to say this to you, please sir, I want to say this to you, that if Daniel had never told me God kept books, and David had never told me God kept books, and Isaiah had never told me that God kept books, if indeed Ezekiel and Zephaniah had never told me God kept books, I would still believe God kept books. And do you know why? Because of the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Oh no, no no, that's the tragedy of the 10th of Luke. If I was to ask you folk tonight, what's the story of the 10th of Luke, you'd all answer the same. You'd all look at me and say, the good Samaritan. But don't you forget the 10th chapter of Luke tells the story of disciples who went out at the bidding of the Lord to do wonderful things, and they came back with their faces shining, and they looked at him and they said, Lord, Lord, even the spirits are unto us. And Jesus looked at them in that 20th verse of the 10th chapter of Luke, Jesus looked at them and said, in this rejoice not that the spirits are made subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Oh hallelujah, is your name written there? In the land, white and pale. Is your name written there? One day the books are going to be opened. The book of our word, as the scripture says, for every idle word a man shall say. The books of our book, the books of our work, those books will be opened. But oh my friend, my friend, there is a book that will be opened. It's the land book of life, it will be opened. And it will be opened at the great white throne. But there'll be no one in that book who's standing there. It will be opened to show that those that stand before God in that day unredeemed, unsaved, that their names were never written. Is your name written there? Oh my fellow traveler to eternity, the most awful words in holy writ cast into the lake of fire. But I turn to our text, please I turn to our text. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? We know there's nothing we can give in exchange for our soul. Nothing whatsoever that we can do. But oh praise God, if we're not ashamed of him and of his words, of him, the Christ, his words, that he should be killed and that he should write again the third day. Not ashamed of Calvary, of a savior who loved them and died for them. If we've come to him and taken him as our savior, then he'll not be ashamed of us in that day of his judgment. May I please, may I close the service by quoting again to you the words of our little chorus. Jesus said that whosoever will, whosoever will may come. And I'm so glad that he included me. He included me. I'm so glad that he included me when Jesus said, but whosoever will, the rich and the ragged, the favored and the forgotten, the humble and the haughty, whosoever will may come. Have you come? You can come and you can come tonight, for he's willing to receive you. Please God you will, for his name's sake. Amen. Just two verses of our last hymn please. Number 372. 372. We'll sing but the first and last verse as we close the service. 372. I am coming Lord, coming now to thee. I hear thy welcome voice, that calls me Lord to thee, for our cares please, as Jesus calls me on the earth. Friend, there are two people in this service tonight who know whether you're maybe no one else knows, you know and Christ knows, and if you're not, you may want to. You're saying tonight, now listen I know that whatever I may get in this life won't profit me a thing, but if I gain the whole world and lose my own soul I'm lost. I'd like to trust Christ, if that's how you think. I have in my hand a few copies of that lovely little gospel booklet, God's Way of Salvation. Not my word.
Week of Meetings 1986-03
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Stan Ford (N/A–) is a British Christian preacher and evangelist known for his ministry within the Gospel Hall Brethren tradition, a branch of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Born in England, Ford was raised by his mother after his father died in the gas chambers of World War I, leaving her to single-handedly support the family. As a youth, he excelled in boxing, winning the Boy Champion of Great Britain title at age 13. Facing a strained home life, he ran away to ease his mother’s burden, earning money through boxing and sending half his first income of five shillings back to her. His early years were marked by independence and resilience, shaped by these challenging circumstances. Ford’s journey to faith began when he attended a Bible class at a Gospel Hall, taught by George Harper, a future noted evangelist in Britain. Years later, at a tent meeting organized by the same Gospel Hall group—who had prayed for him for three years—he intended to heckle the preacher but was instead drawn into a transformative encounter. After challenging perceived biblical contradictions, he spent hours with the evangelist, who refuted his objections, leading to his eventual conversion, though the exact date remains unclear. Ford became a preacher, delivering messages recorded by Voices for Christ, focusing on straightforward gospel truths. His ministry reflects a life turned from skepticism to fervent faith, influencing listeners through his testimony and teachings. Details about his personal life, such as marriage or later years, are not widely documented.