In this sermon, the speaker shares his experience of receiving an invitation to join a mission trip. He initially hesitates but eventually decides to go. The speaker then describes the journey to the mission field, including the number of troops and the speed of travel. Upon arrival, the speaker notices that the mission field is neglected and in need of attention. The speaker also mentions the importance of preaching the gospel and shares that he had the opportunity to share many texts from the Bible during his time there. The sermon concludes with a request for prayer for finding a suitable location to hold meetings and for the success of spreading the gospel.

I won't be long because I haven't much to say. That doesn't need much of a definition. Forty years ago, the Home Report meeting was a hothead. You could get nobody up to speak. Now they're a headache, but it's who did it first. I left somebody behind me to keep me right. I'm just out of the hospital, though I may not look like it, praying with a dear woman that won't get any better. Then I have a little bit of good news for you that I think I ought to tell you right now, for fear I forget it, and that is I behaved myself much better this year than I did last year. I was only 12 times in jail this year. Last year, you remember, I was in 17 times, so I'm doing remarkably well. Last time I was in, after praying, oh, never come out without praying, I've been in 12 times, that makes about 25 prisoners. And the warders must stay in with me until I finish, hear what I say, and ask if I want. Before I pray, I give them all a gospel speech. And if any of them doesn't take it, or the warder doesn't take it, then I lose the Catholic, and when I get down to pray, I tell them quite a lot of what St. Peter says. It's a very happy job, I'm very fond of it, although you would need to skin like an elephant at times. And I don't think I would like to leave without getting round with a visitant, indeed, that they know living with me. I had 54 visits in a Royal Victoria Hospital, all of them, not only one, and I've just contacted 650 patients. I pray with them all, if I'm allowed. Sometimes I'm not allowed. I'm very thankful to you, as I say, and to God as well, that I can get into any of the 17 hospitals in Fairfax, in spite of the critical opposition. I don't know whether you like that or not. And the prisoners, the patients, receive me well. And if I pray and I do, please brethren, don't pray standing in a hospital. If you do, the rest of the patients will think that you're just talking to them. Get down on your knees, demand attention, and then take them to us. This is up in the seat of authority. We often, we sometimes, we get these patients saved, or we sometimes contact them from various parts of the North of Ireland, sometimes the South, not often, and then we put them in contact with somebody in that country that we know. It's a pleasure to me to go to a meeting and sit and say nothing, for a change. And the pleasure is that I can hardly go to a meeting anywhere in the North of Ireland, but I see people there that were saved in the big time. Speaking carefully now. Our difficulty this year is that we can't get room for a big tent. The tent at my disposal, which I appreciate very much, and I would love another summer in a tent if we can get ground. Will you please ask God for to find a piece of ground in the city, the big tent's too big to take out of the city, the people would think it was a treasure. So please pray that we can get ground in the city for a few weeks with a glorious gospel of a blessed God, no mischief. It's the gospel. It's the glorious gospel of a blessed God for everyone of us. It's the power or leader of God unto salvation, but only to every one that believeth. I neither count heads nor hands I go on with the gospel. I don't have any after-meetings except people ask me to stay behind. Very often I visit them in their own home. But other preachers do their affair, and this is my affair. And you'll find you'll not have many professions if you go along those lines. Now I hadn't very many gospel meetings this year, and I'll tell you why. But we're very, very thankful to God if we hadn't very many meetings which are some say. If you have no interest in sinners you're a backslider. If you never have interest in sinners at any time you need to be born again. If you have a notion that eventually you'll leave the brethren then the devil darts against you. And I challenge all of you to show me anything better than what we have in a New Testament relative to God's assembly. As much as it would do that the novel got into before and it got out of it again, and that was a spell of meetings for believers break one after another. I appreciate it very much and the assemblies appreciated it well. I'll tell you what was a real help to us. Someone who had never been to before that every assembly I went to the brethren were very kind to me. Of course they're not every day. Couldn't be anything else. And they took me around every member in each assembly. I would do no better thing. It's a lazy man that doesn't work. If a man doesn't work he shouldn't eat. And it was a great help because very often Christians are neglected. Sometimes old and frail and sometimes weak and not able to come together. You won't have any of it to do in heaven. Now's the time and this is the place. So that with a village and a people individually in a lone home and of course praying with them it created an interest in each one of the eight places that I was at. I may not mention them to you. The natures were good and strong. Easy to preach. And for believers. We didn't look for that in novelty, for dainty. Just God's good grip and that's generally appreciated in our beloved North of Ireland. I would say my dear brethren and sisters in Christ in my own humble way that visiting the people of God is a blessing. Visiting saints, if a preacher does not that he shouldn't be encouraged if he's physically fit. If he's not physically fit I'll come and have some. Some of them at any rate. But visiting old churches that's been ridden lots of the men of North of Ireland especially with our priests in God's name brethren will you go and visit them and pray with them. You young believers when you get down to things for eternity and now where you're young and strong mind your company. Mind the house party. Keep in Godly company. Pray with them and let them pray with you and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When you're asked to open a meeting I remember the first time I was asked matter of fact I'll never forget it I made that many mistakes but no matter. You don't need to get up on the platform and say well now dear friends you know I'm not a preacher. You needn't tell them that you don't belong on it. They know that. Shall I just say go to the future of the scripture and sit down and ask God to help you every time you get up on the platform. It's a very very responsible place to be. Now I'm finished almost. I greatly appreciate the kindness of my brethren every place I go. Indeed I think they'll soon be quarrelling about who's going to take me out when my car's not ready yet as you know. But I'd be very ungrateful if I didn't appreciate it and God knows I do. Now you'd be surprised when I tell you that all the reports you've listened to this afternoon I was interested in every one of them. How do you manage that? I prayed for them. If you can't pray for preachers there's a kink in this whole place. Some of you prefer to attach the scripture in the orange hole. That's a good place, huh? Don't hurt you if you think it was. But what shall we pray when we come to the gospel hall under no scepticism? What shall we pray? What good is that? And I would certainly say there's something radically wrong in our assembly without the education of others. I used to have an old woman and she came to me every night. She was what you'd call in Ireland a rough and ready woman. And every night she came, every night she sat at the front and every night she stayed behind. You know you get tired of that especially when it comes to 12 o'clock. I said to her every night, well Mary, have we got it? Yes. No. Good night. Thank you, don't be too late. So, she said, good night. I said, good night, Mary. Have we got it? Yes. God save the night. You know the way Irish people talk, don't you? English people can't touch it. God save the night. She said, aye, good night. Yes. God save the day, she said. Very good. Truly, Mary, you'll stay behind. And take five minutes to tell me how it happened. Aye. So, she slept. And now people had all gone up and just for that moment, telling me what did I say to impress the mighty old woman not to pray to me completely. She would like to know what your master meant. She, she? Didn't hear a word you said, not so I didn't affect her no more. Now, that was very including it to me. Sure, it did ruin my face, but it shouldn't have had any effect. Now, in all those eight assemblies that I visited God's people, I say, most of them here tonight, without the slightest hesitation, God gave blessing to his own real people. For this, I am very, very grateful. And by the various things before my mind, and various pleasures for future service, please, brethren and sisters, pray sprightly about the big plan for Jesus. Our brother, Mr. Davies, has asked me to mention that there are still some books left and anyone who desires to have one can get them at the back of the hall from one of the stewards. Our brother, Mr. Martin, I want you to read, please, in Romans, chapter 1. For very reason. One reason is, I'm certainly not going to belong. The next reason is because so many have asked me for to say something and I won't disappoint them. At least, I won't disappoint them by trying to say something and I hope I won't disappoint them by saying something. I'm only going to take a few minutes to tell you a little about New Zealand. I won't go any further for various reasons. There's a number of my brethren behind me and I can heartily say, God bless them everyone. They have good news to give and if they don't give it, then they're not doing their duty to this audience because they are supposed to buy the money from the people here to a large degree. Therefore, I hope they won't go backward and take at least 10 minutes each and tell the goodness of God in saving poor sinners from going down to hell fire. I'm very, very grateful to God that the traditions of the big tent are being sustained and brutally healed when I was a New Zealander. And Brother Paisley, who certainly proves to every honest thinking man and woman that the glorious gospel of the blessed God forstimately running heaven, which is a lever of God and a salvation, Romans 1.16, needs neither music nor choirs, nor solos, nor quartets, but a truthful declaration with the help of the Holy Spirit regarding sin and salvation, Christ of the world, heaven or hell, shall gather the crowd and shall hold the crowd as well. I have been exercised my dear brethren, about you dealing for whole years and I know perfectly well that I have your interest at your heart and I appreciate that very much. I have often said in public and to the Lord in prayer I really would be afraid to die if all God's people stopped praying for me. But I don't think they will. Now then, after I was speaking about New Zealand for whole years, when I got the first invitation, I didn't feel pain to go nor fear and consequently I prayed for the time being. Then a man came to the door and his wife and he said we are returning to New Zealand on such a date I'm due up to come with a little bit of matica. So I said well, I have been praying and I'll continue to do so. I'll let you know in a short time. We left London on the 28th of November half past five and we got up into the air 36,000 feet. We're getting up now. And then we started to go at 640 mile an hour. We're getting on now. And the captain speaks through the amplifier about every 15 minutes. And the next thing he said we are reducing speed and beginning to descend at Cairo. That happened at five different places and I'm not going to repeat that. When I landed in Sydney I had no voice then. There was nothing wrong with my throat and there's nothing wrong with my throat now. I'm telling you that for to ease your mind. Does it sound good? No. How could it sound good when you lost your voice? Well when your voice is gone you can do nothing with it. And there was no medicine or anything to help it. If I had, I had a chest full. So I had a great awful it came back. And when I started to preach in Sydney, the following day after I landed, I could only whisper. You can imagine the Australians how they listened to the vultures to hear a poor Irish man trying to preach with no voice. Well we stayed there a week then we went on to New Zealand. Well I spent five months in New Zealand and I certainly got my eyes open to the fact that there's a famine for preachers in New Zealand. I certainly found the preachers. I landed in, well the first meeting I had was in Hastings and I stayed there three weeks to help a little family with about 18 of them. When we got invitations for conference across into South Ireland and you have to go over a river to get there, it would be about the same width as it is from here to Liverpool. You drink that by the time it takes the boat. I went there by plane but I couldn't come back by plane because the motor that was going to take me to my destination on my way home was on the boat. I was at each conference in South Ireland, New Zealand split in two by Liverpool where the troops split from north to south. It's a very big country, the same size as England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man leaving Ireland. It's a terrible pity to leave Ireland. And only the only population is two and a half million, about the same size as the folks of Ireland. There are thousands of miles of land never cultivated yet and there are hundreds of miles of beautiful mountains. Everything is alright, the weather is good and everything else is good but as I found for the power of the Holy Ghost there are lots of big meetings that I could not and did not go to. I'm giving you a minute to think. There are lots of big meetings in New Zealand that I did not and could not go to any more than I can in the dock of Ireland. Either I cross the river, the sea in a plane or in a boat, I never change my course. What's right in one country is right in another and what's wrong in one country is wrong in another. And this is not the time for spineless compromise and I can have absolutely nothing to do with that. After each conference was over in the South Islands, five of them at most of them there wasn't a preacher there, only myself so you can be sure they were good. That's very sad my brother. After the war I went down to the extreme South, I couldn't go any further onto the border of the Pacific Ocean. If you look at the map you'll see a place called Invercargill right on the very coast of the Pacific Ocean in the extreme South of the South Island of New Zealand. There are three little nations there, I made up my mind, with God's help I'd give them all a little talk. They are very badly neglected, quite a lot of gentlemen preachers in New Zealand that are certainly not liberals nor are they concerned about the right line of things. I know all right when I'm speaking, there's men in the meeting who know what I'm saying both in front of me and behind me and I want them all to hear what I'm saying. The first meeting I started there was just breaking breath. I spent a week there and I had some unproductive texts of God's Holy Word. Lest I forget right here and now, I want to say we got about thirty texts of holy scripture outside the Gospel Hall in New Zealand, in the distance of a hundred and fifty miles from Invercargill, Oxford or Heaton. I want to say definitely here and now, absolutely regardless of whatever you may think about it, that the man out of any objection to a Gospel text outside the Gospel Hall is certainly not a, God doesn't need any explanation. He may pretend to be, he may to be sure but the people that pretend to be are usually not the spiritual men. And if I object to the Gospel outside then there's something wrong with my Christianity and spirituality, I say that without a doubt. And I hope there's none of this in the hall so challenging, so careless about to prove unbroadly as to object to a Gospel meeting outside the Gospel Hall. So foolish people object to us calling them a Gospel Hall. Would them God's name tell us what we're going to call them? Listen in on the shuffle, and if you do, God's willing, I won't be there. That's plain enough. I didn't go to any of them, neither in America, nor Australia nor New Zealand, and I'm thankful to God that there's none of them here. We haven't departed that far from the living God yet in the north of Ireland. The next little assembly I went to, it was poor in every sense of the word. I spent a week there, and I had the little assembly as best we could. There were very little for the health, but God seemed as Roman Catholic. Then we were a Roman Catholic man so when we came to Invercargill and there are school meetings in Invercargill, and I went there, it was a real good assembly and I'm thankful to God that I did go, and I so did they. They wanted me to stay, which of course was an impossibility. If you stayed everywhere, you were invited to stay when I'd never be home again. And if I wasn't home again, it wouldn't be long till my family would be out looking for me, and maybe some other people as well. Well now, we'd walked our way up from Invercargill to Dunedin, a distance of about a hundred and sixty miles. In between there are fourteen assemblies, all small in comparison with what we are here in the north of Ireland. Some of them very small, and certainly we had lessons to learn that a famine for labourers in the New Zealand, and there's lots of room for men that's willing to work. And if you're not willing to work, well, don't go. There were enough gentlemen there already. Then when we got up to New Zealand, we had a good big conference in Dunedin, I should say, and then there's four meetings, and only one assembly in my reckoning. And that assembly is a good, sound, solid strict assembly that will have absolutely nothing, only what we're going for in the north of Ireland. There's about a hundred breaking bread. There's some real talent in it. There would need to be, seeing that there's no preachers, and the arranging conferences all year round without a preacher in the country. I thought they had a great deal of faith or something else, but they really had a lot of good local talent, and men that can handle the Holy Scriptures, and handle them well, I was surprised. There was only one conference I went to where there was another preacher, and he was a scholar, and a gentleman, and a good man, but every time he got up he took an hour or an hour and ten minutes. But I would object to that over here in the north of Ireland, but there was a kind of a glad to see it over there, seeing there was nobody else for it to go on. Now then, after we spent about three months down that corner, we moved on up about five hundred miles to a place called Timaru. So we were having a little trouble there. Some needed to be signed. After the conference I stayed for the week, as I did in most places. And there, God send us help night after night. It was easy to pray during the day, it was easy to preach at night. We could see that there was something wrong, and soon I heard about it. We went over to the preacher, and God began to bless his holy word, and reconciled some believers. It was an awful word for God's people. Such a thing never should be needed. And if there's any human being in the nation, you need to be reconciled before the Lord comes on you. Judging and speaking of Christ, my God, well did you believe. It's no credit to any child of God's to live in the north of Ireland. Any part of it, certainly I don't agree with them all. Not even all the preachers in such a thing. But if I thought I needed to be reconciled to anybody, I would attend to that in some degree before I went to sleep the night. Now then at Timaru I stayed for a week. God helped and blessed these people, but you never get strangers into a gospel hall in any of those countries. Then the last night I was there, God saved a young woman. There were a few answers, but God saved this young woman, and we were glad to see it because she was the daughter of some of the believers. There were a few Irish men there, and you must have cried when I came, that I didn't go to receive them, either in New Zealand, Australia, Canada or America, but a home Irish man. And I put along with that, there's just about the best systems there. That is the men can stand on their feet and stand for the right thing and say no to what's wrong, that'll not be here. After we went from Timaru we went on up to North Vancouver, North... Palmerston North. There were two meetings there. And I was quite happy about going to one. There was a man there, a good man, preacher of the day, and a good man. And he said, we expect you to announce for the week when you've done where you are. I said, does it seem difficult about your assembly, my dear Lord? He said, what is it? And I removed it for you. I said, if you can, I'd certainly come for you. He said, no, I hope you'll all listen. And I hope you'll all understand that I mean what I say. And I hope you all believe that when you get that far away from God you've left the Scriptures. And the gospel of the grace of God and a scripturally gathered assembly doesn't need that kind of thing. An assembly gated by the Holy Scriptures won't have it. He said, yes, we have, but we haven't it now. I said, where is it? Is it in the back room? Because I hid it out there some places. And he said, no, it's not in the back room. And I said, what is it? When did he bring it up? I want to make the truth clear for you. He said, the foreman brought the music, brought the organ up the assembly. I said, in a good mood. And then when we brought it we could do what we liked with it and we did it. And what did you do? Well, we not only put it out of the hall and out of the anteroom, but we put it out into the backyard. So it's out of tune, out of place, and out of order. I said, I'd go and keep it there. We had a real good rich meeting up there under those circumstances. I went to the other meeting in the same place. I had good meetings there also in the world. I want to say God was good to us in every place. Then we had a cross to the north again across the river. And then we came down to where I started in Hastings Square. There was a little assembly of about eighteen, a good assembly. And there were eleven added to it, not when I was there, brethren. I didn't want the glory attached to some other man. But we got the things started, glory to God. And I couldn't stay there for the simple reason I had to move on. But we got the things started. The meetings were for believers. We had good prayer meetings. The little assembly attended well. Then some attended from the other meetings. And God in his mercy gathered on some of them out into the right assembly in Berlin. Again I'm speaking as plainly as an Irish man can do it and as you expect me for to do it. After I left, blessing continued and I got three letters from three different places saying that the meetings never really began until I left. I wrote back and I said it's quite possible the praise of the preacher wouldn't allow God to work. So when I cleared out then, the blessing was lifted and they said they didn't know the value of the meetings while they were going on. Now then I'm going to stop in a few minutes. I'm not going to go out to a few villages just now, but I'm going to go up to an extreme north to a place called Rotterdam. That is where the Maori the Maori, that's a big word, I don't think I'm pronouncing it right, but you don't know whether I am or not. They are the descendants of the aboriginals of Europe. Their ancestors were the original owners of New Zealand and they were suffragettes to a big division. Some of them are not yet. Quite a lot of them are civilised, quite a lot of them are educated and what I want to tell you there's two brethren working up there, one an Englishman God bless him, and his name is his name is Thompson and he comes from Clonkeen Assembly in County Hunter. I say again you meet brethren from the north of Ireland every place you go and I'll tell you at the Sunday School conference that you will never know the value of Sunday School work in the north of Ireland. Now so we went up amongst the mallees they had built a little new hall, beautiful halls in all those places that I refer beautiful halls, and they had built a beautiful hall and all those poor mallees are only working people except two Irishmen their farmers, and they opened the new hall three of them. That was a good thing to me. They were talking about opening a new hall, and opening a new hall, and opening there was only half a roof on it and that was another hall that we opened before it was built we did the same elsewhere now then we had a real good morning meeting there, we had six meetings in four different places, and while there were believers at the same time, God gave us help in the gospel they are good singers, they listen well they have a lot of silly idols and things like that which nearly sickened me to look at them, but we didn't notice them and then the last meeting we had was in a wool shed that's where they dry the wool New Zealand is covered with sheep from one end to another. Going down in a plane in one place in New Zealand I looked out of the window and I said, full of field full of mushrooms, but when I got down low enough I found it was full of sheep now in this hall it was perfect, dry the wool for the sheep and I say they had loads of faithful sheep they told me they were very comfortable I preached the gospel to them, just the same as I do here, they sang a hymn for me, I didn't know a word they were saying, they understand English as well as their own language I don't know what you would call their own language. In that place I opened up sooner, those brethren, that man and his son-in-law in New Zealand deserve great credit, they're going on well for God and on good lives, and visiting from house to house I'm finished now, please remember those two dear brethren at the extreme north of New Zealand, living away and visiting the home and it's prospering as well please remember them as your prayer just say the two men that brother Knox referred to and I can assure you they'll appreciate. Five months I spent in New Zealand on account of the deep need there, much longer than I spent in other places where there was not so much need. I'm very thankful to God that I went to New Zealand I'm thankful to God I went to the other places and got home again to the good old North of Ireland, God bless you all God bless you all