Sermons on Children
I Tried Everything to be Saved (7 min)
Jim Clarke Sr grew up in Detroit, Michigan, USA, knowing what the Bible says about the new birth and personal salvation, but he was too proud to admit he needed it. Then when he finally wanted salvation, he tried everything he could think of to obtain it, but nothing worked. (Recorded in Stark Road Gospel Hall, Livonia, MI, USA, 12th Jan 2025)
Salvation is Through Christ – and Him Alone (4 min)
Jim Clark Jr tells how he was saved through “Christ alone” after trying for some time to be saved every time he heard the gospel preached. Reading: Acts 4:12. (Recorded in Stark Road Gospel Hall, Livonia, MI, USA, 5th Jan 2025)
Alarmed by a Gospel Hymn (11 min)
Allan Werden, from York, Ontario, Canada, recalls the day when, singing an evangelistic hymn about “eternity”, he was arrested by the word “LOST”. That led him to search for salvation, which he later found through the words of Isaiah 53.5. (Recorded in Newmarket Gospel Hall, ON, Canada on 29th Dec 2024)
How God Saved an Orphan Boy (26 min)
Albert Graham tells how he was saved as an 11 1/2 year old orphan boy in Buckna, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, under the preaching of David Craig. It happened on 23rd January 1952, but 73 years later it is as fresh as ever. (Recorded in Broughshane Gospel Hall, 1st Dec 2024). (Photo above: Buckna in 1938 with Slemish in the background. From Facebook)
I Never Drank or Smoked or Swore But… (17 min)
Dan Kember grew up in a Christian family and knew the Bible well. He never drank or smoked or swore…but he still had to learn his need of forgiveness and salvation. In this testimony, 60 years on, he tells how he discovered the truth that “there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, and how he was saved. (Recorded in Sarnia Gospel Hall, Summer 2024)
That’s Why Jesus Died! (25 min)
Shawn Markle relates the story of his salvation. As a child growing up in Canada, Shawn was greatly troubled both about the Lord’s coming and the possibility of going to hell. One day in desperation he said to himself “I’ll just have to go to hell, because that’s what I deserve.” Then the Lord opened his heart to the gospel! Readings; Heb 9:27, 1Isa 53:5-6. (Testimony given in Highbury Ave Gospel Hal, London, Ontario, Canada, 30th Oct 2023)
Which Part of the Verse Are You In? (21 min)
Gary Good’s grandfather spent 10 years trying to disprove the Bible, but found out he couldn’t! Then God saved him, and so the gospel came into the Good family. His grandson Gary grew up hearing the gospel but his head knowledge didn’t save him. The Lord used John 3:36, a verse with two clear parts, to enlighten him to the way of salvation. (Testimony given in Canada on 9th Aug 2021)
What If That Was Your Last Chance? (24 min)
Jonathan Howard grew up hearing the gospel. He knew he was a sinner and he knew that Jesus died for sinners. He thought, “I believe it all, so why am I not saved?” One night in a gospel meeting a preacher set off an alarm clock that woke Jonathan up physically and spiritually! That very night, 5th Oct 1986, he understood for the first time that “Jesus died for me”. (Recorded in Canada on 25th April 2021)
Give That Man A Boat! (24 min)
Just before David Flynn was born in 1962, his mother was saved (1957) and his father shortly after (1959). They were converted as a result of the labours of Herb Harris and George Campbell, who sailed on the “Missionary Gospel Messenger” boat around Newfoundland and preached the gospel in port after port. One day a man opposed to their efforts shot at the boat with a high-powered rifle and ruined the loud speaker that was broadcasting the gospel. David tells…
How A Country Boy Was Saved (30 min)
Steve Budd grew up in rural Eastern Canada. The gospel first impacted his family about 1930 when Isaac McMullan brought gospel meetings to one room School house in a country area just north of Moncton, New Brunswick, called “New Scotland”. Steve was a thoughtful, observant and serious-minded young child who, despite his tender age, experienced a real conversion to Christ in July 1960. (Testimony given in Canada in 8th Aug 2020). (Photo: Magnetic Hill, Moncton, NB, Canada)
What Wilt Thou Say When He Shall Punish Thee? (25 min)
Peter Smyth grew up in an area of Northern Ireland that was greatly impacted by “the troubles”, yet as he tells his conversion story, it is “soul trouble” that impacted him for eternity. Sitting under earnest gospel preaching, a verse from Jeremiah deeply concerned him: “What wilt thou say when He shall punish thee?” (Jer 13:21). Readings: Gen 28:10-21, 47:7-10, 48:1-4, 49:33. (Testimony given in Chalfont St Peter, 9th Apr 2023)
Why Pray to Pictures on the Wall? (9 min)
Kevin Doskocil grew up in Wisconsin, USA, sometimes going to Mass in the Roman Catholic Church, and sometimes attending the gospel meeting in the Gospel Hall, depending on which parent or relative he was with. As a child, he couldn’t understand why people he knew would pray to pictures of saints on the wall, rather than praying to God. Mercifully God worked in His life to show him the truth of the finished work of Christ through Romans 5:6-9. (Testimony…
“Wounded for Me” (26 min)
Phil Coulson tells how the Lord saved him. An early childhood experience taught him that “God is real”. Later the preaching of the gospel from Isaiah 53 opened the eyes of his understanding to the fact that “Christ died for me”. (Recorded in Highland, WI, USA, March 2023)
“I can’t save you. You’re just going to have to go to hell.” (7 min)
Kent Orr grew up hearing the gospel. The preaching of one particular evangelist, Art Ward, used to really shake him up, trouble his soul, and eventually drove him to strive to enter the narrow gate. (Testimony given in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA, 2012)
“God has taken away my friends, and I hate Him.” (8 min)
James Vallance (1931-2020) was born in Bo’ness, Scotland, emigrating to the USA at the age of 16 in 1947 with his family, where he spent the rest of his life. As a youngster, James spent many many days in bomb shelters, seeking refuge from German bombs. Jim wanted to be saved, but he could not admit he was bad enough to deserve hell. He was also angry at God for taking away a number of his friends through illness during…
Where would you be if you died tonight? (5 min)
Tom Novak knew the gospel from childhood, but in 1979 he, for the first time in his life, faced up to the fact that we was going to be in hell if he didn’t get saved. Have you ever faced that reality? In Tom’s case, it led to his salvation. (Testimony given in Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA, in 2018)
I Thought “I’ve Been Left Behind” (7 min)
Abraham Brisuela tells the story of his conversion to Christ. Abraham’s parents were born Roman Catholics in Venezuela, but because they got saved by the grace of God, young Abraham grew up hearing the true gospel. The truth of the coming of the Lord was what God used to awaken Abraham to his need of salvation. Reading: 1 Pet 1:23-26 (Message preached in Highland, Wisconsin, USA).
I Thought I Could Get Saved Whenever I Felt Like It (13 min)
Timothy Green relates the story of his conversion to Christ in Canada in the year 2,000. He grew up imagining he could get saved whenever he felt like it, only to discover when the time came that he was “without strength”. (Message preached in Chalfont St Peter, 27th Nov 2022)
“I feared my parents, and therefore I feared God” (5 min)
Philip Pancake’s parents were saved when evangelist Robert Surgenor brought the gospel to the town of New Creek in West Virginia, USA, in the 1970’s. As they raised Philip in the fear of God, his heart was soft towards the gospel, and the Lord saved him as a child a quarter a century after his parents. Reading: Prov 23:14. (Message preached at Blue River, Wisconsin, USA, 2008)
Matthew McKillen – “Am I saved or am I not saved?” (21 min)
Matthew McKillen (1936-2018) was saved on 30th Aug 1947 as a boy of 10. In this heart-warming testimony he tells how both his mother and father were saved and reveals the fascinating background to his own privileged upbringing in a godly home. Matthew and his wife Margaret were associated for many years with the Gospel Hall in Cambridge Avenue, Ballymena (formerly Wellington Street). Though a busy businessman, Matthew devoted his life to the local assembly, to the visitation of the…
“I thought I’d Been Left Behind” (30 min)
Willie Fenton and his brother were both saved on the same night in the summer of 1963. Willie had known the gospel all of his life, but the urgency of the matter had never really gripped him; until one night, when he realised that, if the Lord returned, he would be left behind for judgment. This is a touching story, full of interest and weighty spiritual import. Readings; Heb 12:25, Matt 24:38-42, John 3:16 (Story originally told in Northern Ireland)
“I would have given anything to get God’s salvation” (26 min)
Bert Joyce (1927-2017) was raised in a Christian family under the sound of the gospel. He knew the Scriptures from his earliest days and sat under the preaching of mighty men of God like his uncle Albert Joyce, and Herb Harris. However, Bert, like many children brought up in such privileged circumstances, wanted to get away from the gospel and enjoy the world. But God visited Bert with a sickness that nearly took his life. He sobered up and sought…
Him that Cometh to Me, I Will in no Wise Cast Out (23 min)
After some comments about John 6:37, including details of how this verse was pivotal in no less than John Bunyan’s conversion, Allen McCandless (Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada) relates the story of his own conversion to Christ on July 29th 1979 – in which God again used this verse: “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). (Recorded at Pugwash Junction conference, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2016)
“I Tried to Solve the Puzzle of Salvation” (25 min)
Born in Trinidad, West Indies, Andrew Ussher grew up as a child of missionary parents, familiar with the gospel message. During a year’s furlough in Northern Ireland, Mr & Mrs Ussher took young Andrew to gospel meetings. In one of them Andrew heard about the final judgment from Revelation Ch 21 and for the first time in his life realised he was sinner who deserved God’s judgment – but the impression made didn’t last. The following year (1973) Andrew moved…
How I Was Saved Through Luke 19:10 (12 min)
Murray McCandless relates the story of his conversion. Raised in St Thomas, Ontario, in a Christian family, he grew up learning memory verses in Sunday School. As a child he would often ask his parents to tell him how they were saved. He was awakened to his own need of salvation at the age of 12 under the preaching of Oswald McLeod at the Sarnia Conference. He tried to get saved, but could not understand what he needed to do.…
Saved as a boy of 12 (8 min)
In this recording, made in 1961, Eric McCullough (1925-2020) tells how God saved him in Bangor, Northern Ireland, as a boy of 12, the day after a series of gospel meetings with David Craig had finished. Eric’s father, James McCullough, was a preacher of the gospel who had moved from the UK to Nova Scotia, Canada, to preach the gospel. It was on a visit back to Ireland in 1938, young Eric was saved. Back in North America Eric was…
Norman Crawford – How God Saved Me (16 min)
Norman Crawford (1927-2017), from North America, was saved on Friday 1st April 1938. 58 years later, in 1996, standing in the pulpit of the Gospel Hall in Cambridge Avenue, Ballymena, Northern Ireland, he told how the gospel had reached his family in a previous generation not a mile from where he was standing. Returning all these years and generations later, he testified to the grace of God in saving his soul as a young man. It’s clear from this recording…
God Moves In Mysterious Ways (30 min)
John Fleck relates his story of conversion as a boy growing up in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. In addition to hearing the gospel regularly preached, John was spoken to by a number of events, including the funeral of a neighbour, and a dream about the Lord’s coming. He sought salvation and found rest and peace in Christ one cold February night alone in his room pondering the work of the Saviour on the cross for him (Testimony given 5th Jul…
He Bore MY Sins in His Body on the Tree (21 min)
Oliver Penfold relates the story of his conversion to Christ in 2006 at the age of 12 through being awakened to his need from Psalm 51, and seeing his need met in Christ from 1 Pet 2:24. (Recorded 1st Sept 2012)
“Should not perish” (25 min)
Frank Sona didn’t grow up in a Christian family. Being born and raised in a Jewish area of the state of New Jersey, USA, Frank developed a childhood fascination with Judaism and sometimes attended the local synagogue. Frank’s parents decided to take him to Sunday School where he finally heard about the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time. During a special week of children’s meetings Frank discovered his need of salvation – “my sin became real to me” –…
How One Salvation Led to Another (22 min)
Scott Dunn relates how he was saved in Brisbane, Australia, at the age of 15 and how the very same night another soul was saved after hearing of Scott’s salvation. (Recorded 22nd June 2008) (Photo: Brisbane)
Saved as a Boy – 11 Years Old (20 min)
Peter Glenn from Ballyclare in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, tells the story of his conversion to Christ at the age of 11. (Message preached 18th May 2008) (Photo: Antrim Castle grounds)
Could It Really Be That Simple? (30 min)
Paul Didcott relates his conversion in Bristol, England, as a child of 10 back in 1976 and how he struggled with the issues of the simplicity and assurance of salvation (Message preached in 2004) (Photo: Clifton suspension bridge, Bristol)