My great-grandfather was born in 1905 in an urbanization in Townhead, Glasgow; she was born into extreme poverty with an alcoholic father, a chaotic domestic life and a mother who promised everything and everything she was worth. My grandmother and mother tell how, as a child, my great-grandfather had to go upstairs in the morning to get a piece of bread and margarine from a good neighbor to fill his stomach before going to school. Glasgow’s slums in the early 1900s are legendary. imagine the level of poverty he and his family have suffered. Consider this: in 1900, 16 people from the Gorbal died from the plague. Yes, this scourge that killed 30% of Europe in 1300. Glasgow slums? And look at the pictures. The houses on the outskirts of Scotland where we serve today were built to replace these areas.
One Sunday night in 1921, a boy on the streets of Townhead named Bobby Gillies met Jesus in Glasgow’s famous Tent Room. Over the weekend, a group of S sao da Tenda brought a ball, shoes and sandwiches and went to see the kids on The Streets of Townhead. The agreement was simple: if the street kids wanted a football game on Saturday, they had to attend Sunday night’s gospel meeting at the Carp Hall. Now Bobby loved football (actually, he said he sold his soul for football), and he loved it even more when the guys who took his tacos and the ball gave him a sandwich and jam, so this Sunday night, Bobby was sitting in the tent, about to hear a message that would change his world. and shape the next 60 years of his life. The message was:
- “Bobby.
- I have bad news for you.
- You are a sinner by nature and choice and you live your life in active rebellion against the good.
- Holy and just God who created you and who supports you.
- After your sin and rebellion.
- God is furious.
- With you.
- And as God is good and holy.
- He will judge you for your rebellion.
- And the sentence of rebellion against God is the eternal torment of hell.
- Boy.
- You are in trouble.
- God demands perfection and you are not perfect.
- Is God just and it must punish sin.
- So you.
- A sinner.
- Will face judgment – and can never pay the price necessary to atone for your sins.
But Bobby, the story doesn’t end there. This good, holy, and just God is also merciful, merciful, and loving, and in his mercy, grace, and love, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, into the world to save sinners like you. Jesus came and lived the perfect life that you did not live, the life that God requires. Then one Friday morning, he went to a sturdy old cross and took upon himself the sins of his people and the punishment they deserved. Jesus took the wrath of God and died in his place. He was placed in a tomb and on Sunday morning Jesus rose from the dead, conquering Satan, sin, death and the grave. Jesus returned to Heavenly Father and today he governs all things. Someday he will return to fully establish his eternal kingdom and judge the living and the dead. Bobby, the good news is this: Jesus lived for you, Jesus died for you, and Jesus is alive today. He is the king of the universe and demands that you repent and believe in the gospel for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in him.
That night, as they sang “As I Am,” Bobby Gillies walked into the Tent Room, professing his faith in Jesus. The news Bobby heard that night captivated and defined his entire life, and by God’s grace, it also defined his family’s. Saved by grace alone, amid the carnage of a Glasgow slum, Bobby would become a godly husband, father, grandfather, elder, and jealous evangelist. My mom and I share the same birthday as my great-grandfather and he chose our names. She is Ruth because she loved this great Old Testament figure of redemption, and I am Andrew, who was your favorite apostle, because almost every time you read about her she brings someone to meet Jesus. Bobby Gillies died when I was only three months old. The last memory my mother has of her grandfather is that they took him by ambulance to the hospital where she would leave him. He did not worry about himself or about parting. Bobby was talking to Jesus’ paramedic. He said, “Son, I’m about to die, but I’m not worried because I know where I’m going. Do you know where you will go when you die? Do you know the Lord?
You may be wondering what this touching family testimony means. The point is this. Scotland’s poorest communities, in many ways, are in much better shape than when Bobby Gillies was born. The standard of living and health in these areas, albeit far from desired, is one million times better than in Scotland’s slums in however, in the most critical way, Scotland’s poorest communities are even worse off!For a long time. The church’s decline in Scotland is more widespread on its peripheries. There are other articles on this site that you can read to see the facts, figures and statistics that prove the veracity of this statement.
The point is this: I am a believer today because Bobby preached the gospel to my grandfather, so my grandfather preached the gospel to my mother, then my mother preached the gospel to me, and 9 years ago, like Bobby, Grandpa and Mother before. I repented and believed in the gospel. My family’s story was transformed by the fact that there were people on the streets of Townhead in 1921 who loved the Lord and loved the lost. They knew that children on the streets of Glasgow’s suburbs were hungry and living a difficult life, but they also knew that their need for a Savior was greater than the need for a sandwich. The same goes for people living in Possil, Ferguslie, Easterhouse, Pilton, Niddrie, Gracemount, Barlanark and Lochee in 2018 Their greatest need is to know Jesus as their Savior.
For this to happen, it will be necessary for people who love the Lord and love the lost to be on the periphery of Scotland, preaching the same gospel that saved Bobby Gillies. Do we need people to give their time, comfort, and life to bring the gospel to the peripheries – people who recognize the greatest need, not just physical needs. We need people who recognize that true evangelization is not only a social concern and concern, but an proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ; people who, like Spurgeon, know that they are beggars who tell other beggars where to find bread. And we are not just talking about a sandwich with jam, but one that says, “I am the bread of life; I won’t be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty?(Jo 6:35).