September 12, 2025 • 45 mins
Today, I’ve got a really special guest with me: Bob Marks.
Bob’s someone who’s spent most of his life faithfully serving God in all sorts of ways — from preaching in churches across Australia to handing out flyers on street corners, always with a smile and perseverance. He’s also someone who’s had a big impact on my own life, and you’ll hear more about that as we chat.
Bob has seen a lot over the years, and I think you’ll find his story really encouraging. Whether you’re new to faith or you’ve been walking with Jesus for a long time, I hope this interview can encourage your faith, and you can pick up a few tips too.
So, with that, I hope you enjoy my conversation with my friend, Bob Marks.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back to Elm with Eli.
Today I've got a really special guest with me, Bob Marks.
Bob, someone who's spent most ofhis life faithfully serving God
in all sorts of ways, from preaching in churches across
Australia to handing out Flyers in street corners, always with a
smile and perseverance. He's also someone who's had a
big impact on my own life, and you'll hear more about that as
(00:21):
we chat. Bob's seen a lot over the years
and I think you'll find his story really encouraging.
So whether you're new to the faith or you've been walking
with Jesus for a long time, I hope this interview can
encourage your faith and you canpick up a few tips too.
So with that, let me introduce you to Bob Marks.
(00:49):
Bob was born just after World War 2 and grew up hearing about
God and the Bible from his grandparents who had a deep
generational faith and love for God.
He was baptized in Canberra and went on to spend decades
preaching around Australia, including long periods in
Townsville, Sydney and for the last 35 years in Warringa where
he worships with the Warringa Church of Christ.
(01:09):
Alongside preaching, Bob has been involved in helping
organise church camps such as Camp Challenge and continues to
share the message of Jesus by handing out.
Flies at his local. Shopping centre and bus stop,
something he still does to this day.
He and his wife Lynne have four children, 15 grandchildren and
five great grandchildren. So with that, sit back, relax,
and let's get right into it. Welcome to Elm with Eli.
(01:36):
Stay tuned. It's good to see you man.
(01:57):
Thank you very much for asking me to do this.
No worries. Thank you for coming.
You, you do very well at this. I I I'm extremely impressed.
Thanks for that. So what sort of a day did you
have today? Oh.
Yes, so I had school. How about you?
Oh yeah, yeah, just the the regular things on on a Friday,
(02:21):
including going down to the bus stop and handing out my handing
out my Flyers that I prepare. I haven't never done this sort
of like, so it's like, you know,people have to write the story
of their life. Well, I've not done that, but
(02:42):
I'm very happy to talk with you about my experiences like this.
Thanks for doing this, Bob. I'm really excited.
I am too, babe. All right.
Well, again, thanks so much for being here.
Bob. I'm really glad to have you on.
To start off, would you mind introducing yourself for anyone
who may not know who you are? OK, so, well my name is Bob
(03:05):
Marks and I live in Sydney on basically on Mandy, Manly beach
and I've been here for 35 years now.
I'm a preacher. People ask you what you do for a
living. Well, I'm a preacher or a
minister, minister of religion and that's the way I often
(03:28):
describe myself. I've been preaching about Jesus
for 55 plus years, which is about 1/2 a century really,
isn't it, when you think about it like that.
Anyhow, I've during that time I've married, done weddings for
lots of people and it's always good to to see people getting
(03:51):
married and then they have theirchildren and then they have
grandchildren and and so on. And so it's been my, it's my
pleasure to be involved with people like that for, for
something like 5055 years. And also I've had the, the
pleasure of baptizing people, you know, into the death of
(04:13):
Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, Not because I'm a
preacher. Anybody can do that, of course,
but but I've, I've done it quitea few times and you impact a
person's life for eternity in that.
That to me is something special.So for something like 55 years
I've been every Sunday, I've been preaching at least one
(04:37):
sermon, which means that I've preached about 3000 times.
That's, that's quite a few sermons when you, when you add
it up at 1 a week. But it's, well, when I, when I
first started out, I, I couldn'tsee how I was going to get
through my first year of preaching.
(04:58):
And that was down there in Canberra.
I was committed to preaching down there and I preached for
three years down in Canberra. And so, yeah, so here we are, 55
years later and I'm still preaching.
(05:18):
Awesome. Thanks for that, Bob.
Yeah, that's such a journey you've already had so far, like
55 years. I'd love to kick us off by
asking how you first came to know Jesus and the church, if
you're OK with that. OK, yeah, sure.
So I was brought up in the Baptist Church.
You know, I was brought up to believe that a person is saved
(05:39):
by faith alone, but I, I certainly was brought up to
believe in Jesus, that he was the Son of God, that he died on
the cross for my sins and that Ineeded to believe in him.
I was a bit like Timothy, you know, the, the story of Timothy
in the Bible, how he, his motherwas brought up by her mother
(06:03):
Lois. So I can trace my life back like
that to my grandparents on both sides of my.
And so every Sunday of my life, really, I've gone to church.
I mean, what? You're 1516 now.
I'd say the same that has happened for you so far.
(06:27):
There wouldn't have been many Sundays that you wouldn't have
gone to a church service, right?That's happened to me.
That's, that was my upbringing. So I, I've always known the name
Jesus and I've always known Jesus loves me.
And I've always known, you know,like the story of the prodigal
son and all those things in, in the, in the New Testament.
(06:54):
And yeah, that's been something that I, you know, was grounded
in me. Like I'm sure it's grounded in
you too. And you mentioned that your
grandparents had a strong faith.What kind of impact did they
like specifically have on your faith and view of God when you
were growing up of? So the grandparents impact was
(07:18):
largely through my father and mymother, My mother in particular,
she was a great believer in Jesus, in the Bible, in the idea
of prayer. And she saw to it that this was
passed on to me. You know, this was very
(07:41):
important to me. Yeah.
I can't think of any other thingto say that basically my faith
was developed in me by my grandparents through my parents.
It was passed on to me. Was there a point where you
(08:02):
really started to see your faithbecome your own as opposed to
just have been hearing it from others?
Yeah. So there came a time in my life
when I started to really think about why there were so many
different churches and why I waswhere I was and whether I needed
(08:23):
to make a shift, so to speak. But I remember when I was a
teenager, about a little bit older than you perhaps, there
was what was called the Cuban Crisis.
It looked like that there was going to be a nuclear war, and
everybody was really petrified about that.
(08:45):
I know I was. And people were talking about
the end of the world and how it was going to happen.
And I was listening to this sortof thing on the radio.
In those days, I had a crystal set.
I don't know that you'd even know what that was.
(09:05):
I was listening to this fella, Herbert W Armstrong.
He had a program called The Wonderful World Tomorrow, What
will it be like? And I was listening to him and
he was talking about the end of the world of the return of
Christ, and that Jesus was goingto set up his Kingdom on earth.
(09:28):
And, and that made me think because I hadn't really thought
much about that. And it really challenged my
faith. And so it started me on the
search for, for biblical truth, I suppose I was a member of the
(09:49):
North Canberra Baptist Church, like I'm 16, I suppose at the
time. And they had a new church begin
at Dixon and I was a founding member of that church.
So I went to the Dixon Baptist 1st and then the after that the
North Canberra Baptist Church. And then after that, in the
(10:11):
night, I went to the night service as well.
So I was going to three servicesevery Sunday.
And then I started to look around at the other churches,
Presbyterian Church, the Catholic Church, and I used to
go to those churches on Sunday evenings to check them out, to
(10:33):
see what they were like. I also went to the Associated
Churches of Christ meeting place.
Was there any particular reason why you were wanting to discover
other churches? I was just inquisitive, but it
was evident that people from from lots of different walks of
life had a similar faith to me in Jesus.
(10:55):
So I wanted to kind of sort thatout for myself.
Well, what did the Bible really say about this subject or that
subject? And so that's, that's what, you
know, I was inquisitive about. Then when I met Lynn I, who
(11:15):
became my wife, I found out thatshe was doing the same thing
too, that she had been brought up in the Church of England and
the Methodist Church. And she was interested just like
I was. And so we, we studied the Bible
together, we visited the non denominational Church of Christ
(11:41):
in Dixon together and we were really impressed with the focus
that was there on the biblical text on what the Bible said.
And so that brought us into contact with with the churches
of Christ. It, it was not necessarily an
easy time. It was a pretty hard time
(12:04):
actually, because I was, you know, discovering things in the
Bible that were contrary to whatI, the way I had been brought
up. For instance, the idea of being
saved by faith alone is not taught in the Bible.
You know, the Catholic idea of being saved by your works is
(12:28):
also not taught in the Bible. But the truth is somewhere in
between, and I was discovering the in between those two
extremes, Neither Catholic nor Protestant, but just Christian.
So, Bob, I'd love to ask about your baptism story and that
impact on you. Could you start by telling us
(12:48):
the moment when you knew you needed to be baptized?
OK, so I I mentioned to you thatwe first went to the Canberra
Church of Christ as it was called non denominational in
Dixon. They were meeting in the
community centre in Dixon and I can remember we had these Bible
(13:09):
studies. They were on the book of Romans
and they handed out sheets of paper with scriptures on them
and you had to fill in the wordslike that were missing.
And I remember we had some lessons on Roman 6 and I can
remember that they were teachingthat the person needed ties in
(13:33):
order to be saved. And I remember that we left that
meeting. This wasn't the first meeting,
but several, several meetings. Then we left it.
And I said that this is really good.
They really do believe the Bible.
And I said to Lynn, I said, but they're wrong on baptism because
(13:56):
baptism is not for the forgiveness of sins.
And she'd been brought from the Church of England, and she
believed, or she had been taughtthat a little baby needed to be
baptized or christened to have their sins forgiven.
And she said, well, that term isfamiliar to me.
(14:17):
And so we checked it out in her Church of England Book of Common
Prayer. And so she could see that that
terminology was in the Bible. And I'd been brought up to
believe that baptism was simply an outward sign of an inward
(14:39):
cleansing. But but I came to realise that
that's not what the Bible says, that the the truth lies between
this outward sign of an inward cleansing and this business of
just pouring a little bit of water on somebody's head in
order that they might be forgiven.
(15:02):
Neither. They were the extremes that I
was dealing with. Anyhow, Lynn was very soon
baptized, immersed in a garage, in a tank, in a garage in
Campbell there in Canberra. And it wasn't long after that
(15:23):
that I was at a a meeting in theCanberra Civic Theatre, as it
was called then. I don't know if it still exists
today. And they had a gospel mission or
meeting. And I remember the preacher was
saying about the gospel being preached in the Bible and how
(15:48):
people responded to it by being baptized.
He talked about the Ethiopian eunuch who was going along and I
he said, here's water, what's stopping me from being baptized?
And he made the point that that we can become Christians today
(16:08):
in the same way as they did in New Testament times, by turning
in faith to God and by being baptized or immersed into the
death of Jesus for the forgiveness of our Justin Rising
talk in units of life. And so he said, you know, this
(16:30):
is the way it was done then. And my thinking was, well,
surely that's the way it should be done today.
And who would want to become a Christian in any other way?
And so that's that's how I eventually reasoned that I
should be. I actually had to be baptized
again because I'd already been baptized to show that I'd been
(16:51):
forgiven. Well, when in fact I hadn't been
forgiven. I needed to be baptized in order
to to be forgiven. I was.
I was also challenged to think that I needed to be able to
speak in tongues. Have you heard of that?
Yeah. People were saying that I needed
to be able to speak in tongues and I thought if I needed to
(17:17):
speak in tongues, that this would become something that
would happen as a result of my being baptized.
But it didn't happen. And since then I've had the
opportunity to, to study about that.
And truly, that that has nothingto do with the, with the New
(17:38):
Testament. What, what is practice today is
totally different to that which took place in in the Bible.
But apart from that, it wasn't like I had been like Saul of
Tassus who had been murdering Christians and I needed to turn
around. You know, it wasn't like that.
(18:00):
It wasn't so radical, but it nevertheless was a commitment
that I'm it to obey the gospel and to teach others.
And I've maintained that commitment ever since.
Bob, you've said to me before that you always.
Believed in Jesus even if you didn't live like it.
Could you maybe tell me what you've meant by that and what
(18:22):
helped bring you back? And really commit to following
him after those. Events.
OK, So this was particularly before I was baptized.
You know, you as you grow up, you mature and you're tempted
and you give in to things. But the thing that's brought me
back on a continuing basis is a knowledge of what the Bible
(18:47):
says. If you know what the Bible says,
then you know there's nowhere else that you can go and you
know that you need to stick by what the Bible says and, and
what God wants you to do. So that's how I've been brought
back from, you know, situations of when I've been tempted to go
(19:12):
away. Did you ever have times where
you struggled with your faith orfelt unsure about things, and
how did you work through those moments?
OK, so again these would have been times I asked myself what
does the Bible say? And a knowledge of the Bible,
which I got during my training for, for two years, particularly
(19:38):
that knowledge helped me. You don't only need to know what
the Bible teaches. You also need to know what the
Bible doesn't teach. And in life, as you get older,
you'll, you'll, you'll hear a lot of things about what the
Bible is supposed to teach, but it's not, they're not
(19:58):
necessarily in the Bible. You know, this is what people
say the Bible teaches. So you have to know both the
things. But also I had lots of examples
from older men who had been preaching the gospel a lot
longer than me. And they were a a great
(20:19):
encouragement to me. There was a man called Joe
Cannon who was a, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, a Canadian
who was very influential in my life.
And there were other men, businessmen and, and their wives
in America who were older than me.
(20:41):
And they were. They were an encouragement to me
as well. So when I've struggled in my
faith, they were often the ones who I remembered and thought
about. And they kept me on the straight
and narrow, so to speak. So Bob, I know that preaching is
(21:01):
something that you have a passion for, as you said before.
Is there something specific thatled you to become a preacher?
Well, I can remember that when Ithought about like the need to
be baptised and how few people there are in Australia who have
been baptised like that, it struck me that message needs to
(21:26):
be preached. And so churches of Christ are,
are small. And so, you know, I was, it was
suggested that I could train to become a preacher and I took the
opportunity to take that training and been involved ever
since. Did he always want to do?
(21:46):
It or. Did God slowly lead you into it?
Yeah, So preaching is not, it doesn't happen in great leaps,
you know, it's just it's like the the slow and the steady wins
the race. You for me with the hair and the
tortoise thing. So preaching is a lot like that.
(22:08):
I'm sure you've experienced thatin, in your short life, growing
up in the church in Canberra. There's, there's a lot of work
involved, but it, it takes a lotof work for a little gain, so to
(22:28):
speak. But what we need to do is we
need to put our trust in God. And so that's that's the key to
success, trusting in God and keeping on, keeping on.
You've preached in all sorts of places over the years like
Canberra, Queanbeyan and Sydney.What are some big lessons you've
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learnt from all those different times of ministry?
OK, so that is what I was talking about before when I said
that preaching is long. You know, the results don't
happen fast. There's a lot of work involved
in preaching the gospel and in in Canberra and in Queensland
(23:19):
and here in Sydney. Some of the big lessons that
that I learned was slow and steady wins the race.
We talked about that before and how we need to put our trust in
God and just keep keep on keeping on.
(23:39):
That was that's been one of the biggest lessons that I've
learned from from my ministry. You know, it's a special
situation to be in to preach thegospel.
It doesn't. It's not something that
everybody wants to be involved in because you're standing up
(24:01):
for for Jesus. You're taking a stand and not a
lot of people want to know aboutJesus.
So that's that's something you have to get used to.
It's a commitment to following Jesus.
Like Jesus said, if you come after me, you have to take up
(24:25):
your cross and follow me and andthat that involves suffering at
times and it certainly involves putting your trust in Jesus.
So you've also been a big part of Camp Challenge for many
years. What makes you stay so committed
(24:46):
in helping out for so long? So because I'm a preacher and
because I'm a father and a grandfather and now a great
grandfather, going to camp has been a very integral part of my
annual program. And being involved in running
(25:07):
the show, so to speak, has been very important to me because I
see the value to my family of the camp.
But it doesn't only give value to my family, it also is
valuable to other people in the church as well.
Like like your family for instance, your family has
(25:31):
benefited by it. That's why your mum has been in
his group part of of challenge as as well.
It also brings you in contact with other Christians, and it
helps your children to come to know other Christians in other
places because churches of Christ tend to be rather small.
(25:56):
It's good to be able to meet people in other congregations
and link up with them. Yeah, that's, that's the the
benefit that I've seen to Camp challenge.
I'm also involved in the 50 and over retreat because I'm now
(26:17):
over 50, you see, and I've been involved with them.
I didn't start there with them until I was 60.
I was in denial that I was over 50 for 10 years.
But ever since I turned 60, I'vebeen involved with them and it's
good because old people have different problems to younger
(26:39):
people and family people. And so they help me and and I
help them as well. Why do you think things like
camps are so valuable, especially for young Christians?
OK. Because I I see them being
valuable in that they offer encouragement to people from
(27:02):
small situations like people whoare in house churches in country
areas, people who are in a situation where there's only one
or two children, perhaps only one, one, one or two families
with children. They can introduce their
(27:25):
children to children in other situations like that, and they
can grow together and encourage one another.
I'm sure it was a big thing in the New Testament church, this
sort of idea of encouraging one another, even though you were in
(27:47):
a small congregation in a small,isolated town.
You know, in those days, they didn't have emails.
They didn't have Zoom and all the things that we have today,
we can be online and encourage one another in so many different
(28:07):
ways. But back then they didn't have
that. And I'm sure every opportunity
they had to be together, they took that opportunity and and
camp is just being one of those things for us.
We also have the Warringah YouthDay.
It's always the third Sunday of January and and it was designed
(28:34):
originally as 35 years ago we started having them and it was
designed because there were people who came to camp from
Queensland and they'd hang aboutand visit with friends in the
churches down here. And so we decided to have a
special youth emphasis in the afternoon on the 3rd Sunday of
(28:58):
January before everybody had to go back to Queensland or
Victoria or wherever to get ready to go back to school, you
see. And so we called it the
Warringah Youth Day and they hada BBQ, we have a barbecue and we
had volleyball, beach volleyballdown on Cocola Beach.
(29:22):
And some people went swimming. And then, and then in the
evening, we had a, a, a, a youthservice and a special message
for young people with a, with a guest speaker that, you know, a
lot of people have been, have grown up having gone to that.
(29:43):
And now they're bringing their children along to, to the Youth
Day. So that's something special to
me. So, Bob, how is your family life
shaped your faith? OK, well so, so I'm a father and
a grandfather and now a great grandfather and you know, you
(30:04):
see the growth in your children and your grandchildren and you
realise that you have a responsibility to God.
You realise that these people are given to you by God just
(30:25):
like you were a gift to your dadand mum by God.
And, and so you have this sense of responsibility and you
realise that you need to to havefaith in God first of all, and
that you need to provide them with an example and help them to
(30:48):
develop their faith in God. Is there anything you
particularly love about watchingyour kids, grandkids and our
great grandkids grow up? I can't think of anything
specifically, but it certainly is good when they decide they
want to become Christians. They want to be baptised into
Christ and now you see, so we have 15 grandchildren and, and
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then when you see them getting married and choosing to, you
know, be faithful to a husband or a wife, that that's pretty
exciting thing to to see as well.
And then along comes your great grandchildren and we have five
of them and another one due around Christmas time.
(31:36):
So it's really nice to have all those people in your life.
Exactly. Now, Bob, one thing I really
love is how you're still out sharing Jesus and handing out
flies at the shops and bus stops.
What keeps you going in that kind of outreach?
So, well, if I can go back to Canberra, back in 197073, I was
(32:08):
working in Canberra as a preacher and we were running a
column in the Canberra Times anda man called David Jennings
signed up for a Bible correspondence course, you see.
And he, he was just a young man.I think you know who he is.
(32:31):
And so he, he eventually he, he,he finished this Bible
correspondence course and eventually he was baptized and
he, you know, had become a Christian.
Then he met a lady called Margaret.
I don't even know what her family name was, but they
(32:55):
eventually got married. And of course then they had your
dad and your dad met your mum and, and the rest is history.
So the reason I keep on doing the, the handing out of these
pamphlets is that I might meet another person like a, a Dave
(33:18):
Jennings. I'm sure I have met quite a few,
but people who are searching forthe truth.
And so by by standing there every Thursday and Friday
afternoon handing out these invitations, all my invitations
(33:42):
have got the word Jesus in in really big prints.
So people can see straight away that I'm standing there for
Jesus, which is what I want to do.
I want to stand there for Jesus,not for me, but for Jesus.
I'm just, just the other day, a lady who was obviously African
(34:06):
in background because she had dark skin and big smile and
really bright clothes on. She came up to me and she said,
I'm so glad that you stand here for Jesus.
And I said, oh, thank you very much.
You know, it was so nice the wayshe said it.
(34:29):
And I said, what's your name? Now where I stand, it's really
noisy and I sometimes have difficulty hearing what people
say. And anyhow, she, she mumbled her
name in, in her broad African accent.
(34:50):
And so I, I said, you know, you have to say that again.
And she said it again, but I still couldn't understand it.
And I said, how do you spell that?
And she said MERCY, like the mercy of God.
And I said, oh really? It was, it was really lovely
(35:15):
actually. And I said to her, I am so glad
that I have found mercy finally.Yeah, it's so nice actually to
be involved there with people like who obviously have a deep
faith in in Jesus. It's nice to be to be involved
(35:36):
with them and you don't know whoyou actually dealing with and
what the long term impacts in their lives are going to be
like. You to some extent are your
existence to my being a preacherin Canberra, not not that big a
(36:00):
you know, but but a little bit, I have a little bit of it of an
investment in your in your life.And I think to myself, well, if
I can do that a few more times, there'd be people in other parts
of the world who who have a lifeand then a life that serves God
(36:21):
simply because I introduce them to Jesus Christ.
And you can do the same thing too.
As you grow up, you can have that same impact on other people
as well. That's pretty exciting, I
reckon. Thank you.
Bob. Have there been any moments
(36:43):
where your plans totally changed, but later you could see
that it was actually God leadingyou in a better direction?
OK, so back in 1986 I was involved in a head on collision
in in North Queensland. That's why I walk with a limp
because I've got a bad right leg.
And I came down to Sydney and when I came down to Sydney I I
(37:08):
associated with a group of people called the International
Churches of Christ. Have you heard of them?
They were growing pretty rapidlyand they had connections with
some of our members and and I wanted to go there and learn
about what they were doing. Well, when I went there and
spent, we spent nine months there, we found out that not
(37:34):
everything that they were doing was honky Dory in terms of the
Bible. And, and so we stepped away from
them and we started, I started preaching it at East Side Church
of Christ. So, you know, I thought that
(37:55):
would have been the way to go, but then God led me away from
that situation. I know other people were like
that as well. So this is the second question
before we close. Bob, what's helped you stay
strong and encouraged over the years, even when it's tough?
OK, Well, to say, first and foremost, my wife has been the
(38:19):
person who has helped me stay strong.
The accident that I was involvedin, I could have died in that
accident. I certainly was in hospital for
four months and I've been limping ever since.
But my wife has been a tremendous encouragement.
But then there were also other older Christians who who had a
(38:46):
really big influence on me for good.
There was a preacher called Don Klingenberg who was an American
who was here in Sydney and he had suffered a lot in many ways
and he was a big encouragement to me.
(39:06):
There was also a man called Bob Abney.
Bob Abney is now in his 90s, I think, nearly 95.
He was a school teacher and he used to come out to Sydney and
work during the American School summer and he was a great
influence on me and encouragement to me as well.
(39:29):
So there have been lots of people in my life that have been
an encouragement to me. And I, I hope that there will be
people like that in your life aswell who will encourage you.
And I'd like to encourage you tobe encouraged to, to, to learn
(39:55):
from these men and women too forthat matter, and to.
To hang on in there in in the tough times, so to speak,
because tough times come. There's there's no doubt about
it, Tough times come in your life.
But but we need to put our our faith in God, our trust in God
(40:19):
and older men and women and sometimes younger men and women
too are able to be a a great encouragement to you into in
rough times in tough times. Now finally, Bob, for someone
listening who might be unsure about faith or struggling in
(40:41):
their walk with God, what would you say to encourage them today?
OK, so I've been thinking about Abraham quite a bit lately.
And in Genesis 17 it talks abouthow God said to Abraham, walk
before me and he promised that he would be with him.
(41:03):
Walk before me faithfully and blamelessly.
And he promised that he would bewith him.
He told Abraham to get up and toleave his father or mother and
go to a country that he would show him and he would make of
him a mighty nation and so on. You for me with those things
that he told Abraham. And it says in Hebrews 11 and in
(41:27):
Genesis that that Abraham went even though he didn't know where
he was going. And I thought about the
Christian's life When when as you're growing up, your life is
very much sort of directed by your parents, isn't it?
(41:48):
You know, you're following them,but ultimately you have to make
up your own mind and you don't know where your life is going to
go. You don't know where you're
going to be living in 10 years time.
I mean, I've been all over the world when I was your age, I
couldn't have imagined half the places that I've lived in and
(42:10):
half of the things that I've done.
But but God doesn't say to us goto a country and I'll make a
view a great family or and he doesn't talk like that, but he
does want us to to go for him inlife, wherever we are.
(42:32):
He wants us to be for him and he's promised to bless us and
not never to forsake us. So if you have someone in your
life, be it parents or siblings or friends or a preacher or a
youth worker, who's trying to encourage you in your Christian
(42:56):
life, you've really got something that's really good.
And don't push that encouragement away.
Put your faith in God. And then when you're older like
me, then you'll you won't have lots of regrets about your life.
(43:18):
The the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12 that we should
remember our creator in the daysof our youth before the evil day
comes. And you say I have no pleasure
in them. When you get older, a lot of bad
things happen in your life. You get cancer or whatever it
(43:40):
might be, and a lot of things, sad things happen.
But if we learn as young people to put our trust in God that we
are made, that we have been created, we're not accidents,
and God has a purpose for us, then we'll have a good reason to
(44:05):
go on and continue in life all all the way to the end until we
hear God say well done, good andfaithful servant, enter into the
joy of your Lord. That's what I'd say.
Thank you so much, Bob, for that, and thank you for this
interview. I've had such a good time.
(44:27):
Thanks for sharing your story. Well, thank you.
You like thank you. I, I feel honoured to have been
involved with you. God bless you, brother.
Thank you. I look forward to seeing you at
camp. Hey.
Yes, I do too. Anyways, see you.
See you mate. Oh.
But there's no one there. We can figure this out.
(44:54):
Put your feet down. What are your choices?
Done. Terrified of what's left.
(45:16):
Remains upset until you raise mymind.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Elm with Eli.
Today I've got a really special guest with me, Bob Marks.
Bob, someone who's spent most ofhis life faithfully serving God
in all sorts of ways, from preaching in churches across
Australia to handing out Flyers in street corners, always with a
smile and perseverance. He's also someone who's had a
big impact on my own life, and you'll hear more about that as
(00:21):
we chat. Bob's seen a lot over the years
and I think you'll find his story really encouraging.
So whether you're new to the faith or you've been walking
with Jesus for a long time, I hope this interview can
encourage your faith and you canpick up a few tips too.
So with that, let me introduce you to Bob Marks.
(00:49):
Bob was born just after World War 2 and grew up hearing about
God and the Bible from his grandparents who had a deep
generational faith and love for God.
He was baptized in Canberra and went on to spend decades
preaching around Australia, including long periods in
Townsville, Sydney and for the last 35 years in Warringa where
he worships with the Warringa Church of Christ.
(01:09):
Alongside preaching, Bob has been involved in helping
organise church camps such as Camp Challenge and continues to
share the message of Jesus by handing out.
Flies at his local. Shopping centre and bus stop,
something he still does to this day.
He and his wife Lynne have four children, 15 grandchildren and
five great grandchildren. So with that, sit back, relax,
and let's get right into it. Welcome to Elm with Eli.
(01:36):
Stay tuned. It's good to see you man.
(01:57):
Thank you very much for asking me to do this.
No worries. Thank you for coming.
You, you do very well at this. I I I'm extremely impressed.
Thanks for that. So what sort of a day did you
have today? Oh.
Yes, so I had school. How about you?
Oh yeah, yeah, just the the regular things on on a Friday,
(02:21):
including going down to the bus stop and handing out my handing
out my Flyers that I prepare. I haven't never done this sort
of like, so it's like, you know,people have to write the story
of their life. Well, I've not done that, but
(02:42):
I'm very happy to talk with you about my experiences like this.
Thanks for doing this, Bob. I'm really excited.
I am too, babe. All right.
Well, again, thanks so much for being here.
Bob. I'm really glad to have you on.
To start off, would you mind introducing yourself for anyone
who may not know who you are? OK, so, well my name is Bob
(03:05):
Marks and I live in Sydney on basically on Mandy, Manly beach
and I've been here for 35 years now.
I'm a preacher. People ask you what you do for a
living. Well, I'm a preacher or a
minister, minister of religion and that's the way I often
(03:28):
describe myself. I've been preaching about Jesus
for 55 plus years, which is about 1/2 a century really,
isn't it, when you think about it like that.
Anyhow, I've during that time I've married, done weddings for
lots of people and it's always good to to see people getting
(03:51):
married and then they have theirchildren and then they have
grandchildren and and so on. And so it's been my, it's my
pleasure to be involved with people like that for, for
something like 5055 years. And also I've had the, the
pleasure of baptizing people, you know, into the death of
(04:13):
Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, Not because I'm a
preacher. Anybody can do that, of course,
but but I've, I've done it quitea few times and you impact a
person's life for eternity in that.
That to me is something special.So for something like 55 years
I've been every Sunday, I've been preaching at least one
(04:37):
sermon, which means that I've preached about 3000 times.
That's, that's quite a few sermons when you, when you add
it up at 1 a week. But it's, well, when I, when I
first started out, I, I couldn'tsee how I was going to get
through my first year of preaching.
(04:58):
And that was down there in Canberra.
I was committed to preaching down there and I preached for
three years down in Canberra. And so, yeah, so here we are, 55
years later and I'm still preaching.
(05:18):
Awesome. Thanks for that, Bob.
Yeah, that's such a journey you've already had so far, like
55 years. I'd love to kick us off by
asking how you first came to know Jesus and the church, if
you're OK with that. OK, yeah, sure.
So I was brought up in the Baptist Church.
You know, I was brought up to believe that a person is saved
(05:39):
by faith alone, but I, I certainly was brought up to
believe in Jesus, that he was the Son of God, that he died on
the cross for my sins and that Ineeded to believe in him.
I was a bit like Timothy, you know, the, the story of Timothy
in the Bible, how he, his motherwas brought up by her mother
(06:03):
Lois. So I can trace my life back like
that to my grandparents on both sides of my.
And so every Sunday of my life, really, I've gone to church.
I mean, what? You're 1516 now.
I'd say the same that has happened for you so far.
(06:27):
There wouldn't have been many Sundays that you wouldn't have
gone to a church service, right?That's happened to me.
That's, that was my upbringing. So I, I've always known the name
Jesus and I've always known Jesus loves me.
And I've always known, you know,like the story of the prodigal
son and all those things in, in the, in the New Testament.
(06:54):
And yeah, that's been something that I, you know, was grounded
in me. Like I'm sure it's grounded in
you too. And you mentioned that your
grandparents had a strong faith.What kind of impact did they
like specifically have on your faith and view of God when you
were growing up of? So the grandparents impact was
(07:18):
largely through my father and mymother, My mother in particular,
she was a great believer in Jesus, in the Bible, in the idea
of prayer. And she saw to it that this was
passed on to me. You know, this was very
(07:41):
important to me. Yeah.
I can't think of any other thingto say that basically my faith
was developed in me by my grandparents through my parents.
It was passed on to me. Was there a point where you
(08:02):
really started to see your faithbecome your own as opposed to
just have been hearing it from others?
Yeah. So there came a time in my life
when I started to really think about why there were so many
different churches and why I waswhere I was and whether I needed
(08:23):
to make a shift, so to speak. But I remember when I was a
teenager, about a little bit older than you perhaps, there
was what was called the Cuban Crisis.
It looked like that there was going to be a nuclear war, and
everybody was really petrified about that.
(08:45):
I know I was. And people were talking about
the end of the world and how it was going to happen.
And I was listening to this sortof thing on the radio.
In those days, I had a crystal set.
I don't know that you'd even know what that was.
(09:05):
I was listening to this fella, Herbert W Armstrong.
He had a program called The Wonderful World Tomorrow, What
will it be like? And I was listening to him and
he was talking about the end of the world of the return of
Christ, and that Jesus was goingto set up his Kingdom on earth.
(09:28):
And, and that made me think because I hadn't really thought
much about that. And it really challenged my
faith. And so it started me on the
search for, for biblical truth, I suppose I was a member of the
(09:49):
North Canberra Baptist Church, like I'm 16, I suppose at the
time. And they had a new church begin
at Dixon and I was a founding member of that church.
So I went to the Dixon Baptist 1st and then the after that the
North Canberra Baptist Church. And then after that, in the
(10:11):
night, I went to the night service as well.
So I was going to three servicesevery Sunday.
And then I started to look around at the other churches,
Presbyterian Church, the Catholic Church, and I used to
go to those churches on Sunday evenings to check them out, to
(10:33):
see what they were like. I also went to the Associated
Churches of Christ meeting place.
Was there any particular reason why you were wanting to discover
other churches? I was just inquisitive, but it
was evident that people from from lots of different walks of
life had a similar faith to me in Jesus.
(10:55):
So I wanted to kind of sort thatout for myself.
Well, what did the Bible really say about this subject or that
subject? And so that's, that's what, you
know, I was inquisitive about. Then when I met Lynn I, who
(11:15):
became my wife, I found out thatshe was doing the same thing
too, that she had been brought up in the Church of England and
the Methodist Church. And she was interested just like
I was. And so we, we studied the Bible
together, we visited the non denominational Church of Christ
(11:41):
in Dixon together and we were really impressed with the focus
that was there on the biblical text on what the Bible said.
And so that brought us into contact with with the churches
of Christ. It, it was not necessarily an
easy time. It was a pretty hard time
(12:04):
actually, because I was, you know, discovering things in the
Bible that were contrary to whatI, the way I had been brought
up. For instance, the idea of being
saved by faith alone is not taught in the Bible.
You know, the Catholic idea of being saved by your works is
(12:28):
also not taught in the Bible. But the truth is somewhere in
between, and I was discovering the in between those two
extremes, Neither Catholic nor Protestant, but just Christian.
So, Bob, I'd love to ask about your baptism story and that
impact on you. Could you start by telling us
(12:48):
the moment when you knew you needed to be baptized?
OK, so I I mentioned to you thatwe first went to the Canberra
Church of Christ as it was called non denominational in
Dixon. They were meeting in the
community centre in Dixon and I can remember we had these Bible
(13:09):
studies. They were on the book of Romans
and they handed out sheets of paper with scriptures on them
and you had to fill in the wordslike that were missing.
And I remember we had some lessons on Roman 6 and I can
remember that they were teachingthat the person needed ties in
(13:33):
order to be saved. And I remember that we left that
meeting. This wasn't the first meeting,
but several, several meetings. Then we left it.
And I said that this is really good.
They really do believe the Bible.
And I said to Lynn, I said, but they're wrong on baptism because
(13:56):
baptism is not for the forgiveness of sins.
And she'd been brought from the Church of England, and she
believed, or she had been taughtthat a little baby needed to be
baptized or christened to have their sins forgiven.
And she said, well, that term isfamiliar to me.
(14:17):
And so we checked it out in her Church of England Book of Common
Prayer. And so she could see that that
terminology was in the Bible. And I'd been brought up to
believe that baptism was simply an outward sign of an inward
(14:39):
cleansing. But but I came to realise that
that's not what the Bible says, that the the truth lies between
this outward sign of an inward cleansing and this business of
just pouring a little bit of water on somebody's head in
order that they might be forgiven.
(15:02):
Neither. They were the extremes that I
was dealing with. Anyhow, Lynn was very soon
baptized, immersed in a garage, in a tank, in a garage in
Campbell there in Canberra. And it wasn't long after that
(15:23):
that I was at a a meeting in theCanberra Civic Theatre, as it
was called then. I don't know if it still exists
today. And they had a gospel mission or
meeting. And I remember the preacher was
saying about the gospel being preached in the Bible and how
(15:48):
people responded to it by being baptized.
He talked about the Ethiopian eunuch who was going along and I
he said, here's water, what's stopping me from being baptized?
And he made the point that that we can become Christians today
(16:08):
in the same way as they did in New Testament times, by turning
in faith to God and by being baptized or immersed into the
death of Jesus for the forgiveness of our Justin Rising
talk in units of life. And so he said, you know, this
(16:30):
is the way it was done then. And my thinking was, well,
surely that's the way it should be done today.
And who would want to become a Christian in any other way?
And so that's that's how I eventually reasoned that I
should be. I actually had to be baptized
again because I'd already been baptized to show that I'd been
(16:51):
forgiven. Well, when in fact I hadn't been
forgiven. I needed to be baptized in order
to to be forgiven. I was.
I was also challenged to think that I needed to be able to
speak in tongues. Have you heard of that?
Yeah. People were saying that I needed
to be able to speak in tongues and I thought if I needed to
(17:17):
speak in tongues, that this would become something that
would happen as a result of my being baptized.
But it didn't happen. And since then I've had the
opportunity to, to study about that.
And truly, that that has nothingto do with the, with the New
(17:38):
Testament. What, what is practice today is
totally different to that which took place in in the Bible.
But apart from that, it wasn't like I had been like Saul of
Tassus who had been murdering Christians and I needed to turn
around. You know, it wasn't like that.
(18:00):
It wasn't so radical, but it nevertheless was a commitment
that I'm it to obey the gospel and to teach others.
And I've maintained that commitment ever since.
Bob, you've said to me before that you always.
Believed in Jesus even if you didn't live like it.
Could you maybe tell me what you've meant by that and what
(18:22):
helped bring you back? And really commit to following
him after those. Events.
OK, So this was particularly before I was baptized.
You know, you as you grow up, you mature and you're tempted
and you give in to things. But the thing that's brought me
back on a continuing basis is a knowledge of what the Bible
(18:47):
says. If you know what the Bible says,
then you know there's nowhere else that you can go and you
know that you need to stick by what the Bible says and, and
what God wants you to do. So that's how I've been brought
back from, you know, situations of when I've been tempted to go
(19:12):
away. Did you ever have times where
you struggled with your faith orfelt unsure about things, and
how did you work through those moments?
OK, so again these would have been times I asked myself what
does the Bible say? And a knowledge of the Bible,
which I got during my training for, for two years, particularly
(19:38):
that knowledge helped me. You don't only need to know what
the Bible teaches. You also need to know what the
Bible doesn't teach. And in life, as you get older,
you'll, you'll, you'll hear a lot of things about what the
Bible is supposed to teach, but it's not, they're not
(19:58):
necessarily in the Bible. You know, this is what people
say the Bible teaches. So you have to know both the
things. But also I had lots of examples
from older men who had been preaching the gospel a lot
longer than me. And they were a a great
(20:19):
encouragement to me. There was a man called Joe
Cannon who was a, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, a Canadian
who was very influential in my life.
And there were other men, businessmen and, and their wives
in America who were older than me.
(20:41):
And they were. They were an encouragement to me
as well. So when I've struggled in my
faith, they were often the ones who I remembered and thought
about. And they kept me on the straight
and narrow, so to speak. So Bob, I know that preaching is
(21:01):
something that you have a passion for, as you said before.
Is there something specific thatled you to become a preacher?
Well, I can remember that when Ithought about like the need to
be baptised and how few people there are in Australia who have
been baptised like that, it struck me that message needs to
(21:26):
be preached. And so churches of Christ are,
are small. And so, you know, I was, it was
suggested that I could train to become a preacher and I took the
opportunity to take that training and been involved ever
since. Did he always want to do?
(21:46):
It or. Did God slowly lead you into it?
Yeah, So preaching is not, it doesn't happen in great leaps,
you know, it's just it's like the the slow and the steady wins
the race. You for me with the hair and the
tortoise thing. So preaching is a lot like that.
(22:08):
I'm sure you've experienced thatin, in your short life, growing
up in the church in Canberra. There's, there's a lot of work
involved, but it, it takes a lotof work for a little gain, so to
(22:28):
speak. But what we need to do is we
need to put our trust in God. And so that's that's the key to
success, trusting in God and keeping on, keeping on.
You've preached in all sorts of places over the years like
Canberra, Queanbeyan and Sydney.What are some big lessons you've
(22:52):
learnt from all those different times of ministry?
OK, so that is what I was talking about before when I said
that preaching is long. You know, the results don't
happen fast. There's a lot of work involved
in preaching the gospel and in in Canberra and in Queensland
(23:19):
and here in Sydney. Some of the big lessons that
that I learned was slow and steady wins the race.
We talked about that before and how we need to put our trust in
God and just keep keep on keeping on.
(23:39):
That was that's been one of the biggest lessons that I've
learned from from my ministry. You know, it's a special
situation to be in to preach thegospel.
It doesn't. It's not something that
everybody wants to be involved in because you're standing up
(24:01):
for for Jesus. You're taking a stand and not a
lot of people want to know aboutJesus.
So that's that's something you have to get used to.
It's a commitment to following Jesus.
Like Jesus said, if you come after me, you have to take up
(24:25):
your cross and follow me and andthat that involves suffering at
times and it certainly involves putting your trust in Jesus.
So you've also been a big part of Camp Challenge for many
years. What makes you stay so committed
(24:46):
in helping out for so long? So because I'm a preacher and
because I'm a father and a grandfather and now a great
grandfather, going to camp has been a very integral part of my
annual program. And being involved in running
(25:07):
the show, so to speak, has been very important to me because I
see the value to my family of the camp.
But it doesn't only give value to my family, it also is
valuable to other people in the church as well.
Like like your family for instance, your family has
(25:31):
benefited by it. That's why your mum has been in
his group part of of challenge as as well.
It also brings you in contact with other Christians, and it
helps your children to come to know other Christians in other
places because churches of Christ tend to be rather small.
(25:56):
It's good to be able to meet people in other congregations
and link up with them. Yeah, that's, that's the the
benefit that I've seen to Camp challenge.
I'm also involved in the 50 and over retreat because I'm now
(26:17):
over 50, you see, and I've been involved with them.
I didn't start there with them until I was 60.
I was in denial that I was over 50 for 10 years.
But ever since I turned 60, I'vebeen involved with them and it's
good because old people have different problems to younger
(26:39):
people and family people. And so they help me and and I
help them as well. Why do you think things like
camps are so valuable, especially for young Christians?
OK. Because I I see them being
valuable in that they offer encouragement to people from
(27:02):
small situations like people whoare in house churches in country
areas, people who are in a situation where there's only one
or two children, perhaps only one, one, one or two families
with children. They can introduce their
(27:25):
children to children in other situations like that, and they
can grow together and encourage one another.
I'm sure it was a big thing in the New Testament church, this
sort of idea of encouraging one another, even though you were in
(27:47):
a small congregation in a small,isolated town.
You know, in those days, they didn't have emails.
They didn't have Zoom and all the things that we have today,
we can be online and encourage one another in so many different
(28:07):
ways. But back then they didn't have
that. And I'm sure every opportunity
they had to be together, they took that opportunity and and
camp is just being one of those things for us.
We also have the Warringah YouthDay.
It's always the third Sunday of January and and it was designed
(28:34):
originally as 35 years ago we started having them and it was
designed because there were people who came to camp from
Queensland and they'd hang aboutand visit with friends in the
churches down here. And so we decided to have a
special youth emphasis in the afternoon on the 3rd Sunday of
(28:58):
January before everybody had to go back to Queensland or
Victoria or wherever to get ready to go back to school, you
see. And so we called it the
Warringah Youth Day and they hada BBQ, we have a barbecue and we
had volleyball, beach volleyballdown on Cocola Beach.
(29:22):
And some people went swimming. And then, and then in the
evening, we had a, a, a, a youthservice and a special message
for young people with a, with a guest speaker that, you know, a
lot of people have been, have grown up having gone to that.
(29:43):
And now they're bringing their children along to, to the Youth
Day. So that's something special to
me. So, Bob, how is your family life
shaped your faith? OK, well so, so I'm a father and
a grandfather and now a great grandfather and you know, you
(30:04):
see the growth in your children and your grandchildren and you
realise that you have a responsibility to God.
You realise that these people are given to you by God just
(30:25):
like you were a gift to your dadand mum by God.
And, and so you have this sense of responsibility and you
realise that you need to to havefaith in God first of all, and
that you need to provide them with an example and help them to
(30:48):
develop their faith in God. Is there anything you
particularly love about watchingyour kids, grandkids and our
great grandkids grow up? I can't think of anything
specifically, but it certainly is good when they decide they
want to become Christians. They want to be baptised into
Christ and now you see, so we have 15 grandchildren and, and
(31:15):
then when you see them getting married and choosing to, you
know, be faithful to a husband or a wife, that that's pretty
exciting thing to to see as well.
And then along comes your great grandchildren and we have five
of them and another one due around Christmas time.
(31:36):
So it's really nice to have all those people in your life.
Exactly. Now, Bob, one thing I really
love is how you're still out sharing Jesus and handing out
flies at the shops and bus stops.
What keeps you going in that kind of outreach?
So, well, if I can go back to Canberra, back in 197073, I was
(32:08):
working in Canberra as a preacher and we were running a
column in the Canberra Times anda man called David Jennings
signed up for a Bible correspondence course, you see.
And he, he was just a young man.I think you know who he is.
(32:31):
And so he, he eventually he, he,he finished this Bible
correspondence course and eventually he was baptized and
he, you know, had become a Christian.
Then he met a lady called Margaret.
I don't even know what her family name was, but they
(32:55):
eventually got married. And of course then they had your
dad and your dad met your mum and, and the rest is history.
So the reason I keep on doing the, the handing out of these
pamphlets is that I might meet another person like a, a Dave
(33:18):
Jennings. I'm sure I have met quite a few,
but people who are searching forthe truth.
And so by by standing there every Thursday and Friday
afternoon handing out these invitations, all my invitations
(33:42):
have got the word Jesus in in really big prints.
So people can see straight away that I'm standing there for
Jesus, which is what I want to do.
I want to stand there for Jesus,not for me, but for Jesus.
I'm just, just the other day, a lady who was obviously African
(34:06):
in background because she had dark skin and big smile and
really bright clothes on. She came up to me and she said,
I'm so glad that you stand here for Jesus.
And I said, oh, thank you very much.
You know, it was so nice the wayshe said it.
(34:29):
And I said, what's your name? Now where I stand, it's really
noisy and I sometimes have difficulty hearing what people
say. And anyhow, she, she mumbled her
name in, in her broad African accent.
(34:50):
And so I, I said, you know, you have to say that again.
And she said it again, but I still couldn't understand it.
And I said, how do you spell that?
And she said MERCY, like the mercy of God.
And I said, oh really? It was, it was really lovely
(35:15):
actually. And I said to her, I am so glad
that I have found mercy finally.Yeah, it's so nice actually to
be involved there with people like who obviously have a deep
faith in in Jesus. It's nice to be to be involved
(35:36):
with them and you don't know whoyou actually dealing with and
what the long term impacts in their lives are going to be
like. You to some extent are your
existence to my being a preacherin Canberra, not not that big a
(36:00):
you know, but but a little bit, I have a little bit of it of an
investment in your in your life.And I think to myself, well, if
I can do that a few more times, there'd be people in other parts
of the world who who have a lifeand then a life that serves God
(36:21):
simply because I introduce them to Jesus Christ.
And you can do the same thing too.
As you grow up, you can have that same impact on other people
as well. That's pretty exciting, I
reckon. Thank you.
Bob. Have there been any moments
(36:43):
where your plans totally changed, but later you could see
that it was actually God leadingyou in a better direction?
OK, so back in 1986 I was involved in a head on collision
in in North Queensland. That's why I walk with a limp
because I've got a bad right leg.
And I came down to Sydney and when I came down to Sydney I I
(37:08):
associated with a group of people called the International
Churches of Christ. Have you heard of them?
They were growing pretty rapidlyand they had connections with
some of our members and and I wanted to go there and learn
about what they were doing. Well, when I went there and
spent, we spent nine months there, we found out that not
(37:34):
everything that they were doing was honky Dory in terms of the
Bible. And, and so we stepped away from
them and we started, I started preaching it at East Side Church
of Christ. So, you know, I thought that
(37:55):
would have been the way to go, but then God led me away from
that situation. I know other people were like
that as well. So this is the second question
before we close. Bob, what's helped you stay
strong and encouraged over the years, even when it's tough?
OK, Well, to say, first and foremost, my wife has been the
(38:19):
person who has helped me stay strong.
The accident that I was involvedin, I could have died in that
accident. I certainly was in hospital for
four months and I've been limping ever since.
But my wife has been a tremendous encouragement.
But then there were also other older Christians who who had a
(38:46):
really big influence on me for good.
There was a preacher called Don Klingenberg who was an American
who was here in Sydney and he had suffered a lot in many ways
and he was a big encouragement to me.
(39:06):
There was also a man called Bob Abney.
Bob Abney is now in his 90s, I think, nearly 95.
He was a school teacher and he used to come out to Sydney and
work during the American School summer and he was a great
influence on me and encouragement to me as well.
(39:29):
So there have been lots of people in my life that have been
an encouragement to me. And I, I hope that there will be
people like that in your life aswell who will encourage you.
And I'd like to encourage you tobe encouraged to, to, to learn
(39:55):
from these men and women too forthat matter, and to.
To hang on in there in in the tough times, so to speak,
because tough times come. There's there's no doubt about
it, Tough times come in your life.
But but we need to put our our faith in God, our trust in God
(40:19):
and older men and women and sometimes younger men and women
too are able to be a a great encouragement to you into in
rough times in tough times. Now finally, Bob, for someone
listening who might be unsure about faith or struggling in
(40:41):
their walk with God, what would you say to encourage them today?
OK, so I've been thinking about Abraham quite a bit lately.
And in Genesis 17 it talks abouthow God said to Abraham, walk
before me and he promised that he would be with him.
(41:03):
Walk before me faithfully and blamelessly.
And he promised that he would bewith him.
He told Abraham to get up and toleave his father or mother and
go to a country that he would show him and he would make of
him a mighty nation and so on. You for me with those things
that he told Abraham. And it says in Hebrews 11 and in
(41:27):
Genesis that that Abraham went even though he didn't know where
he was going. And I thought about the
Christian's life When when as you're growing up, your life is
very much sort of directed by your parents, isn't it?
(41:48):
You know, you're following them,but ultimately you have to make
up your own mind and you don't know where your life is going to
go. You don't know where you're
going to be living in 10 years time.
I mean, I've been all over the world when I was your age, I
couldn't have imagined half the places that I've lived in and
(42:10):
half of the things that I've done.
But but God doesn't say to us goto a country and I'll make a
view a great family or and he doesn't talk like that, but he
does want us to to go for him inlife, wherever we are.
(42:32):
He wants us to be for him and he's promised to bless us and
not never to forsake us. So if you have someone in your
life, be it parents or siblings or friends or a preacher or a
youth worker, who's trying to encourage you in your Christian
(42:56):
life, you've really got something that's really good.
And don't push that encouragement away.
Put your faith in God. And then when you're older like
me, then you'll you won't have lots of regrets about your life.
(43:18):
The the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12 that we should
remember our creator in the daysof our youth before the evil day
comes. And you say I have no pleasure
in them. When you get older, a lot of bad
things happen in your life. You get cancer or whatever it
(43:40):
might be, and a lot of things, sad things happen.
But if we learn as young people to put our trust in God that we
are made, that we have been created, we're not accidents,
and God has a purpose for us, then we'll have a good reason to
(44:05):
go on and continue in life all all the way to the end until we
hear God say well done, good andfaithful servant, enter into the
joy of your Lord. That's what I'd say.
Thank you so much, Bob, for that, and thank you for this
interview. I've had such a good time.
(44:27):
Thanks for sharing your story. Well, thank you.
You like thank you. I, I feel honoured to have been
involved with you. God bless you, brother.
Thank you. I look forward to seeing you at
camp. Hey.
Yes, I do too. Anyways, see you.
See you mate. Oh.
But there's no one there. We can figure this out.
(44:54):
Put your feet down. What are your choices?
Done. Terrified of what's left.
(45:16):
Remains upset until you raise mymind.
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