In these days in Scotland and indeed in the whole Western world, it is easy to become discouraged. Church attendances are small. The vast majority of the population shows no interest in God. We have the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, telling how God became man to save us, how he died on the cross in our room and stead, bearing our sins and the punishment due to us, how he rose again on the third day having completed the work of atonement, and how he now calls all men and women to repent and believe, and so to be saved, be adopted into God’s family, and have a place with him in heaven when we die.