Andrew Spence

Andrew Spence, a preacher and a joiner, shares his testimony. 

Transcript

Nicola: Welcome to Cold Water Podcast. I’m Nicola Halton. We all know the importance of getting out there and doing a great work for Jesus. In this podcast we will learn more about the people who are involved in changing lives for good, for God. I would like to welcome Andrew Spence to the Cold Water Podcast. I know Andrew from the Hollybush Christian Fellowship. How did you become a Christian Andrew? 

Andrew: Hello. 

Nicola: Hello (Laughs)

Andrew: Thank you for having me.

Nicola: Its great. 

Andrew: How did I become a Christian. When I was 13 so if I go a little bit further back I grew up in a Christian home, Christian grandparents erm who are praying with us, who were imputing in our lives. Very privileged to have had them. At the age of 13 my nana Connie on my mum’s side, she, I would go and see her and my Grandad, Ronnie and Connie they were called. 

Nicola: Right

Andrew: Which is a great duo.

Nicola: It is.

Andrew: And I would spend time with them you know, on a Sunday and through the week, if I was ever there, we would be praying. They would have me praying with them. They would have me just sat there reading the word and just sort of not forcing anything just living their lives by example. Living it because that was their life and when I got to 13, I remember going to stay there a few times and on a Friday night Hollybush would be on. And during the day my nana would come and say to me, “Would you like to come to Hollybush?” and I would sort of say, “Well maybe I might come along.” And week after week she would ask me, until one night I said, “I’ll come along.”

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And I’d gone to Hollybush. There was a guest speaker from Australia and do you know, I can’t remember anything he preached on. I totally wasn’t in the meeting in my head. 

Nicola: Yes 

Andrew: Till the very end. He said, “If you want to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, I’m going to ask you to stand up.” And he said, “Some of you may feel.” It must have been something he had experienced quite a lot this. But he said, “Look you might feel like a sword is coming into your heart, like going through into your heart. Some of you might not feel anything and still be saved. But some of you might have that experience.” And I will never forget standing up and saying.. you know it’s really funny. And this is how the anointing sort of works, we can say all the words in the world but it’s the Holy Spirit that draws us. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And at the end of that meeting I felt a real urge just to stand up. And when I stood up I thought, “What am I doing?” (Laughs)

Nicola: Yes, Yes

Andrew: And I said Jesus, “Come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. Forgive me of all my sin.” And within that very moment I felt something come into my heart. I felt something genuinely something pass through my physical body into my heart and from that very day, my life was never going to be the same again. (Laughs)

Nicola: No, no and you can see God’ s presence on you. You have got such a radiant smile and you know you can sense that, you know you have prayed for me before and I felt.. you knew that you knew the Lord erm so you know that its definitely, definitely beautiful and its erm you said earlier that there was two parts to your testimony. 

Andrew: Erm 

Nicola: Yes how has God preserved you as a Christian?

Andrew: so to get to the second part what I would say was after I got saved the work wasn’t complete so I would be going to my grandparents. Me and my grandad would just be praying for a filling of the Holy Spirit in my life.

Nicola: hmm

Andrew: That I would be baptised with the Holy Spirit with fire. Now sometimes its good to go into these things naively.

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And I had the faith to believe maybe not the understanding so we would pray maybe 3 or 4 times over a period of weeks and nothing happened until one night. Now until one night I was in my bedroom and I put on a cd by Michael W Smith, what a great album. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And I put on our God is an awesome God and as I put that song on the prescence of God filled the room like I have never felt it. It was as though I was in the throne room of God. 

Nicola: Yes wow

Andrew: And I always remember looking at the brick wall in front of me thinking I could punch through that thing. Obviously it would have hurt me if I would have tried. But there was that feeling of wow this is power, this is freedom. And God spoke to me in Jeremiah, “if you take out the vile from the precious. You will be as my mouthpiece.”

Nicola: Yes 

Andrew: and God had preserved me for himself. He said I would make you a fortified wall to His people but you must not turn to them, but let them turn to you. 

Nicola: yes

Andrew: Do not fear when they come against you, for I am here to preserve you. I am here holding your hand and you know it was amazing form that very moment I had a dream. And in this dream God showed me the town near to where I grew up and I saw myself preaching the word and behind me leading up to the town was people gathered and as I looked into the town the light was so bright.

Nicola: yes

Andrew: It was so bright and I saw people putting down their belongings. In fact I saw a lady putting down here belonging and stepping into this light.

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: I saw what was and is to come, the salvation and the glory of God

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: that was at 13 years old and not only that. I’ll soon get to this second part. And not only that there was a couple of occasions at that age where God miraculously healed me so for one example I used to get these real strong dizzy spells I shouldn’t have been having at my age. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And I would go to the doctors and the doctor had told me, you are going to have to have tests and I went to the hospital and its all medically there all this information. I went to the hospital had tests and I was told I was going to be on a medication for the rest of my life. But God (laughs)

Nicola: Yes, yeh 

Andrew: and what happened was of all things you know when  we are desperate for something we believe for it, we fight for it and I remember crying out to God day after dasy for healing until one night a minister was speaking and believe it or not of all things on TV and as he was praying over these letters one of those letters had been mine that I sent in as a young 13 year old lad. 

Nicola: Oh wow

Andrew: it was as though the presence of God just came and just sat on me and from that moment I have never had one of them. I knew withing that moment and I began to dream in my heart, not like the dream the vision of salvation. It wasn’t an actual dream, and I began to dream from that day to see souls saved. I was on fire. 

Nicola: It is lovely at such a young age to be like that and we have got to really pray for our youth that they all get captivated by the love of God so you know I can see that you would be very fruitful in that area with the young people. And the church that you go to is very positive with young people and it is very vibrant with young families. So covid has caused a lot of disruption but I’m sure we will be able to pick that back up again. So it’s an amazing testimony. Its wonderful. I just want to say that you are blessed with a lovely Christian heritage and its such a.. its quite an enviable position isn’t it to have that Christian heritage and to share those stories and you know, you have had had a choice to go one way or another and you have made a choice that you are going to follow the Lord. Where do you see God taking you? 

Andrew: Well really interesting just on that last point you said Nicola was having a choice. When I was 18 I began to live on that fence. My parents, grandparents who I was privileged to have. Also incredibly uniquely different and incredibly gifted all shared the same heart for Jesus, yet nobody put it on me to say… they would encourage me, they would probably pray for me 

Nicola: Yes 

Andrew: But they knew it was my choice yet at 21 years old I had a decision to make and I cried out to God again and I said, “God teach me how to pray.” I’d been around prayer all my life. I’d grown up in pray, I knew how to pray. But I said, “God show me how to pray.” On my way back from work. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: I got home, I got on my knew.

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And as I got on my knees, a voice, spoke to me, audible. As simple as this, “Andrew, psalm 51.” I didn’t know what that chapter was. 

Nicola: Right

Andrew: As I opened it up the scripture was. Create in me a clean heart, renew in me a steadfast spirit. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: Do not take the Holy Spirit from me. How I’ve been preserved, firstly God’s goodness. Firstly His love. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And if anybody is watching and listening and not feeling that love, let me tell you, God loves you. Jesus loves you. I might have had great… phenomenal grandparents but it means nothing if I don’t lay my life down for Christ. 

Nicola: yes

Andrew: At the end of the day it might have started with them in my life but it doesn’t start with that in everyone’s life. It starts with us making the decision. And to be preserved you must humble your heart, you must humble yourself before God.  

Nicola: Yes, yes

Andrew: And bring everything to Him. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: It was actually from that point of turning at 21, I’d actually gone out to Africa to do a study, do a course YWAM and within two weeks God spoke to me. I had a lot of decisions I was going to ask, the wife I have now, I was going to ask to marry me when I got back. I was going to do a detest for six months I had planned my life, I knew what I was doing. Which is quite rare for me. Within two weeks God said, “Lay it all down, wait on me.”

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And you know, it was the best thing ever, God changed my heart. God changes our heart but we have got to come to Him. We have got to seek Him. And so things began to get tough when I came back. I made a decision I began to study the word and to spend time with Him and you know the best thing, sometimes misses as believers is, its good to see God but how we do it is so important because when I was seeking God at that time, there was nothing I wanted from Him. I just wanted to be with Him. 

Nicola: Yes yes

Andrew: And it should be as simple as that. 

Nicola: Yes that’s true. That’s very true. 

Andrew: Because that’s relationship. Imagine if your friend came to you. And was only friends with you because they wanted stuff from you. We know God meets our every need, he loves us and he wants to lavish everything upon us that is according to His will for our lives but how beautiful it is, how pleasant it is we can come to Him with a heart that says I just want to spend time with you. 

Nicola: Yes that’s right

Andrew: getting to know you 

Nicola: Yes that’s beautiful, yes thank you.  So yes how would you encourage someone to know the Lord. 

Andrew: How would I encourage someone to know the Lord!

Nicola: Hmm How would you, yes

Andrew: so it is a tricky one so if I’m talking about it from a reaching out point of view. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: so day to day I have to go into a merchants every now and again and I have some incredible conversations with people who don’t believe. 

Nicola: yes

Andrew: In fact, right here in our house that was renovated. Ill tell you the story of this place sometime.

Nicola: yes yes you can tell us after this, that’s great, yes 

Andrew: We’ve had .. in fact one of the guys that was working here, is in the Olympics now, he’s shotput throwing. 

Nicola: Wow brilliant

Andrew: He is so open to the gospel, so open. And people got healed. Jesus healed people in this place, builders, workers and the thing for me is, yes having a calling is one thing, yes hearing the voice of God and all that stuff but just being willing and just being yourself. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: So a lot of the time when I talk to people, when they see church they think of religion and religious people. They think aww you know I can’t go in there. And I said to them. You think im good enough. You want to spend time with me. I’m not. 

Nicola: yes I know what you are saying

Andrew: But the key to it is to keep coming back to Jesus 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: So in terms of if I was encouraging someone to come to know the Lord. I would say to them look go to Him as you are. Meet with God where you are, cry out to where you are and it might not happen as you ask. With one of my grandparents my granddad Thomas, he went forward 3 times and nothing happened in His life and until he was in the granary, in the milking parlour and he got on His knees and he put his pipe on the top and he said, “My family I give you, my farm I gave you, my pipe I give you.” And he said, “That’s all I have got.” 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: Be absolutely yourself 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: and do not believe one single lie that you have to be a certain way before you come to God. It is only God that can change us from the inside out. I’ve known people in the merchants, one guy in particular, we have had a conversation. He’s a great guy and he said, “you know, I’m trying to do the right things.” People are trying to do the right principle but I said to Him, “It starts from the inside. Be yourself and let God work on the inside of you.

Nicola: And from a Christian point of view as well, people who are with us. There is a saying, children don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. And I feel that applies to everybody really and its about knowing how much me actually care and we have got to be broken enough in ourselves for Him to be able to reach out to other people and for Him to make a difference in their lives. And that is how they will see the love of Christ in us and how they will be encouraged and want to move forward into a more prosperous future for them. Yes, I’m very curious about your renovation. Errm what happened with that. 

Andrew: Yes incredible really. I know looking at time we have got 12 minutes. 

Nicola: Oh that’s fine. That is ok. 

Andrew: I’ll try and keep it brief but.. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: It started really a few years before, a couple of years before actually we got this house, a couple of years before we were engaged or anything. I was going through quite a challenging time, you know. You can have the world, I didn’t have the world but you can have everything you could ever wish for and go through difficult times. You know, never judge somebody by what they have or what it looks like as a good life.

Nicola :Yes

Andrew: We all have battles.

Nicola: yes we do

Andrew: I remember going to someone’s house and basically getting really discouraged from a conversation an it sort of started there and I began to see God and that was in 2013. I had a dream and I drew this dream down and within this dream basically, the short version of it was I saw a carton of orange juice and I thirsted for it. For this carton of orange juice. And I don’t drink a lot of orange juice and it was very strange and I appeared in this sort of land and in this land I saw these renovations going on. These buildings were being restored to their fulness and there was this tall tower. And the land was beautiful, I saw grass I saw hills I saw trees. And I appeared in front of.. now this is going to sound crazy but if you bear with this story its … 

Nicola: It’s a dream so ….

Andrew: Refrigerator and as I opened it up I saw this carton of orange juice. And it had my name on it. It was the carton I desired. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: and I heard God’s voice say to me. If you obey my commandments and follow my ways. I will give you the desires of you heart. And as I shut that fridge door I saw, who is now my wife stood on the left hand side of it. So I woke up. I drew it all down and then that Christmas, January I was still sort of going God have I done the right thing, I ended up asking my wife to marry me, my current wife to marry me, and I said, “God I just want to do your perfect will, I just want to do what is right.” And so I am driving down the lane where I grew up. And is see this dove and I think nothing of it and I go, “Oh cool a dove.” A few days later a dove at the same place in the road. “Cool, great.” And a week goes by and I see a dove again and I go, “Right that’s it.” In the middle of the road, right in front of me as I am driving I never see those things. So I decided I am going to go to my nana’s, I’m going to tell her what I have seen. We are going to pray. I am either going crazy or there is something. And as we prayed, I said, “Nana, lets just pray. No words, no talking. Just pray.” And my nana is great she will pray every time and she saw an image of a dove with an olive branch and she said, “This is for Amy.” God was backing me and backing Amy saying this is the right thing saying, “This has got my hand on it. This has got my blessing on it.” Over a period of that year I had gone to Brazil come back seen many, miracles out there it was an incredible time we had but the January following. January the 1st I had an email from a pastor Brazilian friend and he said to me this year is a time for renovation and releasing. Right people, right time, right place and there is going to be an inheritance given to you. Now at this time we were looking for a house, we were just going to rent a house, that my grandma has and not renovate or anything like that. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: 6 days later my dad calls me up and he says, “There is a house on the market, we have got to go and have a look at it, it’s for auction. 

Nicola: Right ok

Andrew: We went to the auction, we got the house, we got in the house. As we were walking around the house, I am blown away by the mess, but there is one thing which is incredible and there was this picture on the wall that was left by the women. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: This house hadn’t been lived in for 15 years and the picture on the wall was the picture I had drawn. 

Nicola: Oh wow! 

Andrew: And I’ve got them both. I’ve had it cleaned up. I’ve got the drawing and I’ve got the picture. It doesn’t stop there so.. We ended up getting builders and as I said earlier, this shot put thrower. The conversation started and he was asking about Brazil and he said, “Oh I’m pretty open to it.” He’ll be on TV this week or next week. 

Nicola: Right ok

Andrew: Anyway these plasterers came to start doing the walls and there is 3 of them. Really lads, lads and this is the thing as believers, you have got to be prepared to take a joke. Jesus said, “Don’t be offended for my names sake.” You know we cannot be offended when people joke and laugh. We have got to have a conversation with these guys, you know. So, one of my friends turns up. Walks into this room with the plasterers and I’m outside mixing this plaster for them and all of a sudden I hear them say, “So how to you know Andy?” And he says, “He’s a brother in Christ.” Now all of a sudden, you know if you say that in the builder’s merchant’s world you just look like a lunatic. Not only did he say that he said, “Right I’ve got to go.” He put me in it then walked off, he didn’t even stand around to help me out. So I walked in and they said to me, “You’re a brother in a Christ are you?” And I laughed at them and said, “ Yes, I have a cloak in that cupboard.” It was obviously a joke and the builder, who was doing the shot put throwing walked past, and said, “Tell them what you told me.” And I said to them, “Are you sure you guys want to hear this.” And I told them of this little old women in Brazil who came forward and was deaf and after we prayed in Jesus’ name, she was healed. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And this plasterer said me, “Look, I’m using my left arm to plaster your house because I need an operation on my right arm. Now are you telling me this can get better?” Now I said, “I can’t do a thing but I said God can heal it.” 3 days later we are stood upstairs he said, “ Are we going to do something about this arm.” I’m thinking, “Oh God.”

Nicola: (Laughs)

Andrew: I said to my friend who is a Christian who is helping me out, Just freely helping me out. I said, “Jordan get in here. We are praying for this man’s arm.” So we are praying and I said right, “Exercise your arm. Please be honest with me. Because,” I said, “This ain’t going to work if you are not going to be honest.” And he’s doing it and he said, “No I’m still in pain.” So I said, “Right lets do it again.” So we prayed and immediately healed. He didn’t talk to me for 3 days. His dad who wanted nothing to do with it ended up getting me to pray for him in front of all the workers on site. 

Nicola: Right ok

Andrew: His arm got healed. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: and then the plasterer came back to me. The one who stopped talking to me, came back to me and said, “You know, I’m sorry I didn’t talk. I was astonished.” But you know in all this God wants an everlasting affect. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: You know these are temporal affects. If you don’t get healed, don’t worry about it. It’s what goes on inside. This is just .. and so from this very moment it led to other things and so I ended up getting a phone call. I went to meet a girl who had lived a normal life. She was meant to be wonderfully happy, travelled the world, intelligent and all of a sudden, one day she wakes up and she is sectioned and she is depressed and she is struggling. And her friend got in touch with me and said can you meet up and pray in the York Minster. Well I’m thinking, “If that is what it takes I’ll do it.” If that means being there I said, “Lets do this.” And they were shocked because I was in my work stuff.  We went into the York Minster. We sat down. I think, we were sat there, and I think, “ That Cathedral is a tourist attraction.” 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: As believers I always think.. 

Nicola: We get caught up in it don’t we 

Andrew: We get caught up in that. We sat down anyway and we are praying and I just say, “He sees you as a princess.” 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: I begin to speak life. Now you have got to be careful. This isn’t just me going at it. 

Nicola: yes

Andrew: Thinking I can fix anything. Firstly, I can’t do anything. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: I can turn up but it would be embarrassing if nothing happens, if I just trusted myself. Secondly, what’s my motive. My motive was just to turn up and let God do what he can do. If God doesn’t do anything. Don’t worry about it. If God does something then I’ll praise him regardless and I said to this girl who has had many troubles I said, “Do you want to know Jesus as your personal saviour?” And she said, “Yes.” And with tears in her eyes and tears in her friend’s eyes, we sat in York Minister and this girl had prayed Jesus into her life and I said, “You know, you have done the greatest things you could ever do.”

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: And yes that all came about from doing stuff, and even with the dream. It doesn’t finish there it goes way beyond that picture. Its remarkable. 

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: We have had a renovation happen over the road which used to be Northallerton prison. 

Nicola: Right Yes, Yes, I know about that one yes.

Andrew: One day I was just driving past it and I just literally froze within my car and I said that is the drawing. The buildings. And I drew a tower. There is one tower there and I drew them in the order that they are in. And then that image of the hills and the trees and stuff. We ended up.… I’m self employed and that is another story but we built the shed up at the farm, the workshop and I had never planned this never, I was actually wanting to go out as a missionary. God kept me in this business, cos this is my mission. 

Nicola: Yes, that’s it

Andrew: The future for this nation is bright if we pray.

Nicola: Yes

Andrew: The future is bright because I have seen that salvation is coming, you know, but yes God has really blessed us. And you know the picture of the trees and all that stuff, the view from the workshop is literally the picture that is on the wall downstairs and the image that I drew down. It’s remarkable and that is the condensed version. So thank you. 

Nicola: That’s brilliant.  Thank you. Thank you for sharing today. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ll see you later. Bye Bye

Andrew: See you, thank you

Nicola: Thank you for listening to the Cold Water Podcast. Please remember to subscribe and join next week.