God gave us a good morning in his house, despite unusually low attendance. Obviously, we'd love to have had more of our church family out this morning.  But, despited lower than normal attendance, God gave us a great time in His Word and with one another.

This morning, we looked at an interesting subject in God's Word as we considerd, "You and Jesus." But, the title could have been, "You and Truth." Jesus and "truth" can often be used synonymously. The theme word of 3 John is, "Truth" but it all has to do with Jesus. You can not have a good relationship with Jesus and not have a good relationship with the truth. This consideration is helpful for a proper evaluation of our walk with the Lord.

This is our busy weekend of ministry. And so, after the morning service, we loaded up the minibus with the digital piano to take to our afternoon service at the care home. Tomorrow is our monthly Ladies' meeting.

And, tomorrow we begin a 3 day holiday Bible club during our October school break. We appreciate your prayers and trust God will give us a great week of ministry.

Yesterday, we left home at 8:30. I didn't return home until 8:00PM because I had an extra ministry opportunity at a sister church in the afternoon. Our good friends, the Dillman's, are in the States on a short trip. Their pulpit supply ended up in the hospital and Brother Don asked if I could help. Their church is only about 25 minutes from us in Livingston, Scotland. I enjoyed catching up with their church family as I shared a Bible study from this past Wednesday night. ("Effectual Praying" Our first study on the life of Elijah.)

Yesterday, was, "Harvest Sunday" in the UK. We enjoyed focusing on God's many blessings as I preached on, "Taking Stock of God's Goodness," from Psalm 103. We focused God's work and God's ways. We then enjoyed a wonderful fellowship meal at the church. It was our joy to have a family visit. They received a Gospel leaflet through their mail slot this past week. Please pray for God's leading for them as they seek His will.

This morning I was able to get out to do street preaching in Edinburgh. God gave me a good outing. I had some opposition, but the Lord helped me through that and gave me liberty in my preaching.

Next weekend is also a busy weekend as we have our monthly care home ministry, monthly Ladies' meeting and have a 3 day Holiday Bible Club starting on Monday. The children here have an October break from school and we seek to have some activities for them at that time. Thanks for praying!

God has given us a fun ministry weekend. We had a youth activity on Friday which began with a Bible challenge and a meal. We then hiked up the "mountains" near our church. They are called the Pentland Hills, but in many places in the world these "hills" would be called mountains.

Saturday, we took the church minibus up into the Scottish Highlands on a church activity. 12 of us participated and we all had a great time. God kept the rain away and it was a really fun day.

Today, we didn't have any visitors, but we are seeing some growth in some of our members. That is very encouraging and what ministry is all about. I prreached this morning on, "The House Rules" from Deuteronomy 6. It is a GREAT passage for Christian parents as they seek to establish a Godly home. 

This week is a normal week. However, next Sunday will be a special Sunday called, "Harvest Sunday." We'll have a carry in meal and will focus on thankfulnsess for God's goodness in our morning church service. The Monday - Wednesday following that will be a 3 day Holiday Bible Club during the October school break. Please pray for God's rich blessings upon these special ministry opportunities. Thanks for praying!

It was a joy to have a visitor yesterday in church. A young lady who is working on a business Master's degree visited with her friend who attends our chruch. Our church ttendance was pretty good, and we're thankful for what God is doing in the hearts of those who desire to follow Him.

I preached yesterday from John 13:31-14:11 on, "You need Jesus as your Saviour and as your Lord." It was an interesting study from the Upper Room as Jesus began to prepare His disciples for His departure. We looked at 7 questions from the text to help us answer the questions, "Is Jesus my Saviour and my Lord?"

This morning, we awakened to a heavy frost on buildings and on cars. Wow!  I guess it's that time of year. Although it was significantly cooler, there were clear sunny skies this morning. I enjoyed street preaching in Edinburgh. This was my first outing since the assassination of Charlie Kirk. One thing I'd say about this morning is that the spiritual warfare was evident. I'm thankful for the grace that God always give me, but very much covet your prayers for this ministry. Would you please pray for God's Word to do a great work in the hearts of those that hear it? Would you also please pray for God's leading and enablement for each opportunity?

Now, we have a somewhat busy week as we have a youth activity on Friday and a church outing on Saturday. These are fun busy things and we look forward to what God is going to do. Thank you for upholding us in prayer.

This is the busy Sunday of the month as we head to the care home for an afternoon service. This past Wednesday we were blessed to have a 12 year old girl move back to our area. She hasn't missed a service since returning and is going with us (and another 12 year old girl) to the care home ministry this afternoon. Praise the Lord! It's great to have her back.

Also, a young woman visited our church this morning for SS and the AM service. It was a joy to meet her as well. The young father who trusted Christ this week, was not out. But, He has said that he will be here next Sunday. Please pray for God's help for him as he becomes established in the faith.

We enjoyed our time in God's Word this morning. In our 10:00 AM we were looking at the importance of doctrine from the book of Acts, chapter 15. This morning I preached on Jesus (Be Like Jesus) from the OT, Psalm 16. There is a wonderful look into the life of Christ in that passage as it shows Jesus heart of depenence upon God, the Father.

Thank you for praying for our church. It's fun to see some growth in our congregation spiritually. That is the most encouraging thing which we could see in our ministry. 

This morning I went down into Edinburgh to do street preaching,... or so I thought. I parked, carried my equipment about 3/4's of a mile to where I preach. I set up and then promptly remembered that I had left my mic charging at the house. Our home is about 35 minutes one way (9 miles) from where I had parked to do street preaching.

I called Katie and asked her to send Nelson on the bus with my mic. However, that would have been a 1 hour bus ride to get there. We eventually decided that I would possibly just do personal evangelism.

I couldn't do that with my equipment, so I walked the 3/4's mile back to the car. Before coming, I had already walked 2 miles and ran 4 miles. My feet were tired and I thought about throwing in the towel. And, I was very perplexed at the start to my day and was disappointed that I couldn't do street preaching. I also knew the Lord could have reminded me to get my equipment. Thankfully, the Lord didn't let me quit and head home.

As I went down to do evangelism I did voice my hope to the Lord that He would show His hand on my day, and I praise God that He did. First of all, I had a great witnessing opportunity with a young woman who got out of prison on Friday after serving for 6 months. Please pray for her salvation.

I also met a Nigerian man who promised that he will be in church a week from Sunday. We have several Nigerians in our church and I know they would enjoy meeting him if he keeps his word. He insisted that he would. 

But, the coolest things which really showed God's hand, was when I handed a leaflet to man who readily accepted it and said, "We have spoken before." I remembered him from over a year ago as he and his partner had indiecated that they would visit the church. They had spoken with me after watching the street preaching.

He's seen me street preaching several times since then as he has passed by on the bus. God blessed our time together and we both sensed that it was of the Lord as He also shared how God had redirected him that morning. After spending a good deal of time going over the Gospel, he prayed to ask Jesus to come into his heart. Please pray that he will have the courage to visit our church. I have his contact details and will follow up.

Your prayers for our evangelism are much appreciated. We also had some good witnessing opportunities as we knocked on doors on Saturday. Thank you for praying.

After having a lot of fun with ministry and life out of the routine, it was good to get back to a normal ministry week. I can tell it was a normal week, just by the short list of announcements that now appear in the bulletin. We praise God for how He blessed the many extra events in August, but September has very little on the schedule.

Our regular monthly events begin today. Tonight we have the Lord's table. Tomorrow is our monthly ladies' meeting. Next Sunday is our afternoon care home service. We also have our bi-monthly missionary men's day of prayer scheduled for Tuesday, 16 September. But, all of those are part of our routine ministries.

This morning was also nothing out of the ordinary. We didn't have any visitors, but it was good to see most of our faithful church members out. I preached on our series, "Crucified with Him (and Loving Him.)" Our text was Malachi 1.

We did have first time visitors on Wednesday night of a mother and son from our summer Holiday Bible Club. That was a blessing. Thank you for praying with us for God's work here at SFBC.

This morning I put out Gospel flyers in a sister village that is about 4 miles from our church. It was a beautiful morning and perfect for evangelism. The Lord gave me a wonderful divine appointment with a young man who said, "I recently became a Christian after reading the New Testament." He knew that he needed to be in church but hasn't yet gone to church. He knows our property and lives close by. Would you pray with us that he will have the courage to visit our church? He shares the same first name as our second oldest boy and is the same age as our oldest boy. I'm very thankful to hear of God's working in his life. I have his contact details and will follow up as well.

It was good to be back in the pulpit yesterday after enjoying Pastor Stertz' ministry last Sunday. We had an encouraging Sunday with solid attendance and a good spirit. We love our church family and always want to see all of them at as many services as possible. Please pray for God's help in eliminating hinderances to attending.

I preached yesterday morning on Hebrews 10, "Be Real" for Jesus Christ. We look at having real confidence, conviction, companionship, conversion, courage and continuation.

God blessed us with two men from the other side of Edinburgh taking bus all the way to our church. Please pray for wisdom for them as they seek a good church to attend.

This morning I headed into Edinburgh to preach. It was an intersting outing as a film crew was inside a building nearby. Because my loud speaker was being picked up on their equipment they asked if I would be kind enough to move. And so, I preached in two different locations this morning. God blessed and I had great liberty in preaching. I appreciate your prayers for this ministry and I enjoy serving the Lord in this way.

This week is our first "normal" ministry week in about 7 weeks. Hopefully, we can settle back into the routine of ministry. Thank you for praying for SFBC and our family!

We have enjoyed having our sending church pastor, Pastor Dan Stertz, and his wife, Mary, with us. They arrived last Friday and were with us for a youth activity. Pastor Dan preached all 3 services on Sunday. In the AM he preached on, "Pray for One Another" and encouraged our church to greater unity.

 Today was our missionary fellowship meeting. We did a split session for men and women with the Stertz's ministering to both groups. We then came back for a hymn sing and preaching time with Pastor Dan ministering God's Word. It was a blessed time.

Please pray for the great group of co-labourers in Scotland. We pray much together and for one another. It has really made us a strong fellowship.

Ministry will get back to normal starting this next week. We've had many wonderful events this month and have appreciated your prayers for them.