BEFORE & AFTER - We thank the LORD for the two churches and our church family who gave so that we could fix our car park. We are also thankful for Barton and Son's who did such a fabulous job on repairing it. We are grateful to God for His goodness. Please pray for God to fill it with cars full of people who have a hunger for His Word.

We have a couple in our church who had an unexpected sorrow this morning. Please pray for grace for them as the wife's mum entered into eternity with Jesus this morning. The sorrow is NOT that she is in the presence of Jesus, but only that there has to be a temporary separation. Please pray for God's grace for the family and that He would especially work in the hearts of any who are unsaved.

It was an interesting Sunday. For many reasons, perhaps, many people were not in attendance. We had the lowest attendance we've had in probably half a year. That being said, God still blessed us with an adult visitor who intends to be back. We also enjoyed our time together and in God's Word.

I preached this morning on "Watchmen Needed" from Ezekiel 33. Please pray that we will be FAITHFUL to get the warning out that the wrath of God is coming. It's sad to think that there are many still needing to be given the warning though the Gospel is the, "Old, old, story."

Here is the description of the message which I put on our Sermon Audio account.

"God has commanded and commissioned watchmen into His service. However, ALL BELIEVERS, need to see the sword of the wrath of God coming and warn the people around us. There is a greater sorrow than someone rejecting our message. The greatest sorrow is NOT TELLING them of the wrath of God when we know that His wrath is upon them. May God help us to be FAITHFUL watchmen- THAT is the measure of our success. Success is NOT the numbers who are saved, but rather the numbers whom we have warned. May God help us to get His WORD out and may there be SOME who heed God's warning. (Ezekiel 33)"

This is our busy Sunday. We'll be leaving in a little while to do the Care Home ministry. Soon after that we'll head back to our church for the prayer time and PM service. Tomorrow is also our monthly ladies' meeting.

On Wednesday, our church front car park is being repaired. Pleaes pray that the project will go well and that it will be nicely done.

God's good. We've had a tremendous amount of visitors and anticipate seeing many of them again. Thanks for praying for God's work at SFBC. 

It was a gorgeous start to a month that at times can seem dreary. We are in a spell of wonderfully dry weather as high pressure has built in. For the last 3 weeks, we have had a lot of rain and storms. It's nice to dry out and not have to wonder if you can do evangelism or not.

Our attendance was decent, but it seems when some come other's are away. It would be nice to see everyone out on the same Sunday. We did have first time attendees last Sunday PM as 3 teen boys came. They all indicated that they would attend again. (We shalls ee.) Had a woman visit this morning as well. It was a joy to get to know her. Please pray for her to know God's leading as she prays about a church.

I preached this morning on a topic which I don't believe I have preached  a whole message on before. I preached from Ezekiel, 28 "Lamenting Lucifer," where God says to Ezekiel to write a lamentation. Lucifer was blessed of God and loved by God. This beautiful, powerful and wise angel was incredibly privileged. However, he was not content. Despite all that he had, he wanted more. It cost him everything that he had. What a warning to all who read his story. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." Are you thankful and humbled by what God has given to you? Or, would you waste all of God's goodness to have that which is not going to satisfy? (Ezekiel 28)

Tonight we look forward to celebrating the Lord's table. Thanks for praying for our services. We had a drunken man come in last week which required us to get into contact with the police. Thankfully, the building and God's people were safe. Please pray for this man's salvation for God's continued watch care over his work. THANK YOU for praying!

Well, life has been very busy over the weekend, but it was the good kind of busy. Katie returned on Friday morning. Our church missionaries to Portugal flew in an hour later. We waited for them and then all headed home. That night, we had a youth activity with a sister church. In total we had 9 teenagers present. Brother Calin, our missionary, preached a good message to them from the book of Daniel.

On Saturday, Brother Calin and I stared working on a project to make the church "smart." If you are familiar with Sonoff or Zigby, smart technology, that is what we are working on. Stefan will be returning to help finish the project at some point. Please pray for wisdom. This tech will allow us to have better security, heating, and control of our utilities.

Sunday was our missions emphasis. There was a lot of spiritual warfare; Mac was ill meaning Katie had to stay with him, we had a significant storm (Wind speeds in parts of Scotland over 80mph), the boiler went offline because of the storm meaning the church was pretty cold (52 degrees) when we arrived, the fence by our church playpark blew down just after we arrived, and on Sunday PM an intoxicated man came in and we nearly had to put him on the ground. (He did shove one of our men and threw a bunch of things on the floor.) Thankfully, the police located him and booked him for that and two other incidents. 

Great things are also happening at our church. 3 teenage lads that I have witnessed to a couple of times came to the evening service. They said that they intend to come back.

The above is a reminder of how much we need to be praying for God's blessings and protection. God was good and we had a great day. Our brother did a great job sharing God's Word and the fellowship meal was a lot of fun. Thanks for praying for our church and family. God is good to answer your prayers.

God blessed us with a great morniing, despite my right hand woman (wife) being absent. Katie is enjoying her time with the kids and grandkids. She has now seen everyone and has half her trip remaining. Logan and she arrived in Virginia Beach yesterday. God's good. We praise Him for these extra blessings!

We enjoyed having two visitors this morning. The young man who attended two weeks ago was back with his girlfriend and another medical student. Please pray for God's blessings upon these young people. We enjoyed having them in our service.

Because Katie was absent, I did a combined SS class with a focus on the children. We did more active songs and I told the Bible story of David, Nabal and Abigail. We all enjoyed our time together. Our ladies also stepped up to help with our chilren's ministries. It's good to have more ladies getting involved in the work of the ministry.

I preached this morning on a future event that is on the horizon as we looked at the Millennial reign of Christ following His Second Coming. Praise God, there will be a bit of heaven on earth and sanity will return to this planet and also be in the majority! "Even so Lord Jesus come!

We did 3 days of outreach this week; flyers with Mac in a village,  street preaching and evangelism, and flyers with Pastor Dillman in his church area. Please pray for fruit that will remain. Thanks for praying for all the good work God has for SFBC! God is good!

This is our busy Sunday and it is off to a great start. We enjoyed our 10 and 11 AM services. This afternoon at 3 PM we have our care home service. At 5:15 PM is prayer and then 6 PM is our evening service. We also have our monthly ladies' meeting tomorrow evening at 7 PM. Your prayers for these extra ministries are appreciated.

We had an exciting morning as a young family visited for their first time. That was wonderful! We also had one of our visitors from last week back with us. Praise God.

Our new young family who were just baptised have succesfully moved 6 hours north of us. We are comforted by the confidence that this move is in the will of God. Remember, the Ethiopean Eunuch didn't head back to where Philip was ministering. He headed back to Ethiopea. Please pray for God's perfect plan for their lives. In the mean while, they are currently members of our church and we look forward to seeing how God leads them.

I preached this morning on, "Hear Wisdom's Cry" from Proverbs 8. (I'm grateful for any prayers for my pastoral ministry of preaching God's Word.) It's interesting to see Jesus in an Old Testament chapter in the book of Proverbs.

Katie has her trip to the States starting on Tuesday and will be gone for 10 days. She'll be with Benson's family in North Carolina for half of the time and then head to Kay Lee's family in Virginia. You won't be surprised that she is EXCITED! :) We praise the Lord for giving her this opportunity. We enjoyed a family time together with all the kids on Signal (online) last night. It was fun to see everyone at one time.

Thanks for praying for our car park offering. It was very significant and I believe it puts us within reach of our goal. We will vote next Sunday PM on whether or not the Lord wants us to move forward. Please pray for the Lord's mind. 

One last thing. We had a man contact us Tuesday after our street evangelism. We hope to see him at church this evening. Thanks for praying! 

It's very interesting when you have a Sunday where 12 peope who were not there last Sunday are there. But, you also have other's missing. So, although our attendance was good, many were still absent. Please pray for consistency in our congregation and that we can all join together at church.

Two of those who were in attendance were first time visitors. One of them used to attend our church briefly as a teenager. His family settled in a church much closer to their home, but he is back in Edinburgh now as a student. The other women received a leaflet from Mac when we were doing street evangelism/preaching 2 weeks ago. She had hoped to come last week, but had a hinderance. She was there today. Both intend to be back next Sunday. Praise the Lord!

Today is an important day for our church as we give a Harvest Sunday offering for our church car park. We've been praying about this for the last couple of months and are excited to see what the Lord is going to do. We're also excited to vote to take a new couple into our church this evening. This is the couple that was baptised last Sunday. So, we are looking forward to tonight.

I preached this morning on "Completely Armed and Ready" from Paul's, armour of God, found in Ephesians 6:10-18. Please pray that our church recognises the battle, understands the enemy and fights victoriously for our Lord. We are definitely in a battle whether we realise it or not.

God's good. We praise Him for what He is doing and thank you for labouring with us in God's work by your prayers. 

The Lord blessed our morning. The highlight was the baptism of a couple who have been our good friends for over a decade. It has been a thrill to see the wife saved and the family faithfully in church. We also enjoyed having the wife's mom, sister, and young niece join us for the service.

I preached this morning on Peter's message at Pentecost from Acts 2. We considered the truth that, "You must come to the point where you do something because of Calvary." Those who sat under Peter's sermon cried out, "Men and brethren, what must we do?" Peter's answer was, "Repent and be baptised in Jesus name." The name of Jesus, was the name that was hated and reviled. Praise God for those who OWN His precious name!

Introducing Bethany Kate Shore, weighing in at 7 pounds 8 ounces. Thank you for praying for her entrance into this world. Our daughter-in-law Christina is doing well. We FaceTimed with Benson, Christina and Bethany in the middle of the night. It was a joy to hear Christina joking and see their family together. Here is a pic of our granddaughter.

Our granddaughter has been born. Please pray for our daughter-in-law Christina. She has bleeding that they have not been able to stop. Would you please pray for the two procedures they are currently trying that one of them will work. Thank you for praying.

2.5 hours later - update: They now believe that the bleeding has almost stopped. Praise the Lord! Thank you for praying for our kids!