This morning I started putting out the new flyer in Bilston. Bilston is the nearest village to our new location and so I was less than a quarter mile from where we meet for church. God allowed me to get a good section of Bilston done. I put out two flyers today and will continue to do that in Bilston. I put out the information flyer as well as a Gospel flyer. Please pray for fruit from our evangelistic labours.

I forgot to say on Sunday that we had a fun first. Benson led the singing as he often does on Sunday PM. The new thing was that Logan played the piano with the congregational singing for two of our hymns. We also have Parker now setting up all of the sound equipment. It's fun to have the kids getting more involved in ministry.

It was a beautiful calm sunny morning and a great opportunity to do evangelism down in Edinburgh below Edinburgh Castle (Princess St. Gardens). God gave me several good opportunities to share the Gospel.

The first was with a young man (late 20's) waiting for his train back to his home just north of London. He's going through a tough time. I shared with him that God often reaches out to us during tough times. If that was the only conversation I had this morning, it would have been worth going down there.

The next conversation was with a Frenchman who has lived in Edinburgh for 20 years and is now in his mid 60's. He was a bad man (by his own description) in France as he owned a disco for 20 years. He said he worked with pimps, drug dealers, prostitutes.... He's changed his ways after being hit by a car while cycling on the pavement (sidewalk) a few years back. It was a turning point in his life towards believing in God. I sat on a bench with him with an open Bible and asked him how he has gotten rid of his sins. I went through the Gospel with him and more than once he said, "Ok, so how does someone get rid of their sin?" Please pray that God will open His eyes to the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. His name is the same as the main character in, "Pilgrims Progress." I encouraged him to read the book and see how C___________ was set free."

After that I had an engaging conversation with a train driver (I was down by Waverley Train Station) who was on break. He is from Perth and I told him about a good church there. He's an atheist, but his wife attends the Church of Scotland. We had a good discussion focused on the need for churches to agree with God's Word. His wife is likely unsaved. He views himself as a good person because he lives his life after the Bible though he doesn't believe in God. I tried to stress the very obvious need for true religion to agree with God's Word. He's not a believer but he knows what God's word says about marriage and sexuality. He also knows the that Church of Scotland as a denomination has rejected that. 

I sat on a bench with a man who had been homeless for 10 years. He's from Birmingham. I spoke to him of the Gospel. His mental state is not good and I hope something penetrated his brain. He's 55 but looks 75. 

I also spoke with two brothers who served in Afghanistan. They are both drunkards and alcoholics. I had witnessed to Andy before. I could not believe it when they told me they were 35 years old. You would not think they were any younger than mid 50's. Sin has destroyed their bodies. Please pray for their salvation. I prayed with them and asked God to open their eyes and set them free.

I spoke to another alcholid who was smoking. He was 49 but looked at least mid 50's. He said he likes his life, his alcohol and his drink. He said, "Why does God have a right to tell us what to do? (He claims to be atheist.)" I said, "Because he wants to keep you from being enslaved to the things that are destroying you."

I know the names of several of these people I witnessed to. They are not numbers. They are individuals who if they never accept God's gift of salvation will perish in the fires of Hell. Please pray with me for the power of God to break through in their lives. Drunkards is in the list of "such were some of you, but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." - 1 Corinthians 6:11  (Please pray that God would unleash the power of His Gospel in Scotland.)

We are enjoying meeting together for all of our services. What a blessing! The Lord gave us a good Sunday. Our attendance was down as some were away and some were ill. We're praying for God to grow our church in our new location.

I preached this morning on "Golden Prayers" from the "Golden Psalm", Psalm 16. It's a messianic Psalm which gives insight into the Son's dependence upon the Father.

It was a good fellowship day as we had some of our church over for a meal. Praise the Lord for freedoms which we once took for granted.

Thanks for praying for our day. God is good.

God has answered several prayers regarding our desire to find a permanent location. First of all, He has given us a great temporary location to rent on a monthly  basis. Secondly, He allowed us to see the church building that will likely be put on the market. It is beautiful. I'll put some pics below and I have no doubt that you will agree. However, it fails to meet a lot of the criteria about which we are praying. Here is my property/ building prayer list...in no particular order.

Beautiful - it should glorify God on the outside and inside.

Functional - it must meet the needs of our congregation. Children's ministry is important. We need classroom and function space.

Affordable - we must be able to afford to purchase the land/ property.

Visible - it needs to be in a location where it testifies of God's goodness and stands as a Gospel light for the community.

Maintainable - we have to be able to afford to maintain the property.

Expandable - we need to plan for future growth.

Durable - it needs to be built well to withstand weather and use.

The 1885 church building is beautiful, however we would struggle to maintain it. It also does not have classroom space and is not in a visible location. God answered prayer allowing us to view the property, although we do not believe the property is for us.

God answered prayer in another regard today. Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2:00 I am meeting the owner of the land in which we are interested. Please pray for God's guidance and provision if a land purchase in His leading. It's an answer to prayer that we were able to find the owner, get into contact with him and arrange this meeting. Thanks for praying.

We are back to normal....well a new normal anyway! We praise God that we are back to normal service times all in one location where we can MEET IN PERSON. Praise the Lord! It is great to be meeting together again. One man who has not been in church since the pandemic was back with us this morning. He isn't young and it wasn't easy for him to get out in the evening. It is good that we can now offer a morning service. It was great to have him back.

Our attendance was good and everyone enjoyed the new location. It is a great facility for our church and fits us very well. It's going to be a blessing for as long as God has us here.

I preached a message this morning on the Milestone we have achieved and the need to acknowledge what God has done. Our text was Joshua 4 as we looked at, "Setting up signs of victory." (uploading currently) Your prayer is appreciated as our church adapts back to our old schedule in a new location. God gave us a blessed morning. Thank you for praying.

Well, here we go. Please pray for God to help us clearly identify our new location for anyone who would like to visit. Part of that is distributing a new flyer with our updated information. The Lord helped me to put it together today. Here is what we are going to put out. The actual size of half a sheet of paper. I've ordered 5,000 flyers.

For those who have wondered about our location. I made a map for the flyer. Loanhead was our original location. Auchendinny was our second location following covid. The star on the map marks our third location where we start holding services this Sunday. (Loanhead and Auchendinny are 3 miles apart.)

Don and I put out flyers in a village which is about 15 minutes from our new church location. In case you are wondering, the new location is a mile from Loanhead (our original location.) It is close to a sister village of Bilston although it is on a Edinburgh University Campus.

God gave two really good divine appointments today. One was with a man who believes, "There is something." The other was with a young man (18) who is trusting in his goodness. Please pray for God's fruit to be born into these men's hearts.

I'm very excited to say that our final zoom meeting is this evening. Our church has responded well to being on zoom and I've never heard a complaint regarding it. We're thankful that God gave it to us for such a time as this. However, it is with great joy we prepare to meet in person for all of our services.

This Sunday, we are taking a love offering for a church minibus (van.) Lord wiling, I will soon be able to share of God's provision of a vehicle. We will be able to keep it parked at our new church location. Thanks for praying with us and for us.

I needed to take today as a utility day. There are several extra things on my "to do" list as we get ready to change locations this coming Sunday. I ordered a large banner for the front of the church. I also ordered all of our outdoor signage for our posters directing people to the building and into the building. 

Today I worked on getting the new address onto all of our online pages. (webpage, facebook page, sermon audio page, google maps, etc.) We also moved our things into a cupboard on the new property. Praise the Lord we won't have to put things into and out of vehicles. While we were there, we set up the church to get pictures for our advertising. I've just promoted an add on facebook. Please pray for God's help as we seek to direct people to our new location.

Thanks for praying as we prepare to restart our old schedule in this new location.

Well, it is kind of fun to be at a point of change. We enjoy our current location. However, we had to do upside down Sunday (Sunday School and main service in the evening) and zoom on Sunday AM and Wednesday PMs. We are ready to get back to a normal schedule with all LIVE services.

We had low attendance tonight due to a variety of things. However, we had a good service. I preached a message on, "Biblical Separation" from 2 Corinthians 6:15-7:1 (uploading currently). We have a lot of "itchy ear" believers in our day, but it is our prayer to have a church that preaches "sound doctrine" even if people leave. Please pray for the power of God and transformed lives in and through our ministry. We'd dearly love to see people set free from their old life and living a new life in Christ.

We had a good Sunday. Thank you for praying for our church. We have one remaining zoom service on Wednesday night. After that, we are in our new location.

God has provided a new rental location where we can have all services. This is exciting as we wait on God for a permanent church home.

This location is definitely part of the, "Great and Mighty things which thou knowest not." I'm very familiar with our area, but was completely unaware of this property. I walk past it frequently and often see the sign, "Retail space available, inquire within." What the sign does not say is, "There is a perfect place for your church to meet."

I enquired and they have allowed us to meet there on a month by month basis. Please pray for God's blessing as we get back to our normal church schedule. We are very excited to be able to offer our kids club on Wednesday nights and to FINALLY GET OFF OF ZOOM. (Although we are thankful that we've had zoom, it is NOT the same as meeting together.)

Also, we are scheduled to view the church property (which may be sold) on 11 September. Please pray for wisdom to know if that property would be suitable.

We are still waiting to hear back on a price on the land. 

Here are some pics of our new location starting on the 12 September.