We had encouraging attendance this morning as most of our church family were there. It was good to see everyone in their place after illness and aches and pains. It was a beautiful COLD autumn day and the sunshine was very wecoming.

I preached this morning on "spiritual power tools" for building God's church from Zechariah 4. I'm glad that the Lord put this study on my heart as it was good for me to dig into Zechariah's vision. This is the passage where God says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit." Praise God for the golden oil which makes it possible for the church to burn brightly. The temple builders were encouraged by Zechariah's message and we as church builders should be encouraged as well.

I'm having technical difficulties finding the (please skip this part if you are not a "techie" person.) DCIM files on my SD card. Lord willing, we will figure this out and get those recordings uploaded to sermon audio. However, our service was recorded on our Facebook page. Please pray for wisdom as to how to access these files. I've just started a study of the life of David and lesson 2 is also on that SD card.

Thank you for praying for our ministry. God encouraged us this morning.

God has given some good outreach opportunities this week. Yesterday and today I put out our new church location flyer. Yesterday I had several divine appointments. A couple months ago I shared a story of meeting up with some young men who evangelist Jonathan Washer and I witnessed to several years ago. I met one of those young men again yesterday. Please pray that God will break through in these men's lives. He is going to get together for a Bible study with  me later this week. We spoke for 20 minutes.

Today Tommy and I put out flyers and I had a great opportunity to witness to a man who had a lot of questions. He's an atheist. However, he stopped working on his Christmas lights and spoke for at least 20 minutes. He had a lot of questions that weren't easy questions. Please pray that God will penetrate his heart with His truth. I have no doubt that our conversation was of the Lord. Thank you for praying for these outreach opportunities.

This afternoon I am meeting with a Christian man from another good church. He's retired, but used to be a project manager in our area. He's going to look at the land of interest with me. I know that his insight will be very helpful as we continue to seek God's leading regarding this property.

We appreciate your prayers. Thank you for taking FBC and our family to the Lord.

The colours right now in our area are lovely. We are enjoying a beautiful autumn. 

God gave us an enjoyable morning in church. We started a new study for our adult teen Sunday School. We went to 1 Samuel and are doing a study of the life of David. The message this morning was from Deuteronomy 10 as God again wrote his law in tablets of stone. We looked at respecting God and His law. Interestingly all of the blessing of life hinges on our submission to God and his law. God's law is for our good and God's desire for us to respect Him and HIs law is for our good. 

God gave Katie and I some good conversations and witnessing opportunities yesterday as we knocked on doors. Thank you for praying for divine appointments.

We appreciate your continued prayers for God to give the increase in his timing. We continue to sow in faith. Thank you for praying for our ministry.

Tommy and I went out yesterday morning in Loanhead. God gave us a divine appointment with a young woman who used to attend our church with her mum. I hope we'll see her visit at our new location. We also enjoyed visiting with an elderly man who has not been back to our church since covid.

Today I was in Livingston with Pastor Dillman and a man from his church. We didn't have any witnessing opportunities but we were able to get out several hundred flyers.

Yesterday was an exciting day as we received our new church vehicle. It is a 2012, diesl, semi-automatic, Renault Master (GMC), 17 seat, with 88k miles on it. We're excited and looking forward to using this tool for the Lord. Thank you for your prayers. It was a very difficult search and it is obvious that God has provided for our need.

This morning I took bus into Edinburgh and did evangelism. I prayed about where to get off of the bus and prayed that the Lord would lead me to some people who had questions.

God answered both prayers as I got off unexpectedly a stop early. I immediately had a great conversation that I would not have otherwise have had. A man was waiting to deliver goods and he had some good questions. Please pray for him as he said that he will email me.

The next opportunity was with a young man who had grown up in Mormonism and has rejected it.... and God. He had some good questions and engaged in a conversation despited being on holiday. We spoke for at least 15 minutes and I hope that God will prick his heart to let the BIBLE be his guide back into true religion.

The next young lady may have been the best opportunity. She came from China one year ago to study in Edinburgh. She also had some very specific questions and we spoke for close to half an hour. She put Katie's phone number into her phone and I hope that we will see her visit the church. I also showed her a Bible app which I hope she will download. She will be in Scotland another year.

The final opportunity was with two tourists on holiday from London. This young couple comprises a woman who got saved 10 years ago and a man who two months ago started to attend her Pentecostal church. He said that they will visit our church on their next trip up here. He said that they frequently come up to Edinburgh. 

Thanks for praying for divine appointments. God's hand was evident.

Tonight Logan (15) quoted all 5 books in the book of James. If you would like to watch the video it is 15 minutes long.

Two years ago I challenged our kids to memorize that book for a financial award. :) He took me up on it and quoted it for our family this week. He kindly shared it with our church family tonight as well. We're proud of his diligence to commit this to memory. I gave him another challenge and he's already started working on memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. Please pray that God will bless his Scripture memory and use it for His glory.

I am thankful to the Lord for His grace to complete a verse by verse study of the book of Romans. We began in June 2018, had a pandemic and two lockdowns, a 3 month furlough, etc. Without those interuptions we would have been done a wee bit sooner. The final lesson was lesson 106. It was a rich study and I'm thankful for the spiritual blessing we received from it. 

We've had some illness this past week in our family and another family in our church. Katie has not be able to go to church the past two times (Wednesday and today) as we had illness with our kids. Thankfully the child she stayed home with this morning has bounced back this afternoon. Please pray that we can get beyond the bugs as they affect not just our family but our church. (We can't collect children for church and do our children's ministry if Katie isn't there.)

We also had a woman who's mother passed away. Please pray for God's grace to encourage her heart and strengthen her during this time of loss.

This morning I preached on 1 Kings 18:41-46 on Prophetic Faith. We need men and women of prophetic faith (Elijah was a man) who come as he came to God in prayer. 

We have not yet heard anything from the council (county) with regard to our land inquiry. We did complete the purchase of our minibus and should have it delivered by Wednesday of this week. Please pray that we can fill it with people who want to attend our church.

Praise the Lord, our facebook livestream is flowing again. The problem was the wifi at the church location. It is now working and we were able to livestream last night. Technology is great WHEN it works. :)

Yesterday Pastor Dillman and I had a profitibable time putting out flyers in his area. God gave us a couple divine appointments. One was with a couple from Europe. (I would guess they were Polish.) He's English was not very good. She was conversant and we spoke for a few minutes before they had to leave. He became a bit beligerant and said, "Who pays you? You could NOT work for one week in my job at Tesco (grocery store.)" I didn't mind - it gave something to chuckle about the rest of the time we were out. (Thanks for "paying me" - if you are a supporter... I really do try to work hard.... though I'm concerned that I wouldn't make it one week at Tesco.) lol (Who knows? Maybe he is right!)

The other opportunity was the best as I was able to have a bit of a heart to heart with a dad, mum and 8 year old. It wasn't a long conversation but I sensed that God was touching the heart of the man. Please pray that they will seek genuine faith that works.

I just put out flyers in our area and had a wonderful short conversation with a young mother. She's interested in getting her children to church. Please pray that they will come.

Thank you for praying for our ministry and family. Much appreciated!

We fell back an hour this morning and so the USA is an hour closer in time until the US time change takes place. It was great to see everyone a few minutes early for church. I thought it was coincidental until I remembered the extra hour. :) There was a good spirit and we had a fun morning at church.

I enjoyed preaching this morning on, "Treasure These." There are many things that we can live for, but only a few things that are worth living for. This message focused on 5 things we ought to set our heart about because God will reward these things. Jeremiah 31 was our starting point "for your work shall be rewarded" and Jesus words, "For where your treasure is there will your heart be also" put us onto a textual study of true treasure.

This evening we are going to do something different from our normal routine and enjoy watching, "Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution."

Thank you for praying for our day. God's hand was evident.

Point of interest: COP26 (world conference on "climate change") is taking place 40 miles from her in Glasgow. 50 world leaders are staying in Edinburgh. President Biden and President Obama will be among the many attendees.

Monday was a study day as I needed to travel on Tuesday to see the vehicle. However, I was able to get out in the afternoon for a wee bit. God gave me two divine appointments. One was with an 18 year old young man and the other is a friend in the community. Please pray that God will work in both these hearts. I spoke with the young man for 10 minutes or so and he kindly took a John and Romans.

Monday evening, I took Benson into the heart of Edinburgh for his driver's theory test. Praise the Lord he passed. It was late at night (8pm) but I did evangelism and people were very good to take the literature. I also witnessed to one young lady who was on a work break.

Tommy, Callum (17) and myself went over to view the vehicle. It's very nice and I think it will work well for our church. We plan to purchase this vehicle. It still needs to pass it's MOT (annual check) be serviced and then they will deliver it over here. We're excited about this tool and trust that we will be able to well us it for the Lord.

We had a youth activity last night with 4 teen boys (including our 3) and 1 teen girl out for the activity. We also had two college students. One of them spoke. We had a great time.

I just got back from putting out a couple hundred more flyers. The flyer we are currently putting out shares the new location of the church. Please continue to pray with us for visitors who will either come on their own, or contact us for a ride. 

We appreciate your prayers and thank God for His leading with regard to the vehicle. These are VERY difficult to find.

About the vehicle: made by GM (Renault Master) 2012, 17 seats including the driver, 88k miles, diesel.