It was a cold morning as the frost that looks like snow can attest. I think the frost will be with us all day today. I'm jealous of those of you who have the real thing (snow) at your house. I hope that we'll see some snow this year.

It was a good morning. We got back in SS to our study in Romans as we began chapter 9. We enjoyed singing some Christmas Carols as we have hit the month of December. God put on my heart to preach on Jonah 1 this morning, Don't Be a Jonah. It is an amazing story of the mercy of God doing whatever it took to bring a man to repentance for the purpose for which God had called him.

Our Christmas decorations have been unboxed and put up. We even put 1100 led lights outside. :) Our home will be used twice for Ladies' Christmas Teas. Please pray for Katie as she prepares for this ministry on the 9th and 13th of December. Thank you for praying for our ministry.

Don and I were able to get out in Loanhead today with our church Christmas flyer. We enjoyed some good fellowship. I had a short conversation about the Gospel with an elderly woman. She attends church but is not sure she believes everything in the Bible but believes Jesus is a good person. Her position is not too unusual. I usually ask people who attend the church of Scotland if they believe in God and many will say, "I hope there is a God." Please pray for a spiritual awakening in our community.

The weather isn't beautiful but it is do-able. The ground at this time of year is soaked all the time because of the frequent showers and high humidity. I walked Duchess this morning on a fog shrouded quiet morning. It is actually quite restful to have constant cloud cover. (Although, It does make you want to sleep more.)

I began putting out our Christmas flyer in Loanhead this morning. Please pray that God puts a desire into the hearts of people in our community to join us on Christmas Eve. It's always a very fun service upon which we always see God's blessing. The flyers has Luke account of the birth of Jesus Christ on it.

Our church is looking forward to our Thanksgiving service. Because our church meets on Thursday nights, we always have a service on Thanksgiving. But, several times we have made it a Praise service with several people getting involved. We've invited some friends to visit on that night and would appreciate your prayers for visitors to attend.

Thanks for praying. 

Our family got back yesterday after a great week away in South Western Scotland. We arrived refreshed, but Mac got ill last night. So, Katie ended up staying home with him this morning. It was a blessing to have a lady in our church take Katie's class. Another college student led singing and I played my flugabone, with Kay Lee (violin) and Benson (trombone.) I'm very thankful for all my wife does in our ministry. We knew she wasn't there this morning.

I preached part 2 of a message on "one another" and also finished our leadership classes. Tonight we are beginning a  study over our church doctrinal statement. 

Thursday night we are having a Thanksgiving Service. Please pray for those who will participate in the service.

Thank you for your prayers which avail much. They are much appreciated.

This has been a busy week as our family is getting ready for a week long holiday (vacation.) Please pray for Pastor Dillman as he will be filling pulpit for me on Sunday PM and Thursday PM next week. Chris Dillman will also be teaching Katie's Kids Club on Thursday night.

Don and I have enjoyed some fellowship time this past week. The Dillmans are just back from a trip to the States. Don and I headed up to Blair Athol on Tuesday for a day of prayer with another missionary, Danny Olmstead. There are three other men who would normally have joined us, but they each were unable to attend. (moving, baby in hospital, funeral....) God blessed the time the three of us were able to spend in prayer.

Yesterday, Don and I got out in the morning to do flyers in his community of Livingston. It was cold! We didn't have any divine appointments but we left the Gospel in a couple hundred homes. Please pray for God to bless our evangelism efforts.

This week I'm trying to get ready for two Sundays and I am thankful for your prayers for our preaching and teaching ministry. There has been a great spirit in our church. Please pray that it continues and that our church grows together with the Lord from strength to strength. 

The second Sunday of the month has come quickly this month. We have our Trust service (assisted living service) this afternoon at 2:00. I preached this morning on "Your Order's Sir?" from the Great Commission in Matthew 28:15-20. If "we" don't fulfil his orders, nobody else will. We have a great responsability.  Video Link

Today is Remembrance Sunday in Britain. We honour our servicemen today for their sacrifice and service. This goes back to Armistice Day which was a commemoration of the end of World War I.

Thank you for your prayers for us and our ministry. Please pray that God will help us to be good soldiers for Him.

It was the best weather morning yet (in quite a while) to get out with flyers. God gave me one divine appointment with a lady who is a born again anglican. She got saved when she was 15 but has remained in the Anglican church her whole life. She is elderly. She had a happy disposition which was a refreshing change from much of our world. I don't know if God had us meet for her encouragement or mine. But, I'm certain it was mutual. There are so few true believers in our day that whenever we meet it is encouraging.

We have had rain, rain, and more rain the last several days. Thankfully, the rain stopped this morning and I was able to get out to do flyers. There weren't any conversations this morning. But, most of a new housing scheme about 2 miles away from our church has the flyer. Please pray for the seed sown to be protected.

We enjoyed a great start to our week in the house of God this morning. Thank you for praying for our services. We began a 4 week leadership training in SS for our adults and teens. I'm thankful for the good spirit in our church about getting involved in our ministry. We've begun a men's class (TNT - Titus and Timothy) at 4:30 as an informal way to help our men with ministry opportunities such as teaching, song leading, evangelism, etc. We had 3 men and two teens plus myself last week.

We now have video on sermon audio, but it takes me longer to upload. I'm still figuring it out. If you watch the beginning of our service this week, you'll enjoy hearing a trio of My Jesus I Love Thee. I preached on 2 Samuel 22:20-25 on Living in a Way God Delights In. David made an interesting statement in that passage when he said, "He Delighteth in Me."

Audio Link

Video Link

We appreciate your prayers, interest and participation in our ministry. Thank you for keeping up with what God is doing at Free Baptist Church.

PS. God gave a wonderful divine appointment yesterday while knocking on doors. Please pray for this atheist to come to faith. We spoke for 40 minutes.

I guess I'm getting into a routine a little bit on Monday mornings. God's given some good Sunny days on Mondays which are helpful when handing people literature. I went a different direction today in Edinburgh and headed to the Meadows. The University of Edinburgh surrounds this area and there are a lot of college age young people.

I witnessed to an 18 year old theology student. She doesn't believe in God. This used to suprise me. Sadly, it doesn't anymore. I told her that her studies were pointless. I said, "It is like studying Boris Johnson (current Prime Minister) by reading biographies about Tony Blair (former Prime Minister.)" I told her that what she needed was Biblical Theology.

The second opportunity was with Peter (25) who is an evolutionary scientist. He was a great listener and we had a good concersation. Please pray for him. He went to church this past Sunday because he saw the door was open. I believe God is working in his life and think he may be the reason God had me go that direction.

The last opportunity was with a young man from Hong Kong who is studying artificial intelligence. He refused the flyer but then dialogued with me. We spoke for over 10 minutes and God was working. In the end he took the flyer. It will be interesting in Heaven to see the fruit of these simple conversations which could be life changing turning points for those who will believe in Jesus. Thank you for praying for fruit for our evangelistic efforts.