Today the United Kingdom is taking a blow from a strong storm off of the Atlantic, Storm Ciara. We have possible gusts of 70 MPH or higher. We could hear the wind houling during the morning service and opening and closing the front door. (It doesn't not latch.) The high winds are going to be around for the next several days. 

Thankfully, I don't think it impacted our attendance. Those who were missing were ill. One young man had to head back home as he was just unwell this morning. Please pray for the illnesses to go away. 

The message this morning as from Titus 2:11-15 on taking a good look into the past (the cross) the present (ourselves) the future (Jesus) and eternity (God.) I'm thankful for our church and pray God will continue to bless and grow our assembly.

Today is our busy Sunday with the Trust service this afternoon.

God gave several divine appointments this morning as I spent a few hours doing evangelism. The weather has prevented me from doing street evangelism for a good while, but thankfully it was sunny and calmer this morning.

God gave me my first divine appointment soon after I got off of the bus. Gary is from a village about 40 miles away where there is a good Baptist church. I spoke with him for 5-10 minutes and left encouraging him to visit that church.

The next opportunity was probably my best. I spoke with a man who is in his early thirties. It was a great heart to heart conversation about the mercy of God, goodness of God and satisfaction of Christ. This young father knows that his life hasn't been good. I'm thankful that I can share with him (and others) that God loves him and that through Jesus death on Calvary it is possible for Him to get saved. I'd love to see he and his family visit our church. Matthew thanked me for the conversation.

After that, I met Blake, a grad student who attends our church, and we did evangelism together. We handed out a lot of flyers. Blake had a short divine appointment with a young lady. Then I witnessed to one girl (with another girl listening) who is into Wicca. I shared with her that my faith in based upon the truth of God's Word while her faith is based upon experience. She had been Catholic and used to believe in God. I showed her that the Bible can stand in judgment upon catholicism (or any religion) but that without truth there is no authority. Praise God we have truth.

Next, I approached some young men just sitting down outside a pub. The one was a strong atheist but the other was interested. As I witnessed to  them, two other people eventually interrupted our conversation. However, God was working. Both the atheist and the other man shook my hand as I left them.

We were near a church where a revival took place in the early 1900's and so I showed Blake the property. In front of it were two people. One young lady was transgender. They  both asked good questions and were engaged in the conversation which nearly made them late for acting class. The church is now a theatre. In all these conversations God's hand was evident. Only He can stop someone who is not interested in Him and make them think about His truth. Please pray for God's continued mercy for Scotland.

Wow, time is flying! It's amazing that we are having February church services already. God gave us a good morning. I preached a message this morning against apostasy from Hebrews 6, "Do Not Stop." We considered do not stop growing, believing, and serving. 

We have some good growth opportunities for our church in the near future. Every Sunday we have a 4:30 meeting called TNT. We've been working on song leading. Tonight we are going to work on evangelism. Please pray that God will bless our efforts to teach some practical ministry. The Lord's table is after our evening service this evening. We also have a John 3:16 banquet for Sunday PM, 16 February. Our children are excited about serving on that night. They are also helping plan the menu. Thank you for praying for our church.

Don and I put out several hundred flyers this morning in Gracemount. Gracemount is a Southern part of Edinburgh about a mile from Loanhead. We enjoyed the fellowship this morning but didn't have any witnessing opportunities.

Yesterday morning I missed my normal outreach as I got to take my daughter to her driver's theory test. Praise the Lord, she passed. :) That is one step closer to getting her driver's licence. You can't begin learning to drive in Scotland until you are 17. She turned 17 in September and we are hopeful she can get her licence before we take our trip to the States. Your prayers for her driving test are appreciated.

Last night was our AGM (Annual General Meeting) and I want to thank the Lord for His goodness to our church this past year. Last year we took on our second missionary family, Calin family in Romania. Our first missionary family many years ago was the Kelly family in Ireland. Last night we voted to adopt the Olmsteads in Northern Scotland to our missionary family. So, praise God we are seeing our church missions ministry grow. Please pray for our church as we take a small step of faith in our missionary giving.

God gave us a good group for prayer before the service this morning. We enjoy having a preservice prayer time from 9:40-9:55. Three of our men made it this morning which was  blessing. The message this morning was on Soul Fatness. It's interesting how many Bible texts speak about having a fat soul. It was a topical message where we went through several different passages of Scripture.

We're thankful for our church and appreciate your prayers for our family and ministry. Please keep praying. 

sermon video link

Please pray for an article that came out in our county paper, The Midlothian Advertiser, this past week. About twice a year I have an opportunity to contribute. I wrote this article as I studied the doctrine of anthropology in the Bible for a church doctrinal study. If man would only learn and believe what God says about mankind, the could by faith experience the abundant life in Jesus Christ. 

Pastor Don Dillman and I put out flyers this morning over in his neck of the woods. The Dillmans only live about 15 minutes from us on the East side of Edinburgh (assuming traffic is really good.) We live on the South side of Edinburgh. Their church is a further 20 minutes away from our area. We had three short conversations today. Two of the three were very negative with older people who are staunch unbelievers. The one elderly lady said, "I don't believe anything it (the Bible) says." I told Don it is sad to be offering people something more valuable then a gold brick and to have them turn it down. Someday that conversation will be replayed if she never turns to the Saviour who died for her. I hope it haunts her in life and not in eternity.

A man in our church helped put out flyers today. It was fun to fellowship together and get the Gospel out in our area. We put out between 3 and 4 hundred flyers. God gave me two short conversations with people. It's always difficult this time of year to get extended conversations. I look forward to when it is warmer and people are out working in their flower gardens. Thanks for praying for our outreach.

I'm very thankful that God has given us a very faithful group of people. The ones who were absent have illness. Lord willing, we will see them back with us soon. We enjoyed our time together this morning. I enjoyed singing a trio with my oldest two children. My message this morning was, "God is FOR You" from Deuteronomy 5:22-33. The point of my message was, "Be for God, for God is for you." video link

We're excited about some upcoming events this week. Thursday night at 6:00 PM we have some missionaries to Scotland with us, Danny and Su Olmstead. It's a great opportunity for us to have a missions emphasis evening. Brother Danny is from Canada and his wife, Su, is from Australia. They are dear friends and and we look forward to their ministry with us this Thursday.

Next Sunday evening is our AGM (Annual General Meeting) and we are looking forward to that evening as well. Thank you for praying for these upcoming events.