God blessed us with a good morning. Our attendance was a bit lower as one family was away for a medical emergency. Please pray for a lady in our church who's mother is in intensive care with an infection.

It was a blessing to have a men's trio sung in church this morning singing, "A Sinner Like Me." I preached this morning on Acts 10, His Choice Witnesses. Peter was our example in evangelism as he took the Gospel to Cornelious.

God gave us a good morning. Thank you for praying.

It was a blessing to have three of the adults in our church involved in church outreach this past week. We enjoyed knocking on doors on Saturday and had a good follow up visit with a man who we recently led to the Lord. Two adults joined us for door to door. Another man joined me on Monday as we put out flyers in our area. He's been memorizing a verse about being involved in God's work. It encouraged him to volunteer to go out with me.

Pastor Dillman and I were out in Livingston today. We didn't have any witnessing opportunities. However, about 250 flyers were put out and we are praying that they will find a warm reception in each home. 

In other news, we are doing a kitchen remodel. My brother in law and uncle have just booked tickets to come over and help with the instalation of the new kitchen next month. We've been getting things ready for the installation. I'll include some pics below. Thanks for your prayers for our family and ministry.

The Lord gave us a very good morning. The attendance was strong and there was a sweet spirit in our services this morning. I enjoyed preaching and teaching on Faith this morning. In SS we were looking at Abraham's faith in Romans 4. I preached on, "Unlocking Faith's Potential" from Hebrews 11:1-6 this morning. God challenged my faith and I believe He challenged the faith of our people as well. Thank you for your prayers for our ministry today. God gave us a very good morning.

I had a complaint last night from our flyer distribution with an upset father. I don't know his name, but his two children have Bible names which I do remember. We ended up speaking on the phone for 45 minutes. He's upset that the flyer speaks Biblically about Hell and that unbelievers are going there. Please pray that God will awaken his heart and that he will get saved. I was able to share the Gospel with him and he very kindly listened. He was going to put the flyer on social media to see what others think.... ie. agree with him against God and this kind of teaching.

As I got off the phone, I thought about Jesus and His public speaking on Hell. "The rich man died and in hell.... being in torments.... I am tormented in this flame." "Cast into outer darkness where the worm dieth not and the flame is not quenched."  I don't want to be unkind. However,  I don't want to be less clear than the Master when sharing HIs message. Please pray for the power of God upon this flyer. (I noticed that this is not a final copy of the flyer as there are typo's. However, it is easy to include and so I'll include it here.)

It's cold... but we can't complain because the USA is in a deeeeep freeeeze. Our temps are just below freezing but with high humidity. Yesterday I put out flyers in Bilston which is a village very near our church location. The area I was in is less than a mile from our meeting place. Today Pastor Dillman and I drove West to three little Villages. Two of them are in the Scottish Borders (county) and the other is closer back towards our home area. Would you believe that as we finished one of these wee villages about 8 JW's arrived to knock on doors? It was convicting to see the enemy of righteousness dressed as an angel of light doing more than God's church. 

God gave us 2 divine appointments. Please pray for Owen and Drew. Both are older men who spoke openly and with interest of spiritual things. As always it was a great time of fellowship. Please continue to pray for the Dillmans as they serve God in Livingston.

Special prayer request: Merle Ventrello whom we just honoured for 50 years of ministry in Scotland is very ill and in hospital. His kidneys are failing and they have other concerns. Please pray for his wife Barbara as well as Merle. I'll seek to update when possible.

It is one of those windy Scottish days. We have a sign with water inside that blew over a couple times this morning. The rushing mighty wind was physically present this morning. Pray that the Wind of the Spirit would be with us spiritually. We did have a blessed morning.

I enjoyed preaching on "filthy lucre" this moring as I preached a message on our stewardship of money from Luke 16:1-14, Making Money Count for Eternity.

God gave us some good witnessing opportunities during our door to door yesterday. It was our first time have 3 groups. Jack and Benson were a team. Callum and I were a team. And Katie and Logan were a team. Please pray for those to whom we spake. Each team had one good or very good witnessing opportunity.

I enjoyed going over to help Almond Valley Baptist Church in Livingston today. Pastor Dillman and I put out literature near their church this morning. It was our coldest night of the year so far and the coldest day with temperatures in the upper 20's. The frost is so thick still (afternoon) that it looks like we had some snow. That didn't stop the golfers on the course near where we put out literature. God gave us one short opportunity to speak with a man who was not open. Please pray for God to continue blessing Almond Valley Baptist and for the Word of God that was sown in Livingston today. Please also pray for the Dillmans as they serve the Lord in that ministry.

The title of this post is probably too exciting. However, I'm thankful that we were able to easily find the leak in our "baptistry." (Thank you for your prayers.) Lord willing, when the patch kit arrives it will take care of our problem. I'm still very thankful that it did not hinder the great day God gave us yesterday. It works so very well to baptize at our home. Our church really enjoyed some good fellowship time yesterday. 

By the way, the leak was found a bit more quickly because I told my younger boys, "The one who finds it gets a pound." It took about 3 seconds to find it. (I did give the other boys who did not find it a consolation prize.)

The Lord gave us a wonderful morning. There are many things to be thankful for. First, I'd say I'm thankful that God gave us grace to have a baptism despite air leaking from our baptistry. (There is apparently a leak in our portable hot tub.) Thankfully we realized it last night and were able to fill it up a few times and keep it filled with water. It was fine for the baptism but I'll need to get this sorted before next time. (Prayer for wisdom is appreciated. :))

God also gave us a good weather day. We had good attendance at church and at the baptism. There is a very sweet spirit in our church just now and excitement about what God is doing. I preached this moring on Joseph of Armathea, "Stewards of the Body of Christ." We used all the Gospel texts. It's interesting to think that only Nicodemus and Joseph had a stewardship of our Lord's earthly body. They took it up when He could no longer do so. We also have a unique stewardship of His spiritual body. 

I preached at the Baptism as well as I shared the story of the healing of the Leper. He had to go to the priests and offer  a sacrifice that would give great glory to God. It was a unique testimony of the fact that Jesus was the Messiah.  We likewise saw a unique testimony through the waters of baptism from someone who had trusted in Jesus for forgiveness of sin and been cleansed. Karen and and her son, Benjamin were baptized. Her 17 year old boy and gran came. God is doing great things in this family. Please pray that it will continue.

God is very, very, good! We are rejoicing in Him. Thank you very much for working together with us in prayer.

Over the past couple of years, I've enjoyed writing about half a dozen small collumns for our local county (Midlothian) newspaper. I have an article coming out this week or next about certainty for uncertain days. I'm only allowed 300 words and I usually use all of them. I'll put the text of the article below. We're finding that people are hungry for something "true." We know that there is nothing so true as our Lord and His Word. Thanks for praying for this evangelistic opportunity.

"People Need Certainty"

We have entered 2019 with much uncertainty. There is uncertainty about government and democracy. People are asking, "Will Brexit really happen?" There is uncertainty about the economy. "Is the pound going to strengthen or decline?" Among many other things, there is also uncertainty about world powers. "What about Russia, China, Iran, and Syria?"

These questions without answers have brought much anxiety and fear into our society. People need truth that is certain and unmoving.

That rock solid truth is found in Jesus, "The Truth." (John 14:6) and His Word. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)

Perhaps you have put God and His Word in your list of uncertainties and question why you should believe otherwise. You may wonder if there is a way for you to know the certainty of Jesus and His Word.

The best way to know the truth of something is to experience it. Someone may tell you that something tastes good, but you can only confirm their testimony by trying it for yourself. God's Word says, "O taste and see that the LORD is good: happy is the man that trusteth in him." (Psalm 34:8)

"Tasting" is trusting in Jesus and His Word which gives you the happy experience of the certainty of His truth. You can come to faith in Jesus by the evidence and proofs of the Bible. What other person has eye witness accounts of him raising people from the dead, healing the blind, the lame and the mute? What other person has risen from the dead and then spoken to over 500 witnesses?

The Bible, if sincerely taken up, will bring you to certainty in the message it contains. Praise God, we can have certainty in uncertain days.