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.

Well, God gave us a wonderful time of fellowship and a great opportunity to honour the Ventrello's. Barbara has been here 55 years and Merle has been here for 50. We presented them with a laser cut out picture of Scotland with a plaid background engraved with the dates of their ministry here. The fellowship also gave them a generous love offering. 

It was a blessing to hear Missionary Dennis Snelson challenge us from God's Word on faithfulness in the first session. In the second session the Ventrello's gave us the same challenge through their testimonies. Please click on this link to listen in. God was very much honoured in the ministries of today.

Thank you for praying for our day. It was a great blessing!

This is the day the Lord hath made - and we are enjoying it! Thanks for praying with us for our church. We had a good morning. If you have been  praying for me to get over the cold, I have my voice almost back to normal after 5 weeks. I even enjoyed singing a solo before I preached this morning. Please pray for others in our church still struggling with it that they would get well.

I preached this morning on Exodus 15:26 on "Spiritually Healthy Living." God gave a wonderful conditional promise to Israel immediatley after bringing them out of Egypt and through the waters of the Red Sea. It speaks of healing and freedom from plagues. My cold gave me extra motivation for preaching this message. :) Praise God there is a very real blessing for those who are not under the chastening of the Lord. 

Please continue to pray for our fellowship meeting this Tuesday. Please especially pray for the preacher, Pastor Snelson and for the Ventrello's. We are honouring the Ventrello's as they are finishing their course in Scotland after over half a century. I'm looking forward to hearing some of their experiences as they share testimonies on Tuesday.

Liberton is the part of Edinburgh that is just on the other side of the city bypass from Loanhead. This housing area is less than a mile from our church location. It is a new build housing scheme of around 200 residences. I had 3 opportunities to hand flyers to individuals. And I ran out of flyers at the very last house which was right by my car. The Lord reminded me that I had some flyers in my car door and I was able to get the last house done. 

I like it when God shows His hand on my day by something as simple as having the exact amount of flyers I needed. I almost didn't do outreach this morning because I was running short on flyers and need some for evangelism with Don Dillman tomorrow. I had found this stack of flyers in my garage and used all of them.

I spoke with one woman who said about Scotland getting a spiritual awakening, "May it be so." I said, "It starts with one person going back to church." She said, "Like me....?"  Please pray that God would really work in her heart. I think there are many defeated believers (whether saved or not) sitting at home thinking one more person in church doesn't really make a difference.

Thank you for your prayers for our church outreach.

I enjoyed this morning even though my cold lingers on. :) God gave us a good first Sunday morning of 2019. God gave grace and strength and I enjoyed setting before our church the vision of what we want to see God do. It was a topical message on having vision (praying) and active faith (participation) in what God wants to do.

God gave us a first time visitor this morning who said that she will be back. So, we praise the Lord for that extra blessing.

Thank you for your faithful interest in and prayers for what God is doing at Free Baptist Church. I know that many of you have already laid up great treasure in Heaven in what you are doing by following along, praying and giving. May God richly bless you for your impact in our church.

That was what the six year old boy asked my wife when she said, "Cain killed Able." That is humuerous and a very good question from an inquisitive little boy. He just got saved two weeks ago. Katie has him in her children's class for 6 and under during our morning service.

God gave us a good morning despite illness. Several of us were there this morning despite colds. Some could not come because of colds. Lord willing, we will all be well soon. I enjoyed preaching a topical message this morning on sanctification, entitled "Keep the New Year Clean."  

Tomorrow night is a special service at our church as we enjoy a New Years Eve family film night. We're going to show the BJU Unusual film production, "The Printing." 

Thank you for praying for our ministry. God gave us an encouraging start to today.

We all enjoyed our Carol Sing this evening. We had half a dozen visitors, mostly family of our church members. God helped in every aspect of the service. I preached this evening on finding Jesus from the story of the wise men. I encouraged those who came to take a copy of John and Romans from our back table. I know that a couple of them did take a copy - praise the Lord. Thank you for praying.

HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I enjoyed preaching a message this morning from the story of the nativity in Luke 2. Specifically we looked at the question of, "Who Is this Baby?" What an incredible person was held as a babe in arms. Praise God for His great grace in giving us Jesus.

We had good attendance and a good spirit. Please expecially pray for our Carol service tomorrow night. We know that there are guests that ought to be present and look forward to sharing the evening with them. Thanks for your prayers.

I was asked a great question Sunday night by a little boy (6). His mum just got saved last month. His question was, "How does someone get saved?" He was in earnest and his mum and I sat down and talked with him about the Gospel. He understood that he was a sinner, that the punishment for sin is hell, that Jesus paid the price for his sin on Calvary, that Jesus rose from the dead. And.... he prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart to save him. I love seeing a child accept Jesus because they do so very simply. Isn't God good to reach into a child's heart and bring them to saving faith? He came back into the room singing and my wife asked him, "Why are you so happy?" His answer, "I just got saved!"

Today I put flyers out in the village where we live. Please pray for our neighbors in this community. We love them and hope to see many of them encouraged to faith in Jesus.