Teaching in Danderhall

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalm and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord…” Col 3:18

In January I received a call from Dan Starling, the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Edinburgh.

He, his wife Pat, and 3 children were going to be in the States for a 5 week stay in May/June and he asked if I would fill in for him on Sunday Mornings. He also asked if there was a chance that Patti might be able to lead Worship.

I passed it by Ken Scott, the lead pastor here in Dunfermline. He saw no issues; he would lead worship in Dunfermline over those weeks. So we confirmed the dates and details.

In addition to the Work in the fellowship, Dan also hired me to build a wooden fence around his back garden. This would bring in some much needed income.

So the time came for the Starlings to leave. We had an afternoon together to discuss things and catch up, Dan and I also by this time had picked up the materials for the fencing. We spent time in fellowship and prayer and also playing with their three young children… Joshua (5), Danielle (3), and Noah (9 mo).  It is always such a blessing to hang with brothers and sisters in Christ.

Well the Lord laid it upon my heart to go through the book of Colossians.  I reviewed it and though…  no problem 5 weeks 4 chapters… Pastor Chuck did it in 2 or 3 weeks… so no problem. I could have spent the 5 weeks on Paul’s prayer to the church in chapter 1.

Patti and I fell in love with the fellowship in Danderhall. they are a special group of believers. Mostly mature believers, though there are some who come sporadically who are pretty young in their faith.  The Worship was really fun. We met in the community centre in a small dining room., so we filled up te room with music. They all love to worship and sing praises to the Lord.  The teaching time went well, and we had a we bit of time afterword for tea, biscuits and fellowship.

During those two months the Lord really impressed upon me to utilize Paul’s prayer for the believers, in Colossians chapter 1 verses 9-14, in my own prayer life.

So I began to  pray for those The Lord put upon my heart and I prayed the they would be filled with the knowledge of His will, having spent time in prayer and meditation on His Word. I prayed that they would have all spiritual wisdom in being able to accumulate and organize godly principles from His word and to have the spiritual understanding to be able to apply it to their lives… so that they may be able to walk worthy of the Lord; Fully pleasing Him, and therefore bringing forth good fruit as they serve Him…  I also Prayed that they would be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit  to be able to be patient (in circumstance) and Long-suffering (with people) and to be able to do so full of joy in their hearts and thanksgiving to the Father who made it all possible through Christ Jesus…

So if you have really been going through it these past few months… I may have been praying this prayer for you and you are being exercised and stretched in these areas… I certainly have been.

OK I wont give you the whole message… so we made some great new friends in Danderhall. We would love for our fellowships to get together a couple of times a year and maybe do some outreaches together.