One of the great joys of working at Solas are the many opportunities I get to work with churches all around the country. One church we have worked with for many years is Culduthel Christian Centre in Inverness. We have many connections with Culduthel. Andy Bannister, our Director studied theology alongside their pastor Alasdair Macleod several years ago. Our former Ops Director Jeff Howarth was a member of Culduthel as well as a member of the Solas team – and is greatly missed by us all. We have also run evangelism-training events at Culduthel as well as worked in partnershhip with them in outreach events in and around Inverness.
Recently I was invited North to speak at their Sunday morning service. They iinvited me up for a couple of reasons. The first is was give their pastor Alasdair Macleod a break! He’s gone on a sabbatical and is doing a deep study into the book of Isaiah. The other was to keep the church in touch with Solas’s ministry. We have some really faithful supporters in Culduthel, who give to and pray for our work. So it was aproviliege for me to share an update into Solas’s work.
I also got to preach from their text for the day which was Acts 23:11. That is an explosive little verse in the middle of the narrative about the Apostle Paul’s time in Jerusalem. Paul is almost ripped limb from limb by the angry crowd (v10). In verse 12 one group of about 40 men take an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed Paul! yet in between these menacing threats, The Lord met Paul:
11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
Paul was emboldened in the barracks by three things:
1) The presence of The Lord. He stood near him
2) The command of The Lord. He commanded Him
3) The Promise of The Lord. He would get to Rome and not die that day
So we thought together about the problem of cowardice and how The Lord might embolden us with same three things! You can hear the whole thing here:
If you are a Facebook user you can see the video here, at 37minutes.
It was such a privilege to be back at Culduthel, to catch up with many old friends and supporters – and to share a message from God’s word. Our partnerships with churches in gospel work are very important to us. If you would like us to work with you in mission, evangelism, training or telling your church about our work and preaching for you – please do get in touch!
