Covenant Update

Dear Covenant Family:

Today was a great day at Covenant.  Pastor Don and Diane were unable to be there today as they traveled to Alabama to be with family.  Don arranged for Noah Wilbanks, the local head of our Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), to provide our Sunday sermon.  To say he was a dynamic speaker might be an understatement but I will come back to his sermon later. 

We had 32 folks in church today, including 4 visitors, three that were friends of Noah.  Attached is today’s bulletin for your information.  Note that this month’s ministry is the Food4Kids Backpack program, a very important very local ministry to make sure our Alachua County at need school students have enough food to eat at home, even on weekends.  Next Sunday is the last Sunday in August in which you can still contribute to this vital ministry.

Noah’s sermon was quite uplifting.  He began by reading the following Bible verse:

Proverbs 31:27 – She watches over the activities of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Noah used this verse to describe his grandmother, who basically raised him since his father was in jail for a number of years and his mother battled alcohol much of his young life.  So his grandmother had a lot of responsibility for his upbringing and he praised her for her dedication and diligence to pushing him to become a Godly man.  He described his grandmother as constantly “being on fire for the Lord”.  Noah told us he learned to avoid complacency and we all need “to resist comfort” from Monday through Saturday and only show up at church on Sunday, especially in this fallen world that we are living in today.  He concluded this section of his sermon by saying “You have everything you need to do everything God wants you to do”. 

Noah then spoke on the importance of seeking God first thing in the morning.  He said “don’t make this complicated, spend time with the Father”.  Also, be sure to thank God in advance before His good works may even begin.  Be thankful always!

Finally, Noah concluded to say we need to be aware of a false sense of security in our lives.  We need to keep a place in our heart just for God.  We love our families, but we need God the most.  Noah declared that “God is #1”, even though he dearly loves his two young sons and his wife, because he can only be the best husband and father by being God-led in his life.  He then read:

Philippians 1:6 – For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.

Make good decisions always, be a freedom fighter for our souls and those of our children, get to where the devil says “not him again, and gives up” chasing us!!

So as you can see, Noah had a lot to say to us and it was all so spiritual and dynamic.  It was indeed a great day at Covenant.  Pastor Don and Diane will be back with us next Sunday, and pray for traveling mercies for them as they return home.  Have a very blessed week.

Ron

Attachments area