Dear Covenant Church Family:
Yesterday was another great day at Covenant, with 34 folks in attendance. We had very good attendance each week of Advent and also for our Christmas Eve service, with 47 folks in attendance on Christmas Eve. May God continue to bless Covenant Church, and all its members and friends. We had a number of prayer requests and also praise reports yesterday.
Missy Mauldin had a prayer request for a custodian at her school who lost his wife in a home fire last Christmas, so she asked prayers for him and his family. Karen Schuster asked for prayers for both her parents, Bobby and Patsy Sutton and her husband, who were all home ill. Frank Dolwick asked for continuing prayers for Francis Bush for whom some issues have been raised as to where he will live when he completes his rehab at Oak Hammock. Larry Noegel asked for prayers for his friend Bob Henley who was back in the hospital for more rehab from his previous cancer treatment. Patsy Baker asked for continuing prayers for her grandsons. Nancy Parke asked for prayers for an unspoken request.
There were two praise reports raised. Bill Mercado shared a praise for his Covenant family for all their support for he and Becky the past year for their continuing medical issues. Ron Marks also had a praise for the Covenant family turnout for each of our Christmas services, it was great to see so many extended families attending church during the Christmas season.
Pastor Don provided an excellent sermon related to defining your appropriate New Year’s resolutions for the year. He had three suggestions, and he provided appropriate scripture supporting each one. His first suggestion was to take one day at a time, and his scripture for this resolution was:
Lamentations 3:22-23 – The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, for His compassions do not fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
The Lord’s Prayer tells us to “Give us our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3), so we have no need to look too far into our future.
Don’s second suggestion was to keep moving forward, and don’t look in the past. His scripture for this message was:
Isaiah 43:18-19 – “Do not call to mind the former things, or consider things of the past. 19 Behold, I am going to do something new, now it will spring up; will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
His message was to not live your life looking back and thinking maybe you could have done things better.
Don’s third point was to keep going, and his scripture for this point was:
Philippians 3:13-14 – Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
If you would like to listen to this sermon, all recorded sermons can be accessed at https://gainesvillecovenantchurch.org/ and then choose Sermons on the home page, and then choose today’s message.
I wish all of you a most blessed Happy New Year in just a few days, and a blessed year in 2026!
Ron