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01/24/2020
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Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020! I hope that you and your family are having
a blessed Christmas season and that you found ways to worship our newborn
King both at church and at home.
With the new year and new decade looming ahead, I am thinking about my
resolutions and goals for the year ahead. My biggest personal goal– my prayer
life. I want to increase my circle of prayer– to better cover my life and the life of
the church in prayer. I’ve come a long ways in recent years in my prayer life, but
I want more. I long to be closer to God and to draw others to Him.
What things do you want to accomplish? 2020 is full of possibilities. What does
God have planned for our congregation in 2020? I would first and foremost
challenge each and every one of you to be in prayer for our congregation.
Without a bedrock foundation of prayer, we won’t go too far. There are many
people of all ages in our community who are not actively involved with any
congregation. Unfortunately that’s true of many communities in America today.
We can either get discouraged about that, or we can choose to pray about it and
ask God to teach us to reach out in His name.
Jesus charges us at the end of the Gospel of Matthew to g o out into our community. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.” We are charged to go out and share the
Good News with everyone around us. Jesus promises to be with us every step
of the way.
While you are praying for our congregation, I want to ask you also to be praying
for our Session and for myself. Pray that we will do what God wants us to do as
we plan the goals for our congregation for 2020. Pray for the spiritual growth of
of our congregation. God has amazing things planned for each of us and for the
Red Oak Presbyterian Church!
How are you going to spend the year 2020? Know that I am praying for each of
you to grow in knowledge of the grace of God.
One more final thought: “New Year’s Day is a good time to fix one’s eyes on the
only One who knows what the year is to hold.” Author: Elisabeth Elliot
In Christ’s ministry together ~ Pastor Caryn
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