Covenant Update
Dear Covenant Family:
Today was a great day at Covenant Church. We had a large attendance today of 36 folks, what a blessing that was! Attached is today’s church bulletin for you to keep up with our current ministries. It was great to have Mack Vlacos back in church (he was also there last week but I wasn’t !), but please continue to keep Mack in your prayers. Patsy and Bobby Sutton were in church with their daughter Karen, and continue to keep Patsy in your prayers. It is expected that Marilyn Bishop should be able to go home this week from rehab for her broken vertebrae, so pray that healing will continue. Also, please keep Carl Romey, Darlene Sanchez, and a friend of Cindy and mine who is currently receiving treatment for his lung cancer in your prayers. Vernon and Maurita McKee said that Anita Minck is under the weather right now and Victoria McArthur had an unspoken prayer request so keep Anita and Victoria’s unspoken request in your prayers as well as the unspoken requests that are often on our hearts but may not always get mentioned in church.
Pastor Don’s message today I would title as Sin Cannot Block God’s Grace and his scripture was Genesis chapter 12. I suggest your read this scripture to follow along with Don’s message. Verses 1-3 start by telling Abraham what God wants him to do:
Genesis 12:1-3 – “Go from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; 2 and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; 3 and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
This scripture shows God making a great promise to Abraham (called Abram throughout this passage). The only issue with this request is that we learn in verse 5 that Abraham is 75 years old at the time. Pastor Don then made his first point of the sermon – Point 1 – Don’t think you are too young or too old for God to use you! The key is to recognize when it is God calling and to not be afraid to follow God when He calls. Verses 5 and 6 deal with Abraham agreeing to follow where God is leading him. Abraham takes his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and others they met who believed in Abraham’s mission. They traveled until they arrived in a town named Shechem, when God then told them in verse 7:
Genesis 12:7 – The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
This was a sacred promise from God to Abraham, for God’s chosen people to inhabit and for the seeds of divine truth to be sown there for the benefit of all mankind. By his act to build an altar there, Abraham made an open confession of his religion, established worship of the true God, and declared his faith in God’s promise. Then Don makes his second point of his message – Point 2 – It doesn’t take long for man to get sidetracked. Verses 8 and 9 show us that rather than accepting God’s message when He appeared before Abraham, Abraham at some point decided to move on, possibly to find land more suitable for his job as a herdsman or allowing more business to develop for the people. We then see God’s response to Abraham’s decision in verse 10:
Genesis 12:10 – Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land.
Abraham chose to follow his own plan rather than God’s clear plan for him, and Abraham’s newest plan fell apart quickly. The remainder of chapter 12 tells of the difficulties that arose quickly for Abraham as well in Egypt. Abraham and his group were then forced to leave Egypt, and you might think this is the end of the story, that Abraham would be punished for not following God’s will. Abraham made a mistake by not following God’s plans for him, and Abraham quickly found out that his own plan was not the right one. However, rather than pout or quit, Abraham returned to Shechem where God originally sent him. You will see that Abraham was immediately rewarded for returning to where he should have been all along. Abraham’s sin did not stop God’s grace!
Abraham lived a life where his focus was on God’s power to fulfill His promises and not on the circumstances Abraham was facing. Abraham knew that God was willing and able to keep every promise He made. Abraham did not let his mistake detour him from his commitment to God, and God kept His word to Abraham. God will be coming for us some day. He will not give up on us if we are where He wants us to be! Amen!
I wish you all a very blessed week!
Ron
