Dear Covenant Family:
Today was a great day at Covenant, with 28 folks in attendance. Please remember the Covenant Annual Thanksgiving Dinner will be on Sunday, November 23 at 5 PM. Covenant will provide the turkey and ham and all drinks, and we ask attendees to each bring their favorite vegetable, salad, or dessert to share with others. We also plan to hold a short business meeting immediately after our church service on Sunday, November 9, to re-elect Trustees whose term has expired and to approve our 2026 budget.
We also had a number of prayer and praise reports today, and I will begin with the praise reports. Bill Mercado had a praise report for a trip that his family took to Raleigh, NC last weekend to visit his brother and other family members. He said they had a great visit with lots of family members and safe travels, so it was a great trip. Bobby Sutton had a praise for a large Christian church in India which was founded in 2004 and had grown very large and was quite successful in bringing Indian folks to Jesus Christ; the Pastor gave 5 services every Sunday to meet their congregational needs.
For prayers, Becky Alexander said she will have an MRI tomorrow and then a meeting with her surgical team to determine a path forward for her in continuing to deal with her kidney cancer; please keep the Mercado family in your prayers. Diane Mauldin asked for prayers for Missy who was not in church today due to illness. Finally, Debbie Popovich, a long-time member of Covenant Church who moved to California a few years ago, was visiting today and asked for prayers for her brother who had a stroke a year ago and was still dealing with issues from the stroke.
Pastor Don titled his message today When It Hurts and used the scripture:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Pastor Don began by stating that we all look for someone who can comfort us when we hurt. Paul told the church at Corinth that he was hurting and they were helpful to him. Don also told us that God is the ultimate comforter, and He will comfort all our hurting if we let Him. Don also stated God will always provide our needed comfort because He is always available to us if we trust Him and are patient. 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 week this coming week!
Ron