Covenant Update

Dear Covenant Family:

Today was a great day at Covenant, with 28 folks in attendance.  Attached is today’s bulletin, please note Tina’s added Words of Wisdom.

We had a number of prayer requests today.  Pastor Don asked for prayers for a friend of his son Andy who has a 4-year-old daughter in Shands Hospital being treated for leukemia; Pastor Don also said that his friend for whom he asked for prayers last week is doing better, but is still dealing with a tumor on his spine.  Becky Alexander asked for prayers for Carol King and her son Jeffrey who is going to Moffitt Cander Center to be treated for leukemia.  Missy Mauldin asked for prayers for a friend’s sister who is being treated for ovarian cancer, and is now in Hospice.  Helen Ann Noegel provided an update on Carolyn and Mack Vlacos.  Carolyn is doing pretty well, but Mack fell again this week and is not doing as well as Carolyn; please keep Mack, Carolyn, their daughter Maxine, and son-in-law Ricky in your prayers with whom they are now living.

Becky also had a praise report as she and Craig went back to Moffitt last week for her to get an update on her surgery from a few weeks ago; her report was very positive, as good as possible, and she now does not have to return to Moffitt for 6 months to receive her next update.  I also offered a praise report for Joe Morgan who was back in church today after being hospitalized recently for serious heart issues. 

Pastor Don gave an excellent sermon today which he titled The Power of Praise.  The scripture he used is:

Acts 16:25-26 –   Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

Don suggested that God will open doors for us when we bring Him into our life.  We will find peace and He will bring healing to our hearts.  He will change our focus to God and that will enable us to make our problems disappear, so we will lose our fear.  Don also offered that this will reduce our focus on pain, either physical pain we are having, or the mental pain such as from losing a loved one.  The other great benefit to us is that it will cause our enemy, the devil, much confusion.

2 Chronicles 20:22 – When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were struck down.

When God is present in your life, you don’t focus on the pain, but on His presence.  He concluded to always be positive for there is power in His presence.  He praised Patsy Sutton for her focus on God which has helped her focus on Him instead of the cancer with which she has been dealing for many years now.

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 very blessed week.

Ron