Good
afternoon, and welcome to this Sunday Sermon for Covenant of Hope Ministries. I
am Rev. Laura A. Neff, and the ministry knows me as the Rainbow Minister. You
can find our sermons posted on Sundays by 12:30 PM ET US. We currently have
been unable to do video sermons. These are our locations online only:
Our Main Video Feed: Covenant_of_Hope
We have
email and Instant Messenger available Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday 10AM to
2PM ET US via Yahoo IM. We’re still working this out between the three of us as
to what will happen, our Elder, Cal Jennings, our Apostle/Shepherd, Mary C.
Michel-Lynch and I. The IM is available if you ask first and identify the
reason as being part of the ministry. This IM is connected through Facebook as
well. I will be informing you further in regard to changes being made. These
changes were made due to health reasons. There will be live sermons, and the
sermon length will be shortened dramatically, but we are unsure as to when that
might be.
Prayer List: We have many on our prayer list. Some wish to remain anonymous, and others only wish to have their first names mentioned. Our prayer list has grown from last week. This is our current prayer list for this week.
Prayer List: We have many on our prayer list. Some wish to remain anonymous, and others only wish to have their first names mentioned. Our prayer list has grown from last week. This is our current prayer list for this week.
Continue your prayers for Sister Mary. I got an extensive update
just after Christmas, actually, it was just two weeks or so ago, and can tell
you she is better. I have also gone to see her.
She is awake, alert, and stubborn as all get out. Things haven’t changed
dramatically, but baby steps are seen in her recovery at this point. She is in
24/7 care with a staff that continuously keeps me informed. They do have her
sitting up in a wheelchair. She is able now to propel it with one foot. She
fights a lot to maneuver on her own. That’s a great thing, and God is good!
Pray for our family. There are several things weighing us down,
and they don’t all include my health, or that of any member of the family.
Though, those don’t hurt.
Pray good things can occur as a result of the doctor’s
determinations for me, and as to the negotiations for other situations in our
family. Praise God for the fact that some of those things the doctor’s
determinations included, have indeed helped, and without adding medication, but
instead reducing them. Praise God for the gift of time for one of our financial
problems. Perhaps we might get that improved by His grace. Now, that’s
something to praise God about.
One of my family members asked for added prayers. Her name is
Emilie, and she needs prayers for her dog Max who had a really bad hematoma and
required surgery. Pray he returns to health. Add to that situation my sister
has an infection in her teeth, and one is cracked. She must now have a root
canal and a crown. My sister is in serious pain. Please pray that the pain goes
away and she is healed quickly.
Pray for Elder Cal, as he has still been feeling pretty rotten.
May God provide him wellness, and bring that flicker of hope into a bright and
roaring flame.
Pray for friends Karen, Christie, her son Calvin, Art, Heather,
Chris and his family, Jackie and her father, Debby, Tom, Teresa, Hope, Joe and
his family as they lost his mother-in-law, Robert’s brother and his brother’s
fiancee suffering some serious chaos, and several others.
Phoebe Fair has fought well through all the rounds of chemotherapy.
Please pray that it is successful and remission is managed.
We pray for Teresa and Hope during the start of the year for
their issues of many forms.
Pray for Thomas, as he is having a lot of chaos in his life.
Pray for our outreach ministries, and all on their separate
prayer lists, no matter where in this world they would be.
Pray for all the members of Covenant of Hope and all those who
they reach out to. May each of the members find grace and peace in His love.
Pray for our leaders, local, state, federal and around the
world. That they make good decisions for the many.
Prayer: Father in heaven, we
thank You for this day and for these who are here to share it with us. There
are so many that need our prayers, our good wishes, and hope that they will
heal. We pray for each and every one of them. Let us share the glorious gifts
of healing our Saviour and our Father can bring through the Holy Spirit. We ask
this in the holy name of our Father, His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the
gift of the Holy Spirit, Amein and so it shall be.
Opening Song: Trading Our Sorrows http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/c28da8988
Sermon: There are so many ways this sermon
could begin. The situation with David is one that discusses compassion, and for
him to remember exactly what is going on and why. We don’t always think about
our trials and tribulations as being learning experiences, because we forget to
look and see, listen and hear, and more. We start here in Psalm 38:6-8 KJV – I am
troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is
no soundness in my flesh.
I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the
disquietness of my heart.
We
remember wried, which could also be troubled. Many of us in this world suffer
from pain, from disease we don’t have methods to cure, and more. Just as David
is doing, we talk to God about our pain, our sorrows, our injured bodies and
souls, our spirits and more. We even pray for our conscious mind, and our
unconscious one as well. We see another view of this through this verse in Job 7:5 KJV – My flesh
is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become
loathsome.
When we
loath something it is like something we would wish to avoid at all costs. This
is what Job sees himself as being. The reason is one David speaks of in verses
already spoken. When we’re abandoned, by friends, by family, and even by those
who remain anonymous, it’s a scary thought. It’s even worse than that, as is
seen through the eyes of David and Job. Let’s see how David handles this here
in Psalm 38:9-11 KJV – Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is
not hid from thee.
My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of
mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
“It also is gone from me” could also be “Is not with me”.
Look at
this, it is very familiar. This is David suffering, in pain, and alone, save
God. He is afraid. He is very fearful that he is dying, and alone, being
abandoned by everyone, lovers, friends, even his kinsmen. He is very much like
Job in this instance. He also is like the man left injured after thieves had overtaken
him. An appalling thought, even a priest avoided assisting him. Luke 10:31 KJV – And by
chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he
passed by on the other side.
Jesus is
speaking of the Samaritan, and those who came before him. Those who avoided
assisting the poor man who had been assaulted by thieves who first ripped off
his clothes and then stole his money, leaving him there in the dirt. At that
point, he was half dead. Yet still, it took three people passing by before one
of them helped him. David continues with his trials and tribulations here in Psalm 38:12-15 KJV – They
also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt
speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.
But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that
openeth not his mouth.
Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no
reproofs.
For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.
Notice,
David mentions listening and hearing. He doesn’t just mention God’s listening
and hearing. He speaks of his own. He shows that he acted like a death man,
someone who wouldn’t face what was going on. He avoided it, and so he was
brought to harm because he did just that. When we ignore the bad things in
life, we just make things worse for ourselves. When we don’t ask God for help,
healing, ask Him to listen and hear, and then do the same when He answers, then
we’re going to be in the same situation as David, and that’s no situation we
would like to be in. There is another view of times of trouble, and a savior to
help. That comes from Jeremiah 14:8 KJV – O the hope of Israel the saviour thereof in time of
trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring
man that turned aside to tarry for a night?
There are
many songs speaking of times of trouble. There are poems and so much more. Not
all of them are considered songs for ministry, yet they speak of the viewpoints
in Scripture if you pay attention. Now, that’s something to think about as we
pray in the prayer Jesus taught us saying: After this
manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13 KJV)
Closing Song: Thank You Lord http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/b5a391d72
Covenant
of Hope Ministries
Our Main Video Feed: Covenant_of_Hope
Scripture
Excerpts: The New Open Bible Study Edition:Copyright © 1990: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, Inc.
Scripture
Excerpts: Holy Bible: Copyright © 1982: E. E. Gaddy and Associates, Inc.
Scripture
Excerpts: Holy Bible: Copyright © circa 1890-1910: International Bible
Press,The John C. Winston Co.; Philadelphia, PA., USA
Sermon or
Study Copyright © 2012 http://covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com/
Our
mission for Covenant of Hope Ministries and Poetic-Expressions is not to
exploit fear, but to conquer it, and overcome all that is created through fear
together as the rainbow in the darkness.
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