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. These
are our locations online only:
We have
email and we’re still working this out between the two of us as to what will happen,
our Elder, Cal Jennings 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 my Yahoo IM is having issues. 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 family and friends of Mary Cathryn
Michel-Lynch who passed away Thursday, January 31, 2013. Her memorial is
posted. There will be another view, and I will do my best to record it.
Little Phoebe Fair is going through her final round of
chemotherapy, pray that she comes through and her cancer goes into remission.
Give her family faith and hope.
Pray for our family. There are several things weighing us down.
The bump on my head is nearly gone and the area is only a little tender, Praise
God. There are family members who continue to need prayer. Claim that God knows
and will be there. Pray that an equitable consideration can be had for one of our
many financial issues. There has been a solution given, just needs
clarification, and it can be complete. In God’s name we claim that it can be
done. Your prayers are very much appreciated.
Pray for Elder Cal, as he has still been feeling pretty rotten.
He also has had some technical issues. May God provide him wellness, a method
toward better communication, 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, 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. He
is mourning the loss of his former wife, Mary Cathryn Michel-Lynch, as his
father is doing the same.
Pray for Dawna who has been in a lot of pain.
Pray for Fran who is suffering a lot of pain and other issues.
Pray for Karen’s grandaughter Cyndal.
Pray for Marie’s Aunt Connie.
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. We thank
You for all You do, give, and more. We pray that Your hand and that of the
Saviour will be over all who have been ill. We pray for healing, for hope, for
faith within those who have been oppressed, and endangered. May they find
freedom and sanctuary. We pray for the gift of love to be shared so that peace
may overcome war. We pray all these things in Your holy name, through the
Saviour Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Opening Song: Be Blessed
Sermon: Now, you’ll wonder why I start without comments on this final segment of Psalm 39. Well, let’s put it this way, the verses in the Psalm of David speak for themselves. So, without further discussion here we begin with Psalm 39:9-10 KJV – I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
Now the
change for blow of thine hand is conflict. Many of us feel as though we suffer
a lot of conflicts, some would call them body blows. Our ministry has suffered
many of these over the years with health issues, technical difficulties and
more. Yet, we do our best. We may not know how we will survive, but we
persevere. David says he was dumb, keeping his mouth shut. We’ve heard this in
many forms through Scripture. It isn’t easy to stay silent, not complain,
express fury of all kinds. To have the patience, the stamina to do so, is a
gift from God.
Psalm 39:11-12 KJV - When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou
makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity.
Selah.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
There is
so much to talk about in these two verses. ‘his beauty to consume away like a moth’ could also be
seen as that which is to be desired in him to melt away. We all know what a
moth is capable of in the realm of eating. We want to understand how much it
means to David, in regard to vanity and the consumption of life as it is seen
and used and spoken of. I’d imagine that no one figured those seven troubles
were like a moth eating holes in our faith, our hope, our love, and our life. The
verses also relate to another pair of verses. The first is found here in Leviticus 25:23 KJV – The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is
mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
When we
think of sojourners, we realize they are those who will go from place to place
and stay just for a while. In this world there are many who would indeed do
this, no matter the culture, the country, or the continent. These are the ones
who choose to be like this, in place of those who have been forced out into the
streets.
Psalm 39:13 KJV – O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go
hence, and be no more.
David is
asking for time to gain strength, to become stronger after a long and difficult
time, fighting the urge to speak, shout, argue, and more. It takes serious
control of emotion to manage this. Biting our tongues, zipping our lips, shut
our mouths, close them, and so forth, we all have seen the effect, experienced
it for secrets shared as children to issues that could affect someone if it
were to be spoken aloud. Gossip is a result of not holding our tongues. There
is one supporting verse here in Job 16:20, 21 KJV – My friends scorn me: but
mine eye poureth out tears of God.
O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
We get
upset when our friends don’t believe us, when we are speaking the truth. We
wonder why they don’t listen and hear. We all remember when hearing does much
more than people really know. When we look at the word ‘rebuke’ we see that God
is correcting our wrongs. This is where intercessory prayer, and even prayer
that we bring to the Lord for our selves come into the picture. David and Job
prove that in these words, even if they appear to be pessimistic, notice how
David calls every man vanity in our first verses. We remember how vanity can do
so much in the realm of bad news and more. Holding our tongues might seem to be
difficult, but consider this, if we do, we are doing ourselves as much good as
we are doing for the one venting frustrations and more. There would be no
doubts that all of us have seen this, have actually done this, and so much
more. It’s something we all should 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: Dear Mr. God
~Shalom~
Covenant
of Hope Ministries
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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