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 us posted on Sundays. These are our locations online only:
Our Main Video Feed: Covenant_of_Hope
We have
email and Instant Messenger through Facebook available most Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
and Sundays 10AM to 2PM ET US. We’re still working this out between the two of
us as to what will happen, our Elder, Cal Jennings and I. 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 Little Phoebe Fair as she just
completed her final round of chemotherapy. This week will be amazing for her!
Pray that she comes through and her cancer stays into remission. Give her
family faith and hope.
Pray for our family. Praise the LORD more than half of those
have been solved. There are family members who continue to need prayer. Claim
that God knows and will be there. Praise God, one of the single largest
problems we have had is now done with. Several smaller ones have been as well.
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 Fran who is suffering a lot of pain and other issues.
Pray for Karen’s grandaughter Cyndal.
Pray for Marie’s Aunt Connie.
Pray that the Lord will find a way for my family to reach the
ability to solutions that are necessary for health, shelter, and more.
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.
May the LORD allow us to claim His truth and His healing hands.
May we listen and hear and understand what those things we listen to and hear
as well.
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 the gifts of hope and faith and all those gifts within Your everlasting
and unconditional love. We bring prayers for friends, colleagues and enemies
too. There are many to add to that list, in our hearts, our minds, our spirits
and our souls. We pray in thanksgiving for Your listening and hearing our
prayers. Amen and so it shall be.
Opening Song: Jesus Is Calling
Sermon: Our Father speaks quite a bit
about the poor. In His eyes poor can mean many things. Yet, over fifty percent
are in regard to the spirit within us. It is sometime a hard climb to remember
that our spirits can overcome any obstacle, so long as we have faith and allow
the spirit within us to take care of that. It’s never easy to give it to God,
we see some of the fear David portrays. Fear eats at our spirit. He shares
something that is amazing. He gives us something very interesting as well. It
is something that life can surprise us. Wouldn’t you want to be surprised if
you could just cheer someone up with a literal or virtual pat on the shoulder?
In this world of chaos, a little comfort is better than none. This first verse
shares just that. Psalm 41:1 KJV – Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will
deliver him in time of trouble.
Loving
our neighbors, tolerating their ideals and ways, understanding them, no matter
whether they are on the other side of your fence, or across the borders of your
countries. Granted, that fence tends to get demolished once in a while, and in
others it is raised as high as it can go. These fences, walls, can be literal,
spiritual, and more. There is more proof of that here in Proverbs 14:21KJV – He
that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy
is he.
We have
talked about lack many times, in this case, it is the lack of spirit, as shared
by our Saviour. It is a most eye opening thought from Him. Mark 10:21 KJV – Then
Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come,
take up the cross, and follow me.
In this
world of want over need we often don’t realize we simply have too much. There
are many who would appreciate some of the items around that are simply
gathering dust. A gift of that will raise our spirits. Lovingkindness brings
amazing things, it is a true gift, and many don’t realize when you share love,
as lovingkindness portrays, you realize that love can be returned. This isn’t
just intimate love, it is friendly, it is understanding, and so much more. It
is a gift that can preserve our hearts and spirits as shared here in this set
of verses Psalm 41:2-3 KJV - The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he
shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of
his enemies.
The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou
wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
The gift
of life is the single most amazing and precious gift. A child newly born takes
their first breath, and proves that love is both shared and cared about. His
strength helps us through those times you simply want to just stay in bed and
hide under the covers. His love does amazing things for those of us in so many
states, physical, spiritual, mental and more we often have no patience and ask
for mercy just as this verse shares with us. Psalm
41:4 KJV – I said, LORD, be merciful unto
me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
There are
many places asking mercy, kindness, understanding and more. Those verses just
support each other as this one would do. Psalm 6:2
KJV – Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am
weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
His bones
are vexed, they are plagued, usually with pain or something considered an
annoyance. In some ways we all have seen or felt many forms of these. One often
has a difficult time holding on to patience, as this verse has portrayed.
You’ve heard these words most likely: sticks and stones may break my bones but
words will never hurt me. This, in unique ways, actually fits this series of
verses in Psalm 41:5-7 KJV – Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his
name perish?
And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart
gathereth iniquity to itself: when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they
devise my hurt.
Lies
hurt, they don’t just hurt the person who has been lied about, but also the one
who has lied. There are those who say lies can be black or white. There are
others who say lies are lies, period. If you stop yourself from giving an
opinion, or even pointing out a lie, it’s not always the best thing, but there
are times you simply have no choice, so that others don’t get hurt by the same
lie. As is portrayed in many ways, lies are hurtful, cruel, and yes, even a
plague or disease. It is not a good thought to consider that this is what can
be seen, heard, and felt in regard to our lies. Psalm
41:8-9 KJV – An evil disease, say they,
cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat
upon my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
When I
was a child there was a saying we had, liar, liar, pants on fire. If you think
about it, that’s exactly what’s occuring if you lie. You lie, it can, and often
will bite you back, thus the reference to fire. Stubborn people won’t realize
that the lies that are told can do just as much in the realm of pain toward
them, as it is toward those they share it with. You see it as it is viewed here
in Isaiah 30:9 KJV – That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will
not hear the law of the LORD.
There is
a phrase I remember from somewhere, but can’t think of at this time. That
phrase is ‘If I had eyes to see, and ears to hear, right there I’d be, to hold
you close my dear.’ Many of us don’t see what our lies do. We don’t feel what
they manage doing. Psalm 56:3, 11 KJV – What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do
unto me.
Fear
comes in so many forms. It is hard to overcome our fears, but if we remember to
give them to God, those fears ease, they might not necessarily go away. The
path to make those fears, that’s what His assistance can often give us. The
children are taught a song titled ‘This Little Light of Mine’, God is that
light. Jesus is that light, as the rainbow in the darkness, peace can be found
as shared here. Isaiah 50:10 KJV – Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the
voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust
in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
The
light, as Isaiah shares, is one that can offer hope, in the midst of despair.
There are always going to be days where we forget how much God can do, and how
often He is with us. In order for us to remember, we should examine our Scripture
as it is written here. Lamentations 3:24 KJV – The LORD is my portion saith my soul; therefore will I
hope in him.
What does
portion mean here? In fact it includes many ideals and portrayals, love, a gift
that holds hope, peace, faith and more. In these verses you will see mercy,
hope, and understanding. Psalm 41:10 -13 KJV – But thou, O LORD, be merciful upon me, and raise me up,
that I may requite them.
By this I know that thou favourest me, becaused mine enemy doth
not triumph over me.
And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest
me before thy face for ever.
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to
everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
Notice
the Amen and Amen. So it is, and so it is. The repetition is something that
does more than repeat it self. This is actually affirmation that it is as it
is. Yet, there is still going to be that which will tear love and all it holds
into pieces. That is shared here in our last verse.Ezekial
7:26 KJV – Mischief shall come upon mischief
and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet;
but the law shall perish from the priest and counsel from the ancients.
Rumors
can hurt, because they change from person to person as it is passed on. Too
often, the entire original rumor given will actually end up being something
completely different and cause spiritual and mental pain for every person who
shared that rumor, as well as the one who was the aim for that same rumor. A
loose tongue is a dangerous ideal. 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: Just A Closer Walk
With Me
~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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