Covenant of Hope
Ministries Sunday Sermon_9_8_2013
Good
afternoon, and welcome to this Sunday Sermon for Covenant of Hope Ministries. I
am Rev. Laura A. Neff. The ministry knows me as the Rainbow Minister. Find us
posted on Sundays and studies on Wednesday. Our locations are online only:
Our Main Video Feed: Covenant_of_Hope
We have
email (instant messenger if you need me) through Facebook every day. These are
now extremely variable. We’re still working this out between the two of us as
to what will happen, our Elder, Cal Jennings and I. I will inform you further
regarding changes. These changes were made due to health reasons. The sermon
length has shortened dramatically. We are unsure as to when there might be
video presentations.
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 - Continue your prayers for Phoebe
Fair as she is in hospice. She has her good days and her bad days. Her tumor
has come back, and they don’t know what will happen right now. She is at home
with the hospice care, but it is very hard on the family.
- Please pray for my friend Teresa’s sister who is in stage four
cancer.
- Please keep others known by any of us up in prayer for
whatever they might need.
- Please keep my friend Heather in prayer for patience and safe
haven.
- Let us keep another friend, Jeff, and his family in prayer
after a disappointment that has them searching for answers.
- Please keep my whole family in prayer for the pain, suffering,
and chaos we are going through.
- Pray that the adversity and the pain we have seen around the
world would be relieved, and swept away. May we find common ground in many
ways, even if we start with just one step.
- Remember those who have been lost either violently or
peacefully this week.
- Keep the ministry in your thoughts, each member, no matter
their location, their circumstances, because a group of friends, a ministry,
should support one another.
- There are many in our ministry who are searching for more in
regard to our presence with my health, and with the health of others. We pray
that there would be health found once more, and that we have answers to all and
for all.
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 gift of the Word that You bring us. We are grateful for what You
have brought each of us. We pray for all those who are sick, in trial and
tribulation, dying, or in sorrow. We pray for those who are sharing joy,
laughter, and love, that those gifts reach out to others. We pray each of these
prayers in Your Holy Name through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the
Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Sermon: Faith is an amazing thing. We can
gain it, lose it, hope for it, pray about it, pray for it, have it, keep it,
and even give it. The problem is, we forget faith is just what it is. It is a
gift. It is a gift of God, not just Jesus, but of God. Remember Jesus always
said ye of little faith. To be upright, or righteous, you have to live in
faith. Yes, live in it. Let’s start the voyage of the upright and see what it
shares in
Psalm 49:14 KJV – Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death
shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the
morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
What do
we see? We see the upright, the faithful, and that they will be above those who
are not righteous, not faithful, and they are the ones who will suffer an
eternal death, not just a human one. This, as we all know, would be the days of
judgment described in many ways throughout Scripture. Here is a verse in Daniel 7:22 KJV – Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to
the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the
kingdom.
Judgment
was given to the saints of the most High. The saints, those who are elected by
God to serve as Judges. Well, you remember, Jesus would be the highest judge,
no matter that He didn’t want to be. He will judge the living and the dead.
Well, there are those who are completely righteous, but that number would be
very small. The wicked, the unbelievers, and, in Jewish views, the Gentiles,
tread under the feet of the righteous. Well, remember, Jesus went to the
Gentiles, so not all of them were unbelievers. Some of them believed. There are
many multitudes of believers now. Here is a view from Malachi
4:3 KJV – And
ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your
feet in the day that I shall do this saith the LORD of hosts. Well, so
we have those who won’t be welcome, won’t survive judgment, and then there are
those given the gift of eternal life through Jesus as shared here in Luke 22:30 KJV – That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kindgom, and sit
on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now the
twelve at the table with Jesus are hearing this. They are spoken of again here
in I Corinthians 6:2 KJV – Do ye not know that
the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are
ye unworthy to judge the smallest of matters? See this? If the saints
judge the world, then we should be able to judge the smallest things. Take, for
example, which do we judge to be the best path to take from where we’d be.
Well, if we can’t figure out whether to go right or left, we’re stuck in one
spot. It is the epitome of being a stick in the mud. Now, this fits in with
accept and deny as shared here in II Timothy 2:12
KJV – If
we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: You’ve
got to live life and have faith. How many times are we going to repeat ‘have
faith’? Every day we say that, sometimes it is every hour, minute, even second.
There are those of us who will have faith, and lose it in seconds or less. Why
is that? We are afraid, of course. Do not fear, that’s another thing God and
Jesus both said, and still say now. It is shared again with Jesus as He speaks
in
Revelation 2:26 KJV – And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto
the end, to him will I give power over nations.
Keeping
His works to the end, that is something to look up to. It is something to look
toward, not just say it will never happen. If we deny it, then it won’t happen.
If we accept it, then it will happen, if we strive for it, then we know it will
happen. That is the beauty of being upright. 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: Our final song will
honor the lost, as the United States, our world, remembers September 11.
Beauty Will Rise
~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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