Covenant of Hope
Ministries Sunday Sermon_7_28_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.
- 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 keep Elder Cal Jennings in your prayers as he is very
sick and spent a day in the hospital this past week.
- 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. There
are many prayers, and just as many praises for each of us this day. We are
thankful for the gifts that You have brought. We are understanding in the
lessons we have learned. We are grateful for Your solace, the gift of safe
haven, the gift of life itself. We pray for those who have lost their lives in
war, in disaster, and more. We pray for the survivors, that their grief and
pain be eased by Your blessings of hope and faith. We pray all of these things
in Your Holy Name through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy
Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Sermon: There are many reasons that this
title was managed, the path to His glory.
There is a way to reach that path, but we’ve got to remember certain things.
One of those is the fact that redemption comes into play. What is redemption?
It is forgiveness. He will forgive us our sins, as the prayer Jesus gave us
shares. We can see that here in Psalm 49:15 KJV – But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave:
for he shall receive me. Selah.
There is
a pair of word changes here in our first verse for from the power of. That would be from the hand of. The second word change is the grave. This one could be hell.
The power of the grave, so the hands of hell. Isn’t that interesting? Hell
would have hands. They would be powerful. They can drag us down into that pit
described in Revelations, and in fact described in many places through Scripture.
Think about it. That’s what it asks us to do here. Well, we should do just
that. God will receive us, keeping us from the power of the grave.
Let’s
continue into our next three verses here in Psalm
49:16-18 KJV – Be not thou afraid when one
is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased:
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall
not descend after him.
Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise
thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
There
would be only one word change in our last verse. That word change is included
here in while he lived which could
also be considered in his life. Look
at this, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU! So many cultures believed or believe that
it will be there when salvation occurs. Did anyone think that we won’t NEED it?
Everything we could possibly need would be in God’s paradise known as HEAVEN.
This only goes to show the validity of these two verses here in Psalm 49:19-20 KJV – He
shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
Man that is in honour, an understandeth not, is like the beasts
that perish.
Our next
to last verse shares a different view of He
shall go to the generations of his fathers. That difference would be this soul shall go. It shares that his
body and his soul would separate. That is very much like many teachings in
faiths around the world. It shares the idea that the spirit, the soul, and the
body are very different parts of a human being. Now here in our last two verses
we also find a reference to these verses in Ecclesiastes
3:19-21 KJV – Befalleth the sons of men
befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the
other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a
beast: for all is vanity.
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust
again.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit
of the beast that goeth upward, an the spirit of the beast that goeth downward
to the earth?
Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a
man shall rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall
bring him to see what shall be after him?
Look at
this! Man hath no preeminence above a
beast: for all is vanity. You remember, God said only that man would have NO
dominance over the beasts of the field. He created helpers out of the soil.
Examine here in Genesis 2:18 KJV – And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should
be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
So, God
gave equality to man and beast. We do not see that in today’s world. In fact we
show dominance over them. This also shows in the ideal of women. There is not
reference to dominance, only that a man shall be joined with a woman and become
one. Thus, man and woman, and beast of the field all will be dust to dust. Any
other thoughts are considered VANITY! We remember what vanity would bring. It
tells us the whole truth, that nothing, and no one would be over another in the
realm of dominance. Granted, we have kings, princes, and the like shared here
in Scripture. They are rulers, sure, but is there a difference between us and
those same rulers? We also have beasts that would carry our things, lead a
cart, or something like that. But, again, does that mean those kings, princes,
or beasts are unequal to the rest? No! The reason, they’re all as we would be.
Our ancestry, that means every person no matter their level of society, was
borne of the dust. 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)
This song
was chosen because it epitomizes the ideal that is shared in this path to His
Glory.
Closing Song: If Everyone Cared http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IUSZyjiYuY
~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.
Interesting sermon. I had never thought of things quite that way. I just considered that we were the caretakers of the earth and its inhabitants, both man and animal and that we haven't been very good caretakers of either.
ReplyDeleteAs we look around today, we see the rich destroying the environment which supports both man and beast. We see animal testing for the purpose of vanity at the makeup companies. We see poor humans being starved, jailed, and thrown out of any place they pitch a tent to live. If only everyone cared.
Amen my friend, if only everyone cared. I'm sure if they could see things the way God gave me this sermon, maybe they'd see what should have been in the first place, but hasn't truly been for far, far too long.
ReplyDelete