Covenant of Hope
Ministries Wednesday Sermon_12_11_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: There are
some changes. Please let me know if you have others for the prayer list. I’d
appreciate it, and all prayers are welcome.
- 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 have many to pray for. We pray
for those who have been ill, suffer pain, and have been brought into sorrow. We
hope in Your love that they shall be well in the comfort and solace You bring. There
are many in our prayers Lord, and we ask only that you hear their prayers as
you hear ours. We pray for all who would be ending the semesters for schools,
that they might absorb their education and enjoy their time of reflection and
celebration with family and friends. We pray for the families who support each
of those students, no matter their age. We pray all of this in Your Holy Name,
through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so
it shall be.
Short Sermon: This morning I saw an interesting verse. Due to the
time of year, it makes an interesting challenge for us. The verse is Acts 16:14 KJV – And a
certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto
the things which were spoken of Paul.
Opening our heart to God
and Jesus is not always easy. You can close it sometimes faster than it opens.
Life is filled with opened and closed doors, some for reasons of the heart, to
save our hearts from pain and sorrow. Yet, even with doors closed, the
knowledge and wisdom from those experiences can open our hearts once more. It
is simple to say we accept God and Jesus. It’s not so simple to mean it. Wisdom
some say comes with age. Wisdom comes with knowledge and experience received
while we age. Take, for example, the view Isaiah shares here in Isaiah 50:5 KJV – The
Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to
speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth mine ear to hear as
the learned.
Note, God shares first the
fact that the knowledge is there, the experience to be had, and the wisdom to
be gained. All of this in one little sentence. Yet, in truth, that sentence
alone speaks volumes. It shares the path toward that very same truth. With
knowledge you must understand that which has been learned. This is what is
shared here in the Gospel of Luke 24:45 KJV – Then opened he their understanding, that they might
understand the scriptures,
God can only bring us this
knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, if we open our heart to it. Open the eyes
of our hearts, that’s a line from a favorite song. It’s no simple thing, but if
you think about it this way, the gift of the Spirit resides in your heart,
every heart, if you acknowledge the fact that you can open your heart, to God,
to Jesus, through the Spirit that has been given to us. This verse in Ephesians
shares quite a view of just that. Ephesians 1:17
KJV – That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in
the knowledge of him;
Wisdom AND revelation in
our knowledge of Him. There’s a lot of learning, a lot of understanding to come
with that. All we need to do is look into our hearts and allow ourselves to see
it, hear it, know it, experience it, and gain understanding from it. With that,
we bring wisdom to our lives and love everlasting can be. Think about it.
~Shalom~
Rev. Laura A. Neff ~The
Rainbow Minister
Calvin Jennings ~ Elder
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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