http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exP5Ab4j_DQ&feature=youtu.be
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:
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.
- Please keep Elder Cal Jennings in your prayers as he is very
sick spending most of his weeks extremely weak and in bed. His emotions are
also in a bad way. Pray that clarity of thought and heart be brought to him by
our Savior.
- Keep another of my very close friends in prayer regarding a
serious situation that has been so very hard to endure and find solutions for.
- Please pray for my friend Teresa’s sister who is in stage four
cancer.
- Please keep our member Wayne Bartosh in prayer for his trials
and tribulations that he may receive mercy and hope in Jesus.
- Please keep an elderly couple in your prayers still, they are
in their eighties, and the woman just had surgery. She came out of it well, and
is healing. May the Lord bless them and keep the two together, even if just for
a little while here on this earth.
- 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.
- Please keep my whole family in prayer for the pain, suffering,
and chaos we are going through. My physical being continues as it has been.
Those who have seen pictures have said so. We have been given an avenue, pray
that the avenue opens to a larger path toward all the relief we need as a
family.
- Pray also for guidance in relation to one member of the
family, that our frustrations be soothed in His grace.
- 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.
- Pray that I may be able to get in touch with all of our
membership, even with the shortest of notes, just to say hello and I’m thinking
about each of you.
- 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.
- Please keep a friend, Debby, in your prayers for a swift
recovery after major cancer surgery.
- Continue your prayers for Phoebe Fair’s family as they
continue to grieve her loss.
- 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.
- 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 many blessings that have
been brought to our lives. We pray and thank You for our friendships with those
who share our lives, with our family and more. We pray for those who have been
sick and those who have died, that they and those who love them receive hope,
faith, and solace. We thank You for the gift of love, that it may hold us up in
times of trouble. We pray that all of the adversity in this world will be brought
to peace and a peaceful ending. We pray all of these things in Your Holy Name,
Amen and so it shall be.
Opening
Song: Walk
With You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY4dhKdLoFM
Sermon:
Today’s sermon is interesting because, believe it or not, it has to do not just with Resurrection but with the time of Judgement in Revelation. I couldn’t help but realize the connection. Here we will begin with the very first verse in
Revelation 3:20-22 KJV – Behold, I stand at the door and
knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me.
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches.
He
stands at the door and He knocks. Though this is not at the resurrection of
Christ where Thomas puts his fingers in the holes where the nails pierced
Jesus’ hand, it is at the resurrection where judgment is brought into being in
full. In the days where Jesus walked in the Spirit of God upon the earth
sharing time with the apostles He proved one thing. If you listen, you can
hear. If you persevere you can overcome. What did the apostles overcome when
Jesus walked among them in the time of His resurrection? They overcame the fear
of death and replaced it with the hope of being with Jesus again forever. All we have to do is open up our hearts, our
minds, our spirits, and our souls and just let Him in. Then we’ll see that we
too can overcome our fear, our pain, and more. Let’s look at more verses
relative to these.
Song of Solomon 5:2 KJV – I sleep, but my heart waketh:
it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my
love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with
the drops of the night.
Solomon
speaks of his beloved. Who is this sister? Why would this be relevant to the
verses in Revelation? That’s quite simple. There are two halves to every whole.
Remember, there is a bride for Christ. That bride is the church. So who, and
what does Solomon love? He loves God and Jesus through the Spirit, of course.
All of us should do the same. Now we go even further into Scripture, focusing
again on the gospels as we look here in the Gospel of Luke.
Luke 12:37 KJV – Blessed are those servants, whom
the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he
shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and
serve them.
They
again are sitting at the table with Jesus, in the revelation of full
resurrection just before the judgment of the living and the dead. He will
prepare himself as He sits down and eats with the rest. He doesn’t just sit
down with them, he makes them sit down. Then Jesus serves them. Now, that’s
interesting is it not? It is reminiscent of the Last Supper when he passed the
bread and wine around to the apostles.
John 14:23 KJV – Jesus answered and said unto
him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love
him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Here
again we see what love can do. Love can move mountains. But, in order to
recognize that love, we have to listen, hear, and take action to keep the
promises made in His name. Then we can share life with Him in the eternal life
His resurrection promised. Now, that is amazing. Jesus gave part of Himself to
each of us, that we might realize what it is to keep a spiritual promise like
this one.
Matthew 19:28 KJV – And Jesus said unto them, Verily I
say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son
of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Here
Jesus is specifically speaking of the twelve apostles. Yet, they are there with
the twelve tribes of Israel. Remember, Jesus said He would judge the living and
the dead. It doesn’t say anything about His not having a jury of peers. I
wonder, did any of us think of that? In this world today, at least in America,
there is a jury of our peers. In most, if not all cases, there are twelve who
serve on those juries. Twelve apostles will judge the twelve tribes of Israel
with Jesus.
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 matters?
Ah,
here we come to judgment and how we use our own judgment. Our hearts, should we
judge that which we know nothing about would be considered an unworthy
judgment. Why is this so? Well, if you don’t know the circumstances or the
whole story, how can you judge any or all parts of it? That’s why, during a
trial, there are witnesses with evidence, with questions and answers, and so
forth. It gives as many pieces of knowledge as can be found before judgment is
made. That is something learned through Jesus. It is something we as
individuals sometimes have a hard time with.
I Corinthians 2:16 KJV – For he who hath known the
mind of the Lord, that he may instruct of him? But we have the mind of Christ.
We
have the mind of Christ. How is this possible? Well, with the gift of the Holy
Spirit, the minds of God and Christ enter into our being and share what
instructions and blessings which can be had for us. That is how we share the
mind of Christ, and learn from Him even beyond his ascending into heaven. So
what have we learned from the resurrection of Christ? We have learned just how
much of a gift He gave us with His suffering. He proved that the glory of God
is much greater than can be imagined. He also proved that we can learn, and use
that knowledge to gain experience within it and thus be filled with wisdom.
This is the path that Christ made for us. Now all we have to do is follow Him. 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)
~Shalom~
Closing
Song: Jesus
Is Here
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
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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