Covenant
of Hope Ministries Wednesday Study_4_24_2014
Good
afternoon, and welcome to this Midweek Study for Covenant of Hope Ministries. I
am Rev. Laura A. Neff. You can find sermons 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. Look
for my name minus the title. These are now extremely variable. Our Elder Cal
Jennings is just as variable and can be found on several sites as noted by his
sermons. 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.
- 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 bring up those who are in need of the
blessings shared by Jesus our Savior. We bring to you the tired and weak, the
humble and mourning, the fearful and the persecuted and all those who are there
to help them. We pray that those of us who don’t realize the same situation is
within would be helped even without knowledge, through Your grace and love. We
pray for this world that it might realize peace isn’t how you make it, it’s how
you give it. We ask these things in Your Holy Name through our Savior Jesus
Christ in the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Opening
Song: Amazing
Grace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDdvReNKKuk
Sermon:
There
are many things we forget in this world. One of the biggest ones is to count
our blessings. Jesus gave us a list of blessings to realize, because we could
be in any or all of these ideals. Let’s look at the verses primarily.
Matthew 5:3-14 KJV - Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they
shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall
inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall
obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they
shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they
shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,
for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great
is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you.
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the
salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good
for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A city
that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
The
thought that we can be blessed even in the midst of mourning, confusion, fear,
worry, persecution, all of it is something none can realize as to the
magnitude. Imagine, if you will, you are blessed no matter what happens in your
life. Why is that? Somewhere, spiritually, physically, or whatever, someone
cares. We might not realize this. We might not understand it, but someone
does. That Someone is God, and through
Jesus and the Holy Spirit we are brought that knowledge which we can transform
to wisdom. These have been trying times for all of us, not just one or two.
There are many of us who have mourned and not been able to pull away from that
mourning long enough to remember the ones mourned for the best times of their
lives with you, and the fact you survived the worst. The same can be said for
the suffering, the persecuted, and more. Then we get to the meek, or humble,
the peacemakers, the merciful, and the hungry for knowledge and understanding
in the wisdom of righteousness. No, they’re not in that order, but, if you look
at that series of verses you’ll see that they can rearrange for every single
person in all possible situations, so that the blessings are received in the
thoughts, the prayers, and more that we bring up to God. Certainly there are
other ways to view it in the different translations of Scripture, but a
blessing is a blessing, no matter how you slice it. 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: Whispering
Hope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqwomT5YSiw
~Shalom~
Covenant
of Hope Ministries
Our Main Video Feed: Covenant_of_Hope
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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