Covenant
of Hope Ministries Sunday Sermon_9_7_2014
Good
afternoon, and welcomd to this Sunday Sermon for Covenant of Hope Ministries. I
am Rev. Laura A. Neff. The ministry knows me as the Rainbow Minister. I have
often described myself as the Rainbow Minister for a simple reason. The rainbow
symbolizes faith, understanding, and God’s strength to forgive, heal, and so
on. You can find us posted most Sundays and with studies on Wednesday at these
locations online:
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.
- Please keep Elder Cal Jennings in your prayers as he is still
having so many issues with his health and has been unable to do what he loves
to do, that is to spread the gift of Jesus and His love to all. He has had a
recent visit to the hospital for issues with his heart and more.
- Please pray for my friend Teresa’s sister who is in stage four
cancer. Please also pray also for relief in her current situation. That her
patience continue and be rewarded.
- 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. Pray that the stress from news we weren’t
either expecting or prepared for would keep from swallowing us as it consists
financial, health, and emotional upheaval.
- 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 all the many gifts You bring to
our hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. We bring those whose hearts, minds,
bodies, and spirits need Your extra care. We pray for grace and good spirit to
fill the hearts of those who need Your embracing arms in their times of bad. We
pray for Your hope in the sight of despair. We pray all this in the name of our
Heavenly Father through the savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit,
Amen and so it shall be.
Opening
Song: This
Little Light of Mine
Sermon: Today’s sermon waited until morning to even come close to completion. There’s a reason for that. You’ll ask why there is one. Well, there is always a reason when it comes to God’s miracles. Yes, I said miracles. The simplest of things, miracles, can be. Or, they could, in fact, be the impossible. Well, sometimes you have to get back to basics when it comes to discussing miracles. For most in this world we hear the discussion of miracles when it came to Jesus and the Apostles, or the parting of the Red Sea. Truthfully, we’re getting even more basic than that.
The
definition of a miracle is: an effect or event manifesting or considered as a
work of God. Well, if you read Scripture enough, you realize there are a lot of
things considered to be miracles in His Love. Let’s start with the simplest of
those.
Genesis 1:1-5 NASB – In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. The earth was formeless and void, and darkness was
over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface
of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God
saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God
called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening
and there was morning, one day.
Yes,
it is as simple as light and dark, day and night, heaven, and earth. Miracles
are the unexplained. Where something is that wasn’t before. In these days
everyone calls it science. Truthfully, miracles defy science. They are the reason
science exists. So, these miracles started with the simplest views, day and
night, sun, moon, and the stars.
Genesis 1:14-19 NASB – Then God said, “Let there be
lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and
let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be
for lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night,
and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them
be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it
was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and
the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them
in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day
and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it
was good.
It
is understanding how important these tiny miracles are to us. Simple isn’t it?
When we breathe, we prove miracles exist. When we close our eyes only to open
them the next morning, we prove the simplest, earliest of miracles, day and
night. Look up in the sky and see the sun as it rises, or sets, the moon as it
does the same, and the stars as they come into view. All of those are miracles
we take for granted.
What
miracles do we automatically think of in Scripture? Well, those are different
types of miracles. They are miracles of faith. Sometimes we must learn that the
simplest miracles can indeed prove the larger ones have more importance. There
is a reason for this. We’ve forgotten too much. This is why the miracles Jesus
brought would take such a significant portion of the New Testament. What did He
do in those miracles? He proved that the gifts of life are right here in front
of us in the greatest gift, unconditional love. You see, love, especially
unconditional love, is something we have, yes, have, the ability to share. It
is the fact that we’ve forgotten how to do so that brings us the reasons for
having Jesus show us the path once more.
So,
let’s think about it this way. Miracles are both as simple as day and night and
as difficult as resurrection and healing without touching someone medically or
otherwise. The one thing that is true from start to finish is, you have to
believe. If you don’t believe there will be a tomorrow, then there won’t be. If
you don’t believe in yourself, or that there is a reason you are here, then
what is there to believe in? It is a miracle that brought each of us into
being. It is a miracle that has kept us here as long as we are or will be. Every
path has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s as much what you do as you
take your miracle path, as how you get there. One thing we often don’t think
about is a catalyst, the spark that leads to flame, or the turn of events that
changes everything. Those are where the miracles aren’t seen, when they should
be such.
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: I
Saw The Light http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtolv9kM1qk
~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.
This mission statement speaks of the rainbow in the darkness.
Every time I would have a seriously traumatic thing happen in my life I would
wake in the middle of the night. When I do I see a rainbow at the end of my
bed, or even through the window behind my head. I’ll see that rainbow in a dark
room even during the day. It will hover in the shadows and reassure me that God
is with me.
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