Good afternoon and welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries. My name is Rev. Laura A. Neff, the Rainbow Minister. The choice for Rainbow has to do with the fact that the rainbow symbolizes a promise made and one that can, and will, be kept. I made, long ago, a promise to God that I would do all I could to keep that faith within me. We are normally posted on Sundays for sermons, and Wednesdays for studies. You can find these posted in the following locations.
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 pray for Elder Cal Jennings, as he is going through a whole lot health wise and emotionally as well. Please pray that he will be able to find and follow inspiration still.
- Please pray for members Theresa and Wayne that their trials and tribulations would cease. Theresa specifically needs a home as housing has become yet another issue for her pains and sorrows.
- Pray for those near and far who have been suffering in battles that do not have to be. Pray that peace can be found amidst the fear and anger, frustration, and more. May hope blossom and bring that peace at long last.
- Pray for our friends and our enemies, may they all find that the gift of God's Son, Jesus, holds the hope and faith everyone seeks.
- Keep hope alive in your prayers no matter the pain or strife we might suffer.
Prayer:
Father in heaven, we thank You for this day and for those who are here to share
it with us. We thank You for blessings You bring to each of us. We pray that
You can remind us always what we should be looking forward to. We bring prayers
for those who have been seriously ill. Help those who are working to fight
serious illnesses the ability to find solutions. We pray for those who suffer
pain, that their pain be relieved. We pray for those lost, and those who mourn.
We pray for all those who are victims of violence. We pray for patience and
courage for those we love and care about, and ourselves as well. We pray for
peace to reach out from the heart and be heard, felt, and understood. We pray
that Your grace and love would fill the hearts of the many in this world. We
pray all this in Your Holy Name through the Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift
of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Opening
Song: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8jvfdDtoqY
Sermon:
Good
afternoon. Today we have a new inspiration brought by the Spirit of God. Homecoming
would be the theme. Now, most would think of homecoming in the view of a school
dance, or a celebration for holidays. Well, at a local church today would be
homecoming. It is when as many members, past and present, are represented and
they celebrate God’s house and their coming into it. So, where does it speak
about homecoming in Scripture? Yes, there is a view of homecoming even in His
word. Here is what has been given to us today.
John
14:2-4 KJV – In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Honestly, years ago I wrote a song regarding the mansions waiting for us in heaven. Notice a mansion is a form of house. Many of us have made houses our home. The house of God would be even better, because it is the home of all homes where we live to love and love to live. Now, most of us want a home like that in this world. However, in God's case, it would be His house, not the world. Yes, there is a difference.
II
Corinthians 5:1 KJV – For
we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a
building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Even without an earthly house of worship, there is still one existing. That is God's house. His house is built by His means, not by the hands of man. It's shared in Revelation as we see in Jesus' words here.
Revelation
3:12, 21 KJV – Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God,
and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and
the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out
of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
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.
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.
Here we find yet another style of house. In this case it would be a castle, or palace. When we think of either view it is often the most luxurious consideration to be had. Everything we could possibly need taken care of without worry or fear. No, I'm more than happy to give up my earthly home if I've got a place the likes of that in heaven. However, we only come to stay when it is His time to give us that potential.
John
13:33, 36 KJV – Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me:
and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.
Simon
Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt
follow me afterwards.
Jesus promises that there will be a place for us, but warned that it would be a while. In the meanwhile, as he prepares, we follow in His footsteps, and He'll be waiting there to open the door. That's a homecoming worth waiting for. Now, that's something to think about as we pray in the prayer that Jesus brought us.
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 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 Will Be Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1KsGtMZ9HI&feature=youtu.be&list=PL614A115BF39E5936
~Shalom~
Rev.
Laura A. Neff ~ The Rainbow Minister
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 © 2015
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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