Good
afternoon, and welcome to this Sunday Sermon for Covenant of Hope Ministries. I
am Rev. Laura A. Neff, and the ministry knows me as the Rainbow Minister. You
can find us posted on Sundays. These are our locations online only:
Our Main Video Feed: Covenant_of_Hope
We have
email and Instant Messenger through Facebook available most Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
and Sundays 10AM to 2PM ET US. We’re still working this out between the two of
us as to what will happen, our Elder, Cal Jennings and I. We will be informing
you further in regard to changes being made. These changes were made due to
health reasons. There will be live sermons, and the sermon length will be
shortened dramatically, but we are unsure as to when that might be.
Note: One of our founding members has
contacted me after quite some time, and we are working together to get back up
to speed as to the ministry.
Prayer List: Please assist me in updating this prayer list. I haven't heard from many of you in this regard. Thank you and God bless you. 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.
Prayer List: Please assist me in updating this prayer list. I haven't heard from many of you in this regard. Thank you and God bless you. 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.
Pray for Elder Cal he was admitted to the hospital through the
emergency room a week ago last Thursday. Yesterday was better, but he’s still
weak and still receiving blood transfusions. He had open heart surgery on
Friday last week and now has been fighting pneumonia. He is no longer on the
breathing machine or the heart machine, praise the LORD. Pray that he will not
require still more surgery. Pray that his spiritual nourishment be increased.
He also has had some technical issues, but does have his Iphone so he can
receive messages. He also has had some other technical issues with his normal
computer. May God provide him wellness, a method toward better communication, and
bring that flicker of hope into a bright and roaring flame.
Pray for parents of a little one year old boy who was shot in
the head for no reason in a town near me. His mother was wounded. The ones who
did this are at large, pray that they are caught for their actions. Pray that
understanding and solace can be managed for the family and the community.
Pray for friends Karen, Christie, her son Calvin, Art, Heather,
Chris and his family, Jackie and her father, Debby, Tom, Teresa, Hope, during
the start of the year for their issues of many forms.
Pray for Fran who is suffering a lot of pain and other issues.
Pray for Karen’s grandaughter Cyndal.
Pray for Marie’s Aunt Connie.
Pray for my friend Grace as she has had pretty bad migraines.
Pray also that her stepson would make the right decisions. They are having a
hard time, may we have praise from the LORD.
Pray for my friend Laura who hasn’t been feeling well, and was
in the hospital on Thursday. No new news yet.
Pray that the Lord will find a way for my family to reach the
ability to solutions that are necessary for health, shelter, and more. Praise
the LORD more than half of those issues have been solved. There are family
members who continue to need prayer. Claim that God knows and will be there.
Pray that a solution will be found for a serious test I must have, claim that
Jesus can give us answers for that. The cost is simply out of reach at the
moment.
Continue your prayers for Little Phoebe Fair as she is now all
the way out of chemotherapy. This week will be amazing for her! Pray that she
comes through and her cancer stays into remission. Give her family faith and
hope.
Pray for our outreach ministries, and all on their separate
prayer lists, no matter where in this world they would be.
Pray for all the members of Covenant of Hope and all those who
they reach out to. May each of the members find grace and peace in His love.
Pray for our leaders, local, state, federal and around the
world. That they make good decisions for the many.
May the LORD allow us to claim His truth and His healing hands.
May we listen and hear and understand what those things we listen to and hear
as well.
Prayer: Father in heaven, we
thank You for this day and for these who are here to share it with us. We are
thankful for Your gift of hope and faith and wisdom. We are thankful for
friends and family. We pray for our enemies, that they see truth, and we are
able to seek peace in the midst of all of it. We pray for our world filled with
chaos. We pray for healing and strength in the things that must be done. This
we pray in the name of our Father in Heaven through our Savior Jesus Christ and
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Opening Song: Shout to the Lord http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/b160d6224
Sermon: The title for each section would
bring us incredible understanding of the verses to follow. The first half, from
verse one through five is titled David’s promise to serve God joyfully. The
second section one verse, verse five and it is titled Encouragement to his
soul. The titles of each segment say so much, even in just five short verses
for this chapter. The first verse pulls no punches. You can see it here in Psalm 43:1 KJV – Judge
me O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the
deceitful and unjust man. Judge me, that’s what David says. He wants to
have God judge his decision and help him fight against the ungodly and deliver
him from the deceitful and unjust. Well, in truth, asking for this is a good
thing. David provides us with a road to follow. He’s saying that sometimes we
need the nudge to stay on the straight and narrow path. That nudge can end up
being more than we bargained for, but it just might be necessary. We see some
of that as noted here in Psalm 7:8 KJV – The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD,
according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
Integrity,
righteousness, these are things we fight for in life. Having our integrity
broken, our righteousness questioned, it makes us take a second look. Sometimes
that second look is needed. Other times it will just prove the point on our
behalf. We continue the chapter with Psalm 43:2 KJV
– For thou art the God of my strength: why
dost thou cast me off? why go I in mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Why does it feel bad, or like we’re abandoned, in the midst of the
oppression of an enemy? Well, if you remember, Jesus said we should love our
enemies as our friends. Regardless of our feelings, we have to see from all
points of view, not just our own. Granted, that’s not easy for anyone. The best
part, we see right here in Psalm 28:7 KJV – The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strengh
of his anointed.
Trust,
faith, understanding, integrity, these are the things David shares. They are
added to in Isaiah 26:4 KJV – Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is
everlasting strength.
Send out
the light. A light in the darkness of our hearts, our spirits, our souls, even
our minds. This brings us to think about the motto our ministry would share as
the ending states ‘let us do so together as the rainbow in the darkness’. Psalm 43:3 KJV – O
send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead bring me unto thy holy hill,
and to thy tabernacles.
Years and
years before David, God made a promise to Adam, and then to Abraham, that one
of their descendants would save the world. That ability descended through
David’s line. He was the very first to be named King of the Jews. Here we see a
verse sharing that, just to clarify as to the light, and the truth.
Psalm 2:6 KJV – Yet have I set my king uupon my holy hill of Zion.
God will
listen, if we do the same. He will hear, if we do the same. Now, truthfully, He
is always listening, and hearing, it’s just that we don’t always follow through
with the same. In this case, God hears the cry. Psalm
3:4 KJV – I cried unto the LORD with my
voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
Now, here
we go. Here the sharing of joy and praise, having the ability to do the one
thing everyone wants, share joy and love, with God, and His love with each of
us. Psalm 43:4 KJV – Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea,
upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. Sing, praise, dance,
enjoy God’s love. Yet, even with that, there are days, times, even seconds
where we feel like we’ve just lost that ability to do so. The very last verse
shares the downslide from joy to despair. You could compare it to being
perfectly healthy and then catching the flu, or ending up in the hospital for
any reason. That’s what we see here in the last verse of the chapter. Psalm 43:5 KJV – Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in
God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my
God.
There is,
however, one thing that can help us seek that good again, the joy and laughter,
and that is hope. So, we hope for that moment where we can again stay in a good
mood, in good health, with great strength in our faith. Yes, it takes faith to
hope and get us through, but it also takes hope just to keep that faith. Psalm 42:5, 11 KJV – Why
art thou cast down O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in
God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted
within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of
my countenance, and my God.
God is
always our rock, our heart, our shield. The song says just that, but we tend to
forget the same. People would say that things block that view. Well, sure they
can, if we let them. That’s one thing God is showing us, that we shouldn’t just
let those troubles, those seven little troubles that have a mighty hold on us,
just do our best, and through God and Jesus we can, just do the best we can not
to let them. 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: Open the Eyes of My
Heart
http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/b665a4178
~Shalom~
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 © 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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