The Age We Are Doesn’t Have To Be The Age We Feel

Updated from 8/8/13...

Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our sermon or midweek study. You will normally see us posted on Sunday and Wednesday. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. Our ministry was built on the truth of God’s love. It doesn’t conform to society’s wishes. This ministry shares the Word of God, the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Those who know me well will recognize that there are definitive differences in the creation of every sermon from this point forward. It is God’s will that has brought this to be. We wish only that God’s truth will be shared within His words as brought to us by the Spirit as it fills my heart, mind, and soul to be shared with my hands, but with His words alone.

You will find us in the following location: http://www.covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com

 Rev. Laura’s other sites: Facebook & Google+ & Blogspot & Twitter

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 grows or changes every week. This is our current list.

- Please pray for Elder Cal Jennings who has been suffering greatly with his health. He has been diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, please pray that it is resolved in his physical therapy. May the Lord bring his spirits up and help heal him.

- Please pray for relief in the trials and tribulations for Sister Theresa and myself as we have had a great many over the past year and more.

- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.

- Pray for our nations that the voice of God be heard through the Spirit.

- Pray for our friends and families that their tomorrows bring blessings and pray our own be the same.

- Pray for our sick and wounded that they may heal.

Prayer: Father in heaven, our prayer today is to have the Spirit bring clarity to each of our decisions. We thank You for that gift and the many more You have brought us. May our fears be drawn out of us. Help us to see the many gifts Your love brings and the unknown locations it might be found. May our pain and sorrow be eased. May peace be brought from our hearts and shared with others. May Your gifts of love shine through us toward others. We pray for the poor, the sick, the sorrowful, the wounded, and the frightened. We pray for the soldiers, the Samaritans, the children, and the rest. We pray in thanksgiving for every gift brought us. We pray that every tomorrow bring good things. For each of these we pray in Your Holy Name, through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.

Opening Song: Turn, Turn, Turn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKP4cfU28vM 

Sermon: Age, that’s something we all seem to hate, or love, depending on the time period. When we were little we would jump up and down in glee when we added a candle to the cake. Then we hit somewhere in the middle and the number keeps going up and we cringe. That is, until we realize, hey, I’m still here to greet tomorrow. The other day I said something about each day, and what Jesus said, remember yesterday, live today, strive for tomorrow. Well, some seem to struggle with this idea. But, if you look back in Scripture, you’ll find all sort of reference to age. Take Abraham and Sarah, whose youngest child was brought into her life at age ninety. Now, granted, the years were shorter, or at least counted with just a smidge fewer days in a year. Typically a year was 354 days. That’s not a lot of difference from 365 as we count them now. Granted, it still meant ninety is ninety. But, age is only old if you let it be. This is one thing I have had to fight to remember. I know others do the same. I look at it this way now. My great grandmother lived 98 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, and one day. That’s in today’s calendar. The oldest member in my family tree, will, in just a few months, be 99 years young. Yet, that relative is healthy as can be. The longest living family member was 100 years and more. Live for today, hope for tomorrow, that’s all we can do.

II Chronicles 15:7 NIV – But, as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

II Chronicles 15:7 KJV – Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

What types of work are being spoken of? Well, you know, it takes work just to live in this world. Whether you lived in the times of the Bible, the Middle Ages, colonial times, or even present day, it still takes work to live in this world. If you work at life, you’ll find there are beautiful things around you, and within you. What kinds of work could this be? Well, it could be working at a job that’s fun, which can be any job, if you don’t let it be a JOB.

Love what you do, and do what you love. I know friends and family members who are teachers, nurses, ministers, mothers, authors and other writers, singers, and so much more. They love their jobs, even if it is just being mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, or whatever. The thing is you should love life as it is, not in the world of “what if”. You can’t change what is done, because it is just that, done. You can, however, change what is yet to be. That’s something you can do in the view of age. You can greet each day as an adventure, or, you can greet each day as one of those why am I here days. You are here because it is meant to be. The age doesn’t matter. What does matter is the strength in which you live while that age. It’s all about strength, body, mind, spirit, and soul. If you are strong in body, you can gain strength for the rest. The same goes for mind, spirit, and soul. All you have to do is see life that way. There will be days the body is stronger, others will be the mind, or the spirit, or the soul. Use that strength to give the others the same. That’s the gift given each and every day of our life. The connection is everything, because that is what gives us life, even when there is no tomorrow. We all have to remember this. No, it’s not easy. Think about it as we pray in the prayer Jesus taught 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 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)

Closing Song: Trading My Sorrows 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqjivEw7gzE&index=178&list=PL614A115BF39E5936 

~Shalom~

Rev. Laura A. Neff ~The Rainbow Minister

Calvin Jennings ~ Elder

Covenant of Hope Ministries
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.