Covenant of Hope
Ministries Wednesday Sermon_1_22_2014
Good
afternoon, and welcome to this Midweek Study for Covenant of Hope Ministries. I
am Rev. Laura A. Neff. The ministry knows me as the Rainbow Minister. Find us
posted on Sundays and studies on Wednesday. Our locations are online only:
Main Site: http://covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com/
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.
·
There are two colleagues of my husband who have lost their
mother or grandmother. Please keep them and their families in prayer as they
continue to grieve their losses.
·
Please keep Elder Cal Jennings in your prayers. He needs
multiple surgeries, but his heart is not strong enough to go through them.
Besides needing his pacemaker replaced and his surgical hernia repaired, he has
a precancerous tumor in his stomach that urgently needs to be removed or
healed. He has suffered quite a lot of vertigo and nausea this week.
Please keep others known by any of us up in prayer for whatever
they might need.
·
Please keep my whole family in prayer for the pain, suffering,
and chaos we are going through.
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.
Prayer: Father
in heaven, we thank You for this day and for these who are here to share it
with us. We pray that those in need receive that which is needed. We pray that
those who are hurting receive healing and solace. We pray that those in peril
will find safe haven. We pray that the adversity seen in this world would find
peace. We pray all of these things in Your Holy Name through Jesus our Savior,
and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Sermon: Today I was inspired by two of
Elder Cal Jennings previous sermons. The reason is that they connect in their
own ways. The first two verses are from the sermon on Golems. The second is
from last week, the sermon on Communication. Now, these may not sound like they
connect, but, you’ll see where the Spirit of the Lord has led me here as we
start here:
Romans 16:19 King James Version (KJV) For
your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf:
but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning
evil.
Okay,
now in the sermon on Golems Elder Cal spoke about those with evil intentions.
Well, often those evil intentions would cause a lack of communication, not just
with God, but with each other. Wisdom in discernment between what we are
hearing between the good, and the evil,
isn’t easy. It takes listening, hearing, and knowing before true wisdom can be
obtained with both recognizing evil, and realizing what that same evil does to
communication between each other. Now we come upon a different view, as prey,
or prisoners and their captors. Many of us feel like we’re between a rock and a
hard place. Most of the time that is due to an inability to communicate. So,
here we see yet another view of both at once.
Isaiah 49:24 King James Version (KJV) Shall
the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
When it
comes to our verses on COMMUNICATION we see, in many ways, how we have let our
hearts, minds, and spirits stray from the path of righteousness. Notice
something also very interesting as to how many years a righteous man can live
as shared here in this verse.
Genesis 6:3 King James Version (KJV) And
the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Ah, and
then we get to what happens when we don’t listen and hear. We see how Noah did
listen, and heard what God said, regardless of what his neighbors were saying,
either in front of his face, or behind his back.
Genesis 7:1 King James Version (KJV) And
the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee
have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Look
here! If you remember a while back there were sermons on the seven spirits, or
troubles, that when released through our thoughts, words, and actions could
wreak havoc on our selves, and our neighbors, whether known or unknown. Communication
also fits here as we take a closer look.
Luke 11:26 King James Version (KJV) Then
goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and
they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than
the first.
Yet
again we speak of Noah and his understanding of God’s words, and both listened
and heard them to gain that understanding and thus gaining wisdom, not only in
the creation of the ark and the voyage upon the flood waters, but also far into
the future.
1 Peter 3:20 King James Version (KJV) Which
sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the
days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water.
Then
there’s a warning of the future as yet to come. It prophesies the coming of
both Christ and the Revelation. What intrigues us through the Spirit is the
fact that both of these methods toward communication, the Savior, and the
judgment of both living and dead, would be connected in more ways than what we
see at first glance, and sometimes even at the thousandth glance. Take a look
at this next verse to see where this is leading.
Zechariah 14:13 King James Version (KJV) And it shall come to
pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and
they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall
rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
There
are other verses that may connect as well. Those are too many to get into in
one sermon, yet, you are free to inquire as to those interrelated verses. Life
itself is an interesting voyage discovering right and wrong ways to view truth
and lies, good and evil, as well as communicating, not just with God, but with
our neighbors with a good heart, a willing heart, faith, hope, and peace are
all found by the grace of God through Christ and the Holy Spirit why? The
reason is simple, unconditional love.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: My Hope Is In
You
~Shalom~
Covenant
of Hope Ministries
Main Site: http://covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com/
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 © 2014 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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