Covenant of Hope
Ministries Midweek Study_1_8_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:
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.
- Continue your prayers for Phoebe Fair’s family as they
continue to grieve her loss.
- Please keep Elder Cal Jennings in your prayers as his health
doesn’t know where it wants to be.
- Please pray for my friend Teresa’s sister who is in stage four
cancer. Keep Teresa and her daughter in prayer for many other things that have
been weighing down on their hearts, minds, and spirits.
- 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 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.
Note: My apologies for the delay in the
sermon. There were technical difficulties on my end.
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 goodness and grace and for the gift that is patience. We pray
that You might help us to accept those in our hearts and minds. We thank you
for the gifts of the present, the sweet memories, and the lessons learned. We
thank You for the promise of tomorrow. We pray for those who have been lost,
injured, in sorrow, in pain, and those who suffer fear. Let them know your
presence, as we are thankful for it. We ask these things in Your Holy Name
through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so
it shall be.
Opening Song: I Can See Clearly Now http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FscIgtDJFXg
Sermon: It is a brand new year! We are
given a clean slate, as Jesus gave us in the gift of baptism. There are a few
views of being given the chance to start over in life, even in existence. Let
us see what some of those are. We start at the beginning. The first point that
allows for starting over would be Noah and the gift God brought him through the
courage to do something completely outside the box at the time. Let’s see what
this would be here in Genesis 8:1-12 KJV – And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all
the cattle that was with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the
earth, and the waters asswaged;
The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were
stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and
after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day
of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in
the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains
seen.
And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened
the window of the ark which he had made:
And he sent forth a raven, which went forth too and fro, until
the waters were dried up from off the earth.
Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were
abated from off the face of the ground.
We’ll add
another segment of the voyage with Noah here in Genesis
9:12-16 KJV – And God said, This is the
token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature
that is with you, for perpetual geneations:
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between me and the earth.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and
every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood
to destroy all flesh.
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that
I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature
of all flesh that is upon the earth.
Now, the
Old Testament shows several others, but this one would show the washing away of
all sin, of all that was evil and wicked in God’s eyes. He then makes a
promise, an everlasting promise. That would be sealed in a bow in the clouds, a
rainbow, after every rain. Now, we have floods in this world, but none that
cover ALL of the earth. Certainly they are devastating for the people in those
areas, but they survive, they rebuild, and they thrive once more. Those are
gifts from God. In that view there is also the gift of Jesus and His ability to
share the thoughts of baptism and being brand new through Him. So, with that
ideal we take a look at these three sets of verses in Ephesians
5:8-9 KJV – For ye were sometimes darkness,
but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of the light.
(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth; )
Matthew 28:3 KJV – His countenance was like lightning, and his
raiment white as snow.
Mark 9:3 KJV – And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow;
so as no fuller on earth can white them.
We see in
these three verses the gift of moving from darkness to light and our capacity
to walk in the light that is Jesus our Savior. Here is the greatest part, the
fruit of the Spirit is in goodness, righteousness, and truth. Then, on top of
being the light of life and love we find that His face, His expression is like
lightning, which is first quick, and second bright, then also His clothing is
white as snow. We’ve seen quite a lot of snow in this country. It is cold,
fresh, white, and provides the ability to first change things to being new, and
then, when it melts, washing away that which once was, so that it will be no
more. This is when plants grow once more, trees bring out their leaves, flowers
come from the ground, and more. With this beginning of the year, we are given
just that, the opportunity to clean up, to wash our sins, to see that the earth
would also be cleansed, but only for a short time, as the covenant sealed with
God’s bow would always be kept. 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: Snow ~ Charlotte Church http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj058VsyER8
~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.
Interesting choice of music Rev. Laura.
ReplyDeleteYes, and in a lot of ways more than strange. I don't have a clue as to why, but, in some ways it fits. In others some might think I'm crazy.
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