Covenant
of Hope Ministries Sunday Sermon_3_9_2014
Good
afternoon, and welcome to this Sunday Sermon 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. These
are now extremely variable. 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.
- Please keep a friend, Debby, in your prayers for a swift
recovery after major cancer surgery.
- Please keep my friend Jeff’s sister in your prayers as she
still isn’t out of the woods after a very scary week.
- Continue to pray for my friend Kerry who is still going
through issues with cancer surgery.
- 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.
- Let us keep those who have suffered from the weather in
prayer, as they continue to weather the storms, the cold, and the dangers that
can be found within them.
- 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.
Birthdays:
This
coming Friday and Saturday would have my youngest son and I celebrating. My son
will be sixteen. Yes, I’ll give mine. I will be forty-four.
Prayer:
Father in heaven, we thank You for this day and for these who
are here to share it with us. We pray for those who have suffered loss and
devastation. We bring those friends and family who have been ill, in hospital,
or other ways, up to You that they be healed through faith and love. We bring
those in mourning to You that they might find solace. We pray for all who have
been brought to harm, and all who would need Your guidance. We do all of this
in Your Holy Name through the Savior Jesus Christ in the gift of the Holy
Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Opening
Song: Open
the Eyes of My Heart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZ9iuo1kRs
Sermon:
There
have been many who have felt as though they’ve been trampled by life in recent
days, weeks, months, and years. All of us have felt as though the road we
follow has been tied in an impossible knot. Well, crooked roadways are spoken
of in Scripture, and would include steep ones, rocky ones, and more. Let’s
start our exploration here with this verse. Isaiah
40:4 KJV – Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain:
What
is God saying here? He’s saying with His love, guidance, and more, our paths
won’t be rocky, too high to reach, or too low to travel on. The crooked path
will be straight on top of that. What could be more intriguing than this? God
sits here speaking about His proverbial footprints in the sand, that we might
follow him. Jesus brought us a human version of this view, but let’s look at
more ways Isaiah shares in the realm of crooked pathways.
Isaiah 42:16 KJV – And I will bring the blind by
a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I
will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things
will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
The
unknown for many is something that would frighten us for reasons we couldn’t
touch upon. Being blind, whether it is physical or not, when we are exposed to
things that are unknown we tend to wonder ‘why am I here?’ ‘what do I do next?’
and others. Yet, there is a promise, a light at the end of the tunnel. That
tunnel is brought to the light through God’s love. The crooked roads and other
pathways will be made straight as well. Why is this? It is to give reason and
the ability to see with more than our eyes, that God is always with us. This
would be something we often fail to realize. Thus we often seem like we’re
stuck on the crooked roadways in life.
Isaiah 45:2 KJV – I will go before thee, and
make the crooked places straight: I will break into pieces the gates of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Follow
Him! That’s what He says here. He’s ahead of us straightening out the mess we
often see ahead of us, and breaking down the walls so that we won’t feel as
though we’re hitting those walls head on. If we all were to look at life as
though there might be hurdles, but God is there to push them out of the way, to
straighten the road, so that we might get to our destination. Let’s continue
exploring the crooked road with this verse here.
Isaiah 59:8 KJV – The way of peace they know
not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked
paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
There
are some who don’t always make the best decisions in their lives. In fact, many
of us have made those bad decisions, but we learn from them. Those of us who do
learn those lessons have learned how to judge their actions as good,
beneficial, or bad, detrimental. What do we find when we do these things? Well,
that’s answered in the verse, peace, of course.
Ecclesiastes 7:13 KJV – Consider the work of God; for
who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
Does
God make paths crooked? Or do we do so? Perhaps we both might? The answer is
the last of those questions. We make our paths crooked by worrying,
overthinking, regretting, and using the ‘what if’ ideals. Worry is something
all of us go through, but even Jesus said ‘worry not’. When we say ‘what if’ we
often think every scenario, past, present, and future. You can’t what if,
because all it will do is bring regret or make you feel like you’re the
proverbial dog chasing its tail. God straightens it all out, all we have to do
is listen and hear.
Luke 3:5 KJV – Every valley shall be filled, and every
mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
Ah,
and now we see how Jesus brought the influence of ages past into life as known
in the days of the gospel. Every valley filled up, every mountain and hill
flattened out, what does that mean? It means we won’t have those hurdles, the
walls we have to climb or swim through or any of that, as it will all be
brought to where we can see with our hearts, our spirits, our souls, our minds,
before our eyes would be needed. It is amazing what you can see if you open the
eyes of your heart. God always knows there will be rough roads, mountains and
valleys that appear too perilous, and waters either too deep or too wide.
That’s why we have Him there in the first place. 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: A
Crooked Road
~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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