Covenant
of Hope Ministries Wednesday Study_6_25_2014
Good
afternoon, and welcome to this Midweek Study for Covenant of Hope Ministries. I
am Rev. Laura A. Neff. You can find sermons 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.
- Please keep Elder Cal Jennings in your prayers as he is very
sick, having been in the ER and more this week. His healing pathways continue
to be a mystery.
- Continue your prayers for Brother Wayne Bartosh’s family in
the loss of his father as they mourn him and pick up the pieces once more.
- Please pray for my friend Teresa’s sister who is in stage four
cancer.
- 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. We’ve had a few triumphs, and a few failures in
the past two weeks. Keep your prayers going that we’ll manage two more steps
forward.
- 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.
Prayer:
Father in heaven, we thank You for this day and for these who
are here to share it with us. We thank You for the gift of unconditional love.
We ask that You show patience, temperance, and understanding toward those
around us, as well as ourselves. We pray that those around us will show
temperance, and we might manage to do so in return. We pray for those who are
sick, have died, and would be oppressed. We pray for those who are
unjustifiably imprisoned, terrorized, and victimized. We pray for peace in a
world filled with strife. These things we pray for in Your Holy Name through
the Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall
be.
Opening
Song: Patience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=273eSvOwpKk
Sermon:
Temperance,
self-restraint, patience, it depends on the point of view as to how you define
it. Most would consider it abstaining from the compulsion to do things, the
desire to go overboard or lash out over something. It’s not easy to keep from
hitting those extremes. That’s where Scripture shows us what it can take, and
what benefits there can be in regard to applying temperance. You can’t just
think it, you have to show it, share it. You must do more than preach
tolerance. If you don’t prove your tolerance in your actions and reactions then
you’ll automatically negate the thoughts you bring voice to. Here we see the
views of three different people, Felix, Paul, and Peter.
Acts 24:25 KJV – And as he reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for
this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
Felix
is issuing a warning, that righteousness and temperance play a part in our
redemption on the last day, the day Jesus will judge the living and the dead.
Again, it’s not easy to hold on to our temper, our anger, our wrath, both might
be the same, but they are also different. Anger is an emotion. Wrath is the
action that is spurred on by that emotion. When we are willing to prove
patient, forgiving even, then we prove that temperance is possible and part of
the unconditional love we should hold and share as well.
Galatians 5:23 KJV – Meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law.
Notice
how there is no one who can take you to task for being patient, kind,
understanding, and keeping our self-control intact. We don’t have it easy in
managing that. Human beings are just that, human. We have our faults, and
things, situations, can indeed cause our temper to flare, anger to boil, and
wrath to spread. That’s where judgment is impaired, and we will be judged for
those slips in composure.
II Peter 1:6 KJV – And to knowledge temperance;
and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
How
intriguing it is that patience comes with understanding, self-control. It
surely proves that we can indeed hold on if we remember to bite our tongues as
James warned us to manage. We can remember to keep our mouths shut after
disagreements. How can we do that? We might disagree, but we don’t need to
advance it to actions. All we have to say is we’ll agree to disagree on the
subject and then change the subject of our conversation. Thinking it but not
saying it shows that temperance is part of our nature. In this world of racism,
terrorism, and more it is no simple matter to be diplomatic like Jesus. It is
not easy to be patient with the goings on around us. The stresses of life in
general can try that patience and every person in the world has a breaking
point. Avoiding that breaking point is what will prove we can indeed control
ourselves in any situations. This is what Jesus taught. That’s why He asked us
to love one another as He loves us. It doesn’t matter to Him our shortcomings,
our faults. What matters is that we acknowledge their existence, and do
whatever it takes to improve them. That’s why tolerance is so much of a
benefit, and part of the ideal of 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: Softly
and Tenderly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFqt8M1zOZk
~Shalom~
Covenant
of Hope Ministries
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
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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