Covenant
of Hope Ministries Sunday Sermon_7_7_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 Brother Wayne Bartosh and his family in prayer
after the recent loss of his father.
- 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, 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 our hopes and dreams are fulfilled
after a disappointment that had us back to square one regarding the move to a
new and healthier home.
- 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.
*
We wish to send a belated birthday greeting for good health and good tidings as
Pastor Stephen O’Koth’s birthday was the first of this month.
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 many gifts bestowed upon us.
That includes the Prince of Peace. May Your blessings of liberty and freedom be
felt in our hearts and spirits and souls. We pray for those who are oppressed,
imprisoned, and more. We pray 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: Hope
Is Just Ahead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNR5Kj4XP-U&list=FLys7UjSJHrgrNHy9kLrkxpw&index=28
Sermon:
Today
we find ourselves learning what there is in finding liberty and freedom. God’s
decisions to allow us a path toward both was brought about long before the days
of Abraham. It just took a long, and arduous journey to get there. Let’s see
what it is that would be given to us beginning here in the Scroll of Isaiah 61:1 NASB – The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring
good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To
proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;
When
each country gets to the day it was first established they have a birthday
party of some sort. In our country it is known as Independence Day. Freedom
from any sort of oppression, and more, would be something Jesus fought and died
to bring to us. He didn’t say it would happen in our lifetimes. He only said
His work would begin the process toward the path of peace, of liberty, of
freedom.
Many
might wonder what truthfully would be the difference between liberty, and
freedom. There is enough of one to show that when they are together the meaning
is much more powerful. Liberty and freedom for all, this is what Jesus was
fighting to bring all of us, not just a few, but all of us.
The
definition of LIBERTY is: freedom from arbitrary despotic government or
control.
Freedom
from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions,
etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.
The
definition of FREEDOM is: the state of being free or at liberty rather than in
confinement or under physical restraint; exemption from external control,
interference, regulation, etc.; the power to determine action without restraint;
political or national independence.
Freedom
is the state of being at liberty, whereas liberty is the ability to exercise
our freedom. God and Jesus wanted us to see that we can have certain liberties,
freedom, but also with guidelines to keep both. Free will would consist of each
of these. They were forgotten in all the chaos that troubles bring to this
world we live in. These are still forgotten, for the most part, worldwide
today.
These
are the supporting verses through Jesus’ own experiences. We’ll start here in
Luke 4:18 KJV – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering sight to
the blind. To set at liberty them that are bruised.
Jesus shared the fact that God gave Him the
ability to bring peace through liberty and freedom. These two are also elements
of unconditional love. Whether it seems like it or not, His work led the way to
a path that we can choose, or not choose. We can fall off that same path, and
climb back on it. Those are the choices we can have, and should have as well.
It doesn’t matter who we are, how rich or how poor, both are gifts we should
have, not just physically, but spiritually as well. Let’s see what else there
is here in the Gospel of
John 8:32-38 KJV – And ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free.
They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in
bondage, to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you,
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son
abideth ever.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because
my word hath no place in you.
I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which
ye have seen with your father.
There
is a difference between these two Father and father. The reason is simple. One
is the Father of Peace, Jesus. The other is the father of sin. That father, the
second, is what creates the chains of bondage on a person’s body, spirit, and
soul. It is those restraints Jesus was sent to free. We just have to accept
that fact, and bring that freedom, that liberty, not just to our hearts, but
our spirits, our souls, and nothing will take it away until we ourselves do
just that. Being human is one thing, being human with freedom and the liberty
to exercise it would be a gift of heavenly proportion. It means we can leave
the sin, the oppression, everything behind, no matter what would be around us.
That is the essence of true and unconditional love. If we give these things,
then we feel them, believe in them, and more.
It
doesn’t matter where we live, if we give freely of our hearts and spirits, we
will feel liberated. We would do the one thing Jesus was sent here to do. That
is to bring peace, not just to ourselves individually, but to those around us.
Inner peace must start out just that, but in order for us to see that peace we
must first share it. This is the gift of God through the Son, the Prince of
Peace, liberty, and freedom, body, spirit, and soul, for all. 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: Faith
– Freedom
~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
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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