Good
morning, welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries. My name is Rev. Laura A. Neff,
the Rainbow Minister. The choice for Rainbow has to do with the fact that the
rainbow symbolizes a promise made and one that can and will be kept. I made,
long ago, a promise to God that I would do all I could to keep that faith within
me. We are normally posted on Sundays for sermons and Wednesdays for studies.
You can find these posted in the following locations.
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 pray for a friend Susie
Bartholow as she is in hospice. She is in very grave condition with cancer.
Hospice care is in her home with her family. Keep them all in your thoughts and
prayers.
- Please
pray for a friend of ours, Lucy, whose liver is failing. She is going to be on
medication but may need a transplant. Pray that the first option works and she
returns to health.
- Please pray also for our Elder Cal Jennings as he has been having a tough time between his health and his emotional situation. Bring that which he needs to his heart, mind, spirit, and soul.
- Please pray also for our Elder Cal Jennings as he has been having a tough time between his health and his emotional situation. Bring that which he needs to his heart, mind, spirit, and soul.
- Pray for
a friend of my brother’s, who is far from home right now. There have been many
problems for her right now. It is our hope that she will return and be here to
complete her healing and more.
- Pray for
our members Theresa and Wayne who had a very rough year last year. May some of
their trials and tribulations end in time for our celebration of the birth of
Jesus.
- Pray for
those near and far who have been suffering in battles that do not have to be.
Pray that peace can be found amidst the fear and anger, frustration and more.
May hope blossom and bring that peace once more.
- Pray for
our friends and our enemies, may they all find that the gift of God’s Son,
Jesus, holds the hope and faith everyone seeks.
- Pray for those falsely imprisoned, that they may gain their freedom and justice.
- Pray for those falsely imprisoned, that they may gain their freedom and justice.
- Keep hope
alive in your prayers no matter the pain or strife we might suffer.
- May God
bless every one of us as we continue on.
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 blessings brought and for those yet to come. We pray that You can
remind us always what we should be looking forward to. We bring prayers for
those who have been seriously ill. Help those who are working to fight serious
illnesses the ability to find solutions. We pray for those lost and those who
mourn. We pray for those wrongly imprisoned, that they not lose hope. We pray
for patience and courage for those we love and care about, and ourselves as
well. We pray for peace to reach out from the heart and be heard, felt, and
understood. We pray that Your grace and love would fill the hearts of the many
in this world. We pray all this in Your Holy Name through the Savior Jesus
Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Opening Song: Freedom Is Here ~
Hillsong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ0kxAV95uw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ0kxAV95uw
Sermon: Good afternoon. Thanks to the good eye of our Elder
Cal Jennings I was led to a sermon delivered by a most powerful voice. This
particular person brought a sermon on freedom and how it wouldn’t just include
humanity alone. In fact there are the animals, the plants, the water, the air,
and more. With that we’ll start with one of the first views of this. That is
the story of Noah and the ark. Now, we’re not going to put the entire segment
of Scripture, we’ll only portray the beginning where the family and all the
animals enter the ark. Then we’ll share the freedom of dry land and the ability
to step upon it. Many don’t realize what it is like to be imprisoned in any
way. Noah’s family and the animals in the ark would be only one view. There are
many, many views throughout Scripture. Let’s start here.
Genesis 6:18-22
KJV – But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come
into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
So here we see where the
containment, or imprisonment, of the members of the ark. Think about it. Noah
and his family are there in a cramped space with two of every creature known at
the time. That would not be an easy voyage. In fact, think about it this way.
It’s like being in your basic barn with everything from aardvarks to zebras and
all those between, each of them two by two.
Genesis 8:1
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 assuaged;
So here Noah and the rest
are confined to this space with water in every direction and rain pouring down.
Basically they’re like a ship lost at sea. They do not know which direction
land will end up being. Nor do they know where they will be when it does. The
only thing they knew would be that God was with them regardless of where they
were and what was happening around them. Their freedom came just forty days
later.
Genesis
8:13-18 KJV – And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the
first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the
earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the
face of the ground was dry.
And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
And God spake unto Noah, saying,
Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with the, of all flesh, both of fowl, and cattle and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:
Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
And God spake unto Noah, saying,
Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with the, of all flesh, both of fowl, and cattle and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:
Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
Imagine the joy they felt
when they were able to step out of that ark. Consider how that would be, to
quite literally live with a zoo worthy viewpoint in a space the size of a very
large barn. It would probably be about the size of a small warehouse that
floats. There is no way to truly imagine how each of them, human, insect, or
animal, could possibly feel after their freedom was afforded.
This is why we should not
take our freedom for granted. It doesn’t matter the type of freedom, either.
Take being set free from a prison after falsely being convicted of a crime.
Perhaps being confined to a house without the ability to maneuver around. You
could add those who are in wheelchairs. Those who are confined to bed would be
as well. Some of them don’t seem like a view of prison. Yet, think about it
this way. If you couldn’t walk, couldn’t stand, couldn’t sit up, would you not
feel imprisoned in your body? Perhaps in your room, your house, or even in your
mind? It is most worthy of consideration when one puts it that way. Now,
that’s something to think about as we pray in the prayer that Jesus brought us.
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)
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)
Closing Song: Fix My Eyes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-Bf9gE0gw
~Shalom~
Rev.
Laura A. Neff ~ The Rainbow Minister
Covenant of Hope Ministries Main Site:
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 © 2015
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.
This mission statement speaks of the rainbow in the darkness.
Every time I would have a seriously traumatic thing happen in my life I would
wake in the middle of the night. When I do I see a rainbow at the end of my
bed, or even through the window behind my head. I’ll see that rainbow in a dark
room even during the day. It will hover in the shadows and reassure me that God
is with me.
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