Covenant Of Hope Ministries: abednego

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Sunday, January 11, 2015

God’s Holy Fire and Hope Within It

Good afternoon, 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.

Main Site:http://covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com/

Rev. Laura’s Other Sites: Facebook & Twitter &Google+ & Blogspot

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.

- 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.

- 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 who are traveling home this weekend that they may have a safe journey. 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: Chariots of Fire Theme Song

Sermon: Good afternoon. God decided to wait until the last second to bring a sermon for us. For whatever reason also He brought a very interesting point of view into being. In this case it has to do with fire. For that reason we began this sermon with the theme song from the movie Chariots of Fire. The movie was first shared in 1981. It tells the true story of two runners in the 1926 Olympics. Eric Lidell was one of those runners. He ran not just to run, but for the glory of God. You’ll ask what this has to do with fire. Well, you have to have the drive to work for God. That usually means, in one way or another, the flame that is hope in your heart stays strong. Remember, there is light at the end of every tunnel. Now there are several Scriptural entries about fire, specifically protective fire, or fires of salvation. Take this one here.

II Kings 2:9-13 KJV – And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.

He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;

In Elijah’s case it was the protection of God given to His prophet to maintain the goodness within him. This after the warnings Elijah had brought to the king of Moab. The reason being that God wished to teach the king that He was, as He is, as He will always be. Thus three sets of soldiers were swallowed up in the fire. With that, Elijah and his family were now in danger. To save the family of Elijah a special voyage would ensue. Thus his son Elisha went with him, and despite the wishes of Elijah to have him stay away, followed beside him until the chariot of fire came down to take Elijah away. The realization that God was saving the family, and their people, made Elisha realize that taking up his father’s mantle would give many things, including salvation. We can add this one here in the days of Daniel.

Daniel 3:12-26 KJV – There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.

Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

Despite their being thrown into the fiery furnace they believed. There in the midst of the fire was the Spirit of God. That protection shares in the fact that God is with us. Because of that we should share His day, without work, but with fellowship and love. Here is that quote Eric Liddell offered not just from the movie Chariots of Fire (1981) but from the Olympic spirit he held in 1926.

Eric Liddell: God made countries, God makes kings, and the rules by which they govern. And those rules say that the Sabbath is His. And I for one intend to keep it that way.

Now, you’ll ask what this has to do with fire, Ezekiel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Well, think about it this way. Even through the fire, their belief in God didn’t waver. This is one thing we must learn. No matter what this world throws at us as its view of a ring of fire, we can survive if we believe in God’s love. 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)

Closing Song: Ring of Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbo6WhbNRsc

~Shalom~

Rev. Laura A. Neff ~ The Rainbow Minister

Facebook & Twitter & Google+ & Blogspot

Calvin Jennings ~ Elder Facebook & Twitter &Blogster

Covenant of Hope Ministries

Main Site:

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.

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.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Three Old Testament Miracles That Don’t Sound Like Miracles

Covenant of Hope Ministries Sunday Sermon_9_14_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. I have often described myself as the Rainbow Minister. My reasoning for that is this: The rainbow symbolizes faith, understanding, and God’s strength to forgive, heal, and so on. Find us posted on Sundays and studies on Wednesday. Our locations are online only:

Main Site: http://covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com/

Rev. Laura’s Other Sites: Facebook & Twitter & Google+ & Blogspot

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.

- Please keep Elder Cal Jennings in your prayers as he is very sick and spent a day in the hospital now two weeks ago.

- Pray for swift healing for my friend Deborah’s husband who had a very scary incident this past week.

- Pray for another friend, Thomas, as his father passed away this past week.

- A high school classmate of mine, her brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly this week four days ago.

- A friend of mine, Beth, is having many problems and is moving in with her mother for a while. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

- Please pray for my friend Teresa’s sister who is in stage four cancer and has taken a turn for the worse.

- 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.

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 for those lost and those who mourn. 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: It is Well With My Soul http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszdZQr69Gg&list=PL6A749F79098D5BAC

Sermon: This week has been unusual in regard to inspiration for the sermons. Well, this morning I received an interesting and even intriguing gift relative to last Sunday’s sermon on miracles. This truthfully is an unusual view, but, in fact, proves that there are three or more styles of miracle. There are miracles of life, heart, spirit, and soul. Some of those are combined, and others are individual. Today we are going to show miracles of the Spirit as seen through the eyes of the heart and soul. We’ll start with the miracle that kept Jonah alive in the whale’s belly.

Jonah 1:17 KJV – Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 2:10 KJV – And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Three days Jonah lived in the belly of the fish. Some say it was a whale, in different points of view in Scripture. Yet, think of it this way. How often do you hear of a person living inside any type of large fish? It doesn’t seem possible. Does it? Yet, if you look at it this way, as a miracle, it makes a huge difference. You see, it is a miracle to survive some of the ugliest, worst conditions known. In recent history we have seen or heard about babies that have survived floods, tornadoes, even hurricanes where none around them did the same. That, like Jonah in the giant fish, would consist of a miracle. Let’s take a look at a second miracle of survival.

Daniel 6:16-22 KJV – Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instrumental musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?

Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever.

My God hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before his innocensy was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

Now, in all cases, when given a prime opportunity for fresh meat, a lion would chase after it and rip that meat apart. It wouldn’t matter man or animal. Not only do we see the miracle of survival in dire circumstances, but the miracle of realization. That realization would be that God is a lot more than people think He is. The lion’s den, the giant fish’s belly, both of which most human beings could not survive within, and yet, both Jonah and Daniel had done so. Now we’ll see how friends of Daniel survived their own version of punishment that should never have been. Here is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel 3:19-26 KJV – Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

And he commanded the most mighty of men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning, fiery furnace.

Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire.

I don’t know about you, but most of those in the middle of a seriously hot fire do not come out completely unharmed in this world. Thus, we see another miracle, two of them in fact, for there was a fourth protecting Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the Spirit of the Lord. His love does a great deal. We don’t often see them as miracles. Yet, truthfully, should we survive terrible incidents, like earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions and more, that, in itself would be miraculous. The same can be said for explosions, bombings, and so many others.

Why is it we don’t see these events and their outcomes, especially if even one survives the incredibly slim odds, as miracles? Like the miracle of birth, there are many. You could add the return of the flowers, grass, even trees, after those bombings, nuclear issues, and more. Certainly it takes a good while to get everything cleared away and clean once more, but it can, and does, happen. 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: With All I Am http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MFpqb3Eazs

~Shalom~

Rev. Laura A. Neff ~ The Rainbow Minister Facebook & Twitter & Google+ & Blogspot

Calvin Jennings ~ Elder Facebook & Twitter & Blogster

Covenant of Hope Ministries

Main Site: http://covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com/

Our Main Video Feed: Covenant_of_Hope

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.

About Us/

Welcome, we are Covenant of Hope Ministries. We celebrate the light in the darkness. There are those of us who need a connection, one to another, whether it is someone we want to learn about, or someone we know and wish to keep in touch with. Ministry is all about sharing faith, hope, and unconditional love. This all would offer peace from the heart. It doesn't matter who you are, where you live, if you are traveling a lot, or otherwise, we serve Christians and Others who are disabled, displaced, disadvantaged and disenchanted in today's world. Licensed Ordained Minister, Rev. Laura A. Neff, Evangelist, Cal Jennings, Outreach Ministers including Rev. Lisa, Pastor Stephen, Apostle Eric, and many others. I am licensed to perform Biblically Based Wedding Ceremonies in the state of Georgia, USA locally based in Savannah and surrounding areas. I was ordained in 2007 by Rev. Teresa Piercey-Gates. We established this ministry in October of 2008.