Covenant Of Hope Ministries: tolerance

Showing posts with label tolerance. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Can We All Just Get Along?

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.

- Our prayers are with the families and friends who live up in Ferguson, Missouri after the decision made by the Grand Jury to not charge the officer involved in the Michael Brown shooting.

- Please pray for a friend Susie Bartholow as she is in hospice. She is in very grave condition and currently in hospice with advanced cancer. Hospice care is at her home with her family. They all need as much support in spirit as we can bring.

- Pray that the tensions ease in the family. Pray also that the actions being worked out will assist in doing just that and more. Pray that tempers don’t flare and we don’t reach the breaking point. Pray that those who have suffered allergies and colds this past week get well once more.

- Pray for Elder Cal Jennings who is in ill health and a quandary regarding all that has been going on in this world.

- Please pray for another member, Theresa, who is having issues with all sorts of things, spiritual and physical, financial, and more. She has recently gotten out of sinus surgery and is still healing. Pray that her healing goes well and swiftly.

- Keep other friends, families, and even those around us in society in our thoughts and prayers that they be safe, secure, and well.

- Keep the ministry in your thoughts as well, that we may continue on even in times that are bad.

- Brother Wayne is still trudging through the processes of settling his father’s estate. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

- Our families and friends who have been in our hearts, keep them in your thoughts and prayers that they be safe, healthy, and let them know they are always loved.

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 thankful for. 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 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.

Study/Sermon: Yesterday a decision was made in the court system in Ferguson, Missouri, here in the US. I once lived in a neighboring city there. The area is in turmoil, where one family has begged, pleaded even, to be peaceful in their protests both before, and after the decision was made. I will have the article link here to outline the reasoning for this particular prayer and hope. Here are two verses for the day.

Matthew 7:12 NASB – In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you.

Luke 6:31 NASB – Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.

It is necessary for us to listen to God’s word, to the words of Jesus. Yet, today we watch in horror as around the world there are terrors going on, and not just in Ferguson. We are seeing them in many places that have not found peace and understanding. As our prayers are for those here in this country, others should have them as well, everyone, because God is here in the Spirit Jesus promised.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/grand-jury-has-reached-decision-in-ferguson-case/article_3ac5a3fa-4ae0-584a-8bf6-40b2ea8c89c2.html

Here is a second article outlining the results of that grand jury decision.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_47fc89b3-b0d2-5c41-a1fa-f4636673aac0.html

There are no doubts that the turmoil has rippled across the country as others respond. Let us pray that they are able to bring peace to the chaos. With that I am sharing song that would bring peace to the masses should they listen to the lyrics. 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)

Song: Get Along http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-nd1nQgOr8&index=1&list=FLys7UjSJHrgrNHy9kLrkxpw

~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.

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.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The Views of Tolerance in Scripture

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:

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

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

Calvin Jennings ~ Elder Facebook & Twitter & Blogster & Google+

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.

- 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~

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

Calvin Jennings ~ Elder Facebook & Twitter & Blogster & Google+

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.