Thanksgiving - Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving - Giving Thanks

Good morning, welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries. I am Elder Cal Jennings. 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. Pray that God continues to give him strength and blessings.  Pray for his friend Lucy and her son that they both regain their health.

- 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.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 King James Version (KJV)

4 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

² Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
³ Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
⁴ For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
⁵ For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Today is a day when we give thanks to God for the things He has blessed us with.  If we have a roof over our head to shelter us from the cold and the storms, we have much to be thankful for.  There are many who don't have that.  If we have clothes on our backs to keep us warm and shelter us from the elements, we also have much to be thankful for.   If we have food to eat to sustain us, we have much to be thankful for.  No food is bad as long as it is sanctified by prayer.

Nehemiah 12:40-47 King James Version (KJV)

⁴⁰ So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me:
⁴¹ And the priests; Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;
⁴² And Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer.
⁴³ Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.
⁴⁴ And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited.
⁴⁵ And both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God, and the ward of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son.
⁴⁶ For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.
⁴⁷ And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, every day his portion: and they sanctified holy things unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron.

I am thankful for Covenant of Hope Ministries of which I am an Elder.  It has helped me to help many others.  I pray for it each day and pray that the lives of others might be touched and helped in some way by our being present.  I know that there are many like Rev. Laura and myself who have trouble getting out of bed to go to a church building on many or most days.

I am thankful for those things and the many friends I have made online... each and every one of you.   You have helped shaped my life and brought me to this point.  For that I am very grateful.  These things I have always been thankful for.  This food I have been thankful for and have sanctified by prayer.

This year I have something extra special to be thankful for.  I have the love of a good and beautiful woman who gives me the strength and desire to keep on living.  She has been a motivation to try to make things better here.  She has motivated me to get up and sit at the computer to help regain my strength.  She is motivating me to be more creative and to continue writing.  When God let her find me, he gave me the greatest gift a man could ever have.  She fills my soul with so much love that I have the strength to take stands for truth and justice even when the stance is unpopular.  It still may be draining and wearing to stand for truth and justice in a world gone mad but she does make the struggle seem worthwhile for her child and mine and our descendants to come.  I may not yet have the strength to do all of the things I need and want to do but I have faith that I will get there with her help and motivation.  I thank God for you, Lucy Aston.  You brought me back from the edge of death.  You have been the salvation of my life and soul.  I have sanctified you by prayer as you have sanctified me.  You are the nourishment I have been missing for so long... someone I could love who would love me right back without fear.

Ephesians 5:19-21King James Version (KJV)

¹⁹ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
²⁰ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
²¹ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

We should give thanks to God and sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs of thanksgiving and praise to God and to one another that we may be whole in His love.  So, in demonstration, let me sing our closing song for you.  My breath is low today so you'll have to bear with me.

 Now let us pray as the Lord instructed us.

Matthew 6:9-13King James Version (KJV)

⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
¹⁰ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
¹³ 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.

 

Love, Hope, Peace, and Christ be with you,

Elder Cal Jennings

~ Love, Hope, and Peace through Christ ~

Calvin Jennings ~ Elder Facebook & Twitter &Blogster

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

Covenant of Hope Ministries

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

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 © 2014 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. (Rev. Laura)

The Greatest of These is Love

The Greatest of These is Love

I was prepared to write a story that was much harsher than my normal sermons. It has been a long time since I've written about the things that are displeasing to God. Just when I was about to start though, God whispered in my ear to go a different route. I owe part of it to the inspiration of a good, Christian woman whom I recently met, but God is the one who told me to change my story. In fact, the woman almost made me go a harsher route at first. Haha Gotta love fiery Scottish women. She's a gem, though.

1 Corinthians 13:13 New International Version (NIV)

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

There are many things in the world. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. No matter what we run into though, there is nothing more interesting, more fulfilling, more healing, more uplifting, and more righteous than love. When everything seems its darkest, the things that can bring us out of the darkness are faith, hope and love, but none is more powerful than real, pure, Godly love.

Mark 12:28-31New International Version (NIV)

The Greatest Commandment

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”

'

Note that the bible refers to love as the GREATEST commandment, whether it be love of God or love of your neighbor as yourself. Often, the reason that people commit suicide is that they feel that all of the love is gone out of their life and there is no hope left. Look at one of my favorite actors and comedians, Robin Williams for instance. He, too had a horrible, debilitating disease, evidently felt unloved by his wife and family, and had run out of hope. He ended his life at the end of a belt in a closet door. Having faced a much similar problem, I can tell you that there is NOTHING that could have brought me back from the edge... not prayer, not faith, not anything without the prospect of love. I was tired of suffering after having suffered so much all of these years. I WANTED to die and go on to meet my maker. I'm a Christian. I've lived life the best I could. I tried always to be kind to others and do good to even those who hated me, did me wrong, and caused me grief. I tried to teach God's word, heal the sick, and raise the dead as Jesus commanded us to do. Yes, I made mistakes, but I knew that Jesus had died for my sins and would forgive them since I prayed earnestly for forgiveness and did my best to repent of those sins. I was ready to move on. I didn't even WANT to try again. It was far too painful. I didn't want love. I knew it would likely mean nothing but more suffering and humiliation. Of course, I had never really had the love of a believer before.

Domestic Violence Against Males

There has been a plethora of articles lately about domestic violence against women but nary a mention of domestic violence against men.  Why is that?  It happens much more often than people realize and even the statistics don't show as much abuse because of the stigma of a man saying that he was abused by a woman.  I am going to show you a couple of clips from a scholarly article by Barbara J. Drijber.

Note that the article also states that identifying men as victims of domestic abuse is harder because most of the research about domestic violence is on women abused by men. Why is violence against men being ignored? Are men less human than women? I'm sure that some women think so but considering the women I've run into, I'm starting to believe that the reverse is true.  These women have not only been more likely to start a fight but have also been more likely to encourage the man she is with to fight.  It's entirely possible that I just happen to live in an area where women are more aggressive than women in other parts of the country but, according to research, that isn't necessarily true.  Here is a chart from the above article.

What I found really surprising is that an article of domestic abuse against men in Scotland by David Gadd showed similar figures.  The article also states the following:

"Some of those men who retaliated had, nevertheless, endured physically and psychologically damaging forms of abuse; being struck, cut, or (more rarely) stabbed with household items or knives, punched in the face, and being subject to malicious allegations.”

While most U.S. Men probably don't retaliate as often, it's interesting to note that those who do end up being victims of even more violent attacks by the women with whom they are living.  So why is violence against men being covered up?  Could it be that feminists want to paint all men with a dark brush?  Are they trying to deliberately create a division between men and women?  Shouldn't equal coverage be given to both sexes?

Sources:

Male Victims of Domestic Violence; Babette C. Drijber, Udo J. L. Reijnders, Manon Ceelen ;

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-012-9482-9#page-1

Male Victims of Domestic Violence; David Gadd1, Stephen Farrall, Damian Dallimore, and Nancy Lombard; https://www.brokenrainbow.org.uk/sites/default/files/Keele%20University%20Male%20Victims%20of%20Domestic%20Violence.pdf