Covenant of Hope Ministries Sunday Sermon
09_01_2013
I'm Rev. Laura A. Neff. Our sermon will
normally be seen on Sundays, and we'll try to have a study in the middle of the
week somewhere. You can find me on Facebook, Google+, and on Twitter. Those
links are in the signature line. We normally have a prayer list. This week is a
repeat of most of last week's.
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 those traveling this
weekend here in the US for Labor Day in your prayers. Keep those who travel
anywhere in prayer also and always.
- Continue your prayers for Phoebe
Fair as she is in hospice. She has her good days and her bad days. Her tumor
has come back, and they don’t know what will happen right now. She is at home
with the hospice care, but it is very hard on the family.
- Please keep my friend Heather in
prayer for patience and safe haven.
- Let us keep another friend, Jeff,
and his family in prayer after a disappointment that has them searching for
answers.
- Please pray for my mother’s
neighbor whose house exploded earlier this month. Pray for his health as he was
diagnosed with cancer at the same time.
- 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 bring up to You all of those who are ill, in sorrow, in
fear, and all the rest up into Your arms knowing You are the Healer. We bring
to you those who are sick, and those who are lost. We bring those who are
friends, family, and yes, our enemies, all that are in our hearts, up to Your
arms. We pray for health, faith, strength, and hope, in all things, everywhere,
and always. We pray all of this in Your Holy Name through our Savior Jesus
Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Sermon: The
first thing you will ask when you read this sermon, or short study, will be why
choose something we normally see at or after the Christmas season would I write
about this very event in history, and in life. The answer is easy. I had an
epiphany. I was inspired to write about this very subject. So what is
Epiphany? Here is the definition of the
day.
EPIPHANY –
The celebrating of the appearance or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles in
the persons of the Magi. This is as
shared in Matthew Chapter 2.
What is
the definition I have described above?
EPIPHANY –
A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential
meaning of something, usually initiated by something simple, homely, or
commonplace occurrence or experience.
Well
then, so we have two interesting views of this. One is an event in the earliest
part of life for our Savior Jesus Christ as shared in scripture. The other is a
gift of inspiration. Well, think about it. Jesus and His birth IS a gift of
inspiration, note I said IS in place of WAS. He was as He is as He always will
be. You remember the verses for that. So, why stop in the middle of Psalm 49?
Well, it has a lot to do with what is coming up in the remainder of the chapter.
It is better to know more about this foretelling, in some ways, of what is to
come. It isn’t a guess, God is telling us, we’re just not always listening.
That’s why we have those “moments of inspiration” once in a while in place of
all the time.
The MAGI,
are the wise men in Matthew 2:1-12 NIV. In the King James Version they are
known simply as WISE MEN. The celebration of Epiphany is shared as being six
days after the new year. The dictionary shares
this as showing the Savior to the Gentiles. Well, the magi, these wise men,
came from all known corners of the earth, NOT from Jerusalem.
Again, there
is a reason I would share this in both versions King James and New
International. The first is obvious, I wanted to give the two names of these
men, Wise Men or Magi, or both. In this world we see them as both. The Magi,
the Wise Men who went to see Jesus and bring Him gifts and they weren’t just
any Wise Men, they were GENTILES. Now, if you know your Scripture, the Jews
were told to stay away from the Gentiles. They were told to leave them out of
all the Jews would do. But, they took that far too far in so many ways. Jesus
proved it at the beginning of His life, and at the end as well. So, these
foretelling moments are scattered in specific ways at specific times to first
provide an epiphany, and then to remind them of it. So prophecy is a both a
reminder of what is to come, and an inspiration of all that it is, or an
epiphany. Now, I’ve been tested, as we all tend to be, this week has been both
a test of strength and of will. There are many people in many places who find
it a test of mind and spirit. In all of us, we see these tests, mind, spirit,
strength, and will, yet, we forget they are ALL present, ALL the time. So, we will, at this time, share what the day
Epiphany would include.
Let’s
take a look at this here in Matthew 2:1-12 KJV –
Saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?
for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and
all Jerusalem with him.
And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the
people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is
written by the prophet.
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among
the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my
people Israel.
Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of
them diligently what time the star appeared.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search
diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word
again, that I may come and worship him also.
When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star,
which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where
the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child
with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had
opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh.
And became warned of God in a dream that they should not return
to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Here we
see the NIV version Matthew 2:1-12 – After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the
time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is
the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and
have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem
with him. When he had called them together all the people’s chief priests and
teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem
in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written;
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means
least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the
shepherd of my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the
exact time the star had appeared, He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and
make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so
that I too may go and worship him.
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the
star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the
place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On
coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed
down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with
gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go
back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
So, why
have an epiphany in the middle? Sometimes God just needs to put that hand up
there saying “Stop what you’re doing and explain yourself.” So, here we see
just that. We are explaining what will be shared in the remainder of the Psalm
we have been studying. Jesus is prophecy. Jesus is a gift. Jesus, thus, is a
prophetic gift. Prophecy, you see quite a lot in the Scriptures, and often we
forget that those prophecies will one day be manifest in reality, in present
day. It’s not like saying it will and then you make sure it does. It is
PROMISING it will, and then FULFILLING that promise. Thus the gift of Christ
and the proof of that for the MAGI, the Gentiles. Jews didn’t want to bring
their gifts to the Gentiles. They avoided them for too many reasons. Yet, in
truth, Jesus Himself went directly to the Gentiles and taught them. He did so
both DURING His life as a human being, and AFTER He had risen. So, think of it
this way. He was an Epiphany of prophecy brought to us in Scripture of the Old
Testament, a visual Epiphany AT AND DURING His birth, and also AFTER His death
when He was risen. He is THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, and TOMORROW. Our Savior,
imagine that, even in today’s world He is proof of prophecy, an epiphany. We
our selves are proof of prophecy. God promised Adam, and Abraham, that people
would fill the earth, their families, their descendants would be all over the
earth as far as the eye could see. Well, we’re here still. It is often
something we forget. That’s why we find many things to be the likes of an
epiphany. Maybe that’s also the reason God decides to stop us in the middle and
make us think about it.
~Shalom~
Covenant
of Hope Ministries
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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