Covenant Of Hope Ministries: January 2020

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Dare to Dream! Taking Impossibility Into the Realm of Possibility

Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our sermon or midweek study. You will normally see us posted on Sunday and Wednesday. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. Our ministry was built on the truth of God’s love. It doesn’t conform to society’s wishes. This ministry shares the Word of God, the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Those who know me well will recognize that there are definitive differences in the creation of every sermon from this point forward. It is God’s will that has brought this to be. We wish only that God’s truth will be shared within His words as brought to us by the Spirit as it fills my heart, mind, and soul to be shared with my hands, but with His words alone.

You will find us in the following location: http://www.covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com

Rev. Laura’s other sites: Facebook & Blogspot & Twitter

Introductory Music: Here With Me ~ Mercy Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74CNUExD4I8

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 grows or changes every week. This is our current list.

- Today we celebrate a belated birthday wish for our very own Elder Cal Jennings. Though he has suffered a great deal with his health, including this latest bout with the flu, he is still here to share his devotion and love for Christ. May the strength of his faith carry him farther than even he imagines.

- Please pray for solace and faith to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard in seeking job opportunities or offers to help.

- Please pray for those who are sick on our friend lists and even on our friend of friend lists, anonymous or not, prayers are always welcome when we are in times of trouble.

- Please continue to pray for a dear friend and colleague who has recently learned they might have very serious problems. She awaits the results of special tests to determine what is going on. Help me help this friend of mine with the strength of compassion and more.

- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.

- Pray for our nations that the voice of God is heard through the Spirit.

- Pray for our friends and families that their tomorrows bring blessings and pray our own be the same.

- Pray for those suffering as a result of the terrors that have occurred just this past week around this world.

- Pray for our sick and wounded that they may heal.

Prayer: Father in heaven, our prayers this week continue for those suffering from natural and not so natural disasters around this world. We pray for those who are sick, injured, or fighting for sanity in an insane world. We pray for family, friends, and colleagues who have had difficult times and are seeking hope in the midst of despair. We pray that each of those worries melts away and peace, prosperity, and love prevail. For each of these we pray in Your Holy Name, through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.

Opening Song: There You’ll Be ~ Faith Hill ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NkRNg0TZOw

Sermon: There are many things possible in this world and some things people consider impossible. In Scripture, you find only nine verses that portray what humanity believes to be impossible. One of those has to do with what scholars call ‘immaculate conception’ for the moment when Mary found herself the chosen womb for the Son of God, who would change everything in this world from the moment of that conception and on through His death and resurrection. The first verse shared would be from the moment Mary learned that she would be the one to bring about the impossible, along with her much older cousin, Elizabeth, who was far beyond the normal age to bear a child. We start here.

Luke 1:37 KJV – For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Even today, conception has enough mystery to have many thinking bringing children in, even at an older age, can be impossible. If it were to be completely impossible, giving birth at the age of seventy wouldn’t occur, and yet it has done so many times over the years. I have known several to have their children later in life, including family friends, and several others who have brought children into their lives well past the age of forty, which seems to be what others consider miracles. There are many views of miracles, and Jesus proved that over, and over again. Faith allows for those miracles to prove themselves, to you in many ways. We’ll start with what Jesus says about the amount of belief it takes.

Matthew 17:20 KJV – And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Faith, the single strongest part of a Christian’s belief system is something that can be measured in giant size, or minuscule, like the mustard seed. Now, if you know how mustard grows, you’ll note that the grain is tiny, but, when it flowers and is ready for harvest, it is an amazing view to be seen. God is part of anything and everything. His influence is amazing when we realize just what it means.

Matthew 19:26 KJV – But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

We often forget that God is with us, even in times when we think everything is working against us. Whenever we feel hopeless, destitute, frustrated, God is still there with us every step of the way through the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promises here. We just have to learn to remember that. A long while ago someone asked me to do one thing. Jesus asks the same thing every single day. What would that be? “Don’t forget to remember me.” When what we perceive to be the impossible happens, remember God’s amazing grace. That’s why Scripture exists. It would be something that lives, breathes, moves, shares emotion, and everything else we each do individually and together. The rest of the Gospels share this as well, as we find here.

Mark 10:27 KJV – And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Luke 17:1 KJV – Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

Luke 18:27 KJV – And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

After the resurrection of Christ, teaching that there is nothing impossible would become even more challenging for the Apostles and the other followers of Christ. This fits into our series of sermons on belief. The reason is simple. If we forget that God finds nothing impossible, then humanity should always remember that through faith, with God in our corner, anything, and everything, is possible, doable, always.

Hebrews 6:4 KJV – For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

The many times we think we’ve seen even the impossible managed, we just have to remember what it must have felt like for the Apostles when the Holy Ghost, also known as the Holy Spirit, descended upon them. Remember, they all spoke in different languages, given the gift of many tongues to communicate through the world beyond Jerusalem and Israel. With that, Christianity took on broader and broader horizons. We see this here in the next verse.

Hebrews 6:18 KJV – That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

The Scriptures here prove something interesting. The faith it requires to continue to pursue Christ’s path is sometimes seen as impossible in so many ways where we see so much evil and devastation throughout this world. What happens with humanity today, whether it is something easily decided, or something monumental, with God on our side, everything is possible. It starts with the smallest grain of faith, belief, and grows exponentially from there. Here is our last verse to share what impossibility requires from us to combat it.

Hebrews 11:6 KJV – But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Finding that point where we can defeat the I and M in impossibility, transforming it to POSSIBILITY, helps us grow our faith, our hope, our love, and understanding, thus ensuring that inner peace that seems to elude us far too often in this world. Now that’s something to think about as we pray in the prayer that Jesus taught us saying:

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: Faith Like a Mustard Seed ~ Emrand Henry ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzT01ebO5EA

~ Shalom ~

Rev. Laura A. Neff

Facebook & Blogspot & Twitter

Elder Calvin Jennings

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Covenant of Hope Ministries Main Site: http://www.covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com

Our mission for Covenant of Hope Ministries is not to exploit fear, but to conquer it, and overcome all that is created through fear together as the bringers of the light of Jesus found in the midst of darkness.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Believe, Be Aware and Beware, the True Path to Eternal Life Awaits

You will find us in the following location: http://www.covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com

Rev. Laura’s other sites: Facebook & Blogspot & Twitter

- Please add some extra prayers for Elder Cal Jennings who has been suffering greatly with his health. He has let me know that he is very, very ill with Bronchitis bordering on Pneumonia at this point in time. His pain is constant and little to nothing helps. May the Lord bring his spirits up and help heal him and ease his pain.

- Please pray for job opportunities or offers to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard.

- Please pray for a dear friend and colleague who has just learned they might have very serious problems. She has had so many issues that this week the doctor has insisted on special tests to determine what is going on. Help me help this friend of mine with the strength of compassion and more.

- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.

- Pray for our nations that the voice of God be heard through the Spirit.

- Pray for our friends and families that their tomorrows bring blessings and pray our own be the same.

- Pray for those suffering as a result of the terrors that have occurred just this past week around this world.

- Pray for our sick and wounded that they may heal.

Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer today for seriously needed relief of those in far-away places suffering from forest and brush fires in Australia, those suffering the aftereffects of armed gunmen, bombings, and so forth, that their spirits be lifted and calmed. We pray for those who suffered through the earthquakes in Puerto Rico last week as well. We pray for those who have been suffering illness or pain, that they will be given comfort and healing. We pray for blessings in the midst of pain, sorrow, terror, and more, so that this year is a better one for all around us. For each of these we pray in Your Holy Name, through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.

Opening Song: Put Your Hand in the Hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY-2XHqKGuw

Sermon: Today we are looking into a series of verses Elder Cal Jennings posted on Facebook the other day. These five verses made me think beyond my normal meditation with the Word this week. It wouldn’t be the first time I had been absorbed by something the Holy Spirit inspired. I know all too well, when the Spirit tells me to stop just a minute, then I have no choice but to do so. The future is something many have worried about. We see and hear this phenomenon in every genre, every method of expression, and yet, Scripture tells us not to worry about the future. We will start here.

Matthew 7:15-20 KJV – Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

It is the quietest of warnings, with the largest amount of impact. You see this not just in the Gospel of Matthew, but in nearly all of the Gospels. I will bring similar warning from Jesus through the Gospel of John. This one is a familiar one to nearly all who have known how God and the Holy Spirit have filled me with inspiration.

John 15:1-13 KJV – I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

The point in both of these views of our Savior teaching what should be as opposed to what we often see in this world is simple. Listen to the Spirit that dwells within you, and surrounds you as well. Listen to God and understand, His teachings are important for each and every person who wishes to learn the true impact of listening to Him no matter how many temptations exist.

Pay attention to these two verses from Matthew and John.

Matthew 7:19 KJV – Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

John 15:6 KJV – If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Believing is only the beginning. Sharing your belief, living with that belief in everything you do, would be just as important as believing. There are a lot of things people do that would actually be the opposite of what they should be, even if they are devout Christians and sharing in that thought with the others around them. I have, over the past decade and more, seen both, total devotion to Him in words, thoughts, and actions, and some of those haphazard methods where sometimes it looks like the exact opposite is happening. It is the false teachers that work to chip away at the armor of God’s love in people around this world. No one is immune to the evil things that there would be all around us. Some spend too much time doing one thing and perfecting that, rather than truly exploring what faith and love of God can do. We have been studying 1 Corinthians 15, which shows us how the Apostle Paul shared exactly what Jesus was speaking about, in a completely different view, from an Apostle who has had no choice but to become a teacher in His stead. All the Apostles did just that. Peter, John, and all the rest did their very best to keep the true believers, old and new, engaged in the thought that every believer is part of that vineyard, part of that Tree of Life our Lord and Savior would truly be.

1 Corinthians 15:52-52 KJV – In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Note how Paul is sharing the exact same message. Being part of God through Christ takes work. It takes a great deal of practice, thought, and a reminder to pay attention to what we think, say, and do in this life here where everything can be corrupted by evil in every possible form. We have to think beyond the flesh of humanity, beyond the desires of this earth. Doing so is the only way to ensure that we stay on that path by which Christ taught us to walk, to live, to share, and to delight in the journey. Now that’s something to think about as we pray in the prayer that Jesus taught us saying:

Closing Song: Open the Eyes of My Heart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZ9iuo1kRs

~ Shalom ~

Rev. Laura A. Neff

Facebook & Blogspot & Twitter

Elder Calvin Jennings

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Covenant of Hope Ministries Main Site: http://www.covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com

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 wedding ceremonies in the state of Georgia, USA. I was ordained in 2007 by Rev. Teresa Piercey-Gates. We established this ministry in October of 2008.

MESSENGER

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Dare to Dream! Taking Impossibility Into the Realm of Possibility

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Believe, Be Aware and Beware, the True Path to Eternal Life Awaits