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
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.
- Elder Cal Jennings has let me know, that he slipped and
fell, twisting his back and causing all manner of excruciating pain in his
back. He also helped remember his mother, who passed away just about a week ago
or so. She was 86. Let’s pray for the whole Jennings family as they mourn her
loss, and also send extra prayers for Elder Cal so that he might heal fully.
- Please pray for the gift of a better work environment
to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard.
- Please pray for my brother, Scott, who is working
toward a better living space for his life with his new dog, Mack. They are
bonding very well, and Mack has helped in a million ways. Scott is looking into
the potential for better housing and feeling, looking, and sounding better than
he has in weeks.
- 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 strength of compassion and
more.
- Please pray for a North Carolina friend who is in dire
straits after her apartment complex filled with water and has destroyed pretty
much everything. Pray that she gets out of that situation with her family and
her animals, to a much better, healthier environment.
- 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 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 comfort in the weary and weak. We pray for solace and
compassion in the face of losses that are known or unknown. We pray that all of
our sick and injured heal and recover from whatever ails them. We pray for
faith, hope, and understanding in Your Word that will help us through our daily
lives. We pray for those injured, lost, and struggling in this world today. 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: Hiding Place ~ Steven Curtis
Chapman ~ https://youtu.be/jdVj231fPFA
Sermon: This week we are
continuing to explore how HOPE exists even in the worst of times. We sometimes
forget how believing in God truly is supposed to work for us, even in the times
when it appears bleak, hopeless, or impossible. We must remember the words of our
Savior Jesus Christ.
Matthew
19:26 KJV – But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are
possible.
It’s
sometimes hard to realize and recognize that Jesus is the right hand of God,
and His understanding of the Word, is in the fact that He is the Living Word.
That’s where we look at the words of King David and other wise people writing
the book of Psalms. Let’s see where God’s hope should be seen, shared, and
experienced.
Psalm
78:7 KJV – That they might set their hope in God, and not
forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
God has done a lot of amazing things in this world. We
know this because even with all the evil and wicked things in this world, we’re
still here, and there’s a reason to hope for tomorrow while in the midst of
this world today.
Psalm
119:49 KJV – Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which
thou hast caused me to hope.
Remembering is not always something we tend to think
about. Remembering is something that takes practice. I’m not talking about
every detail of something that we pursue, or we survive, just remember that
there is a reason to hope.
Psalm
119:81 KJV – My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in
thy word.
I
can’t even tell you how many times I have heard the words “I am so tired of
living”. Those are terrible words to hear from anyone, anywhere. Hope is a
gift, a huge gift, brought to us through the very thought of our Savior’s
existence, especially when we feel as though we are at the end of the rope.
This is where we see this verse.
No matter what, you must hang on to hope. It’s no easy request that God asks of us. It’s no laughing matter, especially in these dark days we are living through. This is the reason Scripture continues to teach and prove itself in prayer, in study, and in life no matter what. That’s where these words of hope fill our hearts.
Psalm 130:5-7 KJV – I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
Notice, I just shared a few minutes ago about waiting on the hope of the Lord. With hope leading the way to mercy, redemption, and eternal peace. Those are amazing gifts to have thanks to the gift of God’s Unconditional Love, through the promise of Jesus, on through the Savior’s birth, and even to His death and resurrection. Hope is in the fact that this seriously life-transforming revelation, in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, shares the singularly most amazing gift of hope to ever be brought to us here on this earth. Eternal life, eternal love, the infinite and unfathomable hope that there is something bigger, better, greater, and more fulfilling than anything this world has to offer, and it all starts in the hope we hold in the gifts the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bring to each of us, individually, and collectively.
Psalm 131:3 KJV – Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.
Israel, the name given to the Promised Land, the offer of the eternal view of Jerusalem, in heaven, the unblemished, unchanged, newly recreated original view of Israel before all the corruption, despair, horror and terror that this earth has wrought on the earthly view of that same city, country, in this world today. Let Israel, the complete view of God’s unconditional love, be recreated without blemish, without a speck of dirt, or misdeeds, become more than a wish of the heart, a dream of the soul. Let it be as real as what you are looking at right now. Seen, experienced, an eternal grace and gratitude to carry in our hearts thanks to the gift of His Hope.
Psalm 146:5 KJV – Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
This world today has much more misery than one would ever want in their lives. Yet, with hope, we can find a way to toil through whatever comes our way. We persevere because we BELIEVE in the HOPE that is the greatest gift, SALVATION in the SPIRIT through CHRIST JESUS our LORD and SAVIOR. The One with the greatest amount of mercy to share with any and all who hear His voice, follow His lead, just as God shares in the Living Word in our last verse here today.
Psalm 147:11 KJV – The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Fear, no, not the terrified, hopeless view of fear, which
many have misinterpreted because of that very word. In this case, it is a view
of reverence, be careful what you say, what you do, because your words and
thoughts can oftentimes get you in trouble if you don’t listen to that little
voice in the conscience, the tiny view of Jesus’s final gift to us, the Holy
Spirit, that little voice that we should listen to, in order to stay on the
path of light that Jesus left for us to follow. Sometimes what a whisper can
manage is far greater than a loud shout in a canyon of worry and fear. 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)
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: The Gift ~ Randy Travis https://youtu.be/rbyBM_-oM_A
~ Shalom ~
Rev. Laura A. Neff
Elder Calvin Jennings
Covenant of Hope Ministries Main Site: http://www.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 © 2020 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.
Amen, Rev. Laura.
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