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.
- A friend of mine, Marci’s mother has suffered a
devastating stroke and is in critical condition as a result. Prayers for her
family, strength, hope, and comfort in Christ’s holy name.
- Please continue to pray for Elder Cal Jennings and his
health issues, which are numerous.
- 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.
- Please pray for those suffering COVID-19 Corona Virus,
Influenza, and all the other diseases being suffered around this world. May
they be cured, healed, and praise the LORD for the gifts of life and health.
- Pray for the friends, family, and fans of Kenny Rogers,
country crossover singer and actor after his loss at the age of 81 just this
past Friday night. May he continue rocking the world with God’s Heavenly Choir.
- 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 amid the all-consuming quarantine reaction to the COVID-19 Coronavirus chaos.
- 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 amid the all-consuming quarantine reaction to the COVID-19 Coronavirus chaos.
- 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 who have been
suffering illness or pain, that they will be given comfort and healing. We pray
for those suffering this latest deadly international virus, COVID-19, and those
who are quarantined while they work their way through this illness, preventing
devastation. 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: He Showed Me Love ~ Kenny
Rogers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAmbdGwF0A0
Sermon: In this world today, there are many reasons we might forget what hope is truly all about. Today we complete the Old Testament texts where HOPE would be explained and explored. There are many who are not sure if there is a lot of HOPE in this world right now because of the terrible illnesses and diseases that have come to take the lives of thousands of people already, and quarantined a great many more. Seeking the presence of God’s love in the midst of this lockdown makes me remember that so many of our lessons are taught by the followers of God and Jesus being in prison or situations that appear to be prison-like. For those who were imprisoned in one way or another in Scripture, the idea of hope was found in their thoughts and prayers focused on the gift of God our Father and the promise that He would always be our refuge, our security, and the source of our true freedom.
Ezekiel 13:6 KJV – They have
seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and
the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they
would confirm the word.
Confirm the WORD, this is what Ezekiel
was sharing with the ones around him. God’s ability to confirm the WORD isn’t
just found in the existence of Jesus while He lived and even after He died to
be brought back by the Holy Spirit. The true gift of Unconditional Love is the
fact that hope can continue to exist even when we feel hopeless. This is where
we need to see an entire chapter in the life of Ezekiel’s writings.
Ezekiel 19:1-14
KJV – Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
Hope is a concept as well as a feeling and expression.
God wants us to see this fact, that there are many reasons NOT to lose HOPE in
the trials and tribulations we might be suffering in our day-to-day lives. When
we are unwillingly confined for any reason, whether it be a virus, war, or
weather chaos, many will hope for the freedom to be found shortly, in just
hours or even at maximum a day or two. With the chaos of the COVID-19 Corona
Virus which we are experiencing right now around this world, it can seem
frustrating no matter if we are adults missing work or children missing school.
It is a challenge in a million directions to find hope in a situation that
seems endless. Ezekiel knew exactly how to share this wish for freedom, as did
several other prophets and followers of God. Even in the midst of despair there
should be hope. Ezekiel wasn’t sure about that as he shares here.
Ezekiel 37:11 KJV – Then he
said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold,
they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our
parts.
David shared the same sentiments on
occasion, as is shared here.
If we forget or ignore the whisper of God’s hope in the midst of despair and destruction, we forget the fact that God’s Unconditional Love gave us some of the greatest ability to share and relish in that great gift that exists everywhere around us, even in the midst of chaos, peril and other dire situations, like our lives today in the wake of the death and destruction Coronavirus and the panic surrounding it would bring. Let’s see how Hosea shared the beauty of hanging on to the hope for a better day, and relief from stressors and fear.
Hosea 2:15 KJV – And I will
give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope:
and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when
she came up out of the land of Egypt.
Have you ever broken out into song or
turned on the radio to break the silence, the monotony of the day? If you have,
then you are showing the amazing elements of hope emerging even in the middle
of despair, chaos, or boredom, which all can be suffered in health emergencies
like there have been for several millennia. It doesn’t take an extensive trip
through history to realize that dire emergencies or illnesses have happened
time after time in all corners of this world we live within. Hope is something
that we forget about until our conscience reminds us that if we don’t share
hope, mercy is not felt by anyone, including ourselves. Hope is like a roaring
lion in the midst of despair, shaking us fully out of the funk of that despair
and sorrow we suffer. That’s what we see here.
Joel 3:16 KJV – The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem;
and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of
Israel.
Joel and Zechariah saw in many ways what
hope truly could hold and behold as part of our hearts and spirits hang on to
that fragile strand, the single thread of God’s gift of Unconditional Love can
manage. Remember, God is our Hiding Place. He is our Sanctuary. Jesus proved
that as the Son of God and giving us reason to believe in everything God
promises us, assuring the gift of Unconditional Love leads directly through
hope into eternal life.
Zechariah 9:12 KJV – Turn
you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I
will render double unto thee;
It takes a lot of work to believe and
continue to hold on to that belief to keep from falling into that pit of
despair and desolation with the worldly events of disease, disaster, and destruction
surrounding us even now. Our hearts can, with the help of our human spirit,
connect to the gift of Unconditional Love, in God’s Holy Spirit, and prove that
nothing will come about that will take God away from us. Hope is an amazing
gift He brings to us no matter what may happen around us in this world. Isaiah
was quite aware as to how difficult it could be for humanity to understand what
hope can hold within it.
Isaiah 4:2 KJV – In that day
shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and
the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped
of Israel.
New Israel, the gift of God for all who believe and hand
down that belief to those around us, is a promise fulfilled. We will find that
gift, so long as we hold on to the hope that is the promise of Jesus, a new
life, a new world, free from the restrictions and constrictions of the evil
that has taken hold of this world, and bringing the hope of a new heaven and a
new earth for those who believe, who love unconditionally, and freely, even in
the midst of destruction and despair. Hold on to that HOPE, and I promise you,
your heart and spirit and soul will not be held hostage, prisoner, in the deep
despair that the world suffers. 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: Tell It All Brother ~ Kenny Rogers
https://youtu.be/tc7SsXc0qfo?list=RDtc7SsXc0qfo
~ 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.
I hope that faith is next because that's what people need at this time. People have become afraid when Jesus' message is "fear not."
ReplyDeleteAgreed, and that's exactly where I was headed next after I get the remaining verses on hope done. God has been talking with me a whole lot lately.
ReplyDelete