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 said that he is still suffering
from the fall he had about two weeks ago. They have him in a brace, which
helps, but it isn’t a full solution. His pain is still pretty bad and little to
nothing helps. May the Lord bring his spirits up and help heal him and ease his
pain.
- My brother Scott please continue to pray for him, and
for the doctors to discover all his triggers for the issues he has been faced
with.
- Please continue to pray for better opportunities or
offers to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard.
- Please pray for a dear friend and colleague who has
just learned they have very serious problems. She has had so many issues continuing
this past week to include a bout with the flu, even after a flu shot to prevent
it. Help me help this friend of mine with strength of compassion, blessings of
hope and health, and more.
- Pray for friends of mine who suffered a devastating
loss of their home about a month ago or so as the complex was flooded,
destroying everything in their apartment and causing respiratory and other
ailments.
- 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 and relief of those we care a lot about. We
pray that the gift of hope is shared through our faith and belief, so that
others may see, even in hardship our faith can exist and flourish. 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 continues to be 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=ulh5Y71Qwk0
Sermon: We have been
studying the concept of HOPE, a gift shared with Adam and Eve, Noah and his
family, and on through today and into tomorrow. Today we are going to explore
hope through the eyes of Jeremiah. We’ll start here.
Jeremiah
14:8 KJV – O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time
of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring
man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
Who is the hope of Israel? Remember, Israel is more than
a place to live for the Jews. Israel is the name given to Jacob, the founding
father of Israel after the death of Moses. Jacob’s hope, was, as it is for many
now, God. God’s hope shares so much for us in life, no matter the amount of
chaos that surrounds us.
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.
Chaos, the ravages of war, disease, drought, and so much
more, this is what people call out to God about. People everywhere ask for
deliverance from every form of evil that exists. No matter what happens, or how
bad it may be, God is our HOPE. That’s why He sent the rainbow across the
heavens. The promise of Jesus and the redemption of all sins began with a
promise to Adam and Eve, continued in the gift of the rainbow for Noah, and on
through with Jacob, the father of Israel, and proven not just in the birth of
Jesus through the Virgin Mary, but also in the fact that when Jesus died on the
cross, He took the sins of this world away, and replaced them with the hope of
Resurrection. This is something Timothy shares here.
1
Timothy 1:1 KJV – Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
To many, hope is fleeting in their minds. The reason for
that is simple. Sin exists and the ravages of sin have destroyed the minds,
spirits, and even on occasion the souls of those left behind in the ruins. This
is just one reason we must watch what we think, say, and do in this world
today. Proclaim the gift of Jesus, the blessings of the Holy Spirit, and you’ll
be amazed what that Omniscient gift of Unconditional Love can achieve.
Remember, Jesus said many times to trust in the Lord our God. Well, He wasn’t
the only one to proclaim that. Jeremiah did it too, as shared here.
Jeremiah
17:7 KJV – Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
During the time of Jeremiah and the early Jews, often
there are locations where hope comes with a cautionary boost to help the worn
spirits of humanity in this world. The warning, remember, as easily as it
appears, there are those who willingly would take it away.
Jeremiah
17:13 KJV – O Lord, the hope
of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me
shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
God provides for those who believe, and share that
belief, not just to those closest to them but for everyone willing to realize
how amazing He is. God’s grace is found in the hope that there is something
better
Luke
10:20 KJV – Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the
spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are
written in heaven.
The ultimate hope is in the fact that Jesus promises
eternal life, filled with hope and love and so much more. The desolation and
destruction we find here on earth on a daily basis will be no more at the End
of Days. Yet, only He knows when that would be. That’s why we continue to hold
on to that hope. Jeremiah shared this several times, as already shared, and
added to here.
Jeremiah
17:17 KJV – Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the
day of evil.
Many times, I have been asked, “How can you hope for so
much, when you don’t know if it is ever going to happen?” I have the gift of
HOPE, because prayers have already been answered in my life over the years.
Dreams are prayers waiting to be answered. Prayers that are answered are dreams
that come true. That’s something a very old, wise, woman once shared with me
when I was eleven years old. But, we should be careful what we wish for once in
a while. Jeremiah cautions us about that very thing here.
Jeremiah
18:12 KJV – And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk
after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil
heart.
No matter how much we work to remove evil, it remains
part of this earth we know. We work to shut out the evil things that happen,
but sometimes it is just too hard to do that. That’s the reason we have prayer,
which is a gift Jesus shared in many ways. His love shows in the types of
prayers He taught. The prayer that we share at the end of every sermon is one
filled with hope and promise. Hope is an amazing gift, even if we forget that
there is such a thing as hope in the face of disaster. Jeremiah shows us that
in this pair of verses.
Jeremiah
31:17 KJV – And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
Jeremiah
50:7 KJV – All that found them have devoured them: and their
adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope
of their fathers.
Sin
is something that is ever present. Grace can be, if you let it be. The same can
be said for hope. Let us share our hope for a better and brighter tomorrow. May
the grace and beauty of God’s Unconditional Love shine the light of hope on the
path Jesus is leading us toward. 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: Let It Be ~ The Beatles https://youtu.be/nt9uBlRuBPw
~ 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.
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