Covenant Of Hope Ministries: A Mother’s Hope Is God’s Gift for All of Us

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

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.

- We send up a prayer for our mothers, living and deceased, in remembrance and honor of each, and every, one on Mother’s Day.

- 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 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.

- 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, that You wrap Your arms around each mother in this world and those who love them dearly. We pray for those suffering from Covid-19 Coronavirus, Influenza, Cancer, and all other forms of illness. We pray that our economies survive this deadly set of illnesses around this world. We pray for our leaders to make wise decisions. We pray for those in pain and suffering sorrow. 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: A Mother’s Prayer ~ Rachel Aldous https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re5EIUIXbhc

Sermon: We have been discussing hope in our sermons. We all need to keep hanging on to that point of view. Many times, in our lives we have seen and heard our mothers expressing hope for each of their children, grandchildren, and on into the future. God wants us to remember that hope is an all encompassing view of Unconditional Love, integral in that very concept. This first verse is from Paul speaking to those in Thessaly.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 KJV – But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

Paul speaks of those asleep. In this case, earthly death is what he was sharing. Earthly death is one thing that sometimes has us forgetting that God has always had a plan in place. Those who are faithful believers in His Eternal Unconditional Love, will reach the gates of heaven and walk through them. This, of course, after Jesus comes a second time and judges the living and the dead. Feeling secure in hope is something it takes practice to manage. This is what Paul has to say about that.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 KJV – But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

See this, faith, love, hope, and salvation, all in the same sentence. All of us should keep working our faith with the fact that there is love, hope, and salvation waiting for us. As this is Mother’s Day, I can name many mothers who have felt this way, and expressed it, either to family, friends, or the world at large, and sometimes even to God in prayer. When Paul was speaking to those in Corinth, he too wanted them to experience hope, even though there is no direct reference to that emotion and expression.

1 Corinthians 1:8-9 KJV – Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Confirming the origin of our hope is important, not just to God and Jesus, but to ourselves. If we do not remember to share that gift of hope, we forget to share the gift of Unconditional Love in some ways as well. This is still more that Paul shares to those in Thessaly.

2 Thessalonians 2:16 KJV – Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

See this? Jesus loves us! God loves us! They share their sympathy, patience, hope, and more through the gift of grace they brought to us here on earth. Jesus was often sharing His hope in all that He said and did in His life here on earth. This verse alludes to the day when Jesus knew that He would have no choice but to leave this earth as we know it. Here is what John the Beloved shares about that moment.

John 13:1 KJV – Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

Jesus knew that there were those who would go to the ends of the earth just to ensure that others knew of His very existence. That included His earthly mother, Mary, and all those who loved Him as much as He loved them, and still loves them. John the Beloved wanted everyone to realize, Jesus loves us, hopes for us, and bolsters our love for each other and our hopes for the future. Hope is an amazing expression, and even in the worst of times, something important for each of us to remember. That’s where this last verse comes in.

Revelation 1:5 KJV – And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

In one of the last views of the future John the Beloved could share, we find hope even in the midst of despair, destruction, and ruin. There is one, just one, eternal hope in this world. That eternal hope is the epitome, the blessed manifestation, of Eternal Life, Unconditional Love, even to the end of the earth as we know it. On this day we celebrate our Mothers for Mother’s Day. With that I would share some inspiration from long ago, A Mother’s Prayer.

A Mother’s Prayer

A mother prays day and night,

For her children out of sight.

That each child would unite,

Not suffer sorrow, pain or fright.

A mother asks every day,

For patience and calm anyway.

A prayer for the words to say,

To keep the pain and fear away.

This prayer is simply offered to,

Bring happiness right to you.

A prayer for smiles tried and true,

And skies filled bright and blue.

A happy heart and soul you see,

Is all we hope could ever be.

When a mom prays peacefully,

A prayer for us all equally.

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: The Prayer ~ Celine Dion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idtNxZYnxIw

~ Shalom ~

Rev. Laura A. Neff

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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.

Covenant Of Hope Ministries

MESSENGER

Sunday, May 10, 2020

A Mother’s Hope Is God’s Gift for All of Us

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