The live version of this sermon is found here. https://www.facebook.com/298231283665297/videos/668418130771244/
Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our sermon or midweek study. You will normally see us posted on Sunday. 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.
- Please continue to pray for Elder Cal Jennings and his health issues, which are numerous. He has been having issues with his pain, vision, and memory.
- Please pray for health, faith, and hope boosters to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard as she continues in her recovery after an ulcer put her in the hospital.
- Please pray for Hope Bogard as she returns to college this week.
- Please pray for two friends of mine, Janice, and Jessica, who both have their mothers in the hospital, one due to a fall, and another due to serious health issues.
- Please pray for Donald, a close colleague and friend of my brother Scott. He is in the hospital in isolation after a positive COVID-19 result and his previous heart issues.
- We are ever watchful in regard to the weather, the unrest, and the virus and response to that virus. Let us pray for calm skies and seas, calm voices and spirits, and also healthy outcomes for those who are affected.
- We pray that the upcoming school year is filled with progress for our children who are attending and for the teachers and staff that must adapt to what is considered the “new normal” around this world.
- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.
- Pray for our outreach ministries with Pastor Stephen Okoth, Pastor Simon Peter Javaji, and all the others who have joined us over the years.
- 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.
- Pray that truth is revealed where falsehoods have been shared around this world.
Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer for today. We bring our sick and wounded up in prayer, including Elder Cal Jennings. We pray for answers to mysteries for health issues and money issues with several members and family members. We pray for our poor and desolate, our brothers and sisters who have been brought devastation due to the terrors around this world and all of the natural disasters, storms, and so forth this past week. We pray for those in our outreach ministries that their reach gains momentum and their needs are met. 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: Home Free ~ How Great Thou Art https://youtu.be/tXQpDDcrN-w
Sermon: We are now beginning Chapter 3 in Ephesians. Paul is sharing that even with the threat, or even promise, of prison, he was going to continue sharing the Word of God through his time as an Apostle of Christ. This is something that is actually documented beyond Scripture. Paul wanted everyone to see that even though he suffered, God and Jesus were always with him through the grace and goodness of the Holy Spirit, a gift left behind by Jesus upon His ascension into heaven.
Ephesians 3:1-2 KJV – For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Paul is sharing that the people of Ephesus needed to see that grace is an eternal gift of God. That’s why Jesus preached to everyone willing to hear, including the Gentiles and others beyond the Jews. God’s grace is for everyone that understands and accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior. These supporting verses share Paul’s perspective regarding his role in sharing the glory of God.
Colossians 1:25 KJV – Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Romans 12:3 KJV – For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Colossi is an interesting place to preach, much the same as Ephesus. There are many in history in Greece and Rome who would simply absorb as much of the world as they could to learn what those other cultures had that were beneficial to the majority, something that Paul and the other Apostles picked up on rather quickly. Acceptance of other cultures and the absorption of their methods, faiths, and so forth, has occurred all over the world for as far back as records were kept and beyond. The difference with Christianity, even from early years, would be in the fact that it was not transformed in the ways that law and other types of practices were as the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus brought His truth toward others. That’s where these next verses take us.
Ephesians 3:3-5 KJV – How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
What is the mystery? The mystery, often called a veil, or shroud, would be that which separated man from God’s knowledge, His love, faith, belief in the human race. It is the divine strength that was separated from us after Adam and Eve sinned so far in the past. When the Holy Spirit surrounded and filled the Apostles upon Jesus’s resurrection, that was much more than people may understand. The moment of the Holy Spirit settling in their hearts, the veil that had been ripped asunder was replaced by the eternal knowledge of God and His unconditional love. This is what Paul taught to the Galatians as shared here.
Galatians 1:12 KJV – For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul is reflecting back to the Word as Jesus shared here.
Matthew 13:17 KJV – For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Like many of us in this world, even Paul had to remind the early Christians how important it is to believe, to have faith, and to share that belief and faith with those around us. That’s what we are seeing here in this verse.
Romans 16:25 KJV – Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
Paul was just one of the Apostles who spent the rest of his life teaching the truth of Jesus and God to those who were willing to listen. Peter shared his own experiences and did so to prove that even mistakes as egregious as his denial of Christ on the day of His imprisonment prior to His crucifixion could be forgiven. That knowledge was powerful then, and is powerful now. All sins can be forgiven so long as we do not fall off the path and repeat them.
1 Peter 1:10-12 KJV – Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Now, this leads us to something that I have personally been asked about. The question is always the same. How can I be one with God if I have no purely Jewish background? Jesus solved that issue when He walked into the lands of the Gentiles and taught them the glory of God and His destiny to ensure all could be welcomed into the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 3:6-7 KJV – That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
When the Great Commission was brought to the Apostles and Disciples of Christ, it was meant to encourage them to teach far beyond the borders of Israel, and not solely to the Jews. The Great Commission is shared here.
Matthew 28:18-20 KJV – And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Paul is sharing that great and glorious commission for all truly faithful Christians saying that, even in dire circumstances, and at the risk of their lives, they should, as we should today, continue bringing the Word of God to all who are willing to listen. Even in the Old Testament, God was sharing that this would happen and all would hear the Word of God willingly and follow His path to righteousness.
Isaiah 43:13 KJV – Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
Remember, the Word was with God, before the creation of earth, humanity, and every creature that lives on, under or in the water that surrounds the earth. The Word was part of the creation and part of the existence of every man, woman, and child that has ever walked this earth. That is a powerful thought, a fascinating and awesome realization. Everyone, everything, would have a purpose for being on this earth and part of life as we all know it. It was ordained by God in the beginning with Adam and Eve and confirmed by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. That’s something we all should be awed and amazed by. On top of that, we all should want to know more and more about the Word and how our lives can be better for the addition to our study and willingness to share with as many as will hear in this world around us. 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: Here I Am Lord https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBg-yDhM2KY
~ 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
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
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