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. Add to the prayers with an urgent need for new housing as the family in dire straits there at this point in time.
- Please pray for calm, comfort, and peace for Sister Theresa Bogard who is still going through a lot of physical issues right now.
- Please continue to pray for my daughter’s grandmother-in-law, Judy, who has been in the hospital with health issues and my daughter’s mother-in-law, Suzanne, is unable to travel to be with her during this worrisome time. Pray for healthy outcomes and peace for the family.
- Please continue to pray for my friend Marci’s mother who has contracted COVID-19 Coronavirus but continues to do a little better every day now.
- Please continue to pray for my friend Jeff’s father, who also has contracted COVID-19 Coronavirus and at last report continues improving.
- Please pray for many family members of our collective membership who are suffering from COVID-19 Coronavirus right now. At last count there would be twelve. These family members and the members they are connected to, have asked not to be identified by name.
- Please continue to pray for a dear friend of mine, Paul, who lost his beloved support dog, Winston, and misses him terribly. Pray that his latest rescue animal will fill a new role in Paul’s life as he always will mourn his dear old Winston.
- We are still 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.
- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.
- Pray for all of our outreach ministries with Pastor Stephen Okoth, Pastor Robert Nganwa, Pastor Simon Peter Javaji, Rev. Lisa Tyler, and all the others who have joined us. Pray that their reach gets bigger with every day.
- Pray that the endeavor I have been working on for almost four years now will come to full fruition in the next year. It will be a true blessing to extend God’s reach toward willing ears, minds, and hearts.
- 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 continue to pray for our friends and family members who have been ill, with this terrible Coronavirus or any other illnesses that isolate them from friends and family. 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: My Savior’s Shadow ~ Blake Shelton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbu8YnegTF4
Sermon: We are completing chapter 5 in Ephesians and beginning with chapter 6 as well. I noted that we missed the final verse of chapter 5 and then realized why I waited to talk about it until today. You will understand as we continue to delve into the teaching that Paul managed with the citizens of Ephesus. There is an awful lot to talk about and we’ll begin here.
Ephesians 5:32-33 KJV – This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
I cannot tell you how often I have been asked what it meant to have women spoken of in certain ways in Scripture. Women often ask me why the feminine half of the citizens who are devoted to God and Christ are somehow seen second as opposed to first. A man and his wife are equal because both are part of each other. Brothers and sisters are equal because even Jesus noted this point. Listen to each other and hear what each would be saying. Love one another is a simple concept with difficult points of reference in this world we live in. So let’s see how these last two verses of chapter 5 actually need to be connected to the first verses of chapter 6 in Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:1 KJV – Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Obedience is something every person on this earth has had issues with in their lifetimes, whether short lived or lifelong. It can be difficult to understand what being obedient is with the lack of obedience being celebrated by so many on this earth even then and all the way up until now. It’s hard not to be earthly while working toward staying on that path Jesus created for us so long ago. That’s where we have to go back and forth in our study of Scripture. Here we go back into the Old Testament and then jump forward again to the New Testament.
Proverbs 23:32 KJV – At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Okay, I know I’m going to hear the question, “aren’t a serpent and an adder the same?” Well, they are both snakes, this is true. The difference is not as easy as some would think. The serpent is often seen as the bringer of sin and destruction. The adder is a venomous serpent dangerous to all who encounter it. What is the difference between them? Serpents, in the reference of Satan and his minions, can be anything or anyone. The adder is just that, a venomous serpent whose bite is as deadly, or deadlier, than any other serpent might end up being. This is just reminding us to be vigilant, be watchful and wary of the goings on around us in this world in order not to fall off the path Jesus left for us to follow. We should start early with our children and with each other daily learning, listening, teaching, believing and sharing that belief. All learning starts somewhere. This verse shows that one.
Colossians 3:20 KJV – Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
It’s not something we always like to do, obeying our parents. Even as a grown up adult, there are those you must continue to be obedient toward, those who you consider your parents, whether by birth or adoption, those elders you show respect toward in life outside the family. All of us need to remember that, as followers of Christ, the three words that are more important than any other words contain all the obedience, the faith, the peace, patience and more within them. Those three words are Love One Another, the simplest concept with the most complicated methodology there ever has been on this earth since the beginning of time itself.
Ephesians 6:2-3 KJV – Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
These are familiar words. We have heard them many times throughout Scripture, and they started here.
Exodus 20:12 KJV – Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Now we see where Moses held the tablets upon which God wrote the Ten Commandments. Those Ten Commandments boil down to the same three words Jesus shared with His Disciples and Apostles, Love One Another. It’s a simple concept with difficult technicalities, way back when time began and on into the future as yet to be. That’s why we have to learn and re-learn so much in connection to those three little words.
1 Thessalonians 5:5 KJV – Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Now, we see here in Paul’s words while with the citizens of Thessaly, what it means to be followers of Christ. While we minister one to another, pray and reflect on our lives, we remember both darkness and light. We remember that even in the darkest parts of our lives, whether it be illness, death, destruction, or whatever, still have a light of hope to wipe out all that bad stuff we end up encountering throughout our lifetimes. The path of Christ is always well lit. We just have to reach toward it, and sometimes life on the earth makes that difficult. This is why we go back to the words of John the Beloved so often.
John 12:36 KJV – While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
The light Jesus speaks of is enlightenment, truth, Spiritual Truth, not just any truth. His truth is far different than so much that is considered truth here on earth. The reason is simple. The truth Jesus spoke of isn’t from an earthly source. His Truth is a Spiritual Truth, omniscient, omnipresent, not part of this earth, but part of us in a completely different way. We’ve often heard this to be considered Fruit of the Spirit. That’s where this verse comes in.
Galatians 5:22 KJV – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Galatians are the people of Gaul, which is known as Turkey today. When Paul was with them teaching of Jesus and God through the Holy Spirit, he shared with them amazing thoughts that most of them would never truly have understood prior to that moment. Our human spirits can strive to be connected fully with the Holy Spirit, by sharing all these attributes of Spirit. That’s important for us to realize, and recognize appropriately. There is so much involved in the four letter of the word LOVE that some of us will work for a lifetime trying to find and understand what it is to be unconditional with the aspects of that four letter word LOVE and how it has more to do with God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit than it has with anything we encounter in this world. This is what Paul taught in Rome.
Romans 12:2 KJV – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Renewing our minds and spirits is very important, because life can drag us down and we need to be brought back up out of the quagmire of life in order to see, hear, listen, think, and more with a clear and calm mind and spirit. In this world filled with sin and sinners we often have to capture that time and use it wisely whenever it is possible. This is what is shared here with Paul’s teaching in Corinth.
1 Corinthians 5:9 KJV – I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
1 Corinthians 5:11 KJV – But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
There’s that word, fornicator, yet again, in our Scriptures. Fornicators are those who pursue infidelity. This is important because infidelity occurs both within a marriage and before or between marriages, and often can cause the end of marriage or any relationship between two people. In this world today, infidelity often is celebrated, in place of being scorned. Yet, truthfully, in order to be part of those in an enlightened state following Jesus, we have to be aware of what is and is not pursuing the light of God’s love. This next pair of verses from Paul’s teachings in Ephesus share another step forward into that light.
Ephesians 6:4-5 KJV – And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
It is easy to sow the seeds of hatred, of anger, and all the bad things in this world. It is harder to prove to be the light in the darkness Jesus wants us to strive toward. It’s more apparent now than ever due to all the violence, the wickedness and fearmongering we see around this world every day. Finding that light, the path of Jesus created for us, is more important than it ever was if you are just starting or even just returning to that path, and also if you’ve been trying to get your footing on His path of righteousness for your entire lifetime.
1 Peter 2:18 KJV – Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
The thoughts of Servants and Servitude isn’t anything like people often think of this word today as slavery was in colonial America or anywhere else in the world and on back through time even long before Jesus. For Scripture, in the New Testament, servants are those who help one another to understand God’s existence in life as we should know it and understand it. We get a little more clarity toward that understanding with Paul’s next words in Ephesus to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:6 KJV – Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
There are times, even now, when we hear of people more inclined toward money and enjoying excessive behaviors, than toward devout faith, understanding, and sharing of God’s Unconditional Love in this world around us. That’s something all of the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus worked diligently to share the difference between being and doing good and being and doing evil as John the Beloved shared in this pair of verses in his Gospel.
John 3:20-21 KJV – For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
John the Beloved, friend and adoptive brother to Jesus, for His mother Mary, spoke of Jesus and the lessons taught, no matter the threat to his life on earth. A godly life might cause chaos in life as we know it on earth, but without it the light on that path fades away. We have to work toward that light in order for it to shine bright. 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: Charlie Pride ~ Jesus Don’t Give Up On Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUvxvvjbD6o&list=PLgLnduKbdexD0NxNrPfRRmx5umMi742Hl&index=14
~ 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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