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Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our Sunday sermon. You will normally see us posted either in written or live sermons every 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. 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 and voice, 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. Continue with the prayers since there still is a need for new housing as the family is in dire straits there at this point in time.
- Please pray for calm, joy, love, and peace for Sister Theresa Bogard who is soon to be my literal sister in seven months or so.
- We are ever watchful in regard to the weather, the worldwide 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 school year done by remote for so many 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.
- Continue to pray for four of my family members as they go through some serious concerns, medical and otherwise, this week. One in particular, my mother, who goes in for major surgery on Tuesday, needs the uplifting prayers to keep the fear from her heart, mind, and spirit.
- 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 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 one anonymous connection who will undergo surgery this next week, You, Father know their name. 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: You Keep Hope Alive ~ Church of the City feat Jon Reddick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROsdWfK_G0E
Sermon: We are pursuing a topic shared in a Bible verse or three last week through Elder Cal Jennings. It is a subject that definitely needs exploration in this world today. We always can recognize and know what good, God’s true view of good and goodness, would look like. Can we say the same about evil and wickedness? That’s what we will explore for the next little bit. Let’s start here in three of the first five scrolls of Scripture.
Genesis 2:9 KJV – And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Now, why do you think God created a tree of knowledge and also a tree of life? What is life without knowledge? The difference in this case is one that creates the seven troubles that we have known and studied for so very long. The tree of life has the sweetest, most satisfying, most beneficial of all fruits. Yet, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would look and smell appealing to any and all, but there would be a bitter seed in the center. What is that bitter seed? Evil, wickedness, which comes from evil, that’s what that bitter seed would be. That’s where we see this next verse.
Genesis 2:17 KJV – But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
What is it God meant in the thought we should surely die just by eating the fruit of that tree? Free will can bring you to God, or take you completely away from His glorious presence. Wickedness is born and bred through knowing evil and what power people might believe is borne through evildoings. This world today, and even all the way back after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, has obvious evil, and the subtler, the less conspicuous views of that same wickedness and evil. The Seven Troubles were born through the disobedience shared by both Adam and Eve, as well as the Serpent that convinced Eve to eat from the Tree of Good and Evil on that long ago day. That’s what this verse shares.
Genesis 3:5 KJV – For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Now comes the most difficult moment of the time just after Creation of All, when God realizes that, the gift of free will, can often have consequences people never realize before it is too late to change things. That’s what God is sharing in His thoughts. I have had one question asked many times as a result of this specific verse.
Genesis 3:22 KJV – And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
What is the question I have heard many times about this specific verse? Exactly WHO is God talking to? Himself? This is part of the issue with understanding the Holy Trinity. God the Father, Jesus the Savior of God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit, are one and the same, Creator, Savior, Holy Spirit, three methods for humanity to learn and understand God, and yet, because of that moment in the Garden of Eden, it takes more than we can contemplate to repair the rift that occurred between the Creator and mankind. Removing the seven troubles, those terrible chains and shackles attached to so many, takes hard work, complete study, and the confidence that with God we can conquer anything, with Jesus we can surpass them, and through the Holy Spirit, we can destroy them. Like God warned Adam and Eve, many others have warned their followers, family members, friends, colleagues, and so on to be ever watchful. This verse shares what Joseph does in that respect.
Genesis 44:4 KJV – And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?
When we give in to evil, we reward that same evil and fall into the trap that is wickedness. That’s the last thing that we should ever want. It is why God tells us so often to look toward the Word as that Word is written and then apply it, physically, mentally, spiritually, in our own lives. Recognizing all the disguises evil and wickedness have would be a challenge, but with God and His Love in our hearts, minds, and spirits, we can defy that evil wickedness and find the glory God promises us is there just for those who portray His eternal and unconditional Love. Let’s just remember that it takes a careful eye and mind to see and recognize that evil spawns wickedness, which is the very essence of sin. That’s what is shared here.
Genesis 50:20 KJV – But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
So what is shared beyond the Scroll of Genesis regarding evil and wickedness? Oh, trust me, there is plenty to share in discerning evil from good and separating when good is evil in disguise. Yes, that is possible in this world that we live in. It’s not an easy pill to swallow, but it is one that will help us learn discernment and the ability to separate ourselves away from that evil, that wickedness, and the consequences of paying attention to those very elements God warned about all the way back to His creation of humanity, Adam and Eve.
Leviticus 5:4 KJV – Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these.
Shine a light on your heart, mind, spirit, and soul. Get all that darkness out, and throw it away. That’s what this verse warns us to manage. Yes, I know it’s not easy to tell when the darkness is evil and wickedness. That’s why we must learn all about the evil and keep it out of our lives with as much love and faith and hope and understanding as we can develop in God’s Unconditional love. This is a warning, that even the slightest, smallest thing can be our downfall.
In the days after Noah and his family helped to repopulate the world, there was much that would cause problems and that very same evil and wickedness again worked against humanity. Remember, walking out of Egypt, the followers of God’s love had a lot of work to do on their belief, their faith, their unconditional love and devotion to the truth that is God, and was God, and will always be God. That’s where this next set of verses comes in.
Deuteronomy 1:35-40 KJV –
Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good
land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.
Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the
land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly
followed the Lord.
Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go
in thither.
But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither:
encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children,
which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in
thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way
of the Red sea.
It is Moses who is speaking in these verses. Why was Moses forbidden to go into the Holy Land that had been promised for all the Jews, the people of God? He did not have the faith, the understanding, the knowledge to discern between the evil and wickedness that filled him even as he worked to save the Jews from exile. Moses looked like an optimist, but was harboring his inner pessimist. Now, all of us have a bit of pessimism, and often it will rear its head when we don’t want it to do so. I have learned over the years that we all have days when those seven troubles corrupt our very thoughts, and our words can often spew the very wickedness and evil God never wanted to see or hear or feel with His magnificent creation of humanity. That’s as stark a reminder as this verse would be.
Deuteronomy 30:15 KJV – See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
LIFE is GOOD! DEATH is EVIL! On the day Eve gave the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil to Adam and they ate it, death became possible on this Earth we live upon. It’s no easy thing to realize that one simple act of defiance against God’s Unconditional Love could be the very end of everything we hold dear in this world. That’s why God gave us ministers, preachers, teachers, elders, and the ability to find a way to go to church together to teach, learn, understand, and apply the Word to our lives in such a way that it saves our lives, our spirits, our souls, from the death promised to occur at the End of Days when Armageddon becomes a reality. 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: Don’t Tread on Me ~ We the Kingdom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dowS2k2TS4
~ 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 © 2021 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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