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Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our Sunday sermon. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. Our ministry was built on the truth of God’s love. 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 heart, mind, and soul to be shared with any willing to listen and hear 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 & LinkedIn
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 family members traveling at the end of this upcoming week for a family wedding.
- Please pray for a friend whose closest friend is very ill right now.
- Please pray for my friend Paul, who has lost two pets in a very short amount of time. He is quite distraught at that fact.
- We are ever watchful in regard to the weather with tropical weather and with the high winds around many places. We continue to pray for those who suffer or have suffered from the COVID-19 chaos. 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 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 who are jobless, homeless, no matter what might have ended up causing either of those. Pray that providence would find them and ease the suffering.
- Pray for the families of the survivors and the lost in the building collapse in Miami, Florida this past week.
- 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.
- Today we pray for those celebrating Independence Day in the USA stay safe, celebrate another year, and remember God’s love which brought us here.
Happy Birthday to our colleague Pastor Stephen Okoth.
Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our fervent prayer for today. We pray for the ones suffering as a result of the multitude of disasters around this world. We pray for those lost in the midst of those same disasters. We pray that truth can be seen where too many lies have filled life as we know it. We pray for the ability to work in society and gain confidence as a result. We pray for our children and grandchildren, that this world will be a better place than it was for our ancestors. 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: Tauren Wells & Jenn Johnson ~ Famous For (I Believe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15X2yZ1LT8
Sermon: We continue with our work through 1 Peter to gain better insight on how the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ taught through what is now Greece, Italy, Turkey and other places after the Resurrection. We start here today.
1 Peter 1:11 KJV – 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.
One thing that seems to be difficult for non-believers to grasp would be in the fact that Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles of Christ were working hard to gain the faith and hope of future generations since the Resurrection. It was a perilous career for the remaining eleven, the siblings of Jesus, Mary and Mary Magdalene as well. All of them met a great deal of adversity. That is one of many reasons to explore every written word held within the Word of God as His inspiration filled hearts and minds over all the centuries since that moment when Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. For more insight on this we explore a verse in the second epistle of the founder of the Church, Peter.
2 Peter 1:21 KJV – For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Miracles are not manmade. That’s one thing people get confused about in this world we live in. Babies born dangerously premature, or out of the wombs of dead mothers, still alive and breathing would be as much a miracle of God as it is a gift from skilled medical personnel. People who come out of comatose states, survive dangerous surgery, and other chaos in this world have the blessing of God to still be here on this earth. There are many in this world who have said they touched heaven at least once in their lifetimes. Yet, how many heard the voice of our Savior? Have they ever been able to give that insight after dire emergencies? All of us are children of God so long as we follow in the footsteps of our Savior Jesus Christ. Here is a verse that portrays the extents the Hebrew minor prophets and ministers shared.
Hebrews 3:6 KJV – But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Hang on to your faith, and your confidence within it will grow stronger and stronger. Once we remember that, on our best days and our worst, that ability to hope and rejoice in the Lord will grow in our hearts and minds, and be shared through our very human spirits, our love will show from there. This is one reason we should do just that.
Isaiah 61:6 KJV – But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
Every Christian who realizes their worth in God’s eyes, will be able to reach for that faith, and confidently share the blessings of God no matter what may face us as any view of adversary. There’s a reason we should do so. Jesus and God proved that through the gift of the Holy Spirit as it led John the Beloved to write the Revelation, and this verse shares that importance.
Revelation 1:6 KJV – And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
The power of Christ, the power of God our Heavenly Father, is bigger than any power that can be shown in this world we live in right this moment. There is nothing on this earth that can give us a glimmer of how great and grand the Lord would be and how much of a place our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ and their gift of the Holy Spirit should play in our lives. This is what Malachi, one of the smaller prophets of Scripture would share.
Malachi 1:11 KJV – For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
God’s name, His name, shall be great among the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Well, that’s been proven over the millennia that have past us as we live, age, and die here on this earth. His greatness is magnified in the fact that we believe, and have faith that our belief shines through all the chaos that this world can throw at us. Here is what Peter has to add to this.
1 Peter 1:12 KJV – 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.
Remember, even Satan bows to God’s power. His chaos might drive us bananas on occasion, but God’s authority is absolute here in this world and up in heaven. That’s why Jesus walked among the citizens of earth all those years ago. He proved the gospels, word for word. He proved the magnitude of God’s love and power for us, in words and actions, for thirty three years of living on this earth, and even in the promise of His very existence the many millennia that had passed before His birth. That’s the amazing gift of faith and how powerful faith can manage to be as we see in the voices of the Hebrews right here.
Hebrews 11:39-40 KJV – And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Perfection, that’s a tough one for so many. To a lot of us it takes a lot to manage perfection. However, Jesus taught that we are perfect so long as we stay in His path as He walked it, even today far after those original footprints in the sand have been traveled over through two millennia. Isaiah was another who tried very hard to share what it means to walk with God, to talk with God. Notice I didn’t say to, but with. All of us should communicate WITH God, as the prophets, the apostles, the disciples of God and Jesus proved at just about every turn through their lifetimes.
Isaiah 28:16 KJV – Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Jesus set a very strong cornerstone for faith and belief in God’s Word. Take your time to understand everything that Jesus taught then and what you each learn from His word even without Him standing in the pulpit in real life. In truth, those who strongly believe understand that our faith in our belief portrays God’s truth without a single trouble interfering. That’s what these words from the Apostles shares.
Acts 2:4 KJV – And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
It is so important for us to think before we speak. It is just as important to pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance each and every day, no matter what we faced yesterday, or will face today, and may face tomorrow. Let us remember, we can work hard to correct things we managed in our past. We can change things about ourselves as often as we like in the present. However, let God worry about tomorrow, and realize that God and Jesus are here through the Holy Spirit to keep our footsteps strong and sure no matter what the future may bring. That’s what Paul proves in his words in Corinth and Ephesus.
2 Corinthians 1:22 KJV – Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Ephesians 3:10 KJV – To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
When I was a girl, I would often ask why Scripture went back to the past, shared then through Jesus, and still shared again today in this world, and yet, fits each and every moment that has ever occurred in this world. I was just a girl, but it was then, as it often is now, something I have worked to understand more and more. Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles had their days when they sought guidance after the resurrection. Here Peter shares how to wear the armor of God throughout our lives.
1 Peter 1:13 KJV – Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Again, tomorrow is spoken about here. The future is something that waits for God’s Word to return to us. The revelation of Christ is an important promise for each and every one of us alive, dead, and still to come. The gospel writer Luke also has much the same to be shared.
Luke 12:35 KJV – Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
This is the memory that Luke and Matthew both share. For historical significance in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, understanding who they were and what they did in their lifetimes on earth help us realize how significant their writing would be. Luke was a physician by practice, and a companion of the Apostle Paul as well as an evangelist. Now we see a verse from the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 21:42 KJV – Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
The writers of the four gospels were brought by Christ, to show them that the power of God’s Word was worth more than money, stature, and anything else in the world. Matthew was a publican, a tax collector, who gave up his position to follow Jesus. His gospel proves that there was a reason for a man with the knowledge which he had to be walking alongside our Savior just as much as Peter, Paul, and the remaining members of the twelve. We’re going to look at another verse from the Gospel of Luke here.
Luke 21:34 KJV – And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Our last verse today was written by Paul. Confidence in our faith and belief is something we all must practice. You see it in the words written through the hands of Peter, Paul, Matthew, John the Beloved, Luke, and so many more. It is something we all must learn when it comes to sharing faith, have confidence in your faith, and it will grow and gain in strength.
Hebrews 10:35 KJV – Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
It is vitally important to believe, to have faith, to understand our belief and help our faith grow and be recognized, by ourselves, by others around us, by God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and that’s something to think about as we pray in the prayer 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: Faith to Believe Sheri Jones-Moffett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYLaz1uBSP4
~ 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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