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Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our Sunday sermon. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. This ministry shares the Word of God, the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Our ministry was created with twelve people around this world back in 2008. Each of us shares God’s Word in ways He guides us to utilize. 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 & 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.
- 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 pray for calm skies and seas, calm voices and spirits, and also healthy outcomes for those who are affected.
- Prayers are needed for those who suffer greater amounts of loneliness and frustration as well. There are several family members and friends suffering from this.
- Pray for Rev. Lisa Tyler and her family who are quarantining after testing positive for COVID-19.
- Pray for my brother and his wife who are suffering excessive pain issues after back injuries. My brother just had surgery two weeks ago, and my sister-in-law has been having issues with her back and tailbone.
- Pray for a friend of a friend whose daughter Everleigh is, after last update, fighting excessive cancer cells once more.
- Pray that another friend continues to heal and their pain eases even just a little at a time steadily without setbacks.
- 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 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 pray continually for health and wellness for my brother, sister-in-law, and our many friends who continue to heal. We pray for our colleague Rev. Lisa Tyler and her family who are quarantining due to testing positive with COVID-19. We pray for those suffering as a result of shootings and unrest around this world. We pray that truth can be seen where too many lies have filled life as we know it. We pray for those whose jobs are in a scary position. We pray also for family members of colleagues and friends. We pray for those traveling back and forth across this country, and around the world so they remain healthy. We pray for the medical scientists, and physicians who battle on the front lines of the COVID-19 virus and all the other terrible diseases in this world. 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: Chris McClarney ~ I’m Listening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef52AmdVwYI
Sermon: We continue to explore Peter’s second epistle today. There is a lot that is shared in these few chapters and today we continue with chapter two.
2 Peter 2:6 KJV – And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
Many, many people recognize the reference to Sodom and Gomorrah. These two cities were so terrible, so corrupt, that ONE man and his family would be the only ones to leave. Still yet, even with that, the evil and filth could not be completely removed even from Lot and his family, as seen in the end of his lifetime. Here we see the reference for Peter’s words as well as the words of Moses.
Genesis 19:24-25 – Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Numbers 16:38 KJV – The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.
The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah point out just how close the people were getting to a repeat of what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah in his words here.
Isaiah 1:9 KJV – Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Jeremiah 50:40 KJV – As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ also points how sin and sinfulness can destroy us, no matter how good we might be. He too references Sodom and Gomorrah. We see that here in the Gospel of Matthew and it shows quite easily how Jesus warns His Apostles and Disciples at the time with a great deal of caution in the world then and even still today.
Matthew 10:15 KJV – Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Matthew 11:23 KJV – And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for it the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
These moments with Jesus are so very important to all that the Twelve Apostles do teaching Scriptural Truth, the Gospel according to what four men learned firsthand from Jesus Christ Himself. The reason that these four Scrolls are focused on so often is because we NEED to be nourished by the Word in so many different ways to ensure that the Word ends up engraved upon our hearts, readily reached in our minds, shared with our voices, our hands and expressions. Peter again is referencing Lot here in this next verse.
2 Peter 2:7 KJV – And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
Lot, his children, his wife, all were hurrying to leave the evil cities behind, and yet, his wife could not fully leave the life that she had known there. For that reason, her life ended immediately, just as the lives of those who were there in Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, though he was a good man, ended up being corrupted fully by the two cities that he had fled with all he could carry. His family too suffered for their lifetimes as a result of the corruption. We see that reference in these three verses from Genesis.
Genesis 13:13 KJV – But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the lord exceedingly.
Genesis 19:5 KJV – And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us that we may know them.
Genesis 19:16 KJV – And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
Peter provides this stark reminder of sin and sinfulness to those who he is teaching. It is very important to understand so that we do not get sucked in ourselves in this world so filled with corruption and evil.
2 Peter 2:8 KJV – (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds; )
Genesis 13:13 KJV – But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
The importance of the caution Peter is teaching here is simply put as being watchful and careful as to what we do, say, and think during life in this world today, as it was in the years after the death of Jesus our Savior. The voices of the Hebrew prophets as heard here are sharing that wisdom as well.
Hebrews 11:4 KJV – For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
What does the reference mean to us today? It means that if it happens once, it can, and often does, happen again. We have seen it through just about every scroll of the Old Testament, and also in much of the New Testament. We see it in history outside of Scripture as well. All we have to do is a simple search on the various disguises that evil can wear. Corruption, Collusion, Mercenaries, the list continues on and on, filling more pages than could ever possibly be written. It is the unwritten that will be the downfall of many. This is what Peter shares next.
2 Peter 2:9 KJV – The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Ah, there it is, Judgment Day. The moment of truth for all humankind. The moment where all of our sins are counted, and watched like a scary movie on a screen for all to see. All our good deeds included, and our faith and belief in Jesus Christ who will save the ones who Believe and prove that belief out loud and in person. Here we see the servant Job’s thought about Judgment Day along with Kings David and Solomon.
Job 21:30 KJV – That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
Psalm 37:33 KJV – The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
Proverbs 12:13 KJV – The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
There is so much to understand regarding the hold that evil with the seven troubles and how strong it is here on this earth we live on. Jesus gave us a simple prayer that helps us remind ourselves and others how to discern good and evil and how He is the method to assist us there.
Matthew 6:13 KJV – 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.
Jesus goes on to say this to those who are listening among His Apostles and Disciples.
Matthew 10:15 KJV – Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
What gift did Jesus just give us in this verse? “It shall be more tolerable for two cities that were literally obliterated to the very foundations of them than it will be on Judgment Day, when Armageddon is realized. He is preparing us, as He prepared His Apostles, for the ultimate moment of truth. That is no small feat, even two thousand and more years since the words were first spoken. Temptation continues its rather nasty hold on this world, those seven troubles of vanity, envy, lust, enmity, wrath, shame and doubt have certainly become a very deep quagmire around this earth we live on. There is one caveat that God and Jesus both speak of. They will not test us to the point of no return. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. This is what we see in these verses from Paul’s writings in Corinth and the youngest mortal brother of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV – There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Jude 6 KJV – And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Our last verse from Peter today shares something that we all have to realize at some point in our life. What does it mean walk after the flesh? Well, owning the seven troubles to the point where they are oozing from every pore in our bodies. This is what Peter is sharing here.
2 Peter 2:10 KJV – But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Peter is referencing Exodus yet again in this instance. Here are the words Moses wrote.
Exodus 22:28 KJV – Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
Moses was warning the Israelites not to mingle with the people they were working toward removing from God’s home for the Israelites. Moses was quite adamant that the Israelites pay attention to what God’s warnings were all about. Peter and the Apostles and other followers of Jesus repeated these warnings. Here we see that with Timothy and the youngest brother of Jesus, Jude.
2 Timothy 3:2 KJV – For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.
Jude 8 KJV – Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Jude 16 KJV – These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
What did James say about listening to gossip or even participating in gossip? Don’t pay attention to it. Strike it out of our minds. Bridle our tongues to prevent our repeating it. This is what God was sharing way, way back in the beginning and continues to tell us through the Holy Spirit today. Now, that’s something to think about as we pray in the prayer that Jesus taught us.
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: Matthew West ~ The God Who Stays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPwd_TQpsHY
~ 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 © 2022 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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