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.
- Please pray for my son and daughter-in-law as her father fights cancer for the fifth time. Pray also for my daughter-in-law’s entire family as they soldier on through this terrible disease her father is suffering from. May the Lord bless them with patience and courage in these darkened days.
- Pray that another dear friend gets good news in the coming weeks regarding their healing process going well.
- Pray that my brother, who has just been medically released to return to work with limitations and restrictions will be able to get back into the swing without too much trouble.
- Pray for my friend Jeff Taylor and his family as they continue in mourning for his father after the memorial service earlier last week.
- We continue to be ever watchful in regard to the battle for Ukraine on the other side of the world. We pray for all those who are affected by the terrible things going on there. We mourn for the families and the massive loss of life. We also pray for everything that is affected as a result of the economic issues that are surrounding everyone right now.
- Pray for a friend of a friend whose daughter Everleigh is still fighting Leukemia.
- 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 continue to pray for the ones suffering as a result of shootings and unrest around this world. We pray for the citizens of Ukraine who are fighting for their sovereignty and their freedom. We pray for those who have lost their lives on all sides of this chaos. We pray for those who have been sick, or are in mourning for family members like Rev. Lisa Tyler’s family and Jeff Taylor’s family who just celebrated the life of his father, who died last week from cancer. We continue to keep Elder Cal Jennings in our prayers as well. We pray for our friend Dena who has been suffering with a grave illness and epilepsy for far too long. 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: Crowder ~ In The House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3lDxE-Vb88
Sermon: We are entering the time of Passover, nearing the moment of Palm Sunday and the celebration of Easter, the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Let us reflect on the beginning story of the celebration of the Passover and why it is celebrated even today. Listen to the original story of the moment that transformed life for all of the Jews of the time and to the present day, not just for the Jews, but for one and all.
Exodus 12:3-20 NKJV – Speak to all the
congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall
take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a
household.
And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next
to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each
man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it
from the sheep or from the goats.
Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on
the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened
bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head
with its legs and its entrails.
You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until
morning you shall burn with fire.
And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your
feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the
Lord’s Passover.
‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the
gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I
see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to
destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to
the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an
everlasting ordinance.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove
leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day
until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day
there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on
them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.
So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will
have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe
this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall
eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what
is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel,
whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened
bread.’ ”
NIV – Tell
the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is
to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must
share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of
people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance
with what each person will eat.
The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,
and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when
all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the
sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the
fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the
head, legs and internal organs.
Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till
morning, you must burn it.
This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into
your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in
haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn
of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.
I am the Lord.
The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are,
and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will
touch you when I strike Egypt.
“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to
come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting
ordinance.
For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the
first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with
yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on
the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for
everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day
that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting
ordinance for the generations to come.
In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast,
from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first
day.
For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And
anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it
must be cut off from the community of Israel.
Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”
I spent a good while meditating on what to start with for our sermon today, as there are a great many possibilities for this journey toward the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Today’s sermon came to me as I read through the various passages in the New Testament gospels. Today we will explore the first of the passages I was led to concentrate on. That said, if you have a Bible within reach, please turn to the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 20. May the Lord bless the reading of His Word.
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard - NKJV
“For the kingdom of
heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers
for his vineyard.
Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them
into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the
marketplace,
and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will
give you.’ So they went.
Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and
said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’
They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into
the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’
“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call
the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’
And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received
a denarius.
But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they
likewise received each a denarius.
And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying,
‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who
have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’
But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you
not agree with me for a denarius?
Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as
to you.
Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye
evil because I am good?’
So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few
chosen.”
There are a lot of emotions and concerns in the thoughts of the Apostles and Disciples that were following Jesus while He lived on this earth. Jesus is, in these words of the parable, foretelling His arrest, imprisonment, trial, conviction, crucifixion, death and resurrection. Jesus is working to get them to realize what He is saying to them, and yet, they still do not see the writing on the wall. Jesus is finding that the human psyche hadn’t changed all that much from the time of Moses and through David, Daniel, and the rest. So let’s see what His words evoke from history and which thoughts get shared after His resurrection.
Exodus 19:5 NKJV – Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
NIV – Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
Listening to God is important for all of us, for every part of our bodies, our minds, all of it. Our spirit, human and holy, our physical body, including blood, veins, arteries, organs, all of it is just as important to connect with our Heavenly Father. You might not realize or recognize the fact that, just in breathing this polluted air, we are miracles of God’s creation. Yet, we mess up that perfect creation by what we do daily, whether it is using profanity, eating things that we shouldn’t, or even eating too much of the good foods that exist. We mess up by not getting up and getting out to be with others, whether it is someone else in the same house or apartment complex, someone at the bus stop, grocery store, school, or wherever we go daily. Remember, God wants us to express His view of unconditional love and the ability to understand that we are all as individual as we are alike. That’s the biggest blessing when it comes to being God’s creation. Here is more explanation of these concerns and considerations.
Colossians 4:1 NKJV – Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
NIV – Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 NKJV – Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
NIV – Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
The prophets knew well that God could see and know what all His creation would manage every moment of every day. Jesus remembered that fact and shared it in many ways that we are all working toward the same goal, eternal life. Yet, even in the presence of people He loved dearly, Jesus realized that they were not understanding what He was teaching and why He was warning them. In this world we all live in the now and often forget to prepare ourselves for tomorrow. Remember, tomorrow is never promised, so do whatever you can to make your today beneficial to you in every possible way. This is what Jesus had to say to add to the words in the Gospel of John the Beloved.
John 9:4 NKJV – I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
NIV – As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
Night is coming, Jesus warned. Yet, the entire group around Him realized nothing. Throughout Scripture, we find that people might listen, but they fail to hear what is being said. People fail in understanding, sometimes in the worst ways, and often it doesn’t always dawn on them until it’s too late to stop something, or change it either one. That is what the prophets throughout Scripture realized and recognized, and God has too. The owner of that vineyard Jesus spoke about is telling us about God, and, because God loves us all equally, each of us is treated identically so long as we remember Him and His love, that unconditional, amazing gift for each of us to fill our hearts, our lives, our minds, spirits, and souls. Reflect again on the first two verses of Matthew Chapter 20.
Matthew 20:1-2 NKJV – For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
NIV – For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into the vineyard.
Heaven is a place equally as large as the earth we live upon and within right here and now. Yet, what is not in heaven consist of all the manifestations of sin and evil, as we all know, which are far too numerous to name. What is not in heaven would be all the pain, the sorrow, the failure and fear that exists here on this earth today, and far back in the history of mankind. Jesus was preparing His Apostles, Disciples, and other followers, for the days ahead when He would only be here in spirit. He was warning them, this world would forever be changed upon His death and resurrection. From what we have seen, Jesus was more than pinpoint in His accuracy. All that has happened since that moment has been a steadily wearing away of the beautiful world that God first created. As we get nearer to the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we should reflect on our own lives and seek ways to improve our understanding of the Word and what it shares about each of us as we study, discuss, and share with others what transforms in our hearts, our minds, as we do. 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: Lauren Daigle ~ Rescue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYR0xP1j4PY
~ 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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