Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our sermon or
midweek study. You will normally see us posted on Sunday and Wednesday. 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
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 pray for Elder Cal Jennings as he has been in and
out of the hospital and is spending most of his days bedridden. May the good
Lord Jesus bless him with strength, health, and faith.
- Please pray for my friend Kerry who has been going through
a lot and suffers a lot of pain and suffering. May her faith in God strengthen
her.
- Please pray that financial struggles will be gone for my
brother, our member Theresa, and our family as well.
- May Your love shine through those who live, even in their
fear and sorrow.
- Pray for the world at large that He might open the eyes of
every heart to see the truth, the way, and the light.
Prayer: Father in heaven, our prayer today is
to have the Spirit bring clarity to each of our decisions. We thank You for
that gift and the many more You have brought us. May our fears be drawn out of
us. May our pain and sorrow be eased. May peace be brought from our hearts and
shared with others. May Your gifts of love shine through us toward others. We
pray for the poor, the sick, the sorrowful, the wounded, and the frightened. We
pray for the soldiers, the Samaritans, the children, and the rest. We pray in
thanksgiving for every gift brought us. 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: Open the Eyes of My Heart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZ9iuo1kRs&index=163&list=PL614A115BF39E5936
Sermon: Too often we hear the words ‘you’ve
got to see to believe’. Well, in the case of Jesus and our following His path,
it is the opposite. To see you simply have to believe. Jesus said this to one
of His Apostles. Yet, it was conveyed to all, even if it was directed at just
one. That’s how we should share it.
John 20:29 KJV – Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
We see this, easily enough, there are the doubters. If you
recall in many of my previous sermons I have spoken of seven troubles. Those
seven troubles, vanity, envy, lust, enmity, wrath, shame, and doubt, all exist
in this human world. You might think they are too close to the same thing. That’s
true in some ways. The reason for this being such in some ways as opposed to
all ways would be simple. Each of them equal trouble. Put them together, you’re
talking BIG trouble. That’s where faith can enter into the conversation. You
see, you can’t believe so you’ll see if you don’t have the faith to do so. It’s
not like boom, it’s there. You have to have the faith to believe, no matter the
circumstances. Sure, we could be in the middle of total chaos and ask ‘where
are You, Jesus?’ He’s there if we believe even though we can’t see Him in the flesh.
Remember Thomas and how much he doubted? He doubted enough to have Jesus tell
him to touch His wounds. It is why we have the phrase ‘doubting Thomas’ in this
world. Here again we have another view later in Scripture that shows us we don’t
have to see to believe. We have to believe and we’ll see.
II Corinthians 5:7 KJV –
(‘For we walk by faith, not by sight’)
What I love about Scripture is that it shows us in several views
how faith can be seen in our hearts even if it’s not seen before our eyes. That’s
what Jesus was working to teach through His entire life while preaching. Throughout
all that time He walked in the different cities and towns seeing believers and
non-believers, Jews and Gentiles. He taught regardless of their believing or
not. There is a reason. At least one of the many could indeed begin the walk of
faith toward believing. It isn’t easy now. It wasn’t easy then either.
I Peter 1:8 KJV – Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, thou now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Look here, again showing that even though we haven’t seen
Christ, we believe, we can believe, because the proof isn’t in seeing with your
eyes, it is in your heart where you see. The opening song is a song that says ‘open the
eyes of my heart, Lord’. Well, the only way we can even think to have Him doing
so is to have faith that He can do so in the first place. Sure, we aren’t
perfect. But you have to believe to have Christ share His love, thus assisting
in making us perfect. Remember, His strength is perfect. 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: His Strength Is Perfect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGC9KT918Kk
~ 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 © 2015 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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