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 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 friends of my friend Kerry Barban Huffines.
Their names are Steve Chappell, Bruce Brown, and Jim Franke. May the love of
Jesus bring health, healing, peace, and comfort for their families and each of
them. Please also pray for Kerry as she continues with her voyage toward
health.
- Keep your prayers up for Elder Cal Jennings as he continues
his struggles with his physical health and his spiritual healing.
- Please add more prayers for my family as we continue to slowly trudge through our financial and health difficulties. Our lives are blessed by your love through Christ.
- Please add more prayers for my family as we continue to slowly trudge through our financial and health difficulties. Our lives are blessed by your love through Christ.
- Please pray for our member Theresa Bogard and her daughter
as they go through multiple issues including financial and others.
- Pray that blessings will be found with each of our members
and that communication can open up once more.
- Pray that God shares what people are missing and the truth
would be seen beyond the earthly wants and desires of men.
- Bring hope to those suffering pain, fear, and despair.
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 that we might follow Your path. May our pain and sorrow be eased that we
might reflect on Your love and accept it’s shelter in the midst of our storms.
May peace be brought from our hearts and shared with others. May Your gifts of
love shine through us. 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: Jesus Loves The Little Children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CBtA1A-cR8
Sermon: For many it has been a pretty tough
week. I have heard from several asking if God has abandoned them. If we pay
attention to Scripture we know that He never abandons us, we abandon Him. Yet,
still, even with that, ask and you receive. There’s a reason. If we ask, seek,
knock, all of that will lead us back to God’s path through Jesus. Here you’ll
see an example of that through the words of Jesus our Savior.
Matthew 7:7-11 KJV – Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Jesus said
EVERYONE who asks, seeks, or knocks, will find they are receiving what is
needed, finding what is missing, and walking through that open door. Even if we’re
pursuing evil, you know, envy, lust, enmity, wrath, vanity, shame, or doubt,
yet will be sharing the good with our children, those happen to be gifts of the
heart, then God sees this as easily as the bad. With that, He will give those
good things that are asked of Him. Now, many of us forget this factor. We will
miss the opportunities to share His love, even as we share our love with our
children. There are those who even forget how to love the children, theirs or
otherwise.
Now we come
to how prayer brings God’s love into view. Let’s take a look.
Matthew 21:22 KJV – And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing,
ye shall receive.
We have to
believe! It’s not something you can just ask and He’ll agree to it without your
help. Yes, I said your help. We’ve got to pray for whatever it might be. That
could be peace within us, our families, or our friends. It might be food and
shelter, clothing, and other necessities. Yet, in one way or another, prayer
can be answered. One of our members has been through a really rough time
financially and had to find a place to live without much warning. She is
disabled and lives off of nearly nothing. Yet she provides as well as she can
for her only child. It is this, even in small ways, which gets rewarded. Sometimes
that’s just a willing ear to hear anything that brings concern, is seen as a
tiny miracle, and so on. Most of the time that’s my ear. I am often glad to
hear from her even if it is something that worries her. Whether she realizes it
or not I’m sitting there praying inside my head that something good will find
her, and her child. That’s what friends are for.
Now, we get
to one of those segments of Scripture that is often reflected upon. It is a
single verse within the parable of the Vine and Branches.
John 15:7 KJV – If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Well, we can’t
very well ask of Him if we don’t keep His love in our hearts. It may not always
be easy to see that love inside us, or to even feel it, but, if we hold it there,
something good can happen for us. His love is a gift. It should be shared, not
just to others, but within ourselves. If we forget to realize we are a part of
His love, and He is a part of ours, the reflection and giving of it will not
register as it should within our consciousness. So ask, and in some way you’ll
receive. Give and in other ways it will be given to you. Knock on His door and
He’ll open it. All you have to do is believe in your heart and anything is
possible. 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: You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGLSk3AVcUU
~ 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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