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:
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 who has been
suffering greatly with his health. May the Lord bring his spirits up and help
heal him.
- Please pray for a dear friend of mine, 12 years strong,
as she mourns the loss of her therapy cat. I brought that cat to her as a kitten
three years ago. He got so sick she couldn’t save him. Her heartbreak fills my
prayers hoping God will ease her pain and sorrow.
- Please pray for relief in the trials and tribulations
for Sister Theresa Bogard.
- Please pray for my nephew August. He has been diagnosed
with Stevens–Johnson
Syndrome after an allergic reaction to a new medication.
- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what
tomorrow brings.
- Please pray that our new home remains our new home
until the Neff family ends up walking with God the Father and Jesus.
- 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 suffering as a result of the terrors
that have occurred just this past week around this world.
- Pray for those survivors and those lost in the
earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis this past month.
- Pray for our sick and wounded that they may heal.
- Pray for our homeless during this bitter winter.
Prayer: Father
in heaven, our prayer today is to have the Spirit bring clarity to each of our
decisions. We pray for Your Divine enlightenment and understanding while
studying Your Word. We thank You for these gifts and the many more You have
brought us. May our fears be drawn out of us. Help us to see the many gifts
Your love brings and the unknown locations it might be found. 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. We pray that every tomorrow would bring good things.
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: Faith to Believe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9xsUmo_zRA
Sermon:
This week I saw a series of verses regarding advice. We’ve all had people who
want to share what they believe is good advice. Sometimes it is not easy to
realize and recognize the good advice that our Lord shares with us, beyond His
word. Let’s start with the Scroll of Deuteronomy to see what the Old Testament shares
with us about God’s advice.
Deuteronomy
4:29 (KJV) – But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all
thy heart and with all thy soul.
We can’t find the Lord God just by searching aimlessly.
We have to be consistent. Use your heart, soul, and mind to find the grace that
God and Jesus promise us is there for the taking. Love is an amazing gift.
Unconditional love is an eternal gift, one from God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Let’s see a different view.
Deuteronomy
10:12 (KJV) – And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and
to serve the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul,
Fear, something we don’t understand when it comes to God’s
Word. This is different from the primal, human view of fear, but of spiritual
fear. God visits us in the Spirit form and shares with us the amazing truth and
unconditional patience and love.
Deuteronomy
13:3 (KJV) – Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of
that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Something that is often shared in Scripture is living in
God’s love with all year heart, your spirit, your mind, and your soul. This is
not always easy to do. Everyone stumbles, but Jesus and God both have promised
and proven the promise, that we can get back on the path of faith and righteousness.
Here are two verses that share that thought.
Deuteronomy
30:2 (KJV) – And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that
I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with
all thy soul;
Deuteronomy
30:10 (KJV) – If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of
the Lord thy God, to
keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the
law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
In the case of these next verses regarding the Heavenly
Father’s advice, this is something to take home with you. Believe in His love
and that will flow from you to others, whether family, friend, or even
strangers. Share that faith in His truth and unconditional love, and He will be
beside you no matter what stumbling blocks get thrown into your path.
1
Kings 2:4 (KJV) – That the Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me,
saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with
all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a
man on the throne of Israel.
1
Kings 14:8 (KJV) – And rent the kingdom away from the house
of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who
kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only
which was right in mine eyes;
Though there are times when our path gets rocky and we
stray from God’s path to full righteousness, it is always possible to redeem
yourself. Note, I said always possible. God wants us to see the TRUTH! God wants
us to know HIS TRUTH! That is why He and Jesus brought us the gift of PRAYER
and the opportunity of PRAISE. These last two verses show us just what is needed.
Psalm 86:12 (KJV) – I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify
thy name for evermore.
Proverbs 3:5 (KJV) – Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding.
TRUST IN HIM! BELIEVE IN HIM! HAVE FAITH IN HIM! Doing so
will benefit you in ways you never dreamed possible. God gives us great advice,
way back from the beginning and on into the future as yet to be. 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)
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)
~ Shalom ~
Rev. Laura A. Neff
Elder Calvin Jennings
Covenant of Hope Ministries Main Site: https://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 https://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.
