Covenant Of Hope Ministries: Believing Is So Much More Than Reading and Writing About Christ

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

Rev. Laura’s other sites: Facebook & Blogspot & Twitter

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. At this time, he is in the hospital once more. May the Lord bring his spirits up and help heal him.

- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.
- 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 our sick and wounded that they may heal.

Prayer: Father in heaven, our prayer today is to have the gift of Your Holy Spirit bring healing to each of our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls. We pray for pure 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 in Your Grace and Glory. Help us to see and realize the many gifts Your love brings and the unknown locations it might be found. May our pains, fears, and sorrows 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: This I Believe – The Creed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRzI_FbWTkg

Sermon: I have seen and read many things over this lifetime that have sometimes had me questioning whether those who say they are truly Christians still say they have to see things to believe they are true. Seeing isn’t always believing. Believe, Jesus told us, BELIEVE and we shall see the glory of God the Father of All. Yet, still, people question, worry, fret, and more in their lives. Why can’t God understand me? Why can’t I get answers from God? I hear these questions all the time. How can you believe in Him when all this sorrow and sadness have filled your life? Yet another question I get often, more often than people would think. It’s natural to question your faith. It is also natural to seek answers from others, ordained or ordinary, when it comes to faith and being faithful. This was especially true after the Resurrection of Christ. We’ll start here.

Acts 8:37 KJV – And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Saying you believe with all your heart is something that is hard to prove to ourselves sometimes. Do you know how to believe with all your heart in something that is special to the elemental and spiritual levels of your soul and spirit? It takes faith in that belief, not belief in the faith you have, but the opposite. Believing is knowing that Jesus died for us. He rose from the dead and is with us still in the form of the Holy Spirit and beside the Father in heaven we all wait to see when life here on earth is done.

Acts 13:39-41 KJV –And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
In the days of the Old Testament when the Law of God was given to Moses to ensure that the Jews learned, and learned well, what faith and obedience to that faith would include is only part of the picture. We have to add to that with the strength of unconditional love and belief in what God and Jesus taught us while Jesus lived, and through the Holy Spirit after Jesus rose from the dead.

Acts 15:7 KJV – And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

Remember, Scripture was originally written by God’s Holy Spirit guiding the authors of the various Scrolls. It was not meant to be a divisive tool, as so many these days might claim, but an all inclusive gift to every human being on this earth. Scripture was written down to show that there is ONE God, who loves each and every person UNCONDITIONALLY.

Acts 15:11 KJV – But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

All of us are given the gift of God’s grace, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. ALL of us, not just a select few. If we believe in everything that has been taught through Scripture, we ALL have the chance to greet God and Jesus in heaven.

Acts 16:31 KJV – And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

If you believe, and share that belief in your household, with your family, and in some cases, extended family, then that belief will bring salvation to all whom you love and care about. Believe, and He promises, you will see the glory of God, the promise of Jesus, and the gift of the Spirit.

Acts 19:4 KJV – Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

John the Baptist, cousin to Jesus, knew that the gift God promised far back in the history of this world, would bring salvation to all within this world from beginning to end. Jesus, regardless that at the time He was mortal, would ensure that everyone who believed even the slightest bit that Jesus is the Messiah, the promise God gave to Adam and Eve, to Noah and Moses, Abraham and Sarah, would indeed become part of each and every one of us and the ability to have eternal life with Him in His kingdom.

Acts 21:20-25 KJV – And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.
Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.
As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
One thing I learned long, long ago. You have to walk the true walk of belief BEFORE you can talk the talk about that very same walk. Believing is living life fully believing that the Glory of God is on your side as you share that belief, the faith and grace and glory that come out of living a life fully with Jesus proves not only to you that you are following truth, but to God Himself as well. It’s important to have faith and believe in what God has taught us through Jesus and the Spirit as breathed through Scripture.

Acts 27:25 KJV – Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

Be happy, be joyful, ecstatic that you are one with God and a faithful follower as Jesus shared His footsteps for us to follow within them. Believe, and you will see the glory and grace God has for you. 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: We Believe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjZ01FcK0yk

~ Shalom ~

Rev. Laura A. Neff

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Elder Calvin Jennings

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Covenant of Hope Ministries Main Site: 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.

Covenant Of Hope Ministries

MESSENGER

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Believing Is So Much More Than Reading and Writing About Christ

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