Covenant Of Hope Ministries: July 2020

Sunday, July 26, 2020

God’s Amazing Grace Covers Those Who Follow Jesus

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 continue to pray for Elder Cal Jennings and his health issues, which are numerous. He has been doing well since his surgery on another crushed vertebra in his back. His voice is still quite strong, and we should ask God to keep that one going. Continue to pray for his health as he soldier’s on.

- Please pray for healing, faith, and hope boosters to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard. She has been out of the hospital since Tuesday or so and is on new medications to help her health.

- Please pray for Philip Widmer who is family to one of those in my many groups. He has been COVID-19 positive and is still on a respirator now 20 days.

- 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, including Kaylee Roberts’ son who is suffering from pneumonia.

Happy Birthday to my sister Cathy Goins whose birthday was yesterday.

Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer for today. Today we pray for health and healing for the many who suffer from illness, whether it be viral or otherwise. We pray for those in pain that it be eased. We pray for those who have been injured or killed in the riots and unrest around this world. We pray for strength and hope to fill the hearts of those who are in despair and filled with sorrow. We pray for those who have died, that their souls be at rest and their families be comforted. 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: Phil Wickham ~ This Is Amazing Grace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFRjr_x-yxU

Sermon: We continue with our voyage into the Scroll of Ephesians. We have learned quite a lot as to how Paul taught those in the city of Ephesus all those years ago. Some of that teaching is still necessary for people today in whatever walk of life they are having. Putting ourselves in the sandals of the Apostles and Disciples of Christ in those early years of Christianity.

Ephesians 2:4-5 KJV – But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

We have a hint as to what Paul is writing about. The gift of Amazing Grace. We are all one with the Church that is Christ. Our sins are forgiven and forgotten because Jesus ensured it by suffering and dying on the cross. It’s something we often overlook in our daily lives. There is a reason we all are here on this earth at this time. There is a purpose for our learning and sharing the gift of Christ’s love. This is further emphasized in the next verses.

Romans 5:6-10 KJV – For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Romans 3:24 KJV – Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

There is a part of us that is fully connected to Jesus. This part of us is our spirit, our soul, because we believe. You remember all of the verses we shared late last year when we were studying the ideal of belief and believing as Christians. To be truly Christian we must understand what part of us connects us fully to God and Christ’s teachings. This is what Paul shares here.

Ephesians 2:6 KJV – And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Do you realize what this says? This says we have been raised up to be together with Jesus in heaven, sitting beside Him in paradise eternally. Remember, we are baptized to cleanse away the sins of the generations before us. We are confirmed in Christ’s gift of eternal life. This is very important for us to remember. However, we cannot get cocky in this ideal. We have to prove ourselves to each other and to Christ that we are doing our very best to stay on the path He blazed for us.

Colossians 2:12 KJV – Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Acts 20:32 KJV – And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

See what is shared here in these supporting verses? Baptism cleans our spirits to where we can learn the truth of Christ with brand new eyes, with clarity created by our belief and our faith. Baptism must be followed by confirmation. What is confirmation? In Catholicism this is the point in life where we are ready to commit our lives to Christ. In faith as a Christian, confirmation is seen as that moment where we want to simply be one with Christ and do our very best to stay on the path that Christ paved for us.

Ephesians 2:7 KJV – That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Paul isn’t just talking about that day in time when he was speaking with the Ephesians. He’s talking about the thousands of generations after his lifetime. We all should be sharing the Word and portraying the truth within the Word as Jesus taught so long ago. This is just one reason to go back through Scripture, whether on our own or in a group, church, or anywhere else. Paul’s son, Titus carries that thought into the future as well here.

Titus 3:4 KJV – But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

Jesus IS the WORD made manifest. This is what God wants us to see. Jesus taught that fact as well, fulfilling prophecy from the beginning of Scripture and on through the resurrection. His grace is something that becomes our gift to propel us toward eternal life. This is where belief, faith, understanding, and wisdom come into play.

Ephesians 2:8 KJV – For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Note this, grace, faith, not found completely within us, but surrounding us through the Spirit, is one of the truest, purest, gifts of God. Paul and the other Apostles and disciples believed this with all their hearts, for many reasons. Those reasons include the fact that Jesus lived among them for most of their adult lives. Added to that, Jesus was with them and with God through the Spirit that became the strength of our faith even in the darkest times of life. The years that followed His resurrection were indeed dark times for those earliest Christians. In this world today, we are seeing the very same, just with more clarified consequences. Here we see two views, one from Timothy and one from Paul showing just how important Jesus would still be even this far beyond the day He rose from the dead to be beside God on the right side of God’s throne in heaven.

2 Timothy 1:9 KJV – Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Romans 4:16 KJV – Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

These verses carry us back to when Jesus was teaching the Apostles and Disciples. His truth points out an important factor. Let’s remember this as He shares.

John 6:44 KJV – No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:65 KJV – And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

There is only ONE path. That is the path Jesus taught, the path He provided to us as laid out in the Scriptures. It’s no easy path. There are no shortcuts. It’s something we must pay attention to. Even in our darkest days individually and collectively we cannot afford to forget His path and how to follow it. 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: Grace Flows Down ~ Christy Nockels/Passion band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YWiH90AYhU

~ 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.

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Think Back and Realize the Lessons God Has Brought You

You will find us in the following location: http://www.covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com

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

- Please continue to pray for Elder Cal Jennings and his health issues, which are numerous. His eyes have been giving him grief. This is why the sermon is being printed so much larger and I am attempting to do live sermons if possible.

- Please pray for Sister Theresa Bogard, she has been in the hospital since Friday and is hoped to return home later today or tomorrow.

- Please pray for Sister Theresa Bogard’s niece and that niece’s new baby, born by caesarean on an emergency basis this past Wednesday night. The baby is healthy and weighs 7 lbs. and 4 ozs., and is 20 inches long.

- Please pray for our teachers and our students as they work to navigate through the major changes that have come to education in the past seven months and as states and cities open up again following the health crisis.

- Please also pray that calm and peace will be brought to the forefront as opposed to the lawlessness and rioting we are seeing in far too many places.

- 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.

Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer for today. We pray that this virus will simply become a bad memory soon. We pray for peace in Your Love and Light to fill this world. We pray for health and happiness for those who deserve the relief from trial and tribulation. We pray for hope and faith to prevail in this world filled with angst and strife. We pray for the knowledge and wisdom You share to be heard, and understood, by all who are touched by it. 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: Chris McClarney with Hollyn ~ I’m Listening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef52AmdVwYI

Sermon: Today we begin our voyage into the second chapter of Ephesians. Paul and the other Apostles have so much to teach us from their lessons learned through their teacher and savior, ours as well, Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:1 KJV – And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Now, one thing you will notice is that we are repeating ourselves in this writing. You’ll see in the reference verses some of the identical verses from our last several sermons on the first chapter of Ephesians. God taught His believers that sometimes repeating ourselves will help us learn something new each time we hear whatever is being repeated. In this world today, it is hoped that we learn from the mistakes of yesterday and not repeat them tomorrow and on into the future. We start with this supporting verse, from the words of our Savior Jesus.

John 5:24 KJV – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

To sin in this world is to invite death into our future, and not just any death, at least if you see the Old Testament thoughts. Jesus washed sins away with His life blood. He did so to save us from our own stupidity, our inability to stay on that straight and narrow path Christ led His people toward. We see another supporting verse in Colossi.

Colossians 2:13 KJV – And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Notice the theme we are sharing, Paul, Peter, John, all were very glad to share the Word of God with anyone they met in Italy, Greece, and further away. Here we see Peter’s writing and his thought regarding the true church built up in Christ.

1 Peter 2:5 KJV – Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

This world today is often seen as still needing to understand the Word of God. It’s not a simple task to learn well what the Father wants from each of us individually and collectively. That’s why Jesus was always repeating Himself and why we must continually repeat the truth of God’s Word many times in our lives, to share how important the true path of Christ would be. Let’s see the next verse as Paul teaches the Ephesians about God and Jesus.

Ephesians 2:2 KJV – Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

We cannot understand what it means to be fully Christian if we don’t recognize the need to see how Scripture reflects life and living it even in this world today. The one thing I have learned in the fifteen years I have been preaching now is that going back and rereading, reliving an older view of thoughts on the same verses will add more understanding of what God was saying through my hands on the keyboard. Here we see in Acts where Paul was showing how easy it is to fall off the path of Christ. Notice how deftly Paul shares his reflection from one point in his teaching, to the next, and back again.

Acts 19:35 KJV – And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

Now that we have gone back, we’ll move forward and see just how much learning requires us to repeat ourselves. Seriously, how many times did we have to read and recite our multiplication tables, our verb tenses, and all that, while we all were in school as children and even young adults? This is the reason for the repetition throughout Scripture. There’s one way through life, that’s by moving forward and reflecting on our lessons learned in life before this very moment.

Hebrews 9:12 KJV – Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

We have twelve Apostles and we hear from all of them at some point in the New Testament. Here we are listening to and hearing about the voyage in Ephesus for Paul, yet he shares the thoughts and words of his fellow Apostles, including Peter as we see here. When speaking of corruption of things, I am often reminded of the thought “you can’t take it with you”. When we die, things do not matter. Money, clothes, homes, and all that, none of it matters. We often hear the words “make your peace with God” for those of us who have been given devastating news about our health. The thing is, we should do that whether we’re sick or healthy, rich, or poor, old, young, or in-between. We see those thoughts in the next two verses.

1 Peter 1:18-19 KJV – Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Colossians 3:6 KJV – For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

Remembering the lessons that we learn in the event of a bad day, week, month, or year in our lives, will help us understand what the true path of Jesus would be as we move forward in life. None of us is perfect on our own. Jesus taught us that much. However, Jesus was the first to point out, “with God, everything is possible, and nothing is impossible”.

Ephesians 2:3 KJV – Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

It’s nearly impossible to be completely pure in the world today. This is something that everyone probably realized when they got past puberty at some point. We can try our best to be as good as we can, but the sins of humanity, as some would share, are often very difficult to avoid all the time. We all have past events in our lives that we are not proud of. This is just a reminder that our being one with Jesus is the reason we are soon to be members of a heavenly choir. In these last three verses we are seeing just that effect on life that God’s truth, God’s Word, has on each of us, always.

1 Peter 4:3 KJV – For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

Psalm 51:5 KJV – Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

God knows us from before our conception to our last breath, and beyond. That is a lot of knowledge for the Omnipresent Father who loves us enough to allow the terrible sacrifice His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ endured when He was scourged, nailed to that cross, and hung there in the beating sun to die. It is something we should never forget. All of that pain, anguish, agony, allows us the gift, yes, it is a gift, of being chosen at some point to become citizens of heaven. Now that’s something to think about as we pray in the prayer that Jesus taught us saying:

Closing Song: Speak Lord I Am Listening ~ John B. Miller https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87QoP21iM6A

~ 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

About Us/

Welcome, we are Covenant of Hope Ministries. We celebrate the light in the darkness. There are those of us who need a connection, one to another, whether it is someone we want to learn about, or someone we know and wish to keep in touch with. Ministry is all about sharing faith, hope, and unconditional love. This all would offer peace from the heart. It doesn't matter who you are, where you live, if you are traveling a lot, or otherwise, we serve Christians and Others who are disabled, displaced, disadvantaged and disenchanted in today's world. Licensed Ordained Minister, Rev. Laura A. Neff, Evangelist, Cal Jennings, Outreach Ministers including Rev. Lisa, Pastor Stephen, Apostle Eric, and many others. I am licensed to perform wedding ceremonies in the state of Georgia, USA. I was ordained in 2007 by Rev. Teresa Piercey-Gates. We established this ministry in October of 2008.

MESSENGER

Sunday, July 26, 2020

God’s Amazing Grace Covers Those Who Follow Jesus

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Think Back and Realize the Lessons God Has Brought You