Hearing His Voice and Following His Footsteps, an Act of Unconditional Love

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. Pray that his eyesight would not give him so many issues as it is currently. Continue to pray for his health as he soldier’s on. 

- Please pray for faith and hope boosters to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard. She has been quite ill for the past few 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.

- Pray for the families and friends of all those lost to Coronavirus and other terrible occurrences this past week.

Happy Birthday to Sister Theresa Bogard, whose birthday was on the 10^th. 

Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer for today. We put up a prayer for families and friends who are combatting the effects of this terrible virus upon mankind. We pray for those who have suffered disasters whether they are of nature or manmade. We pray for healing for everyone that is suffering. We pray for peace, patience, health, happiness, and love to fill the hearts of all who hear Your voice. 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: Barrett Sisters ~ Walk and Talk with Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvCVbFdcVP4

 

Sermon: We are continuing our walk with Paul through the Scroll of Ephesians. Already we have learned a great deal about the years after Jesus rose from the dead in the resurrection. Today we are starting chapter two. Our first verse in this chapter shows us something that we must pay attention to. That would be the fact that trespasses and sins are not something we always recognize to be just that. But that’s where Jesus and His great and grand sacrifice brought us so much closer to God. His death allowed for those little things that we often don’t realize to be falls off the true path can be swept away in the aftermath of His sacrifice, yes, even two millennia later.

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

The only way to get swift clarification of the words Paul brings to those of Ephesus would be reflecting on something Jesus taught while we were studying the Gospel of John the Beloved. That’s what we see here. 

John 5:43 KJV – I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

Remember, if we don’t believe in everything Jesus managed, and continue to believe it no matter how crazy this world gets, then we won’t understand how important the path toward Christ’s true path is one that will have more rewards than anything we follow here on earth. Jesus died for our sins, even thousands of years later we have to be reminded of them.

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;

It’s amazing to realize just how much we are taught regarding belief and how freeing that belief can be. It helps us survive this chaotic earth and all that happens around us. Faith can be shaken, broken, and so many more methods of destruction. However, faith can also be rebuilt in the face of tragedy, tumult, and anything else that gets thrown at it. This is something Paul is teaching us with these words shared.

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.

We looked at this verse several times over the last few months. We are the lively stones. We are part of the foundation of God’s house in heaven, even though we are here on this earth right now. Our spirits can be beaten down. We can have our hearts broken, but proving that God is with us in Spirit, is the key element of faith that allows us to push forward even in the face of disaster. It’s not easy to find the right path, and Paul knows this very well. Here we share some of that.

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:

This world is very persuasive and everyone on this earth knows that one. The sins of this world can swallow us up without our even realizing it on occasion. Yet, when we do realize it and we are penitent when we recognize that, God recognizes the effort we put into it. I learned just this week it is not easy being one hundred percent effective, truthful, or understood, in things we do in this world. I am here to prove that God has a great method for reassurance. That is the memory of Jesus Christ and His devotion to us, no matter our faults and foibles. Paul and the other Apostles and Disciples left to teach as Jesus taught realized that and shared that gift with as many as they could. The best sacrifice that ever occurred was when Jesus gave his life to rescue humanity from eternal death and destruction. That in itself says a lot about faith and conviction within that faith. We can do everything right in this world, and still not be good enough if we don’t have Jesus in our heart. This is proven here in these three verses. 

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.

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: 

Anything made on this earth has the potential to be corrupted by the sins of this world. There are many things that are overlooked because they seem so small. Remember, there is one sentence that has been shared more and more over the centuries. It is one shared by Neil Armstrong in 1969 when he said, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” What has occurred in this world in the changing of Christianity, and the spread of the Christian faith is a seriously giant leap for humankind. It started with twelve men who were led by a single man who preached truth over lies, faith over fear. 

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.

Scripture says a lot about the sins of the flesh. There are a lot of interpretations for what all that includes. This verse from Paul in the city of Ephesus shows just one aspect of that. It is not easy to understand every nuance of Scripture on our own. This is why we share it with each other and discuss our thoughts and what Scripture evokes within us. The things we don’t need to be doing are many in this world today. How much closer to God can we get while in the midst of a pandemic as deadly as COVID-19 Coronavirus? Let us hope we remember that situations like Peter is describing here can just make this virus deadlier. 

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:

All of the Apostles and Disciples spent whatever remained of their lives providing instruction based on what Jesus taught them about Scripture and how it should be taught, lived, and experienced. It’s not easy to consider the 66 books of Scripture and consolidate them into a single phrase, but it isn’t any more difficult than this. Unconditional Love. That describes every inch of what God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have been working to show and share from the very beginning. Our last two verses share what we must remember. 

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,

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

We have that one part of us that is constantly being transformed toward what truly is godly and good through Christ’s love and the gift of the Holy Spirit. When sharing the Three in One, the Holy Trinity, we must remember, it is to lead us all, together, toward the ultimate gift of unconditional love. That would be eternal life. 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: When Jesus Walked By ~ The Mcfalls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW5DgAzks_s

~ Shalom ~

Rev. Laura A. Neff

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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 © 2020 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.