Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our sermon or midweek study. You will normally see us posted on Sunday. 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 having issues with his vision and memory. His sleep has been continuously interrupted of late.
- Please pray for health, faith, and hope boosters to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard as she continues in her recovery after an ulcer put her in the hospital earlier this month.
- We are ever watchful in regard to the weather, the unrest, and the virus and response to that virus. Let us pray for calm skies and seas, calm voices and spirits, and also healthy outcomes for those who are affected.
- We pray that the upcoming school year is filled with progress for our children who are attending and for the teachers and staff that must adapt to what is considered the “new normal” around this world.
- We pray that lies and deception are removed from many places around this world and that truth and justice will prevail.
- 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, this is our prayer for today. We seek relief from all the dangers surrounding us, including viruses, rioters, fire, earthquakes, and hurricanes. We pray for the sick and the wounded that they heal and are made well. 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: Walk the Path With Jesus ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuKAJTj9eBY
Sermon: We are working toward the end of the second chapter of Ephesians. We have seen quite a lot in regard to the voyage the Apostle Paul managed after the resurrection. Ephesus was a city that many of the Apostles loved for the fact that they were receptive to the belief of Jesus, even without eye witnessing any of the miracles Christ managed, nor did they experience the sermons and lessons Jesus managed during His short lifetime here on earth. So, we start here:
Ephesians 2:17 KJV – And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Paul, is of course, speaking of his time with the citizens of Ephesus. He shares the fact that he has been teaching the truth of God’s Word and the Savior Jesus Christ among them since shortly after the resurrection. Here we see more from Paul’s teaching of the True Christ.
Acts 2:39 KJV – For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Teaching about God’s unconditional love is something the Apostles loved to do, simply because they accepted the call received from Jesus to teach exactly what God wanted to be taught, love, it’s all about God’s love, and the ability to profess it by staying on the path of Christ. You see this in the teaching for the Romans and for the Hebrews willing to listen and hear.
Romans 16:25 KJV – Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
Hebrews 13:20-21 KJV – Now
the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which
is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever
and ever. Amen.
Jesus had many of His mortal family members involved in sharing the truth of God’s unconditional love. Jude, the name King James gave the much younger brother of Jesus, took up the cross and walked in his older brother’s footsteps. He shares his experience with his brother here.
Jude 24 KJV – Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
With this we should see more clearly why Jesus doesn’t just call us to bring His Word to the masses. He calls us to bring our families, our friends, and even our colleagues and strangers we might meet during our individual daily lives. This is where this next verse from Paul comes in.
Ephesians 2:18 KJV – For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
The first time I read this as a child I was instantly brought to one of my favorite sections of Scripture. The Gospel of John the Beloved. As most who know me have learned, John’s gospel is one of my all-time favorite sections of Scripture. The reason is in the fact that everything was so precisely detailed in the writing of John. This is one reason to refer to it often, as we all should do with Scripture. No one can come to God without having His only begotten son as part of the equation. Finding Jesus can change our lives in so many ways. We see this with Paul, John, and Peter all at once here.
John 14:6 KJV – Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
1 Peter 3:18 KJV – For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
One thing about being Christian should stay with us, no matter if we do not know each other’s names. Strangers, friends, family, neighbors, all of us are brothers and sisters when we come to the Savior seeing Him as THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. This next verse directed to the citizens of Ephesus shares that all who follow Christ know each other even if we have never met in person.
Ephesians 2:19 KJV – Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Gentiles Jesus called those who were not born of Israeli descent. In days of old the Gentiles were basically banned from knowing God and Jesus in the same fashion as the Jews. However, that didn’t remain the focus once Jesus walked amidst the Gentiles. Wherever Jesus went, people flocked toward Him and listened, many willingly left their homes and followed Jesus wherever He went. We see more of that here in these verses.
Hebrews 12:22-23 KJV – But
ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in
heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect,
Jesus laid a foundation, an eternal foundation, upon which Christianity will forever be part of this earth. He did so with twelve strong men who started out doing something entirely different in their lives. Because of His strength of presence, Jesus was able to prove how close to God the citizens of Israel and others around them could be, if they only listened, heard, and believed. We are the foundation of Jesus’s church. This is what Paul shares here.
Ephesians 2:20 KJV – And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
We are meant to follow Jesus. That’s something we often have to be reminded of. There are many distractions on this earth we live and work upon. Most of those create more problems than we can solve on our own. That’s one reason it can be difficult to keep focused on our walk with Jesus and God in the Holy Spirit. We see that through the various walks seen in thi verse.
1 Corinthians 3:19-20 KJV
– For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He
taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
We have to stop and reflect here on something Jesus spoke of while gathering the Apostles toward Him and first being their teacher, then their friend, and finally their salvation. Peter, though he might have denied Christ three times the day of Jesus’s betrayal and imprisonment, learned a lesson that we all must learn sometimes thousands of times in our lives on earth. What lesson is that? Think before you speak. Listen and hear before you form an opinion or say something is not true when you know it is. Peter learned that, as the rooster crowed three times, and he denied His Savior and ours, those same three times.
Matthew 16:18 KJV – And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Jesus knew long before it happened that the incident would indeed shame Peter and cause him despair. It is very hard to fight against the normal way of life we see all day and all night long. There are many in this world who lose sleep due to fear of reprisal over something said, heard, or written. All of us must learn this tough lesson at least once in our lifetimes. The foundation of God’s Heaven began with twelve men following Jesus to become, each of them, a layer of that foundation as shared here.
Revelation 21:14 KJV – And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
These next two verses share that voyage toward those sacred foundations of God’s city.
Colossians 1:10 KJV – That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Isaiah 28:16 KJV – Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
We have a lot of work to do, even today, when it comes to building ourselves up to be as Jesus was and is. We all have lessons left to learn. That’s something that won’t stop even as we get old and frail at some point in life. All of us have something new to learn no matter our age or ability. There is a reason we all are here on this earth, for however long that will be.
Ephesians 2:21 KJV – In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Our faith, our love for Christ and for God would be a solid foundation for us to begin our voyage, and sometimes to start our voyage over again when we get lost in our own little worlds on occasion. We all fall off the path. Jesus knew this when He lived here on earth and still knows it from His place beside the Father in heaven. We are meant to teach His love to those who will listen and hear. That’s what Jesus indicated was our purpose from the moment we started to truly believe and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Matthew 11:29 KJV – Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
We have to be cautious with our learning and our teaching of God’s Word. All of us have to be watchful because the evil that is the devil’s work is against us in more ways than we could ever account for. It happens to this world in ways we never expect. That’s one reason Jesus asked us to be ever watchful of ourselves and those whom we love. Paul and the other Apostles knew this as shared here in the city of Corinth.
1 Corinthians 3:17 KJV – If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
2 Corinthians 6:16 KJV – And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Our final verse of Chapter 2 in Ephesians shares something we should all be thinking about daily. We are built up together in Christ as God’s children. We are His adopted sons and daughters. Everything we do is a reflection of our faith and what faith can do. It isn’t easy to stay on the path Jesus laid out for us. It was never meant to be such. The reason is simple. If it were easy, we’d get bored and walk away. There are no doubts, everyone has been bored out of their minds at least once in their lifetimes. Following Jesus shouldn’t be boring. It should be an adventure with new doors opening ahead of us every day. That’s where this last verse of the second chapter takes us.
Ephesians 2:22 KJV – In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is an awesome gift we don’t often know how to utilize within us or around us. Sometimes we are caught unawares when the Holy Spirit is amongst us in times of plenty and times of drought. Those moments remind us that faith, even the size of a mustard seed, is more powerful than anything bad this earth can manage. Jesus, and the faith He shared, saved every single soul on this earth, of those who are willing to take up the cross and follow Him. That’s what Peter shares in this last verse today.
1 Peter 2:4-5 KJV – To
whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God, and precious,
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.
When we give glory to God in the highest, we share peace with His people here on earth. When we bring that peace from deep within us out to share with others around us, seen or unseen, known or unknown, we are following the path Jesus wants us to follow. We all see His light shining bright in the darkness like a rainbow of brilliant color. That’s what we all should see. 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: Rend Collective ~ Build Your Kingdom Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbdJXKqVgtg
~ 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 © 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.
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