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 pain, vision, and memory. Add to the prayers with a need for new housing as the family is in dire straits there at this point in time.
- Please pray for health, faith, and hope boosters to help bless Sister Theresa Bogard as she continues in her recovery from her ulcer and this week after a swollen and painful knee that barely lets her walk some days.
- 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 for the residents of California, Oregon, and Washington in the US as the wildfires continue to consume more and more of the west coast.
- We pray for the residents in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Florida as yet another hurricane barrels toward them.
- 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.
- Pray for five of my family members as they go through some dramatic changes in some cases. They asked not to be mentioned by name, but God knows who they are.
- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.
- Pray for our outreach ministries with Pastor Stephen Okoth, Pastor Robert Nganwa, Pastor Simon Peter Javaji, Rev. Lisa Tyler, and all the others who have joined us.
- 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 that truth is revealed where falsehoods have been shared around this world.
Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer for today. We bring our sick and wounded up in prayer. We pray for answers to mysteries for health issues and money issues with several members and family members. We pray for those who have weathered this virus and are still suffering as a result. We pray for our poor and desolate, our brothers and sisters who have been brought devastation due to the terrors around this world and all of the natural disasters, storms, and so forth this past week. We pray for those in our outreach ministries that their reach gains momentum and their needs are met. 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: The Afters ~ I Will Fear No More https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMmmbJlWhtk
Sermon: We are working through the end of Chapter 3 in Ephesians. We start where we left off last Sunday. Our first verse is here.
Ephesians 3:16 KJV – That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Jesus left this earth and His disciples and Apostles with a mission to regain that which was lost when Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden. He gave something back to us that was lost, and, at that same moment, proved to defeat Satan and death because He rose from the dead and then ascended into heaven. Jesus promised His followers that they were seeing and hearing and doing things many before them had wanted to manage, but never did. That’s what we see here in the first of the gospels.
Matthew 13:17 KJV – For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
All the Apostles were there at that moment. Paul, one of those twelve men, went on forward after Christ arose and ascended into heaven. He taught to ensure that those who had never seen, or heard, Jesus while He lived, learned exactly what was expected from first hand experience. He shares how much Jesus wants us to learn here. Listen carefully to this verse as Paul teaches in Rome.
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,
What is the secret that existed from the beginning of the world? Well, that’s something we already know if we are devout and true Christians. The secret is, we have to believe, without eyes that see, without ears that hear His voice. Believing in this fashion is known as pure faith. Salvation is more than possible when we believe with all of our being in the truth of God’s unconditional love as shared through Jesus Christ and His teachings and the Holy Spirit, the great Comforter, since He ascended into heaven. Peter shares more about this immense gift.
1 Peter 1:10-12 KJV – Of
which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them
did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that should follow.
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did
minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the
angels desire to look into.
Peter learned some seriously hard lessons just prior to the crucifixion of Christ. In doing so, his faith not only swelled to fill him fully, it was proven in all that he taught newcomers to Christianity all the way to the day of his death. It is something that people could never truly understand to the most infinitesimal depths as the twelve did and shared through whatever remained of their lives, the hierarchy of which is shared here.
1 Corinthians 12:28 KJV – And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
We all remember the phrase a place for everything and everything in its place. We also remember the thought miracles come to those who wait. Every one of us who feels the compulsion to teach God’s Word, recognizes these traits and needs. We are, all of us, able to be teachers, prophets, apostles, healers, and able to communicate, no matter if there is a language barrier or not. Language barriers are overcome because unconditional love does not need a language. It is a language all on its own. It is shared with every single syllable of Scripture. The Word, as Scripture would be, is seen clearly in our next verse.
Ephesians 3:17 KJV – That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Unconditional love, yes, we talk about this a lot. It is love that helps keep this world and the people living here, no matter their circumstances, alive, able to share life with others, and able to right the wrongs in this world with just the ability to share, unconditionally, the most complicated, yet simplest of godly gifts, love. Even to this moment in time, what the world and the people living here need the most is love. These next three verses share how large the influence of our Creator would be seen then, and even now.
Isaiah 43:13 KJV – Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
Colossians 2:2 KJV – That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
1 Corinthians 15:9 KJV – For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Paul often felt that he would be far below what Jesus assured him he was worth. It’s hard, sometimes, even for some of us today, to understand just how important we are, even when we feel unworthy. Paul felt that he had persecuted the true church of God because of his position in the economic and religious aspects of the Jewish hierarchy. Though the position offered him power in some ways, that power meant nothing to him once Jesus called for him to follow Him and His ways. Paul shares what it meant to him at the point of the resurrection and forward from there. We see that here in his words to the citizens of Ephesus.
Ephesians 3:18-19 KJV –
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and
depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God.
Understanding what it meant to be considered a saint, and how far within those who are considered saintly that power of God’s unconditional love could be. The love of Christ is an important element in our lives. Jesus loves us, as we should love Him, unconditionally, without limitations, flawless. Sure, we have our bad elements in our personalities, our actions and reactions, but when we give our lives to God and Christ through the Holy Spirit, that all gets washed away and replaced by the pure love of God.
Colossians 1:27 KJV – To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
1 Timothy 3:16 KJV – And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
See this that Timothy shares? The mystery of godliness, made to exist in the flesh as Jesus Christ our Savior, who was justified in the Holy Spirit if you remember His baptism and the sight of the white dove and the voice of the Heavenly Father. All of that remembered, shared, reflected, with everyone, and anyone, Jew, Gentile, even the Angels and, yes, even Satan. Jesus was heard by everyone and always will be heard if we remember to be grateful and thankful of the work He did when He was here on this earth teaching the truth of God’s Word.
Ephesians 3:20-21 KJV –
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world
without end. Amen.
These final verses of the third chapter of Ephesians show something specific about what Christ can do in this world for those of us who believe with all of our hearts, minds, spirits, and souls. No matter how long it has been since Jesus lived on this earth and walked amidst the living souls here, His presence is still here within us, around us, and we should share that gift of the Spirit with anyone we might meet, whether friend or foe, known or unknown, for it is what Jesus taught us to be. His earthly brother James shares what it means to have that amount of faith here in our last verse.
James 1:6 KJV – But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Don’t be shaky, worried, any of that anxiety, when it comes to preaching and teaching God’s Word. It weakens the gift that His Word would be. Always teach and preach, share, and care, for the word with all the strength you have, even if you feel weak, with the gift of Jesus in your heart and mind, spirit and soul, makes you stronger than you could ever be alone. 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.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)
Closing Song: Hannah Kerr ~ Warrior https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2LmSDVZdNg
~ 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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