Finding the Path Jesus Walked Today

 

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 continuing 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 calm and peace for Sister Theresa Bogard who is going through a lot right now.

- 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.

- Continue to pray for four of my family members as they go through some dramatic changes in some cases. Also pray for my parents as they are headed out for a very important week out of town and away from their home this week.

- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.

- Pray for all of 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 pray for answers to questions we have in our hearts. We pray for peace and understanding in our daily challenges. We pray for health and happiness for all of us and those we interact with every day. 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: We Are One With the Spirit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMNVv740PZs

Sermon: We are about halfway through Chapter 4 in Ephesians. Paul is speaking to the citizens of Ephesus imploring that they unify together in the name of God and Jesus and bring the Holy Spirit toward them. Unity is one of the most difficult things to find in this world when it comes to society. We’ve seen quite a lot of dis-unity around the world over the past decade and more. This is something that Paul warns about here in this first verse today.

Ephesians 4:13 KJV – Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

The church is the body of Christ, this is something many might have problems seeing in their minds and hearts. Each of us who believes with everything in us would have a tiny part of the Church and Christ within us. That is the promise Jesus left behind with the Holy Spirit. We are perfect because the addition of Jesus’s innocence as He died on that cross helps us regain that part of ourselves taken away in the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. The result is shared here in this supporting verse.

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;

It is no strange thing to want and need comfort with this crazy world we live in. This is something that God and Jesus know and knew from the very beginning. It is why we have Scripture and why we all tend to turn to it when we have heartbreak, disappointment and all the other sad and bad things in life. Paul never felt that he was the strongest, best Apostle of Jesus, but he did his very best to project what Jesus taught and walked as well as he could in the footsteps Jesus left behind.

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.

As an Apostle, one of the original twelve, Paul takes a page out of Jesus’s teachings and shares this with the citizens of Corinth, a reference to the Ephesians to show just how much it means to be a follower of the Savior and taking the journey toward everlasting life.

1 Corinthians 14:20 KJV – Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Paul, Peter, Timothy, John the Beloved, and all the other Apostles spent a great deal of time sharing their experiences separately and together with the citizens of the world to transform them into Christians, as opposed to Jews and Gentiles. Christianity takes practice, it takes work, honest, hard, work to portray a true Christian heart, mind, and spirit. We see some of that teaching here.

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:

Far back in Biblical History the Gentiles were left out of everything the Jews did, as directed by God. The one to break that tradition was Jesus, who taught the Gentiles as He taught the Jews. It was part of the work toward bringing all of humanity together as one within Christ, the salvation of all mankind. It was controversial then, and even now there is contention between the Jewish community and the Christian community on occasion. What the Apostles worked hard to provide was clarification as to what faith and being faithful would be, not make it a controversial subject to discuss.

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.

We have to realize we can’t show enmity toward each other, even though we get upset and frustrated with this world and the happenings around us. Enmity is one of the Seven Troubles, but what is it?  Enmity is a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism. We have a lot of this going on around this world, and not just in recent days. We’re talking thousands of years. We have to stop being oil on water and come together toward salvation. That’s where this next verse comes in.

Ephesians 4:14 KJV – That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

We have to be adults and still have the hearts of children as Jesus taught the Apostles. Faith and being faithful is something we have to bring into our hearts, our minds, and our behavior. If we cannot act like a faithful follower of Christ, then we cannot successfully teach His Word and give His Word life. That’s why we have to practice our faith and work that faith, testing our faith and our hearts all the time. The reason we have to work always is shared in the words of the younger brother of Jesus, James, here.

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.

Strength in our faith is something we work on every moment of every day sometimes. God has always shared patience with the people of this earth. He has done such even when His Word was ignored, misunderstood, and all the rest. Life on this earth will never be boring if we keep in mind what it means to teach the Word the way Jesus taught. Remember, everything on earth, in earth, and around earth was made by the hands of God and given life by the breath of God. These four verses show this in many ways.

 

Psalm 33:6 KJV – By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

 

John 15:5 KJV – I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

 

Colossians 1:16 KJV – For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

 

Hebrews 1:2 KJV – Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

We have to be honest, not just with those around us, but with ourselves as well. Change happens every day. Truth and honesty are two very simple concepts, yet seemingly tend to be the hardest elements to maintain faithfully and fully. That’s why we get many reminders in Scripture and in life. Our next verse from Paul shares how simple the concept is, even in its complexity.

Ephesians 4:15 KJV – But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

The True Word of God is something we all should speak about, share with one another, not in anger or fear, but in love and peace, patience, and compassion. When we look at Scripture with clear minds, calm spirits, and hopeful hearts, we are walking in the footsteps of Christ. That’s what we see in our last two verses today.

2 Corinthians 4:2 KJV – But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

 

Colossians 1:18-19 KJV – And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Remember, even Jesus said following fully in the footsteps of God was not going to be easy, or straightforward. Yet, He also said that forgiveness exists even in our darkest days, so long as we are honest and own up to our mistakes, put them behind us, and walk in His footsteps the way we should always do. 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 Are the Body https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYOCdVI9m1Q

 

 

 

~ 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

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.