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. He has had many financial issues with his family as well.
- Please pray for faith, hope, 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.
- 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.
- Continue to pray for now five of my family members as they go through some dramatic changes in some cases.
- 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. Right this moment we pray for those who have suffered job loss, or material loss in their homes and livelihoods. We pray for those who cannot celebrate their love of God in public. We pray for those who work hard for the Lord in our outreach ministries, that their needs are met, and their work speaks for God. We pray for friends and family who have had financial or health issues interrupt their normal lives. We pray for our leaders, that they rely on Your strength over their own. 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 Fruit of the Vine ~ Mark Patterson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAIlirAw9fA
Sermon: We are about through Chapter 4 in Ephesians and have already learned a great deal from the Apostle Paul’s experiences. We’ll start here with this first verse:
Ephesians 4:16 KJV – From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Now, the first thing that might jump in a novice learner’s head with this verse is their body, not the church body. Paul speaks about Christ’s church, which is filled with people, each of them Christians and members of Christ’s church, a temple for God. We can see this in a different view as spoken of by Jesus Himself in the gospel of John the Beloved.
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.
This much touched upon parable of Jesus shares what part each and every person who believes in God and Christ should recognize as their part in this endeavor to share God’s Word with one another. It’s not easy, and was never meant to be. It’s hard to speak wisdom in a world filled with less and less knowledge with which to gain wisdom. That’s why we have to work so hard to share the truth of His Word and ensure that we follow in that same Word of God.
Ephesians
4:17-18 KJV – This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Ignorance, in the case of the Word, is far from bliss. In fact, it could very well be a faithful follower’s undoing if they forget how to get to the path and stay on it. It’s not too high, nor is it too low, nor is it beyond the typical human being’s reach. We have to be decisive, bold, and willing to grab that foothold and handhold and reach for the next one without an ounce of worry or fear. These next three verses share a glimpse of this style of effort.
Hebrews 4:16 KJV – Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
2 Corinthians 1:6 KJV – And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
Acts 26:18 KJV – To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
We all have our own work to do to gain our foothold in the Body of Christ, the Christian Church. Paul, Peter, John the Beloved, and all the other Apostles knew this very well. That’s why they worked, even with the threat of death, to ensure that more and more people would have the ability to look toward God for salvation and not trying to survive on their own without the Lord’s guidance. This next verse shares what can happen when we forget and fall far from the path Jesus made
Ephesians 4:19-20 KJV – Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ;
There are a lot of ways we can fall away from the true path of Christ. It’s not like we automatically can know that path and how to stay there. We also don’t automatically know every way that Satan can interfere. We just know he doesn’t have any problems arranging methods that cause us to fall off the path. There is sage advice in the words of Isaiah here.
Isaiah 60:1 KJV – Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
We all have a mission in Christ’s love, showing and sharing the unconditional portion of God’s love. It’s something we all have access to. It’s also something we often will overlook when we need it the most. That’s where God’s wisdom comes into play. We must work our knowledge and incorporate God’s wisdom into that knowledge in order for us to ensure that we remain on the path toward glory and redemption.
Colossians 4:5 KJV – Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Earlier in this scroll of Colossians, we find the seven troubles. You remember those. Vanity, envy, lust, enmity, malice, shame, doubt, we see them all in vivid scenes around this world each and every day. There is so much of it we should all be sick and tired of being sick and tired of the overt displays sometimes every hour of every day. That’s why we get back to this verse here.
Colossians 3:8-9 KJV – But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Who is the “old man” spoken of? That’s the person we were before accepting Jesus as our Salvation and Savior. When we decide to follow Jesus and live a life filled with His glory over ours, that “old man” is supposed to remain gone from our view. However, the sins of humanity are in plentiful supply and cover just about every thing we could imagine, and thus makes it a daily challenge to remain in God’s grace. However, that’s why we have prayer, and the Savior Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit. The checks and balances of life are found in the hearts of those who truly believe and have faith in that belief. That’s where these next two verses come in.
Psalm 37:19 KJV – They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
Romans 6:6 KJV – Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Let’s remember that prayer can do a whole lot in life as we live it. We just have to remember to bow our heads, raise our hands, and pray to and praise the Lord our God, our gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 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: Satan Take Your Hands Off Of Me ~ Luther Barnes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqHf5yMhJuE
~ 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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