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 in dire straits there at this point in time.
- Please pray for calm and peace for Sister Theresa Bogard who is still going through a lot of physical issues right now.
- Please continue to pray for my daughter’s grandmother-in-law, Judy, who has been in the hospital with health issues and my daughter’s mother-in-law, Suzanne, is unable to travel to be with her during this worrisome time. Pray for healthy outcomes and peace for the family.
- Please continue to pray for my friend Marci’s mother who has contracted COVID-19 Coronavirus but is doing a little better now.
- Please continue to pray for my friend Jeff’s father, who also has contracted COVID-19 Coronavirus and at last report was improving.
- Please pray for a dear friend of mine, Paul, who lost his beloved support dog, Winston, and misses him terribly. Pray that his latest rescue animal will fill a new role in Paul’s life as he always will mourn his dear old Winston.
- We are still 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 the same five family members of mine as they go through some health issues and other 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 for those who risk travel this holiday here in the USA as they return home. Pray that careful plans are laid for any who gather in large groups for the holiday as well. We all understand how hard it is on our families and friends in the USA where Thanksgiving celebrations are muted significantly due to travel and other restrictions across this country.
- 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 for their health improvements. We pray for those who must travel, no matter the distance to their homes or jobs, or whatever they might require traveling for. We pray for our outreach ministries and their leaders, including Rev. Lisa Tyler, Simon Peter Javaji, Pastor Stephen Okoth, and all the rest that their reach finds willing ears for the Word of God. We pray for our families and our friends, our members here at Covenant of Hope, including Sister Theresa Bogard, and Elder Cal Jennings who have been through a whole lot this year. 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: Create In Me A New Heart ~ Keith Green ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqB2H9vCPKA
Sermon: We are nearly done with our voyage into the Scroll of Ephesians chapter 5. We’ve learned a lot about how Paul shared the Word of God to the citizens of Ephesus, and other locations where he preached the true Word of God, the Life of Jesus Christ our Savior, for those who truly wanted to learn how their lives could be improved, and thus improving our own even this far into the future. We’ll start here.
Ephesians 5:23-26 KJV – For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Although it might not be true in every family these days, in the days of Jesus and His Apostles and Disciples, there were strict definitions of family, with a father as the leader of his family, and the others beside and behind him. We need to remember those three words Jesus insisted we remember, LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Sanctification of our love for one another is something only Jesus can do, and we have to realize what can destroy that sanctified state as the friends of Jesus, the extended family He welcomes with open arms. Remember the rules that Jesus said were only part of the picture. This is what Titus, Paul’s son, shares in that regard.
Titus 3:5 KJV – Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
So, how exactly do we get clean enough to be considered more than mere citizens of this earth we live on? We pray. We practice what we preach. We work hard to keep the evil and filth of this earth out of our lives. It’s never easy, as Jesus testified to, even up to the day He died on that cross. Prayer, forgiveness, faith, all part of our journey toward righteousness as shared here in the Gospel of Mark.
Mark 11:25-26 KJV – And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
It is as much our effort as it is God’s effort whenever it comes to forgiving someone for something they have done. There are all kinds of things that can cause us to fall from grace. We’ve all seen enough examples of it in our lifetimes to recognize this fact. We might not remember our voyage toward faith and belief every second, but we remember enough to know where we fell away from the path of Christ. We want to remember the better parts, but we can’t forget what got us to those better parts of our journeys toward faith. We remember the metaphor of a spot or blemish on our minds, our spirits, our very souls, as shared last week in the story of Macbeth all those years ago. This is where this verse in Paul’s teaching comes in.
Ephesians 5:27 KJV – That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Sure, we can all be baptized in the name of Jesus. We can all confirm our dedication to Him in a profession of faith, but, the only way we can stay clean without blemish or wrinkles in our voyage into true righteousness, is to keep learning more and more about ourselves and our voyage toward righteousness. The more we learn, the better we can understand what life should be with Christ and God and the Holy Spirit surrounding us and bringing our human spirits that much closer. Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit can do amazing things if we bring Him into our lives as fully as possible. That’s what Jesus’s brother Jude shares in this verse.
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,
Last week we spoke of Lady Macbeth in regard to the blemishes sin can produce upon our very souls. She wasn’t the first to suffer from the pangs of guilt. It’s not easy to be spotless and pure without any view of sin in life. The realization of our efforts to be seen as such would be shared here in this verse.
Song of Solomon 4:7 KJV – Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.
Solomon’s words are not easily understood for so many. It is quite the eye opening scroll. Yet, there are many places in Scripture that we must sometimes return to over and over again before we are able to understand what was going on there and then and how that affects us in the here and now. Even to this day in our world we have our times when we want to know how we are to show God’s love through our own individual lives. That’s why we have so many reminders as to how this expression should be managed. We’ll go back to Ephesus with this verse.
Ephesians 5:28 KJV – So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Love one another, three words Christ wanted us to truly understand. Our minds and spirits have a tendency to struggle with understanding how we should love ourselves, not just one another, but ourselves as well. Every person can have times in their lives, for example, that they would not be willing to remember, whether in their minds or in their words. We aren’t perfect alone. We are only perfect through Jesus Christ, and as often as we can have His love shine through our actions, our words, our love, laughter, and life each and every day. That’s where we have to remember what John the Beloved heard with his own ears, as shared here in his Gospel.
John 13:34 KJV – A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
We have to love one another, and love ourselves, in order to be seen as perfect through the grace of Jesus Christ our Savior and Salvation. This is where this next verse takes us.
Ephesians 5:29 KJV – For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
I can imagine that every person has come upon a moment in their lives when they wonder why on earth they are still alive. There are also those who have wondered what they’re even on this earth for, or still on this earth after whatever kinds of chaos they have survived. Only God knows why we are here and when we are done in this life we are living. It’s not something that is easy to understand, but the length of time we are on this earth would hardly be as important as what we accomplish for ourselves and for others through this lifetime would be. 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: O Come O Come Emmanuel ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4iyJqrPvY
~ 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.
