Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our sermon. 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 calm and peace for Sister Theresa Bogard who is going through a lot right now.
- Please pray for my daughter’s grandmother-in-law who has been in the hospital with heart issues and my daughter’s mother-in-law, Suzanne, is unable to travel to be with her during this worrisome time.
- Please pray for Jerry Verduft who has just tested positive for COVID-19 Coronavirus. Pray for the family as well as they wait and watch for healing and healthy outcomes. My longtime friend Jeff asked for prayers.
- 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 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 my family members as several recover from their recent health scares and adjust to new portions of their routines. Three other family members are going through a lot right now and continue to need our prayers.
- 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.
- Pray that everyone traveling this week for the Christmas celebrations worldwide, will be safe and well through their travels and as they return to their homes wherever they might be.
Happy Birthday to my brother Scott Newman, whose birthday was yesterday.
Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer for today. We bring our sick and wounded up in prayer, including Elder Cal Jennings and several members of our extended families. We pray for answers to mysteries for health issues and money issues with several members and family members. 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 crazy weather as we get closer to the Christmas holiday. 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: Matt Maher ~ Glory (Let There Be Peace) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW4c6DcxgGc&list=PLP1Btt0sboKeokDYR-yXPXEhxKFYBr89Q&index=5
Sermon: We are continuing through chapter six in Ephesians today. There is quite a lot to understand in this short Epistle which Paul wrote while preaching for the people in Ephesus. There are many things to learn about all of the needs we have as Christians who truly want to explore our faith and expand it beyond what it may already be. That’s where this verse comes in.
Ephesians 6:7 KJV – With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
Sometimes it is not easy to understand Scripture. However, when life shows you just how much you need to learn from that very Scripture, the discipline it shows and proves gives us a broader understanding not just of ourselves, but of our interactions with others, including family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and strangers we might meet every day. Don’t just do what you have to do here on earth. Do so with the strength to realize that God is right here with us, every step of the way. The way we behave, speak, even the way we think, is important to our path in life as much as it is to our path toward God. That’s what is shared in the Scroll of Isaiah, and Hebrews here.
Isaiah 59:17 KJV – For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
Hebrews 4:12 KJV – For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Now, these verses say a whole lot when it comes to understanding the Word and realizing what it means to each of us individually and collectively. We go into the Gospel of Luke to find how they connect to each other and to us as well as to our salvation.
Luke 18:1 KJV – And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
There should always be a prayer in our heart. Whether that prayer is for our own sake or for those around us, family, friends, colleagues, any and all that might need it, or may not even realize it is needed. It doesn’t matter what level of education we have, or where we are on those steps of the ladder at work, home, or anywhere. We should always pray, because that prayer will give us the ability to hang on when we feel like we’re holding on by a tiny kite string or the very ends of our fingernails.
Ephesians 6:9 KJV – And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Temptation, that’s a word we hear a lot in Scripture. We speak about it every time we say the Lord’s Prayer. What types of temptation would God be telling us to avoid? Is there good and bad temptation? Yes, people have asked those questions in their lifetimes. Temptation is the intentional enticement of a person with some form of bait that is self-gratifying and has nothing to do with being godly in any way. We have spoken about temptation many times over the years, that’s where these verse remind us to avoid it.
Matthew 26:41 KJV – Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
2 Thessalonians 3:1 KJV – Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
Where do we find the strength to resist temptation? Will we recognize temptation and be able to walk away from it? That takes practice and perseverance to manage. It’s not easy, but if it were such we would get bored easily and then just not care whether we sinned or avoided doing so. This is where this verse comes in.
Ephesians 6:10 KJV – Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Now, when I searched for supporting verses for this verse specifically, I was questioning how exactly it fit, so I went exploring and found a great deal of understanding by expanding on just one single verse and changing that to seven. Those verses are in the Scroll of Romans where Paul is preaching and sharing this.
Romans 2:5-11 KJV – But
after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient
continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal
life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every
soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But
glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and
also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
Respect, that’s a tough one. It takes a lot to earn respect, but almost nothing to lose it at any and every moment in our lives. This is something I have learned quite well over the years, unfortunately. One of the things we have to learn to do in order to gain that respect and keep it is to recognize when we are wrong and need to change our perspective toward what is right and righteous in this world we live in.
Ephesians 6:11 KJV – Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
There is a list, quite a long list, of verses and information regarding the “armor of God”. The list includes the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit. We add to that with praying while in the Spirit and how to wear the armor of God. We will get into more of the description and what we are to do while we wear this holy and heavenly armor in next week’s sermon. For now, we will finish this sermon with another pair of supporting verses.
Romans 13:12 KJV – The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
2 Corinthians 6:7 KJV – By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
See the light that is Jesus Christ, not just in your own heart and mind, but through the Spirit that unites us as the faithful members of the church that our Savior Jesus Christ created with each of us in mind. When you reach that point, you will understand every single word within the Word of God. 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)
From all of us here at Covenant of Hope Ministries I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. We will see you next Sunday at the same time and here in the same place. God be with you all.
Closing Song: Hillsong Worship ~ Joy to the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDAUPz2RohU&list=PLP1Btt0sboKeokDYR-yXPXEhxKFYBr89Q&index=12
~ 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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