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Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our Sunday sermon. You will normally see us posted with or without video every Sunday. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. A group of friends, family members, and I chose to create this ministry to share the Love of God through the Word, which is Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, as written in Scripture. Our ministry was built on the truth of God’s love. 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.
- Please pray for calm and peace for Sister Theresa Bogard who is preparing for her wedding and helping care for family members with her fiance.
- Pray for my friend Dena, that she finds answers to her health and other issues she is going through right now.
- Continue to pray for four of my family members going through some dramatic changes, medically and otherwise in some cases. Praise the LORD, Hallelujah! My father is looking fair enough even though he is a bit weak. My mother has the strength of Job with all they have been through over these last few years.
- 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 continue to pray for those who have suffered greatly from the cold and snow across this country. We pray for those who have been ill and are stuck in that same inclement weather. We pray for our teachers and students as they too combat the weather, connectivity, and learning. We pray for Elder Cal who is stuck in the middle of that weather along with several other friends and family members. We pray for those who have lost their jobs, and for those occupations that are desperate for workers. We pray for peace and patience for all of us who are trying to eke out a living in the troubled economy. 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: I Will Fear No More ~ The Afters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMmmbJlWhtk
Sermon: We are continuing our exploration of good and evil in Scripture. Last Sunday I was recovering from my journey west to my parents’ home to see them and my siblings after a very scary health situation. Bless you, Elder Cal, for helping me out last week. It is deeply appreciated. Today we will begin with one last verse in Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 44:27 KJV – Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.
Evil, as I am certain many have heard, is bred, not born. Evil can consume a person’s entire being, body, heart, mind, spirit, and soul. It is not always easy to recognize those who have this type of evil within them. Evil can hide, as we learned in my last sermon, as easily as night turns to day.
Lamentations 3:38 KJV – Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
It is not often we voyage into the smaller Scrolls in Scripture. The person speaking in this particular verse is reportedly Jeremiah. He is struggling to help others, as well as he himself, to recognize that the Most High, our Father in Heaven, would never speak evil toward anyone, nor would He act with evil intentions. Jeremiah is attempting to share what a struggle humanity seems to have in recognizing the differences between good and evil. Now we will see what another of God’s many prophets, Ezekiel has to share.
Ezekiel 36:31 KJV – Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
Ezekiel is speaking in regard to the fact that, based on our separate and collective lives, we all struggle to recognize both good and evil intentions, reactions, and so forth. It is no simple task to realize and recognize when we have to reassess ourselves in our behavior, in our thoughts, our words, all of it. Reassessing our faith and our love for God and Christ, is something we should do often, to see where we have shortfalls, and work to adjust those to where we are seeking God’s counsel, and not avoiding it.
Amos 5:14 KJV – Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
Understanding how we should seek good things as opposed to evil takes practice. It takes work in all directions, thought, speech, heart, spirit, and soul. In all of my lifetime I have seen many times where those seven troubles came creeping in. Yes, they can envelop us and overwhelm us on occasion, but that’s why we have Scripture, Prayer, and Meditation with God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit. This is what Amos shares, and he shares still more in this next verse.
Amos 5:15 KJV – Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Love and hate, two pervasive subjects we see in this world every single moment of the day, no matter where we live, work, or play. Where there is love, often there is hate somewhere in the middle. Judgment, as God and Jesus have reminded us many, many times, would be with Jesus, who will judge the good and evil. It is hard, very hard, not to judge one another. Sometimes it may seem impossible. Let’s see what the book of Amos shares. Amos, a friend and colleague of Isaiah, and Hosea, was a minor prophet for the Jews. Much like Isaiah and Hosea, he was warning the people he served about taking care to avoid evil and wickedness.
Amos 9:4 KJV – And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
Seeing good and evil is not an easy task. This is where we must practice the art of discernment. Amos, in his mission for God, worked very hard to see evil as it should be seen, and good the same. It is not always easy to see those wolves in sheep’s clothing, as we all know in our daily lives. When Jesus and God through the Holy Spirit exert their judgment as to what is good or evil, everyone anywhere on earth will realize it. Now we will explore the prophet Micah’s thoughts. Micah is also one of the lesser prophets of the Old Testament.
Micah 1:12 KJV – For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.
It is necessary to see all the effects and affects God’s Word, shared through the prophets, priests, apostles, and ministers of the Bible had on people then, and even now. We must see the progression of understanding the differences of good and evil, wickedness and wrong. Taking care in watching our words and our actions, as well as those around us, will afford us favor in God’s eyes.
Micah 3:2 KJV – Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
Faith is something that builds as we believe in our Lord and Savior, our Father, God in heaven, through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Often we must work hard to understand exactly what God is teaching us through Scripture as we apply it to our lives. Now we will go to Zephaniah and see what would often be considered the four R’s of Scripture. Those four are Rebellion, Retribution, Repentance and Restoration. It is always a cycle in understanding faith in God’s Unconditional Love. We see this quite clearly as we continue this voyage.
Zephaniah 1:12 KJV – And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.
Settled on their lees means that they were rotten in their evil minds, spirits, and souls. The people just allowed that evil and hate to fester and did nothing to counteract it. Now we will examine the last of the Old Testament verses regarding good and evil and how evil can disguise itself as good in this world around us and how it can wear down our defenses and our faith and belief. Malachi also was a lesser prophet. His largest prophecy was that Jesus Christ would come to us as the promised Savior of mankind. We have to watch how we work with God’s Word and what the best method is to teach and share the Word as Jesus wishes us to share it. Let’s take a look at this, our last verse for this sermon.
Malachi 2:17 KJV – Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Malachi is reprimanding those he serves at the time. He is reprimanding them because they are doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing. He is reprimanding them and showing them the errors of their ways. Again, we see here the four R’s, Rebellion, Retribution, Repentance and Restoration. Pay attention to this in your own life and you will understand what discernment is and how it works for each of us. 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: Joyce Martin Sanders ~ I Will Fear No Evil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn7Bt7wUSA
~ 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 © 2021 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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