Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our Sunday sermon. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. This ministry shares the Word of God, the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Our ministry was created with twelve people around this world back in 2008. Each of us shares God’s Word in ways He guides us to utilize. We wish only that God’s truth will be shared within His words as brought to us by the Spirit as it fills hearts, minds, and souls to be shared with our voices and 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 & LinkedIn
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 his memory and other issues are plaguing him quite a lot lately. Pray for his self-control, that anger and other unwanted emotions will leave his mind.
- Pray for American troops and American citizens as well as all Christians who are trapped in Afghanistan right now.
- Pray for those who are in the path of the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico this week and with the high winds around many places.
- A dear friend of mine had surgery postponed and rescheduled for next week on the 9th. Please pray for this friend of mine that this surgery is successful and the freedom of movement and from excruciating pain will be left behind as a result.
- We continue to pray for those who suffer or have suffered from the COVID-19 chaos. Let us pray for calm skies and seas, calm voices and spirits, and also healthy outcomes for those who are affected.
- 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 who are jobless, homeless, no matter what might have ended up causing either of those. Pray that providence would find them and ease the suffering.
- 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 four family members as they will have enormous changes in their lives very soon.
- 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 our soldiers and other diplomatic liaisons in Afghanistan, no matter their country of origin, that they are able to escape the terror and chaos that is surrounding them. We pray for our friends and families who are in pain, no matter the type. We pray for those in the path of the various tropical weather around this world. We pray for those who are suffering from the fires that cover this earth due to the extreme dry conditions. We pray for our doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and for those who are suffering from COVID-19 and all its variants that there is an end to this worldwide health crisis. 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: Scars In Heaven ~ Casting Crowns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCdevloDE6E
Sermon: Before I get into the Word this morning I wanted to explain why the opening song that you will hear as you revisit the written sermon in the blog this afternoon. Yesterday promised to be a very long day with the unpredictable weather, rain, then shine, then clouds, and it reminded me of a sermon way, way back near the first few sermons I wrote. The result was a realization that sometimes we have to return to the Word as shared with new and fresh insights. This is what I want to have you manage as we continue to explore Peter’s first epistle today as we take this voyage in the second chapter. There is so much in just a few verses to be found. That being said, let’s start here.
1 Peter 2:18 KJV – Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
Fear – that’s a daunting word for so many. Why do we want to be afraid? No, that’s not what is being shared by the Apostle Peter. This is completely different. What Peter is describing is reverent respect for the Word of God as shared by all who follow Jesus and accept Him as the Savior, the Risen Lord. Paul shared an almost identical sentiment while speaking in Ephesus. Here’s what he shared there.
Ephesians 6:5-8 KJV – Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
What are we to be obedient to? Christ Jesus our Savior, God, our Heavenly Father, and the gift that is the Holy Spirit. Remember, if we forget the Lord we get lost in the sea of despair, pain, worry, and the most basic fears. Jesus insisted that we “FEAR NOT” because He is with us as long as we remember Him the way we should. Peter shares this here in the next verse.
1 Peter 2:19 KJV – For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
Thankworthy, in today’s language, is what we know as commendable behavior. We all want to be on our best behavior when it comes to faith and belief, and unconditional love. These are the most basic of all Christian building blocks, the foundation of our entire life is built from here. Jesus poses a very interesting question in our next verse.
Luke 6:32-34 KJV – For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Thank, in this case, means “credit”. This, in today’s language, would be like status, what type of credit do you have? Are you a parent, grandparent? It takes work to be good ones. Are you a doctor or a nurse? In this world today, it takes a lot to find what we love to do with all of our hearts and are willing to share that love with others. Jesus and His Apostles wanted everyone who believed in God, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit, to credit their new understanding accordingly, and to share what the experience did for them. The same can be brought forward to our lives here and now. Peter has interesting words to add to what we’ve already seen.
1 Peter 2:20 KJV – For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
God and Jesus want us to admit we are not perfect without Them in our lives. We need to have this realization at some point in our lives and then we need to remember that fact through the rest of our lives. It’s not easy to be as pure and as perfect as we perceive God and Jesus to be. That’s why we have Jesus and the Holy Spirit to combine our hearts with the Lord and bring us in as the New Person, that is mentioned in Scripture many times. We have to remember to testify our belief to each other and ourselves. That’s what David, king of the Jews, shares here.
Psalm 119:46 KJV – I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
Speak a testimony before kings and others. Jesus reflects this very thought with His Apostles and Disciples as shared through the Gospel of Matthew right here.
Matthew 5:10-12 KJV – Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Every believer, all the faithful, teachers, preachers, apostles, elders, clerics, ministers, all would have something that explains how they found their faith and how they developed that faith and passed it on to others. All of us have the ability to be Apostles, Brothers and Sisters, of Christ through the adoption made possible by the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made. This is what Peter shares here in this next verse.
1 Peter 2:21 KJV – For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Every person beyond the age of fifteen years has most likely experienced something painful, physical, mental, spiritual, doesn’t matter what type, but we all learned something about ourselves in those experiences. We learned something about those around us as well. Emotions are something nobody on this planet can keep under complete control. I admit, even I am prone to tears out of the blue, anger I can’t explain away, fear of all forms and descriptions. That’s what makes us HUMAN. The ability to focus our emotions, focus our hearts, our minds, our spirits and souls, is what brings us closer and closer to God. It takes work, sometimes a lot of work. That’s why the LORD led me to share an entire passage from the Acts of the Apostles here.
Acts 16:27-33 KJV – And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
If you know anything about feeling as though your job just blew up in your face, for whatever reason there might be, you’ll be in the sandals of this prison guard. In those days, any escape was punishable by death for those who were the guards. When Paul and Silas spoke from in the darkness, the wave of relief was enough to send this guard to his knees. At that moment, he understood the actions of those who were in that prison, Peter and the other Apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ our Savior. His confession of faith was heart felt, soul deep. This is how we should all act and react in this world today. Again we return to Ephesus in the words of Paul.
Ephesians 5:26 KJV – That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
What is the washing of water by the Word? Catholics call it Confirmation. Other faiths call it a Profession of Faith. It’s a stage in your life where you understand more about how God and Jesus work in you as you transition from child to adult. It is at this time that you are confirmed in Christ as a true follower. Yet, we need to remember that there’s more involved in being a Christian. This is what Paul’s son Titus shares.
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;
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, He reminds us to look deeper into our hearts and minds, and find that part of us that can deny the earthly part of us and carry the holier, the faith, belief, heart, body, mind, and soul where everyone can see it, minute to minute, hour by hour, day by day, and so forth. Every day has new challenges, but God is never-changing. Jesus would be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Our faith grows or wanes based on how we remember that fact and how often we realize that, even as one of the eight billion human beings on this earth today, we are saved by the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ and the willing sacrifice He made almost two millennia in the past. That’s why it is important to remember Jesus’s words here.
Matthew 16:24 KJV – Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Paul shared the very same sentiment here with the citizens of Thessaly.
1 Thessalonians 3:3-4 KJV – That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
John the Beloved, longest surviving Apostle of Jesus Christ, spent the last few years of his life on this earth teaching and preaching even with the terrible danger surrounding him. He never lost sight of our Savior’s blessing and amazing gifts waiting for the faithful. That’s why we must, absolutely must, continue sharing what God our Father, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit would mean to each of us, in word, action, and expression as shared in these last two verses.
1 John 3:16 KJV – Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Revelation 12:11 KJV – And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Now, that’s something to think about as we pray in the prayer that Jesus taught us.
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: Lincoln Brewster ~ While I Wait https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NswPPVgMaPE
~ 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.
