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 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 & 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 and his health issues, which are numerous. He has been having issues with his pain, vision, and memory.
- We are ever watchful in regard to the weather with tropical weather and with the high winds around many places. 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.
- Pray for my sister Emilie, her boys, and their dogs, as they make the voyage from Arizona to Pooler, Georgia to be closer to us here. Pray their trip goes well and they get here when they want to be here to their new home.
- Pray for my mother just to give her comfort in the idea that this move will be beneficial for my sister and my nephews, and perhaps for her as well.
- Pray for a dear friend who continues to heal from lower back surgery, that her bones heal up exactly the way they should and all the pain and other issues caused by the injury would subside and disappear.
- Pray for a cousin to my mother, who has had a rough time with surgery and recovery himself.
- 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. We include my near daughter-in-law Rebecca in this prayer. She has been quite under the weather.
- Pray that truth is revealed where falsehoods have been shared around this world.
- Sending out birthday wishes for my niece Autumn and my husband’s uncles Larry and Gary.
Prayer: Father in heaven, this is our prayer for today. We pray for those moving on to new horizons. We pray for those who support us all in the things that we do. We pray for health and healing in friends and family members who have gone through surgeries or illnesses that put them in the hospital or laid up at home. We pray for those who fight the wildfires all around this world. We pray for those who have suffered from natural disasters on every continent and that those who survive can rebuild. 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: While I Wait ~ Lincoln Brewster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NswPPVgMaPE
Sermon: We continue to explore Peter’s first epistle today as we start chapter four.
1 Peter 4:1 KJV – Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
Remember, Peter was there, hidden in the crowd, during the crucifixion of Jesus. He saw the amount of suffering Jesus went through to save this world filled with every form of trial and tribulation. Jesus suffered every sin, from every person, already dead, still living, and yet to be on this earth. That, at this point in time, is nearly two thousand years of pain as a result of every sin, from the smallest to the largest. That’s serious pain and suffering for One Man, Our Savior, to be put through.
Yet, Jesus did so willingly, even to the point of giving up the ghost, being buried in a borrowed tomb, and resurrecting from death to eternal life to ensure that there would be a way for us. This is why Peter and the other Apostles worked so hard to remind their followers that this isn’t just about getting through life, it’s about realizing what Jesus did when He was whipped until He bled, tortured with a crown of thorns, forced to carry His own cross, which most likely weighed as much as three normal men, was nailed to the cross, bled until there was no blood left, before He died on that cross at Calvary. This is why Paul says this to the people at Philippi and Rome.
Philippians 2:5 KJV – Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Romans 6:2 KJV – God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
It is not easy to keep sin at bay. The wages of sin are everywhere around us. We see it on the television, in movies, newspapers, books, and even right in front of us these days all over the world. There are all sorts of shootings, murders, suicides, all of that, everywhere we look these days. It’s the sins of the world that Jesus paid for so we wouldn’t have to. That doesn’t mean we should just go on our merry way. It means we should be prepared to pay for any and all sins we have committed without ensuring that we repented from them, that’s why we have a conscience that should warn us ahead of time and remind us that what we might have done wouldn’t be right in God’s eyes. That’s what we see here with the next verse from Peter.
1 Peter 4:2 KJV – That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
The words ring true and are seen in various ways through all of the gospels, including the Gospel of John the Beloved as we see here.
John 1:13 KJV – Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
When we are baptized, we are born again through water that purifies us from sin. When we go through our first communion, it is to purify our minds and spirits from sin. When we go through confirmation of faith as young adults, it is to focus our minds and hearts toward following the path Jesus left for us to follow. This is what Paul shares.
2 Corinthians 5:15 KJV – And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
It is important for us to realize what it took for Jesus to be resurrected from death to eternal life. It wasn’t a simple endeavor. Jesus suffered greatly just dying on that cross at Calvary. It was heartbreaking, terrifying, all those emotions we never want to feel at the loss of a good, righteous soul. This was something felt to the very core of all of His Apostles, Disciples, and His family as well. When we take on the mission of Christ, we have to do so with a clean spirit, a clean conscience, and to do it well we have to remind ourselves every day that this life will cease to be at some point and everlasting eternal life will replace that. We will be able to see family, friends, all together, in one place, hoping to be standing there in glory. Paul adds more caution to our pathways to ensure we follow Christ the correct way, through righteousness.
Romans 2:2 KJV – But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Romans 2:9 KJV – Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Notice, Jew and Gentile are recognized. This, for a simple reason, Jesus believes still that all are capable of following the will of God. This is why He walked with the Gentiles, with the lepers, the disabled, slave, and free, all of them. It is very important to realize that being meek and mild will get us further than wild and crazy will manage. This we see in the words of King David.
Psalm 25:9 KJV – The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
Psalm 149:4 KJV – For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Jesus follows this thought up with His Sermon on the mount, which shares quite interesting promises that God fulfills for the faithful who follow Jesus toward everlasting eternal life.
Matthew 5:5 KJV – Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
The twelve Apostles were taught a lot of good things, and they actually worked hard to continue to learn from those good memories, and from the bad ones as well. Yet, they also proved a cautionary pause is necessary in life, to sort of reset our thinking and our actions. This is what Peter shares in this next verse.
1 Peter 4:3 KJV – For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
Sure, we can celebrate good events that occur. Birthdays, anniversaries, and other celebrations are there to be celebrated, but remember, don’t indulge in excessiveness, because it doesn’t help later on. If we eat or drink too much, our bodies will yell and retaliate. If we party too hard, our minds and hearts might suffer the consequences. Jesus wants us to remember His pathway is the way, the truth, and the light of eternal life. That’s what Paul is proving here in Corinth.
1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV – And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul’s son Titus adds this to the thought.
Titus 3:3 KJV – For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
All of us have sinned. All of us have stepped right into the seven troubles and let them wreak havoc at least once in our lifetimes. Let’s remember, we have to show there is a rainbow of brilliant light that Jesus has to share with everyone who believes, has faith, and has the courage to prove that in this world today. 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: Casting Crowns ~ God of All My Days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYkZE8AogDE
~ 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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