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. Pray that his new venture continues to help with the issues on bills and more.
- Pray for my friend Jeff Taylor’s father.
- 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 a friend of a friend whose daughter Everleigh is back in the hospital with too many cancer cells due to Leukemia.
- Pray that another friend gets good news in a few weeks regarding their healing process is going well.
- Pray for my employer’s wife who has been doing very poorly of late. Pray that having the family together during this Thanksgiving weekend will do her good.
- 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 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 friends and families that have traveled great distances to visit during the holiday here in the USA. We pray for those who have empty seats at the table this holiday season. We pray for those travelers that they have safe trips back to their homes after this weekend. We pray for first responders everywhere as they keep order and care for those who are in hospitals or other situations around this world. We pray for those who suffer from deadly diseases and illnesses. 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: Follow Follow I Will Follow Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3tRGD7rmvM
Sermon: We continue to explore Peter’s first epistle today. We will complete this epistle before we get to celebrating the Advent calendar. Let’s get going where we left off last week.
1 Peter 5:11-12 KJV – To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
Peter speaks of Jesus Christ fondly here. He is speaking with Silvanus, an early Christian minister who also is found in letters from Paul and several other Apostles. His name, Silvanus, is only one he is known by, also known as Silas or Saul or Seila as named by Paul and Timothy in their writings. Let’s see some of the writing found by the Apostle Paul connecting to this excerpt from Peter’s first epistle.
1 Corinthians 15:1 KJV – Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 Corinthians 1:19 KJV – For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
You have to recognize in Paul’s writing that this is quite true in the aspect of working with this early Christian minister. It was a mission to share the truth of Jesus Christ with all who believed, and who wanted to believe. This was foretold in the words of many others in the history of Scripture. Here we see that in the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
Isaiah 10:12 KJV – Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Jeremiah 49:12 KJV – For thus saith the Lord; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
Ezekiel 9:6 KJV – Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Peter’s ministry spread far and wide, as those of the other Apostles had done. The designated “leader of the post resurrection ministry of Jesus Christ” was doing all he could to share the truth of Jesus, and would spend quite a lot of time in each location where he visited. Here we see him speaking with Silvanus regarding the church where a young minister, Peter’s son Marcus, was working within, supporting the ministry of Silvanus, his father, and the other Apostles.
1 Peter 5:13 KJV – The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
Letters and visits were not easy for the Apostles or any believers of Jesus Christ due to the constant worry of prosecution by the powers that might be in those countries. The Apostles share these thoughts in that regard.
Acts 12:12 KJV – And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.
Acts 12:25 KJV – And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.
Acts 15:37-39 KJV – And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;
Marcus was also referenced in the city of Colossi as shared here.
Colossians 4:10 KJV – Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)
Now, we get to the final verse of this first epistle Peter wrote. He, of course, wishes peace in Christ toward all the members of the church created by Christ, promised by God, ensured by the Holy Spirit. As Jesus always ended His conversation, Peter does as well, in this final verse.
1 Peter 5:14 KJV – Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The farewell address is one that is quite similar, familiar, from other Apostles, including Paul.
Romans 16:16 KJV – Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.
Ephesians 6:23 KJV – Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of them remind us to commit our lives to the Lord. This is something that has been discussed and discovered through several scrolls of Scripture. One of those is in the words of David, the first elected King of the Jews.
Psalm 37:5 KJV – Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Commitment, full and complete commitment, is not easy to manage with all the enticements of this world. There are so many distractions in this world today with all the technology we have available. There are so many reasons we choose not to pursue our study toward understanding and sharing of the true view of God’s Unconditional Love that is not so easily recognized in this world we live in today. Yet, it is something we should seek, even in the midst of the chaos that is life here on this earth today. Peter has given us a great deal to reflect upon. 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)
Beginning on Sunday, December 5th, 2021, we will explore the story of Jesus’s birth through the words of the Gospel of Luke. May the Lord bless and keep us strong and healthy amid this world filled with chaos, pain, and strife.
Closing Song: Vince Gill ~ Let There Be Peace On Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPH4LRASWbo
~ 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.
