**ANNOUNCEMENT - I was unable to go live due to technical difficulties this morning so there is no video for this sermon.
Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our sermon or midweek study. 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 & 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 pray for Evangelist Cal Jennings who has been suffering greatly with his health. May the Lord bring his spirits up and help heal him.
- Please keep several friends and other family members in prayer for their trials and tribulations. They have each requested to remain anonymous for the time being. One who is traveling, let’s pray they make it home safely. One who has just recently gotten out of the hospital, may they get well quickly. Another pair who have had serious issues with pain levels in recent weeks and months. May their pain ease sooner rather than later. One last prayer for my nephew that the issues with his education be resolved once and for all.
- Pray for the economy around this world as inflation and supply chains suffer from extremely high prices for fuel.
- Pray for the family, friends, and colleagues of all the teachers and children who were killed recently in a Texas school.
- Pray for the family members who mourn the loss of five people after an escaped fugitive took their lives this past week.
- Pray also for others who have lost their lives around this world, including several in a boat wreck here in Savannah, Georgia last week. A family targeted by an escaped felon, and a judge gunned down as well. Pray for their family members, friends, and colleagues.
- Be thankful for each day we live as we do not know what tomorrow brings.
- 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.
Prayer: Father in heaven, our prayer today is to have the Spirit bring healing to each of our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls. We pray for enlightenment and understanding while studying Your Word. We thank You for these awesome gifts and the many more You have brought us. May our fears be drawn out of us. Help us to see the many gifts Your love brings and the unknown locations it might be found. May our pain, fear, and sorrow be eased. May peace be brought from our hearts and shared with others. May Your gifts of love shine through us toward others. We pray for the poor, the sick, the sorrowful, the wounded, and the frightened. We pray for the soldiers, the Samaritans, the children, and the rest. We pray in thanksgiving for every gift brought us. We pray that every tomorrow would bring good things. 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: Stephen Curtis Chapman ~ The Walk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op7npmUr54M
Sermon: Today we are beginning our exploration in the third chapter of Titus. We’ve heard in many epistles and elsewhere, both Old and New Testament views of doing “good works” in the name of the LORD. Titus is no different in this viewpoint. All of us should remember that if we want to be something in this world, one of the best types of people to be, would be one who shares kindness, courtesy, and love for their fellow man. It’s not easy in a world filled with violence, war, and hatred at every turn. Having faith and being obedient to that faith is not as easy as “let’s do this” for many people because we fall off the path, we get beaten down by all the bad stuff that happens in this world. If we don’t take our worries, pains, fears, anxieties, to God, they will continue to weigh us down like giant chains wrapped all around us. This is where we start today.
Titus 3:1 KJV – Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
NIV – Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,
There is something important to pay attention to. All of us are subject to the power God has, the power Jesus taught about, and the amazing gifts that come from the Holy Spirit. Every person is subject to the lessons of faith, the voyage toward full faith takes determination, devotion, and exercising our faith. Like we exercise our bodies to keep healthy, we must also exercise our hearts, our minds, our spirits and souls, to keep the whole person healthy. This is important enough to be noted in Scripture, so we all should be paying attention to these things as well. Add to that, all of us answer to God and Jesus when it all gets laid down on the last day. This is what Titus is sharing, and how Paul and Timothy add to this thought follows here.
Romans 13:1 KJV – Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
NIV – Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2 Timothy 2:14 KJV – Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
NIV – Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
2 Timothy 2:21 KJV – If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
NIV – Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Colossians 1:10 KJV – That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
NIV – so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
We all need reminders for things. For example, we have to have multiple methods to remember appointments, doesn’t matter the type of appointment, we often have reminders set, on the calendar at your desk, on one hanging on a wall, in your cellular phone, email, and all types of other places. We often need to remember what James, brother of Jesus, has warned us about, holding our tongues during a testy moment with another person, where there is a good potential for letting something slip that shouldn’t be said in that time or place. This is what Titus reminds us about.
Titus 3:2 KJV – To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
NIV – to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.
Again, we see this same thought, gentle, peaceable, considerate, all the good behaviors that should be pursued every day, night, in everything we say or do. We see this same repetition with Timothy’s words here.
1 Timothy 3:3 KJV – Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
NIV – not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
2 Timothy 2:25 KJV – In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
NIV – Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
Filthy lucre, ill-gotten goods, for those who don’t recognize that word. Being drunk, slurring the words, blearing the eyesight, that kind of drunk, does us no favors either. Most of us after a night of heavy drinking know well what the consequences are with our bodies and minds. This is why we hear the word moderation so often. Peter, Paul, Timothy, and Titus are all on the same page with that thought, and both James and Peter here as well.
James 3:17 KJV – But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
NIV – But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
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:
NIV – For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
Sobriety is a very important theme. Propriety is also a concern in the world. We have so much filth, so much evil, wrongdoing, around this world. It may not be “illegal” according to the laws of man, but it is considered crossing the line by God’s Word. This takes practice to remember always. There are so many distractions in this world we often will stray away from the path Jesus left for us to follow. Titus realized this and his words hit home.
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.
NIV – At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
There are times we fall off the path and would hardly even realize or recognize that fact. It does not matter how devoutly we pursue our faith, we can still have those moments where it all gets screwed up and we fall away from the path Jesus left us. However, there is always hope. We can learn from our errors in life and in faith. That’s why Jesus proves just how much He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for Christians, young and old, new and experienced. We see that fact in Paul’s words for the Corinthians and Romans and also in Peter’s first letter as we learned earlier this year.
1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV – And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
NIV – And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
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:
NIV – For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
Romans 6:6 KJV – Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
NIV – For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
Romans 6:12 KJV – Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
NIV – Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
The miracles that Jesus brought to light were many, only some of which were noted in the four gospels. There are and were many that we may never truly know enough about. The important ones that were managed have been spoken about. Those miracles are for the sake of kindness, faith, hope, unconditional love, all of those. We speak so often about being a kind person, and if we are going to be anything, being kind is a place to start. We can all follow with the question that is often marked with four letters WWJD, what would Jesus do. We should consider that with all important decisions, all major undertakings, that we pursue daily.
Titus 3:4 KJV – But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
NIV – But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,
We see the thought of patience, forbearance, humility, tolerance, all considered in the words that Paul adds when speaking to the Romans and Ephesians.
Romans 2:4 KJV – Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
NIV – Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Ephesians 2:7 KJV – That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
NIV – in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Remember salvation is not determined by human means, but by those divine means Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit together would possess. This is something that Titus is reminding us of.
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;
NIV – he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
We hear from the prophet Ezekiel regarding how we must prepare to be one of God’s true people, yes, even then it was pointed out that we needed to be clean, unblemished, and that it wouldn’t be an easy thing to keep ourselves that pure.
Ezekiel 36:25 KJV – Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
NIV – I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
We hear also from John the Baptist as well in the Gospel of Matthew here.
Matthew 3:11 KJV – I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
NIV – “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Our last verse comes from the gospel of John the Beloved and it is our Savior Jesus Christ speaking. He shares that we all must be baptized, we all must be pure, and put on the “new person” and do all we can to keep us feeling, looking, sounding new and pure in heart, mind, spirit, and soul.
John 3:5 KJV – Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
NIV – Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Jesus said here that we must be born of water and the Holy Spirit, in other words, we must be baptized and confirmed in the Holy Spirit BOTH in order to truly understand the truth of God’s Unconditional Love, and how we should behave while exercising our faith, notice I didn’t say practicing this time. Exercising faith is more than just practicing. We can practice all we want, but if we don’t exercise our faith in all things, then we can’t learn everything our faith can do. Sure, we can practice what’s been and done a billion or more times in our lives already, but that doesn’t mean we will find our faith growing further and further than we ever would have imagined. 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: I Will Walk With Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTL2jDCjbVM
~ Shalom ~
Rev. Laura A. Neff
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Evangelist 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 © 2022 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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