Covenant Of Hope Ministries: Plant Your Faith Like the Mustard Seed and Watch It Grow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNoEn4Nadv4

Welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our Sunday sermon. You will normally see us posted in written and live form on Sunday. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. Our ministry was built on the truth of God’s love and sharing the Word of God, the Spirit of Christ Jesus in a way that we believe embraces the ways Jesus taught us to manage. We bring His Word to the many as opposed to the few to continue the legacy created by the ministry of Jesus Christ. 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

Wedding officiant page: Wedfolio

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 and his housing situation. May the solution that has presented itself be a beneficial one in many ways.

- Please continue praying for Evangelist Cal Jennings’ sister who has had a benign meningioma removed and has been undergoing rehabilitation. The family is overjoyed to learn that the tumor was benign.

- Please keep praying for my father-in-law Raymond Neff, who is still recovering from his severe chemical burns, but is thankfully home. He is improving little by little, but there are still issues with his health as a result of the burns. His skin is improving upon last report earlier this week.

- Pray for Randy from Pococha just had heart surgery and asks for prayer.

- 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.

Several who are having money issues.

One who is suffering from loneliness that keeps them from peace and patience.

One cousin who is having a great many issues in their family, including two suffering cancer, other family issues especially difficult include several diagnoses that are a lot to process for them.

One who has been having stomach and other nagging issues lately.

Two who are still recovering from the aftereffects of strokes.

Two who are suffering from serious credit issues.

- Please continue to pray for my friend Jeff’s close friend Buddy who had a heart attack two weeks ago this past Friday.

- Please pray for a sibling who has again injured his back badly enough to require more surgery.

- Pray for the economy around this world as inflation and supply chains suffer from extremely high prices for fuel and overly high demand.

- Pray for those who have suffered from violent events, that they heal and do not have scarred psyches and that those who have lost their loved ones to violence find peace in the face of fear.

- Pray for comfort and solace to be shared with those who have said farewell to a loved one this week, known or unknown.

- 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.

* Happy Belated Birthday, the day was yesterday, to a dear friend, E. B. You know who you are.

Prayer: Father in heaven, our prayer today on this beautiful, blessed, Sunday is to have the Holy Spirit bring the bountiful and wonderful gifts of spiritual strength, peace and joy to our hearts, faith, knowledge, and wisdom to our minds, and healing strength to our bodies, and souls this week and always. We pray for family and friends who have health and other issues that are causing upheaval, sorrow, fear, and more around this world. We pray for those who have had serious medical issues in our families, colleagues, and friends. We pray for those who have suffered unjustly for things they could not control. We pray for those known or unknown who have lost all faith and live in paralyzing fear and sorrow. We pray for the many homeless and the jobless in this world. We pray for the hungry and the malnourished. We pray for the poor, weak, and sorrowful people in this world. We pray in thanksgiving for all the great gifts that You have given us, even if we don’t always realize they are there. We pray in hope and patience for those things that are worrying us in our hearts and minds. 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: Nearer My God to Thee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWz4feHp0ko

Sermon: This week we are completing the fourth chapter in Romans. Throughout the letters Paul wrote, we see a theme where he brings very significant historical moments into the present he knew at that time. Like all the Apostles and Disciples, he shared everything that he learned while in the company of our Savior Jesus Christ. One of the things we learn as children in a Christian Sunday School class is what faith is supposed to be. As adults, we should be learning how to build up our faith in Him and His presence in our lives. There are several people through all of the Old and New Testament Scrolls. One of the most well-known Old Testament faithful people is Abraham. Paul shares his impression of this great friend of God.

Romans 4:19 KJV – And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

NIV – Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Everything about faith exists in the story of Abraham and Sarah. Having children at the ripe old age of ninety is a miraculous consideration, as most human beings realize that there are very, very, few who are capable of such an idea even with the advances in medical care today. We see that faith here.

Genesis 17:17 KJV – Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

NIV – Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”

Genesis 18:11 KJV – Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

NIV – Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.

Jesus Himself pointed this out as well in the Gospel of Matthew. Listen closely.

Matthew 6:30 KJV – Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

NIV – If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Note what Jesus says here! Oh Ye Of Little Faith! The very first integral need in our journey toward understanding God’s Word, the life of our Savior Jesus Christ, all of this requires us to take that mustard seed amount of faith and help it grow. If you have ever seen a mustard seed plant, you will know just how fast they grow and how bountiful the harvest can be. The Hebrew prophets have this to add.

Hebrews 11:11-12 KJV – Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

NIV – And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

One beautiful thing about faith is the realization that the promises God and Jesus made are ironclad. They cannot be broken by the three-in-one. This is why Paul points to a directive we should all share as faithful Christians. We see that here in his next verse.

Romans 4:20 KJV – He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

NIV – Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

See what Paul shares? He didn’t stagger, isn’t shaken by the unbelief that can often plague humanity. Instead, his faith shone through enough to provide glory to God through the faith and belief in our Savior Jesus Christ. This form of faith was proven many times with different prophets, and more. We see this again in the incomparable Abraham and his relationship with God as his true friend in faith.

Genesis 15:6 KJV – And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

NIV – Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Deep despair and fear can also disrupt pure faith. This is something that David realized during a period of deep unrest in his reign as king of the Jews. Here we see his thoughts in this regard.

1 Samuel 30:6 KJV –And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

NIV –David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

The strength in our faith is one thing we hear about a lot through scripture, evangelists, pastors, preachers, and teachers. Faith is something that Jesus insisted could begin as that mustard seed, but has the ability to grow exponentially. If you look up what a mustard seed field looks like it is a sea of yellow grains and flowering buds filling up the landscape. Jesus is featured in this next verse from the gospel of Matthew. In this case, it is the miracle healing of the paralytic that has the people awed and inspired to give glory to God. This is a response more people need to portray when even the everyday miracles that might occur are witnessed.

Matthew 9:8 KJV – But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

NIV – When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

Miracles are just as awesome as they sound like in Scripture. They are as welcome to people as laughter, love, hope and peace. What we don’t realize is that there are miracles everywhere we turn, it just takes a mind and heart filled with pure faith to realize their existence. Paul portrays the ability Jesus had to bring about seemingly impossible miracles in this next verse.

Romans 4:21 KJV – And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

NIV – being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

The hardest part of the life and living Jesus managed for thirty-three years as a mortal human being is the fact that it literally took miracles for people to recognize everything the Heavenly Father, God, holds for us. Life itself is a miracle. Yet, how many of us celebrate this fact? God has proven miracles since the beginning of time. Creation being one of those, taking and building out of nothing, which scientists call the “big bang”. In the case of creation, it's not a theoretical consideration, it’s an infinite, eternal, reality. We see one view of miracles again with Abraham and Sarah.

Genesis 18:14 KJV – Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

NIV – Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

The one thing that most, if not all, have often denied, is the existence of miracles. There are new miracles from God every moment of every day. If there weren’t, time would not exist. We would not exist. Believing in miracles and the ability to create miracles is a step of faith that we often forget about. Jesus simply pointed out the ability faithful belief in the Three-in-One can give each of us, just by exercising that infinite, eternal, amazing gift of faith and belief. We see this in the observation made by the gospel writer Luke here and in the Hebrew prophets.

Luke 1:1 KJV – Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

NIV – Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,

Hebrews 11:19 KJV – Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

NIV – Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

The miracles that God and Jesus managed and manage here on this earth amongst us are too many to count. Righteousness is our ability to prove that miracles exist in such a way that we learn and grow from each one we recognize alone or in groups. Righteousness, the act of being righteous, is something many need practice in proving. It doesn’t have limitations like age or ability. Everyone, at any age, or physical ability or inability, has the capacity to be righteous toward God, through Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul reminds us about.

Romans 4:22-23 KJV – And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

NIV – This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone,

Credit is due when proof shows it to be. This is what Paul does in this verse. He credits Jesus with everything that He taught him and his fellow Apostles. He adds to this the facts that miracles are God’s proof of His sovereignty, His works were such that we need to continue to study them more and more. Paul brings history into focus to provide us with proof here in these excerpts from the letter he wrote to the church at Corinth and also the second letter written to Timothy of Lystra, in what is today modern Turkey.

1 Corinthians 9:9-10 KJV –For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

NIV –For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.

1 Corinthians 10:6 KJV –Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

NIV –Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

1 Corinthians 10:11 KJV –Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

NIV –These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

2 Timothy 3:16 KJV –All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

NIV –All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

In those four supporting verses, Paul is providing the proof of God and Jesus’ sovereignty. He is providing reasons that people always will need the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ and that lays in the midst of the seven troubles. He points out just one of those in these supporting verses, lust. Remember, Paul points out, that those seven troubles can be found anywhere, and everywhere. He also points out in these last two verses of Romans 4 that we owe it to God and Jesus to give Them credit where credit is due.

Romans 4:24-25 KJV – But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

NIV – but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Have faith and believe. Put your heart, mind, spirit, conscious, unconscious, and subconscious mind into that faith and believe not just to save yourself, but to provide proof that salvation is available for everyone around you just by building faith and belief in His existence on all of those spiritual and human levels available to be recognized. Remember to give it to God and leave it there, then our worry, fear, pain, and sorrow can be transformed into the ultimate foundation for our walk in Christ’s eternal, unconditional, infinite love. We see the formation of that from these six points of reference Paul shares.

Isaiah 53:4-5 KJV – Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

NIV – Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Acts 2:24 KJV – Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

NIV – But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

Acts 2:32 KJV – This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

NIV – God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

1 Corinthians 15:17 KJV –And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

NIV –And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

1 Peter 1:21 KJV –Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

NIV –Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Hebrews 4:14-16 KJV – Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

NIV – Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Paul wants us to recognize that no matter how bad life can get on this earth we live on, we have a huge amount of support beyond our family members, and friends, and it’s up to each of us to provide proof of how He works in our lives as we work together in His Unconditional Love. 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: What a Day That Will Be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycz4s2xwDhc

~ Shalom ~

Rev. Laura A. Neff

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Evangelist Calvin Jennings

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Covenant of Hope Ministries Main Site: 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.