https://www.youtube.com/live/MblTzlt-Jlg
Good morning and welcome to Covenant of Hope Ministries and our combined written and live Sunday sermon, which is normally broadcast every Sunday. I am Rev. Laura A. Neff. Our ministry was built on the truth of God’s love, sharing the Word of God, the Spirit of Jesus Christ 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, in order to continue the legacy created by the ministry of Jesus Christ.
You will find us in the following location: http://www.covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com
Rev. Laura’s other sites: Blogspot & Twitter & Linkedin & USAlife & YouTube & Twitch & TruthSocial & Instagram & Facebook
Wedding officiant page: Wedfolio & Wedding Chicks
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.
- We pray for JB’s mother who is having issues with her Mitral Valve and is suffering from Congestive Heart Failure which are both causing her tons of pain and other issues.
- We continue our prayers for Evangelist Cal Jennings, that his health becomes steadier than it has been for far too long. We pray that his medical needs are fully met, and he has all that he requires for comfort and peace.
- We continue our prayers for JB and EB as they navigate through the maze of medical tests and specialists to get all the answers that they need in both of their health issues. They are continually frustrated with the runaround they have been getting with the various referrals.
- We continue to pray for a friend of ours, Alexis, who is in desperate need to improve her current situation and has set up a site for donations to help her with this. If you want more information, send me a private message and I’ll pass on the information.
- We continue with our prayers for my niece Autumn, who has been suffering seizures due to a head injury from a car crash.
- We continue to pray for my Mama who has had a lot of anxiety issues lately.
- We continue to pray for all sufferers and survivors of the various types of cancer, including several survivors of the disease, JB’s sister Debbie, our friend Alexis, my Aunt Donna, and my friend Kelly.
- We pray for those who are in the path of dangerous weather, and other dangerous conditions, including volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, worldwide.
- We pray for the various outreach ministries we have joined with, with their leaders, Pastor Stephen Okoth, Pastor Simon Peter Javaji, Pastor Amir Aneel, Sister Santhi Swaroopa, Pastor Duke Moenga, and others in Kissee, Nairobi, and other places in Kenya, Pakistan, and India.
- We pray also for our American outreach ministries, including Rev. Lisa Tyler on the other side of Georgia from where I am and Rabbi Karen L. Hertzog with her ministry, Way Maker Messianic Jewish and Christian Center – USA as well.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we have so much and so many to pray for. We pray for our friends and colleagues who have been ill or have just had medical issues that are still waiting to be solved including JB, EB, and JB’s mother, along with Evangelist Cal Jennings. We pray for our outreach ministries in Pakistan where the flooding has become dire. We pray for all the orphans who are being cared for by the many outreach ministers we have around this world. We pray for the widows and the orphans as well. We pray for peace in a world filled with hate and war. We pray for patience and understanding over things that have happened that can no longer be changed. We pray for Your Unconditional Love to be felt by those who need it most and by those who need to recognize Your presence in their lives. We pray all this in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen and so it shall be.
Opening Song: It Is Well With My Soul (Evangelist Cal Jennings sang this and I managed a duet in the live version.)
Sermon: Today we are continuing Chapter six in 1st Corinthians. Paul continues chastising the members of this church. We’re only covering the next five verses due to the number of auxiliary verses involved. Now, the first thing is this, Paul isn’t being kind. He isn’t being remotely gentle. He’s being straightforward and providing serious warnings to the people there at Corinth. The title of this segment of Scripture, per the New International Version, consists of two words, and they’re accusatory, “Sexual Immorality”. Now, in today’s world there are probably a billion more methods towards sexual immorality than there were back in the days and years of Paul’s ministry, so yes, this is a warning that needs to be listened to even now. With that, let’s begin.
1 Corinthians 6:12 KJV –All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
NIV – “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
There is only one Old Testament reference Paul makes from the words of King Solomon.
Proverbs 25:16 KJV – Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
NIV – If you find honey, eat just enough—too much of it, and you will vomit.
Paul continues with references from the Word of Jesus Christ in the gospels of Matthew and John the Beloved as well as the writings of James the Just and Peter as well.
Matthew 5:29-30 KJV – And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
NIV – If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
John 8:34-36 KJV – Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
NIV – Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
James 1:25 KJV – But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
NIV –Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
1 Peter 2:16 KJV –As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
NIV –Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
2 Peter 2:19 KJV –While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
NIV –They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
Paul reminds the people of the church there at Corinth that our bodies are God’s temple and they should be treated that way. This is something that often gets ignored here in this world, even to this day. We don’t think about what we’re eating and drinking, or our exercise, sleep, or even just keeping our mood on an even keel is as important as worshipping God. The reason for this would be that a temple needs to remain holy, balanced, and more. Here is where Paul gets stricter and morally indignant with the membership of the church there at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 6:13 KJV – Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
NIV – You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Note how Paul mentions the true necessity of remaining devout to wedding vows and more. This is where Paul references the earliest writings of Scripture in the Torah.
Genesis 2:24 KJV – Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
NIV – That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Leviticus 18:22-23 KJV – Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
NIV – “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
Paul includes three references from King Solomon, as well as one from the prophet Isaiah.
Proverbs 5:18-19 KJV – Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
NIV – May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer—may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
Proverbs 6:32 KJV – But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
NIV – But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
Proverbs 23:20-21 KJV – Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
NIV – Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
Isaiah 22:13 KJV – And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
NIV – But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”
Paul includes the writings of Matthew and Mark in the words of Jesus Christ along with the words of Peter and John the Beloved.
Matthew 15:17-20 KJV – Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
NIV – “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Mark 7:18-23 KJV – And
he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding
also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the
man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his
heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And
he said, That which cometh out of the man, that
defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men,
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and
defile the man.
NIV – “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
1 Peter 2:11 KJV –Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
NIV –Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
1 John 2:16 KJV –For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
NIV –For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
Now Paul is teaching the church at Corinth what part WE play through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church. That’s why Paul is pointing toward their blasphemy, their illegal and immoral activities. It’s important even today to pay attention to what is morally correct in life, and no one is exempt.
1 Corinthians 6:14-15 KJV –And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
NIV – By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
Paul connects this with the Word of Jesus through John the Beloved, and Luke in the Acts of the Apostles as well as Peter.
John 5:21 KJV – For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
NIV – For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
John 6:39-40 KJV – And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
NIV – And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
John 11:25 KJV – Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
NIV – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
John 15:5 KJV – I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
NIV – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
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 17:31 KJV – Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
NIV –For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
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.
Sexual immorality might not be portrayed badly in this world today, or even in the days of Paul and the other Apostles, but it is indeed a very bad thing, which ruins the body, mind, spirit, and soul. This is his next advice to the people at the church in Corinth.
1 Corinthians 6:16 KJV –What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
NIV –Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
Paul includes three Old Testament verses from the Torah, poetic books, and prophetic books as well.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 KJV – If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
NIV – If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.
Proverbs 6:32 KJV – But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
NIV – But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
Malachi 2:15 KJV – And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
NIV – Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
Paul includes three gospel verses from Matthew and Mark along with a reference to the Hebrew prophets.
Matthew 5:32 KJV – But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
NIV – But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Matthew 19:5 KJV – And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
NIV – and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
Mark 10:8 KJV – And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
NIV – and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Hebrews 13:4 KJV – Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
NIV – Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Immorality is a very, very difficult ideal to recognize in a world filled with corruption, blasphemy, prostitution, and more. Jesus often said that it would be harder and harder to discern good from evil because Satan and his minions had gotten so good at deception no normal human being could recognize the difference. With the goings on just in the past few months, this is becoming more and more obvious here in this world today. It is important to remember the reason for our being here in this place right now. His name is Jesus Christ, who comes from the great Jehovah God our Heavenly Father. It is through the life death, and eternal legacy of Jesus Christ that we are here today. Now, let’s show each other how faith and belief in God go hand in hand, and all of us have the opportunity to walk in the faithful steps of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The ability to do this requires us to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you are willing to do so, please leave me a note in the comments and I’ll be in touch. 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: Standing On the Promises (In the live version I did a duet with Evangelist Cal Jennings.)
~ Shalom ~
Rev. Laura A. Neff
Blogspot & Twitter & Linkedin & Twitch & USAlife
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 © 2025 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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