2024.04.27 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 7:13–14

Read Matthew 7:13–14

Questions from the Scripture text: With what command does Matthew 7:13 begin? By what must they enter? What is the other gate like? What sort of way does it open? To what does the broad way lead? Who go in by it? But what sort of way does the narrow gate open (Matthew 7:14)? What does it lead to? Who find it? 

What is the great choice of our existence? Matthew 7:13–14 prepares us for the morning sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that there are only two ways to live—one that leads to life, and one that leads to destruction.

Two Doors. Christ is the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13). You can’t enter some other way and merge into the path that leads to life. You have to begin with Him. You have to begin with nothing but Him. You have to give up everything else to follow Him (cf. Luke 9:23–24). You don’t get to keep either what good or meritorious works you once thought that you had (Philippians 3:7–9; Hebrews 6:1, Hebrews 9:14), or your former identity, allegiances, or sinful desires (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:3–7). 

The wide way is literally anything but “Christ alone” (even a wide assortment of “Christ-plus”-type hopes). It is wide indeed. We may never comfort ourselves with the idea that we must be ok because so many people believe like we do. Wide is the gate that leads to destruction.

Two Directions. The Lord has been describing to the few in front of Him the transformed life that God gives to those who will be entering the kingdom. This transformed life is the narrow path of Matthew 7:14 (cf. Matthew 5:20). Jesus is the only way into it, and it is the only path that leads from Him. If you are not on the narrow path—if you do not have a new life in pursuit of holiness—you need to go back to the gate. 

In pursuing holiness, the believer must not desire approval of men because then you would “have your reward.” And he also must not expect approval of men because there are comparatively few with you in the confined path. Jesus gives us a wide invitation to Himself and speaks of the rest in Him and the lightness of His yoke (cf. Matthew 11:28–30; John 6:35–37; John 7:37–38). But at the same time, He warns us that we have to count the cost of giving up everything and of offering ourselves as a living sacrifice (cf. Romans 12:1). 

Two Destinations. Those on the broad path do not think much about their destination. They are too busy living their best life now. When they do think of their destination, it is mostly to assure themselves the opposite of the reality, to tell themselves that the destination will be like what they enjoy now, but even better. Truly, they have their reward, and they are destroying themselves already. 

But how great is the destruction to which they go! Thus far, God spares them in kindness and mercy which are meant to lead them to repentance (cf. Romans 2:2–4). But they assure themselves that this means their path is fine, and their destination is good. They refuse to consider that they are storing up wrath against the day of wrath (cf. Romans 2:5), when they will arrive at their destruction—everlasting destruction in flaming fire that comes continually from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:8–10). 

Those on the narrow path have entered through a glorious door and are enjoying an increasingly glorious (though confined) path, but they think much about the destination: life. Here, “life” is a synonym to “the kingdom” in the sermon (cf. Matthew 5:20). “Life” is the comfort that ends their current mourning (cf. Matthew 5:4), the inheritance enjoyed as co-heirs with Christ (cf. Matthew 5:5), the filling with righteous character and conduct (cf. Matthew 5:6), the final/full/forever enjoyment of mercy (cf. Matthew 5:7), the full enjoyment of God Himself (cf. Matthew 5:8), and the unimaginable honor of being displayed as His children forever (cf. Matthew 5:9). 

The text refers to it all under the one word: “life.” Life as we were created to have it. Life for which we were redeemed. Life as Christ Himself has had from all eternity as the Son of God. Life as Christ Himself perfectly and increasingly enjoyed in all of His humanity. Life! When others scoff at the exclusivity of the door, we heed them not; our destination is life! When others frown or scold as the confinement of the way, we rejoice that the confinement compels us forward to our destination—life!

What is your worthiness before God? From where does any strength and goodness in you come? What else are you tempted to trust in? What else are you tempted to live for? What is your heaven? How often do you think about it/Him?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving Your own Son as our gate to enter the way. Grant the ministry of Your Spirit to grow is in the holiness we must have in order to see the Lord. Give us to know you now, and bring us to glorify You and fully enjoy You forever, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP6 “Be Gracious, LORD” or TPH459 “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”

Wake Up, and Get Dressed! [2024.04.24 Midweek Sermon in Romans 13:11–14]

Christians should begin living now, already, our heavenly life, which we are enabled to do by putting on Christ.

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

The Lord's Covenant Meal [Family Worship lesson in Numbers 9:1–14]

Why does God remind them about the Passover? Numbers 9:1–14 prepares us for the evening sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the God of the first Passover is the God of the second, and He requires that it be kept, and that it be kept correctly, by all of His church and only His church.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.04.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Numbers 9:1–14

Read Numbers 9:1–14

Questions from the Scripture text:  Who spoke to whom in Numbers 9:1? Where? When? After what? What did He command for whom (Numbers 9:2)? On what day (Numbers 9:3)? At what time? According to what? What did Moses do (Numbers 9:4)? What did the children of Israel do (Numbers 9:5)? On what day? At what time? Where? According to what? What had happened to whom (Numbers 9:6)? What couldn’t they do? What did they do on that day? What did they say about themselves (Numbers 9:7)? What did they ask? What does Moses tell them to do (Numbers 9:8)? To wait for what? Who spoke to whom in Numbers 9:9? To whom was he to speak (Numbers 9:10)? What conditions would not prevent keeping Passover? What is the “make-up day” for such cases (Numbers 9:11)? At what time must it be kept? In what manner (Numbers 9:11-12)? Who cannot participate in this make-up day (Numbers 9:13)? What must happen to him instead? Why, what hasn’t he done? What must he bear? Whose case does Numbers 9:14 address? What does this sojourning stranger wish to do? How must he then do it (cf. Exodus 12:43–49)? 

Why does God remind them about the Passover? Numbers 9:1–14 prepares us for the evening sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the God of the first Passover is the God of the second, and He requires that it be kept, and that it be kept correctly, by all of His church and only His church.

The Lord (Jesus!) is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The date in Numbers 9:1 places this event at the time of the raising of the tabernacle (cf. Exodus 40:17), a month before the censuses that begin in Numbers 1:1. It is connected to the setting up of the tabernacle (cf. Numbers 7:1) and Israel’s preparedness to depart. In two weeks, it will be exactly a year since the tenth plague and the first Passover. The Lord had commanded that this be kept annually, as the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (cf. Exodus 12:14, Exodus 12:17–18), but now He comes in His kindness and gives a reminder in Numbers 9:1-4. He is the One Who has commanded the observance and the manner of keeping it.

As with all of the commanded worship of God, He reminds us in the midst of the worship that He is the same as He was when He commanded it, and that He is the same as He will be when that to which the worship looks forward is finally fulfilled. Passover is reminding them that the God of the plagues and the God of promised land is the One Who has set up His tent in their midst in the wilderness. 

Passover also reminds them that they owe their existence to the lamb that was slain to redeem them from death. This is why Hebrews 13:8 takes this truth about YHWH, held forth in the Passover, and declares it about Jesus Christ, in the context of His own sacrifice, His own altar, and His own Supper (cf. Hebrews 13:8–10). All the bringings-near that we have seen from Leviticus to this point find their fulfillment in Christ, but this is perhaps the most poignant one of all, as the last of the prophets declares Him to be “the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world” (cf. John 1:29), and the book of life is called “the Book of Life of the Lamb Slain” from the foundation of the world (cf. Revelation 13:8). 

Dear reader, the same Lord and the same Jesus as at the creation, at the Exodus, in the wilderness, at the crucifixion, at the time of Hebrews, and the time of Revelation… this same Lord and Christ is the One to Whom (and in Whom!) you draw near day by day in your secret and household worship, and Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day in the public worship!

Defiling the Passover or skipping it are cause for excommunication on earth and from heaven. The exactness of the day becomes a difficulty for some who were defiled by a dead body (Numbers 9:6). Shall they be prevented from drawing near to God (Numbers 9:7, “presenting the offering” is literally “bringing near the brought-near thing”)? Touching the worship of God, and particularly the Passover, Moses wisely does not decide this himself but waits for special revelation (Numbers 9:8). The Lord’s answer is not just for this situation but for their generations (Numbers 9:10) and includes not just those who are put outside the camp by the providence of uncleanness, but after they have come into the land, those who happened to be traveling beyond its borders at the time of the Passover. 

God still permits (requires!) that these keep the Passover (Numbers 9:10-12), warning that the “make-up date” of the fourteenth day of the second month does NOT leave the day up to preference. Someone who is not prevented by providence from observing on the original date is to be excommunicated (Numbers 9:13). 

This has significant implications for the importance of assembling as a church now, under Christ’s high-priesthood. God forbids the forsaking of the assembling of ourselves together (cf. Hebrews 10:25), even as He refers to Christian worship and the assemblies of the church as the fulfillment of the observation of Passover. “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed,” and now we must keep the feast by keeping ourselves clean of the leaven of sin, living unleavened lives of sincerity and truth (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6–8). There, too, in 1 Corinthians 5, those who defile the feast are to be excommunicated (cf. Exodus 12:15). 

Taking Exodus 12:15 with Numbers 9:13, we see that those who absent themselves from the commanded worship are to be subject to excommunication, just as much as those who are present but defiled. The passive “shall be cut off” reminds us that what the church does on earth reflects something that God Himself does from heaven. And, in fact, the Lord was doing this at the time, in Corinth, even though (because?) they had been failing to exercise church discipline in connection with the Supper (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:29–32). 

Church membership is required for taking the Passover. Finally, the Lord reminds them that “church-membership” is required for Passover participation. By concluding with Numbers 9:14, He reminds them of how He had concluded Exodus 12, enabling a stranger to participate if he fully converted, and his household came into Israel under one of the tribes (cf. Exodus 12:43–49). One was not admitted to the Passover simply by desiring to keep it to YHWH (cf. Exodus 12:48). He had to join the congregation and receive the covenant sign (cf. Exodus 12:44, Exodus 12:47, Exodus 12:48). 

How are you keeping yourself clean from the leaven of sin? When are you tempted to skip church, even when you’re not really providentially prevented? Of what church are you a member?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for granting unto us to come near to You in Christ. Please grant that by Your Spirit’s work, we would keep a clean conscience before You, and that we would not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Please grant to Your church to take the purity of Your congregations seriously, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH196 “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing”

Joining Our Savior's War against Our Sin [Family Worship lesson in 1John 3:4–10]

What’s the big deal about sin? 1John 3:4–10 prepares us for the second serial reading in public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that sin is a big deal because it is opposed to God, opposed to Christ, and opposed to the new life and identity of the believer.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.04.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 John 3:4–10

Read 1 John 3:4–10

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the one committing sin also commit (1 John 3:4)? Why is this true? Why was Jesus revealed (1 John 3:5)? Who knows this? What isn’t there any of in Him? What doesn’t the one abiding in Him do (1 John 3:6)? What two things hasn’t the sinning one done? How does the apostle address his readers in 1 John 3:7? What does he urge them not to let anyone do? What is the relation between one’s works and one’s status? From where do both come? Of whom is the one who sins (1 John 3:8)? How do the devil and sin relate to one another? Who has been manifested? For what purpose—to destroy what? Of Whom are some people now born (1 John 3:9)? What does such a man not do? Why—what abides (remains) in him? What can’t he do? Why—of Whom has he been born? Which two categories of men have been distinguished from one another (1 John 3:10)? How is this distinction revealed? What two things are always the case for someone who is a child of God?

What’s the big deal about sin? 1 John 3:4–10 prepares us for the second serial reading in public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that sin is a big deal because it is opposed to God, opposed to Christ, and opposed to the new life and identity of the believer.

The nature of sin: lawlessness, 1 John 3:4. Sin is utterly heinous, because it is against God. It is against His existence, His deity, His glory, His claims upon us. And this glorious God has given us His Fatherly instruction, His law. This law is an expression of the applications to our lives of the implications of His character for us as His image-bearers. So sin is an utter rejection of the glorious God, and an utter rejection of His self-revelation to us. It clamps its hands over its ears, as it were, and refuses to receive God’s good and kind communication of Himself.

Christ as solution to sin (1): taking away our sins, 1 John 3:5-6. Jesus was manifested to take away our sins (1 John 3:5a) in the two ways that we heard about in 1 John 1:9. In our justification, Jesus Himself is counted as our righteousness, with His keeping the commandments of the law counted in our behalf, and with His offering Himself as an atoning sacrifice wiping away the guilt and penalty of our sin. So, He was manifested to forgive us our sins. But He was also manifested to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not only does He instantly take away the penalty of our sin; He instantly takes away its power over us and progressively takes away its power within us and presence within us. Indeed, sin still feels powerful, but it is no longer our master. And He weakens it more and more, even as He makes us more and more holy. 

Jesus’s great work is to take away sins. It is the height of wickedness to tolerate sin or to teach that a Christian may do so. Since in Jesus there is no sin (end of 1 John 3:5), and since a Christian may aptly be described as one who abides in Jesus, how can a Christian go on in sin? Sinning never comes from seeing Him; sinning never comes from knowing Him (1 John 3:6). Though since the time that this book was written, false teachers have been telling saints that seeing and knowing Jesus permits them to go on sinning comfortably, the truth is exactly the opposite. Abiding in Christ makes sin most uncomfortable!

Christ as solution to sin (2): destroying the works of the devil, 1 John 3:7-8. The word for “practices” in 1 John 3:7 (and 1 John 3:10) is actually “works.” There were teachers at the time saying that those who were righteous with God in Jesus Christ could just go on working unrighteousness. But this was a lie, so the apostle says, “let no one deceive you.” If Jesus is righteous, then He produces a telltale sign in those whom He makes righteous: they work righteousness (1 John 3:7). 

But all believers began dead in sin (cf. Ephesians 2:1), walking according to the devil himself (cf. Ephesians 2:2), as children of wrath (cf. Ephesians 2:3). And even after we have that new seed within us, that new birth, that new nature, it is possible for us to live according to that which is passing away, that which remains from our former nature. Is it ok to go on sinning then? By no means! “He who sins is of the devil” (1 John 3:8)! Whenever a believer sins, he acts according to that satanic nature with which he came into the world. He must not do so! Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (end of verse 8), to go on in is to fight against the cosmic mission of our God and Savior. 

God’s children opposed to sin, 1 John 3:9-10. Furthermore, going on in sin sets us against our new nature (1 John 3:9; cf. Galatians 5:16–17). We came into this new nature by being born of God. We cannot be born of God, then unborn of God. The new nature must persist and must win out until that which is from our former nature is defeated and eliminated. When we sin, we may know that it is coming not from our new and lasting nature in God, in Christ, but from our former and condemned nature whose days are numbered. So for every thought, we must determine: does that thought come from the spirit or from the flesh? For every word, we must determine: does that word come from my former nature or from my new nature from God? For every action, we must determine: does that action come from me as a child of God, or rather as I used to be, a child of the devil?

This is vitally important for us to distinguish, and if we find that we do not care to work righteousness, then this is very serious indeed. All of humanity are divided into two categories in 1 John 3:10: the children of God and the children of the devil. That song of old liberalism tells a diabolical lie when it says, “with God as our father, brothers all are we.” No, there are two fathers: the devil is the father of those who are still in the first Adam, and God is the Father of those who are in the second Adam. God is the Father of those who are in Christ. And verse 10 gives us the telltale sign of the one who is a child of the devil: he doesn’t work righteousness, and he doesn’t love his brother. Such a person cannot be a child of God. In the Son of God, there is no sin (1 John 3:5), so the children of God, who abide in the Son of God, also do not sin. Do they commit sins? Yes (cf. 1 John 1:8, 1 John 1:10), but only from what remains of their former, vanishing nature. It is not of their new nature, and they are at war with it.

How is it evident that you are at war with your sin? If you had to evaluate by whose side you seem to be on, do you seem to be a child of God or a child of the devil? What has Jesus done about the penalty of your sin? What is He doing about the power and presence of your sin? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for breaking Your holy law. Not only is our sin against You Yourself, but also against Your good and kind teaching to us of Your law. Forgive us for how we have been willing to think and say and do that which Christ came to destroy. Forgive us for having tolerated thoughts, emotions, and actions that belong to the children of the devil, rather than the children of God. Truly, our sin is a dreadful thing. But we thank You that if we are in Christ, it is because we have been born of You, and Your seed remains in us. Make us to work righteousness, and to love our brother, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP118A “Because He’s Good, O Thank the LORD” or TPH461 “Blessed Are the Sons of God”

2024.04.24 Prayer Meeting Live Stream (Live at 6:30p.m.)

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April 24 Prayer Meeting Folder

Romans 13:11–14 Sermon Outline

We urge you to assemble physically, if possible, with a true congregation of Christ's church. For those of our own congregation who may be providentially hindered, we are grateful to be able to provide this service.

Each week we LIVESTREAM the Lord's Day (Sabbath School, Morning Public Worship, and p.m. Singing and Sermon) and Midweek Meeting (sermon and prayer). For notifications when Hopewell is streaming live, install the CHURCHONE APP on your [Apple], [Android], or [Kindle] device, and enter hopewellarp for your broadcaster

What the Servant Secured for His Bride and Offspring [Family Worship lesson in Isaiah 54]

What does the Servant secure for the church? Isaiah 54 prepares us for the first serial reading in public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these seventeen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Servant secures for the church an age in which He Himself is her Head, and the Lord deals with her accordingly. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.04.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Isaiah 54

Read Isaiah 54

Questions from the Scripture text: Who is commanded to sing (Isaiah 54:1a)? Even though she hasn’t done what (verse 1b)? What sort of singing (verse 1c)? Even though she hasn’t done what (verse 1d)? How do her offspring and joy compare to whose? Who says this? What will she have to do for her growing family (Isaiah 54:2-3)? What will they inherit (Isaiah 54:3b)? What two things is she told not to do (Isaiah 54:4a–b)? Why, what will be taken away (verse 4c–d)? Whom does she have now for a Husband (Isaiah 54:5a)? What is His Name (verse 5b)? Whom does she have for nearest of kin/Redeemer (verse 5c)? What else is He called (verse 5d)? Who has called her (Isaiah 54:6a, d, Isaiah 54:8c)? From out of what condition (Isaiah 54:6b–c)? How long was she in that condition (Isaiah 54:7a)? How will the mercy into which we brings her compare (Isaiah 54:7b, Isaiah 54:8b)? How sure is His promise to do this (Isaiah 54:9-10)? What is her condition now (Isaiah 54:11a–b)? But how does the Lord describe His adorning her (Isaiah 54:11-12c)? What blessings will her children have, in addition to being many (Isaiah 54:13)? How secure will she be in her new, righteous condition (Isaiah 54:14)? What will the enemies still do, but what will happen to them (Isaiah 54:15)? Why won’t any weapons succeed against His people (Isaiah 54:16-17c)? To whom does this heritage belong (Isaiah 54:17d)? How will they come into it (verse 17e)? How can we be sure (verse 17f)?

What does the Servant secure for the church? Isaiah 54 prepares us for the first serial reading in public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these seventeen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Servant secures for the church an age in which He Himself is her Head, and the Lord deals with her accordingly. 

Flourishing joy for the currently barren, Isaiah 54:1-3. Israel, in the time of her exile, is forsaken. But the seed that the Servant (Christ!) secures by His labor (cf. Isaiah 53:10d), now produce a multitude of children for her that she did not even bear (cf. Isaiah 49:18–23). This historical metaphor is often lived out by particular church members. That which is true for Israel as a church is true for barren (cf. Psalm 113:7–9) and eunuchs (cf. Isaiah 56:3–5) among God’s people, who receive church-family as a super-natural blessing that they enjoy especially on the Lord’s Day, with a view toward eternity. We get a taste of the family-forming power of Christ when we are more than compensated at church for the emptiness that barrenness, singleness, or bereavement have brought to the home. This is the proper way for converted Jews to feel in the largely gentile church: sing (Isaiah 54:1a)! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud (verse 1c)! You are the seed who are inheriting the nations (Isaiah 54:3b)!

Affectionate love for the currently forsaken, Isaiah 54:4-8. As conveyed so poignantly in the contemporary book of Hosea, Israel are desolate and alone because she has forsaken her Husband. But the Servant who has atoned for her sins (cf. chapter 53) has brought her back into her marriage to YHWH of hosts, her Husband (Isaiah 54:5a) and closest of kin (e.g., “Redeemer,” Isaiah 54:5c, Isaiah 54:8c). His chastening her has been momentary (Isaiah 54:7a) and measured (Isaiah 54:8a) in order to bring her into immeasurable compassions (Isaiah 54:7b) and eternal covenant love (Isaiah 54:8b).

Faithful covenant blessing for the currently sinful, Isaiah 54:9-10. When God promises that the waters shall never again cover the earth (cf. Genesis 9:15), it is in the context of noting that even with Noah’s household as the only remaining humanity, it was still true that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (cf. Genesis 8:21). Now in the wake of the Servant’s work, the steadfast love (Isaiah 54:10c), covenant of peace (verse 10d), and compassion (verse 10e) of YHWH are secured to His church forever. We know that particular congregations may be disciplined (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:30–32) and even forsaken of God (cf. Revelation 2:5), but when the church comes into the age of the Servant, she comes into an age in which corporately, as a whole, she is always being built and always under the shining of God’s love like the sun rising until it is at full strength (cf. Matthew 16:18; Proverbs 4:18; 2 Samuel 23:1–5). With Christ as our Head, even those who live in times and places of apostasy and dreadful chastening of the local churches may cling to the Servant and know they are part of a broader church that is still being built under the smile of God.

Fearless peace for the currently attacked, Isaiah 54:11-17. In this final section, Zion is more than just built up; she is beautified. The word picture of the gems, sapphires, rubies, (Isaiah 54:11) crystal, and precious stones (Isaiah 54:12) takes our minds right to Revelation 21:18–21. The greatest beauty, however, is the character of the bride (cf. Revelation 21:2), presented here as the children obtained by the Servant for His church. They are not just plentiful, as we saw in Isaiah 54:1-3, but peaceful. As those taught by YHWH (Isaiah 54:13a, cf. 1 John 2:27), they have the peace (Isaiah 54:13b) of those who don’t fear (Isaiah 54:14) even when enemies are gathered against them (Isaiah 54:15). The God Who so affectionately loves them (Isaiah 54:4-8) is the Creator of swords and tongues and everything in between (Isaiah 54:16-17b). The Lord is their portion (Isaiah 54:17d), because from Him is their righteousness (verse 17e), even as He has said (verse 17f). 

Who is the Head of the church? What has He secured from God for the church on earth? What will she be like when He is done with her? How do you experience the life, love, and mercy personally that He has earned for the church corporately? Who has been attacking you? Why don’t you have to be afraid of them?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we are those barren who are ashamed of our inability and our sin, knowing that You have been right in all of Your chastening us. But You have made us to flourish much; forgive us for not seeing how great this mercy has been! When we look at ourselves, we are ashamed, but we have failed to see how You have removed this shame as our Husband, our Warrior, our Redeemer, our Holy One, our Sovereign God. Grant that we would be quick in repentance, turning from ourselves to You. We know that You will build Your church; give us to live in joy and hope and devotion to You, as part of Your whole church in the earth—even when we sometimes must grieve and be humiliated over what happens locally. 

Suggested songs: ARP45B “Daughter, Incline Your Ear” or TPH404 “The Church’s One Foundation” 

The Rejoicing of Righteous Homes and Hearts [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 118:15–18]

What does a righteous home sound like? Psalm 118:15–18 prepares us for the opening portion of public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a righteous home is loud with the sound of rejoicing over Jesus.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)