YHWH, Alone, Our God [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 5:6–7]

What is the great thing in all of life? Deuteronomy 5:6–7 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the great thing in all of life is to be devoted to, and dependent, upon the Lord as our own covenant God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.05.16 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 5:6–7

Read Deuteronomy 5:6–7

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom does God declare Himself to be (Deuteronomy 5:6)? Whose does He declare Himself to be? From what place has He brought them in order to bring them to Himself? From what condition has He brought them in order to bring them to Himself? What are they not to have (Deuteronomy 5:7)? Before Whose face?

What is the great thing in all of life? Deuteronomy 5:6–7 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the great thing in all of life is to be devoted to, and dependent, upon the Lord as our own covenant God.  

Deuteronomy 5:6 is really part of the first commandment. “YHWH your God” appears in each commandment in the first table (Deuteronomy 5:6, Deuteronomy 5:9, Deuteronomy 5:11, Deuteronomy 5:12, Deuteronomy 5:14, Deuteronomy 5:15—three times in the fourth). Even in what our catechisms call the “preface” to the Ten Commandments, the Lord taught them what it meant to have Him as their God, so that they would understand what it meant to have no other God.

Worship His Name. “I am YHWH,” the Lord begins in Deuteronomy 5:6. He had revealed His Name to Moses in some detail, eighty years earlier (cf. Exodus 3:13–17). Moses is dying, but YHWH continues. He is the alone eternal God, the uncreated Creator. He is not defined by other aspects or entities; rather, He gives definition to all. And He has revealed Himself especially by covenant, as the God Who takes certain people to be His own covenanted people, and to whom therefore He is their own covenant God. He has introduced Himself as a consuming fire, and begins by declaring His Name, so let us reverence and adore that Name!

Embrace your covenant relation to Him. The Name is glorious: “I am Yahweh.” Therefore, the identification is wondrous, “your God.” If He is the independent I AM, Who is over all and defines all and undefinable by any, is it not truly amazing (mind-stopping in its magnitude) that He proceeds to identify Himself with creatures? And this marvelous identity will take bodily form in the incarnation!

Some think that it’s gnat-straining to quibble about their exclaiming “my God” as a throwaway phrase. But the fact that He is “your God” to His people is one of the great marvels of Scripture, one of the great marvels of all reality. So, even thinking of it as gnat-straining is itself a violation of the third commandment! 

Rather, we should rejoice that He is our own covenant God. And fulfill the obligations of being a member of His corporate people, since He is ours. And reject all incompatible allegiances, since He is ours. And count as small, any other blessing and honor, by comparison to the blessing on honor of having Him as ours. And be holy, and live holy, since He is ours. And hate all sin and unholiness, since He is ours. 

Persist in your repentance. “Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” As we have seen throughout the wilderness wanderings, it is one thing to get the Israelite out of Egypt, but an altogether different thing to get Egypt out of the Israelite. God has glorified Himself in delivering them from bondage—from what they deserved to have God do to them. Now, He will glorify Himself by bringing them into a life of godliness in the land into which He is bringing them.

Is this not true of us? When God reminds us of that from which He has saved us, He also calls us to live in the manner for which He has saved us. Romans 6:20–22, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

Romans 13:11–12, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

Depend upon His power for your persistence. “Out of the house of bondage.” If Egypt was too strong, against whom they were powerless, then how much more powerless they are against sin! And yet God is about to declare His moral law to them. How can they keep it? Because He speaks to them as One Who has already saved them. He speaks to them as One Who has brought them into covenanted union with Himself as their God. He speaks to them as One by Whose power they are enabled to live in the way required of them as His people.

Devote yourself to, and depend yourself upon, nothing and no one apart from Him. Since He is their God, they must not devote themselves to any other. Since He has brought them out, they are not to depend upon any other. 

The Lord gives us other allegiances, but they are all allegiances under Him. We may only be devoted to that, secondarily, which is under Him to Whom we are primarily devoted. 

The Lord uses means, but they are all means that He uses. We don’t depend upon them; we depend upon Him Who has given them and uses them. Having no gods before Him is more than just not having the names of other “gods” on our lips. It is about giving nothing else, and no one else, the place in our life which belongs to Him alone.

In what situations do you find yourself living for (or depending upon, or delighting in) something or someone apart from the Lord? What are you living for at those times? In what way are you interacting with God at those times?

Sample prayer:  Lord, all things are from You and through You and to You; to You be the glory forever and ever! And in You, we live and move and have our being, so that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we ought to do all unto Your glory. But often we think and speak and act as if we are devoted to some creature rather than You—especially to our own selves. O forgive us, and make us to receive all that is genuinely good in us or others as a gift from You. And make us to enjoy it all and employ it all unto Your glory, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP119M “O How I Love Your Law!” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

Triply Defeated Devil [Family Worship lesson in Revelation 12:7–12]

Why shouldn’t believers fear the devil? Revelation 12:7–12 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the devil has been continuously defeated, from the time of his fall.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.05.15 Hopewell @Home ▫ Revelation 12:7–12

Read Revelation 12:7–12

Questions from the Scripture text: What broke out where (v7)? Who fought with whom? With what result (v8)? Who lost (v9)? What does he do now? Where? With whom? What is heard from where in v10? What four things does it say have come? Why—what has been done to whom? What did he used to do? How does the battle go for him on the earth—who overcomes (v11)? By what two things? In what action? Who should rejoice, then (v12)? And upon whom is there woe? Why—who has come where? In what manner? Why—what does he know?

Why shouldn’t believers fear the devil? Revelation 12:7–16 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the devil has been continuously defeated, from the time of his fall.

In the interlude between the trumpet blast warnings about wrath, and the actual pouring out of the wrath (bowls), Jesus’s Revelation portrays to us the great battle that takes place throughout this age. In our brief passage, a description of three defeats of the devil prepares us to think about this battle.

The original fall of Lucifer, v7–9. Isaiah 14:12–14 recalls Satan’s original fall. He was called Lucifer (“light-bearer”), the greatest among the angels, “the stars” of Isa 14:13. But he aspired to rise above the level of creature to put himself in the same category as the Most High. v4 has already referred to this event, and his power (represented as his “tail,” cf. 9:10, 19)  sweeping one third of the remaining angels with him. But even then, he was easily defeated. The new, chief arch-angel Michael, and the remaining two-thirds of the angels prevailed (v7–8). Though he retained the ability to accuse the brethren, he no longer had place or power in glory. This is why all of his activity is on the earth, primarily the activity of deception (v9). 

For the purposes of this passage, the point is that he was defeated—not only immediately by the infinitely greater power of God, but even mediately by the other creatures (as upheld, of course, by the power of God). We must take his raging seriously; his presence and deception and warring are real. But, we must also face it with confidence, remembering that he has suffered continual defeat from his very fall.

The decisive victory of the cross, v10. Other Scripture helps us place the chronology of v10. In Jn 12:31–32, Jesus identifies it as the time of His life and death. In Luk 10:18–19, He associates it with His giving the disciples power on the earth. And they’re going to need it! But, here again, we have a decisive defeat of the devil. His attempt upon the Son (cf. v4–5) results in his displacement by the Son in glory.

Jesus’s death and resurrection is the occasion upon which Satan is no longer permitted to accuse the brethren. We are not told why the Lord had permitted this (cf. Job 1:6, 2:1). But from what happened, we can infer at least one reason: so that Christ may be glorified when our adversary is displaced by Him, our Advocate! With the ascended Christ on the throne, there is no more room for an accuser (v10).

This not only encourages us that the devil continues to be defeated at every turn, but also that Christ is always interceding for us, and that God refuses even to hear accusations now.

The ongoing victory of the persecuted saints, v11–12. The church has fled into the wilderness (v6), and the devil is full of wrath (v12), but even here, where he has been cast down, he suffers continual defeat. Christ is building His church, and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against it (cf. Mt 16:18). The rage is great, the woe is grave (v12), but the victory is real. All the while that saints are being attacked and martyred, they are overcoming. They overcome by the blood of the Lamb: they do not fear death, because they are reconciled to God, washed clean, and being fitted for glory. They overcome by the word of their testimony: they cannot be brought to renounce Christ. In two thousand years of attacking Christians, Satan has never successfully separated a single saint from Christ. Not even by threat of death. They love not their lives, even unto death. Dear believer, individual Christians, and the church as a whole, are under woeful attack, but they are victorious even on the earth. 

How have you been under attack of deception? How have you been under attack to compromise your devotion to Christ? How have you been under attack through fear of suffering or death? How are you overcoming by the blood of the Lamb? How are you overcoming by the word of their testimony? How much do you look forward to death, so that by comparison, you don’t love your life?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You that You have defeated the devil at his fall, and especially at the cross of Jesus Christ. And we thank You that You are constantly defeating him in the lives of Christians. Forgive us for failing to take the devil seriously. And forgive us, on the other hand, for being intimidated or discouraged by the devil’s activity, when he is constantly being defeated. Grant that we would overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Forgive us, for when Christ’s redeeming us is far from our minds. And forgive us for when we are in love with this life. Grant that we would love not our lives to the death, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP2 “Why Do Gentile Nations Rage” or TPH244 “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”

2025.05.14 Midweek Meeting Livestream (live at 6:30p)

Click below for the:

May 14 Prayer Meeting Folder

Proverbs 14:15–18 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.

IF you are unable to get the stream to work, or simply wish to save on data, you can listen in simply by calling 712.432.3410 and entering 70150 at the prompt.

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.

Understanding to Repent [Family Worship lesson in Hosea 13:15–14:9]

What is repentance? Hosea 13:15–14:9 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that repentance is a change of heart, by the grace of God, which is communicated to God, and blessed by God.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.05.14 Hopewell @Home ▫ Hosea 13:15–14:9

Read Hosea 13:15–14:9

Questions from the Scripture text: What does Ephraim appear to be (Hosea 13:15a)? But what will come to interrupt this (verse 15b–c)? With what effect (verse 15d–e)? What will He be doing to them (verse 15f)? What is His verdict about their capital city (Hosea 13:16a)? Why (verse 16b)? What will happen to them (verse 16c)? And what, to whom, specifically (verse 16d)? And what, to whom else (verse 16e)? Whom does Hosea 14:1 address? What does it urge them to do (verse 1a)? Why (verse 1b)? What should they take with them (Hosea 14:2a–b)? What words, specifically: to take away what (verse 2d)? And to do what to them (verse 2e)? In what manner? And how will they respond (verse 2f)? What else must they say—what must they disavow (Hosea 14:3a–c)? What must they acknowledge and hope in (verse 3d)? What will the Lord do (Hosea 14:4a)? As an expression of what (verse 4b)? And result of what (verse 4c)? What will He be like to them (Hosea 14:5a)? With what results (Hosea 14:5-6c)? With what results upon whom (Hosea 14:7)? What will God’s grace produce (Hosea 14:8a, cf. Hosea 14:3c)? From where will this life and fruitfulness come (Hosea 14:8b–d)? What does Hosea 14:9 call whom to do (verse 9a–d)? What does it assert about YHWH’s ways (verse 9e)? What do the righteous do with His ways (verse 9f)? Who cannot walk in them (verse 9g)?

What is repentance? Hosea 13:15–14:9 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that repentance is a change of heart, by the grace of God, which is communicated to God, and blessed by God.

The Spirit of YHWH (Hosea 13:15c, more literally) will bring Israel under conviction of their sin (Hosea 13:15-16b), even though He will employ a severe chastening in doing so (Hosea 13:16c–d). The Spirit uses the severity of the chastening to produce the urgent response to which Israel is called in Hosea 14:1—to return to YHWH.

Take words with you (Hosea 14:2). Repentance comes with words, not as if syllables can accomplish anything, but because the Lord has created us to be communicating creatures, and we must not merely hold these things in our hearts but communicate them to Him. 

Repentance seeks not just forgiveness (“take away all iniquity”), but reconciliation (“receive us graciously”), and restoration to privileges (i.e., the privilege of praise, “we will offer the sacrifices of our lips,” Hosea 14:2f”). 

Repentance must reflect not mere sorrow, but a change in heart. In this case, they renounce trusting in Assyria (Hosea 14:3a) or cavalry (verse 3b, cf. Isaiah 31:1). And, especially, they renounce idolatry (Hosea 14:3c). It is God’s grace (Hosea 14:4-7) that produces this renouncing of idolatry (Hosea 14:8a). They cannot heal their own backsliding, so God will (Hosea 14:4a), because He loves them (verse 4b). God Himself will be the dew (Hosea 14:5a) that produces the thriving life of His people (Hosea 14:5-6, Hosea 14:8), and even makes them ones under whom others may thrive (Hosea 14:7). 

Ultimately, Hosea, and salvation, and all of history are about one thing: God Himself (Hosea 14:9). Wisdom and prudence are bound up in knowing the Lord Himself. What is in us leads to being “not my people” and “not shown compassion.” But the solution to what is in us is what is in Him. Those made righteous by His grace walk in His ways (verse 9e–f), but apart from this grace, no one can walk in them (verse 9g). 

How do you repent with words? What change in heart has been needed? What might be needed now? From where can it come? How has God refreshed you? How have you thrived by His refreshment? How are you enabling others to thrive?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us, for we have often tolerated our sin, rather than coming to You with Words that express a real change of heart. And at other times, we have come to You with words, but our lives did not reflect a true change of heart. We need You to be the dew that produces thriving spiritual life in us. Heal our backsliding, and love us freely, and turn away Your anger from us, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP130 “Lord, from the Depths, to You I Cried” or TPH434 “A Debtor to Mercy Alone”

Brought into Christ's Fellowship with God [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 144]

What does Jesus pray for? Psalm 144 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fifteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus prays that we may be redeemed unto blessed nobility and prosperity, but especially unto the infinite blessedness of belonging to God Himself. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.05.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 144

Read Psalm 144

Questions from the Scripture text: Whose psalm is this (superscript)? Whom does he bless (Psalm 144:1a)? What does he call Him? What two things has He done for him? What six things does he call Him in Psalm 144:2a–c? What has He done for him (verse 2d)? What two questions does Psalm 144:3 ask? What answer does David himself give in Psalm 144:4? What does David ask YHWH to do in Psalm 144:5-6? With what effect? What personal thing does he ask YHWH to do in Psalm 144:7? From whose hand? What do they do (Psalm 144:8a)? What is in their right hand (verse 8b)? What will David do in Psalm 144:9a? Unto Whom? In what manner (verse 9b)? How does David identify God in Psalm 144:10a? In what specific instance has God done this (verse 10b–c)? What does He again ask the Lord to do in Psalm 144:11a (cf. Psalm 144:7b)? From whom (Psalm 144:11b–c, cf. Psalm 144:8)? What results does David hope this will produce with their sons (Psalm 144:12a)? With their daughters (verse 12b–c)? With their barns (Psalm 144:13a–b)? With their flocks (verse 13c–d)? With their herds (Psalm 144:14a)? With the security of their cities (verse 14b–c)? What would be making them happy (Psalm 144:15a)? What, most of all, would make them happy (verse 15b)?

What does Jesus pray for? Psalm 144 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fifteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus prays that we may be redeemed unto blessed nobility and prosperity, but especially unto the infinite blessedness of belonging to God Himself.  

Whom we know God to be unto us, Psalm 144:1–4. This is a kingly psalm. Some parts (e.g., Psalm 144:2d, Psalm 144:10a–b, Psalm 144:12-15). Because he is the Lord’s anointed, how things go with David have implications for all of God’s people. In this, he is a type of Christ. And, however much David has known the Lord to be these wonderful things to himself, Jesus knew/knows the Lord to be this to Him all the more! 

It is into this wonderful relationship with the Lord that the Holy Spirit has brought believers by uniting them to Christ. And it is into the experience of this wonderful relationship that the Holy Spirit brings us, as He applies Christ to us. Reading John 17, we realize that our coming into Jesus’s fellowship and delight in the Lord, in light of His kingly glory, is the focus of the entire divine mission in all of time. And Psalm 144 whets our appetites for what/Whom we will know God to be to us, as this work is done:

• our Rock ▫our Trainer ▫our Covenanted love 
• our Fortress 
• our High Tower 
• our Deliverer 
• our Shield our Refuge  
• and, best of all, the one Who subdues us under Christ, Hallelujah!

All of this the Lord does for these vapor-shadow-creatures (Psalm 144:3-4). What glorious, generous grace!!

Whom we ask God to be in our circumstances, Psalm 144:5-11. Man may be nothing, which makes the prayer in Psalm 144:5-8 a request for the most enormous of mismatches: YHWH, Who bows the heavens, and singes and scatters mountains (Psalm 144:5-6), vs the lying/false foreigners (Psalm 144:7-8). In the ancient world, they thought of their kings as the ones who would save them (cf. Hosea 13:10). But as a king, David knows that the kings need saving. We pray to Him to display His almighty arm in saving us, so that we may sing (Psalm 144:9a), in His public worship (verse 9b), of Him as the King of kings (Psalm 144:10)!

Whom we know God will be unto us in the end, Psalm 144:12-15. The Lord is gathering and perfecting for Himself a people. Psalm 144:11 picks back up the request of Psalm 144:7-8, but now with a view to the end result. The deliverance is not merely for escape from trouble, but for the grand construction project of God. 

His house is made up of these sons who are as plants (full of life and promise of future fruitfulness and usefulness) and daughters who are as corner pillars in palace style (women of both great strength and great beauty, upon whom a lasting kingdom can rest).

And, in His house, is abundant provision (Psalm 144:13-14a) and peace (Psalm 144:14b–c). This, indeed, is the blessed condition (Psalm 144:15a)! But its blessedness goes far beyond the people’s nobility or prosperity. Here, again, God being infinitely greater is the key: the blessedness of this people is that their God is YHWH!

How little are you? Yet, in what ways have you known the Lord to be each of the things in Psalm 144:1-2 unto you? Who deserves to have Him be those things to Him, and how was it that you ended up being brought into such blessedness? What trouble are you in right now? But to what blessed end is that trouble bringing you?

Sample prayer:  We bless You, O Lord, our Rock, our Lovingkindness, our Fortress, our High Tower, our Deliverer, our Shield, and the One in Whom we take refuge. Though we are as breath and shadow, You are the almighty God, Who bows the heavens and burns the mountains. You have delivered us, to make us into Your holy temple. So make our sons as vigorous plants, and our daughters as corner pillars for strength and beauty. Put Your new song in our mouth, accompanied by the priesthood of Christ. And make us to know ourselves as that blessed people whose God is the Lord, in Christ—through Whom we ask it, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP144B “O God, in Praise to You” or TPH144B “O Blest Be the LORD God”

What Heaven Is [Children's Catechism 145—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 145—especially explaining how the Lord is the heavenliness of heaven.

Q145. What is heaven? A glorious and happy place, where the righteous shall be forever with the Lord.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)