2025.04.06 Lord's Day Livestreams (live at 10:10a, 11:10a, 3p)

Click below for the:

April 6 Lord's Day Worship Booklet

Matthew 17:14–21 sermon outline

3p song selections & Deuteronomy 3:23–29 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.

Only Jesus Can Save [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 17:14–21]

Why can’t we save? Matthew 17:14–21 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that only Jesus can save, because Jesus is God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.05 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 17:14–21

Read Matthew 17:14–21

Questions from the Scripture text: To whom did they come in Matthew 17:14? Who came to Jesus? What posture did he take? Upon whom did he ask for mercy (Matthew 17:15)? Why? What had the man tried (Matthew 17:16)? With what effect? Who answers in Matthew 17:17? Whom does He accuse of what two things? What two rhetorical questions does He ask? What does He say to do? Whom does Jesus rebuke in Matthew 17:18? What does it do? With what result for the child? Who come to Jesus in Matthew 17:19? In what manner? What do they ask? What is Jesus’s first answer (Matthew 17:20)? What size faith does He say that they need? With such faith, to what would they be able to give commands? What would be impossible for them? But what does Jesus say about this demon—what is the only way that it goes out (Matthew 17:21)?

Why can’t we save? Matthew 17:14–21 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that only Jesus can save, because Jesus is God.  

Jesus can, and will, save you. What the boy’s father was so desperately searching for in the multitude below (Matthew 17:14), and what the other nine disciples were so desperately failing to give, was gloriously being displayed for sinners on the mountain above. The man has no doubt that Jesus is powerful. All that is needed is mercy, and he has hope for that as well, as he asks Jesus to have mercy upon him (Matthew 17:15).

No one else can, or will, save you. “they could not cure him” (Matthew 17:16) and “why could we not cast it out (Matthew 17:19) present the problem by use of the nominative pronouns “they” and “we.” The answer that Jesus gives (Matthew 17:20) has, sadly, been used by many to say that what is needed is more faith. So, people try to believe harder, but this is exactly opposite what Jesus’s answer actually means. The reason is: because they are not Jesus! This is what is behind Jesus’s agonized answer in Matthew 17:17. He has come to the generation for whom it will be worse for them than Sodom, Gomorrah, Tyre, and Sidon. Here is God the Son in the flesh, and they receive Him not, and hope in men instead. The apostles are His commissioned servants for taking the gospel to the world. But they are not to be trusted in, not the smallest bit. However great a blessing a man may be, and however much instrumentally assigned to be used by God in our life, we must not put our trust in him. Only, entirely, Jesus can save you!

Because Jesus is God. The reason that the smallest faith can do the largest thing is not because faith is powerful, but because its object is powerful. What percentage of God’s power is required to accomplish the greatest possible task in all of creation? This is why He attaches Matthew 17:21 to His answer about the mustard seed. It so poignantly makes the point. What is only possible to the disciples by prayer and fasting is available to Jesus, instantaneously, by His mere will and Word (Matthew 17:18). As a man, Jesus prays and fasts. But He is also God. He is the One unto Whom we pray and fast. What a wonderful thing prayer and fasting is! In it, we have a sweet fellowship with Jesus, Who did so in His own humanity, and through Whose intercession we come in our prayer and fasting. And, in it, we come to Jesus as our God and Savior, acknowledging that “we are not able” (prayer) and that He is all that we need (fasting).

What might you be trying to do in your own strength? How might you be treating faith as a work (trying to get it up to “mustard seed level”), rather than as the abandonment of any dependence at all upon work? What is your prayer life like? What is your fasting life like? What is your experience of the enjoyment of both sweet fellowship with Jesus, and secure dependence upon Jesus, in your prayer and fasting?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving Your own Son, Who is God with You and with the Spirit, to be our Savior. Give us to see His glory by faith, so that we will depend entirely upon Him for our deliverance from the enmity of devils and men, from the cursed condition of the world, and especially from our own sin, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP65A “Praise Awaits You, God” or TPH332 “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise”

Seeing and Serving God's Glory [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 3:23–29]

For what do the godly plead? Deuteronomy 3:23–29 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the godly plead to know the glory and the goodness of the Lord.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 3:23–29

Read Deuteronomy 3:23–29

Questions from the Scripture text: What did Moses do, when (Deuteronomy 3:23)? What did he say the Lord YHWH had begun to show him (Deuteronomy 3:24)? How had the Lord shown this to him? By what rhetorical question does he communicate this? What does he ask in Deuteronomy 3:25? But how did YHWH receive this request (Deuteronomy 3:26)? And with what command did He answer it? Yet, what command does He give in Deuteronomy 3:27? What is Moses to do there instead of seeing the land in person? And what is Moses to do instead of leading the people in person (Deuteronomy 3:28)? Whom is he to command? What else is he to do to him? What will Joshua do? With what result? And what did Israel do at this time (Deuteronomy 3:29)?

For what do the godly plead? Deuteronomy 3:23–29 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the godly plead to know the glory and the goodness of the Lord.

This passage gives us an important insight into Numbers 20:12. YHWH was already angry with Moses on Israel’s account before the incident in Numbers 20. Deuteronomy 1:37 traces this back not to the incident with the rock but the incident at Kadesh Barnea. The Lord had been angry with Moses on their account back then, and still, when Moses makes this final plea in prayer, the Lord is angry with him on their account. Moses was covenant mediator, and the Lord was angry with him on account of Israel’s sin. It was this judgment that left Moses to himself, being permitted to stumble in that way. 

Here is something for those who are in positions of federal responsibility: they should labor and pray for those in their care as those with whom the Lord will deal covenantally according to those whom they are over. As with Moses, this doesn’t refer to the eternal reward to their soul, but in God’s dealing with them in this world. Fathers, elders, and civil magistrates should be earnestly pleading with God for godliness among their families, churches, or communities—and laboring in their office to see the Lord give that godliness and reward that godliness.

There is One, however, Who is covenant Mediator for us in the spiritual and eternal sin, and indeed, the Lord was angry with Him for our sakes (cf. Isaiah 53; 2 Corinthians 5:21). He had no sin of His own, and the worthiness and greatness of His Person was such that the infinite wrath of God against our sin was exhausted upon Him for all for whom He died.

Another takeaway, here, is something for us all to ask of the Lord: that He would not leave us to ourselves. That He would forgive our past sin and not give us over to our remaining sinfulness in the future. We follow “forgive us our debts” with “and lead us not into temptation.” 

Still, Moses knows the Lord to be compassionate and forgiving, as He Himself declared to Moses in Exodus 34:6. And so Moses pleads with the Lord (Deuteronomy 3:23). He appeals to God’s glory (Deuteronomy 3:24), just as he had done in behalf of the people in Exodus 32:11–14. Moses prays in humility, calling himself the Lord’s servant (Deuteronomy 3:24), and he prays from the desire to see the good that the Lord has provided (Deuteronomy 3:25). This is exactly opposite how Israel had responded to the report from the spies. Moses’s great desire is to display and enjoy the glory of God. May the Lord give us such motives of heart, that would overflow from our hearts in prayer, dear reader.

Though the Lord has fixedly determined that Joshua would lead the people and cause them to inherit the land (Deuteronomy 3:28b), He does give Moses the heart of what he asked: to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. “Speak to Me no more” in Deuteronomy 3:26 is not so much a “no” as it is a “not in the way that you have asked.” God has decided to grant Moses’s request to view the good land from the top of Pisgah (Deuteronomy 3:27). Because Moses is the servant (Deuteronomy 3:24), and God is the Master, Moses is to embrace the part that God has given him. In this case, it is not for Moses to lead the people but to strengthen and encourage Joshua. 

Dear reader, truly, God is good, and He only does you good. He constantly gives us to see His goodness in Scripture and in life. In Scripture, He gives us to see His goodness especially in giving Christ (cf. Romans 5:8). And in our lives, He gives us to see His goodness especially in proclaiming Christ to us, and giving us light and life to believe into Him, and uniting us to Him, and giving us to know Him, increasingly, forever. And to this, He adds all other things (cf. Romans 8:32). Rather than fret over what we may not be given, shouldn’t we rejoice to see His good gifts from whatever vantage point He brings us to?

What place does being upheld against your sinfulness have in your desires and prayers? What place does seeing the goodness and glory of the Lord have in your desires and prayers? What is the greatest good that He has given you? What is some other examples of good that He has given you?

Sample prayer: Lord, You have begun to show Your servants Your greatness and Your might hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your might deeds? Grant that we would see Your good gifts in fulfilment of Your good promises, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP78B “O Come, My People” or TPH153 “O Day of Rest and Gladness”

How the Demonic Should Alarm Us [Family Worship lesson in Revelation 8:13–9:21]

How should we respond to the locusts of Revelation 9? Revelation 8:13–9:21 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the horrors of the enmity of devils and men should be a clarion call to us to repent before we find ourselves on the receiving end of the enmity of God.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ Revelation 8:13–9:21

Thursday, April 3, 2025 ▫ Read Revelation 8:13–9:21

Questions from the Scripture text: What does John see, in between the fourth and fifth trumpets (Rev 8:13)? What does it pronounce upon whom? Why? Who sounds his trumpet in Rev 9:1? What does John see? What happens to the star? What is given to him? What happens when he opens it (Rev 9:2)? What come out of the smoke (Rev 9:3)? What power are they given? What don’t they harm (Rev 9:4)? Whom do they harm? But what couldn’t they do (Rev 9:5)? What did they do for how long? With what effect? What would men seek and desire in those days (Rev 9:6)? With what “success”? What were the locusts like (Rev 9:7–10)? What power of theirs is repeated in Rev 9:10? Who was their king (Rev 9:11)? What are his names? What does Rev 9:12 declare has passed? What does it say are to come? Who sounds his trumpet in Rev 9:13? What does Joh hear from where? To whom does the voice speak (Rev 9:14)? What does it say to do? How precisely was this timed (Rev 9:15)? What were they released to do? To how many? What sort of army did they lead (Rev 9:16)? How many were there? What did they look like (Rev 9:17)? What three things came from their mouths? What did these three things do (Rev 9:18)? To how many? Where is their power (Rev 9:19)? What do the rest of mankind still not do (Rev 9:20)? What did they continue to worship? What other four things are a sampling of the immorality that they continued (Rev 9:21)?

How should we respond to the locusts of Revelation 9? Revelation 8:13–9:21 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the horrors of the enmity of devils and men should be a clarion call to us to repent before we find ourselves on the receiving end of the enmity of God.

Just as there was an interlude between the fourth and fifth seals, now we see one between the fourth and fifth trumpets. The last three alarms to the unconverted are particularly dreadful. They are introduced with a triple cry of “woe” (Rev 8:13)!

The fifth trumpet/alarm is the warning that only the sealed (Rev 9:4, cf. Rev 7:2–3) are under the protection of God in the midst of the raging of the devil.

We have seen that protection before, in the book of Job. It is only as far as he is permitted that the Devil may afflict Job, and there, as in the fifth trumpet, he is not permitted to kill. The difference between the sealed and the unsealed is that for believers, this affliction comes as a help not a harm.

Like Job (cf. Job 42:5) and the psalmist (cf. Ps 119:67, 71, 75), the sealed saint knows that even the evil of the evil one cannot assault him unless God has intended it for his good.

The unsealed, however, who lack the Spirit, lack assurance, and lack Christ—there is a sting for them in all of the attacks of the devil (1Co 15:55–56, Heb 2:14), and the fear of death which they desire, here, but cannot attain (v6)! If this is how dreadful it is for them under the attacks of devils, how much worse it will be when they experience the fullness of the enmity of God!

These stinging locusts (Rev 9:3, 7–11) are other-worldly in their description and have a king over them.

The sixth trumpet/alarm is, again, demonic. These angels are not only otherworldly and hideous, but what comes from their mouths clearly indicates the demonic (Rev 9:17–18). Indeed, much human war is demonic! It is also ubiquitous, with the four demonic angels representing the four winds, i.e. all the earth. Thankfully, it is also under the sovereignty of God. Its precise timing, and even the demonic element of it, is ordained (Rev 9:15).

Grievously, these trumpets/alarms do not produce the desired result in those who have not been elected unto life. They see and know the horrors that afflict them and await them, but they still don’t repent (Rev 9:20)! We are reminded here that idols are nothing, but that false worship is actually offered to demons (cf. 1Cor 10:20). Murder, sexual immorality, and drugs/potions (NKJ “sorceries”) are profoundly harmful, yet not even the horrors of war bring men to their senses. How hard is the unregenerate heart!

No one will be able to say, in the last day, that they had not been warned. Throughout history, and in every part of the world, there are moments of intense evil and harm perpetrated by demons and men, which remind us that this is a world under judgment. For the believer, there is great comfort in knowing that even these things must work together for our good and are ruled and overruled by God. For the unbeliever, it is an urgent trumpet-call to repentance before an infinitely more dreadful day arrives!

What wars or other evils of devils of men are you aware of, or have you experienced? How have you taken them as reminders for repentance? What is your comfort, as you consider them?

Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for our idolatries, and murders, and immoralities, and thefts. Grant to us repentance from them. We thank You for those woes that trumpet a warning to us. Grant that Your Spirit would make these warnings penetrate our hearts and send us flying to Jesus, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP46 “God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength” or TPH389 “Great God, What Do I See and Hear?”

2025.04.02 Midweek Meeting Livestream (live at 6:30p)

Click below for the:

April 2 Prayer Meeting Folder

Proverbs 13:6–11 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.

Empty Religion and Politics [Family Worship lesson in Hosea 8]

Why didn’t Israel’s worship please God? Hosea 8 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is possible for a nation or a church that professes to know the Lord to be entirely self-seeking in what they think is genuinely offered unto Him.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.02 Hopewell @Home ▫ Hosea 8

Wednesday, April 2, 2025 ▫ Read Hosea 8

Questions from the Scripture text: What order is given in v1a? What is the enemy doing (v1b)? Why (v1c–d)? What will Israel cry in that day (v2)? But what has overruled this claim (v3)? What was wrong with their civil government (v4a–b)? And with their religion (v4c–e)? How did the Lord respond to this (v5)? Why (v6)? What will come of their efforts (v7)? Nd what will come of them (v8)? Where had they sought help (v9a–b)? How does v9c describe this? But what will the Lord yet do for them (v10a–b)? After putting them through what (v10c–d)? What has Ephraim done (v11)? Even though the Lord had provided him with what (v12)? What procedure were they following (v13a)? But with what response from YHWH (v13b–c)? And what action (v13d)? Why—what is the substance of what Israel has done (v14a)? By doing what (v14b)? And what has Judah hoped in, that won’t save them (v14c–e)?

Why didn’t Israel’s worship please God? Hosea 8 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is possible for a nation or a church that professes to know the Lord to be entirely self-seeking in what they think is genuinely offered unto Him.

The announcement, v1–4. The urgency of it in v1. The horn is easy to identify—it’s the call to arms to defend against attack.  And the devastation is coming like an eagle.  The Hebrew of v1 is so short and cut off that you can almost hear the messenger huffing and puffing out of breath, as he has caught the first glimpse of the coming invasion.  And it’s coming fast.  When the eagle begins his dive, there’s no hope for the pray.  He’s too fast, and too strong.  So it will be for Israel: by the time they realize that the hour of discipline has come, it will be too late, and nothing can stop it.

The surprise of it in v2 (Israel thought they were orthodox!).  After all we have read in Hosea about Israel’s heart, 8:2 may come as a real surprise—Israel thinks they are godly.  “How can this happen to me, when I have a relationship with God?,” they ask.  This response reminds us of what Yahweh has been saying all along: that Israel is so blind to her sin—her depending upon and being in love with everything and everyone except Yahweh—that He is going to have to rock her world for her to open her eyes.  The shock and surprise of Israel’s response here shows us that this is exactly the case.  When we respond like this, it may be an indication of similar spiritual blindness.

The tragedy of it in v3 (they rejected the good—not just to do good but to receive good). So, now they get the other option, v3.  It is tempting to read v3 and think, “See?  If they had only done good instead of evil…” but that is not the sense of the text.  The text is even more tragic than that.  It is saying, “Look at all the good I have done for them, and still they have rejected Me!  They had all of these blessings handed to them, and they have rejected the good blessings and chosen the curses instead.”  We must always keep the good things that God has done for us on our minds, so that we remember them and respond with faithfulness to Him.  Let it not be said of us that He did so much good for us, and still we rejected Him.

They rejected the good by keeping the Lord out of their politics, v4a.  Israel’s secular life was completely divorced from the Lord.  They did not consult Him or credit Him for any of their national or political decisions.  When we live our “secular” lives completely independently of Him—not making decisions according to His Word, not depending on Him for wisdom and guidance in prayer, not doing everything for His glory, not giving Him praise and thanks when things go well—how can we possibly expect Him to continue to bless us?

They rejected the good by keeping the Lord out of their worship, v4b.  In particular, the gratitude and praise of their hearts went to their money.  When talking about carved idols, wood and stone are usually primary and almost always included.  The limitation of this statement to silver and gold tells us that Yahweh is talking about wealth.  They trusted their wealth, and thanked and praised their wealth; when, they should have been trusting, thanking, and praising Yahweh.

The Worship Problem—the Rejected Calf, v5–7. The stupidity of manmade worship, v6a.  You can just hear the exasperation in this human way of speaking: “I told them how to worship Me and they still got it wrong.  What am I ever going to do with them?!” The vanity of manmade worship, v6b–7. (1) Manmade worship up as rubble, v6b.  Man-made worship cannot last, because all earthly things eventually return to dust.  This is both literal (in the case of the calves used in worship in the northern kingdom) and metaphorical (of anything we might add to or invent for worship). (2) Manmade worship is like blowing wind… and receives the same response, v7a.  Worship that we invent ourselves is empty of substance; it’s silly and stupid and pointless.  The image is of a guy out in his field, throwing fistfuls at the ground, but what is he throwing?  Air.  So, he’ll get air back… in the form of storm-wind, a tornado.  Empty worship isn’t a neutral thing; it ultimately deserves and receives the wrath of God. (3) Manmade worship has no substance to it; it’s useless, v7b.  God promises that man-made worship will have no fruit.  (4) Even if manmade worship seems to have substance, its substance is for strangers, not for the Lord, v7c.  Even any fruit that it does seem to have will benefit only others, but not the worshippers (or, to use the metaphor, the sowers).

The Political Problem, v8–10. The lack of the separateness of God’s people.  God is holy.  His people must be holy.  But Israel has been “swallowed up” (v8a).   You can’t tell the difference between them and anyone else.  How can God rightly take special delight in them, if they are not special and different?  If we are the people of a Holy God, we must be a holy people; the difference between a believer and an unbeliever should clear and crisp. The result is that the Lord will gather them into another nation, where He will bring them low (v10). Their infidelity with other nations will be a costly one.  It will cost them their nation, their pride, their power, and their glory.  If His people cannot be faithful to the Lord in liberty and dignity, He is willing to put us to shame in order to bring us to faithfulness.

The Primary Problem—the Arithmetic of Worship, vv11-13. What they multiplied—the altar was what was central to their worship, v11.  The form worship was the thing for Ephraim.  Rather than worship being all about God and His Word, for Ephraim it is all about the act of worship, the experience of it.  Ephraim made for himself worship that he liked, and he multiplied it.  And this emphasis on the act and experience made his worship itself a sin.

What the Lord multiplied—the law should be central to worship, v12.  The same root word is used in both verses. While Ephraim was busy multiplying altars, the Lord was multiplying His law.  The problem is that Ephraim didn’t find dwelling upon the law of God very worshipful.  “It just doesn’t give me the same feeling,” Ephraim might have said… “it’s strange to me—it leaves me cold.”

Worship had become an excuse for pot-luck luncheon, v13a.  Why did Ephraim worship?  Because of what they would get out of it for themselves: some very nice roast mutton and barbecued ribs.  They did not come to worship in order that Yahweh might delight in it; they came in order that they might delight in it.  Truly, we ought to delight in worship, but this is only a secondary benefit, a happy accident to the main purpose: to give Yahweh something in which He delights.

Multiplying the wrong thing in worship was the last straw—now they will “return to Egypt”, v13b.  Sometimes, the only way for Yahweh to get His people’s attention is to return them to the level of misery of being unconverted.  “You want life and worship to be all about you?  Fine.  Let me remind you what life is like when it’s all about you.”

The Conclusion: though the Lord’s people forget Him, still He will “spark” their memory, v14.  Israel and Judah were all about “their own lives”—their own pleasure and glory, earthly and temporal stuff like palaces and city walls.  When they forgot the Lord, He decided to “spark” their memories by burning up the very things that they were all about (v14d–e). Sometimes, the church’s religion requires wrath. If His people are unfaithful to give the right worship, yet God will be faithful to chasten His them for it.

What parts of your life are in danger of being treated as “secular”? What is worship “about” for you?

Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for how we have forgotten You in every area of life. Grant the ministry of Your Spirit, along with whatever else is necessary, to bring us to repentance, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP51AB “God, Be Merciful to Me” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”