Our Neighbor's Precious Name [Westminster Shorter Catechism 76—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 76—especially explaining how the our neighbor’s name isa valuable gift to him from God.

Q76. Which is the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Certainty and Necessity of the Resurrection [Children's Catechism 137—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 137—especially explaining how the resurrection is a historical fact, and a theological and spiritual necessity.

Q137. Did Christ remain in the tomb after His crucifixion? No; He rose from the tomb on the third day after His death.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Discrete Words and Diligent Work [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 12:15–28]

What does walking with God involve? Proverbs 12:15–28 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture. the Holy Spirit teaches us that walking with God involves godly speech, and diligence, in the path that leads to eternal life. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.03.17 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 12:15–28

Read Proverbs 12:15–28

Questions from the Scripture text: What does a fool think of his way (Proverbs 12:15a)? What does the wise man do instead (verse 15b)? When is a fool’s wrath known (Proverbs 12:16a)? What does a prudent man do instead (verse 16b)? What does the truth-speaker declare (Proverbs 12:17a)? What does the false witness declare (verse 17b)? What can a man speak like (Proverbs 12:18a)? But what does the wise tongue do (verse 18b)? How long will the truthful lip be established (Proverbs 12:19a)? How long the lying tongue (verse 19b)? What is in the heart of the deviser of evil (Proverbs 12:20a)? But what does a counselor of peace have (verse 20b)? What cannot overtake whom (Proverbs 12:21a)? What will the wicked have a filling of (verse 21b)? Who abominates the lying lip (Proverbs 12:22a, cf. Proverbs 11:1, Proverbs 11:20)? What does He think of the truthful (Proverbs 12:22b)? What does a prudent man do with some of his knowledge (Proverbs 12:23a)? What does a fool’s heart proclaim (verse 23b)? Whose hand will rule (Proverbs 12:24a)? But what will happen to the lazy man (verse 24b)? What does anxiety lead to (Proverbs 12:25a)? What has the opposite effect (verse 25b)? What should the righteous diligently do (Proverbs 12:26a)? What does the lazy man fail to cook (Proverbs 12:27a)? What, therefore, has great value (verse 27b)? To what does the way of the righteous lead (Proverbs 12:28a)? What does it certainly avoid (verse 28b)?

What does walking with God involve? Proverbs 12:15–28 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture, )? the Holy Spirit teaches us that walking with God involves godly speech, and diligence, in the path that leads to eternal life.

The second section of chapter 12 also (cf. Proverbs 12:1) begins with an introduction about the need to be instructible (Proverbs 12:15).And it ends with a conclusion that is a synthesis of how the difference in ways, that was introduced in verse 15, makes quite literally all the difference for the righteous (Proverbs 12:28). Just as in the first half of the chapter, the core of this second half are two subsections, one on wise words (Proverbs 12:16-23) and another on wise work (Proverbs 12:24-27). In both sections, the instruction is given almost entirely by way of comparison.

Proverbs 12:16-23 address the subject of wise words. A fool always expresses his emotions (Proverbs 12:16a), is willing to lie from his own false heart that devises evil (Proverbs 12:17b, Proverbs 12:19b, Proverbs 12:20a), uses words like sword thrusts (v18a), and expresses all of his thoughts (Proverbs 12:23b). However, the prudent man conceals wrong emotions (Proverbs 12:16b), speaks only truth in righteousness that seeks peace (Proverbs 12:17a, Proverbs 12:19a, Proverbs 12:20b), uses words to heal others (Proverbs 12:18b), and keeps most knowledge to himself (Proverbs 12:23a). How important (and beneficial) a part of walking with God is godly speech!

Proverbs 12:24-27 address the subject of wise work. The man who can’t make himself work will be forced to by others (Proverbs 12:24b), allow himself to be easily discouraged (Proverbs 12:25b), be lazy even about choosing friends (Proverbs 12:26b), and even too lazy to benefit from work that he has already done (Proverbs 12:27a). However, the diligent will rule others (Proverbs 12:24a), employ good words to stir up gladness to live (Proverbs 12:25b), be diligent even about choosing friends (Proverbs 12:26a), and treasure the diligence that improves all else to him (Proverbs 12:27b).How important (and beneficial) a part of walking with God is diligence!

The conclusion (Proverbs 12:28) is set up by the pathways in Proverbs 12:15 and the outcomes in Proverbs 12:19, Proverbs 12:21. Now, the conclusion synthesizes these two themes. The reason that there is only life and no death in the well-counseled way of the righteous is because death is a just sentence from YHWH, while life (in Him!) is His reward to the righteous. In the same manner as Proverbs 11:20 (cf. Proverbs 11:1), Proverbs 12:22 reminds us of the personal nature of these outcomes from His hand.

How are you relating to God in your words? How are you relating to God in your work?

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for giving us to be righteous in Your Son, our Lord Jesus. And thank You for Your Spirit’s ministry in applying His character to us in the areas of our words and our work. Glorify Yourself in Him, by conforming us to His image, and rewarding us with His inheritance, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH400“Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”

2025.03.16 Lord's Day Livestreams (live at 10:10a, 11:10a, 3p)

Click below for the:

March 16 Lord's Day Worship Booklet

Matthew 16:21–23 sermon outline

3p song selections & Deuteronomy 2:1–25 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.

Learning Jesus from Jesus [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 16:21–23]

How ought we to respond to the truth that Jesus is Christ and God? Matthew 16:21–23 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that part of responding rightly to Jesus’s identity is humbly learning more from Him. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.03.15 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 16:21–23

Read Matthew 16:21–23

Questions from the Scripture text: When does Jesus do this (Matthew 16:21)? To whom does He show? What things does He show to them? What two things does Peter do to Him in Matthew 16:22? How does he say it? What does Jesus tell Peter to do in Matthew 16:23 (cf. Matthew 4:10a)? What does He call Peter? What does He say that Peter is unto Him? Of what does He say that Peter is not mindful? Of what does He say that Peter is mindful instead?

How ought we to respond to the truth that Jesus is Christ and God? Matthew 16:21–23 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that part of responding rightly to Jesus’s identity is humbly learning more from Him.  

No kingdom without a cross. The apostles are on the record, now, as confessors of Jesus as Christ and Son of the Living God. Now, they must learn what the Scriptures taught is necessary, that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the sinful leaders of Israel, and be raised the third day (Matthew 16:21). 

It says that He “showed” them, because this was taught throughout the Scriptures (cf. Luke 24:25–26). So, He showed them from the Scripture, and from the force of logic of how immense a thing sin is, and its guilt, and how the salvation of the elect absolutely required the incarnation and the cross.

The need for humility to continue to be shown. We praise God for the truth of Matthew 16:17, that proper knowledge of Jesus, and confessing of Him, as Christ and God is a gift of divine convincing. However, we must hold that together with the humility to know that we will always be growing in our understanding of the implications and applications of the identity of Jesus. 

Having begun as those taught of God, we must continue, in humility, to learn from God. Pride can be so blinding. Peter was so blind that he missed that rebuking Jesus is totally incompatible with maintaining the proper place and dignity of Jesus’s identity. 

The danger of pride that sets out on its own, apart from Scripture. By drawing half-baked conclusions based upon the identity of Christ (“far be it from You, Lord,”), rather than submitting himself to what Jesus was showing from the Scriptures, Peter put himself in a pace where he was operating from the flesh, rather than from the Spirit. In Jesus’s words, he had not the mindset of God but the mindset of men. But the origin of all fleshly thought is, indeed, the devil himself. 

And Jesus recognized the logic that offered Him the kingdom without a cross. It was the same logic that proposed a very public and dramatic sign-display in order to galvanize the nation around Him (cf. Matthew 4:5–6). It was the same logic that offered all the kingdoms of this world and their glory for a moment’s bowing (cf. Matthew 4:8–9). It was satanic logic that would see Jesus stumble, rather than go resolutely to the cross. 

If we are going to have the mindset of God, to overcome the satanic mindset of our own flesh, we must be taught by Christ, as He shows us the truth from the Scriptures. May He give us that humility, and the sweet and stabilizing experience of learning from Him. 

In what particular actions and circumstances is Jesus showing you, from Scripture, more of the implications and applications of His identity as Christ and God? How are you bringing humility into those actions and circumstances, so that you do not respond to them with the satanic reasoning of the flesh, but with humble conformity to the mind of God?

Sample prayer:  Lord Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We thank You and praise You that, just as the Scriptures taught was necessary, You suffered many things, and died for our sins, and rose again on the third day. Grant us the grace of humility to continue learning from You so that our minds would be more and more conformed to Yours, we ask in Your Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song to the Lord” or TPH332 “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” 

Christ, Our Confessed Rock [2025.03.09 Morning Sermon in Matthew 16:18–20]

The foundation of the church and of all Christian life is the apostolic confession of Jesus as Christ and God.

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

Benefits of Union with Christ [2025.03.09 Book Study in How to Live as a Christian]

Elder Mangum led us through chapters 3–5. Those things that flow from union with Christ: justification, adoption, sanctification, assurance, and perseverance.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Trustworthy Lord and Word [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 2:1–25]

What did Israel see, when they approached to enter the land? Deuteronomy 2:1–25 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Israel saw just how foolish and wicked their unbelief had been.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)