2025.12.27 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 26:26–29

Read Matthew 26:26–29

Questions from the Scripture text: What were they doing (v26)? Who took what? What three things did He do with it? To whom does He give it? What two things does He tell them to do with it? Why? What does He take in v27? What two things does He do? Whom does He tell to do what? What does He call the cup (v28)? What does His blood seal? For whom is it shed? To do what? What does He say that He will not do (v29)? Until when? How will He drink it? With whom? Where?

What was Jesus doing at the end of the last Passover? Matthew 26:26–29 looks forward to the morning sermon in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus was establishing a meal in which He feeds us by faith, and (by faith!) confirms us in covenant with God and forgiveness of sins.

A new meal. Toward the end of the Passover meal, after the ritual portion is over, and they are eating freely, the Lord Jesus establishes a new ceremony. This is implied in v29, where He speaks of a new way of kingdom-drinking. Luke records that He explicitly said “do this in remembrance of Me,” while serving the bread. And 1Cor records that He said this with both elements. 

Christ’s actions with the bread. First, “Jesus took bread” (v26). He selected it. He prepared it. He took to Himself a body in Mary’s womb. And He appoints for His church a sacramental meal. There is intention and initiative here. Jesus prepares for our provision.

“Jesus… blessed” it (v26). Luke and Paul use the language of giving thanks, here. He does both with the bread, and likewise both with the cup. To that which Christ has provided, Christ Himself adds His blessing. This is the case with all His means, and especially so with the Supper that He has provided for His disciples, since He emphasizes it as an example of His blessing attending His provision.

“Jesus… broke and gave” it (v26). Jesus Himself distributes that which He has provided and blessed. This is very personal; each disciple’s piece is specifically broken for him by Christ. The believer’s particular portion is intended for him by Christ. Just as with preaching, this is not diminished when He makes use of His servant to break and give. This is one of the reasons why it is important to be scrupulous about having only His ordained servants break and give the bread, just as only His ordained servants preaching.

What Christ says to do with the bread. The supper is both, a provision of Christ, and a command of Christ. He commands His disciples to take, to receive. This includes recognition of Christ’s provision, receptiveness to Christ’s provision, and appropriation of Christ’s provision. And, He tells them that in doing so, they receive His body. There are two demonstrative pronouns that might have been used here—one indicating especially the bread, the other indicating the action of receiving. This is the latter. It is especially in receiving the bread, and eating it, that they receive Christ (obviously, Christ Himself, being there in the flesh, was not telling them that the bread was becoming His flesh). He is telling them that, as they receive the bread and eat it, they are receiving and feeding upon His body—receiving the benefits of Christ, and His true and full humanity.

Christ’s actions with the cup. Jesus takes the cup, indicating the same preparation and provision. Jesus gives thanks for the cup, the same action as the blessing and giving thanks with the bread. And Jesus gave it to them. The manner is implied by the word behind “shed” (v28), which more literally means “poured.” Lk 22:17 also implies this with the language of “divide” (distribute/separate). As with the bread, each disciple’s portion is specifically intended unto Him by Christ.

What Christ says to do with the cup. “Drink from it, all of you” (v27). The believer’s own portion/participation in Christ’s blood is emphasized by His adding “all of you.” Again, the wine is not becoming blood, and the blood of Christ was not even spilled until the next day. But, the Lord Jesus was already communicating to each disciple, even as they all (“all of you”!) took together, that each one has his own, personal participation in the new covenant. This blood both consecrates the church unto God in the new covenant (v28a) and remits the sins of those who receive Christ Himself by faith (v28b). When you take the Lord’s Supper, as a member of His church, the Lord Jesus drives home both to you: you are bound to God in covenant now, in your part in His church; and, His blood was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins.

Looking forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Jesus presented the disciples’ drinking of the cup as something they were to do without Him, in anticipation of once again doing so with Him. 1Cor 11:26 emphasizes the same thing by the phrase “till He comes.” The supper looks backward to the death in which His blood was poured out, and upward to glory, where He is all of our life, and the One in Whom we are bound to God and consecrated unto Him. But it also looks forward joyously to the day when Christ once again joins us at the table to partake with us. We each have our portion from Him, but ultimately, we partake with Him in His portion. 

Do you take the supper? Why or why not? What has Jesus done for you? What does He want you to do at the table?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for Your provision in Your Supper. For, You have provided Yourself for us and to us. So, make us to receive by faith, we ask in Your Name, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP116B “I Still Believed” or TPH201 “Twas on That Night”

Love that Will Not Let Him Go [Family Worship lesson in Song of Songs 3:1–5]

What must Christians always seek and cling to? Song of Songs 3:1–5 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christians must be continually active in seeking and clinging to Christ and the experiential knowledge of His love. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio. This passage portrays the soul’s journey from spiritual dormancy to active pursuit and intimate restoration with Christ, using the bride’s night-time search as a metaphor for the believer’s experience of divine absence. The imagery of night and the solitary bed signifies a season of spiritual lethargy, where passive longing fails to yield connection; only when the soul resolves to rise and actively engage the means of grace—through the church, its watchmen, and the Word—is seeking effective. Though initial efforts may not bring immediate relief, the Holy Spirit uses the preaching of the Word to confront and awaken the heart, leading to recovering personal experience of Christ's love. The believer is then called, not only to cling to Christ, but to bring others into that restored fellowship, warning against anything that might disrupt the intimacy of divine communion. Ultimately, the passage calls for continual spiritual vigilance, active faith, and a heart committed to pursuing the nearness of God through faithful practice and repentant humility.

2025.12.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 3:1–5

Read Song of Songs 3:1–5

Questions from the Scripture text: What time was it (v1a)? Where was she? What was she doing? With what results (v1b)? What does she resolve and do (v2a–d)? With what result (v2e)? Who finds whom (v3a)? What does she ask them (v3c)? When does she finally find Him (v4a–b)? What does she do then (v4c)? To where/whom does she bring Him (v4d–e)? Whom does she address (v5a)? By what (v5b)? Not to do what (v5c–d)? 

What must Christians always seek and cling to? Song of Songs 3:1–5 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christians must be continually active in seeking and clinging to Christ and the experiential knowledge of His love. 

v1–5 a similar situation to 2:8–17. In this case, the distance between her and the Bridegroom, is described especially according to her experience, rather than what Christ is like, and what He is doing when He seems distant.

“By night” (v1) signifies spiritual darkness, a nighttime of the soul. Then she says, “on my bed,” instead of “our bed” (cf. 1:16). She is alone. And in this case, the bed does not indicate rest, but inactivity. There is a spiritually dull, spiritually lazy manner of seeking: “By night, on my bed, I sought the One I love. I sought Him, but I did not find Him.” One may still be a Christian—His identity to her is “the One Whom I love”—but get spiritually lazy, not actually making use of His means, not actually exercising his soul. There is a sort of “seeking” that is just a kind of wishing that we would know and feel the closeness of Christ, but not doing any of the things which have the promise of His blessing and His drawing near to us.

The Christian life must be more than wishful thinking. There is a passiveness and laziness that Christians fall into, that is being identified here, and that the Lord is going to take her out of.

She proceeds to say, “I will rise now, and go about the city” (v2). We learn in v3 that the city is the church (a common image and theme—Jerusalem, Zion—throughout the Bible), since it is patrolled by the watchmen. The watchmen are the ones who, in the more agrarian countryside imagery of the previous passage, have been charged with catching the little foxes (cf. 2:15). 

So, it is with respect to the church that she says, "I will rise now and go about the city." She does not just rise and go about the city. She purposes to do so first. She resolves to do so first. This is something that we need: the grace of the Holy Spirit to work in us when we have been spiritually lazy, to remind us again from His Word, what He has given us in His church—and to give us the force of will to do something about that. The streets and the squares, here, are His own ways in His church, His own ordinances. And we need the Holy Spirit to bring us to a decision that we will immediately and resolutely avail ourselves of the ministry, the preaching, the sacraments, the praying, the discipline, the fellowship of the church. From His side, He had said “rise, and come away” (1:10, 13). Now, in her experience, the Holy Spirit gives her the resolve, “I will rise now” (v2a) “and go” (v2b). 

But there is need not only resolve, but perseverance. She does not find Him immediately (v2e). Spiritual darkness and illness may not dissipate quickly for the backslider. He may have to persevere in Christ’s means before he finds Him, before things are well with him spiritually, and he regains his assurance. 

She has risen from her bed; she has started to participate in the worship of the church and the discipleship of the church, the fellowship of the church, the means of grace, the ordinances of Christ; and yet, she has not immediately found spiritual relief. Her heart has not been relieved of the guilt she has felt. Christ does not seem near to her. She is struggling to know the smile of God in the Lord Jesus again. Her assurance remains shaken, intermitted. 

Even her resolve to seek is by His grace, but note what makes the ultimate difference: “The watchmen who go about the city found me” (v3). The Lord may use any of His means, or even none of them, but it is especially His preached Word which He has honored as the means by which it is He Who finds us. What a mercy from Him it is, when His preachers find us. And, He gives us to have shepherds as preachers, so that we may engage privately, when found by the Word, as she does “Have you seen the one I love?” (v3c). 

Still, it is a little after her interaction with the watchmen (v4a) that she actually finds Him (v4b). We must not be satisfied merely to be back in the practice of Christianity, until we are back in lived fellowship with Christ. And, once things are well with us spiritually, we must continue to receive grace to cling to Him (v4c). The Christian life is never to be passive or complacent; there ought always only be seeking Christ or clinging to Christ. This is something that the genuine believer wishes to share with the whole church, the mother within whom the Lord gives us spiritual birth (v4d–e; cf. Ps 87:4–6, Rev 12:14–17). 

Finally, in addition to the resolve and the perseverance, the seeking and the clinging, there is the necessity of watching against those things that would drive Christ from us again (v5, cf. Rev. 2–3). Spiritual wellness is recovered with difficulty and laboriously maintained. The knowing of the love of Christ is precious. It is not worth stirring it up or awakening it, and seeing it run off like a startled gazelle or doe. 

Resolve. Seek. Persevere. Find. Cling. Corporately. Watching against all sin.

What is your current experience of Christ’s love? How are you responding to that? Where do you get the resolve to?

Sample prayer: Father, we pray that You would give us repentance of sin, renewal in faithfulness, and consistency in spiritual practice and Christian habits of the heart and mind, in Jesus's Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP42A “As Pants the Deer” or TPH425 “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place” 

Our Most Important Ability [Family Worship lesson in Ecclesiastes 9:13–18]

What abilities should we be developing and using? Ecclesiastes 9:13–18 prepares us for 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 all of our abilities are a stewardship from God, but the most important of these is wisdom. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: the devotional presents the supremacy of wisdom over strength, highlighting how divine wisdom—though often overlooked or forgotten—holds greater value than military might or worldly power. It illustrates this through the story of a poor, wise man who saves a city yet is ignored afterward, underscoring humanity’s tendency to despise quiet, humble wisdom while elevating the loud and foolish. Pastor emphasizes that true wisdom, rooted in the fear of the Lord and drawn from Scripture, is the highest of all God-given gifts and must be sought diligently in personal and corporate worship. It warns that even the most carefully built good can be undone by a single act of sin or folly, urging believers to value wise, gentle speech over boastful noise, and to live with humility, accountability, and reverence for God’s sovereign providence.

2025.12.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ Ecclesiastes 9:13–18

Read Ecclesiastes 9:13–18

Questions from the Scripture text: What has Solomon seen, where (v13)? How did it seem to him? What had there been (v14)? Who came against it? in what way? But who was found in it (v15)? And what did he do, how? But what happened to him? What did this cause Solomon to say about wisdom (v16a–b)? But what still happens to a poor man’s wisdom (v16c–d)? What words, spoken in what manner, should be heard (v17a)? Instead of what (v17b)? What is better than what else (v18a)? But who does what in v18b?

What abilities should we be developing and using? Ecclesiastes 9:13–18 prepares us for 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 all of our abilities are a stewardship from God, but the most important of these is wisdom. 

v16b relates v13–18 back to v11c–d. We must diligently employ all that the Lord has given us (v10), without trusting in it (v11–12), but there is also a hierarchy among the abilities and capacities that God gives us.  “Wisdom is better than strength.”

Solomon illustrates this from his own experience (v13), telling about the wisdom of one wise man, that delivered a doomed city (v14–15), similar to how the wise woman delivered the city of Abel in 2Sam 20:16–22.

But we need passages like this one to remind us of the value of wisdom, because in our fallen world, people value riches and power more than wisdom. So, Solomon takes note (v16c) of how the wise man was forgotten because he was poor (v15c).

Just as we have learned recently about the weightiness of words, in the fact that God Himself has regard for the words of the poor (cf. Deu 24:13, 15), so now v17 urges us to pay attention to even the quiet words of the wise. Because the wise are modest, it will often be the case that their words are quiet, while the fool’s are loud (v17b). But we are to be more impressed with wisdom than with shouting, or earthly power, or even weapons of war (v18a).

Speed (v11b), strength (v11c), understanding (v11e), and skill (v11f) are gifts from God that must be stewarded and developed. But it is most important to develop wisdom. “Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1Tim 4:8). 

Wisdom does good to those around us, in imitation of God, even if they don’t appreciate it or remember it. But, we don’t exercise it for men to notice, or even because we trust in it, but because it honors the Lord for us to employ it, and to do others good by it. 

So, as we have repeatedly heard from Proverbs, the Scriptures urge us to pursue, get, and employ wisdom. The passage closes by reminding us that failure to do so means to live in that sinfulness (i.e. apart from the fear of the Lord) that can singlehandedly unravel much good, done by many wise people, over a long period of time.

The Lord give us to listen to His Word, and the wise words of those quiet ones who are full of His Word.

Who are some quiet, wise ones, to whose words you should be giving attention? How else are you working on growing and employing wisdom? To whom are you doing good by your wisdom? To Whom does his passage turn you, when your wisdom goes unnoticed or unremembered by others?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for when we have been the shouting fools, for when we have been the ones who destroyed much good, for when we have trusted in any of our abilities, or prioritized any of them above wisdom. We are exposed by this passage, but we thank You for Christ. His righteousness and wisdom have been perfect, and have been our own righteousness, and our own wisdom, through union with Him. Please make us to be more and more like Him, in these things, through our fellowship with Him, we ask in His name. Amen.

Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH131B “Not Haughty Is My Heart”

2025.12.24 Midweek Meeting Livestream (live at 6:30p)

To tune in for the Prayer Meeting, we recommend that you visit the livestream page.

The Contented, Generous Heart [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 24:17–26:15]

What is at the heart of the tenth commandment? Deuteronomy 24:17–26:15 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these forty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the heart is the heart of the tenth commandment. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: the devotional presents a comprehensive exposition of the Tenth Commandment’s call to contentment, gratitude, and justice, rooted in Israel’s identity as redeemed slaves and sustained by God’s covenant faithfulness. Central to this teaching is the recurring call to care for the vulnerable—strangers, widows, and fatherless—while maintaining integrity in justice, honesty, and personal conduct, all reflecting a heart that esteems others as made in God’s image. The law’s applications—from refusing to exploit laborers and maintaining honest weights to preserving dignity in punishment and honoring marital duty—reveal that true generosity flows from a transformed heart that trusts God’s provision and rejects covetousness. Gratitude and generosity are not mere duties but expressions of identity and worship, pointing forward to Christ’s self-emptying love. Ultimately, the law reveals that holiness is not fragmented but holistic, demanding a life of thankfulness that mirrors God’s character.

2025.12.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 24:17–26:15

Read Deuteronomy 24:17–26:19

Questions from the Scripture text: Whose rights do v17–18 safeguard? And whose provision do v19–22 safeguard? How? Whose rights are safeguarded in 25:1–3? And whose provision in v4 (cf. 1Cor 9:9–10)? And whose provision in v5–10? In what way? How do v11–12 deal with the attack on the man’s dignity and progeny? What does YHWH say about the form of injustice in v13–16? How had the Amalekites taken advantage of Israel (v17–18)? Whom did they not fear? What must Israel do to them (v19, cf. Ex 17:14)? What is the opposite of coveting, in 26:1–15? When should they begin tithing (v1–2)? What are they to declare in v3? What are they to confess about their worthiness, and God’s grace to them (v4–5)? And what are they to confess about their weakness and God’s grace (v6–8)? And what are they to confess about God’s generosity (v9–10)? How are they to enjoy His generosity (v11)? In what year is there a special tithe for whom (v12)? Unto Whom is this tithing ultimately done (v13)? Along with what other reverence (v14)? Seeking what from Him (v15)? 

What is at the heart of the tenth commandment? Deuteronomy 24:17–26:15 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these forty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the heart is the heart of the tenth commandment.  

There is some overlap here, of the sections of Deuteronomy treating the ninth and tenth commandments. The first few passages of the tenth commandment material touch justice and courts of law, and therefore the importance of bearing true witness. But the rest of the material is so diverse that the diversity itself is part of the point: contentment before God, and consideration of others as much as ourselves, is essential to every part of the godly life or society.

This was one of the reasons for giving the nation of Israel its beginning in slavery in Egypt (24:18, 22). It taught them that they are to be as considerate of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, as much as of themselves (v17, 19, 20, 21). Even the convicted criminal’s dignity was to be given consideration during sentencing (25:1–3). 

There is a sense in which v4 brings out the true nature of the tenth commandment. It isn’t about the rights and dignity of oxen (though it does establish a principle that has application to workmen, cf. 1Cor 9:6–14). It’s about the farmer’s contentment in God’s goodness to him. This contentment is what frees him to have regard for his animal, as it serves him.

This contentment is what enables a man to trust what comes of his own estate unto the Lord, as he produces an heir for his dead brother (v5–6). And a man who does not trust the Lord this way humiliates himself in Israel (v7–10). If a woman is so lost to all decency, as well as disregarding the ability of a man to produce offspring, that she commits the offense in v11, she is to receive the severe and just penalty in v12. 

Of course, the tenth commandment is very closely related to the eighth and the ninth. Behind the wickedness of using a lying weight (v13–14, ninth commandment) to steal (eighth) is covetousness in the heart (tenth). This is what makes it a great unrighteousness, and an abomination to YHWH (v16).

The wickedness of discontentment/covetousness is embodied in the Amalekites, who were so fearless and shameless of God, that they picked off the weakest of Israel  (v17–18). YHWH hates this and condemns Amalek to complete annihilation (v19; cf. Ex 17:14, 1Sam 15:1–3). 

26:1–15 instill the principles of contentment and gratitude by means of the tithe. The bulk of the instruction about these tithes consists of the confession of God’s generosity in v5–10, and prayer for God’s blessing in v13–15. This passage forms an inclusio (bookend) with 24:17–22 by means of the third-year tithe for the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (26:11, 13). 

The tenth commandment is all about the heart: a heart of contentment toward God, and a heart that values another man’s property, rights, and dignity unto him just as much as one’s own. Often, it is in our failure to have regard for our neighbor that we discover our own discontentment before God. 

How have you seen God’s generosity to you? How does your own giving reflect contentment and gratitude unto God? Who are the poor or disadvantaged for whose comfort and dignity you have regard? How are you showing that regard? In what way do you have special regard for future generations?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for how we have held so tightly to the things of this world. It has shown our lack of trust in You—our lack of gratitude and contentment. Our covetousness has led to disregarding the comfort and dignity of others, so that our sin against them has exposed our greater sin against You. But Christ, Who was rich, became poor for our sakes. Forgive us, through His shed blood, and count Him as our righteousness, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

The First Tempter [Children's Catechism 32 Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 32—especially explaining how Satan deceived the woman, tempting both her and the man.

Q32. Who tempted them to this sin? The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) The lesson emphasizes that, while the serpent deceived Eve, Adam was not deceived and thus bore greater culpability due to his passive failure to lead and protect his wife spiritually. It highlights the importance of male responsibility in spiritual instruction, drawing from Genesis 2–3 and 1 Timothy 2 to argue that Adam’s failure to actively guard his wife from deception—despite being present—constitutes a grave dereliction of duty. The passages underscore the divine order of creation and leadership, where Adam was given the covenant, and thus bears primary responsibility for teaching and guarding the household. Ultimately, the Fall is a cautionary example to affirm the necessity of male leadership in the church and family, rooted in divine design and order.

Love that Leaps Mountains [Family Worship lesson in Song of Songs 2:8–17]

What can help a backslider? Song of Songs 2:8–17 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord powerfully and eagerly overcomes His bride’s separation from Him. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The passage presents a portrait of Christ’s unwavering faithfulness amid the believer’s experience of spiritual distance, using the imagery of a Beloved Who, though seemingly hidden, is actively pursuing and restoring His bride. Central to the message is the assurance that Christ’s voice—revealed through Scripture, preaching, and the work of His church—is the primary means by which He overcomes every obstacle. Despite the believer’s perceived unworthiness or failure, Christ continues to call her 'My love, My fair one, My dove,' affirming her beauty and value in His eyes, not by her condition, but by His grace. The call to 'rise and come away' is both a command and a promise, rooted in Christ’s sovereign power to revive and restore, transforming the most barren season into springtime of renewal. The passage culminates in a heartfelt prayer for Christ to remain ever-present, overcoming all barriers until the final day when shadows flee and His presence is fully experienced.