Hopewell Herald – November 14, 2020
I’ve been thinking a lot about our covenant children this week, preparing the devotional (and evening sermon for the 22nd) from Ephesians 6:1–3. How blessed we are in them! How high is God’s calling upon them! How great is God’s grace to them!
And we greatly desire that grace for them; how very much they need it, since they have us for parents. Thankfully, God’s grace toward us as parents is also great, which we need, since He has assigned unto us their training and instruction.
As I think about the task before us, there are a couple texts from Proverbs that keep coming to mind.
“He who walks with wise men will be
wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.”
Proverbs 13:20
“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of
a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.”
Proverbs 22:15
If we recognize that our children are recovering fools, we should be eager for them to walk with the wise. Are we helping them take advantage of opportunities to spend time with wiser saints?
One way of doing so would be keeping families together more during fellowship times—not as a rigid rule, but as a general strategy—so that they are drawn into the fellowship that the dads and moms are having. Another way of doing so is encouraging them to target specific older, mature saints with whom to build a relationship week by week. It's a joy to see some families/children already taking these approaches, and it would do us well to see more of it.
Of course, it’d be a pretty heavy burden to lay this duty upon them. If the families and the older saints don’t seek them out, then we’ll likely find defacto children’s-group and youth-group pockets forming here and there during our fellowship times. And we wouldn’t be able to fault them for it.
Ultimately, the most important thing for them is to attend well upon God’s own appointed means by which He works His grace. First and foremost: Word, sacrament, and prayer in the public worship. Second, the discipline and instruction of the Lord from dad and mom in the home, especially as it flows out of and into family worship.
But, there is also that mutual strengthening in intentional congregational fellowship that we have been learning about in Ephesians 4–5. Of course, it’s something that they can do to some extent with one another, but it is especially upon us to be modeling it for them as we do it with them.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s portion of growing up together into Christ our Head,
Pastor
LORD'S DAY – November 15, 2020
9:50 a.m. Breakfast Line Opens
10 a.m. Sabbath School
This week, we will continue to work through Ryan McGraw’s The
Day of Worship, learning about the goodness of God in this good commandment.
11 a.m. Public Worship
▫Children’s Catechism
for Nov 15
Q55. Who will be saved? A. Only
those who repent of sin, believe in Christ, and lead holy lives.
▫Shorter Catechism for Nov 15
Psalms and Hymns
TPH417 “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the
Sun”
ARP96A “O Sing a New Song”
TPH256 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”
Scripture Text for first portion of worship service
Psalm
72:12–19
Scripture Readings
1Samuel 23:1–13
Ephesians 5:25–33
Luke 9:46–62
Sermon Scripture text and topic
We will be hearing from Genesis 37:12–36 about Trusting
Only in Christ, Because We Can Neither Save nor See
Sacrament: The Lord’s Supper
1:15 p.m. Coffee Fellowship and Catechism Class
1:30 p.m. Fellowship Lunch & Open Mic Time
Members are encouraged to bring way more than enough, so
that there will be plenty for everyone, including any members or
guests who are deciding last-minute whether or not to stay.
At open mic time, we’ll begin with birthdays and anniversaries and recitations of the memory verse:
Genesis
37:8, And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over
us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for
his dreams and for his words.
3 p.m Psalm/hymn Sing
4 p.m. Evening Sermon from
Ephesians 5:25–33, Christ-like
Husbands
Hopewell
this Month
Hopewell’s Presbytery
Prayer Focus for November
Fayetteville ARP in Fayetteville,
TN
November Psalm of the
Month
ARP96A O Sing a New Song to the Lord
Upcoming Events
•November 16, Elders’ Meeting, 6 p.m.
•Wednesday, November 18, Prayer Meeting. 6:30p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
We pray for a solid hour, splitting into groups to balance praying corporately
with giving everyone an opportunity to pray out loud as much as possible.
•December 19, Leadership (men’s and boys’) breakfast, 6:30 a.m.
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