Hopewell Herald – April 25, 2020
Dear Congregation,
From last
week’s sermon text, we learned that all our comforts,
great and small, come in the same love, wisdom, and power that gave us Christ.
In tomorrow’s
passage, the Holy Spirit teaches about the intermediate state of the believer at
death, and the hope of the resurrection.
This is a reminder that all of our sufferings, and even our death, also come to us in the
same love, wisdom, and power that gave us Christ.
This is why the most troubling thing for
a biblically-minded believer is when we lose our sense of communion with God or our affection for other believers as the
bride of Christ. These are heavenly-world, and next-world, blessings that the
Lord has given us to being enjoying in this world.
It speaks to the weakness of our faith
that we feel the loss of other things so much more easily and intensely than
the loss of communion with God. Indeed, afflictions may be
what He uses to stir up our hearts toward Himself, so that we
would say, “it was good for me that I was afflicted.”
But suffering isn’t the
only thing that He uses to stir up our hearts toward Himself. He says that
if we call His day a delight, then He will make us to delight in Him. And in the Lord’s Day assembly, He gathers us to Himself in glory, and
presents Himself unto us, in an unique way.
Let us seek to be strengthened in our
faith tomorrow, so that fellowship with the living God in Jesus Christ would be
the great thing in our lives that makes us to live in His world as those who
belong to Him!
Pastor
LORD'S DAY – April 26,
2020
11 a.m. Morning Worship
▫Children’s Catechism for April 26
Q26. What did God threaten in the covenant of works? A. To punish Adam with death if he disobeyed.
Q26. What did God threaten in the covenant of works? A. To punish Adam with death if he disobeyed.
▫Shorter Catechism for April
26
Q34. What is adoption? A. Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of, the sons of God.
Q34. What is adoption? A. Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of, the sons of God.
Hymns and Psalms
Scripture Text for first portion of
worship service
Scripture Readings
Sermon Scripture text and topic
We will be hearing from Genesis 25:1-18 about the resurrection hope that God
gives us, both for what will ultimately happen with our bodies, and even for
what immediately happens to our souls at death.
No formal/organized gatherings other than
public worship. Heads of households are encouraged to find other ways of
helping their families keep the day.
WLC 118. Why is the charge of keeping
the sabbath more specially directed to governors of families, and other
superiors?
A. The charge of keeping the sabbath is
more specially directed to governors of families, and other superiors, because
they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed
by all those that are under their charge; and because they are prone ofttimes
to hinder them by employments of their own.
Hopewell this Month
Hopewell’s
Presbytery Prayer Focus for April:
Madison-Monrovia
ARP in Madison, AL
April
Psalm of the Month
ARP119N Your Word’s a Lamp
Upcoming Events
•May 4, Monthly Session meeting 6p.m.
•Men’s Breakfast, May 16, 6:30a.m. Boys and men of all ages encouraged to
attend.
•October 2-4,
HARPC 200th Anniversary Celebration
Smooth Stones from a
Babbling Brook
(internet links of the week—COVID edition)
(internet links of the week—COVID edition)
▫ARP Pastor Stephen Richardson has written
an open
letter to the churches on the command of Christ for public worship. One
might conclude that he is wrong, but will we have the moral courage to at least
deal seriously with the question? Do we have the gospel confidence that
liberates us to allow the possibility that he might be correct, to be able to
recognize a great sin in ourselves because we have a Redeemer of great sinners,
who is worthy of our repenting? If not, how will we ever genuinely repent of
anything?
▫This article
by Chris Coldwell refers back to one faithful minister’s spiritual
observations following a devastating plague of Yellow Fever in New York City toward
the end of the 18th Century. The conclusion is that although we
ought to be moved to repentance and revival by such Providence, truly it is
only the movement of the Spirit of God that will overcome men’s hard hearts.
So let us cry out to Him for that movement!
▫Have you discovered that persistent,
plodding family worship is something that God has used to transform your and
your household’s spiritual life? If so, you’ve probably got someone you love whom
you want to convince of the same thing. Perhaps you can make use of this now-seven-year-old
video of Pastor Joel
Beeke saying that regular family worship is the most important thing that he
does in his life. There’s just four things you need to do. Read the
Bible, have dad explain it, pray together, and sing together. The video is
worth your four minute investment (or less, if you listen at more speed).
▫Some of you will remember brother Zack
Groff, who reminds
us that the more unstable and threatening life gets the greater the
joy of having a God of perfect stability and favor toward us in Christ.
▫Francis Grimke was an African American
Presbyterian pastor during the Spanish Flu. Caleb Cangelosi summarizes five
great points for us from an excellent sermon that Pastor Grimke
preached during that pestilence.
▫The Christian Observer
recently published an article
from Pastor’s personal blog.
He’s also written several other articles recently, mostly on the subjects of public
worship or the fifth commandment.
Baby Valerie has fallen asleep in the Lord. The following is from
their pastor:
Dear Saints:
Joe wanted me to
inform you that the Lord has taken Valerie to be with Him.
She is in a better
place than this fallen world. Though we’ve known her only shortly, we will miss
her. We will meet her again one day, however. The parting today will not be for
long.
God is good.
In love,
Marion
Congregational Prayer Requests
(new/updates in bold)
▪ Pray with the Reformed sidewalk-counseling group @PP in
Nashville for their Wednesday and Friday ministries
▪ Early Rain Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, Christians
in Nigeria, and other persecuted churches like them; Pastor Wang Yi in prison.
▪ Alan McClelland and his ministry at
Ft. Rucker
▪ Repentance of the Church and the
Nations, as well as comfort and strength through the advancement of the gospel against
the backdrop of SARS-CoV-2 and its accompanying panic, especially joining the
rest of the ARP at 9a.m. central every day
▪ Joe & Lauren
from Heritage CPC in Centerville, in the loss of their newborn baby, Valerie
▪ Comfort and provision for the LeeAnn Billings
family as they grieve, especially for new work, as the university just
eliminated her position from the department
▪ Rebecca Sterling’s new shunt and tube
to properly drain brain fluid
▪ Pray for the Jeffers family, whose
granddaughter Isabelle (14) and then her mother Norma both attempted suicide; there’s
a long way to go medically, financially, and especially spiritually for all
involved; please keep praying for them and for Sue’s ministry to them
▪ Pray for Kacey and family, going
through difficult trial
▪ Pray with D&L L for her 85yo
mother and her heart issues
▪ Pray with KC for her acquaintance Linda who doesn’t seem to know the Lord, and just
lost 21 year old son; and, for sister Diane and her husband Frank, who need a
living faith in Christ; and for friend Patty, a believer, that she will
continue to do well after treatment for uterine cancer
▪ Pray with D&M G that her mother
would continue healing well and not smoking; for Sean; for Jeremiah and
Julianna; and for the adjustment and thriving of Jordan and Atlanta and family
with new baby twins, Charlotte and Hew
▪ Pray with W&C G for her mother’s
health and caregivers; and for spiritual (and total) well-being of son Greg
▪ Pray with J&H H for his father’s cancer and recovery from
open-heart surgeries; and sweetness in his parents’ remaining time together;
for his youngest brother; for sister-in-law’s recovery from cancer treatment
▪ Pray for James Heard to make good
choices and to walk with an serve the Lord in this next phase of his life.
▪ Pray with H&K H for their health (especially
Karen’s back, which keeps getting reinjured, and their schedule which it
affects) and for many of their loved ones; needing Christian fellowship: her
grandmother and father, widow Hope w/4 children, Brown family of 7 (wayward son
Nicholas); needing health: her mom, sister Lisa, Martina, Donna, Joyce; needing
spiritual life: Velvet and Reagan (lost their sister/daughter to a brutal
murder), neighbors Shawn, Merlin, & children; other widows: Libby, Naomi
(w/daughter Stacia), Stephanie (w/many children, were missionaries); friend
Andrea’s New Age friends; Charles & Robert to be able to forgive; friends
w/family problems: Dave, Lee, Melodie, Cole; spiritual growth and wife for
friend Scott; their family’s evangelism, recently firefighter Dalton; Riggs to
grow mighty in the Lord
▪ Pray with R&M J for Meredith,
young daughter of M’s college friend Ashely (and husband Brad), who’s taking
medicine to shrink her brain tumor
▪ Pray with O&A L for her
unbelieving mother w/heart condition, and brother w/lung cancer.
▪ Pray with CM for his sister Ginger,
diagnosed with an aggressive and advanced leukemia, and for Sheriff’s Reserve
James Wilson, and his wife Andra’s cancer
▪ Pray with C&T P for wisdom for
him about what to do with two good career choices, and for the
conversion of her brother Todd; and for her dad who is not doing well and his
wife Jolene, who is receiving radiation to treat a spot on her brain.
▪ Pray with D&K R for their
family’s growth in godliness, especially dying to self, godly speech, and
Lord’s Day keeping; for Micah, Rachel, and baby girl due in July; and for local
pastor/constable Darryl Thrasher, who has an aggressive, malignant brain tumor
▪ Pray with GR for friend Abby to come
to faith in Christ
▪ Pray with JeR for believing friend
Jeanette Cary’s CHF, Fibromyalgia, & slow-healing wound
▪ Pray with J&S R for her nephew,
who needs life in Christ; and for her and her family in the loss of her father,
especially spiritual impact on her sisters and nephews; and for her sister
Rebecca’s pregnancy; and for the whole family, and especially his mother, as
they grieve the passing away of his father; and for neighbor Stacey’s friend
whose two-year-old daughter is still struggling with the virus
▪ Pray with S&V Y for his parents
and siblings as they deal with his father’s declining health and his mothers
dementia
▪ Please pray with Madison-Monrovia ARP
in Madison, AL, throughout the month of April
▪ Please pray for the TN-AL Presbytery
to be enabled to plant a faithful church with the resources available and
earmarked for that purpose
▪ Please pray for all ARP presbyteries, churches, and agencies
▪ Please pray for our nation, state,
community and all the officials thereof
Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one
special part of religious worship, is by God required of all men: and, that it
may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of his
Spirit, according to his will, with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency,
faith, love, and perseverance; and, if vocal, in a known tongue. (WCF 21.3)
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