Hopewell Herald – April 18, 2020
Dear Congregation,
What stock have you and your household
taken of your repentance this week?
What is being done that ought not to be?
What ought to be done that isn’t?
In your hour-to-hour living, what place
belongs to the knowledge of Christ, trust in His goodness, obedience to His
commands, and service unto His glory?
We heard last
week from His Word that, by certain moments and seasons of
His providence, He means to arrest our attention upon whether we are bearing
the fruit of repentance.
Surely, He is making holy all those
whom He has brought to faith in Christ, and whom He is bringing to glory (Phlp
1:6; Heb 12:14; 1Jn 3:2).
And He presses us now not only to
ask the question whether we are they, but also to respond to His
glorious patience and mercy with renewed love and zeal, in dependence upon His
grace (1Jn 3:3; 2Pet 1:2–11).
It is especially by His Word read, and especially by His Word preached in the Lord’s Day assembly, that
He works by His grace to bring us at last into His rest (Heb
3:7–4:13; 10:19–25; 12:18–29).
So, let us each take stock of where we
need to be growing, and let us look forward with joy to our
Redeemer’s fertilizing and fruit-provoking work in His worship tomorrow,
Pastor
LORD'S DAY – April 19,
2020
Lord’s Day worship (and Wednesday prayer
meeting) are live-streamed at http://bit.ly/harpclive
Please review the
Session statements on the front and back of the Worship Booklet
11 a.m. Morning Worship
▫Children’s Catechism
for April 19
Q25. What did God promise in the covenant of works? A. To reward Adam with life if he obeyed him.
Q25. What did God promise in the covenant of works? A. To reward Adam with life if he obeyed him.
▫Shorter Catechism
for April 19
Q33. What is justification? A. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
Q33. What is justification? A. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
Hymns and Psalms
Scripture Text for first portion of
worship service
Scripture Readings
Sermon Scripture text and topic
We will be hearing from Genesis 24:59–67 that the Lord God who is bringing
about His great saving plan by infinite love, wisdom, and power also brings into
our lives blessings like good marriages, or consolation in bereavement, through
that same infinite love and wisdom and power. As we wait upon Him in prayer and
serve Him in various labors, we are given opportunity to participate in His blessings,
both eternally great and personally small.
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
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.
▪ R&C H ministering among Muslim refugees in France w/children H&D
▪ 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
▪ Valerie, newly born to Joe & Lauren from Heritage CPC in Centerville, with heart abnormalities and now seizure activity
▪ 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 with D&V F for rapid, full recovery
▪ Pray for Kacey and family, going through difficult trial
▪ Pray with D&L L for her 85yo mother and her heart issues
▪ PRAISE with S&D B that Andrew’s medicine has helped his body to stop eliminating his protein; please pray for him and the process of weaning him off of it
▪ 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 trip to Kansas to help 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 pray for Hannah’s and Noah Martyn’s thriving and fast recovery; 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
▪ 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)
Update on Joe, Lauren, and Baby Valerie from April 12:
He is risen!
Alleluia!
Last night the
neurology team did an EEG on Valerie, and detected some seizure activity in her
brain. They took her for a CT scan right away which showed no bleeding in her
brain so we are very thankful for that. Seizures are sometimes a side effect
with patients on ECMO and blood thinners. They are giving medications for them
but still seeing some seizure activity. She isn’t showing any external signs or
movement from the seizures but the EEG is detecting it. Please pray that they
would be able to control them, and that it would not be a long term complication.
Looking forward to
joining you in the live steam as we worship our risen Lord and Savior!
Joe
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