How to Love God [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 9–11]

How do we keep the first commandment? Deuteronomy 9:1–11:32 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word read in the public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eighty-three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we keep the first commandment by loving Him Who first loved us, through His Word by which He communicates Himself. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary from the audio transcript: The central message of the devotional is that true obedience to God is rooted not in human righteousness but in divine grace, as Israel’s inheritance of the Promised Land was not due to their virtue but to God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Pastor emphasizes that Israel’s repeated rebellions—especially at Horeb with the golden calf—reveal their persistent sinfulness, yet God, in His mercy, repeatedly intercedes, renews the covenant, and restores His people, demonstrating that His love precedes and enables their love in return. This divine love, most fully revealed in Christ’s sacrifice, is the foundation for genuine love to Him: fearing God, walking in His ways, serving Him with all the heart and soul, and keeping His commandments out of gratitude and affection. The devotional calls believers to internalize God’s Word as the operating system of life—meditating on it, speaking it, and living it out in daily routines, so that love for God becomes a holistic, transformative way of life. Ultimately, obedience is not a transactional effort to earn favor but a response to God’s prior love, and covenant blessings are contingent upon faithful, covenantal love, which remains relevant today in the church's corporate, covenantal blessings.

YHWH, Alone, Our God [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 5:6–7]

What is the great thing in all of life? Deuteronomy 5:6–7 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the great thing in all of life is to be devoted to, and dependent, upon the Lord as our own covenant God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Living Before God's Face [Westminster Shorter Catechism 48—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 48—especially explaining how all of life is lived before God’s face, and therefore must be unto God’s glory, according to God’s law, and in relationship with Him.

Q48. What are we specially taught by these words before Me in the first commandment? These words before Me in the first commandment teach us that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other god. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Atheism, Autonomy, and Other Idolatry [Westminster Shorter Catechism 47—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 47—especially explaining how it is a rejection of the Lord to fail to acknowledge and identify with the Lord, or to put anything else into His place.

Q47. What is forbidden in the first commandment? The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshiping and glorifying the true God as God, and our God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to Him alone.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Preventing Self-Destruction [2024.08.21 Midweek Sermon in Proverbs 1:8–19]

Have God as your Friend to protect you from the enticements of your sinful heart, beginning with godly parents as friends to protect you from the enticements of sinful men

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

First Beings First [Westminster Shorter Catechism 45—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 45—especially explaining how the placement of the first commandment indicates that our relation to God is foundational to every other part of our existence and morality.

Q45. Which is the first commandment? The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Theology Simply Explained — WSC48 Learning from the Words "Before Me"

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 48: What are we specially taught by these words "before Me" in the first commandment? These words "before Me" in the first commandment teach us that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other god.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Theology Simply Explained — WSC47 What the First Commandment Forbids

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 47: What is forbidden in the first commandment? The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshiping and glorifying the true God as God, and our God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to Him alone.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Theology Simply Explained — WSC46 What the First Commandment Requires

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 46: What is required in the first commandment? The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Theology Simply Explained — WSC45 What Is the First Commandment

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 45: Which is the first commandment? The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Living as if God Actually Exists and the Gospel Is Actually True (Family Worship lesson in 1Thessalonians 5:16–22)

Having given final instructions about loving one another (v12–15), what are the apostolic team’s final instructions about loving the Lord? 1Thessalonians 5:16–22 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that loving the Lord in everyday life should be continually joyous, obedient, and holy.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The First Commandment: Ultimate Purpose, Pleasure, Power, and Peace in God Alone, to His Praise Alone (2022.05.08 Evening Sermon in Exodus 20:3)

God alone must be our ultimate purpose, pleasure, power, and peace—to the praise of God alone.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The First Commandment: Have Ultimate Purpose, Pleasure, and Power in God Alone, to His Praise Alone (Family Worship lesson in Exodus 20:3)

What does the first commandment require? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. Exodus 20:3 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God alone must be our ultimate purpose, pleasure, and power—to the praise of God alone.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

“Of Good Works” part 5, WCF 16.2.2, Good Works Express Thanks; the Best Work Is Worship (2021.10.17 Sabbath School in Psalm 116:12–19 and 1Peter 2:4–10)

In this Sabbath School class, we continued the second paragraph of WCF 16, here examining Psalm 116 and 1Peter 2 in order to understand that with good works being according to God's commandments, the best work is to obey the first Great Commandment. This means, especially, the public worship of God. How do we show thanksgiving for His mercy? By good works, and especially by the best work.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Fighting Sexual Sin, and All Sin, by Thankfulness and Reverence to God (2020.10.11 Evening Sermon in Ephesians 5:3–7)

The dear children of God ought not look like (and don't look like) the sons of disobedience. Those who are forgiven begin to think and speak and act in the way that is fitting for saints. And thanksgiving is a most fitting way of thinking and speaking, which thanksgiving also combats fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness.