God's Patience with Jonah [Family Worship lesson in Jonah 4]

What is God doing with Nineveh? Jonah 4 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God is showing us that He delights to show mercy. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

What 'Thy Will Be Done' Means [Children's Catechism 115—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children’s Catechism question 115—especially explaining how submission to God’s will includes submission both to His providence and to His commandments.

Q115. What do we pray for in the third petition? That men on earth may serve God as the angels do in heaven.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Grace to Sinful Autonomy [Family Worship lesson in Numbers 20:14–21:3]

If God has already determined what will happen, what should we do? Numbers 20:14–21:3 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nineteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we must trust God to do His own almighty work, while sustaining us by His grace in the duties that He has assigned to us. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

How the Lord (Jesus!) Leads His People [2024.05.19 Evening Sermon in Numbers 10:11–36]

God leads His people by order, human leadership, expertise, but most of all Himself!

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The LORD Who Leads and Keeps His People [2024.05.05 Evening Sermon in Numbers 9:15–23]

The promise-keeping Lord leads His people throughout their callings in this world.

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The Arrogance of Living for Our Profit Plans [Family Worship lesson in James 4:13–17]

In what should a man spend his life? James 4:13–17 prepares us for the second serial reading in public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a man should spend his life in that which does good before God.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Lord's Will Only from the Lord's Word [2023.11.25 Pastoral Letter and Hopewell Herald]

Hopewell Herald – November 25, 2023

Dear Congregation,

What a frightful thing the judgment of the Lord is! And one of the ways that it appears in this life is when He gives us over to ourselves (cf. Rom 1:24, 26, 28).

²⁴ Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts […]
²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to vile passions […]
²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting

This is one reason that we must always measure what the Lord is calling us to do by His Word—not by our feelings, and certainly not by trying to interpret providence (e.g. “opened doors” or “signs,” etc.). When God righteously judges someone, He not only gives them over to doing the things that deserve death, but even to approving those things (cf. Rom 1:31).

²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰ backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; ³² who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

If we are given over to ourselves, we might do any one of the things in that list, and tell ourselves that it is “the Lord’s will.” Too many times, I have heard that sort of justification even for things like marital infidelity or joining/staying in a church that denies the divinity of Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, the gospel of salvation by grace alone, or the transformation of life that grace produces.

One of the fastest ways to run headlong into such a judgment of God is to think of the Lord’s will as something our feelings “tune in” through twists of providence, rather than something that we learn from the Bible, biblically understood. If we perceive the Lord’s calling by way of signs and feelings, we leave ourselves open to precisely this self-deception.

Even those who murder Jesus’s servants can do so, thinking that God has called them to this “service” (cf. Jn 16:2).

² They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

Thankfully, the Lord has given us His will in writing (cf. Isa 8:20), so that we don’t have to give in to claimed spiritual revelations that contradict His will (cf. Isa 8:19).

¹⁹ And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

What a great gift, then, the Bible is!

And it is a great mercy of God that He has given to us to worship Him, largely by this very gift: reading the Bible, praying the Bible, singing the Bible, hearing the Bible preached, and having all of that Bible authenticated by Christ’s own biblical sign in the Supper.

Looking forward to that worship together,

Pastor

Praying for Grace to Know and Do God's Will [Theology Simply Explained: Westminster Shorter Catechism 103]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 103—especially explaining how we should be praying for grace to overcome both our weakness and our wickedness that we might know and do God’s will.

Q103. What do we pray for in the third petition? In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven, we pray that God, by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Treasuring Christ Above All, and His Treasured Saints for His Own Sake [2023.06.18 Morning Sermon in Acts 21:1–14]

When we treasure Christ, we submit to His providential will, because we know that will is bringing praise to His Name and perfect blessedness to His people.

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How the Spirit Works in Our Lives: Purposing in the Spirit because Purposed by the Spirit [2023.03.19 Morning Sermon in Acts 19:21–22]

The Spirit works in believers, giving them good and godly purposing, just as He also works through believers to execute the sovereign, unchangeable, redemptive plan of God.

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The Personal, Puzzling, and Powerful Providence in Which the Spirit Builds His Church [Family Worship lesson in Acts 16:6–15]

How did the famous church in Philippi get its start? Acts 16:6–15 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Spirit started the church at Philippi thorough several thwartings of the apostle and a humanly inauspicious opportunity. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Three Great Motivations for Every Christian to the Ministry of Prayer [Family Worship lesson in 1Timothy 2:3–7]

What are we participating in when we pray? 1Timothy 2:3–7 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that when we pray, we join a work in which God Himself has become Mediator and ransom for men, and appointed preachers teach us what to believe in and believe.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Theology Simply Explained — WSC39 What God Requires of Us

Q. 39. What is the duty which God requireth of man?
A. The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to His revealed will.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

What Believers Want (1): To Have God as Witness and Interact with His Will (2022.05.11 Midweek Sermon in Romans 1:9–11a)

God's people prioritize what He witnesses, over what men see. They interact with God's will in their hearts and lives. And they participate in God's work in one another's lives.

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What to Do While We Wait (2022.01.16 Morning Sermon in Acts 1:9–26)

While believers wait for Christ, they express their neediness and desire in prayer, live out their dependence by following His Word, and trust that He is ruling and overruling all things perfectly.

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The Great Comfort of God's Sovereignty in Our Grief, Repentance, and Planning (2021.01.31 Morning Sermon in Genesis 45:1–15)

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The reality of God's overruling sovereignty comforts us by His purposes in our grief, His goodness even through our own sins, and His perfect plan in the midst of our very uncertain ones.

Trusting Only in Christ, Because We Can Neither Save nor See (2020.11.16 Morning Sermon in Genesis 37:12–36)

We are unable to make our plans come about, or even to see with full completeness or accuracy what is happening in our circumstances. This is a dreadful truth for the unbeliever, for things are infinitely worse for them than they imagine. But, we may trust in Christ, Who powerfully brings about all of His perfect plan, according to His perfect wisdom and steadfast love. So, we may live with confidence in all that He has planned, and unswerving commitment to all that He has commanded.

The Confidence That We Have in Him and His Will (1John 5:14 Prayer Devotional)

Christian prayer is an exercise of confidence in Him that increases confidence in Him, because the One to Whom we pray works all things according to the will in which He is determined to give us everything, and especially to give us Himself.