Worship Booklet Link Updated for March 14

The green WORSHIP BOOKLET link in the upper left of this page has been updated for March 14. The Lord bless your preparation for His holy assembly on His holy day!

2020.08.30 Worship Booklet

 The green link in the left-hand column has been updated with the Worship Booklet for August 30. The Lord bless its use to His glory and our good in His holy assembly!

Seated with Christ in Heaven (2020.05.09 Pastoral Letter and Hopewell Herald)

Hopewell Herald – May 9, 2020

Dear Congregation,

What a joy it will be to have the afternoon exhortation together again. We’ve been missing out on some glorious passages in Ephesians.

In the tomorrow’s passage (2:1–7), we learn of God’s seating us in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus in order to make the highest and greatest possible display of His love, mercy, grace, and kindness.

When Jesus sat down, enthroned in the highest heaven, He did so in union with us, as our risen and ascended Mediator.

This is a truth and reality so high that we have difficulty apprehending it. But, every week in the public worship, if we don’t forsake our assembling ourselves together as a congregation, we participate in the assembly in glory from our worship on earth (Heb 10:25; 12:18–24), and the Lord Jesus addresses our assembly on earth from His place in glory (Heb 2:8–4:13; 12:25–29).

O that the Lord would stir up and strengthen our faith to perceive heavenly things, that as we grow in perceiving His mercy toward us, we would be unto the praise of His glorious grace!

The Lord so bless us and glorify Himself in us tomorrow, morning and evening,

Pastor

"Valuing Public Worship As Jesus Does" — this week's pastoral letter (with Hopewell Herald)

Hopewell Herald – April 4, 2020

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It’s the Lord’s Day tomorrow, and again we are “only” having public worship.

We long to have that fellowship that is peculiar to keeping the day together, which is not available to us on other days. We miss extra times of study and informal worship. We feel it hard to have do without (or with less, or only on our own terms) these excellent parts of keeping the day.

Yet, if we do think of it as “only” public worship then I wonder if, together with all of the other things that the Lord is doing in these days, He might be calling something big—indeed, something infinite—to our attention: the difference in quality and kind between that called, congregational, Lord’s Day assembly and all other types and times of worship.

We saw it in the general principles of His worship. How God seeks to gather in congregations on earth to the assembly in glory. How regarding Him as holy, and drawing near to Him with our hearts, means worshiping only as He says and not getting creative with it. How the assembly that is led by Christ personally is the culmination of His redeeming work, and the reason that God refers to it as the act of “those who love Me” (and manmade embellishments as the act of “those who hate Me”).

Then, we began seeing it in the specific actions that He has commanded in this worship.

Preaching in which Jesus Himself speaks from heaven through a sent-preacher.

Singing, in which Jesus Himself sings His Father’s praise through our mouths in the assembly, as sustained by the accompaniment of His grace in our hearts, filling us with His Spirit, and indwelling us richly with His Word.

Praying, in which the House of Prayer that Jesus has built for all nations is a building constructed for public worship—constructed first of all upon Himself as a living stone, chosen and precious, to which He adds other living stones, a kingdom of priests, people set apart for public worship.

The Supper, which He commands the covenant assembly to eat as an assembly, in the way He instituted, feeding upon Him Himself, and both assured and obligated by the covenant in His blood.

In short, it is good and right to miss other blessings of the Lord’s Day, but how grateful we ought to be that the Lord has yet maintained unto us His public worship! We are out of synch with the mind of Christ concerning public worship if we view it as “only public worship.”

Some of us have been in congregations that had this public worship morning and evening on the Lord’s Day—and have we grown accustomed now to feeling that once is “enough”? That we who are led by our Forever-Priest should be content by a smaller helping than those who were led by the sons of Aaron?

And all of us, even your author (God have mercy upon him!), have often been wearied by public worship. Or distracted in public worship—our minds running to what came before or was coming after, or even just lulled into thoughtlessness. Or indulged a preference for the other things of the day above the holy assembly.

Many times, the Lord has taken His public worship from His people that they might discover that it is not “only” public worship. If He is threatening that again, or at least teaching us the lesson, then I wonder: are we listening?

The Lord grant us hearts that value His holy assembly the way that He does, and then bless to us that desire with great fulfillment by His Spirit,

Pastor

LORD'S DAY – April 5, 2020

Lord’s Day worship (and Wednesday prayer meeting) are live-streamed at http://bit.ly/harpclive

 Often, the audio of the pastor’s family worship is also streamed at that link, as well as at facebook.com/hopewellarp. The facebook page archives the full audio session, and recordings of just the teaching times can be found at https://bit.ly/harpcFW

 11 a.m. Morning Worship

▫Children’s Catechism for April 5
Q23. What covenant did God make with Adam? A. The covenant of works.

 ▫Shorter Catechism for April 5

Q31. What is effectual calling? A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

 

 Hymns and Psalms

+ SONG OF ADORATION — TPH336 "O Sacred Head Now Wounded"           

+ HOLY SCRIPTURE PUBLICLY SUNG — ARP119N "Your Word’s a Lamp"

+ SONG OF RESPONSE — TPH424 "All Authority and Power"

 

Basis of first portion of worship service

2Corinthians 5:18–6:3

 

Scripture Readings

Old Testament – 1Samuel 4:1–11

Epistle – Ephesians 1:9–10

Gospel – Luke 3:21–38

 

Sermon Scripture text and topic

We will be hearing from Matthew 28:16–20 that because church members may be unsaved like Judas, or doubting like some of the other eleven, Jesus marks the church that He has set apart to Himself with a sign of His authority to strengthen our confidence in His salvation and commitment to His commandments. It must be in the covenant assembly that the Covenant Lord displays His covenant signs, with His covenant Word, as a mark upon His covenant people, by His officers, applied to those whom He is adding to the number of His covenant assembly.

 

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

•April 13, Monthly Session meeting 6p.m. via “Zoom” teleconference

•October 2-4, HARPC 200^th Anniversary Celebration

 

Please rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn:

▫The Rouden family has had to say goodbye to Jordan’s dad, who fell asleep in Jesus on Wednesday.

▫Jordan and Atlanta Goodwin welcomed new baby twins, Hew and Charlotte, also on Wednesday. Hew has had times of struggling to breathe on his own and is in the NICU at Maury regional

▫Karen also passes this along: Valerie was born on Monday to a young couple (Joe & Lauren) in our church (Heritage) who are also very dear friends to all of us. She was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and had her first heart surgery yesterday. While in surgery the surgeon found out that her coronary arteries are much smaller than normal. He tried to enlarge them but was unsuccessful. He doesn't think the arteries will be able to sustain blood flow to her heart as she grows, so that is obviously a huge concern. They are working to figure something out.

 

Congregational Prayer Requests (new/updates in bold)

▪ Lord’s Day worship/study, Daily worship/discipleship/evangelism in homes and community

▪ 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

▪ 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

▪ Pray with S&D B for Andrew’s medicine to help his body to stop eliminating his protein

▪ 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 PRAISE for Jordan and Atlanta’s new baby twins, Charlotte and Hew—pray for full recovery for all, especially that Hew would strengthen to breathe will without needing any help

▪ 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 and his wife, who recently had a brain bleed and was in critical care at KU Med in KC.

▪ 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

▪ PRAISE with S&V Y for the full recovery of 12yo Peyton, a relative of theirs from an unbelieving family, who had leukemia

▪ Please pray with Lincoln 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)

Lord's Day Worship Live Webcast @11 a.m. Central Time Today (2020.03.29)

The webcast takes place at http://bit.ly/harpclive

There, you will also find links to the Worship Booklet and the Sermon Outline.

"Reminder from the Session" — the 2020.03.27 pastoral letter and Hopewell Herald

Hopewell Herald – March 27, 2020

This week’s letter is from the Session, reaffirming the commitment to the public worship of God in keeping the 4^th commandment, while keeping in view the profound duties of the 6^th Commandment, as concisely summarized from Scripture in WLC 135.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

There seems to be some question as to how Hopewell will operate during this epidemic. The Session has cancelled all unnecessary gatherings for several weeks until we can get a handle on how this virus will run its course. Right now, that means everything outside of Lord’s Day morning worship is unnecessary. Until we have more information that the danger is past, we will only be gathering for worship Sunday morning, our normal 11 am service.

Some might ask why we are gathering at all if there is a present danger, and for that answer we need to go to Scripture. The feasts in Leviticus and the Calls to Worship in Psalms all show that we, as covenant people of God, have a duty to gather and worship our God and Father, “in His courts” or “before His presence.”  Hebrews 10:25 says, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” We have been given the invaluable gift of being able to draw near to Glory itself and worship our God in Christ. Why would we want to forsake that?

However, if you are feeling ill, running a fever, or having respiratory trouble, please stay home! We have the technology to bring the worship service right into your living room, and there you can pray, sing, hear the word preached, and worship along with those gathering at Hopewell. Remember, the same commandment that forbids murder also commands us to do everything in our power to save and preserve life. Unnecessarily increasing the risk of exposure runs contrary to that commandment.

The Session also asks the congregation to join them in prayer and fasting, mourning and repenting over the sins that has brought this judgement on the world. We are also looking into social media where the congregation would be able to connect Wednesday nights and have the Prayer Meeting, each in our own home.

If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to call the Pastor or one of the elders.

The Elders

LORD'S DAY – March 29, 2020

Lord’s Day worship and prayer meeting are live-streamed at http://bit.ly/harpclive

A couple times each day, the audio of the pastor’s family worship is also streamed at that link, as well as at facebook.com/jnhakim. The facebook page archives the full audio session, and recordings of just the teaching times can be found at https://bit.ly/harpcFW

11 a.m. Morning Worship

▫Children’s Catechism for March 29
Q22. What is a covenant? A. An agreement between two or more persons.

▫Shorter Catechism for March 29
Q30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

Hymns and Psalms

+ SONG OF ADORATION — TPH325 "All Glory, Laud, and Honor"           

+ HOLY SCRIPTURE PUBLICLY SUNG — ARP100 "All Earth, With Joy"

+ SONG OF RESPONSE — TPH201 "Twas on That Night When Doomed to Know"

Basis of first portion of worship service

Matthew 21:7–16

Scripture Readings

Old Testament – 1Samuel 3

Epistle – Ephesians 1:7–8

Gospel – Luke 3:15–20

Sermon Scripture text and topic

We will be hearing from 1Corinthians 11:17–34 about the Supper that Christ commands as part of His worship, in which it is Christ who gives Himself to His church, His covenant people.

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 March:

Lincoln Memorial ARP in Fayetteville, TN

March Psalm of the Month

ARP100 All Earth, with Joy

Upcoming Events

•March 30, Monthly Session meeting 6p.m.

•October 2-4, HARPC 200^th Anniversary Celebration

Smooth Stones from a Babbling Brook
(Internet links of the week)

▪ Worshiping during plague, and the spread of disease, was once something with which the church was acquainted and more theologically (and medically, ironically, in some cases) informed. I'd encourage you to read through this list of doctrinally sound and spiritually wise statements at ReformedBooksOnline. I'm not a big fan of Joel McDurmon (he tends to make mistakes like calling George Gillespie a theonomist, rather than a general equity Westminsterian), but if there's just too much on that page, you might read through just the briefer selections that he made from the reformedbooksonline page.

▪ A very good follow-up to this past Lord’s Day’s sermon is this sermon preached on March 18 by Pastor Robert McCurley. It is a word in season, and I urge you all to listen to it with hearts open unto God and His Word.

▪ Also, though I have linked you to it before, I continue to urge you to listen to this sermon preached by Sinclair Ferguson, if you haven’t yet. The Lord’s focus in His works in history is upon His church, and we must heed His Word if we are to learn from His recent actions and respond rightly to Him.

▪ Dr. Pipa, reflecting upon current events in light of Scripture, gives us six suggestions for what to do in times like these when the Lord roars like a lion.

Congregational Prayer Requests (new/updates in bold)

▪ Lord’s Day worship/study, Daily worship/discipleship/evangelism in homes and community

▪ 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 in the wake of the tornadoes in Middle Tennessee, and against the backdrop of SARS-CoV-2 and its accompanying panic

▪ 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, who has a small blockage and needs a procedure for it in the next couple weeks

▪ Pray with S&D B for Andrew’s medicine to help his body to stop eliminating his protein

▪ 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; for Jordan & Atlanta whose twins are due mid-April

▪ 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

▪ 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, PRAISE for her successful surgery; and for his parents in coping with his father’s Parkinson’s; and PRAISE for friends’ baby Arianna successful kidney surgery

▪ PRAISE with S&V Y for the full recovery of 12yo Peyton, a relative of theirs from an unbelieving family, who had leukemia

▪ Please pray with Lincoln Memorial ARP in Fayetteville, TN, throughout the month of March

▪ 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)