2022.03.05 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 3

Read Acts 3

Questions from the Scripture text: Who go where, when (Acts 3:1)? Who was carried where to do what (Acts 3:2)? Whom did he ask (Acts 3:3)? What does Peter command him to do (Acts 3:4)? What does the man do, why (Acts 3:5)? What doesn’t Peter have (Acts 3:6)? What name does he have? What does he do with it? What does Peter do (Acts 3:7)? And what happens to the man? What does the man now do (Acts 3:8)? Who saw this (Acts 3:9)? What did they know (Acts 3:10)? With what were they filled? What does the lame man do in Acts 3:11? What do all the people do? With what two questions does Peter respond in Acts 3:12? Who has done what to Jesus (Acts 3:13a)? Who else had done what to Jesus (Acts 3:13–Acts 3:15)? But what has now made the lame man strong (Acts 3:16)? What contributed to their wickedness (Acts 3:17)? But Who has fulfilled what (Acts 3:18)? What does Peter tell them to do (Acts 3:19)? So that what may be done to their sins? And what may come? And then the Lord would send Whom (Acts 3:20)? Until when does heaven receive Him (Acts 3:21)? Who has spoken of this? How? Since when? Whom had Moses said the Lord God would raise up (Acts 3:22)? From whom? What were they to do? But what if they did not (Acts 3:23)? Who else spoke about when (Acts 3:24)? Of whom are they sons (Acts 3:25)? Of what are they sons? What did this covenant say? What was its sign? What has God done (Acts 3:26, cf. Acts 3:15)? And to whom did God send Him first? To do what to them? How?

For the next chapter and a half (and not unlike all of human history) everything rests upon the Name of Jesus. In Acts 3:6, Peter commands the lame man, “In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And in Acts 3:16 he preaches to the crowd, “And His Name, through faith in His Name, has made this man strong.” The council recognizes this in chapter four, threatening them to speak to no one in the Name of Jesus (Acts 4:17–18).

God’s redemptive plan was to use even the greatest wickedness to do the greatest good. 

Healing a lame man is a very good thing. “Alms” (Acts 3:2) is literally “mercy-deeds,” and some translations will say “charitable deeds” or even “mercy” or “pity.” If that is a good deed, then healing him is an extremely good deed. 

The people recognize that the cause of the newfound soundness of the man’s legs must be great power and/or godliness (Acts 3:12). But it was faith that comes on account of Jesus (Acts 3:16) that had actually given the man “perfect soundness.” 

God had promised this to the fathers (Acts 3:13, Acts 3:18, Acts 3:22-25), in order to glorify Jesus. And God had fulfilled it (Acts 3:18), even though it came through their delivering Jesus up, and denying Jesus, and preferring a murderer, and killing the Captain of life. They did wickedness, through which God has done good to the lame man.

And now through that very wickedness, by which God had done this good, He offers them the greatest good: that they may repent and be converted (Acts 3:19a, Acts 3:25), that they may have their sins blotted out (Acts 3:19b), that times of refreshing may come from the Lord’s presence (verse 19c). The family that killed Jesus is the first family that is offered blessing in Jesus (Acts 3:25-26)!

This is what God had been saying through all His holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:21b). And His Word still aims forward to the restoration of all things at which point “He Whom heaven has received” will return (Acts 3:20-21). From end to end, history is about the fulfillment of what God has purposed in Christ and promised in Christ.

Our response must be to do whatever Jesus says. Of course, the first thing to do is to call upon His Name and be saved (cf. Acts 2:21)—to repent and put all our hope in the promise which He signals to us in baptism upon His Name (cf. Acts 2:38–39). But the prophecy to which Acts 3:22-23 refers tells us to hear Him in all things, whatever He says to you. It is self-refuting to claim to have faith in Christ without submission to all His Word (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15–19). 

What good are you looking for in your life? What ultimate good must you have for this to be any good at all to you? What must you do to come into this ultimate good? What does the life look like of someone who has come into this ultimate good?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we praise You for sending Christ to us to bless us and all the families of the earth. Grant that we would be turned from our iniquities and do whatever He says, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP34B “I Will At All Times Bless the Lord” or TPH397 “Breathe on Me, Breath of God”

Tested by Trial and Blessing (Family Worship lesson in Exodus 16:1–7)

What do our responses to Providence show about us? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. Exodus 16:1–7 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses, the Holy Spirit teaches us that trials can expose whether we have hearts that grumble against God, and the way we respond to His good gifts (especially the Sabbath) will show whether we primarily enjoy the goodness of the gift or the goodness of the Giver.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.03.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 16:1–7

Read Exodus 16:1–7

Questions from the Scripture text: From where do they journey in Exodus 16:1? To where do they come? Where is it? When? Now what do the whole congregation do (Exodus 16:2)? What do they say they would have preferred (Exodus 16:3-4)? What would they have wished to have instead of what(/Who) they have now? How would they have wished to die instead of how else? Who responds to the complaint (Exodus 16:4)? What will He do? Why? What will be different on the sixth day from the first five (Exodus 16:5)? What do Moses and Aaron say Israel will know when in Exodus 16:6? And what will they see when in Exodus 16:7? Against Whom were the complaints of Exodus 16:2 really made?

The ”Wilderness of Sin” comes to be ironically named—not that the word has that meaning in Hebrew, but they go from the oasis of paradise (Elim) into the wilderness and immediately plunge into sin. 

A complaining spirit is against God. The sin of Israel is to complain “against Moses and Aaron” (Exodus 16:2). But Yahweh hears their complaints as against Himself (Exodus 16:7). “What are we that you complain against us?” they say. What is anyone or anything, that we would indulge a complaining spirit? Even if they do us evil, is not God doing us good? Doesn’t our lot come to us in the providence of Him Who has given Himself for us and to us in Christ? And doesn’t the Potter have the right over us as the clay to do what He will?

Sin is a choice of perishing over paradise. The Lord had given them the choice of Egypt as a glimpse of perishing (Exodus 15:26) or Elim as a glimpse of Paradise (Exodus 15:27). It’s only been a month and a half (!!) since they left Egypt, and now they are remembering the hand of Yahweh against Egypt as being not so bad (Exodus 16:3a) and the oppression which had crushed them into crying out (cf. Exodus 2:23–24, Exodus 3:7) as the good ole days “when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full” (Exodus 16:3).

The forgetfulness is almost unbelievable! But aren’t we guilty of that forgetfulness every time we sin? Every time we choose worldly pleasure over a better pleasure in the Lord that we might have attended upon instead?

Every sin is a choice of “pots of meat and bread” over belonging to the Lord—like Esau’s “root of bitterness” (Hebrews 12:15) “who for one morsel of food sold his birthright (Hebrews 12:16). How forgetful and foolish can we be?! We don’t want to know the answer to that question. Instead, we must seek grace from God to worship God with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28), learning to prefer Him over the earthly playthings that our flesh would prefer.

How we respond to God’s good gifts is a test of what we prefer: God or His gifts. The Sabbath was already a test of whether we would learn to delight in a day consecrated to the Creator rather than the created things (cf. Genesis 2:2–3, Isaiah 58:13–14). Now the Lord doubles that effect to “test them, whether they will walk in My law or not” (Exodus 16:4). He will give them manna that lasts just one day, so that they show whether they will trust Him by not keeping any extra. Then, He will give them twice as much to last for two days, so that they will not gather on the Sabbath. 

Do we trust His provision, so that we are content with each day’s gifts? And do we especially trust that the Sabbath itself—as consecrated entirely to Him—is better than attempting to gather up for ourselves what is not lawful on that day? Whatever good gifts He gives us, are we determined to prefer Him Himself and His goodness by means of and above the goodness of the gift?

When are you most tempted to indulge a complaining spirit? In what sin do you most often make a choice toward perishing instead of paradise? How can you detect whether you’re enjoying the gift’s goodness or God’s goodness in the gift—how are you doing on this when measured by your attitude toward enjoying the consecratedness of the Lord’s Day?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You that You Who have redeemed us are the One Who uses Your providence to bring out of us the current condition of our hearts toward You. Forgive us for how poor that condition yet is, but give us more of that grace by which You have brought us as far as we have thus come! Grant that Your Spirit would persist patiently with us until we have been conformed completely to Christ, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP131 “My Heart Is Not Exalted, Lord” or TPH429 “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

Happiness and Generosity from Christ (2022.03.02 Prayer Meeting sermon in Psalm 41)

The Lord is the great Considerer of the poor, and makes that poor one himself into a blessed considerer of the poor.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Being an Example to Others of a True Work of the Spirit (Family Worship lesson in 1Thessalonians 1:8–10)

What are some ways that we may be an example to others of a true work of the Spirit? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. 1Thessalonians 1:8–10 prepares us for the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses, the Holy Spirit teaches us that those whom the Holy Spirit is displaying as an example to others will live lives that reverberate with the Word, will be unashamed and glad slaves of the true God, and will be characterized by eagerness for the return of Christ.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.03.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Thessalonians 1:8–10

Read 1 Thessalonians 1:8–10

Questions from the Scripture text: What has come from the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:8)? In which two places? And where else? What has gone out? What don’t the apostle and friends need to say? What does everyone declare about them (1 Thessalonians 1:9)? What had the Thessalonians turned from? To do what? And to wait for Whom (1 Thessalonians 1:10)? What had God done to Him? What is His Name? What does He do? 

How had the Thessalonians become “examples” to all in Macedonia and Achaia? Inquiring Christians want to know, because we’d like for them to become examples to us as well.

First, the Word of the Lord sounded forth from them, 1 Thessalonians 1:8. Not only did they receive and respond to the Word well (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6, 1 Thessalonians 2:13), they did so in such a way that literally reverberated or trumpeted forth—not just in a couple of places where there were new churches (Macedonia and Achaia) but every single place that they went.

The second half of the verse restates “the word of the Lord has sounded forth” with the clause “your faith toward God has gone out.” This is important, because we sometimes hear the mistaken idea that faith is just raw belief despite any reason or evidence for it. But here the Thessalonians’ faith was that the Word that they had believed, and which they now spoke, so controlled how they lived that wherever they went, the difference the gospel makes sounded off of them like bells in a permanent state of having been struck. O that this indeed would be an example of what our lives come to be by the work of the Holy Spirit!

Second, they became willing slaves, 1 Thessalonians 1:9. When someone met one of these Thessalonian Christians they would find that the once-idol-worshipers had become slaves (literally) of the living and true God. A little bit of inquiry, and they would learn that this happened because a Jew named Paul had come and told them about a resurrected Savior named Jesus. There would be no question as to whether this message or this Jesus was real—the about face (he uses the ‘repentance’ word for physical turning, rather than the one for mind changing) of the Thessalonians was literally living proof of it. 

Third, their desire is forward-focused to the return of Christ, 1 Thessalonians 1:10. They weren’t inactive. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 just said they were slaving! But this vigorous activity aimed at something in the future, something that the activity could not itself bring about: His son from heaven and deliverance from the wrath to come. Jesus had risen from the dead, and they were eager for Him to raise them from the dead.

The intensity of their desire led to some errors that the apostle would have to correct (1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12). But the intensity itself was exemplary. The 1 Thessalonians 1:9 way of describing their new life was “slaving unto the living and true God.” The 1 Thessalonians 1:10 way of describing their life was “waiting for [Jesus] from heaven.” If we are going to follow their examples as those who have received the true gospel in God’s own power, then we must be those who have an eagerness for and focus upon the return of Christ. 

It's actually quite liberating to labor hard out of gratitude and love when the thing you most desire is a thing that you absolutely cannot make happen. It reminds you that duty is yours, but the outcome is God’s—and that’s the safest place for it to be.

What evidence is there that the gospel that you heard is true? In what way are you an example?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we bless Your Name for the transformation of life that You produced in the Thessalonian believers. Forgive us for either shrinking from being Your slaves or even altogether failing to serve You as our Master. And forgive us for being short-sighted so that we are little mindful of Christ’s return and the Last Day. Continue Your Spirit’s work upon us and in us we ask, through Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song” or TPH389 “Great God, What Do I See and Hear!”

God Will, Indeed, Dwell on Earth (Family Worship lesson in 1Kings 8:22–53)

For what is Solomon praying at the temple dedication? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. 1Kings 8:22–53 prepares us for the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-two verses, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Solomon’s prayer for the ultimate Davidic King, for the near-dwelling of God, for forgiveness, and for repentance, would all be answered fully and gloriously only in Jesus Himself.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.03.02 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Kings 8:22–53

Read 1 Kings 8:22–53

Questions from the Scripture text: Before what did Solomon stand in 1 Kings 8:22? In whose presence? What does he do with his hands? Whom does he address (1 Kings 8:23)? What doesn’t exist? What about God is so unique? What do His servants do? What has God done (1 Kings 8:24a)? How does verse 24b describe this? What does Solomon now ask Yahweh to do (1 Kings 8:25-26)? Upon what condition had this promise been made? What does Solomon ask (1 Kings 8:27)? How does he himself answer? What does he ask in 1 Kings 8:28, as an indication that the Lord was making His dwelling known/experienced there that day? And at what other times (1 Kings 8:29)? In response to whose else’s prayers (1 Kings 8:30)? What is the great response from God that we need to all of the prayers that we make? What situation does 1 Kings 8:31-32 treat? For what outcome does Solomon ask (verse 32)? What situation does 1 Kings 8:33a describe? With what response from the people (verse 33b)? And what desired response from God (1 Kings 8:34)? What does verse 34b imply would have happened? What situation does 1 Kings 8:35 describe? For what three responses does 1 Kings 8:36 ask? What situation does 1 Kings 8:37 ask about? But what is the real plague (1 Kings 8:38)? For what does he ask, when they come to recognize this (1 Kings 8:39)? For what ultimate goal/outcome (1 Kings 8:40)? About whom does 1 Kings 8:41 address God? Why would this foreigner come to Israel (1 Kings 8:41-42)? What does he do in verse 42? What does 1 Kings 8:43 ask for him? Why? About what situation does 1 Kings 8:44 ask? For what does he ask (1 Kings 8:45)? To what situation does 1 Kings 8:46 return (cf. 1 Kings 8:33-34)? What would they do in captivity (1 Kings 8:47)? With what attitude and actions (1 Kings 8:48)? For what does he ask (1 Kings 8:49-50, 1 Kings 8:52)? Why (1 Kings 8:51, 1 Kings 8:53)? 

Yahweh is incomparable (1 Kings 8:23a) in keeping His covenant and steadfast-love (verse 23b). Man’s idol gods end up reflecting man. But God’s faithfulness and glory have been demonstrated just in the construction of the temple. His faithfulness is shown in the fact of the structure’s existence; God had promised David this would happen (1 Kings 8:24), and it has. God’s glory is shown in the intricacy of the structure’s details, hinting at Eden and the heavens with an other-worldliness that we have seen over the last two chapters.

But God’s incomparable glory presents a problem (1 Kings 8:27). Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. The temple, of course, cannot contain Him. But the answer to the question is, “Yes! God will indeed dwell on the earth.” To be sure, He will make His presence known in the temple. But there would come a day when a human body would be the actual temple (cf. John 2:19–20). Solomon’s question seems like a rhetorical question with an implied answer of “no,” but one of the great wonders of the gospel is Whose blood it is flowed through those veins and was poured out at the cross (cf. Acts 20:28). In Jesus, the fullness of the Godhead has dwelt bodily (cf. Colossians 1:15–20, Colossians 2:9). In Him, God dwells with us in a way that has a final and complete fulfillment yet to come (cf. Matthew 1:23; Revelation 21:3). 

And God’s faithfulness presents a problem. He is faithful to do what He says! So far, so good, when we’re talking about 2 Samuel 7 and the promises concerning David’s seed, David’s [S!]eed, and the building of the temple. 1 Kings 8:26 basically pleads for Christ to come. When we see God’s past and present faithfulness, we are strengthened to believe God’s future faithfulness.

But He’s also faithful to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.  That means the covenant curses aren’t the vain threats of a parent who never follows through. They’re so certain to happen that much of Solomon’s prayer is pleading with God forgiveness after they have been carried out. Historically, this is interesting because by the time Judah is fully exiled, the structure before which the king is praying will be gone. 

But the presence of God will still be known in His hearing prayer. And the presence of God will still be known in His forgiving the penitent. 

Whatever other good we are asking God for, we are asking Him for forgiveness. Considering the wilderness period, the period of the judges, and what is to come in the divided kingdom period, Israel is in a season of comparative faithfulness. But 1 Kings 8:30, 1 Kings 8:32, 1 Kings 8:34, 1 Kings 8:36, 1 Kings 8:39, 1 Kings 8:50 all ask for forgiveness. Why? Because the Lord is faithful to Himself, and our sin means that His righteousness and holiness must be vindicated, and we must be punished.

We are not entitled to any good thing. So, when we ask for any good thing, we are asking first and foremost for forgiveness. This is why we ask always in Jesus’s Name. It is in Him alone that we have forgiveness from God. This is another way in which the temple, and the sacrifices which were offered there, looked forward to Christ. Solomon’s prayer asks God to have regard for His promises, and His determination to make a safe way for man to come into His presence, and His provision of sacrifices through which to draw near. 

Solomon’s prayer, ultimately, asks God to have regard for Christ and His sacrifice to come. And all of our praying must be built upon asking God to have regard for Christ and His sacrifice already made, once-for-all.

Forgiveness is granted with its corresponding benefits: instruction and repentance. We need to note at least one more thing before we leave this passage. There are two other things that we need from God, along with forgiveness and as a result of forgiveness. We need Him to bring us to repentance. Leviticus 26:40–45 promised that God would use the exile to bring about 1 Kings 8:47–48. Even in 1 Kings 8:36 we see this: that when God is forgiving His people’s sin, He uses their affliction to “teach them the good way in which they should walk.

So, as we ask God for forgiveness along with whatever other good thing, let us also be asking that He would make us to walk in righteousness and holiness. For, this is what forgiven people do. 

What have you been asking God for in prayer? What must you necessarily be asking for as well? What hope do you have that these prayers will be answered? What will your life look like as they are?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for coming and dwelling among us in Christ, so that we may know that through Him we have the forgiveness of our sins and the hearing of our prayers. Forgive us for being so slow to hate our sin or to appreciate what You have done about it in Christ, and grant that we would rejoice in Him and walk with You, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP122 “I Was Filled with Joy and Gladness” or TPH164 “God Himself Is with Us”

How Reformation Happens (Family Worship lesson in Psalm 78:1–8)

How does God produce generations of faithful believers? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. Psalm 78:1–8 prepares us for the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God produces obedience in individuals, and generations, through displaying to them the glory of His character and work—in public and family worship.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.03.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 78:1–8

Psalm 78:1–8

Questions from the Scripture text: To what are to give our ears and incline them (Psalm 78:1)? What will we be told (Psalm 78:2)? Where have we heard this (Psalm 78:3)? Whom will we tell (Psalm 78:4)? What will we tell? What has God established and where (Psalm 78:5)? What did He command our fathers to do? To whom else would this be communicated (Psalm 78:6)? What are the three parts of the application of this teaching (Psalm 78:7)? What had previous generations not done (Psalm 78:8)?

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and first song all come from Psalm 78:1–8 so that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds. 

From this Scripture, we learned God’s plan for the reformation and preservation of His church: one generation teaching another generation of generation-teachers—all of whom put that teaching into practice.

Of course, teaching begins with your ears. You can’t teach what you haven’t studied. In our flesh and our folly, we would like to skip to faith, worship, and obedience. But, the Lord’s plan for us and assignment to us begins with our minds. Listen and learn. We cannot teach the next generation until we have learned from the previous one.

What are we to learn in order to teach? The Lord’s testimonies and laws. His teachings and His commands. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.

There are three primary responses to this knowledge:

Faith. “That they may set their hope in God.” One generation doesn’t just teach the other. They put their hope in God, training the next generation by example as well.

Worship. “And not forget the works of God.” Worship is the first part of faith. We fall at His feet saying, “My Lord and my God.” We don’t forget His works, but rather acknowledge and praise Him.

Obedience. “But keep His commandments.” Obedience is worship in action in the life. Having acknowledged the Lord as God, we give up our right to ourselves and live according to whatever He says.

In what situations are you listening to God’s Word? In what situations are you teaching God’s Word? What place does worship have in each of your days? In each of your weeks? What difference does it make daily that you are living a life of obedience?

Sample prayer:  Lord, You are our forgiving, sanctifying God. And we look to You for revival and reformation in our own lives and in the church. But, we often fail to devote ourselves to Your Word, or subsequently to hope in You by those words, to worship You for those words, and to obey You and Your words. Forgive us and cleanse us through Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP78A “O Come, My People” or TPH549 “Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds”