The Almighty Power of Jesus (2022.03.13 Morning Sermon in Acts 4:1–22)

Jesus's power conquers all, so let us have it as the power that gives and grows our spiritual life!

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How Can I Do All Things to God's Glory?, pt 2 (2022.03.13 Sabbath School)

How Can I Do All Things to God's Glory? in the RHB series, "Cultivating Biblical Godliness."—2 of 2(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.03.14 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 4:1–22

Read Acts 4:1–22

Questions from the Scripture text: What were Peter and John doing (Acts 4:1)? What three groups come upon them? By what two things are they disturbed (Acts 4:2)? What two things did they do to them (Acts 4:3)? Why not have a trial now? But what had been the result of the day (Acts 4:4)? On what day does v5 take place? What seven parties/people gather (Acts 4:5-6)? Where? Where do they put Peter and John (Acts 4:7)? What do they ask? What happens to Peter in Acts 4:8? Whom does he address? What does he point out about the deed (Acts 4:9)? By what Name does he say it was done (Acts 4:10)? What had they done to Jesus? What had God done to Him? What has Jesus now done to this man? As what does Peter identify Jesus in Acts 4:11? As what does he identify the rulers? What exclusivity does Acts 4:12 ascribe to Jesus? What did the council see in Acts 4:13? What did they perceive? How did they respond to these facts? What did they realize? What did they see in Acts 4:14? What couldn’t they do? What did they do command and do in Acts 4:15? What did they ask (Acts 4:16)? What did they see as making a problem for them? What did they want to stop (Acts 4:17)? How did they think they could do this (verse 17)? What did they command in Acts 4:18? What two things did Peter and John weigh against each other in Acts 4:19? What did they feel compelled to do (Acts 4:20)? How does the council respond to this (Acts 4:21)? What couldn’t they actually do? How had God accomplished this? Why were the multitudes so impressed (Acts 4:22)?

This passage relates the losing battle of the rulers of Israel to stop the preaching of Jesus and His resurrection.

They jail the apostles in Acts 4:3, but the number of men has now come to five thousand. This doesn’t include women and children, which means that the church has at least tripled since the day of Pentecost. Even their zeal for wickedness is outdone by the church’s zeal for good. The Jews didn’t have time for a trial, but the church had time for a new bevy of baptisms!

The trial itself is a great big softball (Acts 4:7). It seems like they think there must be some “other” answer to the question than the one that they inevitably get. The result is that Peter (for some reason, the Spirit chooses Peter to be the one who answers, Acts 4:8) puts them on notice that the harder they try, the worse they lose. In fact, when they crucified Jesus Christ of Nazareth, God raise Him from the dead (Acts 4:10).

Then, they come up with the only thing they think they can do to stem the tide of this preaching in Jesus’s Name: threatening (Acts 4:17-18). This is met not with less boldness but more (Acts 4:13, Acts 4:19-20). So what do they do? Attempt more of the very threatening that has just now failed (Acts 4:21a). In fact, the great theme of the event seems to be how powerless against the gospel are the powerful people in Israel (Acts 4:14-16, Acts 4:21-22).

The Scriptures had prophesied it. Jesus had promised it. The gospel would go unstoppably to the ends of the earth. Jesus’s power cannot be defeated.  If you fight Jesus, You will lose your fight with Him. Many have resisted believing in Christ. Lose that battle now, and believe, and live! Supposing you resist believing in Christ for the rest of this life. You will still lose. But lose the battle later, and you will suffer His wrath forever.

The apostles see this competition clearly. They feel themselves under obligation to tell the good things that they have seen and heard from the Lord (Acts 4:20). And, what is right in the sight of God is to listen to God over-against any and every man (Acts 4:19). We too must confess Him, whatever the cost to us, being eager to tell all the good that we have seen and heard the Lord do—particularly in His Word.

Whom do you know who is/are resisting the Lord Jesus and His gospel? In what ways? What are ways that this can end?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we praise You for overcoming our own unbelief, and for the almighty progress of Your gospel across the world and through the ages. Forgive us for when we have been afraid of other creatures’ power, or have even tried to resist You ourselves. Grant unto us to do always what is right in Your eyes, and not to fear man at all. For, we ask it through Your own Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song to the Lord” or TPH98A “O Sing a New Song to the Lord”

2022.03.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 4:1–22

Read Acts 4:1–22

Questions from the Scripture text: What were Peter and John doing (Acts 4:1)? What three groups come upon them? By what two things are they disturbed (Acts 4:2)? What two things did they do to them (Acts 4:3)? Why not have a trial now? But what had been the result of the day (Acts 4:4)? On what day does v5 take place? What seven parties/people gather (Acts 4:5-6)? Where? Where do they put Peter and John (Acts 4:7)? What do they ask? What happens to Peter in Acts 4:8? Whom does he address? What does he point out about the deed (Acts 4:9)? By what Name does he say it was done (Acts 4:10)? What had they done to Jesus? What had God done to Him? What has Jesus now done to this man? As what does Peter identify Jesus in Acts 4:11? As what does he identify the rulers? What exclusivity does Acts 4:12 ascribe to Jesus? What did the council see in Acts 4:13? What did they perceive? How did they respond to these facts? What did they realize? What did they see in Acts 4:14? What couldn’t they do? What did they do command and do in Acts 4:15? What did they ask (Acts 4:16)? What did they see as making a problem for them? What did they want to stop (Acts 4:17)? How did they think they could do this (verse 17)? What did they command in Acts 4:18? What two things did Peter and John weigh against each other in Acts 4:19? What did they feel compelled to do (Acts 4:20)? How does the council respond to this (Acts 4:21)? What couldn’t they actually do? How had God accomplished this? Why were the multitudes so impressed (Acts 4:22)? 

This passage relates the losing battle of the rulers of Israel to stop the preaching of Jesus and His resurrection.

They jail the apostles in Acts 4:3, but the number of men has now come to five thousand. This doesn’t include women and children, which means that the church has at least tripled since the day of Pentecost. Even their zeal for wickedness is outdone by the church’s zeal for good. The Jews didn’t have time for a trial, but the church had time for a new bevy of baptisms!

The trial itself is a great big softball (Acts 4:7). It seems like they think there must be some “other” answer to the question than the one that they inevitably get. The result is that Peter (for some reason, the Spirit chooses Peter to be the one who answers, Acts 4:8) puts them on notice that the harder they try, the worse they lose. In fact, when they crucified Jesus Christ of Nazareth, God raise Him from the dead (Acts 4:10).

Then, they come up with the only thing they think they can do to stem the tide of this preaching in Jesus’s Name: threatening (Acts 4:17-18). This is met not with less boldness but more (Acts 4:13, Acts 4:19-20). So what do they do? Attempt more of the very threatening that has just now failed (Acts 4:21a). In fact, the great theme of the event seems to be how powerless against the gospel are the powerful people in Israel (Acts 4:14-16, Acts 4:21-22).

The Scriptures had prophesied it. Jesus had promised it. The gospel would go unstoppably to the ends of the earth. Jesus’s power cannot be defeated.  If you fight Jesus, You will lose your fight with Him. Many have resisted believing in Christ. Lose that battle now, and believe, and live! Supposing you resist believing in Christ for the rest of this life. You will still lose. But lose the battle later, and you will suffer His wrath forever.

The apostles see this competition clearly. They feel themselves under obligation to tell the good things that they have seen and heard from the Lord (Acts 4:20). And, what is right in the sight of God is to listen to God over-against any and every man (Acts 4:19). We too must confess Him, whatever the cost to us, being eager to tell all the good that we have seen and heard the Lord do—particularly in His Word.

Whom do you know who is/are resisting the Lord Jesus and His gospel? In what ways? What are ways that this can end? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, we praise You for overcoming our own unbelief, and for the almighty progress of Your gospel across the world and through the ages. Forgive us for when we have been afraid of other creatures’ power, or have even tried to resist You ourselves. Grant unto us to do always what is right in Your eyes, and not to fear man at all. For, we ask it through Your own Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song to the LORD” or TPH397 “O Sing a New Song to the LORD”

Manna for Sinners: Dependence upon and Delight in the LORD (Family Worship lesson in Exodus 16:8–30)

How does the LORD respond to Israel’s wickedness in this passage? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. Exodus 16:8–30 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us to see God’s miraculous and infinitely generous response to our sin in Jesus Christ, and how daily grace demands our daily trust in Him, and the weekly grace of the Sabbath compels our delight in Him.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.03.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 16:8–30

Read Exodus 16:8–30

Questions from the Scripture text: What will Yahweh give them at what times (Exodus 16:8)? Why—what has He heard? What does Moses then ask? Against Whom are they really complaining? To whom does Moses speak in Exodus 16:9? What is Aaron to say to whom? Where does the whole congregation see what (Exodus 16:10)? Who speaks to whom in Exodus 16:11? What has Yahweh heard (Exodus 16:12)? What is Moses to say to them? What will the people know when this happens? What came up at evening (Exodus 16:13)? What did they do? What was all around the camp in the morning? When the dew lifted, what was there (Exodus 16:14)? Who saw it (Exodus 16:15)? What did they say? What did Moses say it was? Who had commanded what to do (Exodus 16:16)? What were they to do? What was the result (Exodus 16:17-18)? And what did Moses command in Exodus 16:19? But what did they not do (Exodus 16:20)? With what result? How did Moses respond? What did they do from that point (Exodus 16:21)? What happened on the sixth day (Exodus 16:22)? Who reports this to whom? With Whose words does Moses respond (Exodus 16:23)? By what two descriptions does He name the next day? What are they to do with the manna today? And then what for tomorrow? How did this turn out (Exodus 16:24)? What did Moses say to do with it (Exodus 16:25)? Why? What wouldn’t happen that day (Exodus 16:25-26)? What do some people do on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:27)? Who responds (Exodus 16:28)? What does He say they are refusing? What two gifts does Exodus 16:29 mention? What command comes as a corollary to those gifts? So, what do the people do (Exodus 16:30)?

Extraordinary grace

One way that Hebrew narrative sometimes transitions from one scene to the next is by a repetition that closes the one and opens the other. That occurs here in Exodus 16:8. Yahweh is giving them meat in the evening and then bread in the morning, because He has heard their grumbling against Him. This is extraordinary grace, and it colors the rest of the passage. 

The summons in Exodus 16:9 is ominous. What ought those who complain against Yahweh expect when He summons them and says that He has heard them grumble against Him? Yet, the Lord’s response is to show them His glory—first in the cloud (Exodus 16:10), but then in the generosity and power of His provision (Exodus 16:12). 

The miraculous nature of the provision is highlighted even by the name of the bread. They had no idea what it was, so they would have baked or boiled (cf. Exodus 16:23) “what-is-it” to eat for the next forty years. 

Daily grace that demands daily trust

With the bread (Exodus 16:15) came a command (Exodus 16:16, Exodus 16:19). The Lord would give just enough, every day. So they were to eat that day’s amount and not try to go a little bit hungry in order to have some for the next day. But they didn’t trust the Lord or listen to Moses (Exodus 16:20). Moses’s response of anger is not inappropriate; so, it highlights just how gracious God is being here.

Every evening, they had to trust that the Lord would be gracious again tomorrow morning. And we still have to do that today. He doesn’t feed us a day of manna at a time anymore. But He does teach us to ask Him for our daily bread. 

It is a good (both effectively good and morally good) answer to all anxiety to trust that the God Who has been gracious to us every day of our lives is able and willing to do it again in the morning. His mercies are new every morning!

Weekly grace that fosters divine delight

Something strange happens on the sixth day, and the all the rules of the congregation come and tell Moses (Exodus 16:22). Apparently, there was usually just enough for one day. This day, there was twice as much. The Lord performed three great miracles here: (1) He gave them twice as much on the sixth day; (2) He made it keep for the entire extra day; (3) He withheld the manna on the seventh day. 

Notice what he says about the day in Exodus 16:23. He gives it two names: “a Sabbath rest” and “a holy Sabbath to Yahweh.” The point isn’t the stopping. It’s not a day that is set apart for not gathering or baking or boiling. The reason that those things don’t happen is that the day is actually for something else: consecrated to Yahweh.  He establishes for us the pattern that when we think about keeping the day, we are not to focus on those things which are forbidden on the day, but rather the good purpose unto which the day has been designated as holy.

We can see this a little bit even in the language of Exodus 16:29: “Yahweh has given you the Sabbath.” The Sabbath is itself a gift. And in order to give us that day, He has ordained to provide for all of our needs by means of the other six days. If we say that we cannot provide for ourselves without desecrating the Sabbath, we both deny that the Sabbath is a gift and deny that the Lord has been faithful to give us the means of provision via the other six days.

It’s remarkable that, after showing patience with their complaining (Exodus 16:10) and even with their mistrusting (Exodus 16:20), it is when they violate the Sabbath just by going out (Exodus 16:27) that the Lord finally issues the rebuke (Exodus 16:28). Certainly, this gift of a day that is consecrated unto laboring in worship and enjoying worship is one that He Himself has placed special emphasis upon.

How has God shown patience with you lately? What situation is most testing whether you are going to trust Him anew every day? How does your manner of keeping the Lord’s Day demonstrate what a gift you consider it to be?

Sample prayer:  Lord, truly Your mercies are new every morning. How often You have borne patiently with even our most stubborn and ungrateful sin! Yet, every day You give us more grace, and every good and perfect gift. Forgive us for how we often prioritize Your gifts over You, the Giver. Grant unto us a delight in Your day that trains our hearts up to delighting in You, which we ask in Jesus’s Name, AMEN! 

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

The Cure for the Believing Soul's Greatest Trouble (2022.03.09 Prayer Meeting sermon in Psalm 42)

God's face is the only help for the believer's face when we long for Him and His presence.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Pastors and Elders Who are Spiritually Seasoned Examples (Family Worship lesson in 1Thessalonians 2:1–7)

How could the Thessalonians see in the apostle’s life that the apostle’s preaching was powerful? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. 1Thessalonians 2:1–7 prepares us for the second serial reading in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses, the Holy Spirit teaches us that spiritually seasoned teachers will be earnest, courageous, sincere, content, generous, and gentle.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.03.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Thessalonians 2:1–7

Read 1 Thessalonians 2:1–7

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the apostle call them (1 Thessalonians 2:1)? What do they know? What had happened to Paul and company previously (1 Thessalonians 2:2)? Where? But what had they done in Thessalonica anyway? Under what conditions? From what three causes might exhortation wrongly come (1 Thessalonians 2:3)? But from where had Paul and company’s exhortation come (1 Thessalonians 2:4)? Whom do they not try to please? Whom do they try to please? What does He test? What did they never use (1 Thessalonians 2:5)? What were they never trying to cover (cloak) up? Who can attest to this? What didn’t they seek (1 Thessalonians 2:6)? From whom? What might they have done? How did they conduct themselves instead (1 Thessalonians 2:7)? 

There are three “For… But…” constructions that form these seven verses. This arranges the text into 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2, 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4, and 1 Thessalonians 2:5-7. In these sections, the apostle reminds the Thessalonians of his and his companions’ earnestness, sincerity, and selflessness among them. It is vital that Christ-transformed ministers display a Christ-transformed character in those whom they are looking to Christ to transform. 

Earnestness, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2

Paul reminds them that they had not come to Thessalonica “emptily” (1 Thessalonians 2:1 paraphrases it “in vain”). They didn’t come in a light manner, as if they bore news of something unimportant. They came bearing news that was worth suffering for in order to tell in Philippi (1 Thessalonians 2:2a) and was still worth suffering for in order to tell about in Thessalonica (verse 2b). 

Sincerity, 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4

There are many wrong reasons that someone might preach. He might preach from error. He’s come up with his own way of thinking or believing, and now he wants others to do so as well. This occurred already in the ancient world, and it happens much more readily now in the internet world.

A man might preach from uncleanness. This was probably something that the Jews in Thessalonica had accused Paul of—coming up with a teaching that allowed him just to keep careening onward in sinfulness. Certainly, some employ partial gospel-truths in this manner even today!  But the character of the apostle’s company repudiated such accusations. 

A man might preach from deceit. This connects to the third grouping. Such a man knows that what he’s saying is incorrect, but he’s still saying it anyway, in order to obtain some objective. It seems from 1 Thessalonians 2:5-7 that some had suggested that Paul and company were really just saying what they thought would bring in the donation denarii (‘dollars’). Truly, there are still those today who “go into preaching” in order to make an “easy” buck and even appear respectable doing it.

Contrasted to these wrong motives for preaching was the actual motive that was compelling Paul, Silas, and Timothy: stewardship. God had entrusted them with the gospel as a sacred charge. God didn’t just give them a job to speak words that He would hear; He also gave it to them as a stewardship that He entrusted to them. And God Himself would see their hearts and whether they took this stewardship as a serious privilege and responsibility. 

Selflessness, 1 Thessalonians 2:5-7

The problem with accusing Paul and company of preaching from self-interest is that the Thessalonians and God Himself had witnessed the opposite: selflessness. You can often tell when someone is speaking flattering words (1 Thessalonians 2:5a) to try to get something out of you.

Such words are a “cloak for covetousness” (verse 5b), but the apostle asserts that God can see that this was not the case with them. Not only did they not want money or property from the Thessalonians (verse 5), but they weren’t motivated by a desire to be praised by them either (1 Thessalonians 2:6a). Interestingly, he teaches us that an apostle would have been worthy of both (verse 6b).

But the apostle’s group were among them “as a nursing mother nourishes her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7). Such was their conduct that if they had begun to ask for money or honors, it would have seemed as out-of-place as for a mom to demand compensation from her babe-in-arms.

We are all called to minister. Elders to congregants. Parents to children. And every part of the body to all the other one-anothers in the body. Let all who minister consider what their character communicates about the genuineness of the gospel that they proclaim. Not only should we want to commend the truth well by our character, but should the enemies of Christ attack the message by attacking the messenger, we ought then to have lived in such a way as to plainly discredit all such accusations.

To whom do you minister? What can they see about your character? How does this help your ministry to them?

Sample prayer:  Lord, sometimes we find ourselves not even earnest, sincere, or selfless with You—let alone with each other. Forgive us, we pray, and form in us the sort of character that will commend well Your truth as we speak it to others, which we ask in Christ’s Name, AMEN!

God's Merciful Wisdom for Our Stubborn Foolishness (Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 9:1–6)

Pastor leads his family in a selection from “the Proverb of the day.” In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that wisdom’s obviousness shows just how stubborn our foolishness is in our wicked and rebellious, original state; but, wisdom’s urgency shows the greatness of God’s mercy to us.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)