Monday, November 26, 2012

The Pathway to Peace in the Home

Enjoyed teaching on one of my favorite subjects in our membership class yesterday: challenging parents to lead their families at home in worship and discipleship!


Deuteronomy 6:1-10 . . .
 

I trust there are none here present, who profess to be followers of Christ who do not also practice prayer in their families.  We do not have a positive commandment for it, but we believe that it is so much in accord with the genius and spirit of the gospel, and that it is so commended by the example of the saints, that the neglect thereof is a strange inconsistency.       - Charles Spurgeon
 

If therefore our houses be houses of the Lord, we shall for that reason love home, reckoning our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily delights; and our family-worship the most valuable of our family comforts. . . .  A church in the house will be a good legacy, nay, it will be a good inheritance, to be left to your children after you.

-         Matthew Henry


Devotions can be a time of true togetherness when family members share questions, doubts, thoughts, problems, and answers.  Hearing one another pray or learning verses of Scripture together regularly establishes and reinforces the fact that God is at the center of the family unit.  In my opinion, the success of family devotions relies much more on the parents’ conviction to have them than it does on a specific technique or carefully chosen material.  The fact of the matter is this: If you truly consider family devotions vital to you and to your children’s welfare, you will make sure it becomes an integral part of your household routine.

-         Henry Brandt and Kerry Skinner, I Want to Enjoy My Children

  

1.     The purpose of the home – produce adults and children who love the Lord

 
2.     The prosperity of the home – enjoying the blessing of God’s presence and goodness


3.      The provision of the home – the Word of God


4.     The pattern in the home – Dad and Mom have the Word of God on their hearts


5.     The practice in  the home – Dad and Mom teach the Bible to their children


6.   The place of instruction for the home – everywhere you are inside and outside

 

What a heritage to pass along to our children . . . memories of home intertwined with memories of praise and laughter and song and the strong, undergirding arms of the living God.  (Jack Hayford, “Making Your Home a Worship Center”)

 
If we want to bring up a godly family, who shall be a seed to serve God when our heads are under the clods of the valley, let us seek to train them up in the fear of God
 
by meeting together as a family for worship.          - Charles Spurgeon

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