Family Worship Guide: Week of February 20th, 2022
Memory Verse: John 4:24 “God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Catechism 16: Who were our first parents? Answer: Adam & Eve
Catechism 17: Of what were our first parents made? Answer: God made the body of Adam out of the ground, and formed Eve from the body of Adam.
Monday
Scripture: “1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” (Leviticus 10:1-2)
Point of Focus: Like we discussed last week, “worship is on God’s terms, not ours. We are to worship God acceptably.” The story of Nadab and Abihu shows us the consequences of failing to obey God’s instructions for worship. This teaches us two things: 1) The holiness of God. The smallest infraction of His law is deserving of his wrath. 2) The goodness of God. Though God had the right and justly consumed Nadab and Abhu with fire, in his grace he has not consumed us. He has sent Christ to pay the penalty we owe to God for our rebellion against him. And on top of that, his common grace extends to the whole world as he patiently waits for his people to hear the gospel and worship him in spirit and in truth.
Pray
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Tuesday
Scripture: 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Point of Focus: How can we worship God in spirit and in truth? As Nadab & Abihu showed us yesterday, we cannot in our own strength. We learn today that unless we are born again by the Spirit we cannot come into God’s kingdom and worship him. You must be converted by the power of the Holy Spirit in order to worship God. Worship is not merely an external act, but an overflow of a heart that has been transformed by the resurrecting power of Christ Jesus. Through repentance of sin and faith in Him, we can come before the Lord each day with our families and each Lord’s day with God’s family, approach the throne of grace in the kingdom of God, and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Pray
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Wednesday
Scripture: “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, sine they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” 1 Peter 3:7
Point of Focus: (Chatechism 16) One of the key responsibilities of a husband is to spiritually lead his home. God has set him as the head just as Christ is the head of the church and he is to use that authority to care for his wife – or “honor” her, as our text says. As we focus on the distinctions between male and female and here we see females being the “weaker vessel”, it is important to understand that the context Paul is writing is for the care of women. The phrase Paul uses to describe women is akin to a precious ornament. It is fragile, yet highly valuable. Matthew Henry says, “The reasons are, Because she is the weaker vessel by nature and constitution, and so ought to be defended: but then the wife is, in other and higher respects, equal to her husband; they are heirs together of the grace of life, of all the blessings of this life and another,”
Pray
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Thursday
Scripture: “For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?” (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20)
Point of Focus: (Catechism 17) Because man is a fallen creature, we are mortal. We are all going to die because we are descendants of Adam. In this passage, Solomon contemplates the reality of death. He says that humans have no advantages over animals because we all end up in the same place – in the ground. In this life, it is true. But Solomon does not despair, he says that this means we should rejoice in our labors as creatures on this earth. Why is this? He knows that God alone can produce faith to see the obvious reality that there has to be more than just this life. Humans are not just animals. We are made in the image of God and made for eternity. When we see this, we can look upon the frailty of our lives and run through it with joy because Christ has given us eyes to see the truth and a heart to believe it.
Pray
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Friday
Scripture: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:13-14
Point of Focus: (Catechism 17) God made every single one of us. He made every part of our bodies. Every male and every female he made. Every hair on our heard, every finger, every toe he hand crafted. There is nothing about us that was a mistake. Our bodies, though they are broken because of sin, are a creation of God’s sovereign hand working in the womb of our mother. Praise God for the beauty of his handiwork in creating people made in his image. Praise him for how we are so unique in contrast to the rest of creation. Praise God that, though we rebelled against him, he restores us in Christ to one day raise from the dead and receive new bodies .
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Saturday
Scripture: Read 1 Timothy 5:3-16
Point of Focus:
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