How To Use this guide
Throughout Christian history, families have participated in both the corporate worship services of the church, and in private family worship in their homes. One of the keys to worshipping together as a family is simply to have a plan. We want to encourage you to pick one time a week and designate that as the time when you will gather as a family and spend some time in worship. Remember this doesn’t have to be long or formal but you can simply follow the short guide we have here. This guide requires little to no preparation and is connected to what we are doing together on Sunday mornings.
Each week the guide will contain four main elements: Sing, Read, Teach, and Pray, with the elements in the guide pulled from our corporate worship service that week. There are also some recommended resources included at the bottom of the guide that may be helpful to your family at some point during your time together.
You can do the whole thing in 15 minutes as a family or, if the discussion is going well, feel free to go longer. Remember to give yourself grace and trust that the Lord will supply what you need. It won’t always be smooth and it may sometimes feel like little was accomplished. The key is just to spend regular time together in worship and point each other to Jesus. Think of ways to make this time interactive and engage your kids if you have them.
You aren’t in this alone. The Lord is with you and so are we. Feel free to share with us how your worship together is going. We would love to help you with any struggles you may be facing and celebrate all the victories. Know that we are praying for you each week as we send out this resource. We are so excited to see what the Lord does as he works in and through you and your families.
Each week the guide will contain four main elements: Sing, Read, Teach, and Pray, with the elements in the guide pulled from our corporate worship service that week. There are also some recommended resources included at the bottom of the guide that may be helpful to your family at some point during your time together.
You can do the whole thing in 15 minutes as a family or, if the discussion is going well, feel free to go longer. Remember to give yourself grace and trust that the Lord will supply what you need. It won’t always be smooth and it may sometimes feel like little was accomplished. The key is just to spend regular time together in worship and point each other to Jesus. Think of ways to make this time interactive and engage your kids if you have them.
You aren’t in this alone. The Lord is with you and so are we. Feel free to share with us how your worship together is going. We would love to help you with any struggles you may be facing and celebrate all the victories. Know that we are praying for you each week as we send out this resource. We are so excited to see what the Lord does as he works in and through you and your families.
SING
READ
1 Corinthians 8:1–13 (ESV)
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
TEACH
Question 13
Q: Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly?
A: Since the fall, no human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly.
The Nicene Creed (AD 325/381)
We believe in one God,
the Father All Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all time,
Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten not made,
of the same essence as the Father,
by whom all things were made.
Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered and was buried and rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures;
He ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
And his kingdom shall have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy universal and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Q: Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly?
A: Since the fall, no human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly.
The Nicene Creed (AD 325/381)
We believe in one God,
the Father All Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all time,
Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten not made,
of the same essence as the Father,
by whom all things were made.
Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered and was buried and rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures;
He ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
And his kingdom shall have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy universal and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Pray
- That we would treasure those for whom Christ died.
- That as we grow in knowledge, we would grow in love.