0:06 → 0:13
masculine_0Hey guys, Steven here. What is the most important and vital thing that's missing in most Christian families today?
0:18 → 0:21
masculine_0What makes a family a Christian family?
0:21 → 0:29
masculine_0I mean, what are some of the external and more visible differences that you might expect to see between a Christian family and a non Christian family?
0:30 → 0:34
masculine_0Now the most obvious thing that comes to mind would be where your family goes on Sunday morning.
0:35 → 0:41
masculine_0But in addition to this, the external differences might include your family's educational choices,
0:41 → 0:44
masculine_0what types of media you consume on a regular basis,
0:45 → 0:48
masculine_0how you spend your time, who you vote for
0:49 → 0:59
masculine_0and the list could go on and on. And these are good evidences of a family's Christian faith and their desire to conform their family to what they see in
0:59 → 1:02
masculine_0the Scripture. But I think there's something even more important,
1:02 → 1:03
masculine_0even more vital
1:04 → 1:06
masculine_0to a family's spiritual health.
1:06 → 1:13
masculine_0And sadly, it's missing in a lot of Christian families and it's rarely ever taught about in churches.
1:13 → 1:17
masculine_0So what is this important thing that I think is missing in most Christian homes?
1:18 → 1:23
masculine_0And this is it. It's the daily worship of God in the family.
1:24 → 1:26
masculine_0It's known as family worship,
1:26 → 1:28
masculine_0family devotions, family altar,
1:28 → 1:39
masculine_0or a number of other names. But it's basically it comes down to the family daily spending time in God's word and in prayer and singing praises unto God.
1:39 → 1:42
masculine_0This is the most important thing that's missing in most Christian homes.
1:42 → 1:47
masculine_0I wanted to talk about three different areas that support this idea on the importance of family worship.
1:48 → 1:50
masculine_0First being the Scriptures,
1:50 → 1:52
masculine_0because as a Christian that's our standard.
1:53 → 1:56
masculine_0Frankly speaking, Stephen's opinion on this matter doesn't really matter.
1:56 → 1:59
masculine_0So what does the Bible say about family worship?
2:00 → 2:05
masculine_0And then secondly, do we see patterns of family worship in the historical church?
2:05 → 2:12
masculine_0And are there any modern day preachers or authors or Christians who are supporting this idea of family worship?
2:12 → 2:14
masculine_0First of all, let's go ahead and look at the Bible verses.
2:20 → 2:24
masculine_0The first one that I wanted to share with you is one of my favorite Bible verses of all time,
2:24 → 2:27
masculine_0and that's Deuteronomy 65 through seven.
2:27 → 2:30
masculine_0You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
2:31 → 2:33
masculine_0And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
2:34 → 2:40
masculine_0You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way,
2:40 → 2:42
masculine_0and when you lie down and when you rise.
2:42 → 2:46
masculine_0So here it's talking about the importance of God's Word being in our hearts,
2:46 → 2:49
masculine_0but also as diligently teaching our children these things.
2:50 → 2:53
masculine_0And it's not just on a once a week basis.
2:53 → 2:57
masculine_0It's important that this is a daily intentional thing on our parts.
2:58 → 3:04
masculine_0Another good Bible verse would be Ephesians 6 Four and it says fathers do not provoke your children to anger,
3:05 → 3:08
masculine_0but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
3:09 → 3:16
masculine_0I know for many of us guys we desire to lead our children closer to God and I know that's the desire for many of you guys.
3:16 → 3:23
masculine_0And here we have a commandment that says bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
3:23 → 3:27
masculine_0So that's very, very important. So regard to a husband's duty to his wife,
3:27 → 3:31
masculine_0we see in Ephesians 525 and 26.
3:31 → 3:32
masculine_0This is what it says. Husbands,
3:32 → 3:40
masculine_0love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word.
3:41 → 3:47
masculine_0So we see the importance of a man washing his wife with the water of the word and that might include,
3:47 → 3:52
masculine_0you know, praying with her or reading the Bible with her.
3:53 → 3:58
masculine_0The important thing is God's words are coming out of your mouth to your wife as an encouragement,
3:58 → 4:01
masculine_0as edification. So these are just a few of the Bible verses.
4:01 → 4:03
masculine_0There are many more, including Psalm one,
4:04 → 4:09
masculine_0which speaks about the the blessing that comes to the man who meditates on God's word day and night,
4:09 → 4:11
masculine_0and he will be blessed in all that he does.
4:12 → 4:22
masculine_0Another passage would be in Psalm 78 where the men are exhorted to teach their children the words of God so that the next generation
4:23 → 4:24
masculine_0might not turn their backs on God.
4:25 → 4:29
masculine_0It starts with us speaking the words of God in our home to our children every day.
4:30 → 4:31
masculine_0All right, so these are some of the biblical,
4:32 → 4:35
masculine_0biblical scriptures that support this idea of family worship.
4:36 → 4:39
masculine_0Let's move on to the historical church.
4:47 → 4:51
masculine_0If you look back at the Puritans in America as well as in Great Britain,
4:52 → 4:54
masculine_0you will see a lot of teaching on family worship.
4:55 → 4:57
masculine_0So they preached it from the pulpits.
4:57 → 4:58
masculine_0They taught it
4:59 → 5:03
masculine_0in their gatherings. They a lot of the elders wrote books on family worship.
5:03 → 5:10
masculine_0They also wrote children's catechisms that were supposed to be used in the home to train the children in the basic doctrines of the Bible.
5:10 → 5:15
masculine_0You had actually elders going into the homes and demonstrating what family worship should look like.
5:16 → 5:25
masculine_0And the church even went to the point where they would practice church discipline on those men who were not leading family worship in the home.
5:25 → 5:27
masculine_0You can't find such a thing nowadays,
5:27 → 5:30
masculine_0but they took it very, very seriously and I think we should too.
5:30 → 5:33
masculine_0Charles Spurgeon. This is what he said about family worship.
5:33 → 5:40
masculine_0We ought to seek the conversion of all of our families and to maintain within our houses the good and holy practice of family worship.
5:40 → 5:42
masculine_0Arthur W Pink also speaks about family worship,
5:42 → 5:47
masculine_0and this is what he says. It is not enough that we praise individuals in our closets.
5:47 → 5:52
masculine_0We are required to honor God and our families as well.
5:52 → 5:56
masculine_0We'll often hear about the importance of having personal devotions,
5:57 → 5:59
masculine_0and I totally agree with that.
5:59 → 6:03
masculine_0But here, Arthur W Pink says it's not enough.
6:03 → 6:07
masculine_0We can't just have a family divided into individuals where they're just worshipping God by themselves.
6:07 → 6:13
masculine_0We need to come together so we recognize the importance of the church body on Sunday morning,
6:13 → 6:17
masculine_0coming together and fellowshipping and hearing God's word and communing together.
6:18 → 6:25
masculine_0But it's just as important for us on in the weekdays from Monday to Saturday to come together as a family and worship God.
6:32 → 6:35
masculine_0In the book The Theology of the Family,
6:35 → 6:37
masculine_0Scott Brown says these words.
6:37 → 6:40
masculine_0If we ever hope to recover the biblical mission of the family,
6:40 → 6:42
masculine_0we must first restore its worship.
6:43 → 6:47
masculine_0When a man simply picks up the Bible and sincerely reads it to his family,
6:48 → 6:50
masculine_0it always changes his life.
6:50 → 6:54
masculine_0It also plans the flag of Christ's authority in the center of the home.
6:54 → 6:58
masculine_0Brothers, we must restore family worship in our homes.
6:59 → 7:01
masculine_0When you think about this imagery that you,
7:01 → 7:02
masculine_0as the leader of your home,
7:04 → 7:08
masculine_0have been called, your family is following your lead.
7:08 → 7:12
masculine_0What greater honor do you have in all of life than to say,
7:12 → 7:15
masculine_0As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.
7:15 → 7:19
masculine_0And how can you do that? What are some basic steps to doing that?
7:19 → 7:23
masculine_0It's establishing the habit of daily family worship.
7:23 → 7:25
masculine_0It's saying, Lord,
7:25 → 7:28
masculine_0I'm not perfect. I'm not the most spiritual,
7:28 → 7:29
masculine_0the most theologically
7:30 → 7:33
masculine_0wise. I'm not a scholar.
7:33 → 7:35
masculine_0But you've called me to lead my family,
7:35 → 7:39
masculine_0and that's what I'm going to do. And we're going to read God's word daily.
7:39 → 7:41
masculine_0We're going to start today because guys,
7:41 → 7:44
masculine_0that's that's your responsibility. That's my responsibility.
7:44 → 7:47
masculine_0No one else is going to do it. Doctor Joel Bikki says,
7:47 → 7:49
masculine_0as goes the home, so goes the church,
7:49 → 7:54
masculine_0so goes the nation. Family worship is a most decisive factor in how the home goes.
7:55 → 7:59
masculine_0Family worship is the foundation of biblical child rearing.
7:59 → 8:04
masculine_0Yes, we can strengthen the Christian family through the pillars of personal devotions,
8:04 → 8:07
masculine_0through Sunday worship among the body of Christ,
8:08 → 8:12
masculine_0through Christ, like parental example through Christian education.
8:12 → 8:15
masculine_0All of these things can strengthen the family.
8:15 → 8:24
masculine_0But how much more would they be strengthened if we were to unify these and plant them on a solid foundation of family worship,
8:24 → 8:29
masculine_0Daily family worship? Because daily family worship is by far the most important,
8:29 → 8:39
masculine_0the easiest and most effective of any spiritual practices and duties that you can employ in the home that you can employ in your family to lead them closer to God.
8:40 → 8:43
masculine_0So my purpose for making these videos is twofold.
8:43 → 8:48
masculine_0#1 is simply to encourage you as a spiritual leader of your home.
8:48 → 8:57
masculine_0And #2, I want to give you some basic instructions on how you can confidently and effectively lead your family closer to Christ on a daily basis.
8:57 → 9:03
masculine_0In the upcoming videos, I'm going to cover some of the topics like what are the four basic elements of family worship?
9:04 → 9:06
masculine_0I'm going to share with you my own story.
9:07 → 9:14
masculine_0I think you'll be very encouraged when you hear my story about how I began doing family worship with my wife and my family.
9:15 → 9:17
masculine_0You can learn a lot from my mistakes,
9:17 → 9:22
masculine_0so please stay tuned for that one as well as common problems that may arise when you start family worship.
9:23 → 9:27
masculine_0What is the one mistake that I made when I started doing family worship?
9:27 → 9:30
masculine_0What to do in case your wife and children are not supportive of you doing family worship?
9:31 → 9:36
masculine_0The top tips that I've learned along the way that have really helped me to be consistent at leading family worship.
9:37 → 9:40
masculine_0And then finally just some of the main transformations,
9:40 → 9:44
masculine_0the transformations that you will see as you begin doing family worship.
9:44 → 9:46
masculine_0So stay tuned for those videos.
9:46 → 9:53
masculine_0In the next video, I want to take a quick look at your specific role in family worship and how it's unique,
9:53 → 9:55
masculine_0how you are called for a special job.
9:55 → 10:01
masculine_0It's going to be titled The Greatest Calling of the Christian Husband and Father,
10:01 → 10:04
masculine_0so I hope you join me for that one as well.
10:04 → 10:06
masculine_0Again, thank you so much for watching.
10:06 → 10:12
masculine_0If you're watching this on YouTube and you'd like to learn more about family devotions or any of my other resources,
10:12 → 10:14
masculine_0I left a link down in the description area below.
10:14 → 10:17
masculine_0And if you click on that, it'll just jump to my website,
10:17 → 10:19
masculine_0stevencrooklyn.com. So go ahead and check that out.
10:20 → 10:23
masculine_0And now I'd like to actually hear from you guys in the comments section.
10:24 → 10:27
masculine_0Where are you in your family's discipleship journey?
10:28 → 10:30
masculine_0What are some of the challenges you face?
10:30 → 10:34
masculine_0And what are some of the successes you've had as you try to disciple your family?
10:34 → 10:38
masculine_0So I'd love to hear from you guys down in the comments section below.
10:38 → 10:43
masculine_0Remember to subscribe, Keep fighting the Good Fight of Faith and we will see you guys next time.