190209FW Prov 9:1-6 - Feasting at Wisdom's House

Family worship lesson from the "Proverb of the day"--Proverbs 9:1-6. Wisdom invites us to feast in hear spacious, strong house at hear richly supplied table of strength, health, and joy. This word picture of a life shaped by wonder at the Lord and worship of the Lord reminds us of how silly and foolish we would be to live any other way.

190209FW Genesis 4:6-24 - Getting Killed by Sin or Killing Sin by Grace?

Family worship teaching time from Genesis 4:6-24, preparing for the coming Lord's Day morning sermon. Cain was challenged to be killing his sin, or it would kill him. Alas, he indulged his sin, which turned out to be not so much against his brother as it was against the God of glory and grace. Sadly, we find that we are able to consider ourselves quite glorious while descending into ever more heinous depths of sin.

190208FW John 8:31-59 - Knowing Our Slavery to Know Our Savior

Family worship teaching time from John 8:31-59, the gospel reading in Lord's Day morning's worship. Jesus is talking to people who agreed with certain facts about Him... UNTIL He began to point out that they need Him to be almighty God and their only deliverance from slavery and escape from death. Suddenly, they would rather curse Him and kill Him than continue to agree with Him. Oh how dangerous is spiritual pride, that would keep us from the only Savior!

190207FW 2Cor 1:23-2:11 - Christ's Stops Satan through Our Fellowship

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the epistle reading from 2Corinthians 1:23-2:11 in Lord's Day morning worship. The Lord Jesus has given church members and officers the privilege of being gladdened by one another, as He uses us in one another's lives for good. Satan's attacks on us include both keeping us from doing the hard work of grieving one another when necessary for confrontation or rebuke, and the sometimes harder work of restoring relationship and demonstrating affection once repentance has occurred. In this passage, we learn the kind of fellowship by which Christ designs to defeat the devil in our churches!

190205FW Hebrews 12:22-13:4 - Heaven-and-Earth-Shaking Worship

Family worship teaching time, following up upon Hebrews 12:22-13:4 from the Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Confession of Sin in the Lord's Day morning worship service. In corporate worship, the Lord brings us by faith into the great worship assembly in glory. From there, He speaks to us by His living Word in the preaching, preparing us to receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken!

190204FW 2Timothy 2:19 - Assurance's Firm Foundation from God: Election and Sanctification

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning sermon from 2Timothy 2:19. The Church and true believers will be preserved--a truth that is sealed to us by election and sanctification. Since the Lord has chosen His people in Christ from all eternity, they cannot ultimately fall. And, the fact that He is sanctifying them (causing them, by His Spirit, to use the means of grace and find them fruitful for departing from sin) demonstrates that He is surely saving them.

190128FW Genesis 4:1-5 - The Difference between a Cain and an Abel

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning sermon from Genesis 4:1-5. Children of parents who express faith in Christ have so much promise--and so much promised concerning them. But since some do turn out to be of the evil one, what is it that makes the difference? It is faith in Christ, which also produces fruit in the life.

190125FW John 8:12-20 - Jesus Is the Only Light by Which We May Know God

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning gospel reading from John 8:12-20. Having identified Himself as the manna from heaven, and the rock to which we can come for living water, Jesus now takes it a step further: He Himself is the One who appeared as a glory cloud and a pillar of fire. Now, He declares Himself to be not only the light of the Hebrews, but the light of the entire world. If we are to know God truly at all, then we must know Him as God who has revealed Himself in Christ!

190124FW 2Cor 1:8-14 - God WILL Give You More Than You Can Handle

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning epistle reading from 2Corinthians 1:8-14. God gives us troubles that are above our strength, so that we will not trust in ourselves. He gives us troubles that make us despair of life, so that we will trust in Him who alone can deliver from death. Since what we all need is what only the miraculous power of God can accomplish, He makes it utter foolishness to try to accomplish it by worldly wisdom. Instead, He gives us the privilege of praying and obeying--so that when HE has accomplished His good will, we will have enjoyed the privilege of being used, but HE will get ALL the praise!

190116FW Josh 13:1-6 - Our Fleeting Labor Established and Employed by Our Faithful Lord

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Old Testament reading from Joshua 13:1-6 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Already we have come from the beginning of Joshua's administration to its winding down. Lord, teach us to number our days! Just as in Moses's life, so now in Joshua's, the Lord has faithfully accomplished all that He set out to do. The land is conquered and ready for marking out each tribe's inheritance. Yes, there is more driving out/possessing to do, but the Lord will be faithful in future generations as well. Whatever part He has assigned to our lives, He will surely be faithful to keep all of His promises in bringing about the effects of Christ's finished work and victory. So,let us trust in Him, and do whatever is our part with zeal, confidence, and joy.

190111FW John 7:37-53 - Humble Thirst for the Rock that Is Christ

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the gospel reading from John 7:37-53 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus identifies Himself as the true and eternal Rock from whom our hearts can be filled with streams of living water, by His Holy Spirit. He calls to the thirsty to come to Him and drink. But, as with the Pharisees, if we think that we are made righteous by knowing the law or that we are better than others, we will not be thirsty. Such pride will keep us from coming to Jesus and send us to unquenchable fire!

190110FW Prov 10:1-3 - Christ Defeats the Curse, Death, and Fallenness in Our Lives

Family Worship teaching time in Proverbs 10:1-3, the "Proverb of the day." The curse was that children would bring agony, but children who trust in Christ and belong to Him can be a joy to their parents by His grace and His Spirit. Death laid claim to us spiritually and physically, but when Christ is our righteousness, sin is no longer our master, and death cannot hold us forever. As the Spirit makes those who belong to Jesus more and more like Him, they grow in right desires and find themselves content in the Lord.

190110FW 1Cor 16:13-24 - Battling That Loves and Loving That Battles

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the epistle reading from 1Corinthians 16:13-24 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Christian theology and practice is a battle in which both strength and love are essential. Christ's grace alone empowers this battle, and one of His appointed means for that power is the ministry of the particular elders whom He has given us in our particular congregation.
 

190107FW Gen 3:16-19 - Thy Kingdom Come: the Curses that Christ Reverses

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the sermon from Genesis 3:16-19 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Parenting. Marriage. Work. Central place in the fall. Central place in display of Christ's victorious redemption of His people. We deserve to be a display of death and the devil; but Jesus, who is HIMSELF the image of God, remakes us into His own image!

190104FW John 7:14-36 - God's Truth, Righteousness, and Power for Us in Jesus

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Gospel reading from John 7:14-36 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Jesus's teaching at the feast is so obviously true that the people are astonished. He explains that He does Bible study and theology different than everyone else, because He came from God. Therefore all His teaching is inherently true, and He is completely righteous. When the argument with the Pharisees and priests heats up, He notifies them that they cannot succeed against Him, because His power is heavenly, and He is returning there. In Jesus Christ, God has provided us with His own truth, His own righteousness, and His own power!

190103FW 1Cor 16:1-12 - Ways that Jesus Ministers to Our Bodies and Souls

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Epistle reading from 1Corinthians 6:1-12 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Jesus ministers to His people's material needs through all of His people through giving on the Lord's Day and through hospitality. And Jesus's plan for ministering to our souls is elders who, literally, "do the Lord's work." Scripture teaches us to submit to and encourage our elders so that they will shepherd us both with joy (Heb 13:17) and without fear (v10).

190102FW Josh 11:16-23 - Our Infinitely Faithful, Just, Merciful, and Generous Covenant God

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Old Testament reading from Joshua 11:16-23 in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. God gave His people victory over ALL whom He said He would. He satisfied ALL His justice. And showed great mercy even to those who weren't His, and ALL mercy to His own. And He brought them into ALL their inheritance!

181231FW Gen 3:12-15 - Gospel of Serpent-Crushing Grace

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the sermon from Genesis 3:12-15 in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. Before God says a single word of penalty to the woman or man, He announces His grace that will work in sinners whom He is saving, His grace that will keep the church separate from the world, and His grace that will send His Son as the Seed of the woman to crush the serpent's head. Praise the God of gospel grace!

181229FW Prov 29:6-9 - Fruitful Faith, Wisdom's Foundation

From the Proverb of the day (29), we saw how confidence in God's goodness to us in Christ is the foundation of wise living. If we are confident that God seeks our pleasure, we will not be snared by trying to find pleasure in disobedience (v6). If we are confident that God attends to all our needs, we will not be closed-fisted but rejoice to imitate His generosity (v7). If we are confident that God defends our interests, we will be freed from contentiousness to pursue peace (v8). And, if we are confident both that we are still sinful and that everything that we encounter is designed by God to fit us for heaven, then we will be poised to take correction seriously and benefit from it (v9).

181229FW Gen 3:12-15 - Good, Serpent-Crushing, News

Family Worship teaching time, anticipating the sermon from Genesis 3:12-15 in corporate worship, tomorrow morning. God elicits a horrifying response from Adam, a disappointing response from the woman, but no response at all from the serpent. Why? Because He asks the serpent no question--simply declares a curse! He promises His own sovereign work in regeneration, and that He will maintain a covenant line of those who belong to Him, over-against those who belong to the serpent. Ultimately, the only way that this can be effective is because He Himself will come, born of a woman, to destroy the devil and his works! ... And God promises all of this before He has even declared the consequences of Adam and his wife's sin! The first time that the bad news of the curse was announced, it was already in the context of the good news of the gospel!!