I trust that every parent has made that the prayer of their hearts as we have sung these hymns. We ask not for them wealth or fame amid the worldly strife, but in thine all-prevailing name, we ask eternal life. May that be the prayer of our hearts. We're turning today to Deuteronomy chapter six. Deuteronomy chapter six. We'll read some verses here at the beginning of the chapter. And then we'll be going through the scriptures today. We'll make reference to this at the end of our message, but we'll read from Deuteronomy chapter six, reading from verse one. Let's hear God's word. These are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you ye might do them in the land, whether ye go to possess it, that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee in the land which floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, And shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards, and olive trees, which thou plantest not, When thou shalt have eaten and be full, then beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name, ye shall not go after other gods of the gods of the people which are round about you. For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. We'll end our reading at the end of the 15th verse there, and let's, with the word before us open, let's briefly unite in prayer once again, please. Heavenly Father, we do thank thee for the opportunity gather around thy word again. We praise thee, dear Father, for thy goodness to us and giving us a faithful translation of the Bible. We thank thee for its preservation. And now we come to preach it. And we can say, oh God, that who is sufficient for these things? But our sufficiency is off the Lord. We pray for the help of the Holy Spirit. give clarity of speech and thought. We pray that all will understand the very tenor of the message today. Lord, where there needs possibly for things to be put in place that have been, Lord, left, Lord, to be negligent in our homes and families, in our own personal lives, we pray that the grace of God might be given and that the help of the Holy Spirit God will be given to us as we conform our lives to the teaching of thy precious word and so come. Fill me now with thy spirit, and may the word, O God, be in our hearts like as a burning fire, and may it burn within us, and may it linger on in its impact beyond the threshold of this church building. Lord, as we make our way home, as we live throughout the rest of this week, may the word continue to live within us, and Lord, answer prayer, for we offer these, our petitions, and through the Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. When any church within this denomination, when they come to be examined by the General Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, certain questions are asked to the minister of the congregation on that occasion. One of those questions deals with the matter of family worship. The question that the minister is asked is, is worship or family worship maintained throughout the congregation? Is family worship maintained regularly throughout the congregation? Now it is the hope and the desire of the minister that family worship does take place in the homes that make up his particular congregation. However, it is a matter that is rarely preached upon. And so to rectify that, I want to preach upon that very subject over the next number of weeks in order that we might be able to see the scriptural evidence that points to the practice of family worship. We also want to consider how family worship is to be conducted, the excuses that are employed by those who feel to have family worship in their home, and then we want to think about the benefits that are derived when a family gathers together for daily family worship. But before I commence looking at that subject with you under those specific headings, I want to give you a number of quotes from godly men and what they had to say about this matter of family worship. The early church father, a man by the name of Tertullian, who lived between 160 and 225 AD, he wrote the following concerning the central role that family worship played in Christian households in his generation. This is what he said. He said, they pray together. They worship together. They fast together, instructing one another, encouraging one another, strengthening one another. He's speaking here about Christian households in the early 3rd, 2nd century. A few centuries later, the Archbishop of Constantinople, a man by the name of John Christendom, implored God's people to gather daily as families for worship, arguing that every house should be a church and every head of a family a spiritual shepherd. In his lectures in the book of Genesis, Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer said, Abraham had in his tent a house of God and a church. Just as today, any godly and pious head of a household instructs his children in godliness. Therefore, such a house is actually a school and a church, and the head of the household is a bishop and priest in his house. The framers of the Westminster Confession of Faith, in the chapter devoted to religious worship on the Sabbath day, chapter 21, they wrote the following, God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth as in private families daily and in secret. each one by himself. In actual fact, if you get a complete copy of all the documents that the Westminster Divines produced at that particular time, you'll find a document entitled therein, Directions of the General Assembly Concerning Secret and Private Worship. And that document sets out directives for the worship of God by the individual as well as the private worship of God within families. Jonathan Edwards said every Christian family should be, as it were, a little church. John Newton said, happy is the family where the worship of God is constantly and conscientiously maintained. Such houses are temples in which the Lord dwells, and castles garrisoned by a divine power. But if there's any quote that I want you to remember, it is this final quote. It is a quote by a man by the name of Robert Murray McShane. This is what Robert Murray McShane said. If you do not worship God in your family, You are living in positive sin. You may be quite sure you do not care for the souls of your family. If you neglect to spread a meal for your children to eat, would it not be said that you did not care for their bodies? And if you do not lead your children and servants to the green pastures of God's Word and to seek the living water, how plain it is that you do not for their souls strong words indeed strong words indeed now there is just one matter that I want to consider today as we look at the subject matter of family worship and that is is the occurrence or is there the occurrence of family worship in the scriptures was family worship practice a in the scriptures? Can we find any occurrence of it taking place within the pages of sacred history? These are questions we need to answer and ascertain the answer to because every practice that a Christian lives in our Christian lives needs to find the basis of it in the record of Holy Scripture. Because if it doesn't, we would be simply better to leave it off, because Scripture is the sole rule of faith and practice. So we need to understand, we need to ascertain, was family worship maintained practice by individuals and families in the pages of Holy Scripture? Well, it'll come as no surprise to you that it was. And today we simply want to look at examples. I want to, as it were, give a scriptural foundation to what we will look at, God willing, next week, with regard to all that is to occur and ought to be occurring in every family, whether that family has children or not, whether you are simply a husband and a wife, because you're simply a family, all families, I believe ought to have a time delay to gather together for family worship. And so we're going to find this to be so. Now the first scripture from which the practice of family worship can be inferred is in relation to Noah and his family. Turn to Genesis chapter eight. We'll be turning in the scriptures. Don't be getting lazy now as we go into the message. You turn and see it in the word, and then you'll be able to say, well, it's in the book, it's in the word, I'm seeing it here before my eyes, A family gathering for worship. And therefore my family ought to be worshiping God as these individuals did. Noah and his family. Now you'll know the background to the story. Noah has spent over a year cooped up in the ark. Yes, there were 40 days and 40 nights of rain, we understand that. But if you look at the history, you'll find that Noah is in this ark for at least a year. And we find that after being cooped up in the ark, the very first thing that Noah did, having left the ark through its covering, there's a very interesting verse there in the verse 13 of Genesis chapter eight. Notice what it says there, and it came to pass in the 600 and first year of the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth, and Noah removed the covering off the ark. Noah didn't walk through the door of the ark. Whenever he left the ark, no, the door was shut by God. And any door that God shuts, no man can open. What we have here in Ferd is that Noah, he peeled back the covering of the ark in order to get out. He didn't open the door. Noah didn't open or didn't walk through the door of the ark. He had to remove the covering at the side of the ark. in order to get out of the ark. Because the doors that God shuts, no man can open. God shut the door and that door remained permanently, I believe, shut. But that's only by the way. The very first thing that Noah did as he left the ark was that he gathered his family together for family worship. around an altar and upon which sacrifices were offered. Look at the verse number 20. And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord. and took every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings upon the altar. Now we know that Noah's family are still about at this particular time, because if you look at the verse 1 of chapter 9, you'll find these words, And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and so we find Shem, Ham, Japheth their wives and their children they are present I believe in chapter 8 God doesn't say that for them to disperse until Genesis 9 in the verse number 1 so I believe that the whole family were gathered the complete family of mankind we find gathered here represented in Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, their wives, and their children. And so it's very obvious that this act of worship that Noah involves himself in, the family were there. The family were present. All the children, adult children present as worship was being offered up unto God. Now there are a number of truths that we learn, even I believe from this verse concerning family worship in Genesis 8 and the verse number 20. The first truth that we learn is that family worship, if it is to be acceptable to God, must center itself on the place of bloodshedding. If it is to be acceptable worship, it must focus itself on the place of blood-shedding. Now for Noah, that place was the altar. It was upon the altar that he would take those clean beasts and those clean fowl, and he would offer them as a sacrifice to God. Blood would have to be shed, and it was there that they worshiped God. For Noah, it was the altar, but for us as God's people, For us it is the cross. Noah looked by faith as he looked to the sacrifices. He looked ahead of time to the coming Christ who would shed his blood for the remission of sins. But for us as God's people, we look back to the cross. And we look back to the one who has suffered for sins that just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. It is on the grounds of precious blood. that our worship finds acceptance with God. And here we're finding this borne out in Genesis 8 verse 20. The only way of approach to God is by the way of the cross, by the place of blood sacrifice. And we need to remember that when we gather together for family worship, as we seek God in prayer, we come by the way of the cross. We stand on redemption ground. This is where our worship will find acceptance with God. Secondly, family worship, if it is to be of any benefit to us, will cost us something. It'll cost us something. It cost Noah. What did it cost him? It cost him the clean beast and the clean fowl. His worship involved sacrifice. His worship involved or incorporated a cost. Now as we come to worship God, We're not to come and offer pigeons or lambs or bullocks upon some altar that we construct out the back of our homes in order that God will be and God will find acceptance of our worship. No, for us, it will cost us what is believed to be the world's most valuable commodity. What is it? Time. It's gonna cost you your time. Mom and dad, it's gonna cost you your time. Husband, wife, it's gonna cost you time to gather together for family worship. But if it is to be of any benefit to you, it's gonna have to cost. And it'll cost us our time. But thirdly, family worship, if it is to be done biblically, should be led by the father of the home. Did you notice that it was Noah who built the altar? Now I'm sure that his sons were capable of helping him. His wife probably was well able to assist him in the building of the altar, but this was reserved simply for Noah to do. The father of the home, the husband of the home, he takes the initiative. The priest in the home, he's taking the lead here. My home, my family, so important are they that I'm going to lead in this family worship. I'm going to come to the place of sacrifice. I'm going to build the altar. I'm going to offer the sacrifices because I realize my parental responsibility. I understand my covenant responsibility. I am the priest and the head of this family, and thereby I am to lead this family in worship. Now that is not to say that other members of the family did not participate in this act of worship. I'm not saying that. And I'm not saying that whenever we gather together for family worship, that there should be no one else that would participate in that act of family worship. But what I'm simply saying is that the Father is to lead the home now. Let me also say, it does not mean that if the father is not present in the home, or the father is not a saved man in the home, that family worship is not to take place in the home. And that doesn't negate the responsibility of family worship, because maybe it is a single parent family. Or maybe there be a husband who really is indifferent, maybe even going further than that, hostile, antagonistic towards the worship of the true and living God. It doesn't mean that if he's not there, the head of the home is not there, that there is then to be no worship within the home place, within the family circle. It simply means, I believe, that if the head of the home is a Christian, whether he is a husband or whether he is a father, he is to lead the family in worship. Just because there are no children in the home does not mean that there is to be no worship in the home. A married couple is as much a family unit as a home where there are children present. You're a family. Husband, wife, you are a family. God has brought you together. And so we find here in Genesis chapter eight a number of indicators concerning family worship. We approach God in family worship as we do in public worship on the grounds of precious blood. We approach him on the grounds of the shedding of blood. Then we also realize that it will cost us something. And then we realize that the Father is the lead in this act of worship. The second scripture I point you to where the practice of family worship is inferred is in relation to Abraham and his family. Now you're in Genesis, stay there, we're turning to chapter 18. Genesis chapter 18 this time. I believe we need to read from the verse 16 of the chapter just to get the context of the words here. Genesis 18 verse 16. And the man rose up from thins. You'll remember three men come to Abraham and to Sarah. They informed them concerning them having a son. And then God is going to speak, communicate to Abraham what he's going to do with regard to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain. And so it's time for them to leave the homestead of Abraham. And it says, And the men rose up from thence and looked towards Sodom. And Abraham went with them to bring them on their way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation? And all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him. and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him." Abraham, the father of the faithful, the friend of God, here in this passage received a blessing from Jehovah for his domestic piety. In these words, the patriarch is commended. God knows what he's going to do whenever these individuals are born into his family. He's going to command them where? In the way of the Lord. Not in the way of the world. You're not going to teach them about hunting. I'm sure he did that. You're not going to teach them about making tents. I'm sure he did that. You're not going to teach them about how to make money. He probably did that. But God knew that Abraham The very first thing, the very primary thing in Abraham's heart was that he was going to teach his boys in the way of the Lord. That's my focus. That's my goal. That's my purpose. God will make me a father, and as a father, this is my responsibility. And God knew that he would command his children and his household, his employees. It went further than even his own house. His slee is those that were under his care. He was going to command them in the ways of the Lord. And I believe that Abraham in future years, he fulfilled that very command. How do I know that? I know that because everywhere Abraham went, he built an altar and he pitched his tent. You'll read that, Genesis 12 verse 7, Genesis 13 verse 4. He built an altar to the Lord, the place of worship. This is what I want you to get. The place of worship was never far from the family home. It wasn't a few miles up the road. He didn't leave it to, as it were, construct a church building and then, we're going to church and we'll worship God one day a week. No, no, no, the altar was beside the home. It was in the home, close to the home. Here's a family of worshipers. Here's a family who's going to honor me. The place of worship, as I said, was never far from the family home. and it was going to play a very pivotal role in the raising of Abraham's children. Now let me place this little caveat on what I've just said. That is not to say that the worship of God in the home will guarantee the salvation of those in the home. You think of Ishmael. He lived under Abraham's parental care. Ishmael lived under his care, his instruction. Ishmael, I'm sure, sat at family worship, resenting it all, hating it all. This worship of Jehovah, all the resentment probably in that young man's heart. Just because you'll gather your family together for family worship doesn't mean that they'll never become a prodigal. Doesn't mean that they'll never go in to the world. You think about another person who lived in that home, Esau. You turn quickly to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, that great chapter of faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verse eight and nine. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into the place which he should after receive for inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whether he went by faith, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, but no mention of Esau. No mention of Esau, because Esau was a worldly boy. Esau was a young man, I'm sure, heard grander praying. I'm sure he heard Granda tell the stories of what God and how God had appeared to him in the land of the Earl of the Chaldees and how God had led and directed and provided for them as a family unit. But he saws not here, he saws away in the world. Maybe you're a parent and you gathered your family for worship. Today you're heartbroken. It is no guarantee, just because you gather for family worship, that your children will become a spiritual seed. It takes divine grace, divine grace, to work in the soul, to bring those individuals to Jesus Christ. My brethren and sisters, we who are saved are called Abraham's seed. We're Abraham's seed, his spiritual seed. We are not national Israel, but we are a spiritual seed. Abraham's seed. We are children of faith, just as the father of faith. But let me ask you, if we're the children of Abraham, do we follow our father's example? Do we follow his example, or have we neglected this work that is ascribed to him here in Genesis 18 verse 19? This weary duty of instructing, commanding the children in the ways of the Lord. Let me address those who are here today, those of us who are husbands. Those of us who are fathers, those of you who aspire to be a husband someday, aspire to be a father, let me speak to you young girls, you older ladies that maybe plan to marry someday. Are you going to be serious about this matter of commanding your children and your household to keep the way of the Lord and to do justice and judgment? You want to be serious about it? Are you going to gather whenever you're only but courting? Are you going to gather with your intended wife to pray, to read the scriptures? Are you saying, well, preacher, I'm going to wait until the children come? No. No. You begin it now. Start it now. Gather together now. Pray now. Seek God now. This is what we need. We've been singing about it. Oh, give us homes built firmly on the Savior. Do you know why our nation is the way it is? Because the home is gone. The home is gone. As the home, so the church. And as the church, so the world. Has there been neglect in family worship? Has there been neglect? Listen, I'm not here to put you on some kind of guilt trip today. If there has been neglect, it's never too late to start. Never too late. Never too late. You may be never be confronted with this very issue. This is maybe all new to your ears. You feel to live up to your duty. Husbands, fathers, you feel to live up in your duty to lead the family in worship of God. Well then let this day be the day that you start to live up to your responsibilities at the head of your home and commence doing what Abraham is found doing here. begin instructing and commanding your children and your household to walk in the ways of the Lord. Do not leave it to the Sunday school teacher, to the minister. They're your children. It's your wife. And so Abraham, God knew, here's a man, He's going to lead us home. He's going to instruct his children. Quickly, we think of Abraham's son, Jacob. Grandson, Jacob. Jacob and his family. Turn to Genesis 35. Genesis chapter 35. Now, there isn't a reference in every book, so don't be getting worried. We're only in Genesis. Genesis chapter number 35, you'll know that Jacob lived a life without God for many years, that twister, that schemer, that deceiver, and yet all that changed when he met God at Bethel. Do you remember the night he took the stone as a pillow and he dreamed the dream of the vision of God, the ladder reaching from heaven to earth? He was being taught the gospel there. And God met him and God saved him at Bethel. I believe that's where God saved him. God saved him at Bethel. Many years have passed, many years have elapsed between that meeting with God at Bethel and Genesis chapter 35. But now God asks Jacob to go back to the place where it all began. Go back to the place where it all commenced. Jacob, I want you to go back to Bethel. Let's read some verses here. God said unto Jacob, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him put away the strange gods which are among you and be clean and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make there and altar unto the Lord, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all their strange gods that were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about. and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Cana, that is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him, and he built there an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother. The families gathered again, all of them, They've come to Bethel, here Jacob's leading the family in worship, the building of the altar for the very purpose he builds it. Verse number 7 tells us, they put away their worldliness, their strange gods, they cleanse themselves, they sanctify themselves, they remove their earrings, and they come to worship God. Nothing but me and God, that's what it was. There is a sanctifying, there is a cleansing as the family come to worship. I believe that nobody else was here. Why? Because it tells us at the end of verse five that the fear of God was upon the cities, that they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. I believe that they came to Bethel alone. A family gathered for worship. What a blessing to behold. With heathen nations surrounding them, here's a family, and they're worshipers of God. Jacob, I believe, had family worship. The first scripture that we could infer the practice of family worship from is found there in Joshua this time. The words are familiar. You'll turn there, Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24. We know that God, is dealing here with Joshua, Joshua 24 verse 14. Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye this day whom we will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in which the land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, will serve the Lord." Note with me that neither the exalted station which Joshua held as the leader of the nation nor the pressing public duties which came upon him as a result of being Israel's leader, none of them allowed it to were allowed to crowd out this man's attention to the spiritual well-being of his family. Regardless of what anyone else was going to do, anyone, regardless of that, Joshua Joshua was determined that he and his house would first know the Lord and then serve the Lord. Now that word serve is a very interesting word in the verse number 15. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Because elsewhere it is translated with this word, worshipers. Worshipers. As for me and my house, we are worshipers of God. We are going to be the worshipers of God. These words, I believe, in Joshua chapter 24 remind us that we are to primarily concern ourselves with what happens in our homes. Did you get that? What happens in your home? Too often we look over the garden fence and we ask ourselves, what is so-and-so doing in their home? That's not your business, brother. That's not your business, sister. Because you're not going to answer for their family. You're going to answer for your family. Your family. Whether or not you have served the Lord, Joysha said, my family. we're going to serve or we're going to be worshipers of Jehovah. That's what we're going to do. If no one else, yet we will. And that's where we need to come when we think of this matter of family worship. It's not, brethren and sisters, in order that Well, I have, as it were, cleansed my hands of this particular issue of family worship. So the next time when presbytery comes, I'm going to be able to at least say, well, it has been preached upon, brethren and sisters. That's not the motive of preaching this message today. It is so that our families are established in the ways of God. And that as a result of strong families, the church will become strong. And then the community in which we live will be impacted for the glory and for the honor of God and for God alone. There's a fifth scripture. I don't want to say time's running on. I was told don't be saying that. Keep on going. So well, we'll look at David and his family. Turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 16. 1 Chronicles chapter 16. Many Bible commentators believe that these words at the end, the last verse, if you're turning there, 1 Chronicles 16 verse 43 is evidence of family worship being practiced in the home of David. You'll know that the Ark of the Covenant is being carried up into its proper place. The public celebrations with regard to the removal of the Ark. from one place to its rightful place in Jerusalem, that is all now concluded. And what do we read there in 1 Chronicles 16, verse 43? And all the people departed, every man to his house, and David returned to bless his house. To bless his house. I read this comment from one commentator. There can be no question that these words are intended to denote that when the public work of the day was done, David returned to his own dwelling to implore the blessing of Almighty God upon his family by prayer and supplication. Here we find the man after God's own heart involving himself in domestic religion. Domestic religion, this is what it is. Beyond the gaze of the public. Nobody would know this, but beyond the gaze of the public, David is found worshipping God in his home and along with his family. Now you think, think of this chapter. You think of all that is happening in this chapter. The Ark of the Covenant is brought to its rightful place in Jerusalem. David sings a psalm, one of his own compositions, and then he appoints Levites to minister before the Ark of the Covenant. This day is a very busy day. This isn't some kind of lazy day or a day whenever the workload isn't that great and because, well, I have a little bit of time on my hands, I may as well get the family together for a bit of worship. This is a busy day for David. This is a day that has a calendar that is cram-packed with things that he needs to do, people that he needs to appoint, various matters that need to be involved in, and yet at the end of the day, at the end of a very busy day, he came into his home and he got the family together and he blessed his own house. He gathered the family for public worship. Now if your home is anything like our home, it'll be a very busy place. There are family duties to attend to, homeworks that need to be done, jobs around the house that need to be completed, ironing, the washing of clothes, the cleaning of the house, getting the lunches made for the next day, the cooking of meals, you ladies know what it's like. Maybe some meeting to go to in the night, in the evening time, the prayer meeting, the young people's fellowship, the children's meeting, all of these things, oh, they vie for our attention and they result in the consumption of that most precious commodity, time, but despite the busyness of life, We need to put first things first. We need to make time and we need to take time to gather for family worship. Whether that's a husband and a wife together or whether that is parents along with their children. Matthew 6.33, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. David was a busy man. He had a kingdom to run, but he still came and blessed his house. I could continue to cite case after case. Think of Job. He gathered, he involved the family in worship. Daniel, he also, There is worship there in Daniel's life, but let me move on to one New Testament example. You might find it a strange example. Turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 1, verse 5. Paul's writing here, obviously, to his son in the faith, Timothy. 2 Timothy 1, verse 5. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, was dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and in thy mother, Eunice. I am persuaded that it is in thee also." Paul speaks of a genuine faith, an unfeigned faith that's just a genuine faith, we would say, a real faith, a sincere faith that existed in the life of a grandmother, a mother, and then a son. Where did that faith come from in Timothy's life? Well, you can turn over to chapter three of that chapter in the verse 15. And you'll find where it came from, because Paul, he writes, and that from a child. I was known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Jesus Christ. I believe that we can but conclude from these words, that word child, remember what it is, it's the word infant. It was through the faithful instruction of the scriptures by Timothy's mother and grandmother that Timothy, I believe, came to faith in Jesus Christ, or was helped along. Paul spoke of him as his son in the faith, but I believe that it laid the ground, at least, with regard to Timothy's faith in Jesus Christ. I believe that this New Testament example shows us that even when the father of the home is not a follower of Jesus Christ and it is believed that Timothy's father wasn't. And a man who shows no spiritual interest in spiritual things, I believe that this example shows us that it should never hinder or inhibit the instruction of children in the things of God. Timothy's mother and grandmother took to themselves the responsibility of instructing Timothy in the scriptures. whenever it seems that dad failed in his parental responsibilities. Mom took it up. Granny took it up. I believe that there are other examples in Scripture. I think of the home of Lydia. Family worship happened at least, we can say, when she was converted, because you'll know that not only was Lydia saved, but also her household. I think if we could also infer it, in the life of the Philippian jailer, because not only was he saved on that night in Acts 16, but also his household, they were saved and were baptized. So there was some kind of family gathering. What about the home of Cornelius? All the house was there when Peter arrived. Some kind of family worship was taking place in this home. Peter came with a word from God. But there are a number of New Testament references that refer to churches and people's houses. Let me read them for you. Romans 16, verse 3 and 5. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Jesus Christ. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 19. The churches of Asia salute you, Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. Colossians 4 verse 15, Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. Philemon 1 verse 2, And to our beloved Aphila and Archippus, our fellow soldier and and to the church in thy house." Now it is, I admit, impossible to decipher whether these references to home churches are speaking about homes that were being used for public worship before church buildings were built, or just families that were gathering together for worship. But they may refer to the latter, and thereby evidence the practice of families gathering together in the home for worship. There was church at home. We can say at least that. There was church in their houses. Cast alongside these examples, we have exhortations that I believe indicate that family worship and the accompanying instruction of children under parental care should take place within the family home. And I'll just reference them, Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy 6, what did it say there concerning teaching the children? It said that thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house. And when thou walkest by the way outside the house, and when thou liest down, and when thou writest up these commandments, instruction of the children when thou sittest in thine house. Proverbs 1 verse 8, My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Where's that going to happen? It's not going to happen in our public schools. It's going to happen at home. home Proverbs 4 verse 1 hear ye children the instruction of a father and attend to no understanding for I give you good doctrine forsake not my law for I was my father's son tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother he taught me also and said unto me let thine heart retain my words keep my commandments and live here this is David speaking to Solomon I was my father's son He taught me also. Daddy taught me something. He instructed me. Proverbs 22, verse 6, train up a child in the way that he shall go. When he is old, he will not depart from it. Ephesians 4, verse 6, and ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up. in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. These references and many more show that parents are to be the primary instructors of their children. And one means whereby that can take place is when the family gathers together for family worship, family worship. Now that's where I wanted to conclude today. And so that is where I will conclude. But I trust that what I have shared with you today has at least established in your mind and in your heart the biblical warrant for family worship within your home. May God help us in this area of our Christian living, maybe an area that has no neglect, You have maybe never gathered your family together for worship. Begin today. I'm not saying that you spend an hour, but begin. Dad, take the scriptures down. Go to the book of Psalms. Read a psalm with your children. Pray for them. They'll thank God someday for a praying mother and a praying father and sing His praise together, join heart and voice together in the worship of God. Brethren and sisters, this isn't legalism. This is just biblical living. We cannot just think that our children will become godly seed, because we throw them into a children's meeting for an hour, or youth fellowship for an hour and a half, to Sunday school for an hour, church in the morning for an hour 15, to the gospel service for an hour 15 minutes. ought to be instructed every day, to at least establish in the minds of our children, God is the head of this home, and God is honored in this place, and God is feared. Oh, give us homes built firmly on the Savior, and on the Scriptures, and may our homes be the catalyst of God doing something in the church and then in the community at large. May God give us submissive hearts, brethren and sisters, in this matter of family worship. Let's bow our heads in prayer. We do appreciate, I do appreciate the time. Thank you for listening. Our loving Father, think of those words in the book of Isaiah, all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. Lord, we realize, O God, that thou didst use means for that to take place. And Lord, you have given us homes and families. We're thinking of those who are maybe not married and hope someday to to set up a home together. Oh God, may this, may this be foremost in their minds as they come to choose life's partner. Does my future husband and wife, do they want to have family worship in our home? Do we want to build an altar? and pitch our tents? Or do we want to build our tents and pitch our altars? Oh God, help us, we pray. There may be those who will feel, Lord, guilty about this matter. But Lord, just give them the grace to gather together Maybe even after dinner today, take the word down to read the scriptures and to pray specifically for their loved ones. May husbands and wives gather together again for worship. How we think of that little phrase. The family that prays together stays together. Whether that be something that we can take as As it were, truth, yet Lord, we do find benefit in it. Lord, surely a husband and wife who prays together will not hold grudges against each other because their prayers are hindered. They cannot pray together if there's war in the home. Their prayers may as well be forgotten about. And so, dear God, help us, we pray. Just give us godly homes. Lord, make my home a godly home. Help me as a father, as a husband, to lead in this matter. And help us not to neglect it, even because of the busyness of life. Answer prayer, take us safely home. Bring us again as a family to thy house, where we gather for public worship. May we not neglect that, for that will be to the detriment of our souls. May we love to hear the gospel, and may our children from earliest days, may they be able to testify in coming years, from my earliest days, I was found in the place of public worship. I heard the gospel from my earliest days. Save us, Lord, from a generation that rise up who know not God. May our children know the God of the Bible. and may they know the God of their mother and father. And for those who have husbands or wives that are not saved, Lord, unite that family. Save that husband, save that wife, and may there then O God, be a unifying of a family around the person and work of Jesus Christ. Answer prayer. We offer these, our petitions, in and through the Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.