Order of family worship

A time of praise: two songs

Opening prayer: Father God, thank you for being our God, and for being the big parent of this family. May the Holy Spirit guide us to understand your truth, in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Bible reading: Joshua 24:1-13. Ask family members to take note of these words when they read the Scripture: led them through, gave, sent, bless, and delivered.

Activity: Have each family member pick a word or phrase to share about God’s grace and care (For example: Thank God for giving me a good family).

Sharing: The book of Joshua chapters 23 and 24 are the final messages of encouragement Joshua gives to the Israelites before his death. He hopes the Israelites can trust and serve Yahweh wholeheartedly. In chapter 24 verses 1-13, Joshua repeats the story of how God chose the Israelites’ ancestor, Abraham, to bring him from beyond the great river (Euphrates), to leave his idols behind and worship the eternal God, bringing blessings to the nations. Later God brought the Israelites out of Egypt into Canaan. In those 40 years, the Israelites greatly experienced God’s saving, providence, help, and mercy. All these experiences were still fresh for the Israelites. So Joshua wanted the people to choose, whether to serve the idols east of the great river, or to worship Yahweh. Joshua himself proclaimed his own choice, calling upon the Israelites to choose to worship Yahweh, to serve him wholeheartedly.

Today, God’s love and grace is also lavished upon you, are you willing to serve him wholeheartedly? Serving God wholeheartedly means to work and live for God with perfect faithfulness. Think about it, in what areas can we improve or change, to work and live for God faithfully?

Read together Joshua 24:14-15 again.

Response: Have each family member choose an item they would like to change or renew, and share about it. Then pray for each other.