Family Worship

Walking in Love

The focus of this family time is to use five easy steps to teach your family that James, an early church leader, encourages the church to keep going when life is difficult because God will help them persevere.


MEMORY VERSE: 


And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13


Learn the Memory Verse together and say it throughout the week to help your family remember and apply what they have learned.


STEP 1. GATHER!


Pose the following “I’m curious” questions. Say “I’m curious …” before each question and give kids a chance to think about and answer each one. After each question, consider having kids share their ideas with a neighbor before you call on one or two of them to share with the group.


I’m curious ... 

  • When was a time you got help from someone else to do something difficult?
  • When have you helped someone do something hard?

 

STEP 2. READ THE BIBLE AND WORSHIP

Sing and have fun while worshiping then pray. Take a moment here to thank God for your family and your time together!!




STEP 3. DISCUSSION !

Watch the Bible Story video, and use these questions and points to have a conversation with your children about the Bible story.

 

REVIEW THE BIBLE STORY  

Use these questions and points to have a conversation with your children about the Bible story.

  • James tells followers of Jesus to think of it as pure what when we face all kinds of trouble? What do you think he means? 
  • When we’re tempted to do the wrong thing, what does God do? 
  • After someone has come through hard times, what will they receive, according to James? 
  • What are some troubles, or hard things, you’ve faced? 
  • How can going through hard things make you stronger in your faith? 
  • What are some “good gifts” God has given you in your life?  

God knows we’ll experience trouble in our lives. And He’ll be with us through them all, helping us grow stronger and persevere.


Mission Moment

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon

(1707-1791)

If you had more money than you could ever dream of What would you do with it? Would you buy toys, or games, or presents for your friends?

Selina Countess of Huntingdon had more money than most people could ever dream of. She was very, very rich; her house was very very big: her friends were very, very important. She was even friends with the king and queen! Then she became Jesus’ friend. She knew that being Jesus’ friend was far better than being very, very rich; better than having a very, very big house; better than having very, very important friends.

Selina wanted everyone to know how they could be Jesus' friends too. She wanted rich people to learn about Jesus; she wanted poor people to learn about Jesus. She wanted people in England to learn about Jesus; she wanted people in other countries to learn about Jesus. So she gave her money away.

She gave her money to build churches where all kinds of people could learn about Jesus. She gave her money to men who would teach people about Jesus in England. She gave her money to men who could leach people about Jesus in other countries. She had no more honey - but because of Selina, Jesus had lots more friends.



STEP 5. Pray!

God, thank You for always being with us in this race of life. Thank You for loving us always and helping us when times get hard. Thank You for always being with us in everything we face. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 
Encourage the kids to hold their hands out in front of them, with palms up, as if their hands were open to receive something. Tell them to listen and receive the blessing as you speak it over them. 

Blessing: Even though you may face hard times in your life, may you always remember that God loves you and is with you through anything and everything you may ever face. He loves you and will help you run your race of life. God helps us through hard times.