Creating Spiritual Families

OPENING HYMN:        ♯ 655    Happy the home (Family to do this)

SCRIPTURE READING :        Deut. 6:5-7 (Ask a family to read the scripture Reading)

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.       

PRAYER:    (Family to do the prayer)

WELCOME & OPENING REMARKS:       

Good morning Sabbath students and friends. How happy we are to be here another Sabbath day! I hope that your week was a pleasant one, free from any turmoil or stress. I want to welcome all of you and I pray that our fellowship together would be an uplifting and edifying one. Sit back and relax as we look at our theme … A Happy Spiritual Family.

Families all over the world are facing a crisis. In this modern age family closeness has been threatened by competitive culture and technological change. Many families are suffering such issues as separation, turmoil, selfishness and for some, even domestic violence. 

Education within the family and the neighbourhood structure has been taken over by television, computers, cell phones -to name a few. We are losing the majority of our children to the world as a result. 

According to a range of studies, between 60-80% of children growing up in our churches today, are leaving the faith when they become adults. Brethren, how could this happen? What can we do about it? Can anything be done to keep our children out of these statistics? 

Fathers and mothers, we are nearing the end of time and we should most earnestly seek to understand what we should do to inherit eternal life. If we will follow on to know the Lord, we will know that His going forth is prepared as the morning. Are we preparing for heaven? We say we are. We should be so conducting ourselves that we should make the right impressions upon those who are entrusted to our care. Let us not encourage our children to follow the trend of the world; and if we will be faithful in giving them a right training, they will not do this.    

SPECIAL MUSIC:          Ask a family to give special music

MISSION STORY:         Ask a family to testify about things that keep their family together

SUPERINTENDENT REMARKS:              

Loving God begins at home. In Matthew 22, Jesus points us to the most important commandment in the Bible which is found in our scripture reading Deuteronomy 6: 5-7.                    

Immediately following the great commandment, God focuses our attention on family life. He speaks specifically to parents to live out their love for Him by doing all in their power to pass their faith to their children. Are we serious about loving God? Then we must be serious about teaching God’s word diligently to our children. 

Here we find the purpose of parenting and grand-parenting: to impress the hearts of our children with a love for God. At the heart of the Great Commandment is family discipleship—with parents being the primary trainers of the children.    

Despite God’s plan for the happiness of the family we know all things have not always worked as well as they were supposed to. Husbands and wives often do not get along. The marriage that was meant to last until death often ends in divorce—or relationships doesn’t even get to marriage before giving birth to children, separating and causing lots of pain. 

Parents and children are often angry at each other.  

So when we talk about a family that feels connected, we are not talking about a family without any problems. Rather we are describing a family that enjoys relatively high levels of satisfaction and stability among its members. So we can say there is hope for today’s families. 

Things can get better. The family who puts God first, communicates effectively, who are intentional about managing conflict in a timely manner and are committed to being patient, kind, understanding and forgiving will be a happy family. 

************************* LESSON STUDY**************************

SUPERINTENDENT CLOSING REMARKS:            

This morning our focus was on the family. I want to leave a few tips with you on how you can improve your family spirituality. 

1.      Prayer and Family worship ……. Don’t wait until you are a better Christian or until your children are a little older. 

Take action today to increase prayer and family worship; for family worship is the most important meal that should be consumed daily.

2       Create a family identity …… Find a family motto, whether by words, ideas or reflection. Allow each member to contribute.

3.      Work together …….. A happy family depends on team work. Every member of the family should feel that he or she has a stake in wanting to have a happy family life. Create guidelines for how you can work together as a team. 

4.      Nurture your children’s positive features …… Guide your children t become resilient and foster positive values. Offer words of affirmation and compliments often and always.

5.      Turn your children into winners ……. The best approach is to emphasize the positive actions and traits. Lead your children with a good example: be strong, be clear in your instructions, and show them the values of freedom to make good choices and to think for themselves.  

6.      Create an environment for inner peace .....Inner peace is very important for every family. Spiritually attune people tend to be happier than non – spiritual persons.  The greatest gift we can give our children is a spiritual upbringing. In doing so, we enable them to be the masters of their own life. We give them the knowledge of the path of inner happiness, and we empower them to a happy and positive life. 

CLOSING HYMN:         ♯ 652  ….. Love at Home