- Meeting time.
There is no hard fast rule in Scripture regarding the day or time to schedule a family gathering or an assembly of the saints in your area. I Corinthians 14: 23 says…if the whole church be come together in one place. Paul did not reprimand the Corinthians for meeting too often or too little. God leaves the day and time up to the individuals involved; however, we should have a biblical reason for doing what we do—don’t be flippant or arbitrary in this matter. “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.” (Rom. 14:5-6)
- What is the purpose of a family gathering?
A family gathering can include any or all of the following items. As the spiritual leader of your embassy, you get to make the call.
Prayer and Praise. “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;” (Col. 4:2) “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2: For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3: For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” (I Tim. 2:1-3) Communication with God is of utmost importance to God. We begin our family gathering with prayer requests, prayer reports, and prayer answers. Then we have a time of personal private prayer. In the Brooker family gathering we devote whatever time necessary to voice to God and our family the concerns of our hearts.
Singing. Singing is a way for Christians to express praise to God with their spirit and mind. “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” (I Cor. 134:15) We sing as a family; we have special group singing; we have violin, piano and guitar specials.
Education and edification in the Scripture by the father. “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4) Christian men will work forty or more hours a week to insure that their families have food, clothing and shelter and never complain. However, these same men refuse to consider that God expects them to feed their families spiritually as well. It may take four or five hours of their “my time” to prepare a spiritual meal. For most men that is out of the question. Especially when it is much easier to just take your family to church and pay somebody else to take care of their spiritual needs.
Testimonies. “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, everyone of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.” (I Cor. 14:26) These are personal reports of how God has been working in my life recently. These are real life experiences. These testimonies are given voluntarily from time to time as each one is so prompted by the Holy Spirit. With rare exception, the testimony should be prepared before hand and should have the goal of edifying our brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are not careful a testimony can cause dissension, division and discouragement.
Questions. I always like to go around the room and ask if there are any questions about the message. If the family is particularly hungry, they have no questions; therefore being a wise (and sometimes manipulative) father, I will announce we are not going to eat until each person has a good and age appropriate question for me. (That gets the juices flowing with new zeal for the Lord).
Monetary giving. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. (I Cor. 16:2) Every Lord’s Day we take an offering at the end of our service. We have done this for a number of years. We have given to widows, Christians in need, purchased equipment to serve the Lord, and provided food and paid rental to make Grace Assembly possible. This matter is not optional with the Lord as some others are in this dispensation of grace. Everyone in your home should be taught to “Lay by in him in store” as God hath prospered. Grace giving is not to be deleted from our “list of things to do”!!! If you do not have a “storehouse” in your family, you are not living within the sound doctrines of grace. Paul says the reason we do this is when a need arises, we don’t have to take a collection.
Fellowship meal. Next, we move to the dining room of our home for a delicious shared meal. If you are not careful, this will become a “mom” thing every week which is not ideal. Encourage your age appropriate children to participate in this shared meal time as well. Every Sunday I make a delicious drink for our family that is both tasty and healthy. In that way I am blessing them two fold. Each child should consider preparing a favorite dish.
The Lord’s Supper. “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25: After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26: For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” (I Cor. 11:23-26) Paul does not direct us as to how often often is. We include it along with our shared meal each week. We should never exclude from our weekly celebration as a family the work of our Savior on the Cross in our behalf. Reflecting on the Gospel is central to our Christian lives. We do far too little of it.
Special ministry. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ…” (II Cor. 5:20) “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10) Later that same day, we go minister the Word of God to men. This is a family ministry where everyone takes part. Pam plays the piano, the children minister music and I proclaim the Word. I urge you to find a place where your family can minister the Gospel together. Ministry should be a part of our children’s fondest memories as they leave our homes and start their own homes (embassies).
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