Family Worship Guides
Our Family Worship Guides are designed to help you prepare for worship the upcoming Sunday, with parents and children especially in mind. You can use this guide and the other resources to make yourself and your family more familiar with the songs, Scriptures, practices, and concepts that will be part of our worship in the coming Sunday, and so more ready to worship together with the church.
Family Worship Guide for October 4, 2026
Prepare for Songs and Psalms
A Song to Learn During TGP Unit 15
Practice this hymn with your children, and talk about what it means.
45 | “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” Henry Van Dyke, Ludwig van Beethoven
From The Sing! Hymnal: “Tertius Van Dyke, son of Henry Van Dyke, beautifully explained what these words meant to him: ‘My father’s hymn . . . is a vital and happy expression of the cheerful note that is the heart of the Christian religion. It begins, as Christianity itself began, in a whole-souled and hearty yes to life as Jesus lived it in God. It is the natural paean that leaps to the lips of a man who receives his life at God’s hands and purposes to live that life in Christ’s law of liberty.’”
Responsive Reading: Psalm 51:1–12
Read the Psalm together. Practice saying it responsively. Try memorizing one or more verses.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Talk About the Songs and Psalms
Choose a verse from a song or psalm. Read it together and discuss these questions using the “Swedish method.”
- What do you notice about these words? What do you like? What is surprising?
- Is there anything you don’t understand? Is there anything you wonder about?
- What do these words tell you about God? What do they tell you about yourself?
- Talk to God together about what you’ve discussed. Praise Him, thank Him, and ask for His help.
Prepare for Children’s Worship
Use this guide to prepare your children for their time learning in the classroom on Sunday morning (and for the Old and New Testament readings).
Unit 15 Memory Verse | Psalm 145:9 — “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.”
Unit 15 Big Picture Q&A | What is God like? God is holy, good, and loving.
Bible Story | “Judah Was Taken Captive,” 2 Chronicles 36. Read this story to your children from the Bible or from a storybook Bible. Prompt your children to describe the characters and events of the passage.
Christ Connection | The people of Judah continued to sin and were destroyed by Babylon. Even though God was patient, all sin deserves judgment. God’s patience is meant to lead us to repentance. Those who repent and trust in Jesus will escape God’s judgment.
Introduction to the Story
Growing up, you likely learned that disobedience has consequences. The people of Judah learned that the consequence for their disobedience to God was exile to Babylon. Despite their sin and unfaithfulness, God had been very patient with His people and was slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Not only had God sent the prophets to warn and encourage the people, but He also gave them good kings to help set an example. Still, the people continued to sin and worship idols. In today’s text, the people of Judah once again find themselves in the hands of evil kings.
King Jehoahaz, son of the final good king, Josiah, was dethroned by King Neco of Egypt after only three months of ruling. King Neco made his brother, Jehoiakim, king in his place. Jehoiakim, however, was captured by King Nebuchadnezzar eleven years later. Next came his son, King Jehoiachin. He also did evil in the Lord’s sight and was quickly replaced by Zedekiah.
King Zedekiah ruled over Judah for eleven years. He is described as a hard and stubborn man who refused to turn to the Lord (2 Chronicles 36:13). In the same way, the people and priests became more and more unfaithful to God.
Because of the sin of the people and their disregard for the many warnings they received, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy the nation of Judah. The Babylonians took all the treasures from the temple and palace and burned them down. This all came to pass just as God had said through the prophet Jeremiah. God’s people were captured and taken to Babylon. Yet, hope remained: after 70 years, God promised to rescue and restore His people to their land.
When we disobey God, we also face consequences. For those who have not trusted in Jesus, the consequence is eternal death in hell. The good news is that Jesus bore the consequences for all who trust in Him. The Bible shares how Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Our sin has been paid for by His death and defeated by His resurrection.
As you prepare this week, remember that we serve a God who is faithful to keep His word. Pray for boys and girls to understand the consequences of their sin, so they can experience the gift of Jesus’ forgiveness and eternal life.
Watch the Biggest Story video about the exile
Prepare for Pulpit Ministry
This Week’s Text | John 8:48–59
Some Context for Adults | From the ESV Study Bible: “If there had been any uncertainty about Jesus’ identity in other passages where he said, ‘I am’ (e.g., 6:35; 9:5; 11:25), there was no confusion here because Jesus is claiming to be the one who was alive before Abraham was, that is, more than 2,000 years earlier. … He uses the present tense ‘I am’ in speaking of existence more than 2,000 years earlier, thus claiming a kind of transcendence over time that could only be true of God. The words ‘I am’ in Greek use the same expression (Egō eimi) found in … the first half of God’s self-identification in Ex. 3:14, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ Jesus is thus claiming not only to be eternal but also to be the God who appeared to Moses at the burning bush.”
COMA Questions
Context, Observation, Meaning, Application
- What do you remember from the previous story in the Gospel of John?
- What do you notice about this passage? Are there any words you don’t know?
- What do you think is the message or story of this passage?
- What do you think God wants you to think or do after reading this passage?
Pray | After you have read and discussed the passage, thank God for His Word and ask Him to apply it to your life. Ask for the specific applications you identified in your discussion.