Let’s Follow God!
Matthew 6:13
Catechism Question: What is the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
To Start
Bring your kids together in a place where they will be able to focus and pay attention. Maybe this is around the kitchen table or on the carpet of your living room. Wherever it is, be intentional about creating a special environment for your kids to share in family worship. Know that family worship will look and feel differently for each family and does not have to be perfect. Your children will remember the time spent with you as a family so work to create a space that is safe and loving for them. Also, decide before you begin what you will need to gather for your worship experience to run smoothly. If you are doing playing songs together as a family, go ahead and gather instruments. If you are doing communion get bread and juice ready. If your children will be coloring while you watch the sermon go ahead and have crayons and a coloring sheet ready. A few minutes of prep will make your time together seamless and enjoyable!
The family worship time is designed to mirror our time in service and incorporate your children into this worship and discussion time. You know your family best so be sure to structure this time in the best way for your family, picking and choosing from the resources provided! If your children are able, designate certain roles of worship to them, allowing them to lead your family in worship or scripture reading. Enjoy your time together and thank the Lord for moving within your home.
Prayer
Open by praying and asking God to lead your time together as a family. God brought you together as a family and has kept you this week. Open by thanking him for caring for each of you this week.
Adoration
Each Vintage Service and Kids class begins with songs of adoration. Feel free to tailor this song to fit your family and ages of those in your family using some of the choices below.
Toddlers and Pre-K will enjoy: Using New City Catechism App go to Part 3 (Green), Question 41: What is the Lord’s Prayer? Click in the top right settings to put your app in children’s mode and then play the song for Question 41: What is the Lord’s Prayer?
Elementary will enjoy:
“Not Afraid” by Rend Co. Kids
All will enjoy:
Vintage created playlist on Spotify or Apple Music or our Vintage live worship stream.
Confession & Assurance
After spending time adoring God through singing and prayer we enter into a time of confession. This is a beautiful time as a family where you can discuss what it means to make choices that are unlike the ways of Jesus and repent or turn back to God. Discuss with your family how we do not experience shame, but Jesus erased the power of sin
and through him we are completely forgiven and covered by his grace. This can be a great time to model as a parent what it looks like to repent, sharing with your child or children something that you are repenting of and the freedom you have to confess. Leave space for your children to do that as well. Be sure to take time to truly repent. This is your moment of assurance as much as it is a teaching time.
To close this time, play our Vintage worship stream song of assurance.
Lesson & Sermon
Discuss with your family that we are on our last week of talking about the answer to the question: What is the Lord’s Prayer? But that doesn’t mean we are finished praying together as a family. We have studied how to pray so that we can pray together at church and at home. Have children share what they have learned about prayer so far, taking time to share what you have learned. Next, read aloud our scripture passage, allowing one of your children to read it if they are able.
Matthew 6:9-13
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
If your children are able, watch the sermon together on Sunday.
If your children are younger, they may want to work on this coloring page during the sermon. You can also read Matthew 6:9-13 and have them build using Legos or paper what they learned from the Lord’s prayer. How was Jesus teaching us to pray? Allow children to engage creatively while you listen to the sermon.
Discussion Guide for Pre-K and Elementary:
Let’s look at what Jesus models for us in this part of our prayer. He models asking God to lead us not into temptation but to deliver us from evil. Jesus is talking about sin here. All of us have a hard time with sin. We aren’t perfect, which is why Jesus came and died for us. As we pray, we should be praying about our sins. Last week we learned to pray asking God for forgiveness. This week, we are learning to ask God to steer us away from sin before we even go near it.
As a family have a conversation about sins you struggle with. Discuss how, just like we prayed earlier in our prayer of confession and assurance, God is not a God of shame but a God of forgiveness. He wants us to pray to him- models praying to him to lead us from temptation.
Think about a sin or something you might want to do wrong. For example, maybe your mom told you that you can’t eat a cookie before dinner. What would keep you from eating a cookie? Going into the other room where you aren’t near cookies could help! Talk about SPECIFIC examples for your family of sins you struggle with and how you could pray to God in these situations, how he could lead you from temptation.
1. What are some temptations you face?
2. Who can we talk to about the temptations we face? What does the Lord’s prayer teach us about talking to God about our temptations?
3. How do you think praying to God our Father will help us avoid sins we are having a hard time with?
Discussion Guide for Middle and High School:
Discuss key takeaways your teenager had from the sermon, also sharing your own takeaways. Use the following questions to discuss the scripture in an impactful and meaningful way with your teen.
1. What are some temptations that you often face?
2. Why do you think God wishes to talk to us about the temptations we face?
3. How can you talk to God about those temptations and seek his help?
4. Jesus directs us to pray, “lead us”. What does this tell us about our relationship with God?
5. How does calling God “Father” help us understand how to ask for help in avoiding sin?
6. How do you think you can apply this part of the Lord’s Prayer to your life?
Toddler and Pre-K connection:
Does your child need to move?
Tell your child you are going to play a game called follow the leader. Have your child or children line up behind you. March around the room or the house and make sure everyone in the family is following you. Pause and say, “As we follow the leader, we have to make sure to follow the person in front!”
We can pray asking God to lead us away from sin and pray about our specific sins we are having a hard time with. Just like we followed the leader to certain places around the room, we follow God away from sin and to the good he has for us! Encourage them that as they pray to God about their sin, He teaches them and helps lead them during
that time. Pause where you are in your follow the leader line and make a circle. Take a moment to pray and thank God for leading you away from sin!
Remember to model this during the week with your child or children!
Family Response & Activity
After the sermon we respond. This is a great time to share with your family what it means to respond, and how each action is a response to what God has done in your life. If your child isn’t at the age where he or she understands the sacrament you are participating in, we still encourage you to model that sacrament and explain to him or her the meaning behind each sacrament. What a great time to slow down and share what you believe with your children!
We respond in a few ways at Vintage: we sing in confidence that we are a part of Christ’s church. Visit the adoration section at the top of this page and choose a few songs to sing together as a family. Be sure to choose at least one song your children will really be able to engage in and enjoy! Second, we also declare our dependence to our Good Father by giving tithes and offerings. As you give talk to your children about how everything we have is not ours, but it first belongs to God. If your children are old enough you can even have conversations with them about how you made decisions to give the amount that you give, how often you give, and what that money goes toward. To give online, visit this link. Finally, we take the Lord’s supper as a picture of worshipful obedience to Christ and as a means of Grace by which we are reminded of our place in God’s family, the church, as adopted sons and daughters. We remember Christ’s body broken for us and his blood spilled for us. We recommend reading aloud from Matthew 26:26-28 as your family partakes in the taking of communion to remember the meaning behind the meal you are taking.
Family Activity (Can be done during worship time or at a later time in the day):
Prayer Cards
Remind your child that we have been learning about prayer over the past few weeks and want to continue practicing prayer on a daily basis. One great way to pray and remember what you have been praying for is to write it down!
Give your child or children a stack of index cards with hole punches in the top left corner and allow them to decorate the first one with the memory verse. (If you don’t have index cards you can cut paper in rectangles and it works just as well!) Have your child loop the cards together with a metal ring, rubber band, or string.
Tell your child: Throughout the week as you pray for things you can write them on these prayer cards or draw pictures of them on these cards. As people ask you to pray for things and you want to remember you can also write them on these prayer cards. You can return to these and see how God has answered your prayers or taught you through praying to him!
Allow your child some time to write a few prayers down!
Activity Guide for your Family during the week:
1. Will your family be taking communion together on Sunday? Have your children help you make the bread for your Lord’s Supper Meal using this easy recipe.
2. Is your family looking to help our community? Visit our list of places that need help and donate to one of those places!
3. Looking for ways to connect the sermon to your daily activities and discussions? Download the Parent Cue App for helpful hints to connect with your child!
4. Is your family working on our Memory Verse?
– Elementary age: Write 1 John 5:14 on a piece of paper and allow your child to practice saying the verse with you. If he or she has the verse paper or practice card from previous weeks use that! You can also visit the LearnScripture website and allow your child to play and memorize the two verses we have worked with so far! Allow your child to say the verse to you without looking! Celebrate with your child! Talk about the verse! What does it mean to have confidence when we ask God something? What are some things that you have prayed in confidence recently? What are some things you want to pray with confidence?
– Toddler or Pre-K Aged: Review the memory verse with your child and what that verse means. Sing memory verse song to the tune of “Where is Thumbkin?”
If we ask (teacher)
If we ask (kids repeat)
Anything
Anything
According to his will
According to his will
He hears us
He hears us
If your child has memorized the verse, he or she will get a verse tag next time he or she is in class! Make sure to let the teacher know!
Is your middle or high schooler looking to connect with community? Email our Downtown Student Director, John Baggerman, at john.baggerman@vintagenc.com to link into a Zoom meetup and engage in community on Sunday night!