Beginning: Family Worship in Genesis

by Joel R. Beeke, Nick Thompson

Christians are our primary goal should not be to raise intelligent, successful, competent, and upright citizens, our primary concern ought to be for the good of our children’s souls - and so for God’s glory.

Teaching our children the Scriptures in a compelling, relevant, and holistic manner during daily family worship is one of the chief means we can achieve this. If you need help to do that – this is the series for you! It’s a comprehensive guide for the entire family and particularly children between the ages of 5–12.

Using a unique Review/Read/Reflect/Request format, family worship has never been so fulfilling.

Contents

Series Introduction

PART THE BEGINNING OF A WORLD (GENESIS 1–2)

1. In the Beginning, God
2. Our Triune Creator
3. The Light We See
4. The Air We Breathe
5. The Earth Beneath Our Feet
6. The Great Lights Above Us
7. The Animals We Love
8. Reflectors of God’s Glory
9. Kings Over God’s Creation
10. Rest from Our Labors
11. Clay in the Potter’s Hands
12. Priests in God’s House
13. The Choice of Life or Death
14. The First Marriage
15. Naked and Unashamed

PART THE BEGINNING OF A WAR (GENESIS 3–11)

16. Our Ancient Foe
17. Our Tragic Fall
18. Our Death in Adam
19. It’s Not My Fault!
20. A Promise of War
21. Our Pain in the Present
22. Clothed by Grace
23. Kicked Out of Eden
24. Family Bloodshed
25. God’s Promise Will Stand
26. Death is Not the Final Word
27. A Faith that Longs
28. Only Evil Continually
29. Judgement or Salvation
30. God’s Saving Provision
31. God Shut the Door
32. Floodwaters of Judgment
33. Remembered by God
34. A Sweet-Smelling Sacrifice
35. A New Adam
36. Redemption’s Stage
37. A Bow in the Clouds
38. Noah’s Failure
39. The God of Shem
40. A Troublesome Tower

PART THE BEGINNING OF A NATION (GENESIS 12–50)

41. Love Toward the Unlovely
42. A Blessed Trunk
43. A Believing Pilgrim
44. Famine in the Land
45. Lift Up Your Eyes
46. God Most High
47. A Faith that Justifies
48. A Covenant is Cut
49. Man-Made Salvation
50. The God Who Sees Me
51. Father of a Great Multitude
52. Blessing Via Curse
53. Unto You and Your Children
54. Help My Unbelief!
55. God with Us
56. The Just Judge of All the Earth
57. Escape for Your Life!
58. Delivered Yet Again
59. Unto Us a Child is Born
60. The Greatest Trial
61. A Ram Provided
62. A Permanent Inheritance
63. God’s Angel Will Go Before You
64. God Provides Once More
65. Finishing in Faith
66. Two Sons, Two Nations
67. Despising the Birthright
68. Like Father, Like Son
69. Deceived into Blessing
70. God’s Staircase
71. Humility Comes Hard
72. A Nation is Born
73. From Laban to Canaan
74. Wrestling with God
75. Brothers Reunited
76. A New Beginning
77. Funerals in the Promised Land
78. A Prince Among Brothers
79. From Royalty to Rags
80. Grace Breaking Through
81. A Dark Providence
82. Dreams from a Dungeon
83. Exalted by God
84. At Their Brother’s Feet
85. To Egypt Again
86. A Silver Cup, A Solemn Test
87. I Am Joseph!
88. Your Son is Alive!
89. Blessed Through Joseph
90. Our Home is Not in Egypt
91. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah
92. Finishing in Hope

Bible and Catechetical Memorization during Family Worship

Genres: Devotional, Old Testament, Childrens

297 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 20, 2021

About the author

Joel R. Beeke (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is the chancellor and professor of homiletics and systematic theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He has served as a pastor since 1978 and currently ministers at the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the editor of the Puritan Reformed Journal and The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth magazine, the board chairman of Reformation Heritage Books, the president of Inheritance Publishers, and the vice president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society.

Beeke has written and coauthored 120 books, edited 120 books, and contributed 2,500 articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. He frequently lectures at seminaries and speaks at Reformed conferences around the world. The Lord has blessed him and his wife Mary with three children and eleven grandchildren.

Reviews

[Emily Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This devotion book was wonderful. It did not shy away from hard parts of scripture or truths but explained them and opened up dialogue to discuss them! We did this with our 5 year old who was able to grasp much of it as we went through it as a family. I appreciate that they did not water discussion or scripture down or make it fluffy in any way.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

We ended up saving this one for when the kids are a little bit older. But what we did read was absolutely excellent.

[Carissa Benton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. If you're looking for a great book for family worship, highly recommend this one. On to the next!

[Karla Hein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Besides a brief theological reference to infant baptism at one point in the commentary (which is fine as that is the authors' belief and it was easily skipped past if it is not yours) and perhaps trying too hard to link everything to Christ or the Church (which is also great, but some of the lines seemed a little stretched perhaps), besides these small caveats, recommend this book absolutely! It is brief for family devotions (a bit repetitive if asking the review questions, etc. but easy to adapt for your family). It is straight-forward (no cutesy stories or silly games). It is beautiful. You are sitting there bidding your time at family devotions, then Eureka! You're humbled by a phrase/an Old Testament connection/a worshipful moment. This book has value for your family as evidenced by multiple comments I've read from other families who would agree with this sentiment!

[Micah Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a parent with kids, then this is an amazing book! It’s hard to find books that are truly grounded in scripture and yet aimed at children. I would recommend this book and would want to work through others by this author or in the same series. My only critique is that for a wide range of age, many of the questions can be a little tough for littler kids but then again that’s what improvisation is for.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

We utilized this excellent guide for our family worship over the last few months. We all learned a lot and the questions were stretching but profitable for my 6 year old.

[Adrian Selmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my son as one of our nightly devotionals! Amazingly done!

[Gelu Timoficiuc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tried it with our 4 year old. Had to simplify and improvise here and there. In retrospect I would use it a little later. But the content, the format, the applications are wonderful!

[Greg Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great little devotional that we did as a family. I would recommend it to anyone. And it is age-appropriate for young children and older children alike.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did this with kids 6-12 - especially good ages 8 and up I think. Really excellent. A great summary of the entire book of Genesis, with good questions for the kids. Very reformed and Biblical.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for reading with children and all family members!

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to guide family study of the book of Genesis. The questions are helpful for getting the kids engaged, and it’s deep enough for the whole family to be challenged.

[Ross Treadway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple, yet thoughtful guides for family worship through all the major parts of Genesis. Very helpful!