Kevin Swanson: Usually, Christian families understand the importance of using the word of God. So they open the word, they read the word, they bring bring out a Proverb or a song.
Daniel Craig: Usually?
Kevin Swanson: Well, they should. But that's only halfway. We still need to apply it. We still need to teach it. We still need to see how it's relevant to us. We still need to get into discussion. We need to eventually see how the word of God plugs into our lives, and then that leads us to prayer, because we begin to see our needs. So discipleship is not just reading the word of God, it's using it, applying it, bringing it in to a relevant application to where we are right here, right now, and then bringing that into prayer. So that takes, yeah, some training wheels, and I hope these study guides would help with that. They bring in the questions and encourage the discussion, and I think that's really important in a family that that sort of thing happens.
Daniel Craig: There might be a dad or mom listening, and maybe just now you piqued an interest or a desire or a sense of need to do family worship. In 60 seconds, walk them through the process of how using one of these resources or guides you would do family worship with your family.
Kevin Swanson: Well, you open it up by bringing people into it, and oftentimes, singing a hymn is a good way to do that. You gotta bring the family together and then you open up the study guide. You bring the word of God, you read the word of God, you start to explain the word of God, give some good illustrations that draw it into present life and the present struggles that we're going through right now, and then you begin to ask questions. You ask content questions.
Daniel Craig: And you have those questions right here?
Kevin Swanson: Sure, sure, you want content questions to be sure everybody is paying attention. So we got the content and the verses down, and then you ask the application questions. "How do these things apply to us in our situation?" And then after that, you've gotta go to prayer. But a little bit more scripture memory, some catechism memory, and maybe another song or two. Hymns and Psalms, they drive the truths a little deeper into the heart. They twist those truths in, and that's why singing is so important. But so is the reading and the teaching, and that's gotta happen every day.
God says in Hebrews 3:13, "Exhort each other daily so long as it's called 'today,' lest any be hardened with the deceitfulness of sin." Can your children's hearts be hardened inside of 24 hours? I'm here to tell you, yeah. It can happen to me, it can happen to my wife. We have to be watering, watering, watering our children, our families, with the word every single day. It's really crucial.
Daniel Craig: You've gone through all of the Proverbs. I think you're just about finished with all of the Psalms. You've done Genesis and Matthew. Why have you chosen those books of the Bible?
Kevin Swanson: It's the warp and the woof. Proverbs is God's book on life, God's wisdom for every part of life. It's God's basic curriculum. If you give your children Saxon math or geography or spelling, okay, you go ahead and do that from time to time. But what's really important, what's really, really important is God's book on wisdom. Give them God's book on giving wisdom instruction and understanding to a young man or a young woman. You'll find that in the Book of Proverbs. And God's book on worship and life is Psalms. Be sure that they understand the Book of Psalms. They were the words that's on the lips of Jesus throughout his ministry, and while he was hanging on the cross, he's bringing the Psalms back in.
If you're gonna be involved in spiritual warfare, if you're gonna be involved in worship, if you're going to live the Christian life, you've got to know the Psalms, and you've gotta know all 150 of them. It'd be nice to memorize them, but at the least, you've got to know the content and how they apply to this situation and that situation in life. And our study guides will show you exactly how every one of the 150 Psalms apply to various circumstances in your life.
Daniel Craig: Matthew and Genesis?
Kevin Swanson: Matthew is the gospel. You've got to give your children the gospels. We've done one so far, Matthew. Be sure you give your children the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's crucial.
Daniel Craig: We need that.
Kevin Swanson: Absolutely essential.
Isaac Botkin: And parents need to be reminded. What better way to be reminded than to see the need in our children.
Kevin Swanson: And it's important to know the word of God and to read straight through the word of God, all 66 books. But man, if you just cruise through it and just skim it, but you never dig into the Book of Proverbs, the Book of Psalms, the Book of Matthew, or the Book of Genesis, God's book on origins, you're not gonna get much knowledge really inculcated into your children's lives, and into your own life. You've got to dig. You've got to go deep. Yes, we go broad, we read through the entire word, that's important. But be sure you dig into certain books, and I choose Book of Psalms, Book of Proverbs, Book of Matthew at least one gospel, and the Book of Genesis, as the essential books that you've gotta dig into, and be sure your children know those books inside and out.