When times are tough, it may seem you can’t afford to share. But you can’t afford not to share. “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:24-25). If the poor widow had kept her meager food for herself, she would have starved. But she shared with Elijah, and God made sure she always had enough.

This widow lived in Sidon, realm of Jezebel’s father, center of Baal worship. The false god Baal could not protect his homeland from the drought sent by the God of Israel. God showed himself Judge not only of Israel but of other nations too. At the same time, God showed himself Savior of persons beyond Israel who believed in the living God. Even as God dried up Baal’s home turf, he chose a woman and child from that vile country to be saved through faith. Jesus singled her out to display God’s unexpected mercy (Luke 4:25-26).

Weather forecasters try to predict the next few days. Elijah predicted the next few years: dry, dry, and dry! Unlike forecasters, Elijah didn’t try to figure out future weather; he directed future weather. There would be no moisture until Elijah said so.

The pagan god Baal was supposed to rule thunder, rain, and fertility. But the weatherman challenged the weather god. Elijah spoke for the Creator and Ruler of all things, the living God: “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain.”

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Israel’s Northern Kingdom was rising to its high point of power and prosperity—and sinking to the lowest evil. As the military and economy boomed, faith fizzled. Never in the history of that kingdom of ten tribes had there been rulers as successful as Omri and his son Ahab—and never had there been any so sinful.

Earlier kings had led Israel to worship the Lord in the form of a golden calf, breaking God’s command not to make images of him. Omri and Ahab continued this evil and added more: they worshiped foreign gods, breaking God’s command to worship him alone.

We are all very familiar with the idea of corporate worship, the kind that happens on Sunday.  And we are even familiar with individual worship, a focused time of prayer and reading Scripture.  But, while the practice was common prior to mid-twentieth century.  It has fallen out of favor in the last few decades.

But should it be that way?  In other words, is it a preference that we can accept or deny and does Scripture have anything to say about this topic?

Malcolm Yarnel, and associate professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, gives us his analysis of family worship and it's Scriptural support.

"My Son, Be Strong in the Grace That is in Christ Jesus": The Baptist Family at Worship

Let's face it--coveting is great fuel for the economy. When having more stuff is our highest goal, we get a society where everyone is working and advertising and buying and selling at a frantic pace. As a result, most people end up having more stuff. If stuff is our greatest love and our motto is "It's the economy, stupid!", then coveting seems fine.

But if we love God and love other people, coveting is out. Coveting may grow the economy, but it wrecks relationships. When we covet, we want what our neighbor has, instead of loving him for who he is. We resent God for not giving us what we want, instead of rejoicing in the gift of his Son and the other gifts he gives us. In coveting we love things and use people; in contentment we love people and use things. In coveting we're grumpy at God; in contentment we're grateful to God.

Perjury--lying under oath at a trial--sends innocent people to prison and gives guilty people freedom to do more harm. False testimony in court harms others and offends God. So does every other kind of lying and gossip.

A child acts friendly toward another kid but behind his back speaks of him as a loser. A businessman bamboozles someone into signing a contract even though the fine print is sure to cause problems. A doctor tells a dying cancer patient that she'll probably be okay, prompting her to endure painful, useless treatments and robbing her of the chance to face death honestly. A politician makes promises he can't keep. A preacher use traditional language but twists it into a different meaning. God hates all such lying.

But wouldn't it be a minor matter for a man and his wife to exaggerate a bit and make a generous gift sound even more generous? Where was the harm if people thought this couple's big donation was the whole price of the property they sold instead of only part? But for this "little" lie, God struck Ananias and Sapphira dead. God doesn't strike every liar dead on the spot, but as the church of Jesus was getting started, God wanted everyone to get a clear message: lying has no place among people who are adopted by the God of truth, saved by the One who said, "I am the truth" (John 14:6)," and directed by "the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17).

Robert Robinson, his wife Robin, and their son Robby were driving along, hoping to enjoy a weekend away. "Guess what!" Robin said. "Mimi Klepto next door just loaned me a bunch of computer disks and told me to copy anything I want onto our hard drive. Oh, and Mimi also loaned me some videos to copy. That stuff would cost us a fortune if we had to buy it at the store."

"Sounds great!" smiled Robert. Then he patted his wallet and said, "The Johnsons paid me cash for the work I did on their kitchen. That's another 400 dollars the government won't have to know about when we do our tax forms."