1.
Teachers note:
Topics we will look at
What is worship?
An illustration of worship.
So what things help Christians to worship God?
(1) In many Churches there will be a cross.
(2) Christians will read, or listen, to the Bible to help them in their worship.
(3) In many Churches Christians will sing songs and hymns to help them.
(4) In a Church service there will be a time for praying, and periods of silence to help them
in their worship.
(5) But there will be times when Christians will be feeling joyful, excited, and thankful to
God.
Here's a tough story from the Bible.
How would you describe his worship in the story?
PLENARY: What things do you worship?
Are there any dangers in worshiping these things?
Should worshiping God be a natural part of our lives?
See more Free Lesson Plans at: https://notmanywise.uk
[i]

2.
What do you think
worship is?
Describe what it is.
What do you think CHRISTIAN worship is?
Singing hymns, kneeling to pray?
These things can help to express worship,
but what actually is worship?

3.
Imagine you are going to a music concert.
You go through the entrance and into the
stadium.
The group walks on to the stage.
Now look around you at the crowd.
What emotions and feelings do you think
are in the crowd?
Many of those would be 'fans' of one, or
all of them.
Many would have pictures and posters of
their heroes.
They would be their 'idols’.
You could say that these fans worship
these artists.
[iii]
An illustration of worship:

4.
It really is raising someone up in
your mind.
They are important, they're
brilliant, very special, very skilful,
they are a hero.
So because of these qualities, you
look up to them, and admire them,
and you spend time thinking about
them.
That is worship.
When a Christian worships God,
God is all these things to the
worshiper.
God becomes the most important
Person in their lives, because they
see Him as being very special - the
Creator God of everything, and they
want to spend time thinking about
Him.
How would you describe
Christian worship now?
[iv]

5.
Christians can't go to the football ground to
watch their 'hero', God, come onto the field!
[v]
So what things help Christians to worship
God?...
1) In many Churches there will be a cross.
There is nothing special about these crosses,
they can be decorated or very plain.
They serve as a reminder that Jesus Christ,
God's Son, died upon a wooden cross
He took our blame and paid the penalty for
the wrong things that we have done.
(See next slide to explain that one!) [v]

6.
A good illustration to explain this is:
Imagine you kick a football through a neighbours very expensive window.
The neighbour demands money to have it repaired, but you haven't got anywhere near that amount.
Then your dad comes and offers to pay for the full amount of the repairs, even though he wasn't
responsible for breaking it.
That is what Jesus did - He paid so we could be free of the debt to God (of all the things we’ve done
wrong and the good we should have done.)
[vi]

7.
An activity to make a
cross from paper:
[1] Place an A4 sheet of paper on a table.
Lift the top up and fold along the A - A line.
[2] Lift the right side up & fold along the B - B line.
[3] Now cut or tear along the C - C lines.
[4] Open out & you should have a cross!

8.
Christians believe that the Bible is
inspired by God.
That means that although the Bible
was written by many people, they
were all given the words from God.
So by listening to the Bible it is like
hearing from God Himself.
They learn more and more about
God, and therefore they can
appreciate Him more, so this raises
their worship.
[vii](Teachers note: The subject of the Bible will be dealt with in later Lesson Plans).
2) Christians will read, or listen, to the Bible
to help them in their worship of God.

9.
3) In many Churches Christians will sing songs
and hymns to help them in their worship of
God.
If the hymn or song is well written it will focus
in on a part of God's character, or on
something that He has done.
Here is an example of an old hymn
(Composed by Cecil Frances Alexander) which
describes where Jesus' cross was and what
the reason was for it.
(Teachers note: The subject of hymns, songs
etc, will be dealt with in a later Lesson Plan).
[viii]

10.
[viii]

11.
How would this help a Christian in a difficult
situation?
By believing that God is far more wise and
powerful than themselves, they can trust that
this situation will work out for the best, and
to stop worrying!
[viii]
For example of a more modern song:

12.
Imagine trying to read a book that
requires a lot of concentration.
Then someone turns on the TV, the
baby starts screaming, someone is
bashing cutlery around in the
kitchen and the dog is barking
constantly!
Was it easier to concentrate during
the quiet time, or the noisy time?
(Teachers note: The subject of prayer will be dealt with in a later Lesson Plan).
4) In a Church service there will be a
time for praying, and periods of
silence to help them in their
worship of God.
It is much easier to make a big, important
decision when you haven't got any distractions or
lots of noise.
It is good to have times of quiet reflection, to think about
ourselves, other people and God.
So Church services ought to have times of quiet.
[ix]

13.
5) But there will be times when Christians will be feeling joyful, excited and thankful to God.
So if it was all quiet then it would be very difficult to express their inner joy.
An example: Imagine you have been given a wonderful present and you want to tell your friend about it.
But your friend is in the library! You run up to them and you start to excitedly tell them about your present.
But everyone else is telling you to be quiet!
You are not allowed to express your excitement.
Church services should cater for these different emotions.
Church isn’t the only place to worship…
And worship is not only singing songs, listening to the Bible, praying… See the next slide!

14.
Here's a story from the Bible which has been given
modern stage props:
Job (pronounced Jobe!) had a wife and family, and ran
his own business.
In one day his lorry got stolen, his warehouse got burnt
down with everything in it, he discovered that he
wasn't insured for any of it! And then all of his children
got killed in an accident!
What a terrible day!
But what does the Bible say he did?
What do you think he did?
Kick some things around! Shout at God!
The Bible tells us that he fell to the ground and
worshipped God! (Job 1:20-22)
Wow! Isn't that amazing!
He then went on to say:
"Naked I came into the world, naked I shall depart. The
Lord (God) gave, and the Lord has taken away, may the
Name of the Lord be praised."
[xi]
So in this example worship had nothing to do with singing, or going to Church. (Continued on next slide)

15.
How would you describe this worship?
Some might say ‘he's a nutter!’
Job didn't react in the way that you would expect.
He had lost a huge amount, just about everything,
but even in all this he was able to worship,
because:
a) He believed that everything he had, his
business, his money, even his children were
given by God.
b) Job trusted God. So even if this situation was
terrible, Job believed that God had a plan
which would end up for the best.
Christians believe that God is pleased with such worship.
PLENARY: What things do you worship?
Are there any dangers in worshiping these things?
If we make these things to be very, very important, we may
find later in life that these things were only short lived, and
nowhere near as important as we thought they were.
Should worshiping God be a natural part of our lives?
[xii]

16.
See more
Free Lesson Plans at:
Not Many Wise
Click on this link
https://notmanywise.uk
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lifegiver
These images are by Unknown Author
is licensed under CC BY-NC
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