The Big Questions:

1. In the story of the woman with the perfume, (Matthew 26:6-13.) How did the others at the table react when they saw what the woman did?

They were mad and thought it was a waste of such an expensive bottle of perfume.

2. Did the woman care what they thought?

No, she didn’t. Passionate worshippers don’t care what others think. They worship God with all that they are and are not worried what others are thinking about them. She might have been embarrassed but, her love for Jesus meant more.

3. What should we focus on when we are worshipping? What should we not be focussing on?

When we worship, our focus is on God and praising Him. Our focus should not be on ourselves, what others are thinking or on anything that can distract us from worshipping God.

Parent at Home Activities:

Get crafty! Work together as a family to memorize this months memory verse by making a poster of Psalms 146:1-2 and then display it in your home where everyone can see it everyday!

Memory Verse:

“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Psalm 146:1-2 

The Big Questions:

1. What are the Psalms?

The Psalms are a collection of songs and poetry. We can find the Psalms in the Old Testament. There are many kinds of Psalms and they are all honest and heartfelt worship to God.

2. What sort of things do you say to God when you worship Him?

You can worship God all the time, no matter how you feel or what’s going on. You can worship God when things are going great and you want to thank Him for what He has done in your life, and you can praise Him when everything seems to be going wrong. You can tell God exactly how you feel.

3. What sort of Psalm would you write about God?

We all have our own experiences of God and ways that we like to worship Him. What sort of Psalm would you write? Would it be a Psalm about beauty in God’s creation, God providing for you or God healing you? No matter what it is, you can tell God how you feel.

Parent At Home Activities

Cut out the words from activity sheet and spread the words out across your table and help your children mix and match words to create phrases, like a psalm or worship song.

Explanation: We can worship God with our words. We can create our own Psalm that tells God how we feel, and worship Him for who He is. Passionate worshippers tell God how they feel. You can worship God in lots of creative and fun ways. We started with just some mixed up words but we used them to help us worship God.

Memory Verse:

“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Psalm 146:1-2 

The Big Questions:

1. How can we put God first in our lives?

We can put God first in our lives by trusting Him with our lives and our futures. We can put Him first in our time by not letting other things become more important than spending time with God. We can put God first with our tithe and offering. We can put God first by keeping what is important to Him, important to us.

2. Should we worry about our life if we are putting God first?

The Bible says that if we put God, and His kingdom first we don’t need to worry because God will take care of the rest. (Matthew 6:31-33) If we worry all the time then we are not trusting God, we are letting our worries be more important than Him.

3. Is there anything that you might put first in your life instead of God?

Share your answer and encourage your children to talk about things that might be easy to put first in our lives. Maybe you really like to play tennis and you like it so much you play it all the time. You read about tennis, you talk about tennis and you put it first above all the other things in your life. It’s important we keep a check on what we are putting first in our lives. It’s ok to like other things and do other things, as long as we keep God as number one.

Parent At-Home Activities

Discuss: How much time do you give to watching TV or playing computer games? Would you say that you spend an hour per day, or more, playing games or watching TV? And when you are not watching TV or playing games do you spend lots of time thinking about or talking about TV and games? Some of the things we own can take up so much of our attention that we start to wonder if they actually own us. We spend so much time devoted to them that we give them priority in our lives. What might be owning you?

Explanation: When you put God first in your life, and you live a life of generosity, the things you own don’t own you. Living an extreme life for God means you understand that if God is number one in your life everything else will follow. It’s not wrong to do the things that you enjoy when you have your priorities in the right order, and you keep the right attitude. You put God first, before games, before TV and before the belongings that you have. Generosity is what keeps them from owning you.

Memory Verse: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38

The Big Questions:

1. What are some choices that you make each day that can, over time, have a big impact on your life? Ask your children to share their answers, and discuss if they think these are big choices or small choices. What to eat for breakfast, what clothes to wear, what we watch on TV, what music we listen to, how we treat people around us etc., can sometimes seem to be a small choice. Over time these choices can actually become very important. If you choose to eat very unhealthy food for breakfast every day what will the result be? If you choose to watch TV every day instead of reading your Bible what will the result be? If you choose to treat people unkindly what result will this have in your life?

2. Why should we honour God with our choices? When we honour God with our choices we are putting Him first in our life. It’s part of our worship to Him to honour Him each day in what we do. God knows what is best for us, and He wants the very best for our lives.

3. When you have a choice to make, how do you know what will honour God? You know the sort of choices that would make your parents happy or that would make them mad, because you know them. When you get to know God you begin to know what would honour Him and what choices He would want you to make. You can learn more about God by coming to church, reading the Bible and through prayer.

Parent At-Home Activities

Play a games of Tic Tac Toe.

Explanation: Discuss with your children that where they choose to place their x or o affects the outcome of the game. In life we make choices every day and making the right choices that honour God helps us to have a great life.

Memory Verse: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38

The Big Questions:

1. When can you worship God? Worship is not just about singing songs in church. It’s about our attitude towards God. Our whole life can be worship to God.

2. Why do you worship God? Invite the children to each say why they love to worship God. We worship God because He deserves to be worshipped. God created us, loves us and cares for us. He is good, He is powerful and He is mighty. We are created to worship Him.

3. How can we worship God every day? You don’t need a worship team, a band or music to worship God. You can worship Him every day no matter where you are. You might like to spend time praying, drawing, dancing, singing or simply taking moments to thank God for who He is. Worshippers love God with everything they are so everything you do can be worship to God even things like washing dishes, cleaning, painting or dancing!

Parent At-Home Activities

Help your children write down words or draw pictures that express their worship to God. Encourage them to write their worship in their own words, simple and heartfelt. To assist the children give them some examples such as “Thank you God that you created all the colours in the world, especially red - that’s my favourite,” or, “God you are so big, I can’t even imagine how big you are, and how much love you have for us”.

Explanation: Worship is more than just singing. You can worship God with your own words. You don’t need to use big words to impress God, be yourself and worship Him from your heart.

Memory Verse: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38

The Big Questions:

1. What is a testimony?

Have the children define what a testimony is in their own words.

2. How can your life show God to others?

Discuss how living a life that shows God makes it easier to share the Gospel, and living a life that does not show God creates a barrier to sharing the gospel. E.g. if you are mean to someone and pick on them, they probably won’t listen to you if you were to share the Gospel with them.

3. What part of your testimony can you share with others?

Discuss the fact that we don’t always see God working in our lives until after He has done something amazing.

Parent At-Home Activities

Hide cards around the room with the words from the memory verse written on them. Have the children search for the words and then place them in the right order. When the verse is complete say it aloud together as a family.

Memory Verse: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16

The Big Questions:

1. What is the Gospel?

   Have children explain in their own words what they have learnt about the Gospel.

   2. Can you remember when you first heard the Gospel? How has it changed your life?

   Discuss how the Gospel is Good News to people. Discuss the effect that hearing the Gospel has in our lives.

   3. Who do you know that you can share the Gospel with?

   Discuss people that the children know who do not come to church and don’t know God. These could be friends at school, family members or neighbours.

Parent At-Home Activities

Blow up enough balloons for your children. Each child should rub the balloon on something woollen, or even their hair, to generate static electricity. Then have a competition to see whose balloon can stay ‘stuck’ to them for the longest. Try sticking the balloons to the wall in your house, and see if a ‘charged’ balloon can pick up paper?

Explanation: When rubbing the balloon, static electricity is created and the balloon is charged. when the balloon contains this static electricity it can do things it previously couldn’t. when we have Jesus living in us – we too are given power to do great things for God – we are Fully Charged.

Memory Verse: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16