Connect Group guide: True worship

Summary

The book of Romans is an amazing exploration of the gospel, in which the Apostle Paul unpacks the significance of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and how this good news changes everything! In Romans 12, having considered all that Jesus has done for us, Paul argues that the only proper response is to live lives of worship. To lay down our lives in service to God and one another. 

In the first talk of our series, we considered what it means to think of ourselves as Living Sacrifices. Read Romans 12:1-2, and consider some or all of the following questions. You may want to discuss them all together, or in small groups, and to pray for one another as well. 

Discussion

• How would you define ‘worship’? How has this passage challenged your view of what kind of worship God wants from us? 
• What are the areas of your life you find hardest to surrender to God in worship? What steps may God be asking you to take this week? 
• Paul talks about being transformed by the renewing of our minds. What do you allow to shape your thinking most of all? What habits or practices will help you to have your mind shaped by God more than by the patterns of this world?  

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus,
Our Living Sacrifice.
Thank you for your death on our behalf,
And your resurrection to new life. 

In view of your mercy,
By which we have been made new,
We choose to live by the pattern you have set for us;
Laying down our lives
As our spiritual act of worship. 

Help us to breakdown the division
Between the sacred and the secular;
Knowing that worship is not just
The singing of songs in a church,
But every place we set foot is a Temple.

Every breath we take,
And every task we undertake,
Is an opportunity to praise.

May we worship you this week with
Our thoughts,
Our words,
Our time,
Our resources,
Our hands,
Our work,
Our attitudes,
Our waking,
And our sleeping. 

Oh! Christ be magnified
From the altar of my life
Christ be magnified in me

Amen.