‘For the Kingdom, the power & the glory are Yours. Now and forever’

Explain: The last 6 weeks we have worked through the Lord’s prayer and today we arrive at the final line of this prayer ‘For the Kingdom, the power & the glory are Yours. Now and forever’

Ask: Can you remember what we’ve explored in the last 6 weeks?

Explain: This final line of the Lord’s prayer isn’t actually found in Matthew or Luke and is thought to have been added by early churches as a ending for the Lord’s prayer in congregational worship…the earliest references to it with the ending line are as far back at 324 A.D. and is found mentioned in an old book of ‘instructions’ for Christian communities known as the Didache. It is thought to have been based on 1 Chronicles 29:11
(You may wish to simplify this for younger groups!)

Bible: 1 Chronicles 29:11

Ask: How does this passage relate to the rest of the Lord’s prayer?

Explain: This passage and the concluding line of the Lord’s prayer remind us that God is all powerful and that everything belongs to him. We’ve explored through the Lord’s prayer that God provides for us, that we should trust Him and that he forgives us and this passage reminds us that everything is God’s and that He should have the glory.

Ask: What things are you good at?

Do you like it when people notice?

Where do you think your gifts came from?

Explain: We all love being appreciated for our gifts, it’s great when people notice that we’re good at playing an instrument, art or telling great jokes, but all our gifts have been given to us by God to be used for His glory, we have a choice with our gifts to use them for good or for bad.

Video Clip: Spiderman 1 – ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’
The clip is from 33 mins 10 seconds up to 34 mins 23 seconds

Explain: What do we mean when we say ‘for God’s glory’?
(for God to have the credit)

Ask: How can you use your gifts for God’s glory?

How could you use them in ways which don’t glorify God?

Bible: 1 Peter 4:10-11

Ask: The passage says ‘so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.’ How does this relate to our gifts?

Do all of your lives give glory to God?

Explain: None of us manage to live lives that give complete glory to God, we all do things that don’t quite reflect God’s glory, we all say things that have the same effect…even youth workers and vicars! But we are challenged to work towards lives that reflect God’s glory in everything, we won’t reach complete perfection but we can continuously improve!

The last part of the Lord’s prayer reminds us to give glory to God, we can give glory to him for his creation, we can give glory to him for the good things we see in our lives, we can give him glory for the food and drink we are provided with, we can celebrate deciding not to do a particular sin we’ve been struggling with, we can praise him for forgiveness and we can give him glory for the gifts we have…we can give him glory in everything!

Closing: Have a piece of flip-chart paper and a pen, invite the group to pass the pen around and when an individual has the pen invite them to write something on the paper they can give glory to God for…it might be a gift they have, a particular person who’s really helped them or anything!

Prayer: After the activity pray that we would see & acknowledge God’s glory in our everyday lives.