Lesson 9. Thanksgiving. Promise of the Week: I will give thanks to God in all circumstances.

Transcription

1 Lesson 9 Thanksgiving Promise of the Week: I will give thanks to God in all circumstances. Memory Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT, Be thankful in all circumstances; for this is God s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Leader Note: Being thankful seems to get lost in our world today. Have you ever been at Chick-fil-A when someone won his or her food for free by being the 100 th customer? I always get frustrated when they seem indifferent to winning and don t even say thank you to the Chick-fil-A employee. The justice-side of me wants to take back their free food and make them pay for it. Only those who get really excited and say thank you should win! I wonder if this is a result of our lack of thankfulness over many years, or our laziness and pride at thinking we deserve good things. We live in a me first world where expectations are high, and selfishness runs deep. Many expect to have it all, and get it when they want it. Growing up I was always expected to write thank you notes, especially to my grandparents. Receiving a thank you note in the mail now is rare and usually surprising. It always makes my heart happy though, to know that someone appreciated the gift I gave. Too bad the postal service doesn t deliver mail to Heaven but I think it s important to teach our girls to be especially thankful to God. As believers we have much to be thankful for and I think when we give thanks it makes God s heart happy too. Today we will teach through a story of the Bible that illustrates a grateful heart. We will also remind girls about the practice of writing thank-you notes and hopefully encourage a new generation of young people to reinstate this beautiful expression. Lesson 9: Thanksgiving CAPTIVATE: Say Thank-You Props - 1 Girlz 4 God t-shirt 2 other gifts (Christian books or Bath & Body Works lotions or something from the Target $1 Spot) 3 sticky notes or Duct tape (to mark chairs)

2 Do this BEFORE the meeting starts: o Choose 3 volunteers o Tell the first girl that you are going to give her a t-shirt but not to react. Don t say thank you, just take the shirt and sit down. o Tell the second girl that you are going to give her. Tell her to act disappointed and say, I would rather have a new t-shirt instead. Do you have another t-shirt? o Tell the third girl that you are going to give her. Tell her to say, Thank you, I really appreciate this. Thank you so much! Tell her to be polite and enthusiastic. o Put the three sticky notes or Duct tape under the chairs of the three girls you chose to be volunteers. Good morning! Today I decided to give away some free stuff. Three of you have pieces of tape under your chairs. If you do, then please raise your hand so I can give you your gift. (Play out the skit with the three girls as we discussed before.) Well that was interesting! I gave three gifts away. Did anyone notice the difference in responses to each gift? - The first girl didn t act like she cared. - The second girl was disappointed and ungrateful. - The third girl was polite and appreciated the gift. Only one girl said thank-you for her gift. Did that surprise you? Why? Have any of you been taught how to be thankful by your parents or another adult? What did they teach you? *Tell the group that you planned it ahead of time so they won t seek righteous revenge on the 2 girls who didn t respond correctly. CONNECT: These responses are similar to ways that we respond to God for the gifts he gives us. - Some of us take the gift and never say thank-you. It seems as if we don t care and we just keep going with life. - Some of us complain because we wish we had something else. Maybe we look around us and think we d rather have what God gave our friends. Instead of being thankful for what we got, we are jealous of others.

3 - The appropriate response is to thank God DAILY for the many ways he blesses us. The Bible says in James 1:17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. The gifts God gives each of us are good and perfectly planned for us. Can anyone remember a time you gave someone a gift and they didn t say thank-you? How did it make you feel? Can any of you remember the last time you told God thank-you for something? CULTIVATE: Let s look at a story from scripture that illustrates this point. Luke 17:11-19 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! When he saw them, he said, Go, show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? Then he said to him, Rise and go; your faith has made you well. * Leprosy A cruel disease affecting the skin of which there was no cure in biblical times. It was considered highly contagious so anyone affected with it was banished and lived outside the city in a community of other lepers. They could have no contact with family or neighbors for fear that it would spread to others. Can you imagine how wonderful it would have been for these 10 men, who had been separated from their loved ones, to be healed by Jesus? Scripture says as they went they were cleansed. Jesus didn t heal them immediately but as they walked back into the city to see the priests, they were healed. That must have been an interesting walk! We don t know how long they walked before they were healed. It took faith for these men to start walking in obedience into the city they had been banished from in expectation that Jesus healing would happen. This healing was

4 life changing because it not only restored their health; it gave them back their relationships. They could now return home and live among their family and friends. How do you think the 10 lepers felt after their healing? They must have been overjoyed! Perhaps some of them ran home to see their parents, their families, to embrace wives and children whom they had not been able to visit or touch in years. Maybe some of them ran to the town square to tell everyone what happened. Imagine if you had been suffering for years with a disease that made you an outcast in society. If you were suddenly cured, what would you have done? Unfortunately, only ONE of the lepers returned to thank Jesus. He was praising God in a loud voice and threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him. Only one saw beyond the gift to the GIVER. Only one came back and gave thanks. One out of ten. What was Jesus response? Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Then he said to him, Rise and go; your faith has made you well. What did Jesus mean by that? They had all been made physically well in that Jesus healed them of leprosy. Jesus is saying to the one who returned and expressed his faith in Christ Jesus through gratitude, that he had also been healed spiritually. His sins had been forgiven. The others received a temporary blessing of physical healing, but he received eternal life. What was the difference between the one who came back and the other nine? Were they all grateful if nine of them didn t return to say thank-you? Nine of them took the blessing and ran, but one was praising God as the source of his blessing. He had faith, not just in what Jesus could do, but also in who Jesus was. That faith expressed itself in gratitude and resulted in his salvation. CULTIVATE: Props - Clear glass (small mason jar or teacup) Saucer or plate to sit the cup on Pitcher of water (color water with food coloring) Optional Activity: blank notecards for thank you notes How do we express our gratefulness like the one leper?

5 1. Live a life of thanksgiving Colossians 2:6-7, So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Illustration: Invite a girl to pour some water into the cup don t tell her how much!! Say, Can you pour some water into this cup for me? She will probably fill it up part-ways. Does this scripture say to live a life of part-ways thankfulness? No, it says overflowing with thankfulness. Now ask her to fill the cup to overflowing (the water should spill out onto the plate below). Does your life overflow with thankfulness? Every day we should look for something to be thankful for and we shouldn t try to just say it one time but lots of times! Overflowing means to fill to the point of going over. Don t just fill someone s cup part-ways with your thankfulness go above and beyond! Optional Activity: One way to express your thanks is to write thank-you notes. How many of you do that? I brought a sample today for each of you. I want each of you to write a note of thanks right now to someone you know that needs to hear a personal thank-you! 2. Guard our hearts against ungratefulness

6 There is always something for which to give thanks. Our memory verse for the week is 1 Thessalonians 5:18, give thanks in all circumstances. Paul doesn t say we can pick and choose when to be thankful. - I ll only be thankful if I get a boyfriend. - I ll only be thankful if I get an A in English. - I ll only be thankful if I get 100 likes on my Instagram picture. When we face difficulty, we can still be thankful for God s love and presence and because he can redeem the difficult times in our lives for his glory. - If you feel like the girl who never has a boyfriend then be thankful that you don t have that distraction in your life. Instead of texting your boyfriend you can spend more time with your girlfriends and reading God s Word. It s amazing how much time and effort it takes to have a boyfriend! Enjoy your single days. - If you get a B in English instead of an A then be thankful that God is teaching you to study harder. Working hard in life produces discipline and the reward of getting an A is even sweeter when you worked extra hard for it. Trust me, high school is even harder than middle school. Learn to study well now so you ll be ready for all those AP classes! - Stop looking for outward approval on Instagram. Thank goodness the leper didn t take a pic of his healed body and then post #thanksgod. The goal wasn t to brag to the world about his healing but to thank Jesus personally for the amazing gift. Thank God personally and privately for his good gifts in your life. Social media doesn t need to see your new IPhone or latest and greatest selfie. Tell God thank you for ALL the good gifts in your life and leave it off Instagram. COACH: * Send a list around and get a mobile phone number for each girl. My goal for you this next week is to start each day with a grateful heart. I made a screen shot for you to put on your phones so that every time you look at your phone you will remember to be grateful. * Search Pinterest for a cute graphic. Many of them are free and downloadable. it to yourself and then save it as a photo. You can text it to each girl and they can save it on their phone and make it their screensaver.

7 Samples: Promise: I will give thanks to God in all circumstances. Leader Note: Ask the girls to raise their hands and make the following promise: Girlz 4 God Promise of the Week: I will give thanks to God in all circumstances. Memory Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT, Be thankful in all circumstances; for this is God s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. to the Parents: Re: Girlz 4 God Lesson 9 - Thanksgiving

8 Dear Girlz 4 God Parents, Thank you for allowing your daughter to attend Girlz 4 God this week! Today we studied the story from scripture of the ten lepers that Jesus healed. (See Luke 17:11-19) Only one of the ten returned to say thank-you to Jesus. He was grateful not just for the gift of healing but to Jesus, the GIVER of that gift. Each of us needs to express thankfulness in our lives also. First of all to God, the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17) but also to others. Saying thank-you brings joy to the giver and reminds us that we are blessed. We encouraged the girls to write thank-you notes to family and friends. We also challenged them to say thank-you to God everyday for the next week. We are texting them a screen shot graphic to remind them every time they look at their phone (which is A LOT). Girlz 4 God Promise of the Week: I will give thanks to God in all circumstances. Memory Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT, Be thankful in all circumstances; for this is God s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.