Lesson 5 True on the Outside Promise of the Week: I will speak truth and bring good not harm. Memory Verse: Luke 6:45b (ESV), For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Leader Note: This is our second week of Whatever is True. Last week we looked at what is in our hearts. We challenged the girls to think about what they are allowing into their eyes and ears, knowing that it eventually makes its way into their hearts. If our hearts are full of bad words, inappropriate images, gossip and hate, then that is what will come out. Just as a seed grows a tree which produces fruit, our hearts can produce rotten fruit because of what s been planted in them. I heard an illustration about stapling fruit to a tree. Imagine walking around a peach orchard and stapling apples onto branches. You might initially fool someone to think it was apple trees but eventually they would figure it out. The stapled apples would fall off and the peaches would begin to grow. We can try our best to staple good fruit on the outside of our life and fool people into thinking we are something we are not. Eventually our good fruit will fall off when we get angry, frustrated or tired and something rotten will come out. Our outside words and actions will show what fills our hearts. James 3:5 (ESV), Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The Message version puts it this way, It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. (James 3:5-6)
Lesson 5: True on the Outside CAPTIVATE: Charades Let s play a game of charades today. I will ask a few of you to come up to the front and act out something written on this paper. The rest of you try and guess what it is! You cannot use any words or noises, only hand and body movement. 1 President of the United States 2 Ballet dancer 3 Kid throwing a tantrum 4 Meteorologist giving the weather forecast 5 Waitress Were some of the people you were guessing easier to decipher than others? Why? Have any of you wanted to be one of these when you grow up? Why? CONNECT: People can guess who you are based on what they see you doing or what they hear you say. Those assumptions are not always right. Everybody has good days and bad. We can t control others opinions of us, but we can control what we do and say. Are we acting out truth and godliness like the volunteers acted in our game of charades, or is that really who we are? CULTIVATE: Last week we talked about filling our hearts with good things because we know what s in our hearts comes out. A peach seed grows a tree and produces. An apple seed grows an tree and produces. The seeds we plant in our hearts come first from our relationship with God. When we ask him to be our Lord and Savior, he plants himself in us. Then we plant other things in our heart, like the things we see and hear around us.
I showed you a chart where you could determine if the things you were allowing in your heart (movies, music, social media, conversations) were excellent, evil or somewhere in the middle. Were you more careful in the things you chose this past week? Were you more aware of what you were allowing into your heart? Let s read our scripture from Luke 6:43-45, No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Today we are going to focus on the last part which says, For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Remember our illustration with the glitter? The glitter we sprinkled in our glass came out as the water poured in and overflowed onto the plate. That glitter is an example of your words that come out every day in conversations, when you get stressed or angry, at home with your parents and even at school with your friends. What is your mouth saying? The Bible says this about our speech. Psalm 15 (NLT)Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. 3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. 4 Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever. COACH: I m going to read this again and I want you to listen for what it specifically lists in regard to our words. - Speak truth from sincere hearts - Refuse to gossip - Refuse to speak evil of their friends - Honor the faithful followers - Keep their promises - Do not lie
Your words can bring healing or harm to others. What examples from the list we made bring harm? - Gossiping o Example: making fun of the girls who didn t get invited to a party, snitching about who got in trouble, disclosing a secret o Outcome: hurts feelings, spreads lies, publicizes someone s mistake or mess-up instead of offering forgiveness and kindness, makes you feel prideful because you re celebrating the failure of someone else - Speaking evil o Example: bullying, hurtful sarcasm, wishing for someone to fail, criticizing someone s outfit or appearance o Outcome: hurt feelings, the targeted girl feels depressed and sad, spreads poisonous words that might encourage others to spread hate too - Telling lies o Example: omitting truth like telling your parents part of a story but not the whole thing, not admitting when you watched an inappropriate movie at a friend s house, exaggerating a story to make yourself look really important or special o Outcome: lost trust with your parents, your friends feel second-rate around you, carry around guilt all the time, becomes a habit that s hard to break What examples from the list bring good? - Speaking truth from sincere hearts o Sincere = free of deceit or falseness; genuine and real o Our hearts are free from deceit when we plant God s Word in them. His words are kind, forgiving, full of grace, loving, welcoming, and honest. o If you are reading your Bible every day then what might come out at the lunch table when someone wants to gossip? o If you are listening to worship music before school, what might you share with a friend who s upset that day? - Honoring the faithful followers o Honor = integrity in actions, high respect for another o We want to be the same kind of person no matter who we re with or where we are. This means we act truthfully in public and in secret. o We want to show respect to everyone because they are created by God. This means we speak truthfully about
everyone because it not only respects them, but respects God and His words. - Keeping their promises o Keep = to continue in action, remain o No matter what, we do what we say we re going to do. o If a friend invites you to her house for a sleepover and you say yes, but then another group of friends invites you to a party, you keep your promise. You don t change your mind after you ve made a promise and pick whoever is more popular. Our words are so important! We commit to use our words for good to lift others up and encourage their walk with Jesus. We will set the example for others by choosing to be true in all circumstances. Ephesians 4:25, 29, 32 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Promise of the Week: I will speak truth and bring good not harm. Memory Verse: Luke 6:45b (ESV), For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Leader Note: Ask the girls to raise their hands and make the following promise: Girlz 4 God Promise of the Week: I will speak truth and bring good not harm. Memory Verse: Luke 6:45b (ESV), For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
EMAIL to the Parents: Re: Girlz 4 God Lesson 5 True on the Outside Dear Girlz 4 God Parents, Thank you for allowing your daughter to attend Girlz 4 God this week! This is our second week of Whatever is True. Last week we looked at what is in our hearts. We challenged the girls to think about what they are allowing into their eyes and ears, knowing that it eventually makes its way into their hearts. If our hearts are full of bad words, inappropriate images, gossip and hate, then that is what will come out. Just as a seed grows a tree which produces fruit, our hearts can produce rotten fruit because of what s been planted in them. Today we focused on the last part which says, For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. We discussed our words and how they can bring good or harm to those who hear them. Psalm 15 Harm Gossip Speaking Evil Telling Lies Good Speaking truth with sincere hearts Honoring the faithful followers Keeping our promises Ephesians 4:25, 29, 32 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Girlz 4 God Promise of the Week: I will speak truth and bring good not harm. Memory Verse: Luke 6:45b (ESV), For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.