Lesson 3 The Gospel Promise of the Week: Jesus erases my sin debt. Memory Verse: John 3:16. (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish Leader Note: We can t assume that every girl that comes to Girlz 4 God has a personal relationship with Jesus. In fact, Girlz 4 God is a great opportunity for girls to invite their unbelieving friends to attend. Throughout the year, we should remind girls of the Gospel and give them an opportunity to make a decision to follow Jesus if they haven t already. The girls in your room come from many different backgrounds. Their family s beliefs, the way they are raised and the places they go to worship all reinforce how they see the world and God. Today s message of the Gospel may be brand new to some of your girls so do not be disappointed if no one responds to salvation. We are planting seeds of truth that will be watered throughout the year as we unpack the person of Jesus Christ and the hope of the Bible. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed,apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God s service; you are God s field, God s building. One of my favorite books is A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent. The basic premise is that we must preach the gospel to ourselves every single day. He reminds us that in the New Testament repreaching the gospel and then showing how it applied to life was Paul s choice method for ministering to believers (A Gospel Primer, p13). On my worst days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God s unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus righteousness and not mine (A Gospel Primer, p20).
Lesson 3: The Gospel CAPTIVATE: Jesus erases my sin debt Props Credit Card Different objects to purchase (labeled with a price on one side and specific SIN on the other example: bottle of nail polish, sticky note with $20 on one side and gossip on the other) choose things from around your house and make the prices expensive. Envelope with paper inside that says JESUS Today we are going to talk about the Gospel. Does anyone know what the word gospel means? The Good News The Gospel truly is our good news. This year in Girlz 4 God we will talk about lots of things that you deal with every day like friend drama, boy drama, parent drama and you at the center of all that drama! But none of it will matter if you don t have the good news of Jesus living in your hearts. The good news of the Gospel is what gives us the power to make wise choices that keep us drama-free! What is this? (*Hold up the credit card) What is it used for? (*To purchase items on credit meaning you don t have the money to pay for it that day, it sends you a bill later in the month) Show the girls the different items you brought for purchase. Hand the credit card to a girl and have her purchase an item. Write the price for that item on the board. Hand the credit card to another girl and so on until all items have been purchased. Once all the items are purchased, add up the total cost and discuss how they are going to pay the credit card bill. - Babysitting - Chores around the house - Yardwork Can you pay this bill today? No. When a bill cannot be paid in full, it then becomes debt. Debt is something you owe. You may have seen your parents get a credit card bill in the mail. That is debt that they owe to the credit card company.
CONNECT: The Bible says in Romans 3:23 (NLT), For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God s glorious standard. Ask the girls who purchased items to peel off their price tag and look at the back to reveal the sin on the other side. Record the sins on the board next to the prices. Every day we are racking up sin debt, just like the credit card debt. Left to our own, we have no way to repay this debt. For the money portion (*point to the board), we discussed doing side jobs to make cash to pay the debt. For the sin portion (*point to the board), there s no amount of praying, reading our Bible or going to church that will pay it off. We cannot do enough good works, say enough nice things or be a good enough person to get rid of all the debt we accrue. Why? Romans 3:11-12 (NIV), There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. On our own, we continue to collect a sin debt that we cannot repay. God s perfect standard of holiness has to be paid by someone that is actually perfect and holy. Because of our sinful nature, we can never meet that standard. CULTIVATE: What is the answer? The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21(NLT), For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life without sin, took our sin upon himself on the cross and died for us. There is no way for us to earn our salvation by doing good things or being better than the next girl. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT), 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Just like your parents get a credit card bill every month, we get a sin bill every month. Since we cannot pay it, it becomes our debt and it just piles higher and higher. BUT when we receive the gift of Jesus, he pays our bill once and for all. The gift of Jesus death is ours if we will confess our sin, receive his free gift and make him our Lord and Savior. This is what our sin bill looks like when it comes in the mail. (*Hand a girl the envelope and ask her to open it and show everyone what s written inside.) Romans 5:8 (NLT), But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 10:9-10 (MSG), You re not doing anything; you re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: God has set everything right between him and me! Romans 10:13 (NIV), 13 for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. WOW! What an incredible FREE gift that Jesus gave us. Have you ever gotten a free gift or maybe won a drawing for something free? How did that make you feel? Did you keep that news to yourself or did you want to share it with your friends? Why did God do this? John 3:16. (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish
God s Lavish Love (*Lavish means to expend or give in great amounts or without limit) COACH: If time permits answer these questions. If not, move to the Invitation. Why don t we earn our salvation through doing good things? Grace is not earned by any effort on our part; otherwise, it could not be called grace. Grace is free. If our good works earned salvation, then God would be obligated to pay us our due. But no one can earn heaven, and God s blessings are not His obligation; they flow from His goodness and love. No matter how diligently we pursue works to earn God s favor, we will fail. Our sin trips us up every time.
By grace, we receive the faith that enables us to believe that He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and provide the salvation we cannot achieve on our own. The Lord died for our sins and rose for our justification, and He forgives, freely and fully, those who accept His gift of grace in Christ and that acceptance comes through faith. Ephesians 1:4-6, Romans 3:24 (www.gotquestions.org) Can I lose my salvation? Nothing can separate a child of God from the Father s love Romans 8:38-39. Nothing can remove a Christian from God s hand John 10:28-29. God guarantees eternal life and maintains the salvation He has given us. The Good Shepherd searches for the lost sheep, and, when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home Luke 15:5-6. The lamb is found, and the Shepherd gladly bears the burden; our Lord takes full responsibility for bringing the lost one safely home. (www.gotquestions.org) Invitation If you have never asked Jesus to forgive your sin, come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior, then you can do that today! I want to ask everyone to close your eyes and bow your head. If you are here today and you have never invited Jesus into your heart then please raise your hand. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. It gives me the opportunity to pray for you and walk alongside you in your journey this year in Girlz 4 God. If you are ready today and want to invite Jesus into your heart then pray this prayer right now. Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. There s nothing I can do to earn my salvation. You were prefect and chose to die on the cross for my sins. Thank you for this incredible gift. Come into my heart today and forgive me of my sins. Help me to live for you each and every day. Amen. If you prayed that prayer today, I am going to ask you to do something really bold and look up at me. I want to know what you did today so that we can celebrate this amazing decision you made. With your permission, me or one of the other leaders will sit down and talk with you more about your decision and some next steps.
If you are already a believer in Jesus then I pray that today was a great reminder for you. Every day we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. We need to remind ourselves that: - God s gift of salvation and grace is FREE. I cannot earn it by good things I do or lose it by bad things I do. - I need Jesus every day to help me live for him. There is no way I can be perfect and make all the right decisions. I need his strength to be my teacher and my guide. - The Good News (Gospel) of Jesus is the best news anyone can hear. I always need to be ready to share about my relationship with Jesus so that others can have their lives changed too. - Invite your friends to Girlz 4 God!! Promise of the Week: Jesus erases my sin debt. Memory Verse: John 3:16. (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish Leader Note: Ask the girls to raise their hands and make the following promise: Girlz 4 God Promise of the Week: Jesus erases my sin debt. Memory Verse: John 3:16. (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish
EMAIL to the Parents: Re: Girlz 4 God Lesson 3 The Gospel Dear Girlz 4 God Parents, Thank you for alliwng your daughter to attend Girlz 4 God this week! This week we shared the Gospel of Jesus using a great illustration about a credit card, debt, and how Jesus erases our sin debt with his death on the cross. A credit card allows you to buy things on credit, but every monty you get a bill for what you spent. You have to pay that bill in full or it becomes debt. Every day we are racking up sin debt. Just like your parents get a credit card bill every month, we get a sin bill every month. Since we cannot pay it, it becomes our debt and it just piles higher and higher. BUT when we receive the gift of Jesus, he pays our bill once and for all. The gift of Jesus death is ours if we will confess our sin, receive his free gift and make him our Lord and Savior. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT), 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Jesus did this for us because he loves us. John 3:16. (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish We don t ever want to assume that every girl that comes to Girlz 4 God has a personal relationship with Jesus. Throughout the year, we will share the Gospel and give girls an opportunity to make a decision to follow Jesus. Please pray with us that God would use Girlz 4 God to change the life of your daughter and her friends! Girlz 4 God Promise of the Week: Jesus erases my sin debt. Memory Verse: John 3:16. (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish