THANKSGIVING Week 1: Thanks Theme Intro Main Idea: Give thanks no matter what happens. Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-8 Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Give thanks no matter what happens. God wants you to thank Him because you believe in Christ Jesus. Props: kernel of corn, bag of groceries Lesson: 1. Thanksgiving is coming up! For the next few weeks were going to talk about Thanksgiving! Not just the day and the food and all the turkey, but what it really means to give thanks! 2. This week, were going to focus on the first part of the word, THANKS. Next week, well talk about the 2nd part, GIVING. 3. You have probably been talking about the first Thanksgiving at school. There are lots of stories and traditions about that day. One tradition says that the pilgrims, who left England for the New World so they could freely worship God, had no food. In fact, all they had was about a kernel of corn each. Not like your Thanksgiving meal, is it? (show kernel of corn) 4. But instead of grumbling and complaining, they sat down to eat. Before they ate, they thanked God. They praised Him for bringing them to the New World and for the freedom they had to worship Him. They thanked Him for always taking care of them and even for that one kernel of corn. 5. When they stopped praying, who appeared? Some of the Native Americans/Indians, with lots of food to share! (show grocery bag) Those pilgrims had experienced a miracle! Not because they asked, but because they were thankful! 6. God loves to hear us happy. He loves to provide for us. So, lets be like the pilgrims and thank God in every situation, we know that God will provide and bless us when we do! (Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) NOTE: You may want to share about a special Thanksgiving miracle you experienced, or a special Thanksgiving story, etc.

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Central Truth 1/Bible Story Main Idea: Dont complain, give thanks! Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16 Props: story printed (Workers in the Field: Sharable Parables p108 by Steven James) Lesson: 1. This is a story of giving thanks. Its a parable that Jesus told. He told the story to explain what Gods kingdom is like, but youll also see a lack of thankfulness in this story. 2. Read story (make sure to read the tips & instructions to yourself beforehand) 3. Who was unthankful? The guys who got hired first. They thought they should have made more. But whose money was it? The boss. He could do what he wanted with the money. He was generous to those guys that only worked one hour! 4. If you look around you, at home, school & church, youll see people who have more than you and people that have less. You might be tempted to grumble and complain that you want more. Dont do it! Be happy with what you have. Be thankful!

Central Truth 2/Memory Verse Main Idea: Give thanks everywhere in everyway! Scripture: Psalm 100 1Shout to the Lord with joy, everyone on earth. 2Worship the Lord with gladness. Come to him with songs of joy. 3I want you to realize that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him. We are his people. We are the sheep belonging to his flock. 4Give thanks as you enter the gates of his temple. Give praise as you enter its courtyards. Give thanks to him and praise his name. Props: none Lesson: 1. Psalms is a book in the Bible that is full of poems and songs. Psalm 100 is a very short poem with a description, A psalm for giving thanks. This psalm is all about thanksgiving! 2. We can look at it and learn a lot about thanksgiving! (Read verse 1-2.) Lets divide the room into 3 parts so we can understand these verses better. The first section, when I point to you, I want you to shout as loud as you can! (shout to the Lord with joy, everyone on the earth.) Practice. 3. Now, section 2, Worship the Lord with gladness. Everyone does something different when they are glad, but I want you to say Yee-haw as big and as loud as you can. Practice. 4. Last section, come to him with songs of joy. So, when I point to you I want you to sing La la la la la! really loud! Practice. 5. Now, lets do it all together (have them all do it at onceyou may need a prearranged stop signal) 6. Thats loud, isnt it? I dont usually think about the first Thanksgiving being like that! The pictures show them just eating! But God wants our thanksgiving---or our giving of thanks on any day to be exciting and loud and heartfelt! 7. Read verse 3. After all the yelling and gladness and singing, God wants us to stop and remember what hes done for us. This verse tells us that were Gods little sheep who he loves and takes care of! That makes me feel secure and confident. 8. Lets try to realize what God has done for us. Without any sound, I want you to do the following hand motions: a. Point up as if pointing to God (I want you to realize that the Lord is God) b. Clasp your hands together to show we belong to God. (He made us, and we belong to him. We are his people.) c. Pretend to pet a little lamb (We are the sheep belonging to his flock.) 9. Now, lets try it. When I say the verse, you do the hand motions. But I want you to be concentrating on what the verse says. Practice. 10.So, now weve been loud in our thanksgiving, weve stopped and thought about God. Lets see what verse 4 says. (Read verse 4) 11.This is talking about giving praise & thanks when we get to Gods houseat the gates and in the yard! In the Old Testament, God only lived in the temple. So, when they went to the temple/church, they wanted to say thank you to God and praise Him. 12.If youre a Christian today, you have Gods Holy Spirit with you all the time. So, we need to praise & thank Him all the time, everywhere! So, lets try our praise and thanks one more time. First well do our loud thanks and then well think about All content written by and belongs to Amanda White. Impress Your Kids.

what God has done for us, ready? (do one or two more times each) .

Central Truth 3 Main Idea: God is worthy of our thanks! Scripture: Psalm 145 Props: Hoop Dogs DVD, 2 or 3 sets of toys (each set will be a toy like a doll that cant do anything, then a doll that can wet the bed and say mama, each set will be the same toy only one is significantly better than the other.) DVD Synopsis: VJ the dog wants his hero, Mad Doggy Dog to sign his action figure. He and 2 friends sneak into the dressing room. When Mad Dog arrives, he takes off his costume and is just a little pink poodle. Mad Dog gets frightened of the kids/dogs. VJ says, I cant believe I looked up to him! Hes a fake! They also talk about moms birthday party, which they are missing to get this autograph. Start time: Chapter 5--12:03 (3 dogs walk up to concert hall) End time: Chapter 5--15:05 (green dog names bad things & friends yank him out of scene) Lesson: 1. Weve learned today that we should give thanks no matter what happens, dont complain and give thanks everywhere and everyway! But why should we give thanks to God? 2. Psalm 145 tells us we give thanks and praise to God because Hes worthy! Worthy means hes worth it! 3. Intro Hoop Dogz video. Ask kids to notice if VJs hero was worthy of his actions. 4. Show video clip. 5. Was Mad Dog worthy of everything VJ did to get his autograph? No! He was a fake! We dont want to place our affections, praise and thanksgiving on something or someone who doesnt deserve it! 6. Bring up one volunteer. Show them one of the un-cool toys. Talk about it. Then bring out the cool toy and compare the two. Really talk up the 2nd toy. Then ask, Which toy is worthy of your money? Your attention? The 2nd toy! Bring up another volunteer and do the same with the 2nd set of toys. 7. Its easy to see which one is worthy because they can do so much! 8. (Read through Psalm 145 beforehand and pick out some key phrases you like about the amazing qualities of Godhow he takes care of us, provides for us, etc.) Lets look at Psalm 145 and see why God is so worthy of our thanks! (Read a few verses you picked out and elaborate on how worthy God is.)

All content written by and belongs to Amanda White. Impress Your Kids.

Small Group Main Idea: Be specific when you give thanks to God. Supplies: paper for each kid, pen for each kid Lesson: 1. We want to thank God in a personal, thoughtful way. 2. Give each kid a piece of paper. Have them write their name down the side of the paper. 3. Then have them write something they are thankful for with each letter of their name. (If their name is short, have them do their last name, too) 4. Work on it together or alone. When done, have some of the kids share what they are thankful for. 5. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving for all the good things God has done! 6. Example: Apples, my favorite fruit Mom and Dad Accord, Honda (my car) New baby Dishwasher, so I dont have to do the dishes All the kids at church