‘Hope in the Here and Now’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph

BIG IDEA: I CAN FORGIVE

AIM: The aim of the ‘Hope in the Here and Now’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph is to help children see that just as Joseph forgave his brothers, we can have hope in the here and now when we forgive others for hurting us.

SONG IDEAS:

1. ‘God is with Us Now’ by worshipteam.tv

GAME IDEAS:

1. Do You Know Joe? (regular/widescreen) Using the Wet Heads game, invite some of your children (depending on the number of hats you have) to choose a leader to get wet. Children must answer a question about the Joseph story before they can pull out a pin. One of the pins releases water onto the head of the leader. Children must take turns to answer questions. The child to get their leader wet first is the winner.
2. Skittles Race. (regular/widescreen) Give every child a straw and have them try to suck a skittle and put it in a bowl. Children can relay until the team with the most skittles at the end of the time is the winning team.
3. Sleeping Bag Relay. (regular/widescreen) Split the group into teams. The first child from each team gets inside a sleeping bag each and shuffle to the end of the room. They then get out the sleeping bag and run back with it to the next player. This carries on until the whole team has slid across the room. The fastest team is the winning team.

BIG VERSE: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.

(regular/widescreen)

God of Hope Bible Cards.

INTRO VIDEO: ‘The Emperor is Not as Forgiving as I am’ – this clip is a great one to help the kids talk about what it means to be forgiving towards others. Darth Vader sees himself as forgiving; or at least in comparison to the Emperor…

 

DRAMA: Access the fun ‘Hope in the Here and Now’ drama here.

 

SET the Scene:

It will probably help the children if you review the whole story of Joseph before reading the passage. You could play this in a game form using Pass the Parcel, with different parts of the story interjected. Perhaps you could alternatively use questions about the story as part of a game.

Read Genesis 45-46. You may want to skip Chapter 46 verses 8-26 when you read it with your kids as this is the family tree and isn’t a major part of the story. Children could read or research this later if you point them towards it.

VIDEO IDEAS:

1. ‘Joseph Forgives’ by Saddleback Kids
2. ‘Joseph Forgives His Brothers Pt 2’ by Faith Kids Videos
3. ‘Joseph’s Revelation to His Brothers’ by SuperBook
4. ‘Joseph Forgives His Brothers’ by GraceLink

 

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) I CAN HAVE HOPE BECAUSE I AM FORGIVEN

You will need a number of heavy bags for a child to hold.

Say: I can have hope here and now because God forgives! You see when I am not forgiven it is like I am holding onto lots of baggage.

[Invite a child to come up and hold onto all the heavy baggage.]

You see, all the wrong things we think, say and do are important. God sees and hears those things and He knows what is in our hearts. Those wrong things keep us away from God; because He is perfect and cannot be close to sin.

God has no baggage. He has never done anything wrong. If we want to know God we have to drop our baggage – all the wrong things we have thought, said and done.

In the Bible we are told that forgiveness comes through blood being shed. [Deuteronomy] That sounds a bit extreme! Yet God takes our sin – the wrong things we think, say and do – very seriously and so for us to be forgiven someone had to die.

The only way for us to be forgiven is through Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life and died a perfect death so that He could bring us forgiveness. He never thought, said or did anything wrong.

When we ask Jesus to forgive us and come into our lives – to be the Lord of our lives – we are set free from all our baggage, all the wrong things we have thought, said and done.

[Encourage the child to drop all the bags]

This forgiveness gives us freedom to live for God. It gives us hope in the here and now. We don’t have to wait to be forgiven. We can have God’s hope right now. We can know right now that God is on our side! We can have hope because God forgives us… all we have to do is accept His forgiveness!

Joseph and Forgiveness:

Joseph didn’t know the forgiveness of Jesus because Jesus hadn’t lived on the earth yet. Instead, Joseph understood that God had a bigger plan for Joseph. Joseph told his brothers “You meant to harm me, but God meant it for good.” Joseph knew that no matter what happened to him, God had a plan. He could forgive his brothers because he knew that God was in control. He had learned that God would look after him and God used all his pain to help the world.

 

2) I CAN BRING HOPE BY FORGIVING OTHERS

Hand a child the ‘Unforgiveness’ sign to hold with both hands. You will need a box of chocolates that you would like the child to hand out to the rest of the children.

Say: Thanks for holding the sign. Can anyone read what it says? [Unforgiveness] That’s right. The thing about unforgiveness is, that it takes up a big place in our heart and our minds. When we can’t forgive someone we will keep going over what they have done in our minds. We won’t be able to stop thinking about it!

[To the child, but so that everyone can hear] I want you to hold that sign with both hands to remind us that when we hold onto unforgiveness it takes up a big place in our heart and mind.

The thing is, when we can’t forgive someone it stops us from having the freedom that God wants to give us. It stops us from being able to bless others.

[Ask the same child to pass out the box of chocolates that you have to the rest of the group].

When we don’t forgive we don’t have the freedom to give our whole heart to helping and blessing others. We may do it reluctantly – not really wanting to – but God sees our heart and how we really feel.

To have hope in the here and now we need to be like Joseph and forgive others fast and forgive them in the here and now. Hope is an expectation that God will do what he has promised to do. Yet God wants us to forgive. We can’t have His hope and bless others if we don’t let go of our unforgiveness.

 

SEARCH the Scriptures:

Find Forgiveness. (regular/widescreen) [Group Game or Activity] Put the laminated printed Bible verses on Forgiveness in a tray full of shaving foam. Have kids take turns to find them. Alternatively, play it as a game and have a full set of the Bible verses printed for each player or team. Children must race or relay to find the Bible verses as fast as they can. The winning team is the fastest to find all the Bible verses one at a time.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What does it mean to forgive?
2. Why do we need to forgive?
3. Is there anyone you need to forgive?
4. When was the last time you forgave someone?
5. When was the last time someone forgave you?
6. How does God forgive?
7. Have you experienced God’s forgiveness?
8. What does God’s forgiveness feel like?

 

 

SENSE How You Feel:

Encourage the children to think about how the brothers would have felt when Joseph revealed himself to them. As they complete one of the tasks below ask the children to discuss the question below and think as if they were one of the brothers:

How did you feel when you found out the governor was your brother?

1. Create an ‘I Will Forgive’ badge or medal.
2. Build a family in a house with Lego or with building blocks, or build a giant heart.
3. Fill in/color the 5-7s and 8-11s activity sheet booklets.
4. Sensory bin: Find Joseph’s brothers from within a pile of chocolate cereal. You can use Lego people or any kind of toy person to represent the brothers. Encourage the children to play with the people in the cereal.

 

 

SEEK God:

Say: Is there anyone that you need to forgive? When we forgive others it gives us hope for the future and sets us free from the hurt we have been holding onto.

Encourage the children to write or draw the person that they need to forgive and then say a forgiveness prayer. Allow them to throw the paper away after they have finished their prayer. Remind them that when we forgive it is time to let go.