‘Hope in Times of Change’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph (Genesis 41)

BIG IDEA: I CAN HOPE IN CHANGING TIMES

AIM: The ‘Hope in Times of Change’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph (Genesis 41) helps children to see that they can put their hope in God when their circumstances are changing.

SONG IDEAS:

1. ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ by Gods Kids Worship
2. ‘You Never Change’ by Gateway Worship

GAME IDEAS: 

1. Season Sort Out. (regular/widescreen) Have a big pile of different seasonal items such as sunglasses, sun hats, winter hats, gloves, scarves, Easter eggs, raincoats. Teams have their own areas: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Players in their teams must take turns to grab an item and put it in the correct area. The team with the most items in the correct area is the winning team.
2. Cow Crazy. (regular/widescreen) Children should run around the room collecting cows from the room for their team. For each cow you get one point – but don’t pick the skinny cows or you will get points deducted from your team!
3. Milk the Latex Glove. (regular/widescreen) Players are given a latex glove filled with milk and must try and ‘milk’ the glove by squeezing the fingers whilst they hold the glove with their other hand. The milk is caught in a jug as it is milked. At the end of the game, the player with the most milk in the measuring jug is the winner.

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.

ICEBREAKER: If you could choose between everything changing every day or everything staying the same every day, which would you choose?

 

DRAMA: Access the fun ‘Hope in Times of Change’ drama here.

 

SET the Scene:

Read Genesis 41.  Re-cap the story so far, reminding the children that Joseph had 11 brothers and was the only one given a special coat. He had dreams that his brothers did not like and they threw him in a pit/well and told his father he was dead. They sold him to some Ishmaelites who sold him to Potiphar. He took care of Potiphar’s house until Potiphar’s wife accused him of doing something he did not do. He was thrown into jail where he learned the dreams of the cupbearer (butler) and the baker. Joseph interpreted their dreams – the cupbearer would get his job back, but the baker was going to die. When the cupbearer got his job back he told Joseph he would remember him… but now we realize he had forgot all about Joseph.

VIDEO IDEAS:

1. ‘Joseph in Egypt’ by Saddleback Kids
2. ‘Pharoahs Dreams’ by Kids Faith Videos
3. ‘Pharoah’s Dream Explained’ from Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat movie 1999

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. How many full years had it been since Joseph interpreted the cupbearer’s dream? (2)
2. What river was in Pharoah’s dream? (Nile)
3. What came out of the river first? (7 healthy cows)
4. What came out of the river next? (7 skinny cows)
5. Who ate who? (The skinny cows ate the fate cows)
6. What appeared in Pharoah’s second dream? (heads of Grain)
7. What happened to the seven healthy grains? (eaten by the seven unhealthy grains)
8. Who did Pharoah ask for help? (wise men)
9. Who remembered Joseph? (the cupbearer/butler)
10. What did Joseph do before he saw the Pharoah? (shaved and changed clothes)
11. Who did Joseph say could interpret the dream? (God)
12. What did the seven cows and seven grains each mean? (7 years)
13. Why did Pharoah have two dreams? (God had firmly decided it would happen and happen soon)
14. What did Joseph say Pharoah would need? (a wise man to put in charge and people to help store the grain for the seven harsh years)
15. What kind of man did Pharoah want? (a man with the spirit of God – Joseph)
16. What did Pharoah give Joseph to show that he was now second in command? (a ring, robes and a gold chain. He was also able to ride in the chariot with people shouting before him.)
17. Once Joseph was married, how many sons did Joseph have? (2)
18. Who came to Joseph during the famine? (the Egyptians and the world)

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) WHEN THINGS CHANGE GOD IS THE SAME

Show some pictures or bring in some old technologies for the children to look at. Perhaps an old tape player, photos of an old football team, an old out-of-fashion sweater. Tell the children all about the time you bought that item or when the photo was taken. Explain how things have changed since.

Alternatively if you would like a fun visual science experiment, try pouring milk into a plate. Place a few drops of different food coloring onto the milk. Then dab a q-tip (cotton bud) into some soap and dab it into the milk. Watch how the colors disperse and make changes in the milk!

Say: In Egypt, the place that Pharoah ruled, the people all worshipped gods. These gods were not real, but they were created for the people to worship.

Hapi (The Nile god) – (regular/widescreen) The Egyptians worshipped the river Nile and Hapi was the god of this river.

Isis – (regular/widescreen) Iris was a goddess that wore cow horns in all the sculptures and pictures that were made of her.

Osiris – (regular/widescreen)  This god was said to have introduced farming to the Egyptians. They worshipped him for his help with their crops; this would have meant the grain also.

When Pharoah had his dream, he didn’t know what to think. The seven fat and the seven skinny cows had both come up from the Nile. The skinny cows had eaten the fat ones! The same thing had happened with the grain; seven skinny grains ate up the seven healthy ones.

Joseph told Pharoah God knew the answer to His dreams. He showed Pharoah that there is only one Almighty God that knows the answer to all his questions – it wasn’t Hapi or Isis or Osiris – it was the God of the Hebrews; the God of Abraham. Those other gods could not help him because they were not real. The river Nile, farming and crops could not help Pharoah. They all fade away. Only Joseph’s God could help him.

A time of change was coming for Pharoah. Egypt would have seven good years; full of plenty of food. Yet seven bad years – with no food and famine would follow. God sent Joseph and prepared him for this time. Joseph would prepare the Egyptians for their years of lack.

Jesus is God!

Did you know that God has also prepared us for times of change? He sent His one and only Son Jesus to the world. Jesus lived a perfect life and died a perfect death. He never did anything wrong. Yet you and I do wrong things and this separates us from a perfect God. God wanted to be our friend, so He sent His Son Jesus. Jesus gave up His life for you and me because He loves us. He prepared the way so that we might accept him into our lives and become friends with God.

You see, times and situations may change but our God stays the same. He has always loved and always done the best for His people – preparing them for what is to come. He has always had a good plan for our lives. When things change, God stays the same; yesterday, today and forever!

 

2) I CAN HAVE HOPE BECAUSE GOD NEVER CHANGES

You may want to use this article as an example of a hamburger that has not changed in 14 years! You could bring in a real hamburger and eat it in front of the kids as you talk or have one of the kids enjoy eating it. 

Say: It is strange to us when things do not change. You would expect this hamburger to change if I left it here for a year, wouldn’t you? [Get feedback] What would happen to it? [Get feedback]  Would someone like to eat this burger? [Get feedback and pick someone to eat it] Well, look at this hamburger that was found after 14 years! [Show hamburger on screen] It is still almost exactly the same! Yuck!

We live in a fast changing world! We expect things to change, things rust and get destroyed. Jesus, God’s Son, told us in

Matthew 6:19-21;

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

That’s a funny verse to use when Joseph was just about to store up lots of grain. God told Joseph to do this because He knew what was about to happen – storing the grain would save a whole nation. But the grain would not last forever. It would need to last for the seven years. It would need to be stored well and kept away from animals that would like to eat it all away. Why? Because everything changes, and usually (unlike our disgusting McDonalds hamburger) food decays and fades away. The only person that has ever lasted forever and will last forever is our Almighty God!

Hope Because God Never Changes:

We can expect that He will keep his promises – we can have hope in Him – because He never changes! He will always be the same, He will always be around, so we never need to fear that he will change or disappear – He is here to stay and will remain with us forever!

He invites us to live forever with Him too! All we have to do is invite this Almighty God into our lives – to be the King of our hearts! We can invite Him to be the most important person in our lives. Why? Because He loves us so much that He sent His Only Son to this world so that we might know Him! Jesus set the example of what it was to be a leader, a servant, someone that loves people.

 

SEARCH the Scriptures:

Milky Moo. (regular/widescreen) Have a container of milk for each team on one side of the room. Beside each container put the pile of bible verses. On the other side get your kids to line up in their teams. Hand each of them a straw. Children must run up to the milk and suck up as much of the milk as they can before the leader shouts ‘Next’. Once all the milk is drank, the next team can run and collect one bible verse when the leader shouts. This should be done until all the bible verses are brought back to the team. The team to bring back all the bible verses first are the winning team.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Do you think change is good? Why/why not?
2. How do you know God never changes?
3. What does it mean to say that God never changes?
4. Does this make God boring? Why/why not?
5. When was a time that things changed for you? Was it good or bad?
6. Are things changing for you or your family/friends right now?
7. How did you deal with this change?
8. Who did you talk to during this change?
9. Do you find it easy or difficult to hope in God when things change?

 

SENSE How You Feel:

1. Create a cow cup using the Cow Faces Printable and the Cow Hooves and Tail Printable. Take a cup and cut out the face and hooves and tail for one cow. Place the cup upside down. Tape the face to the front of the cup and the tail to the back. Then tape two hooves at either upper side of the cup and two further back below at the sides.
2. Cut out all the pieces of the cow and attach them to the cup in the correct places to create your own cup cow!
3. Sensory: You could place some cow toys on the table with fake (or real) grass or (depending on how messy you want to be!) mud.
4. Mould Pharoah’s palace out of play dough or clay.
5. Use lego or other construction bricks and materials to build Pharoah’s palace.
6. Fill in/color in the activity sheets for 5-7s and 8-11s.

 

SEEK God:

1. Invite those that do not know God and want to spend an eternity with Him to say a short prayer. Explain that when we do this we recognise that God is not only the only unchanging One, but He is the only perfect person that has ever existed. Jesus lived a perfect life and died a perfect death for each and every one of us so that we might be friends with a perfect God. He draws us near.
2. Is anyone going through a time of change? Encourage other children to pray for them, or as leaders, pray for these children.
3. Do any of the children have friends or family that are going through big changes? Encourage them to pray for them.