‘Keep Hope Alive’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph (Genesis 43)

BIG IDEA: JESUS NEVER GAVE UP ON US

AIM: The aim of the ‘Keep Hope Alive’ childrens lesson on Joseph (Genesis 43)helps children to think about the benefits of persevering and holding on tight to hope.

SONG IDEAS:

1. ‘Never Give Up’ by Hillsong Kids
2. ‘Reckless Love’ by Summit Creative Agency

GAME IDEAS:

1. Time For Toblerone. (regular/widescreen) Play the chocolate game but with a bar of Toblerone. Have the Toblerone in the middle on a plate with the silver wrapper still on. Kids must take turns to throw a dice and when they get a six they can go into the middle and put on hat, scarf and gloves and use a knife and fork to chop off some of the Toblerone. Any they chop, they can eat. Application: Just like the Toberones have a pyramid shape, Joseph’s brothers went back to Egypt – the land of pyramids – to see if they could buy some more grain.
2. Pick a Pyramid. (regular/widescreen) Have some fun music playing in the background. Place pictures of pyramids all around the room and put piles of pyramids on the floors. Children must sit in their teams and one person at a time must stand and run to pick a pyramid before returning, they then tag the next player who can run again. The team with the most pyramids when the music stops is the winning team.
3. Feast Frenzy. (regular/widescreen) Children must race to make the best banana split! Place ingredients in separate bowls: bananas, ice cream, strawberry sauce, chocolate sauce, nuts, sprinkles, cream etc. Then have the children each add a different ingredient to their bowl. The first person should start by peeling and cutting the banana and the rest add their ingredient. The winning team is the team to make the best banana split! For an alternative ending: Once the ice cream is made they must each take a spoon and eat it as fast as they can! The team to eat their bowl of dessert first is the winning team. Application: The brothers all enjoyed a feast with Joseph, even though they didn’t know who he was!

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: You could use the ‘There is No Try’ Star Wars clip for this session and ask the kids what they think. What does it mean to keep going when things are tough?

 

DRAMA: Access the fun ‘Keep Hope Alive’ drama here.

 

SET the Scene:

Read Genesis 43. Remind the children about the whole story of Joseph – see hw much they can remember themselves. Explain that in the last session of the story we learned that Joseph met his brothers again after many years, yet he didn’t tell them who he was. He remembered what they had done and wanted to see if they had changed. Joseph sent his brothers home, but kept Simeon in jail until they returned with their brother Benjamin.

You could show the Faith Kids video but only show it up until 1 minute 15 seconds or you will spoil the ending of the story.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Why did Joseph want to see Benjamin? (his mother’s son)
2. Who was Jacob’s favorite son now? (Benjamin)
3. Who offered to look after Benjamin during the trip to Egypt? (Judah)
4. What did they take to Joseph? (spices, myrrh, honey, nuts and lots of silver)
5. What did Joseph do when he saw Benjamin? (wept)
6. What did Joseph do for his brothers? (gave them a feast)
7. How much more did Benajamin receive compared to his brothers? (five times)

 

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) KEEP HOPE ALIVE

For each player you will need to attach a picture of Joseph’s brothers to either side of a cup. Put a hole in the bottom of the cup. Thread the cup with some see through thread or fishing string so that it cannot be seen. (Make sure the string is really long!) Either attach the string to two posts or have two leaders hold it on either end. The two players must race to blow their cup from one end of the string to the other in the quickest time.

Say: Do you think that Joseph’s brothers felt like giving up? They had gone all the way to Egypt, only to be accused of being slaves and thrown in custody! Now they were home again and their father wants them to get more food! They could have given up and said “No we’re not going back! That man will kill us!” Instead, they remembered what he had said – to bring Benjamin.

The brothers didn’t give up asking their father to let Benjamin come with them. Benjamin was Jacob’s favorite son. He didn’t want to let him go. Benjamin was the son of Rachel – the love of Jacob’s life. She was also the mother of Joseph. Joseph wanted to see his brother Benjamin so much!

Sibling Responsibility:

Judah offers to be responsible for his younger brother. Do you have a younger brother or sister? Have you ever had to look after them? [Get feedback] Was it easy or difficult? [Get feedback] Did they behave or were they annoying? [Get feedback] Judah knew that if something happened to Benjamin his dad would be really sad! Yet he didn’t give up. He knew that the only way to help keep the family alive was to make sure they all get fed – and that meant going to Egypt!

It’s easy to give up on our families. Maybe we have an argument or get angry at one another. We might say things that we don’t mean. Yet it takes courage and a lot of hope to keep going and not give up. We can keep hope alive by loving our families and doing our best, just like Judah decided to do.

 

2) TOGETHER WE KEEP HOPE ALIVE

You will need a jar that is really hard to open with some goodness inside such as peanut butter!

Say: Have you ever tried to open a jar and just can’t do it?! [Get feedback] Can someone help me? [Pass the jar around and see if anyone can loosen it or open it] When this happens at home do you ask your siblings or your parents to help? [Get feedback] We might pass it along, just like we’re doing now until someone can help! We all work together!

Joseph’s brothers were all scared to go back to Egypt. Their father Jacob helped them to pack all the best spices, honey and nuts to give to the governor (Joseph). The brothers all went together; they stuck together.

When Joseph saw his brother Benjamin (who he may never have seen before or not seen since he was very young – verse 29) he cried. He was so happy to see him, and probably very sad to have missed out on getting to know him. Seeing his brother gave Joseph hope; an expectation that things had changed. He must have wondered how they treated this brother – for Benjamin was the youngest son, just as Joseph once had been.

We keep hope alive when we stick together and work as a team or behave as family, just as the brothers did in the end.

 

3) WE KEEP HOPE ALIVE BY NEVER GIVING UP

Share with the children one of your own stories where you decided to keep having hope that something would happen and you did not give up.

Say: We keep hope alive when we don’t give up and we continue to keep believing. Joseph didn’t give up on his brothers. He could have chosen to tell them who he was straight away and send them away without food. Yet he didn’t. Something stopped Joseph from turning his back on his brothers; it was hope. Hope that they had changed. Hope that they now had learned to love. Hope that they could be a family once again.

Just as Joseph never gave up on his brothers, God’s Son, Jesus never gave up on us. Even when we turn our backs on Him, He still cares for us, He still loves us. Jesus came to the world so that we might know God. He was born as a baby and lived a perfect life, never deserving death. Yet He died so that we might be able to live forever, As people that have done wrong, we deserve to be away from God forever, yet Jesus took this punishment so that we could be forgiven. Jesus never gives up on us. We can always turn to Him and repent when we do wrong, we can always be forgiven, That’s why we keep hope alive by never giving up and always trusting Jesus.

 

SEARCH the Scriptures:

Hurry Up, Hope. (regular/widescreen) Give your teams each all the Bible names in a pile. Encourage the children to look through the pile and when they know the answer, one of the team must run to the leader with the correct name. The team with the most correct answers in the fastest time is the winning team. If your teams may struggle with this game, encourage a leader to join each team to help them out.

Some of the people in the Bible that never gave up:

1. This person never gave up even though their children were killed and they got sores on their body. – Job
2. This person never gave up even when they went to the cross – Jesus
3. This person never gave up even though a king was trying to kill him. He didn’t give up when his own son tried to overthrow his throne – David
4. This man never gave up sharing about Jesus even though he was shipwrecked, beaten and put in prison – Paul
5. This woman never gave up even though her people could have been killed, she promised to go to the king, saying ‘If I die, I die’ – Esther
6. These three men didn’t give up even though they were thrown into a fiery furnace – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Do you ever feel like giving up on your family? Why/why not?
2. Do you get along with your brothers and sisters? Why/why not?
3. What does it look like when a family works together?
4. Why is it good when a family is united?
5. What can we do when our family fights and doesn’t get along?
6. How can we – as the church – be like a united family?

 

SENSE How You Feel:

Encourage your children to imagine what it would be like for the brothers to go back to Egypt for more food with their brother Benjamin. Let them spend some time thinking about this as they do one or more of the activities below.

1. Sensory: Use lots of empty food packets for children to play act a meal with or use a few different types of dried food for children to feel textures. Alternatively place some toy food on the table for children to interact with,
2. Build a scene of all the brothers eating together with Lego or building blocks.
3. Mould a tasty meal for the brothers to eat using playdough or clay.
4. Create a moving picture of Joseph’s brothers traveling to Egypt using the Josephs Brothers template and the Pyramid Scenery. Cut out the brothers and tape them to popsicle sticks. Print the pyramid scenery and cut the white line along the sand part of the picture. Children can then put the people through the hole and re-enact the scenes from this passage.
5. Fill/Color in the activity sheets for 5-7s and 8-11s.

SEEK God:

You will need a jar and some popsicle sticks for the whole group or per child; depending on the size of your group.

Remind the children that ultimately it is Jesus who gives us hope that things can and will change for the better. Jesus never gave up on us. He never lost hope in us.

Using popsicle sticks encourage the children to write a prayer of thanks for their hope in Jesus, or a prayer for help to be united with their family and to stick together. They can put each popsicle stick in the jar as a ‘Jar of Hope’. Each time that they see the jar of hope they will be reminded that they can have hope in Jesus for themselves and their families.