‘Live Right’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph (Genesis 41)

BIG IDEA: I CAN LIVE RIGHT

AIM: The ‘Live Right’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph (Genesis 41) is the fifth session in the ‘Pirates’ series by KidzKlub. These sessions were written as an outreach program for children in England. You can view the session PDF here.

GAME IDEAS:

GAME #1: Captains Coming!

You will need: A large super-soaker water gun. Six pirate hats or bandanas.

This game must be at least 100 years old, but our kids seemed to love it. In fact, it was so popular, we played it three or four times over the pirate term. Explain that when you say certain words they have to respond with the appropriate actions:

Captain’s coming: salute

Climb the rigging: mime as if climbing a rope ladder

Scrub the decks: mime scrubbing the floor

Man over board: jump on the back of the person next to them, piggy back style

Port, starboard, bow and stern: point in the approporiate direction

Pirate party: dance to the party music that will come on.

At the beginning of the game, get all the kids to stand up. Shout different phrases, gradually getting faster. When you say “Pirate Party” a burst of pirate music comes on immediately afterwards. Play a few rounds of the game and then pick the four fastest players from each team to be in the final. They play on the stage, with everyone else sitting and watching. The slowest player each time is squirted with the super-soaker and sent off. The winner is the last player still in.

PANTO/SKIT:

You’re a bit thirsty. Call for the cabin boy! They bring you a nice cool drink and place a tray of other drinks on a table. Hook comes in and shoots you with his water-gun. While you’re chasing him one of the cannibals comes on and sneaks salt into some of the drinks. Hook and the cannibals leave. You go over to have another drink and the kids will, hopefully, tell you not to, or if they don’t, you can make a great show of spitting out the salty water. You need to find out which water is fresh and which is salty and you need some kids to help you.

GAME #2: Salty Sea Water

You will need: Forty plastic cups, divided between two tables. On each table there is only one cup of fresh water, the rest have had salt added.

Choose two players from each team. They stand on the stage, behind the tables. When you say “Go!” they have to take a mouthful from each cup. If it’s salty they can throw the cup and contents over their shoulder and move onto the next one. They keep trying cups until they find the fresh one. When they do they bring it to you. The winners are the first team to find a cup of fresh water.

PANTO/SKIT:

You’re still a bit thirsty. Gonzo comes on (if possible wearing an extra large Hawaiian shirt, sun hat and rubber ring on. This will make game four more exciting) with some water balloons and throws them at the team captains or into the teams. What a good idea! You’ve got some water balloons below deck; you could burst them and collect the water.

GAME #3: Balloon Cocktail

You will need: Lots of water balloons to pass through the teams. Two large plastic lemonade bottles with the labels removed and tops cut off, to form large glasses, various straws, cocktail umbrellas and squirty cream.

Choose two players from each team. When you say “Go!” the water balloons are passed from the back to the front, through the teams. The players collect them up and burst them over the giant glasses, which are on a table on the stage. You may want an adult with a pin to help them. Put some food colouring in the bottom of the glasses, so that as the water level rises, it’s easily visible. Count down from ten at the end of the game. When you start counting the teams can squirt cream into their cocktails and decorate them with straws and umbrellas. The winners are the team with the most liquid in their glass.

PANTO/SKIT:

The team captains sit down in their deck chairs to drink their cocktails. Some gentle Hawaiian music comes on and they fall asleep with much comic snoring. Suddenly Hook and the cannibals come on and, while you’re rousing yourself from your slumber, they kidnap Gonzo!

GAME #4: Have You Seen This Gorilla?

You will need: Two flip chart boards with paper on or two A-1 sized pieces of stiff white cardboard.

Before the club, paint the words LOST PET along the top of the card or paper. Two tables each with brown, red and black paint on and some damp sponges. If you’ve dressed Gonzo in Hawaiian gear, you will also need the correct colours to paint his shirt.

Choose one player from each team. Stand them in front of the flip charts. If you’re using cardboard, get a helper to hold it in front of the players. The players need to have their backs to the teams, so the canvas is facing the audience. When you say “Go!” they use the paints to draw a picture of Gonzo. The player with the best picture when you blow the whistle wins.

BIG VERSE: God will make you a winner if you live right. Proverbs 2 verse 7.

SET the Scene:

Do you remember, at the end of last week’s Bible Lesson, Joseph was still in prison, waiting for the day that God would send someone to rescue him? Well ,two years later that day finally came.

What happened was this. Pharaoh, the king, was lying in bed one night, when he had a really bizarre dream. He dreamt that seven great big beefy cows were eating by the side of the river, when suddenly seven skinny sick cows came along and swallowed the fat ones whole. When Pharaoh woke up he was really panicking. He knew this dream was important, that it had a message behind it, but he just couldn’t work out what it was. He called in the best magicians in the country and they chanted and did spells, but no one could work out what it meant. The dream was a mystery.

Well, just when Pharaoh was about to give up, his cup-bearer suddenly remembered about Joseph. “There’s a guy in prison,” he said, “and when I had a dream, he told me exactly what it meant and everything he said came true. I’m sure he could help you.” Right away, Pharaoh sent some guards to collect Joseph and when he’d washed and put some clean clothes on, he stood in front of the king. Joseph knew that by himself he could never help. He trusted that God would be with him and would give him the answer to Pharaoh’s problems. And God did. He showed Joseph that the country was going to have seven years of great wealth, where everyone would be rich and have plenty to eat, followed by seven years of famine.

If Pharaoh wasn’t careful how he managed the seven years of riches, when the famine came thousands would die.

As soon as Pharaoh heard Joseph speak he knew that what he was saying was true. Pharaoh could see that God was with Joseph and so he chose him to lead the country through the famine. God gave Joseph great wisdom. In nearby countries thousands starved, but because of Joseph’s leadership when the famine hit Egypt, no one died. Joseph, the boy who was kidnapped, then sold as a slave and wrongly imprisoned, was promoted to be the second most powerful leader in the whole country. He was even treated like a king.

For years Joseph had followed God and lived his way. When he was a slave he’d worked hard, in prison he treated people right and now God had made him a true winner. Joseph learnt that today’s memory verse is true. No matter what’s against you, God’ll make you a winner if you stick with him and do what’s right.

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) OBJECT LESSON: ART COMPETITION 

You’ll need: Two large pieces of card or flip charts. Two leaders who have some actual drawing skill, one to draw fairly accurately, the other to produce a terrible caricature. Some cheap winners medals from a trophy shop. Make a ‘winner’s certificate.’

OK, I want to find out who can draw the best, the boys or the girls. So this is what we’re going to do. I’m going to stand right here, and you guys are going to draw me. ‘A’, you can draw for the boys and ‘B’ for the girls. You’ve got sixty seconds to draw the best picture of me that you possibly can. On your marks, get set, go! (Music plays from ‘The Gallery’, Take Hart) ‘A’, a good nose there and I like the hair, but ‘B’, look at that! Is that really meant to be me? I have no doubt about it, the winner of today’s art competition is ‘A’ for the boys. (Hand certificate over with applause.)

Now, today’s memory verse is all about winners and I want to make sure that we understand what kind of winners God is talking about. Because we can’t all be good at art can we? We can’t all win cups for football or certificates for swimming, but there’s one thing we can all win at – we can all be winners at life. You see ,when we get to heaven, God’s prizes aren’t going to be for maths or spelling they’re going to be for things like kindness. (name a child) I’m going to give you this medal because you are really kind. (Hand a medal to a child in the audience) And friendliness? (name a child) you are one of the most friendly people I know, so I want to give you this. (Hand a medal to a child in the audience) And being respectful. (name a child) I’ve never, ever heard you give cheek, well done. (Hand a medal to a child in the audience)

God’s going to give out his medals for the important things, the things that are on the inside. Because it’s the inside things, that make you a winner in life. As you grow up, kids, God wants to make your life fantastic, but he can only do that if you listen to him and do what’s right.

2) OBJECT LESSON: TRAINING UP

You’ll need: Two primed helpers

That’s right, God wants to make us all into winners, but for that to happen we need to listen to what He says. Let me explain to you how it works.

Now I’ve decided to have a little race at church today, to see if anyone can run from here to that wall in under 10 seconds. ‘A’ and ‘B’ have been chosen to be in our race, and because I want them both to do it, I’ve been helping them all week long. I’ve been giving them training  and advice, anything I can do to turn them into winners. All week ‘A’ has been working out and warming up and eating healthily, (Helper ‘A’ does star jumps and eats apple) but ‘B’ has been sitting at home, watching the telly, listening to music and stuffing their face. (Helper ‘B’ eats large chocolate bar while reading magazine) When it comes to the race, who do you think is going to win ‘A’ or ‘B’?

Let’s watch and see what’s going to happen. Runners, take your positions. Are you ready? On your marks, get set, go! (theme from ‘Chariots of Fire’ comes on and the runners race in slow motion. Either show a timer on the screen or get the kids to count to ten seconds. One helper gets tired and is then sick, the other one wins.)

‘A’ is the winner! (Round of applause) Kids, I wanted ‘A’ and ‘B’ to both be winners. I gave them both the same help and the same advice, just like God gives us advice, but only ‘A’ took it, only ‘A’ listened and did what I said. You see it didn’t matter how much I wanted ‘B’ to do well, I couldn’t force him to do the right things, I couldn’t force him to listen to me and turn himself into a winner. He had to do that for himself. And it’s the same with us and God. God wants you to be a winner in life, to be happy and brave and friendly, to have a great life, but God can’t force that to happen. It’ll only happen if you decide to listen to God and do what’s right.

 

3) OBJECT LESSON: TESTIMONY

Again, use a testimony from one of your own team members that demonstrates this kind of story. That’s right. When I was a teenager, I was always doing things that were wrong. I started off doing little things like lying and cheating, but those little things grew into bigger things, until one day, when me and my friend were bored, we decided to go and steal all the lights from all the cars on our road.

Guess what happened? (police siren sound effect) We got caught. When I was sitting in the police station that night, do you think I felt like much of winner? I didn’t, did I, I was a total loser. I thought impressing my mates would make me win, but it didn’t, it made me lose. And I kept losing and I kept getting in trouble until one day when I was 16 I realised that I needed to start listening to God. I found out at church that God said, work hard at school, so I worked hard at school. I found out that God said, respect your mum and dad, so I respected my mum and dad. I found out that God said, don’t hang around with the wrong people, so I stopped hanging round with those bad friends. Bit by bit, as I listened to God and did what he said, he turned me from a loser into a winner. He helped me do my exams and get a good job, he gave me a great wife and great kids. But most importantly, he made me happy. Kids, doing what’s right makes you happier than doing what’s wrong. Look at me now, I’m not some loser in trouble with the police; I’ve got a great life. God’s made me a winner, but he could only do it because I listened to him and did what was right.