‘Trust in God’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph (Genesis 40 and 41)

BIG IDEA: I CAN TRUST IN GOD

AIM: The ‘Trust in God’ Childrens Lesson on Joseph (Genesis 40 and 41) is the fourth in the ‘Pirates’ series written by Kidz Klub. You can view the session PDF here.

SONG IDEAS:

1. ‘Trust’ 
2. ‘Trust in the Lord’ by Unknown
3. ‘Trust in the Lord’ by Hillsong Kids

PANTO/SKIT:

At the beginning of the games, the cannibal’s cauldron needs to be put on the stage. You don’t realise what it is. “I wonder what this old barrel’s doing here. Oh well, let’s lean Hook’s sword against it. Everyone keep an eye on it to make sure it stays safe.” If he comes back to get it, you’re going to need some good sword fighters to help protect you.

Game #1: Foam Sword Fight

You will need: Six head sized McDonalds paper bags. Two sections of foam pipe lagging, each about a metre and a half in length.

Choose three players from each team and get them ready with McDonalds bags on their heads, wearing them like a hat. The first player from each team is given a foam “sword.” The players stand opposite each other, about a metre and a half apart, and when you say “Go!”, they have to try to knock the paper bag off their opponent’s head. Play three rounds of the game, until all of the players have participated. The winners are the team to have won the most rounds.

PANTO/SKIT:

The cannibals keep coming in and out, while you pretend not to have noticed them. Get the kids shouting “He’s behind you!” etc. They get closer and closer to Hook’s sword until they finally grab it and run off. Oh no, what if they come back with Hook? Quick, we need to disguise ourselves as cannibals too, so Hook won’t recognise us!

GAME #2: Face Paint Frenzy

You will need: Various colours of face paints and damp sponges.

When you say “Go!” a number of adult helpers run into the teams, each with a pot of face paint and a damp sponge. They run along the rows putting a stripe of face paint across the nose and cheeks of each child. The winners are the first team to have painted all their children.

PANTO/SKIT:

The cabin boy/girl comes on. They’ve run out of food in the galley again, but they have just found a large bucket of stew in the bottom of the barrel. You look in it and pull out a clear bowl containing spaghetti, pickled onions and mini-frankfurters. This isn’t stew! It’s the cannibal’s leftovers! They must have been capturing other stranded sailors and eating their insides. Look, there’s intestines and fingers and eye balls. Does anyone dare to taste the body parts and see what they’re like?

GAME #3: Fingers of Fun

You will need: The food mixture described above, a food processor and extension lead, four clear plastic pint glasses.

Choose two players from each team. With the kids watching, pour the food and some water into the food processor. Mix it for 60 seconds. Pour the resultant goo into four transparent plastic cups. When you say go the players have to drink the goo as fast as they can. The winners are the team to have drunk the most when the whistle goes.

PANTO/SKIT:

Now that we’ve all seen what the cannibals do to stranded sailors, we’d better make sure we know how to get out of here quick, in case they come back and want to put us in the pot! We’re going to practise running like mad!

GAME #4: Piggy-back Pick Ups

You will need: Two benches and four strong adult helpers. Some comic wigs or hats.

Set the benches up at either end of the stage. Choose eight kids to play for each team. This is a timed game, so one team play first followed by the other. Stand the team who are playing first on one bench and give them each a silly wig or hat. When you say “Go!” the adult helpers have to piggy-back them across the stage from one bench to the other. When all the players are on the second bench, stop the timer. The winners are the team to complete the game the quickest.

BIG VERSE: If you trust in God you will be safe. Proverbs 29 v. 25

 

SET the Scene:

In last week’s Bible Lesson we saw that God was with Joseph and made sure he was put in change of the whole prison. Well, before long, one of the prisoners came to see Joseph because he’d had a really weird dream. In the dream he’d imagined that he was squeezing grapes from three branches, into a wine glass and giving the drink to the Pharaoh, who was the king of Egypt. The dream was so strong, that he couldn’t get it out of his mind. What on earth did it mean? Well, straight away, Joseph understood it. He explained it like this: “In three days you will be be rescued by Pharaoh and given back your old job, the really important job, as cup-bearer to the King.” Joseph also said, “When all this happens, tell Pharaoh about me. I was put in prison and I haven’t even done anything wrong. Please try to set me free!”

Well, things turned out exactly as Joseph had said. Three days later, that prisoner was set free. And guess what? He totally forgot all about Joseph. He was OK, so why worry about anyone else? He didn’t do one single thing to try to get Joseph freed.

Well, if I was Joseph, that would probably have made me feel pretty down. There was his one big chance for freedom gone. He could be left in prison for years now. But you know, Joseph didn’t get down. He’d learnt by now that God was with him and if you trust in God, it doesn’t matter how bad things around you get. God will always keep you safe. Do you remember how Joseph was sold as slave, but then he ended up in the house of a good man who liked him and gave him important work to do. GOD KEPT HIM SAFE.

Then Potiphar’s wife made up lies and he landed in prison, but again God helped him. God put him in charge of the other prisoners, so no one could pick on him and he was the boss. GOD KEPT HIM SAFE. So do you know what Joseph did? He just kept on trusting in God. Working hard in the prison, living the way God says and waiting for God to bring the answer. Next week we’re going to find out what God’s answer was, but for now I want you to remember what we’ve learnt through Joseph. Now matter how bad things get, keep trusting in God because he’ll always keep you safe.

 

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) OBJECT LESSON: UMBRELLA UP

You will need: A large golfing umbrella. A bucket of water and someone to tip it, concealed from view. Thunder sound effects starts. ‘A’ is standing on the stage under a large golfing umbrella. ‘B’ runs on, ignoring ‘A’.

B: Oh no, I think it’s going to start raining and look at me! I’ve only got this little t-shirt on. Maybe if I stand over here… (They move over to the back of the stage to a predetermined spot. Large bucket of water is tipped from behind the set and lands on ‘B’s head.)

B: Oh no! ‘A’, look what’s happened to me, I’m soaked! Everything’s always going wrong for me. Kids have you ever felt like that, as if everything in life has just started going wrong? Sometimes when things go badly, we can even wonder if God still cares about us. I mean, if he’s real, why isn’t he looking after you? You know, I’ve felt like that. And then God showed me something really important. God showed me that he can only keep me safe if I stick close to him. Let me explain what I mean.

Now, ‘A’ has got a huge umbrella, so big that no matter how hard it rained, ‘A’ would definitely have been dry underneath. But if ‘B’ is standing here and ‘A’ is all the way over there, is ‘A’s’ umbrella going to keep him dry? It’s not is it? For ‘B’ to stay dry, he needs to come over here, close to ‘A’.

Now, just like ‘A’s’ umbrella is huge, God’s love and God’s power are huge, easily big enough to keep us safe, whatever is happening in our lives. But just like ‘B’ needed to stick close to ‘A’, we need to stick close to God. We need to talk to him, we need to tell him what’s going on, we need to ask him to help us. That’s what trusting God means; it means saying God, I’m going to pray to you, because I believe you can help me. And God promises that if we trust in him, we will be safe.

 

2) OBJECT LESSON: STRONG INSTRUCTOR

You will need: Mountain climbing harness and helmet, or kit from any dangerous outdoor pursuit, with video or pictures of said pursuit.

Kids, last summer, I went abseiling. You know, where you get a helmet and some ropes and climb down a massive cliff. When I stood at the top, I was petrified! But do you know what helped me? I had an instructor with me every step of the way. He was bigger than me and stronger and he never left my side. The whole way down the cliff, he was telling me where to put my feet and what to do with the rope. “Go on,” he said, “You can do it.” And kids, I did. I made it down a 60 foot cliff, that’s six times the height of this room. And I was safe.

Now, just like the instructor could help me, because he was stronger and more experienced than I am, God can help you. God’s been around since the beginning of time. Whatever problem you’ve got, God’s seen it before, so don’t struggle on alone. Ask God to help you. God is powerful enough to have the answer to every problem so trust in God and watch him keep you safe.

3) OBJECT LESSON: TESTIMONY

For the final object lesson, we gave a testimony about God’s protection. We’ve included the testimony we used as an example, but obviously use your own situation. You may want to use an object to help dramatise the testimony; we smashed a pane of glass on the stage when we talked about the car being broken into.

Last month some teenagers near us smashed our car window. I ran after them and caught them. The police came and I thought, great, that’s sorted. Until two weeks later it happened again. I had a choice to make. I knew where the teenagers lived. I could have gone round threatening to batter them, causing trouble, but I knew that wasn’t God’s way, so instead I started to pray.

Every single night, I prayed and ask God to keep our house and car safe. And do you know what it’s worked. Since we’ve been praying we haven’t had any trouble. In fact, those teenagers who were always in our street causing trouble for people, putting graffiti on people’s doors and being rude, don’t even hang round any more. We haven’t seen them for ages. There was nothing I could do to keep my car safe. I couldn’t watch it all day every day, but God could. God is more powerful than anybody. He’s shown me that no matter who I’m up against, He can keep me safe.