Lesso 5 47 Joseph Dreams Disturbig Dreams Geesis 37:1-11 First- ad secod-graders are developig a strog sese of competitio with others, ot oly o the playgroud but at home as well. Use this lesso to help kids lear to relate to their sibligs as God wats them to with love ad forgiveess. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started Color Cube Capers (about 10 mi.) Try to hit a target by themselves ad the with help. Bible, paper wad, tape Teacher Pack: Game Board, Color Cube Tape the Game Board to a wall. Tape the Color Cube together as directed. Bible Poit Show Jesus love i our families. Key Verse A ew commad I give you: Love oe aother. As I have loved you, so you must love oe aother (Joh 13:34). A Family Built (about 15 mi.) Liste to a imagiary accout of Joseph s family. CD player, 1 woode block per child Teacher Pack: CD Weavig Faith Ito Life Kids will show love to their families. 2 Bible Exploratio A Family Broke (about 15 mi.) See how ager ad jealousy affected Joseph s family. Bible, structure of blocks from A Family Built activity Teacher Pack: Game Board, Joseph ad His Brothers poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 5
48 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life House of Love (about 10 mi.) Lear the Key Verse, ad the draw pictures of their families ad write kid words. Rebuilt With Love (about 5 mi.) Rebuild the structure of blocks while sigig the Key Verse sog. Bible, My Bible Fu, crayos, scissors Bible, CD player, 1 woode block per child Teacher Pack: CD Tear out the Lesso 5 pages from each My Bible Fu studet book. 4 Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. My Bible Fu Lastig Impressios Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 5
49 Joseph Dreams Disturbig Dreams Geesis 37:1-11 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Jacob Favors Joseph Over His Other Childre How Not to Treat Other Family Members It s iterestig that Jacob s display of favoritism toward his so Joseph ravaged his family i the same way his mother s, Rebekah s, favoritism toward Jacob had ruied Jacob s family of origi. Jacob loved Joseph more tha his other sos because Joseph had bee bor to him i his old age ad because he was bore by Rachel, Jacob s most beloved wife eve more favoritism. Joseph s bad report about his brothers (Geesis 37:2) oly made thigs worse, fuelig Jacob s preferece for Joseph ad his brothers resetmet toward him. The richly orameted robe further itesified the brothers feeligs. Joseph s Coat Creates Jealousy The relatioship betwee Joseph ad his brothers was bad eough before Joseph bega havig dreams idicatig that he would rule over his brothers. The eldest would aturally ad culturally have held the role of family leader. For oe of the yougest sos i lie to claim such a positio surely ifuriated the other brothers. Joseph eve icurred the rebuke of his father whe he described these dreams. Joseph s Favored Positio Creates Resetmet Although God ultimately recociled the members of this family, the evets i this passage serve as a model of how ot to treat family members. Noe of the members of this family really loved the others as they should have. Joseph, his brothers, ad their father all cotributed to the rift betwee Joseph ad the brothers. To hoor God, family members must show God s love to oe aother. For Jacob, that might have meat showig love equally to all of his sos. For Joseph, that might have meat keepig his dreams to himself, eve if the dreams truly were messages from God. Ad for the brothers, it might have meat lovig Joseph i spite of their father s favoritism ad Joseph s attitude. No matter what or who the problem is withi our families, God wats us to love our families with the same love he shows for us. The Jesus Coectio Our families are the closest relatioships we have. Whether we like it or ot, the people i our families are goig to be part of our lives i some way for the duratio of our existece. That makes families the perfect place to begi to show God s love. We ca let God shape our reactios toward family members i large ad small ways. What are some ways you ca ask God to help you show love i your family? You ca write your prayer below. From our poit i history, we kow what Joseph s dreams foretold. But Joseph s brothers did t have our perspective. Their hatred of Joseph probably caused them to suspect that he was ivetig these dreams i order to put his brothers dow ad to flaut his father s favoritism. Lesso 5
50 GETTING STARTED Color Cube Capers Bible paper wad tape Teacher Pack Game Board Color Cube Color Cube Capers Easy Prep Tape the Game Board to a wall. Tape the Color Cube together as directed. Color Cube Capers Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Gather everyoe together, ad say: Let s play a game. Poit out the Game Board o the wall, ad say: Lie up sigle file i frot of this game board. Make sure the first perso is about 5 feet from the Game Board ad the lie goes straight back from there. Had the first perso i lie the Color Cube ad a paper wad. Say: O your tur, roll the Color Cube ad the toss the paper wad at the Game Board to try to hit the same color as that which you rolled. You ll have five secods to try to hit the right color, ad you ca toss the paper wad as may times as you wat to withi the five secods. Check for uderstadig. Say: Oe last rule for our game: Whe tossig the paper wad, you must stad with your back to the Game Board, ad o oe may help you. Give each child five secods to play. Say: Now let s try this game agai, but this time let s see what it s like to have some help. Have the childre get ito families of three to five. Ask the families to lie up together with the first group i lie at least 5 feet from the Game Board. Say: I each family, oe member will roll the Color Cube, oe member will toss the paper wad, oe or two members will help the tosser aim, oe member will retrieve the paper wad, ad all members will call out ecouragemet to oe aother. Give each family five secods to toss the paper wad. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What was the game like for you whe you were aloe? What was it like to try this as a family? How was the game like or ulike beig part of a family? What thigs do your real family members help you with? Say: God kew that we d do better i life with carig, lovig help. He created families to provide a lot of that help. Like i our game, our whole experiece is better whe we work together with kidess ad love. God asks us to SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES because he kows that s what s best for us. Today Lesso 5
51 we ll lear about a family that was jealous ad agry istead of lovig. As you lear, thik about the differece it would have made if the family members had treated oe aother with love. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION A Family Built Have childre sit i a circle, ad distribute at least oe woode block to each child. Say: Today we re learig to SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. Let s start by hearig about a boy amed Joseph ad his family. As you liste, fid at least oe good thig that came from the family s time together. Play Joseph s Family (track 13 o the CD). A Family Built CD player 1 woode block per child Teacher Pack CD: Joseph s Family (track 13) Say: You ll each have a chace to tell oe good thig that came from the family s time together. Whe it s your tur, place your block i the ceter of our circle. Ask each child to ame oe way the family members beefited from beig part of the family. For example, kids might metio that the family members helped oe aother with work. As kids add blocks, ecourage them to build a strog structure. You ca help them decide where to put the blocks so the structure stads strog. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What did we do to make our buildig strog? What good thigs happe i your family to make it strog? What ca you do to show Jesus love i your family? Say: A family is built by doig thigs for ad with oe aother ad by lovig ad takig care of each other. Like the buildig we built, it gets bigger ad stroger as we SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. The boy, Joseph, who we just heard about, is actually like a ma amed Joseph i the Bible. But somethig very bad happeed i his life whe his family stopped showig love ad started treatig oe aother with ager ad jealousy. Let s hear what happeed. Lesso 5
52 A Family Broke A Family Broke Bible structure of blocks from A Family Built activity Teacher Pack Game Board Joseph ad His Brothers poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Ope your Bible to Geesis 37:1-11, ad show kids the passage. The show the Joseph ad His Brothers poster. Say: As we hear what happeed to Joseph i the Bible, we ll see what happes whe we do t SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. Read aloud Geesis 37:1-4. Ivite a child to come to the middle ad wear the Game Board aroud his or her shoulders like a cape. Say: Let s preted our fried here is Joseph ad that he s wearig the colorful robe his father gave him. Say: Tell a fried about a time you had trouble beig kid to your family. Allow time. The say: Joseph s brothers were so jealous that they could t say a kid word to him. Let s do the opposite of the brothers right ow. Have the childre demostrate love by sayig kid thigs to the child wearig the colorful robe. If time allows, let several childre play the role of Joseph. The set aside the Game Board. Say: Tell a fried why you like it whe your family is kid to you ad you re kid to your family. Allow time. The say: It s kid words ad actios that make a family strog. Let s hear what the brothers did ext. Read aloud Geesis 37:5-8. Have a child remove a block from the middle of the structure. Say: The brothers jealousy hurt the family. Read aloud Geesis 37:9-11. Ivite a differet child to take away a block from the bottom of the structure. Ivite more childre to remove blocks util the structure has bee destroyed. Say: The hatred i the family was so bad that it destroyed their family. We built this structure to represet a family of love. It was strog whe we shared positive thigs that ecourage ad love the people i a family. But ow it s destroyed. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Tell about somethig importat to you that was destroyed. Why do you thik jealousy or hatred destroys a family? Tell about a time you were really upset with a family member. Whe you feel like that, what ca you do to show love? Say: Joseph ad his brothers had so may reasos to be happy with their family. But istead of focusig o lovig oe aother, Joseph s brothers let jealousy ad hatred break dow the family, just as our buildig broke dow. As we see how Joseph s brothers hurt their family, we ca remember why we wat to SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. Lesso 5
53 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE House of Love Say: Today we heard how a family was hurt whe they did t love each other. Whe Jesus lived o earth, he commaded us to love. I fact, that s what our Key Verse today says. Ope your Bible to Joh 13:34, ad show childre the verse. Read aloud the Key Verse: A ew commad I give you: Love oe aother. As I have loved you, so you must love oe aother (Joh 13:34). Have kids repeat the verse aloud with you several times. Say: Let s create our ow houses of love to help us remember why it s importat that we love our families istead of lettig jealousy ad hatred break them dow like i Joseph s family. House of Love Bible My Bible Fu crayos scissors House of Love Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 5 pages from each My Bible Fu studet book. Distribute this week s My Bible Fu pages ad crayos, ad poit out the House of Love Door Hager sectio. Poit out the Key Verse at the bottom of the page, ad ivite a child to read it to the group. The say: I the widows, draw your family members. If childre have large families, they ca draw more tha oe family member i a widow. Allow time. Say: Now that you have your whole family i your house of love, write or draw oe special thig about each perso. For example, if your brother helps you with math, you ca write math, or if your sister makes you laugh, you ca draw a smiley face. Poit out the sectio below the widows, ad help kids thik of ideas as they work. If childre have more widows tha people i their families, have them write or draw i the other widows what they love about their families for example, help oe aother or stick up for oe aother. Whe kids fiish, form them ito groups of five ad let them itroduce their families to their small groups. Distribute scissors, ad have kids cut the house from the page. The have kids cut out the hole as idicated o the page so they ca hag their pages o their doors. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to thik of kid thigs about your family members? How is Joseph s family like or ulike yours? How ca you react differetly i your family from the way Joseph s brothers did? Lesso 5
54 Say: Jealousy ad hatred really hurt Joseph s family, ad they hurt our families, too. That s why Jesus commads us to love others. We have a choice to focus o the great thigs about our family members, like the thigs we wrote o our door hagers, or to be agry. Let s hag our door hagers i our homes to remid us why we SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. Rebuilt With Love Bible CD player 1 woode block per child Teacher Pack CD: As I Have Loved You (Joh 13:34) (track 14) Rebuilt With Love Have kids sit i a circle. Say: Today we re learig that we SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. Let s thik of ways we ca really love each of our family members. Give each child a woode block. Say: Thik of someoe i your family who you have t bee kid to lately. What are some thigs you ca do to show love to that perso? Do t aswer ow thik about it siletly. Say: Let s rebuild a strog buildig with our blocks. I ll play a sog about our Key Verse, ad as you liste, tell God what you wat to do to show love to your family. The ask God to help you. Whe you re ready, brig your block to the middle of our circle ad help us build a strog buildig. Play As I Have Loved You (Joh 13:34) (track 14 o the CD). Ecourage the childre to sit quietly as they liste to the sog so everyoe has a chace to pray ad add a block. Say: Thaks for takig the time to thik ad pray about ways we ca SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. As we leared i the Bible about Joseph ad his family, it s ot always easy, ad sometimes we may feel we have a good reaso to be agry. But we kow that Jesus commadmet to love each other is the best way to live ad to make our families strog ad happy. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges My Bible Fu Daily Challeges Say: Let s thik about how we SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES. Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges o their My Bible Fu pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Give a siblig your allowace, ad tell that siblig you love him or her. Tell each of your family members somethig you love about them. Lesso 5
55 Visit a ursig home with a paret, ad sped time with someoe who does t have a lot of family to show him or her love. Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell kids what you chose. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same. Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Whe we do t show love ad kidess to our families, it really hurts us, just like it hurt Joseph s family. This week, let s do our best to SHOW JESUS LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES by followig through o our Daily Challeges. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about how we show love to our families. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their My Bible Fu pages with their families. Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Take a couple of miutes to pray with your kids, thakig God for our families ad askig him to help us love them. Give each child a chace to ask God for help with lovig his or her family by metioig a way to do so. For example, a child might say, God, help me love my brother by lettig him play with my favorite toy sometimes. The close the prayer. Pray: God, we kow you wat us to love others as Jesus loved us. Help us let go of our ager ad do our best to love our families. I Jesus ame, ame. Lesso 5