1 Joseph in Prison Genesis 39:1-23; 40:1-23 Kids will understand: The story of Joseph thrown in prison. That Joseph obeyed God and trusted Him. That we should trust despite our circumstances. MARCH 2 2014
Snack Do you like peanut brittle? It sure is yummy! But, before you can get the yummy candy, you have to boil the sugar at a really high temperature. Diamonds are beautiful! They sparkle and are very expensive. But, before you can wear a diamond in a ring and enjoy its beauty, it was first a piece of black coal that was pressed super, super hard for thousands of years. several lemons pitchers sugar glasses cups We have nice furniture in our homes that s held together with nails. But, in order for that furniture to hold together, the nails have to be hit over and over with a hammer. All these things had to go through difficulty to be made into what they were intended to be of greater value. Do you like lemonade? It s so good when it s ice cold and you ve been out in the hot sun. But, what was it before it was sweet lemonade? Hold up a lemon. There s a saying, When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. What do lemons taste like? Cut the lemon in pieces and ask a few kids to taste and describe it. It s tart and makes your mouth pucker. It s not something you want to eat a whole lot of. But, we can squeeze the juice out of the lemons, add some sugar and water, and then we have lemonade. We can drink a lot of that, because it tastes so good. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pitcher. Add some sugar and warm water; then stir. Sometimes, things just happen to us that aren t pleasant. There are bitter times in our lives things we wish we didn t have to go through. There are lemon times. Those times can make us angry. They can make us sad. They can frustrate us. They can make us feel like giving up. We took the lemons and made something good out of them. And, we can do the same with our bitter situations. When we trust God to help us deal with our problems, He can make something good come out of them. Our story today is about a guy who trusted in God through all kinds of lousy situations, and God blessed him. He took his lemon situations and made lemonade. Beforehand, prepare enough lemonade so that everyone can have a cup. Game Count out as many sets of 20 cups as you will have players. You ll need at least 2 players, but can have as many as you want. Stack 20 cups and on the bottom cup use a permanent marker to write FREEDOM & BLESSINGS around the outside of the cup. Do this to the bottom cup in each stack. Styrofoam cups permanent marker 2
At the signal, each player will take the stack of cups and move the top cup (one at a time) to the bottom of the stack, continuing to move the top cup to the bottom until all 20 have been moved and the cup that was at the bottom (with the words written on it) is at the top of the stack. The cups can only be moved one at a time hustle, hustle, move them quickly! The players will race to see which person can get all the cups moved so that the one with words on it is at the top of the stack. To make it easier for the kids to see which cup has the words on it when they are stacked, color a ring around the top of the cup. This part will still show even when the cups are stacked. In the game we played, in order to get the Freedom and Blessings to come out on top, you had to get through 19 other cups. Each of those other cups could have stopped you and ended the game if you had quit with them at the top. But, since you kept going, Freedom and Blessings won out. In our lives, there are lots of things that try to stop us and bring us down, but we must continue trusting God. As you listen to the Bible story, notice times when Joseph could have quit, but didn t. Bible Account This is going to get a little messy, but using dried beans will be easier to clean up afterwards, rather than something like dirt or rice. You could use another substance, such as pieces of paper, or wrapped candies, or Lego blocks. While you re telling the story, someone will be sweeping up the dried beans from the floor, and you will try everything to get that person to stop sweeping. Choose one of your adult leaders to use the broom and dustpan. broom dustpan trash can several bags of dried beans chair sign The End Address the adult leader you ve recruited to help with the broom and dustpan. While I m telling the story, you will have a very important job. You need to stick with your job and continue doing it, NO MATTER WHAT. You re going to sweep up all the dried beans from the floor and put them in this trashcan. It s important that you keep at it and don t give up, ok? Can you do that? You ll know it s over when you see me hold up the The End sign. Pour some of the dried beans onto the floor and demonstrate how to sweep and dump them into the trashcan. Then, begin the story. Keep the kids attention on you and not on the sweeper. As you talk, pour more and more beans onto the floor. Especially as the person is about to get all of them dump another big pile onto the floor. At different points in the story, you can do the following things to try to distract or stop the sweeper: take the trashcan and dustpan away, stand in the person s way, put a chair over the pile and sit on it, tell the person to stop sweeping, or throw more beans on the floor. Under no circumstances should the sweeper stop sweeping, until they see the The End sign. 3
It will be very easy for the listeners to get distracted by the sweeper. So, make sure you tell (not read) the story and do so with lots of expression. Also, remind the kids that they need to listen closely so they ll be able to answer questions in a game later. Remember Joseph from last week? Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, who were jealous of him. He traveled all the way to Egypt to be the slave at Potiphar s house. Joseph could have complained and gotten really upset. He could have cried and thrown a fit! He could have given up on God! But Joseph didn t do those things. Joseph did his job as a slave, and he did it very well. Pour more beans on the floor. Joseph did such a good job, was extremely trustworthy, and had such an incredible attitude that his master, Potiphar, noticed. Potiphar was so impressed that he decided to put Joseph in charge of all his property. Joseph became a trusted leader in the household. He stayed and worked there for over 10 years, remaining close to God the entire time. Every day during that 10 years, Joseph did what he knew was right and stuck with God s values. Pour some more beans on the floor. But one day, Potiphar s wife tricked Joseph and tried to get him to disobey God. Joseph knew what was right and he did it, even though he knew it would make Potiphar s wife angry. He was pretty sure that he would get in trouble, but that didn t change Joseph s mind. It did make her angry. Boy, did it ever! She was so angry that she lied to Potiphar about Joseph. She made up a story about him, a total lie. Potiphar believed his wife and had Joseph thrown in jail, even though Joseph did absolutely nothing wrong! Tell the sweeper to stop sweeping. Joseph was completely innocent, and had been doing the right thing all along, and yet he was punished and sent to jail! He could have had a bad attitude, gotten super angry and walked away from God. He could have been rude to everyone and pouted. But instead, he had a good attitude and did his job the best he could. He did what was right and stuck close to God. He was so good that the prison guard noticed and boy, was he impressed! He made Joseph a leader in the prison. Move the trashcan further away. Joseph helped get a man released from prison. The man promised to tell the Pharaoh that Joseph should not be in prison but he forgot about his promise! That didn t change Joseph; he still did what God wanted him to do. Eventually, after several years, the man did remember to tell the Pharaoh about Joseph. Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he not only set him free from prison, but he put Joseph in charge of Egypt! Joseph was faithful to God through everything, and God was faithful to Joseph. God never let Joseph down. Joseph was free because his faith and trust in God were so strong. Hold up the The End sign, which signals the person to stop sweeping. Ask the sweeper to respond to some questions. Was it hard to do your job, and do it well, when there were things trying to stop you? 4
What was it like? Did it make you want to keep sweeping? Did you want to keep doing a good job, even after I kept dumping more beans on the floor or trying to distract you? Our sweeper did a good job by continuing in their job, even when it would ve been easy to give up! Joseph also was very faithful to do what was right, even when it would have been easy to give up. Game We re going to play Lemon Golf. Make 8 construction paper circles by drawing around a dinner plate. Number the circles 1-8 on the back. Place these circles on the floor at one end of the room. Choose 5 kids at a time to play. Give each one a 3-foot piece of dowel rod that will be their putter. You could also use yardsticks or plastic golf putters. Give each player a lemon that will act as their golf ball. At the signal, all 5 players will use the dowel rod to move their lemon across the room as if they were putting on a putting green. The object is for each child to get their lemon to stop on a circle. 5 lemons 8 paper circles 5 3-foot dowel rods The first person to get their lemon to stop on a circle will turn their circle over to see what number is on it. They will respond to the corresponding numbered question below. Questions and Answers 1. Who was Potiphar? (the man who Joseph belonged to as a slave) 2. How did Joseph get to be in charge of everything Potiphar owned? (He did his job well and Potiphar trusted him.) 3. What law did Joseph break that got him thrown in prison? (none) 4. Why was Joseph put in prison? (Potiphar s wife lied about him.) 5. How did Joseph get to be a leader in prison? (He was trustworthy and had a good attitude.) 6. Joseph helped a man get released from prison. What did the man promise to do for Joseph? (tell Pharaoh about Joseph) 7. When the man remembered to tell Pharaoh about Joseph, what did Pharaoh do? (set Joseph free) 8. How did Joseph get to be a leader of all Egypt? (Pharaoh was impressed with him and his good attitude.) Observe the child s countenance as they try to figure out the answer. If you notice that they are frustrated, bewildered, or embarrassed because they can t recall the answer, empower them by letting them choose someone to assist them. When all the kids start raising their hands, wanting to help with the answer, the child will be in control once again. 5
Message Let s try to think of as many sticky things as we can. (Examples: tape, glue, stickers, Post-It notes, honey, syrup, gum) PowerPoint slides (show slide #2) Joseph had sticky faith. Joseph was very sticky in a good way! When Joseph faced challenges and difficulties, he could have had a bad attitude. How do you think the story would have changed if Joseph had a bad attitude? What if he had been a horrible slave to Potiphar? What if he had complained and given up on God? What if he had thrown out all his values and got totally angry? What if he had pouted because he got thrown in prison and given up on ever having freedom? What if he had picked fights with all the other prisoners? That s a lot of what ifs! If he had done those things, he would not have gotten God s blessings and freedom the way he did in the end! God stuck with him through everything, and Joseph stuck with God no matter what! He didn t give up. He didn t throw out his faith or turn his back on God. Things were not good in his life, but he stuck it out. Joseph had a sticky faith that was stronger than his circumstances? How do you get sticky faith? (show slide #3) Know that God is good. If you know God, and you know that He is good, you ll be able to trust Him when things get tough. Joseph didn t just become close with God when he was thrown in jail. He was already close with God. He stayed close with God. He already had a relationship with God. He already knew that God was good. If you know that God is good, even when bad things happen in life, you ll be able to say with confidence that, no matter what happens God is still good. But you have to know that and believe that now. Do you know that God is good? Do you really believe that? (show slide #4) Choose to trust God. When Joseph was accused of doing wrong and thrown in prison, he could have stomped his feet and yelled I DIDN T DO ANYTHING WRONG! YOU MEANIES, I DON T DESERVE THIS! He could have let it eat him up inside. But He trusted God. He believed that God had a plan for Him and would work everything out. He stuck to his values and what He knew in his heart was right, no matter what he was blamed for that he didn t do and no matter who lied to him. God gave Joseph freedom. Joseph was free to face whatever came his way without worry, because he chose to trust and believe in God. He didn t argue with God or question God. He just trusted. How many times do we give up on God when things don t go exactly as we think they should go? 6
Each person has to make the choice to trust God. Sometimes you ll have to tell yourself, I trust God, over and over until you believe it, but you have to make that decision on purpose. You have to choose to trust Him now, and then when something happens that challenges your faith, you have that trust and stick to what you believe. (show slide #5) Stick close to God. Because of our sin we can t be close to God. That s because God is perfect and can t be mixed with sin. BUT we can come near to God because of Jesus, who died to take the punishment for our sins so we can be forgiven and cleaned from them. Because of Jesus, we can have a close relationship with God. We can stick with Him and know that He will stick with us. We can let Him help us know what is right and what is wrong, and we can stick to what we know is right according to His Word. Object Lesson Make four loops of tape and use them to stick 2 pieces of paper on top of one another. clear tape 6 pieces of paper rubber cement When we re not close with God, our faith isn t very strong. And when something comes along that pulls us away from God, we fall away easily. When we re accused of doing something we didn t do someone lies about us we don t react like God would want us to. Pull the papers apart. Use the rubber cement to glue 2 other papers together. Show 2 pieces that you stuck together earlier where the rubber cement has dried. It s MUCH harder to pull these papers apart because they are stuck together so strongly. Try to pull the papers apart. Is your faith strong? Can you stick close with God even when you want to pout or throw a fit or have a nasty attitude because of something someone else did to you? Will you keep doing the right thing, even when it s tough? Do you have sticky faith like the rubber cement? Or is your faith like the tape? Stick close with God, and you will have sticky faith. Activity Video Beforehand, download the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srdnajv1a3w download of YouTube video pair of swim fins 7
Do you know what hurdles are? In track events, there are races that you run all by yourself, races that you run as a team and pass a baton (stick) to one another, and there are races that you have to jump over hurdles as you run. Have you ever wondered if it was possible to jump over hurdles while you were wearing swim fins? This is a crazy video of Veronica setting the Guiness World Record for jumping hurdles while wearing swim fins. Show the kids a pair of swim fins and ask if they think they could run a race in these. You can even take a few moments to put them on someone and have that kid try to run in the fins. Watch the video: Fastest 100 metre hurdles wearing swim fins. It would be a lot easier to run a race if there weren t hurdles. You could race a lot faster! It takes something extra special to be able to run and jump over the hurdles as you go. Sometimes they knock you down when you don t get your leg up high enough. That s when it s easy to think that you re out of the race that you ve failed. That s when you feel like just laying there on the track while everybody else finishes. Life has its hurdles its challenges. What were some of Joseph s hurdles? Potiphar s wife made up a lie about him and Potiphar believed it, rather than believing the truth. Joseph was stuck in prison. The prisoner that got out and promised to talk to Pharaoh about Joseph forgot his promise. Those are some pretty big hurdles! Let s name some of our hurdles. Write them somewhere where the kids can read over them as they continue to think of other hurdles. Their answers may include (but not limited to): left out of the cool group of kids Mom and Dad are no longer together have to go to summer school couldn t afford to go to camp science fair project was ruined on the way to school your teacher left in the middle of the year broke your arm at the beginning of baseball season. Activity Use the hurdles that the kids came up with in the previous Activity. The way Joseph handled his awful situations was an advertisement for God s goodness. Each time Joseph acted in ways that honored God, instead of blowing his top and feeling sorry for himself, it was like he was advertising for God s goodness. The kids will work together in small groups to create commercials using one of the hurdles they came up with earlier as a starting point. If they like, they can come up with a new hurdle. They will come up with a 1-minute scenario that advertises how they can honor God in the middle of that hurdle. 8
The way we react to trials and unfair situations is an advertisement for others to see God in us. Our values and the way we live are like commercials for others. Every time you do the right thing, even when it s the hard thing to do, that lets others see God. That makes God happy. On the flip side, when we do wrong, it s a bad advertisement for God. Others will watch how you react to see what kind of faith you have and what kind of God you have. Remember that you can help people see that God is good no matter what. Prayer Proverbs 16:9 says, In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Bibles Sometimes we have plans of our own, and things don t always work out as planned. That was certainly the case for Joseph. His plans were thrown out the window, but God had ordered his steps and was with him every step of the way. Through thick and thin, through good times and bad times, God was with Joseph, and Joseph stuck with God. God never promised Joseph that he would be freed from jail and blessed with a great leadership position with the Pharaoh. Even if that wouldn t have happened, Joseph would have trusted God and stuck with Him. Do you trust God enough to stick with Him and stick with what you know is right, even if no one else believes you? Do you trust God enough to believe that He is still good no matter what happens in your life? Pray together as the kids repeat the phrases after you. Dear God (pause for kids to repeat after every line) Thank you for being faithful. Thank you for sticking with me. Help me to trust you And stick with you No matter what happens. Help me to be faithful and obey you And do the right thing, Even if no one believes me. You are good, and you will always be good. Help me be like Joseph. In Jesus name, Amen 9
Object Lesson What happens when something doesn t go your way and you have a terrible attitude about it? You lose control of your emotions. You do things you regret. You give in to temptation and sin. You put yourself in control of your life, instead of God. And your faith and values crumble. When you get stretched, you lose your shape. Your life takes a different shape and your heart becomes far from God. Silly Bandz Like Joseph, God wants you to remain close to Him. In Genesis 39, it says FOUR times, The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph, because Joseph stayed close to the Lord. That s why. When he was stretched, when things happened that could have pulled him away from God, he stayed close. And God stayed close. When you stretch the Silly Bandz out and put them on your wrist or pull them taut, you can t see what shape is there. Stretch a Silly Bandz and hold it up. Then let the Silly Bandz go back to its original shape. The shape is still there. It s always there. It s been there all along, even when you couldn t see it. Even when you stretched it. Just because I stretched it out, did that take away the shape from the Silly Bandz? No. It stayed the same. And just because you get stretched, your faith can stay close to God, and God will stay close to you. He will always be the same, no matter what happens. You can always trust Him. Take Home Reminder You can purchase Silly Bandz at almost any store (convenience store, dollar store, toy store). They are extremely popular right now and the kids love them! Give each child a Silly Bandz. Silly Bandz Take home this Silly Bandz and let it be a reminder to you that no matter how you get stretched, your faith in God can always be there. God will always be the same. You don t have to lose your shape or your faith just because something comes along that stretches you or makes you uncomfortable. You can trust and obey God. Blessing May you stick with God through good times and bad. 10
Extra options Scripture Memorization Galatians 5:1 (GNT) Freedom is what we have Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again. Review the memory verse a few times with the kids. Designate one area of the room to be jail. Choose 3 people to be taggers and 3 people to be listeners. If you have a large, open space, you will play freeze tag, and if you don t have a large space you can have the taggers walk around and tap people as they stay in their seats. When someone gets tagged, he/she must report to jail and wait there until one of the listeners come to listen as the person in jail recites the whole memory verse. Did it get frustrating to sit in jail and wait for someone to come listen to you? Could you imagine how hard it must have been for Joseph to be patient and trust God while he was sitting in jail, and no one would listen to him? Game Out of all the things that are sticky, one thing you might not think is sticky is bologna. Do you think it s very sticky? We re going to play a fun game with bologna that will help us think of ways we can stick up for what is right in God s eyes. Divide the kids into teams (as many as you have cookie sheets). The teams will line up. One person from each team will be posted 8-10 feet away from the first person in line, holding a cookie sheet up in front of them. Give the first child on each team a piece of bologna. Each kid in line will have a turn throwing the bologna at a cookie sheet to try to get it to stick. (Kids will love this activity!) It s difficult, but, if thrown at the right angle and speed, the bologna will stick very well to the cookie sheet. You can experiment with having the people stand further or closer to the cookie sheets. It s possible to throw it and get it to stick from quite a distance, even as far as 20 feet away (with very skilled bologna-throwers). 11 bologna cookie sheets
(1) Potiphar s wife accused Joseph of doing something he didn t do. (2) Potiphar believed the lie. (3) The prisoner who was released forgot to tell Pharoah about Joseph, after he promised that he would. Joseph went through a lot. His faith was tested over and over, but each time he stuck with God. Each time someone makes the bologna stick to the cookie sheet they will share one circumstance that tests their faith (someone being sick, father losing his job, best friend saying they re not your best friend any longer, not being good at a sport, losing your pet, friends dumping you unless you try a drink of alcohol or some other substance). 12