Joseph/Prayer (Grade 4-6) (Free Sunday School Lessons for Children)

Date	Class	Scripture	Theme
October 11/09	Grade 4-6	Genesis 24-50	Joseph – Jesus hears me (emphasis on prayer)

Prepared by: Teresa Klassen

Introducing the big idea (3 Minutes – keep it moving so kids stay tuned in)

To start off this morning, I have a guessing game.  I have a number of things that make a sound, and I need you to guess what they are…

(we will have a whole assortment of stuff, you can use an assistant if you like. Use the Ping-pong table as a screen so they can’t see what the things are)

Conclusion: Now what is the point of all that. The point is, that you figured out what these sounds were. They were all different from each other…but you could pick out the sound and figure out what they were.  The same thing is true of your voice…God can pick out your voice from everyone else’s. We’ll talk more about that in a minute.  First, let’s hear the story of one man’s unique voice and how God heard him when he felt very, very alone.

STORY/DVD: (8 minutes)

Story of Joseph using the Brick Testament (story is told in Lego) (please get permission first) or you can go to YouTube and look up Lego Joseph or Bible story of Joseph and you will find some good links.

Conclusion: Usually we talk about Joseph, we talk about his amazing coat of many colors…but today I want you to think about how alone Joseph must have often felt.  Alone – because his brothers didn’t like him. Alone – because they threw him in a pit. Alone – because he got sold to slave traders and taken to a foreign country, and later Alone – in Jail. That was a lot of alone time. Put yourself in his place for a minute…

Retelling the Story – Drama (5-8 Minutes)

Characters:                                                             Props:

• Teacher Narrator                                    –            Coat
• Brother 1                                                –            Pop-tarts/breakfast table
• Brother 2                                                –            Chair to use as “jail”
• Brother 3
• Dad
• Joseph
• Slave-Trader
• Potipher

Teacher

Narrator:            Joseph had a bunch of brothers and they all thought their dad liked Joseph best. Actually, in some ways they were right. Joseph was the baby of the family (any babies of the family here today?). New babies aren’t much good at hunting, or watching sheep. Mostly they just roll around and cry a lot, and you have to do everything for them. So, when baby Joseph came along, of course Jacob spent a lot of time with him. Well, that, and babies are just so cute!

But, Joseph’s brothers didn’t like it.

Brothers:            We don’t like Joseph! Grrrrrrr

Teacher

Narrator:            They were jealous!

Brother 1:            We want dad to spend more time with US!

Teacher

Narrator:            As the brothers got bigger and stronger they made faces at Joseph and they didn’t include Joseph in anything fun.

Brother 3:            How does it feel Joseph?

Joseph:            I feel pretty alone.

Brothers make silly faces at Joseph

Teacher

Narrator:            When their dad wasn’t around, they bossed him around

Brother 2:            Hey Joseph, pick up my socks!

Brother 3:            Hey Joseph, it is your turn to do the dishes AGAIN!

Teacher

Narrator:            It probably didn’t help that their dad gave Joseph a really cool coat

Dad gives Joseph a cool coat

Joseph:            Hey look at my awesome coat you guys

Brothers:            (look mad) Grrrrr

Brother 1:            We don’t want you around.

Brother 2:            Yeah, so how does that feel?

Joseph:            I feel pretty alone.

Teacher

Narrator:            Joseph’s brothers were SURE their father liked Joseph best. And maybe he did. But Jacob loved each of his sons, and would have given his life for any one of them.

The next morning, they were all sitting down for breakfast.

Brothers sit down to have breakfast (pop tarts)

And Joseph was bragging about a dream he had in which he was more powerful than they were

Joseph:            (bragging) Hey, I had this dream where I was way more powerful than you guys!

Brothers give him nasty looks

Brother 1:            You’re not the boss of us, you know! (sticks his tongue out)

Teacher

Narrator:            Later, out in the fields…later out in the fields. Ok, brothers, you need to move out into the fields and I am going to need some people to play sheep.

Position brothers out in a “field” along with a flock of sheep

Teacher

Narrator:            As I was saying, the brothers were out in the fields and Joseph came along.

Brother 2:            I have had enough of Joseph

Brother 3:            Let’s throw him in this pit and then later tonight let us trade him to some slave traders for some quick cash…we can get a new x-box with the money.

Teacher

Narrator:            And that is exactly what they did – minus the x-box.

I need a slave trader here, and Potipher here, and then we need a chair to be jail (arrange all this)

OK. Joseph…you need to stand with these slave traders. And slave trader, I need you now to pass Joseph off to Potipher – he was the guy in Egypt who bought Joseph. But things only went OK for a little time and Joseph then got put into Jail. Sorry Joseph.

Joseph:            Now I feel really, really alone.

Teacher

Narrator:            Things weren’t great in Jail, but Joseph wasn’t alone. Yes, there were other prisoners, but Joseph knew that even in this awful place, God was with him and God heard his prayers…

The story has a good ending, by the way, Joseph is eventually freed from Jail after a long time and becomes the most powerful man in Egypt, second only to Pharoah. He reunites with his brothers and forgives them, and actually ends up saving them from a deadly family…

But back to the thing about Joseph’s prayers…prayer is an awesome thing because the Bible says that God hears us no matter where we are…let’s take a look at a great passage of Scripture:

Reading The Bible (5 Minutes)

Give each group pretzels – and as you do, ask the group if they know where pretzels come from. Explain that pretzels are a really old snack! They have been around for over 1,000 years! In those days, Christians prayed with their hands crossed over their chests; one day a worker in the church made pretzels to look like those hands crossed in prayer.  They were given as treats to children who memorized their prayers. Pretzels came from a word meaning “Little Reward”.

• Divide the class into three groups.  Give them the handout and a couple of bibles each.
• Have them look up the passage of Scripture  IN PSALM 139(let them try on their own, help where needed)
• Have each group fill in the blanks for their group.
• When you are done, have someone at the table read their passage (do the groups in order)
• As the leader, pause to explain what this verse is saying, especially if there are words that confuse the kids
• The point: God is always with us, attentive to us, listening to us, interacting with us

GROUP ONE – PSALM 139

1            O LORD, you have searched me and __________ me!

2            You know when I ___________ down and when I _____________ up;

You ___________ my thoughts from afar.

3            You search out my _____________ and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ___________.

4            Even before a word is on my ___________,

behold, O LORD,(D) you _______ it altogether.

GROUP TWO – PSALM 139

8            If I ascend to ___________, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9            If I take the wings of the __________

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the __________,

10            even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

GROUP THREE – PSALM 139

11            If I say, “Surely the darkness shall ________ me,

and the light about me be night,”

12            even the darkness is not __________ to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as __________ with you.

Reinforce (5-8 minutes) – We are never alone, we can always talk to Jesus

Come up with a Top 10 list of things you are most likely to talk to God about (use the Easel to write down their answers)

After, ask questions like:

• Do you think God wants to hear about the ordinary things in your day?
• Does God want to hear about problems you are having with friends?
• Does God want to hear about things you are afraid about or worried about?
• Does a person have to “know how” to talk to God?

Last Q: Do we just talk to God, or does God talk back to us?

Conclude: The fact is, God wants to talk to us. One of the ways he wants to talk to us is through the Bible.  Remember our verse from last week? That the Bible is like a light on our path…directing us and leading us?

Learning The Bible Verse: (5 Minutes) – this is week 2 of learning this verse. They did the same actions last week.

“First of all, does anyone remember the verse without me even helping you? Let’s see…”

Verse: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

One great way to memorize Scripture is by using actions…so we are going to use actions to memorize this verse…

Actions:

Your:             Point out, away from yourself

Word:             Open your hands like a Bible

Is A:            Clap twice

Lamp:            Make a “tent” over your head, like a lampshade

To:            Two fingers like a peace sign

My:            Cross your arms over your chest

Feet:            Point down with both hands to your feet

And A:            Clap twice

Light:            Hold your finger up like a candle, and use the other hand to wiggle your fingers and imitate a flame

To:            Two fingers like a peace sign

My:            Cross your arms over your chest

Path:            Smooth two hands out in front of you to show a path

Psalm One hundred and nineteen verse one hundred and five

EXTRA:

If you have time left, try timing the kids as they do the Joseph Word Search.

Joseph/Prayer (Grade 2-3) (Free Sunday School Lessons for Children)

Date	Class	Scripture	Theme
October 11/09	Grade 2-3	Genesis 24-50	Joseph – Jesus hears me (emphasis on prayer)

Prepared by: Vicki Waddell and Teresa Klassen

Introducing the big idea (3 Minutes – keep it moving so kids stay tuned in)

Have everyone standing up and say, “You can sit down when I call out a color that you are wearing.” (example, “If you are wearing something red, you can sit down”)

Today we are going to listen to a Bible Story about a boy who had all of those colors on at once – he had a very colourful coat. Do you know what his name is? (Joseph)

Story of Joseph: (8 minutes)

Story of Joseph — you can get permission from the author and use illustrations from the Brick Testament (bricktestament.com) or there are some good short films (some using lego) on YouTube.

Conclusion: Usually we talk about Joseph, we talk about his amazing coat of many colors…but today I want you to think about how alone Joseph must have often felt.  Alone – because his brothers didn’t like him. Alone – because they threw him in a pit. Alone – because he got sold to slave traders and taken to a foreign country, and later Alone – in Jail. That was a lot of alone time. Put yourself in his place for a minute…

Retelling the Story – Drama (5-8 Minutes)

* I can’t recall if this was written by one of our writers. So we won’t take credit for this drama.

–                Choose someone to be “Joseph”

–                Helper can be “Dad”

–                Divide other kids into 3 groups, to represent the 3 brothers – each group will say the lines together. When it is time to have Joseph stand with the slave trader and Potipher, choose two of the “brothers” to play this role.

Props:

–                Coat

–                Chair to use as “jail”

Teacher

Narrator:            Joseph had a bunch of brothers and they all thought their dad liked Joseph best. Actually, in some ways they were right. Joseph was the baby of the family (any babies of the family here today?). New babies aren’t much good at hunting, or watching sheep. Mostly they just roll around and cry a lot, and you have to do everything for them. So, when baby Joseph came along, of course Jacob spent a lot of time with him. Well, that, and babies are just so cute!

But, Joseph’s brothers didn’t like it.

Brothers:            We don’t like Joseph! Grrrrrrr

Teacher

Narrator:            They were jealous!

Brother 1:            We want dad to spend more time with US!

Teacher

Narrator:            As the brothers got bigger and stronger they made faces at Joseph and they didn’t include Joseph in anything fun.

Brother 3:            How does it feel Joseph?

Joseph:            I feel pretty alone.

Brothers make silly faces at Joseph

Teacher

Narrator:            When their dad wasn’t around, they bossed him around

Brother 2:            Hey Joseph, pick up my socks!

Brother 3:            Hey Joseph, it is your turn to do the dishes AGAIN!

Teacher

Narrator:            It probably didn’t help that their dad gave Joseph a really cool coat

Dad gives Joseph a cool coat

Joseph:            Hey look at my awesome coat you guys

Brothers:            (look mad) Grrrrr

Brother 1:            We don’t want you around.

Brother 2:            Yeah, so how does that feel?

Joseph:            I feel pretty alone.

Teacher

Narrator:            Joseph’s brothers were SURE their father liked Joseph best. And maybe he did. But Jacob loved each of his sons, and would have given his life for any one of them.

The next morning, they were all sitting down for breakfast.

Brothers sit down in a circle as if they are going to have breakfast.

And Joseph was bragging about a dream he had in which he was more powerful than they were

Joseph:            (bragging) Hey, I had this dream where I was way more powerful than you guys!

Brothers give him nasty looks

Brother 1:            You’re not the boss of us, you know! (sticks his tongue out)

Teacher

Narrator:            Later, out in the fields Joseph came along.

Brother 1:            Hey, here comes Joseph, grrr.

Brother 2:            I have had enough of Joseph

Brother 3:            Let’s throw him in this pit and then later tonight let us trade him to some slave traders for some quick cash…we can get a new x-box with the money.

Teacher

Narrator:            And that is exactly what they did – minus the x-box.

I need a slave trader here, and Potipher here, and then we need a chair to be jail (arrange all this)

OK. Joseph…you need to stand with these slave traders. And slave trader, I need you now to pass Joseph off to Potipher – he was the guy in Egypt who bought Joseph. But things only went OK for a little time and Joseph then got put into Jail. Sorry Joseph.

Joseph:            Now I feel really, really alone.

Teacher

Narrator:            Things weren’t great in Jail, but Joseph wasn’t alone. Yes, there were other prisoners, but Joseph knew that even in this awful place, God was with him and God heard his prayers…

The story has a good ending, by the way, Joseph is eventually freed from Jail after a long time and becomes the most powerful man in Egypt, second only to Pharoah. He reunites with his brothers and forgives them, and actually ends up saving them from a deadly family…

But back to the thing about Joseph’s prayers…prayer is an awesome thing because the Bible says that God hears us no matter where we are…let’s take a look at a great passage of Scripture:

Read “What Happens When I Talk to God?” by Stormie O’Martian (8 minutes)

Read this book about prayer to kids, but edit while reading as it’s too wordy.

Play “Joseph Tag” outside (10 minutes)

Using foldable chairs set up in a circle or square, designate a particular area as “jail”. Leave a wide door to be guarded by the jailer. You need one or two kids, depending on numbers, to be “it”, and a “jailer” who will guard the jail. Jailer maybe should be the helper or the teacher.

When you are tagged, you must go immediately to jail. You must remain in jail until another person has joined you.  Only one person at a time can say the freedom words to the jailer. In order to get out of jail, you must say “God heard my prayer” to the jailer, then you will be free.

Once free, you will stand on the side and wait for the game to finish. Another round can be played with a new jailer and new “it” people.

Alternate Indoor Game:

Road to Egypt Relay

Make 6 cobblestones from cardboard. Cut out the cobblestone shapes and add some colour so they resemble cobblestones.

Divide kids into 2 teams. Each team gets 3 cobblestones.

Place a sign at the start point labelled Canaan, and a sign at the endpoint labelled Egypt.

To get from Canaan to Egypt and back, the competitor must toss out the 3 cobblestones. You must step only on the cobblestones to make your way to your destination, picking up and tossing out the cobblestones as often as necessary to create your road. Once you reach Egypt, you pick up the cobblestones and repeat the procedure to get back to Canaan.

Instead of tagging off to the next person on the team, you must say to that person “God hears my prayers”. Then the next person can go.

The team who finishes first is the winner.

Learning The Bible Verse: (5 Minutes) – this is week 2 of learning this verse. They did the same actions last week.

“First of all, does anyone remember the verse without me even helping you? Let’s see…”

Verse: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

One great way to memorize Scripture is by using actions…so we are going to use actions to memorize this verse…

Actions:

Your:             Point out, away from yourself

Word:             Open your hands like a Bible

Is A:            Clap twice

Lamp:            Make a “tent” over your head, like a lampshade

To:            Two fingers like a peace sign

My:            Cross your arms over your chest

Feet:            Point down with both hands to your feet

And A:            Clap twice

Light:            Hold your finger up like a candle, and use the other hand to wiggle your fingers and imitate a flame

To:            Two fingers like a peace sign

My:            Cross your arms over your chest

Path:            Smooth two hands out in front of you to show a path

Psalm One hundred and nineteen verse one hundred and five

Pretzels and Story Order (5 Minutes)

Give each group pretzels – and as you do, ask the group if they know where pretzels come from. Explain that pretzels are a really old snack! They have been around for over 1,000 years! In those days, Christians prayed with their hands crossed over their chests; one day a worker in the church made pretzels to look like those hands crossed in prayer.  They were given as treats to children who memorized their prayers. Pretzels came from a word meaning “Little Reward”.

While they are eating their pretzels, they can put today’s story in order using the picture representation that has been copied for them.

Joseph/Prayer (K-1) (Free Sunday School Lessons for Children)

Date	Class	Scripture	Theme
October 11/09	K-1	Genesis 24-50	Joseph – Jesus hears me (emphasis on prayer)

Prepared by: Teresa Klassen

Introducing the big idea (3 Minutes – keep it moving so kids stay tuned in)

Have everyone standing up and say, “You can sit down when I call out a color that you are wearing.” (example, “If you are wearing something red, you can sit down”)

Today we are going to listen to a Bible Story about a boy who had all of those colors on at once – he had a very colourful coat. Do you know what his name is? (Joseph)

Even though he had a very nice coat, he had some very bad things happen to him and there were many times when he felt very, very alone. Let’s listen to his story.

DVD: (10-12 Minutes) – this week we are watching 2 DVD segments!

PLAY PART ONE: DVD segment “Joseph The slave” (From Read N Share series)

“What a terrible thing! Joseph’s brothers did a very bad thing didn’t they? They were jealous of Joseph and they threw him into a big hole. Can you imagine how frightened Joseph must have been being down in that hole. He must have felt SO ALONE. And then they sold him. Then he must have felt really, really alone!

Maybe you have felt alone, or someone you know has felt alone. Well, that is how Joseph must have felt. Joseph was taken far, far away to Egypt. That was a long, long, long way from his family.”

Q: What is the farthest you have been away from your home? (let the kids answer)

“Joseph wasn’t away on a holiday, he was taken away as a slave!! He had no choice, he had to go and work very hard in Egypt.

Let’s see what happens next:”

PLAY PART TWO: DVD segment “Joseph in Jail”

“When the king knew that Joseph was right, he let Joseph out of Jail. Joseph must have been very happy to get out of Jail…can you imagine being in Jail?”

Q: What do you think Jail is like? (let the kids come up with ideas)

Retelling the Story (5 Minutes)

“I have a stack of pictures here that are from our story today, but they are all mixed up!!!

Can you help me put these pictures in the right order?”

I have put a pencil number on the back of the page to help you as a teacher

Once they are in order ask the question of each picture: “What is happening in this picture” and have the children retell the story in this way.

Conclusion: “Great job remembering the story.”

Reinforce (5-8 minutes) – We are never alone, we can always talk to Jesus

“None of us have to go to jail, but there are times when we might feel alone. Did you know that you can talk to Jesus any time? And you can definitely talk to Jesus when you are alone.

Talking to Jesus is called prayer…

Jesus can hear you no matter where you are.  Just like he could hear Joseph when he was thrown into the pit or when he was in Jail, he can hear you at home, at church, at school, on the playground…everywhere!!

But how can Jesus hear your prayers when there are so many people praying all at once????

Let’s try this guessing game…”

• you will have several objects behind a “screen” that you make (a towel over a chair) – objects that make a noise: things like a whistle, a bell, a spoon hitting a glass, a baby rattle
• have a child come and make one of the sounds, and have the other children guess what it was
• for each sound ask, “how did you know what that sound was?”

Conclusion: “Just as you knew what each sound was, Jesus knows the sound of your voice; he hears that it is different from any other voice. When you pray, no matter where you are, he can pick you out. Jesus always loves it when you talk to him. We talk to him, and as we listen and as we read the Bible, Jesus will speak to us as well. And his words are like a light to our path. Can you remember the verse from last week that talked about how God’s Word is a light to our path?”

Learning The Bible Verse: (5 Minutes) – this is week 2 of learning this verse. They did the same actions last week.

“First of all, does anyone remember the verse without me even helping you? Let’s see…”

• We made a diagram with pictures the pictures to help give kids a visual of the verse and we went over this first
  
• Then show them the action that goes with each picture – most kids will be able to read “Is A” and “And A” in the verse but clap twice to give them something to do…
• Then go over it with actions…standing near the pictures so they can “cheat”
• Say the verse reference and tell them that you are going to learn the verse for 3 weeks and on week three if they can remember where the verse is found you will give them some stickers!
• You can see if any

Verse: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

Actions:

Your:             Point out, away from yourself

Word:             Open your hands like a Bible

Is A:            Clap twice

Lamp:            Make a “tent” over your head, like a lampshade

To:            Two fingers like a peace sign

My:            Cross your arms over your chest

Feet:            Point down with both hands to your feet

And A:            Clap twice

Light:            Hold your finger up like a candle, and use the other hand to wiggle your fingers and imitate a flame

To:            Two fingers like a peace sign

My:            Cross your arms over your chest

Path:            Smooth two hands out in front of you to show a path

Psalm One hundred and nineteen verse one hundred and five (“Who has ever counted to a hundred??? Well this verse is found in chapter one hundred and nineteen verse one hundred and five!!!”)

What About You? (8 Minutes) (this is for small group leaders)

During our small group time, give the kids a few pretzels. Explain that pretzels are a really old snack! They have been around for over 1,000 years! In those days, Christians prayed with their hands crossed over their chests; one day a worker in the church made pretzels to look like those hands crossed in prayer.  They were given as treats to children who memorized their prayers. Pretzels came from a word meaning “Little Reward” – so today we will have a little reward for our small group time!

1.            What was the name of the man in our story? (Joseph)

2.            What happened to Joseph? (He was thrown in a pit and then sold as a slave and then thrown into Jail!)

3.            When Joseph was alone, who did he talk to? (God/Jesus)

4.            Are there times when kids feel alone? When? (if they are new somewhere, if they don’t have a lot of friends, if their mom/dad divorce, if someone they are close to gets sick, other)

5.            What can we do when we feel alone? (talk to Jesus)

6.            Can we talk to Jesus anytime? (yes)

7.            How does a person pray? (you just talk, like you do to anyone, except now you are talking to Jesus)

Close the morning with the children watching: A Child’s Prayer on DVD

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIuphB7nyVg&feature=related

Joseph/Prayer (Preschool) (Free Sunday School Lessons for Children)

Date	Class	Scripture	Theme
October 11th	Preschool	Genesis 24-50	Joseph – we can always talk to Jesus!

Prepared by: Teresa Klassen

Ten Little Ideas of things to do

(In any order – just pick which things seem to work on Sunday. You may do just a couple of things, or maybe you will do them all!)

1. Free time (10 minutes)minutes)

2. Worship time  (CD) (5 minutes)

Play CD and sing along to the simple songs 2 or 3… see how alert the kids are…

3. “Joseph the Slave”  DVD (3 minutes)

Read and Share DVD

4. Coat of Many Colors

Print out a picture of a boy and a coat.

Put glue all over the poster (on the coat) and then allow the children to take the bright bits of color tissue and press them onto the coat to make a very bright coat for Joseph

5. Bible memory (5 minutes)

In the Bible, we learn God makes Promises. God loves us and promises to take care of us  no matter what. Let’s see if we can remember this Bible verse, first you can practice with me, and then if you put up your hand, you can try to remember it and say it back to me!

Psalm 119:105 ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet…

Actions:  most kids won’t be interested, but the older kids might like to follow along.

Your: point to the Sky

Word : open hands like a book

Lamp: hold up finger light a light

Feet: Point to feet.

6. Song about Prayer (3 minutes)

Talk about how when Joseph was alone, he knew he could talk to Jesus.

We can always talk to Jesus too…here is a little song about prayer.

* I believe we used this link

7. Snacks (5 minutes)

Pretzels. Pretzels were originally made as rewards for children who memorized their prayers. The shape is to look like hands crossed over the chest (they used to pray this way). We have also included some juice boxes, as the pretzels may make the kids thirsty. Save the snack until towards the end – so if kids end up wanting to go to the bathroom after drinking their juice, their moms and dads will be around.

8. Story Board Pictures

Tell the story of Joseph using the Story-Boards provided (we printed out pictures telling the story of Joseph and made them into flashcards)

9. Prayer

Bring the children together to pray with them

–      thank God that we could learn more about Him today

–         thank Him that He loves us.

–         thank Him that He always hears our prayers

10. Free Play/colouring sheet for older kids