Lesson 7 – The “C” of Courage: Joseph
Sailing the 7 C’s Series
LESSON OVERVIEW
Key Point: Who does Jesus love? Me!!
Bible Story: Joseph
Bible Reference: Genesis 37-50
Challenge Verse: “Love patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” 1 Corinthians 13:4
NOTE: The story of Joseph contains so much material that one could spend several weeks teaching it. Our desire today, though, is to give our children an overview of the entire story.
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ITEMS NEEDED
1 of each of the following signs for each class: Joseph, Cupbearer, Baker, Pharaoh
Enough small Tootsie Rolls for each student to get two in a bag
Enough red paper for each child to have two pieces.
Kid scissors
One large Tootsie Roll per class in the same bag as the small Tootsie Rolls.
Construction Paper for Valentine Cards
The following words in a small bag—Patient, Kind, Does Not Envy, Does Not Boast, Is Not Proud.
Last week for the Fish Cut-outs
Memory Verse Poster—1 per class (The same one for all the classes.)
BEFORE CLASS
-Put up the Bible Verse Poster for today.
-Set out any items you need for today’s lesson
-Pray for each student by name.
AS STUDENTS ENTER
-Greet each student by name as they enter.
-Give each student an attendance sticker for the attendance chart, and feel free to add guest names to the chart. This will give them a sense of belonging.
-Be sure to smile.
OPENING ACTIVITY #1
Control Tool
Anytime you say, “Who does Jesus love?” students should say back, “Me-e-e-e-e-e-e!!”
Leader: Who does Jesus love? / Students: Me-e-e-e-e-e-e!
Making Hearts
When students arrive, give each of them a red piece of paper and some kid scissors (NOTE: Younger children will need help with this.) Ask them and show them how to cut out a heart. Then on the hearts ask them to write five ways that they can show love for other people. (Ask the younger children to draw a picture of someone doing something that shows love. Then ask them to explain what their picture is about.)
SAY: God always wants us to show love for others but loving people isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s hard to love someone who has treated you badly.
OPENING ACTIVITY #2
Body Spellers
This is an activity we did several weeks ago where students work together to use their bodies, lying on the floor, to create certain letters of the alphabet. If you have a large class, split them into two groups and have the two teams race against each other to see who can form the letters the fastest. (NOTE: Younger children will need help with this. Explain that you will write the letter on your marker boards so that they know what it looks like and then ask them to make the shape of the letter using their arms and legs.)
Spell each of the following letters one-at-a-time: C / O / U / R / A / G / E
After spelling each of the letters once, tell the students that you are going to time them to see how fast they can use all the letters they just created to spell a word. Call all of the same letters, but more quickly and as soon as everyone is in place for the previous letter, move to the next.
Discussion
SAY: We just spelled the word “Courage.”
Ask the students—What is courage? (Courage does not mean that you’re not afraid; it means that something is more important to you than your fear—For example, if someone is afraid to do what’s right because everyone else is doing what’s wrong, courage would help them to follow Jesus and trust Him even though kids might tease them. Living for Jesus is more important than the fear of what people will say.)
Ask the students—Does it take courage to love people who treat you wrong? (Yes.)
SAY: Today we will learn about a man who had courage and trusted God even though bad things kept happening to him. He also loved his brothers who treated him terribly.
Control Tool
Leader: Who does Jesus love? / Students: Me-e-e-e-e-e-e!
SAY: Because Jesus loves us we can also love others, even when they treat us badly.
BIBLE LESSON
Tell your students that you have a treat for all of them. Then pass out a small Tootsie roll to each student. However, give the last student a large tootsie roll.
Ask the students—Do you think this is fair—that he gets a big tootsie roll and all of you get a small one? (No.)
Ask the students—What if this happened all the time—How would you feel? (Jealous. Angry. Cheated, Etc.)
To be fair, give all the students with a small tootsie roll another small one but tell them to remember how they felt when they got a small one and someone else got a big one.
SAY: Today we are going to learn about a man named Joseph. This isn’t the Joseph who was Jesus’ earthly dad. This Joseph lived almost two thousand years before Jesus was born.
Show in your Bible where Genesis with today’s story of Joseph is found and then show them where the Gospels are with the story of Mary and Joseph. Show them how much space is between the two. Help them to understand that these are two totally separate characters. Also, show them where these stories are found on the Bible Book Chart.
Ask the students—Who remembers the story two week’s ago about Abraham?
Ask the students—Who remembers last week’s lesson on Jacob and Esau?
Ask the students—Did you know that Jacob was Abraham’s grandson?
SAY: Joseph is Jacob’s son and although Jacob had other children, Joseph was his favorite, which made his brothers jealous.
Ask the students—What does it mean to be jealous?
SAY: It’s like the Tootsie rolls—How did you feel when it looked like someone was getting treated better than you. That’s how Joseph’s brothers felt. So they decided to get rid of Joseph.
Choose 1 volunteers—Give him the Joseph sign.
SAY: To get rid of Joseph, his brothers threw him down in a well. Then they saw a group of traders from another country, so they sold Joseph to them as a slave. Then his brothers took his robe, put animal blood on it and took it to Jacob, their dad, and told him that an animal must have killed Joseph.
Ask the students—How would you have felt if you were Joseph?
Re-locate your class to a different part of the room or change the direction their chairs are facing.
SAY: You’re no longer in the promised land (or Canaan) where God had sent Abraham. Now you’re in Egypt. This is where the traders took Joseph and sold him to a man named Potiphar. (Have all the kids say, “Potiphar.”—It’s a fun word!) Joseph served Potiphar well and Potiphar liked Joseph, but one day Potiphar’s wife tried to get Joseph to do something wrong and when he wouldn’t do it, she told lies to her husband. As a result Potiphar sent Joseph to prison.
Ask the students—Now how would you feel if you were Joseph—your brothers threw you in a well, sold you as a slave, and now, because you did what was right, you’ve been lied about and sent to prison?
Re-locate your class to a different part of the room or change the direction their chairs are facing.
SAY: Joseph was still in Egypt but now he was in prison but he continued to trust God and God blessed him. Eventually the warden (the man in charge of the prison) put him in charge of all the prisoners. Then one day Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, became angry with two of his servants—his chief cupbearer and his chief baker. (Give the Cupbearer and the Baker signs to two volunteers.) He sent them both to the prison where Joseph was.
SAY: One night both the cupbearer and the baker had dreams. Later when Joseph came, he noticed that they both looked bothered. So he asked, “Why are your faces so sad today?” (Have Joseph repeat this after you.) Then they told him about the dreams they had and that they didn’t understand what they meant. But God gave Joseph the ability to understand them and he explained to them their meanings.
SAY: Two years later Pharaoh had a dream. (Choose a Pharaoh volunteer.) He called all the wise men together but no one could figure out its meaning. Then the cupbearer, who had been released from prison, remembered and told Pharaoh about Joseph and how he had understood the dreams in prison. Pharaoh called for Joseph and God showed him the meaning of the dream. It was a warning that they were going to have seven good years with plenty of food followed by seven years of famine, which means that there wouldn’t be enough food.
Ask the students—What would you suggest that the king do if you knew seven years were coming with plenty of food followed by seven years with very little food?
SAY: Joseph suggested that they collect enough food during the good years so they would have enough food during the hard times. Pharaoh liked his idea and put him in charge of it, which meant that Joseph was now the second most important man in all of Egypt.
Ask the students—If someone had treated you wrong like Joseph’s brothers or Potiphar’s wife and you suddenly became very powerful, would you try to get even with them? What do you think Joseph did? (He didn’t try to get even with them. He continued to trust and obey God.)
Re-locate your class to a different part of the room or change the direction their chairs are facing.
SAY: More than seven years had passed. Joseph had collect plenty of food to help the country during the hard years and even people from other countries were coming to get help from him—among these people were his brothers but so many years had passed that they didn’t even recognize him.
Ask the students—Do you think Joseph treated them badly because of what they had done to him? (No. He helped them and Pharaoh brought his whole family down to Egypt and gave them the best lands.)
SAY: Joseph had courage and trusted God even though bad things kept happening. He also treated his brothers kindly even though they had treated him terribly. Listen to what he said to them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).
SAY: Because Jesus loves us we can also love others, even when they treat us badly.
Control Tool
Leader: Who does Jesus love? / Students: Me-e-e-e-e-e-e!
TREASURE VERSE
Tell your students that you have hidden five words or phrases (i.e., Patient, Kind, Does Not Envy, Does Not Boast, Is Not Proud.) around the room on small slips of paper and when you said go, they are to try to find as many of them as they can as quickly as they can.
After they find all five slips of paper, ask the following:
Ask the students—What does it mean to be patient?
Ask the students—What does it mean to be kind?
Ask the students—What does envy mean?
Ask the students—What is boasting?
Ask the students—What does it mean to be proud?
Ask the students—What do all five of these describe—What is Patient, Kind, Does Not Envy, Does Not Boast, Is Not Proud? (God’s kind of love.)
SAY: Let’s see what the Bible has to say about love…
Show the Verse Poster and have your students REPEAT today’s verse after you.
Bible Drill
Ready…1 Corinthians 13:4-8a…Go!
NOTE: Read through “Love never fails” at the beginning of verse 8.
SAY: This is the way that God wants us to love each other, and because God loved us first we can love others even if they treat us wrongly.
Control Tool
Leader: Who does Jesus love? / Students: Me-e-e-e-e-e-e!
LESSON ACTIVITY
SAY: Around Valentine’s Day many people think about the “hugs and kisses” type of love, but this year think about God’s love and how you can share it with others. Today we’re going to give you a chance to share God’s love with someone by making them a Valentine’s card. You can make this for your mom or dad or a friend at school or even as a way to share Jesus’ love with your teacher. Instead of having your card say, “I love you,” let it say, “Jesus loves you.” (NOTE: Students can use the left over red paper to cut out hearts for their Valentine cards.)
PRAYER TIME & WRAP UP
Cast Your Cares
Ask the students—Who can tell me what 1 Peter 5:7 says? (“Cast your cares on him because He cares for you.”)
Ask the students—What does this mean? (Since you’ve discussed this for seven weeks now, your students should have a really good idea of what it means. If not, re-explain to them why and how they can trust God with any “care” in their lives. You may also want to tie this into how Joseph trusted God during the hard times he experienced.)
Pray today and thank Jesus for sharing His love with us.
List Prayer Requests Here
Be sure to pray specifically for each request above.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
EXTRA TIME
Use any extra time to:
-Help your students memorize the verse for today
-Practice extra Bible Drills by looking up the Challenge Verse from the previous weeks.
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