Called: Trusting God in Tangled Times
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Called: Trusting God in Tangled Times You have been called by God for a very special purpose. You have been specially placed in your family at this moment in history. We know that God loves you and has great plans for you! This fall we are going to learn about three people from the Bible: Joseph, David and Esther. God had special plans for them, too. We will learn about their communication with God and how they trusted Him even when life got tangled. The life of Jesus and His love is woven into all of our lessons, but we will especially focus on Him in December. In this book, you'll find lessons for Sunday mornings, activities to do with your family throughout the week and independent pages you can complete each day. When life gets tangled and you fall behind, don't worry! Each page is dated so you can skip ahead and get back on track. In the fall of 2020 you might feel that communication with God is full of static! It's the prayer of the Children and Family Ministry staff that we will all tune our hearts to hear His still, quiet voice. He is calling you. Together, let's learn to trust Him in tangled times. Joseph & his brothers Sunday morning, September 13th Start Here: Read About It: Draw a Picture: Color a coffee filter Genesis 37:1-14* with washable After reading the markers. Use as Jacob gives Joseph a story, draw a picture many colors as you very special coat. of what you heard! can! God communicates to Give each child a Then take a spray Joseph through chance to share their bottle and mist water dreams. drawing and listen to onto the filter-- which part of the *For younger children, you making water-color might read "The Forgiving story impacted them art! Prince" in your Jesus the most. Hang to dry. Storybook Bible. Understanding Further: Talk Together: · Joseph's brothers had many different · What are some memorable gifts that you emotions in this story-- jealousy, anger, have been given? How does getting a cool sympathy, even regret. gift make you feel? · Once the coffee filter is dry, write different · Have you ever watched someone ELSE get emotions that you have felt on it. a really cool gift? How did that make you feel? · Display the artwork and refer back to it · Joseph was called by God through his throughout the week as your family exhibits dreams. What do you think will happen the different emotions. next in his life? Joseph & his brothers: Anytime Activities Week of September 14th Try This: Try This: Try This: God is with us through Grab an old pillowcase our ups and downs! Take turns sharing "rose and decorate it using Jacob gave Joseph fabric paint or and thorn" emotions of a gift and it made your week. permanent markers. Joseph feel happy. (You could also add Once it's ready, you "rosebuds" and list things can have a nightly Who can you bless that you are looking reminder that God this week by giving forward to!) loves you and has a them a special gift? BONUS: Play the song special purpose for "Ain't No Mountain High YOUR life! Enough!" Memorize It: Pray about It: You can make many plans, Dear Jesus, we know that you but the Lord’s purpose have important plans for our lives. Thank you for the many will prevail. blessings you have given us. Proverbs 19:21 In your name we pray, Amen. Genesis 37:1-14 1 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner. 2 This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. 3 Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him. 5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!” 8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. 9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” 10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant. 12 Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13 When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.”“I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied. 14 “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron. Joseph & Jealousy Sunday morning, September 20th Start Here: Read About It: Retell It: Genesis 37:18-36* Go to your recycling Joseph's brothers are bin and take out any After reading the jealous and betray him. non-dirty items. story, retell it as a They lie to their father (Rinse out any cans and cause great pain for family in your own or bottles.) their family. words. Listen to Now get creative with Joseph ends up in which parts impacted glue, tape and paint Egypt as a slave. your children the to create a sculpture *For younger children, you most. from the "trash"! might read "The Forgiving Prince" in your Jesus Storybook Bible. Understanding Further: Talk Together: · Feelings are important, but they don't control · Sometimes life is messy and it feels like us. What could the brothers have done trash, but God turns trash into treasure! He differently when they felt angry and jealous? takes a messy situation and redeems it! · How do you think Joseph felt when he was · Look up Romans 8:28 and write it on your betrayed by his brothers? Have you ever felt sculpture. that way? · Display your sculpture(s) and add on · Share a time when you thought something throughout the week as a reminder that God was ruined, but it actually turned out can turn bad situations into good! good in the end. Joseph & Jealousy: Anytime Activities Week of September 21st Try This: Try This: Try This: It's normal to feel jealous Go on a walk around your Make a Wacky Well!* when you see someone house with a twist! Wrap wax paper around the end of a cardboard tube and get a really cool gift, but One family member is secure it with a rubber band. it's important to be blindfolded and the others are navigators. When you talk through the grateful for what you The blindfolded person has tube, the wax paper messes have! to trust the navigators! up your voice. Just like Make a "family gratitude" When Joseph went to see jealousy messes up poster using words, his brothers that day, he had relationships! Jealousy can drawings or cut-out no idea what was about to make communication and understanding harder. pictures. Hang it up and happen! He was thrown into *You can find this craft on add to it throughout the a scary journey and he had to trust that God had a plan. page 39 of the Hands-On week. Bible. Memorize It: Pray about It: You can make many plans, Dear Jesus, we are so thankful but the Lord’s purpose for the blessings we have. Help us to focus on gratitude and will prevail. instead of jealousy. Proverbs 19:21 In your name we pray, Amen. Genesis 37:18-36 18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!” 21 But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.