Far From His Dreams

Beforehand Read Genesis 39

Memory Verse:

"God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another." 1 Peter 4:10

Crafts:

• Option 1- Decorate a bird house.
• Make sure to share that if there is no way for the bird to get in and out freely, it's a cage-- or a prison.
• Option 2- Bird Cage Lanterns (picture)

A Snack Fit for a Prisoner:

Snack Idea-- Bread and Butter with water or juice to drink!

• You can take these ideas and make them a bit tastier. You can do cupcakes with fun frosting or donuts with a glaze. 

Questions:

1. Have you ever told a lie to get someone in trouble?
2. Has someone ever told a lie about you to get you in trouble?

This is what happened to Joseph. He was sold as a slave and went to work for a guy named Potiphar. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. While he worked in Potiphar's home, God's favor was on Joseph so that everything he touched was successful. The Bible says Joseph succeeded in all he did. No matter where we are in life, we should always try our best, we should do our chores as if we are doing it for God himself. 

One day, someone told a lie to cover up their own mistake, but they did it with the intention of getting Joseph in BIG trouble. As a result, Joseph was thrown in prison. The Bible says, "But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him His faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed." (Genesis 39:21-23).

Memory Verse Games

·         Act it out.

o   Brainstorm motions with the students to match their memory verse. When children learn movements they are less likely to “lose it” from their memory.

·         Post It Cover Up

o   For this activity write the memory verse on the front board of the classroom. Practice reading it once together and then use post-it notes to cover up one of the words. Then, practice reading the verse again followed by covering up a second word with post-it notes. Continue this pattern until the entire verse is covered and the children are saying the verse from memory. This is an interesting spin on traditional drilling of a verse by repetition. You could also reverse the game beginning with some words covered and have children guess the missing words.

·         Find, Assemble, and Read

o   Put each word from the verse onto separate sheets of paper. Hide them around and have the kids find the words. Once the kids have found the words, congregate at a meeting spot and assemble the sentence and read them.