PreSchool
Joseph Forgives
Genesis 42:1-8; 43:16; 45:1-28; 46:5-7
BIG IDEA: God wants us to show love to others.
GET TALKING:
- Why did Joseph's brothers come to Egypt? (Their dad sent them to buy grain.)
- How do you think Joseph felt when he saw his brothers again? (Maybe sad, angry, excited)
- Did his brothers recognize him? (No)
- How did Joseph show his brothers love? (He forgave them for selling his as a slave. He invited them to come live with him in Egypt.)
ACTION PLAN: Think of people and ways that you can show them love this week.
PRAYER: Ask God to help you see people who need love and find ways to show it to them.
JUNE MEMORY VERSE:
"The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Elementary
Gideon's Test
Judges 6:1-22, 36-40
BIG IDEA: It is wise to trust God's big plans for me.
GET TALKING:
- What was Gideon doing when the angel of the Lord came to him? (Hiding from the Midianites in a winepress.)
- What did the angel tell Gideon? (Called him a mighty warrior. Told him God wanted him to defeat the Midianites. God would be with him.)
- What did Gideon ask God to do? Why? (He asked God to prove this was right by putting a sheepskin out, and making it wet and the ground dry. Then the next night the opposite, make the sheepskin dry and the ground wet. Gideon asked this because he wasn't ready to trust God yet.)
- What did God do? (He answered Gideon's prayers to help Gideon trust God's plans for him.)
CONNECTING TO JESUS: God chose Gideon to do something that seemed scary to him. But Gideon trusted the Lord with all his heart. So he did what God told him to do, and God caused him to win the battle and free the Israelites. Jesus also fully trusted and obeyed God. Jesus had the biggest, most outrageous act of love to do... to take the punishment of all our sins! When he died and came back to life, He won the ultimate battle so that we could be free from sin and join God's family forever!
ACTION PLAN: Talk about what trusting God looks like and sounds like. (What are things people can say to show they trust in God? What are some actions that show someone trusts in God?)
JUNE MEMORY VERSES:
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1:22
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6