Week #3: I Will Honour…
Go Answer: I will honor God and stay faithful to His plan.
Go Verse:
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.
‘They are plans for good and not for disaster,
to give you a future and a hope.’”
Jeremiah 29:11
Let us set the atmosphere. Open with prayer and then go into praise and worship. Holy Spirit is not limited to moving at church or children’s church. Be expectant for Holy Spirit to move in your home as you dive into the word with your children.
Introduction
Gather the kids around the table, or in the lounge. Start the following discussion:
Have you ever had a bad day? (Listen to some answers.) Have you ever had a day that went from bad to worse? (Listen to some answers.)
Recap on our journey up until now:
Here we are in week three already of our series, “Coats & Shackles.” When last we saw Joseph he was sold by his brothers into slavery and is headed towards Egypt with his new owners. Things are looking pretty crazy for poor Joseph! But it’s all about to get a little better for Joseph. A very important man is going to buy him from the visiting traders.
Our focus for today is on honoring God. What does the word “honor” mean? (Discuss this as a family.) The definition of “honor” is high respect, respect that is given to someone who is deserving. It is when we show good behavior or good character.
I need two volunteers to help me explain this.
(You need to prepare slips of paper with the scenario’s here below on it. Read or get one of the children to it aloud and take comments determine if the situation on the paper slip is honoring or not. You can also engage older children by asking them for examples from their own life that contains honour and that does not.)
Situations:
1. Your teacher asks you to put your desk supplies away and instead you talk with your friends. (Not Honoring)
2. You are playing outside and your dad tells you to come inside for dinner. You decide to tell your friends you have to leave and you go inside for dinner. (Honoring)
3. Your mom tells you to clean your room and you march up the stairs, and angrily throw everything into place. (Not Honoring)
4. You are at Go Port and you see scraps of trash lying around, you pick them up without being asked. (Honoring)
5. Your friend had something embarrassing happen to them and you tell everyone about it. (Not Honoring)
6. Your older brother is studying for his college exam so you make sure you are nice and quiet so you don’t disturb him. (Honoring)
Let’s continue to think of ways we can honor others as we take a look at our Go Answer…
“I will honor God and stay faithful to His plan.”
Consider having the audience say it with you or repeat after you. Optional: Create actions/hand motions to help kids memorize the Go Answer.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.
‘They are plans for good and not for disaster,
to give you a future and a hope.’”
Jeremiah 29:11, NLT
The Go Verse is the scripture verse that corresponds to the theme of our series for the children to commit to memory over the course of the 5 weeks. Make this fun for your family, whether it is a repeat-after-me segment or an unscramble game. Feel free to get creative!
Get a second person. To be the interrupter, OR change this dialog into a story.
Interrupter: You’ll never believe what happened to me last night!
Presenter: Oh yeah? Tell me about it.
Interrupter: A spaceship landed in my backyard.
Presenter: That is unreal!
Interrupter: Yeah, unfortunately, it crushed the scooter.
Presenter: That stinks.
Interrupter: But it’s okay, it was my sister’s scooter.
Presenter: Well, that stinks for her.
Interrupter: Then the spaceship door opened.
Presenter: Oh really?
Interrupter: Yeah, but the door crushed my scooter.
Presenter: Aww, that’s a bummer.
Interrupter: It’s okay, the spaceship was full of minions.
Presenter: Well, that’s pretty awesome.
Interrupter: But they were the mean, purple minions.
Presenter: Uh-oh!
Interrupter: It’s okay, I had the jelly gun.
Presenter: Perfect.
Interrupter: Too bad it wasn’t actually a jelly gun.
Presenter: Huh? What was it?
Interrupter: It was actually a confetti canon.
Presenter: Sounds like a party!
Interrupter: Well, it would have been, but I accidentally hit the spaceship’s launch button.
Presenter: That’s terrible!
Interrupter: No worries, I headed into space.
Presenter: Exciting!
Interrupter: But then I remembered the doors were still open.
Presenter: Did you fall out?
Interrupter: No… then I woke up.
Presenter: Wait… It was a DREAM??
Interrupter: Yep!
(Interrupter leaves the conversation.)
That was the weirdest story I’ve ever heard. Today, as we jump back into learning about the life of Joseph, we’re going to hear about more of his many ups and downs. Let’s jump in…
Message
Scripture Reference: Genesis 37:36, 39:1-6a
Objective: The goal during week three of our series is to pick-up where we left off with Joseph having been sold by his brothers into slavery. Things are bleak, but Joseph is never out of God’s plan. The key element for children to understand this week is that Joseph honored God through it all. He remained faithful to God.
Message: The Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to a man named Potiphar. Potiphar was no ordinary man. He was an officer of Pharaoh (the ruler of the land) and was a captain of the guard. The Bible tells us that “The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man” (Genesis 39:2a). Joseph lived in Potiphar’s house and God blessed him. Because Joseph acted so honorably, Potiphar liked him and he put him in charge of his household. Everything that Potiphar owned was under Joseph’s care. He was the man in charge!
God began to bless Potiphar’s house because Joseph was there. Joseph stayed faithful and showed good character and behavior.
Is this always easy to do? (No.) It would have been very easy for Joseph to get upset and have a bad attitude. He had been sold into slavery … by his brothers! This is horrible! But through it all, Joseph continued to do what was right.
Joseph lived out our Go Answer. Do you remember what it says? “I will honor God and stay faithful to His plan.”
Conclusion and Cliff-Hanger for Next Week: Joseph is rising in ranks and power. He’s the man in charge, but he is about to have to run for his life because someone is going to tell a lie about him. This is where we hit ‘pause’ on our story. You won’t want to miss next week!
(Display a beautiful fake flower.) Discuss taking care of a plant or plants?.) In order for a plant to grow it needs sunlight, but it also needs something else that is very important. What is it? ( water.) That’s right! (Display watering can.) It needs water! When I am faithful in taking care of this plant it grows into a beautiful flower. But what happens when I don’t take care of it? What happens when I am not faithful in watering the plant? It starts to whither and dies. (Show the dead branch.) It doesn’t turn into a beautiful flower, instead it is dead and ugly. What should have been beautiful and full of life is dead and worthless.
When we stay faithful to God and follow Him, He will turn our life into something beautiful. God has an incredible plan for your life. You have no idea what your future holds! God’s plan for you may be for you to become a famous violinist and play concerts around the world. God’s plan may be for you to become a championship winning basketball player who uses his fame to tell others about Jesus. God’s plan may be for you to become a talented architect and build beautiful buildings. God’s plan may be for you to become a Congressman, a Senator, or even President!
Our job is to honor God and stay faithful to Him. The Bible tells us that when we are faithful, God will bless us (Matthew 25:21; Proverbs 28:20). Although Joseph was in a tough situation, he still honored Potiphar. Because of this, Joseph was eventually put in charge of Potiphar’s entire household. That is what happens when we are faithful. God blesses us for our faithfulness.
This is your opportunity to invite all the children to respond to what was just taught. Before service begins, make sure you’re prayed up and allow God to lead you during this time of response.
1.) Fill in the blanks from this week’s Go Answer: “I will honor God and stay ____ ____ ____ ____.”
a. true to my word.
b. away from slimy frogs.
c. faithful to His plan.
d. far from bad decisions.
2.) From today’s Bible message, who bought Joseph from the traders?
a. Palamar
b. Potiphar
c. Princess Leia
d. The Philistines
3.) What was Joseph in charge of?
a. Cleaning Potiphar’s chariots.
b. Setting the dinner table.
c. Potiphar’s household.
d. Nothing – he is a slave.
4.) In our object lesson, what was needed to keep the plant alive?
a. Water
b. Chocolate milk
c. Love
d. A Snickers bar
Craft Time – Make Joseph in the pit.
