Big Idea: God doesn't give up on sinners.

Bible Passage: Genesis

This week we finished up the term by looking back at the stories of Genesis. We talked about Adam & Eve, Noah & the covenant rainbow, Abraham, Sarah and the covenant God made to them, Isaac, Jacob & Esau, and then Joseph. We reviewed how God had begun to roll out His plan to rescue the children who turned their back on Him. We looked at how God chose sinful people as part of His plan. We talked about how what people do for evil, God uses for good. We reviewed how even though things can look bleak for us, and sometimes we maybe even feel forgotten by God, He nevers leaves or forsakes us, and He is good to His children.

The book of Genesis teaches us that even though we turned our backs on our good and loving God, he made a plan to rescue us, and that plan was Jesus. God himself paying the price for the sins of the world. And we begin to see signs of this plan unfold all the way back in the very beginning – in the garden. When God promises that one day He will crush the head of the snake and defeat evil forever. 

Next stop, Exodus! We start Term 3 on July 21st, and we can't wait to begin unfolding the rest of History!

See you after school holidays!

Family Activity

Over the school holidays, try making origami paper boats like the one in this video. Place your boat in the lake, or even in the bath or a pool. Use the time folding to talk about the different stories of Genesis we learned about. Remind children that when Noah had to build the Ark, it was because God was so sad about the sin of the world that He wanted to wash all of His creation away. We can thank God that He promised never to do that again, but made a way to save us from sin. Then use your paper boat to give hints to children about the first chapter of Exodus. Moses' mother put her baby in a basket and floated him down the river to save his life. Place your paper boat in the water and watch it float away. Remind children that God doesn't give up on sinners, and what people do for evil, God uses for good. Tell children that at Kidzone in Term 3, we will be talking more about Moses and Exodus and God's plan to save the world. 

Big Idea: What people do for evil, God uses for good.

Bible Passage: Genesis 42:1- 46:34; 50:15-21

This week we heard the story of how Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams and was set free from prison, elevated to second in charge of all of Egypt, and was able to save the whole nation from famine. God's hand of favour was on Joseph, and despite all the troubles he had been through, God used him to save many people.

When Joseph's brothers & family came to him for help during the famine, they didn't recognise him.They bowed down to him, just as Joseph had dreamed when he was only 17. Eventually Joseph told his brothers who he was, and he said he forgave his brothers for what they did to him all those years ago. Joseph tells his brothers that it was actually God that brought him to Egypt and used him to save many people. He said that 'what you intended for evil, God has used for good.' Joseph was able to give God the glory for all the things that had happened, and save many people because of God's plan – even though he went through so much suffering.

We also see this in the life of Jesus. What man intended for evil when they crucified Jesus on the cross, God used for our good & His glory. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the sins of the world were forgiven, and like Joseph, through His suffering, Jesus saved the lives of many people – for eternity. Because of Jesus, we are chosen to be a part of God's family. 

Family Activity

In the story, Joseph hid a cup in his brother's bag in order to bring them back to him so he could be restored to them. Hide a cup of some kind in one of your children's school bags each day this week. When they come home, ask them if they found it. Remind children that because of Jesus, we are chosen to be a part of His family and can be restored to God. Thank God together for sending Jesus and using what man intended for evil, for His glory and our eternal good.

See you next week for our last week of term!

Big Idea: Even when bad things happen to us, God has not forgotten us. He is working for our good, always, no matter what.

Bible Passage: Genesis 37-41:1-31

This week we talked about the story of Joseph, one of Jacob's youngest sons. Jacob had 12 sons, and Joseph was his favourite. You may have even heard about the multi-coloured coat Jacob gave to Joseph. Joseph was given dreams from God at a young age – at 17! Joseph's brothers were not impressed by these dreams, nor did they like him being their father's favourite child – so they made plans to get rid of him. We read in this story that Joseph was sold as a slave by his brothers, imprisoned by his new master, and then forgotten about. It wasn't until Pharaoh needed his dreams interpreted that anyone thought of Joseph and his special gift. But eventually, when Joseph was 30,  he was not only freed from prison, but elevated to a position of power by Pharaoh, and put in charge of the lands. What a long time to wait! And what an amazing thing that God did for Joseph!

We talked about how sometimes we feel forgotten about too. Especially when bad things happen to us. How could God care about us if all these bad things keep happening? We talked about how each moment, or day in our lives is like a puzzle piece, and only God sees the whole puzzle together as a picture. We see the individual pieces and wonder how they make sense. God knew he would use Joseph in Egypt far before his brothers set about to sell him into slavery. God gave him the gift of special dreams far before he would need them to gain favour with Pharaoh. God sees the whole picture, and uses all the pieces to bring about our good for His glory. We can trust God, that even in the scary, sad or hard times, God has not abandoned us, but is at work, putting the whole story together, making it beautiful. And even more than this – that He is with us the whole time as He promises. "Never will I leave you, Never will I forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Family Activity

Do a puzzle together as a family. Hold up one piece of the puzzle and ask your kids, "Can you tell what the whole picture is just from looking at this piece?" Explain to children that each day, moment or season for us is like a puzzle piece. We can't see the whole picture of our lives and how it will work out. Only God can see that. But we can trust Him, that He is making our story beautiful, for our good, and His glory – just like He did with Joseph. We can trust Him in the hard times, because we know that even if they don't make sense to us, God knows what is going on, and more than that, He cares, and He promises to be with us through it all. He will never leave us. When you finish the puzzle, pray to God and thank Him for His Holy Spirit who gives us peace, joy and strength to trust Him in the scary, sad and hard times.

Big Idea: The fight for our heart is a tough wrestle, but God will not give up on us.

Bible Passage: Genesis 22

This week the kids heard the story of Jacob's wrestle with the Lord. We talked about how at the beginning of this story, Jacob is fearful and afraid to meet his brother, Esau, after he stole his birth-right blessing. Knowing he has to go and meet his angry brother, he sends out gifts and family members before him on his journey, to appeal to his brother. But God meets with Jacob. All night the Angel of the Lord wrestles with Jacob, and even changes his name to Israel – which means "God fights". The passage tells us that Jacob won't let the Angel of the Lord go until He blesses him. After the fight, Jacob (now named Israel) goes to meet his brother, out the front of the procession – he runs to him and greets him with a kiss!

We talked about how God meets with each of us too. He fought for us on the cross when Jesus died to take away our sin, once and for all. God wrestles with our hearts to make them clean. Sometimes the fight is hard, and in order for us to fight against sin and trust God, we need help from the Holy Spirit. We talked about how our fight to be like Jesus is not fought with our fists, but with prayer. The wrestle with our hearts to be faithful happens as we surrender to God, confess our failures, recieve forgiveness and strength from the Holy Spirit to have faith to trust God each day. 

Family Activity

Practice the "fight" for your hearts each day this week. Find some time during the day to kneel together, as a team would huddle before a big sport's match. Kneel together and make fists with your hands as if to fight, and then remind children that the fight for our heart is not with our fists, but with our prayers. Take your fists and put your hands together in prayer, or lay them up palms out, to surrender to God. Pray together in your team huddle, asking God for forgiveness for when you've failed, and for strength to fight the battle to be like Jesus each day. Remind children that there is no sin to big for God to forgive, He promises to hear our prayers, forgive our sins and help us every day because He loves us.

Big Idea:  God uses us even when we are sinful because He always does what He says He will do. He is faithFULL even when we are faithLESS.

Bible Passage: Genesis 25:27-34, 27:1-45

This week the kids heard about the story of the stolen blessing from Isaac to his sons, Jacob and Esau. They were twins, but they were also sibling rivals. There was trouble between them as they grew up. Even though Esau was the older son, who should have received the birth-right blessing from his father, Jacob dressed up as Esau and stole it, as his father was dying! Despite the mess that people made, and despite their sin, God chose to use these people to fulfill His plan. He was faithful and fulfilled the covenant that He made to Abraham, Isaac and then Jacob. We see in this story that even when people are faithless and sinful, that God is faithful and keeps his promises to bless us, anyway. 

We talked about how because of Jesus payment for our sins, we too can be blessed and used by God, even though we sin. We talked about how important it is to repent- that is to 'realign' ourselves with God. To turn back to Him each and every time we sin, because He promises to forgive us, continue to bless us and use us as part of His plan. No sin is too great for God not to forgive! We love our faithful God for never giving up on us.

Family Activity

Have a member of the family close their eyes or wear a blindfold, and put out their hands.Then choose another member of the family to touch the hands of the one with their eyes closed. Have the blindfolded person try to guess whose hands touched them. Repeat the game together until everyone has had a turn. Say to children that Jacob tricked his father into giving him the birth-right blessing that belonged to his brother. Even though his dishonesty was sinful, God still used Jacob in His plan to bless the nations. Talk about your own mistakes with children if possible, and remind children that the best thing to do when we sin is to turn back to God and repent. He promises to forgive us, to bless us and to use us in His plan. What a great God we have!

Big Idea: We can say, “the Lord is my God,” because He is faithful to do what He says He will do.

Bible Passage: Genesis 25:19-26, 26:1-6, 28:10-22

This week we talked about the story of God’s reaffirmation of the Covenant he made to Isaac, Abraham’s son. God kept His promise to save the world by making a covenant with Abraham that came true with Isaac, and then Jacob too. We see how God is faithful even when people are faithless, and He chooses people to be part of His plan. To Jacob, God says, “I am with you, and will protect you everywhere you go.” When Jacob realised He was chosen by God to be blessed, He said, “How awesome is this place! If God does all He says He will, then the Lord will be my God.” We can likewise respond to God because He did do what He said He would to save us, in Jesus. We can say, “How awesome is our God! He has done what He said He would, He is my God!” because we are chosen by Him to be His children. 

Family Activity

Make a commitment as a family to do something together every day this week. It can be as simple as brushing your teeth in the same room, or singing a song before bed time. You can be as creative as you like. Commit today to do this activity every day this week. Then, try together, to keep your word. When you get to Friday, talk about how you have gone each day. Whether you have succeeed or failed, talk about how hard it is for us humans to keep our promises, and that sometimes we fail. But God never does. When He says He will do something, He always does it. This is how we can trust Him. He promised to save us from sin, and He as done that in Jesus. Praise him together for His faithfulness.

Big Idea: Big faith like Abraham means trusting God even when we don't understand what is going on.

Bible Passage: Genesis 22:1-19

This week we talked about having BIG faith in God, just like Abraham. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham followed God's instructions. He went to sacrifice his son on a mountain — the very son who he knew God had promised would give him many, many descendants. How could Abraham trust God and obey His instructions? It seemed crazy!

In Hebrews we are told that Abraham believed that even if he killed his son, God was powerful enough to bring him back to life. (Hebrews 11:19). He had faith as Hebrews 11:1 tells us to, "Now faith is being sure of what he hope for, and certain of what we do not see." Abraham had faith to be SURE that God was powerful enough, and CERTAIN that He would fulfill his promises, even if he didn't know how it would happen.

We have promises of God we can be CERTAIN he will fulfill. Hebrews 13:5-6 we read words from the book of Deuteronomy & Psalms quoted for us to remember. "God says, 'Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?'" 

We can say with confidence that not only is God powerful enough to carry us through whatever we go through, but that He will be faithful to never leave us alone, and that He will be our helper. 

We can be sure that He can, and certain He will. This is what BIG faith like Abraham looks like. 

Family Activity

As a family, find a small hill to walk up, or find a set of stairs to climb together. On the way as you walk up, talk about your children's fears and worries. Tell children that Abraham may have feared what was going to happen on the mountain, but that didn't stop him following God. When you arrive at the top, talk about how faith is being SURE that God can help us because He is powerful, and CERTAIN that He will because He is our helper and he cares for us. Read the Hebrews 13:5-6 together. Then sit at the 'summit' and pray a prayer of praise to God for His power and thank him for helping you. Give your fears and worries to Him, and ask Him to help grow your faith as a family to trust Him in all things.

Bible Passage: Genesis 16:1-16, 17:15-22, 21:1-7

Big Idea: God is faith-FULL, even when we are faith-less.

On Sunday we heard how God kept His covenant to Abraham by blessing him with a son – even in his old age. It was a very long time before God gave Sarah and Abraham their son, Isaac. So long, in fact, that Abraham and Sarah thought that God had forgotten about them, and decided to take matters into their own hands. Abraham had a son with Sarah's slave girl, Hagar. But God had chosen Abraham and Sarah to have a child – and God always keeps His promises – so even after Sarah and Abraham had tried to 'help' God with His plan, He was still faithful to Abraham and Sarah, and gave them their son, Isaac. Our God never forgets about His children, or His promises, even when we forget about Him. He loves us no matter what we do, and is always faithful to what He says He will do. We can trust God, even if it doesn't seem to make sense, because God's plans are far greater than ours- and His plans are better than what our human minds can comprehend.

We asked the kids, "Will you have a birthday this year?". When they responded that they knew they would have a birthday, we asked them if they could prove it. "Can you show me that you will have a birthday?" We can't prove our birthdays will come, but we know that they do each year. This is the kind of faith God asks us to have in Him. Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not see." We can trust God even when we can't see, because He is a good God who always keeps His promises.

Family Activity

Play this game as a family. Place an eyemask on one member of the family and arrange an obstacle course around your yard or living room. Guide your family member through the course by directing them with your words. Celebrate together when your family member reaches the end of the course without knocking any items down. Tell children, "We can trust God even when we can't see His plan ahead, because He is faithful and promises to take care of us always." 

Big Idea: Our God always keeps His promises.

Bible Passage: Genesis 12, 15, 17

This week the kids heard about God's plan to save the world. All of term 1 we talked about how God made the world, how sin destroyed God's perfect creation, and how God promised that He would make a way to put it right again by saving the world from our sin. This week we heard about Abraham, a man God chose to be a part of His plan.

God made Abraham a promise (or a 'Covenant'). He said that he would bless Abraham & give him children and a big family. This was a crazy plan, because Abraham was very old- too old to have children! But God said that Abraham would have more descendants than there are stars in the sky. God used the stars to demonstrate that this was something that only He could do, and that Abraham would need to trust Him. Isaiah 55:8 tells us that God's thoughts and plans are far beyond what we can understand, and that He is trustworthy, even when the plan doesn't make sense to us.

We know we can trust God, even when His plan doesn't seem to make any sense, because our God always keeps His promises! We know this is true because God did eventually bless Abraham with children, he became the 'father' of the nation of Israel. And our God did make a way to save the world through sin – in & through Jesus- just as He said He would. We can trust our God; He always keeps His promises.

Family Activity

This week, choose a clear night to stargaze together as a family. Use a telescope if one is available. Look for constellations together. Talk about how God made a promise to Abraham. See if you can think of as many promises from the Bible as there are stars in the sky. Tell children, our God always keeps His promises, and the stars help us remember His greatness.

Big Idea: Jesus died to to save me from my sin,  He gives me new life when I trust in Him.

Bible Passage: John 18-20

This week the kids heard the story of Easter (a few weeks early!). All term we have been in the book of Genesis, talking about how our God made the world in the very beginning. He made a perfect home for His children, and He made His children in His own image, and He loved them very much. We learned about how God's children disobeyed Him, chose not to trust Him and brought sin into the world. But our good God didn't abdandon his children, instead, He made a promise that one day He would save them and all of creation from sin and the brokenness it brings. 

The story of Easter teaches us that God kept His promise. After a very long time, God himself came to earth as a baby, and He was called Jesus. He lived as a man. He showed us what it was like to live with God as king and obey Him perfectly. He showed us what God's Kingdom looks like, by healing people, providing food for hungry tummies, and by forgiving sins. 

The death and resurrection of Jesus is the center of the whole Big Story of the Bible. It's the gospel. We deserve to die because of our sin, but Jesus died in our place. He paid the price for our sins. God was pleased with Jesus' sacrifice and raised Jesus from the dead to reign as King over all creation. We are only forgiven through Jesus. He gives us new life when we trust Him. 

Family Activity

This is to do over the holidays! During the Easter school holidays, see if you can find some time to cook these yummy Empty Tomb Cookies, and talk about each step of the Easter story as you make them together. For instructions, look here: http://faithfulprovisions.com/empty-tomb-cookies-2/

Have a happy holidays! We will see you all in Term 2.