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Heal a Hurting Heart - Lesson #4

Lesson 4 - FEELING LONELY

By the end of this lesson the child should be able to:
• Sympathise with Joseph’s father who grieved the death of his son. Genesis 37: 31 – 35
• Relate to Joseph's fear, anxiety, betrayal and bewilderment.
• Realize that connecting with others helps them to overcome fear and loneliness
• Realize that God never abandons us even if everyone else does
• Know it is ok to feel bad
• Realize God has a plan for their lives.
• Understand that children need to be protected but this does not always happen

AS KIDS ARRIVE PRIOR TO THE LESSON (10 minutes) ACTIVITY
Get a child to colour the Bible Verse Visual Aid before class begins.

HAPPY FEEL GOOD WORDS !
Get the children to sit in a circle talking about things that make you “feel happy or good”!
Start off with what makes you happy ---and then take turns calling out things such as: Sunny days make me happy; Sunshine makes me happy; Warm cookies make me happy; Saturday mornings make me happy; Friday nights makes me happy….. Going to the movies makes me happy…..Pizza…..Going on vacation…..Blue skies…..Summer time, etc.
When done in a light-hearted manner, the children will join in and share!

Supplies needed:
• Beans.
• FEAR written on a rock.
• Chalk, Crayons. Small pieces of paper, pencils.
• Balloons and marking pen.
• Print the review colouring page.
• Print out musical lyrics.
• A multi-couloured piece of cloth torn up and dipped in red paint for dramatized Bible Verse.
• Print the road map.
• Print the 'Activity Book' the 'Take Home Bible Memory Verse' track and Chapter #4 'And Puppy' one for each child.
• Create a ‘Heaven Corner’ with a gold cloth on a chair with Jesus’ crown, a wooden cross, covered with a red cloth representing His blood.

1. GAMES: (10 minutes)
FEAR HOPSCOTCH: Draw two hopscotch games on the floor or parking lot. FEAR can be written on a rock and then tossed to a square on the hopscotch for children to play the game. Children are not allowed to hop on the square where the FEAR ROCK had landed. If the number of children is too many for one game, another hopscotch drawing could be made, side by side.

2. TEAM GAMES: (10 minutes)
Divide the children into two groups, boys and girls. Blow up balloons and write various emotions on each balloon, Fear, Anxiety, Bewildered, Grieving, Betrayal etc the children pass the balloons from one to the other until they find a balloon that best describes how they may have felt or are feeling the first team to identify the various emotions is the winner.

3. ACTIVE PRAISE CHORUS (10 minutes)
Bye bye bye fear (Use Video)

4. INTIMATE WORSHIP (5 minutes)
I love the Lord, He heard my cry (Use Video)

Cast all your burdens on Jesus (Use Video and lyrics)

5. TEACHING
a. Review
Remember Joseph had a terrible experience at the hands of his brothers he probable felt all these emotions. (Use Visual Aid)

Lets sing together again (Use lyrics from Lesson 3)
I Have Feelings

When was Joseph happy? (When his father gave him a coat of many colours.)
When was Joseph sad (When his brothers threw him in the pit)
When was Joseph scared (When he was sold into slavery)
When was Joseph mad (When he realized he was no longer free)
When was Joseph proud (When he had the dreams of his family bowing down to him)

.b. Learn a Bible Verse (5minutes)
All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him. Genesis 37: 35

(Use the Bible Verse Visual Aid)

Dramatize this Bible Verse with the children playing the sons and daughters, someone being Israel (Joseph’s dad) and an old coat dipped in red paint.

c. Teach the Lesson (15 minutes)
Introduction:(Use PowerPoint if possible)

Optional: View ‘Joseph the beloved son’

Teaching: Genesis 37: 31 - 35
31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.

Many men in the Bible showed their emotions and wept. Mighty Kings in the Old Testament wept.

So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. (1 Samuel 30:4)
Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. (2 Kings 13:14)
And Hezekiah wept bitterly. (2 Kings 20:3)

Jesus wept. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it (Luke 19:41)

People are going to fail you, disappoint you, leave you hanging out to dry. Let that drive you to God.

Notice that through all of Joseph's troubles, God remained with him.

Paul said in Romans 8:28 that all things, even the bad things we face, will be made to work for the good of God's children. Joseph's loyalty to God was tested by his troubles and Joseph passed the test. Even though everything appeared to go wrong for thirteen years, Joseph managed to hold on to his faith. However, also notice that Joseph was being trained during this time to run a nation by first running a household and then a prison.

This is not the end of the story of Joseph and his brothers. There is a happy ending when Joseph is reunited with his father and brothers. But for today, we learn the lesson of the terrible things that happen because of the sin of jealousy and hatred.

Story Time: The Story Teller and 'Scruffy' the sock puppet read "And Puppy' Chapter 4 Hospital

Discussion: After the BIG Storm people felt worried and even grown ups cried as they did not know what was going to happen. But God does know. He has a plan. Nothing surprises Him.

Optional Art Therapy: Demonstrate that this is a journey, use road map visual aid. Get the children to go home and draw a journey picture.

6. APPLICATION / ENCOUNTERING GOD
Have the children write down times when they have felt afraid, sad and grieving. Create a ‘Heaven Corner’ with a gold cloth on a chair with Jesus’ crown and a wooden cross covered with a red cross to represent His blood. Get them to come and place it the papers at the foot of the cross.

CLOSING PRAYER
Lord I place my life in your hands. I want to serve you and do what you want me to do. Lead me in the right path and remind me you are always there. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

TAKE HOME PAGE/ACTIVITY
Give each child a ‘Take Home Activity Book’, ‘Memory Verse Track’ Chapter 4 of “And Puppy’

NEXT WEEK
Joseph arrives in Egypt, he trusted that God had a plan for his life.

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