Extreme Family Devotion Lesson 10-13
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Session 10: Who is Joseph?
Guided Reading: Genesis 37, 39-50
OK friends, LOTS OF READING TODAY. You will be reading 13 chapters today. Split the reading between you or use www.biblegateway.com to listen. As you are listening, follow along in your Bible. Highlight or underline things that stand out to you. If you listen this should take about an hour. You can do it!
Watch Yourself: I am not a fan of cheesy Christian movies. However there is just something about an old Charlton Heston movie that is so great! You can watch 10 Commandments for our next session, but for this one I want to introduce you to the 1961 movie, “Joseph and his Brethren.” If you have an Amazon Prime membership you can watch this movie for free. Prime offers a 30 day free subscription.
Alternatively you can watch it on Pureflix. They have a free 7 day subscription.
Lesson: Wow! If you have made it through all that reading and watching that movie, Good Job! This lesson will be short since you did so much work.
Joseph’s story reveals something about the character of God. Joseph was beaten, sold into slavery, and imprisoned yet God used all of the bad and evil for good. You may be thinking well that's all well and good for Joseph but what about the bad stuff in my life that I don’t ever see being used for good. And I don’t have the answers for you. I do know that whatever you are going through will be used for good whether in this life or the next.
Kid Zone: Watch the story of Joseph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g64jRGLgIw
Just so you know this is not the story of Jesus’ father. This is a different Joseph. There are three parts to this story. They should play automatically.
We are going to weave together an amazing technicolor dream coat. There are two ways you can weave together this project. Use different colors of construction paper or you can use a piece of cardboard and yarn.
Worship Zone: Dear Lord, We are in a time of waiting. We are struggling to understand how you will use this good. Please help us to strengthen our faith and lean on you in these times when we don’t know why things are happening. We pray in your timing for understanding. Amen.
Watch Yourself: This is an overview of the next two sessions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH_aojNJM3E
Session 11: Who is Moses?
Guided Reading: Exodus 1-4
You will be reading 4 chapters today. Split the reading between you or use www.biblegateway.com to listen. As you are listening, follow along in your Bible. Highlight or underline things that stand out to you. If you listen this should take about 15 mins.
Discussion: How does this story compare to the story of Jesus? See Matthew 2:16.
Lesson: I really wish that God would come and speak to me from a burning bush. I am very jealous of stories in the Bible where the characters get a direct “phone call” to God. And they use the time to complain about what God asks them to do...geesh. (Something interesting: there are plants that emit flammable gasses. See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQTZyS7BKV8). So combine these gas emitting plants with dry hot weather and Cyprus trees which are very flammable and you can create a spontaneous “burning bush” in your own yard. Actually I don’t recommend that. I say this to mean that we might find a burning bush to be an amazing sight. A sight that requires immediate reaction and perhaps even a 911 call. However to Moses, on hot nights, a burning bush might have been as common as seeing the moon. It says that Moses went to go see this bush, not because it was on fire but because the fire didn’t go out. He asks, “why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see.” Exodus 3:3.
At first glance I am jealous of Moses, he gets to talk to God directly. After understanding more about the burning bush we can see a different story. God is speaking to all of us and trying to get our attention in different ways. For Moses, he didn’t get to speak to God until he put aside his duties of tending to his flock and took off his sandals, then did he finally hear from God. Maybe in order for us to finally hear from God we need to be silent, remove distractions, and relax. A Christian practice that almost all of us forget except for maybe during the first few days of lent is to fast. Fasting from everything that distracts us. Spiritual fasting is simply removing something from your life and replacing it with God. This could be reading the Bible or praying.
Side note: I read a book in college that I hoped was more about the spiritual aspect of fasting but it turned about to be health reasons to fast from food. This book was recommended by a professor of mine. I don’t think she actually read the book because this book was written in 1900. The book talked about bowel movements more than I ever wanted to know and made claims such as fasting will extend your life, remove toxins, and make your hair grow back. There is a lot of misinformation out there but there are true reasons that fasting from food is good for you. Fasting is a practice that has been associated with a wide array of potential health benefits, including weight loss, as well as improved blood sugar control, heart health, and brain function.
Teen Time & Kids Zone: We didn’t get to do our annual 30 Hour Famine this year. You can do one at home! You can even build cardboard box forts if you want. Make it official and raise money for World Vision! https://www.worldvision.org/
Lesson: When God told Moses to go back to Egypt and talk to Pharaoh, Moses was not having any of it. He made 5 excuses. 1. Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? 2. Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt? 3. If I go to the people of Israel and tell them the God of your ancestors has sent me to you, they will ask me what is his name? What should I tell them? 4. What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? 5. I’m not very good with words. Moses ends with, “Please send anyone else.”
I think what Moses is really saying with these excuses…1. I am not important. 2. I am not a leader. 3. I am not called. 4. I have no authority. 5. This is not my gift.
One time in high school my church decided to canvas the neighborhood. We laid out a plan that we would knock on every door in our small town. We split up into groups of two or three and each took a street. That day I was literally sick to my stomach. I am not a social person and the idea of meeting multiple strangers just made me want to throw up. I think I am being dramatic but that was how I felt at the time. Now I imagine how Moses must have felt going back to his childhood home where he could face punishment for murder. He probably actually threw up! No wonder he made those excuses. These excuses sound very familiar to me. I use them quite a bit to avoid that feeling of uncomfortableness in doing the work of the Lord. I’m pretty sure I used these excuses on the day we canvassed the neighborhood. However, we went out and did it anyway, and it wasn’t that bad. For every excuse Moses made and for every excuse you and I make, God responds. He says, I am with you, I have gone before you.
Discussion: Does knowing God is with you and goes before you, change how you will be involved in ministry? Why or why not?
Worship Zone: Dear Father, You are a righteous, holy, and just God, awesome and blameless in all your ways. Lead us in the way of Your righteousness. Help us, Lord, to walk in Your obedience so that we may live and flourish and extend our days. Father, strengthen us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Let Your word equip us to follow His example in resisting temptation. Deliver us, Father, from the schemes of the evil one, for You know how to rescue Your godly ones. Help us to take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. We praise You that with every temptation, You are faithful to give us a way to escape it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Session 12: What are the 10 Plagues?
Guided Reading: Exodus 7-12
You will be reading 6 chapters today. Split the reading between you or use www.biblegateway.com to listen. As you are listening, follow along in your Bible. Highlight or underline things that stand out to you.
Project: Historians may tell you that there is no evidence of a mass exodus from Egypt and that the Israelites were not mentioned anywhere in Egyptian record. Let's examine a more recent event to understand why…
Sobibor Concentration Camp in Nazi occupied Poland was host to the largest mass escape in WWII. Over 100 people initially escaped, although 50 people were immediately captured, and 30 more people captured the next day. 20 people did escape. It was a mass embarrassment to the Nazis. They removed any record of the camp existence and demolished the camp to the ground, not even leaving roads, or concrete pads. Everything was buried. At the end of the war they tried to hide all evidence of their atrocities although unsuccessful. We mostly know about these things because of the survivors' accounts.
So if 20 people escaping a concentration camp was a huge embarrassment to the Nazis, imagine how 600,000 men, plus their wives, children, and elders escaping Egypt must have felt!
We don’t know for certain which Pharaoh was in power during this time, however, we have a pretty good idea. The project is to research Ramesses II and see how he might fit as the Pharaoh during the Exodus.
Lesson: Okay, so it may seem like we are living through one of the 10 plagues! Disease. We understand first hand how this has impacted our lives and our economy. Add 9 more disasters to this and see how we would do. Please NO! These 10 plagues would have been absolutely horrendous and to experience them one after another would send anyone over the edge. Not only were they devastating to their lives and the country, these plagues were also devastating to their beliefs. Each plague was meant to slam one of their gods that was supposed to be protecting them...
1. Plague of the Nile turning to blood. God of the Nile: Hapi, provided water.2. Plague of frogs coming from the Nile. God of water and fertility: Heket, had the head of a frog.
3. Plague of gnats from the dust. God of the earth: Geb, was over the dust of the earth.
4. Plague of flies. God of creation: Khepri, had the head of a fly.
5. Plague against livestock. God of love and protection: Hathor, had the head of a cow.
6. Plague of boils. God of medicine and peace: Isis.
7. Plague of hail. God of the sky: Nut.
8. Plague of locust from the wind. God of storms and disorder: Seth.
9. Plague of darkness. God of the sun: Ra, the most worshiped god.
10. Plague of death of first born. Pharaoh was worshiped as a god by the Egyptians and was considered the most powerful of all. Pharaoh’s first born son died. If he was the most powerful he should have been able to prevent his death.
When God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob acts, when Jesus for that matter acts it is to show His power and might. These 10 plagues were not only meant to make Pharaoh let the Israelites go, it was also to show that our God was more powerful than the Egyptian gods.
Watch Yourself: How can you not watch a 4 hour movie? If you are up for it watch The 10 Commandments: https://hdfy.to/movies/adventure/the-ten-commandments-1956-watch-online
Teen Time & Kids Zone: This is a fun activity, but it takes some planning. Before reading any further one person will be making 10 items in the kitchen. Choose someone who will do this for the rest of the family. It can only be one person so that everyone else will get a surprise. So pick this person now. It will probably need to be someone who can drive to the store.
So here is what you do! Give them a menu. The menu will only have the 10 plagues on it.
1. Blood
2. Frogs
3. Gnats
4. Flies
5. Livestock
6. Boils
7. Hail
8. Locust
9. Darkness
10. First born
You will be serving a 5 course “meal.” Each time each person will order 2 items off the menu. They cannot order the same item twice. Here is an example of what you could serve but it can be something different if you wish….
1. Blood-grape juice
2. Frogs-chicken nuggets
3. Gnats-sunflower seeds
4. Flies-raisins
5. Livestock-meatballs
6. Boils-gushers candy
7. hail-ice cream
8. Locust-fork
9. Darkness-spoon
10. First born-napkin
To make it more fun, take the items away before you serve the next course. For instance, they may not get a spoon with their ice cream. Maybe no fork with their meatballs. Something funny to watch how they eat it.
Worship: Listen to this song in an attitude of prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF-Ald7IPfA