Jacob, Esau, and the Blessing

What We Talked About:
Isaac was getting old, and he wanted to bless his favorite son, Esau, before he died. He told Esau to hunt for some food, prepare it just the way he liked it, and bring it to him to eat. After eating, Isaac would bless him. So, Esau went out into the field to hunt.

Rebekah overhead this and told her favorite son, Jacob. Together, they hatched a plan to trick Isaac into blessing Jacob instead by pretending to be Esau. Since Isaac was old and could no longer see, Rebekah had Jacob wear some of Esau's clothes, and place some animal skins on his arms in order to smell and feel like his brother, Esau. Rebekah took one of their goats, cooked it up just the way Isaac liked it, and sent Jacob into see Isaac

Isaac was suspicious, but in the end, Jacob was able to fool him and get his father's blessing. No sooner than Jacob had left then Esau walked into Isaac's tent to receive his blessing. Isaac explained to him that he had already given his blessing to someone who he had thought was Esau. Esau knew he had been tricked by his brother, Jacob. He was so made, he planned to kill his brother.

What's the Big Deal?
1. You won't get away with sin for long.

What We Did
1. We created Play-Doh versions of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau and used them to act out the events of the story.

Our Memory Verse
Proverbs 12:22 - "The Lord detests lying lips, but delights in men who are truthful."

Jacob Steals Esau's Birthright

What We Talked About:
Since Esau was the older twin, he was entitled to the birthright: when they'd divide up the inheritance, Esau would receive twice as much as Jacob. But Jacob was rather crafty, and he began looking for a way to get the birthright for himself.

The opportunity came one when when Jacob was cooking some stew. Esau came in from the field. He had been out hunting and had not caught anything. "Give me some of that soup, bro," Esau said. Jacob said, "Sure, Esau, but only if you give me your birthright." "I'm so hungry, I'm about to die! What does the birthright matter to me if I'm dead?" Jacob made Esau swear to give him the birthright. When he did, Jacob gave him some stew

What's the Big Deal?
1. Impatience can cost you bigtime.

What We Did
1. We talked about how different the two twins, Jacob and Esau, were. We hung two strings from the ceiling: one for Jacob and one for Esau. We then attached word cards to each string to describe Jacob and Esau.

Our Memory Verse
Psalm 38:15 - "I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God."

Jacob and Esau are Born

What We Talked About:
God continued to keep his promise to Abraham to make his family into a great nation. His son Isaac's wife became pregnant. As her tummy grew, the baby began to move violently inside her. It wiggled around so much that she finally asked God what in the world was going on. God told her that she was actually carrying two babies inside her. These babies would grow up into great nations one day, and the older son would one day serve the younger.

A little while later, the babies were born. The first baby that came out had bright red hair. He was named Esau. As Esau came out, the second baby grabbed onto his heel. He was given the name Jacob.

What's the Big Deal?
1. God keeps his promises

What We Did
1. We talked about family trees - diagrams that show how family members are related to one another. We drew Abraham's family tree to show how his family began to grow into a great nation.
2. We told the story in a chalk talk, drawing images on the chalk board to help tell the story.

Our Memory Verse
Psalm 145:13b - "The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made."

Issac and Rebekah Meet

This week, we talked about how Abraham found a girl for his son, Isaac, to marry. But, before that, we explored some of the ways Abraham didn't go about it. Check out the video below for a few highlights.

2007 Faith Kids Christmas Program

For the past month or so, we've been working on our Christmas program. Last Sunday, December 16th, we performed it for the whole church during the morning service. To view it, click one of the links below. (It's been split into two parts due to YouTube file limitations.)

Watch part one.

Watch part two.

Three Visitors/Birth of Isaac

What We Talked About:
God had been keeping his promises to Abraham. But, Abraham was worried how God was going to keep one of his promises. You see, God had promised Abraham that He would make him into a great nation, but they had had no kids, and they were very old.

So, God decided to visit with Abraham, along with two angels. When Abraham saw him, he bowed down, and invited the three over for dinner. While they were eating dinner, Abraham's wife Sarah snuck over out of sight to listen in on the conversation.

After the meal, God said, "We'll be back in a year's time, and your wife Sarah will have a baby." Sarah laughed to herself when God said this. "How can an old lady like me have a baby?" she thought.

But God kept his promise. In less than a year, Sarah gave birth to a baby boy. He was named Isaac, which in their language, means 'laughter.'

What's the Big Deal?
1. God means what He says.

What We Did
1. We had two kids come up front to represent Abraham and Sarah. They stood in front of the chalkboard, and we drew cartoon thought bubbles above their heads. Then, throughout the story, we wrote things in the thought bubbles so we could see what Abraham and Sarah were thinking.
2. Use a tape recorder, we taped ourselves saying today's bible verse in a bunch of silly voices. Click the following link to download an mp3 of our recording. (mp3, 570k)

Our Memory Verse
2 Peter 3:9a - “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise.”

Sodom and Gomorrah

What We Talked About:
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were full of people who disobeyed God. They were so evil that God decided to destroy the cities. God told Abraham what He was going to do. Abraham was worried because his nephew Lot lived in Sodom and he didn't want Lot to be destroyed with the rest of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

"What if there are 50 people in the cities who obey you?" Abraham asked God, "will you destroy the city then?" God said, "If there are 50 people there who obey me, I won't destroy the cities." Abraham asked God the same thing again, but this time about 40 people. God agreed. Abraham kept asking God the same thing, with the number of people getting lower and lower. Finally, God agreed that if He could find even 10 people who obeyed him in Sodom and Gomorrah, He wouldn't destroy the cities." However, God sent angels to the cities and they were unable to find even 10 people who obeyed God.

The angels warned Abraham's nephew Lot to flee the city before the morning because God was going to destroy it. "Run now, and don't stop running until you reach the hills!" the angels said. So, Lot, his wife, and his two daughters fled the city of Sodom. But, as they were running, as fire began falling from the sky onto Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's wife looked back at the city. When she did, she was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.

What's the Big Deal?
1. God haaaaaaaaaates sin.

What We Did
1. We told the story with a chalk talk. We drew the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. With the help of all our kids, we drew 50 stick people to represent the 50 people who obeyed God. As Abraham lowered his number of people, we erased stick people. We drew a salt shaker to represent when Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt.
2. We played a rhythm clapping game to learn our Bible verse.

Our Memory Verse
Romans 3:10 - “As it is written: there is no one righteous, not even one.”