Mr Biblehead

God Uses Moses to Part the Red Sea Exodus14

2012-02-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

Last time we saw that the Hebrews left Egypt in a bit of a hurry. It was the middle of the night when the king’s son died and he finally let the Hebrew slaves go. Moses led the people out into the wilderness. Now what? God appeared as a pillar of fire to lead the Hebrews at night. When it got light out, God led the people as a cloud. This way the Hebrews could see God at night and during the day! God led the people to the shore of the Red Sea.

Back in Egypt, the king and all the Egyptians had a change of heart.
“Wait a minute!” Said the king. “Now we don’t have anyone to do all the work!”

So he told his army to get 600 of his best chariots ready and bring back the slaves. The Egyptians set out with the 600 chariots, plus a lot more to bring back the Hebrews to Egypt. The Egyptians finally caught up with the Hebrews while they were camped along the Red Sea. The king happily thought to himself, “Hmmmm that Moses is not too smart! He has the Hebrews pinned in along the sea! They have no where to run!”

One of the Hebrews saw the lights of the Egyptian army coming over the horizon. “Oh no!” The Hebrews shouted in horror! They were upset at Moses. “Weren’t there enough Cemeteries in Egypt? You had to lead us out here to the desert to die! We were better off as slaves in Egypt, than dead bodies out here in the wilderness!”

“Don’t be afraid.” Said Moses. “What what God will do. See all those Egyptians.... Take a good look at them because you’ll never see them again! God will fight the battle.... Now keep your mouths shut!”
Moses went to God and cried out and prayed. God told Moses to stop crying out and to cut his prayer short. “Get moving.” God told Moses. “Stretch out your staff toward the Red Sea. The water will separate and for a wall on two sides. You and all the people will be able to walk across on dry land”

Meanwhile, the God cloud that had been leading the Hebrews through the desert, was now between them and the Egyptians. God made it so dark for the Egyptians, that they couldn’t see anything. So they had to stay put. God lit the way for the Hebrews so they could see where they were going.

Moses stretched out his staff over the water, and the water began to part. The Hebrews had been witnesses to a lot of amazing things that God had done, and this was near the top[ of the list! The water parted and the land became dry as a bone! All 2 million Hebrews walked across the Red Sea on dry ground that night as God’s light guided them and his cloud held off the Egyptians!

Did God help the Hebrews because they were moaning and complaining? No, He already had a plan for them to escape. God doesn’t like complaining as you will see as the Hebrews go through the wilderness. They do a lot of complaining. Complaining all the time just gives us a bad attitude and makes us miserable. In Proverbs, the Bible says that the complainer’s days are hard, but the content (which means happy with what we have) person’s days are like a feast! Next time you feel like complaining.... think of ALL the wonderful things that God has given you. (The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from God.) ... and thank Him. You’ll be amazed how much better your day is! Besides, complaining doesn’t do any good anyway :o)

The 10 plagues (part 2) and Passover

2012-01-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

Last time we checked in on Moses and his brother Aaron, they were leaving the king of Egypt after he had promised them that he would let the Hebrews go if God would get rid of all the frogs, but he lied.
So far God has turned Moses’ staff into a snake. He has turned the Nile river to blood and He has covered all of Egypt with frogs. God knows that it will take 8 more miracles before the king finally lets the Hebrews go. Here is a list of the first nine. (We’ll look closer at number ten, because that’s the one that finally freed the Hebrews from slavery.)

1. The Nile river turns to blood. All the fish die and the Egyptians have to dig new wells for water.
2. Frogs come up from the water and cover the land. When they die, all of Egypt smells really bad.
3. Gnats (which are those teeny tiny bugs) come up from the dust and swarm over all of Egypt.
4. Flies swarm over all the land, causing all kinds of problems with sickness and food and comfort.
5. The cows and donkeys and sheep in Egypt will get sick and die except for the Hebrew’s livestock.
6. Sores (called boils) break out on all the Egyptians, all over their bodies, but not on the Hebrews.
7. A great hailstorm destroys the crops in the fields and kills many of the Egyptian’s livestock.
8. A swarm of beetles called locusts swarms over the fields and eats the remaining plants and crops.
9. Total darkness covers all of Egypt for three days, however the Hebrews still have light.

By number 8, the Egyptians were begging the king to let the Hebrews go, but he was so hard-hearted that he still refused. So what finally convinced the king to let the Hebrew slaves go?
God told Moses and Aaron that the king will finally let the Hebrews go, and that the Egyptians would be so happy to see them leave, they would give them valuables. He told Moses to tell all the Hebrews not to make bread because it takes too long. Instead make crackers. He said that all of a sudden, the king would tell the Hebrews to leave at once. God even told them not to put on their pajamas at night so that they would be ready.

“Tonight an angel of death will fly over Egypt. The firstborn son of every family will die except for the families that put the blood of a lamb on their door. “ God told Moses.
Moses went to all the Hebrew families and told them to put the blood of a lamb on their doors and God would spare their oldest son. So they did and the angel of death flew over Egypt and all the firstborn sons died except for the families that put the lamb’s blood on their door. The angel of death passed over them and that is why the Hebrews celebrate Passover till this day. Jesus is our lamb. He died and shed His blood so that if we believe that He is God’s son and that he died and rose for us, God’s judgement would pass over us and we will live forever with Him!
The king woke up in the middle of the night to the queen’s cry because their oldest son had died. He went right away to Moses and told him to leave Egypt. All the Egyptians were so glad to be rid of the Hebrews, that they gave them gold and silver and clothing! Just like God said they would. It’s a good thing that the Hebrews weren’t in their pajamas and they didn’t have any bread in the oven, because they were told to leave at once! But soon after they left.... the king changed his mind again. He and all his men went out to the desert to bring them back. Next time we’ll find out if they catch up with them.

About 2 million Hebrews left that night. In the Bible it is called the exodus which is where the name of the second book in the Bible came from. The Hebrews were slaves to the Egyptians for 430 years! To us that seems like such a long time. But the Bible says that 1000 years is like a day to God. (2Peter 3:8) So in “God years” they were only slaves for about 11 1/2 hours.

The 10 Plagues (Exodus6-9)

2011-11-28T14:54:00.000-08:00

When we left Moses last time, he was complaining to God that the Hebrews were worse off than when he arrived and asked the king to let them go.

God said to Moses. “Don’t worry Moses. This is all part of my plan. The king will keep refusing to let the Hebrews go, and I will keep demonstrating that I am God. By the time I’m done with him and Egypt, he will be very anxious to let you go.” Then God continued. “Go tell the Hebrews that I will free them from slavery. They will be my own special people. They will always remember that I brought them out of slavery to the country that I promised to Abraham years ago.”
So Moses went and told the Hebrews what God had said, but they wouldn’t listen to Moses. They were still angry that they were being treated even worse now that Moses began pleaded to the king for their release. Moses went back to God.

"Now go tell the king to let the Hebrews go.” God told Moses.
“But LORD!” Moses exclaimed. “My own people won’t listen to me. How can I expect the king of Egypt to listen! I am not a good speaker at all. I stutter when I talk!”
God responded. “Your brother Aaron will be with you. He’ll speak the words that I command to the king. Don’t be surprised if the king still refuses. He is very stubborn. When he asks for a miracle, throw your staff on the ground and it will turn into a snake.”

Moses and Aaron went back to see the king. Moses was 80 years old by now. The king asked for a miracle. Aaron threw the staff on the ground and it became a snake. The king called his magicians and wizards. With their magic, they also turned sticks into snakes! But guess what. Aaron’s snake ate the magician’s snakes! But the king was not swayed to let the Hebrews go. He turned his back on Moses and Aaron and asked his guards to remove them from his sight.

Moses returned to God. "The king is very stubborn. Go back to him and tell him that if he does not let the Hebrew people go, that I will turn the Nile river to blood.God said. “When the king says “No” point your staff at the river and it will turn to blood.”
Moses and Aaron returned to the king and he refused to let the Hebrews go. Moses pointed his staff toward the river and it turned to blood, but the king still refused. All of Egypt was suffering because of the king’s hard heart. New well had to be dug for water and all the fish in the river died and it started to smell really bad.

Moses got some further instructions from God. “Go back to the king and if he refuses to let the Hebrews go, that the whole land of Egypt will be covered in frogs. They will be everywhere, even in the beds and and kitchens and bathrooms.”
Moses and Aaron did as God asked and when the king refused AGAIN, Aaron pointed Moses’ staff toward the lake and millions and millions of frogs came out and covered the land! This got the king’s attention. He called Moses and Aaron into his presence. "If you get rid of all the frogs by tomorrow, I will let your people go.” The king said.

Moses prayed to God and God caused all the frogs to die. The egyptian people had to sweep up all the dead frogs and pile them up in the streets and it really began to stink. The king was glad that all the frogs were gone, but he had lied to Moses and Aaron and still refused to let the Hebrews go!

Trusting God is hard sometimes. Especially when we don’t see anything happening! But we have to remember that God is in control. "His ways are not our ways...they are better" :o) (Isaiah)

Moses is reunited with his brother Aaron.

2011-10-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

So Moses FINALLY obeyed God. He returned home and asked his father-in-law, Jethro, if the sheep could be cared for by someone else. “I need to go back to Egypt. I haven’t seen my family in forty years. They are still being held as slaves to the Egyptians." Moses said.
“Don’t worry about the sheep Moses. Go with my blessing." Jethro replied.
Moses packed up his stuff and his staff and loaded them on a donkey. Then Moses, his wife and his sons headed for Egypt. Moses was probably a little worried about the king and his men because when he left Egypt forty years ago, they wanted to kill him.

God knew Moses was a little worried and spoke to him on the way. “Don’t be afraid to return to Egypt, because everyone who wanted to kill you is dead.” Moses felt a lot better knowing that.

The journey took several days. As Moses and his family were making their way through the wilderness to Egypt, God spoke to Moses’ brother, Aaron. “Go out into the wilderness and meet your brother Moses.”
Aaron did exactly as God said and he met Moses in the middle of the wilderness! Moses told Aaron how God spoke to him through a burning bush and all that God had said to him. Aaron believed every word. After all, God spoke to him too. In hundreds of miles of wilderness, God told him the exact place to meet Moses. And He told him the exact time too. He knew that God was up to something!
When Moses and Aaron met with their own people, Moses threw his staff on the ground and it turned to a snake, then he picked it up by the tail and it turned back into his staff. Then he told them about God’s plan to free them from slavery. They were so amazed that God heard their prayers that they fell on their knees and worshiped Him.

Moses was feeling a little more confident now as he and Aaron left for the king’s palace. Everything was going just as God had said. When they stood before the king, Aaron did the speaking. He said to the king exactly what Moses told him to say. “The God of Israel says ‘let my people go!”

“Is that so.” Retorted the king. “He may be your God, but he is not mine! I will do as I wish and since you have come here with such a ridiculous request, I wish to make it even harder on the Hebrew slaves. From now on, the Hebrew slaves will have to make twice as many bricks as before! And the Egyptian laborers will no longer gather the straw needed to make the bricks. The slaves will have to go out and gather their own straw!” Then the king summoned his guards. “Remove these two Hebrews from the palace at once!”

The slave drivers were brutal on the Hebrew slaves demanding more and more, and when they didn’t make enough bricks, the slaves were beaten.
One of the Hebrew leaders went to the king and said. “ You are demanding more than we can do. We are being beaten for something that impossible!”
The king replied. “It is because you sent two of your people in here and told me to set all the slaves free that you are being forced to do more.”
The Hebrew leader left the palace. He knew the king was upset about Moses' and Aaron’s visit. On his way back home he ran into Moses and Aaron. “May God punish you for getting us into this terrible situation with the king!”
Then Moses went back to God. “Why did you send me to the king! See now it is worse for the Hebrew slaves than before I got here! You haven’t even begun to rescue them!”

Next time we’ll see what God has planned for Moses and Aaron. God is always working behind the scenes. He did in Moses’ time and He does today. Did you know that God has a wonderful plan for your life? He does. God wants to use you for His purposes. Sometimes we can’t see or figure out what God is up to, but that’s OK. We know that He is working behind the scenes. That is where our faith and trust come in. Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in God with all your heart. Don’t do things your own way. Look to Him for direction and He will lead you in the right direction.”

Moses’ Staff Turns into a Snake! (Exodus 4)

2011-10-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

When we left off last time, God was talking to Moses through a burning bush. God had laid out His plan to Moses. He was going to use Moses to get the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. God answered all of Moses’ questions..... well not all of them.
Next Moses asked,” What if they say”You did not talk to God!” “What do I do then?”
"What is that in your hand Moses?” God asked.
“A staff.” He replied.
“Throw it on the ground” God said.
Moses through his staff on the ground and it turned into a snake! He got scared and started to run.

“Moses! Pick up the snake by it’s tail!” God commanded.
Moses probably thought to himself. “Why did I have to ask so many questions? Now I have to pick up this huge snake!” But he did as God commanded, and the snake turned back into his staff!
"Now put your hand inside your robe and take it out.” God said.
Moses did it and when he pulled out his hand, it was gross and diseased.
“Now put it back in your robe and take it out.” God continued. Moses did it and his hand was restored to normal. I’m sure Moses was glad about that!
God told Moses that the people would probably believe him after he did the snake thing and the diseased hand thing.... but if they didn’t... He had one more sign. He told Moses that if they still didn’t believe, to take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground and it would turn to blood.
“That will convince them.” God said.
So now do you think Moses was convinced? Nope! Now Moses was trying to come up with excuses why he couldn’t go talk to the people and to the king.

“But God,” Moses said.” You know that I am not a very good talker. I get nervous and I stutter. Sometimes I forget what I was going to say and it comes out all wrong!
"Moses, Moses Moses! Who created that mouth of yours?” God asked.
“You did.”
“That’s right, and I gave you those ears to hear and those eyes to see too. Now go use what I gave you and go talk to the people and to the king. I will be with you every step of the way, helping you and teaching you what to say.” God replied.
Moses finally ran out of questions and excuses."Please God! Send someone else to do it.” he said.
God finally became angry at Moses. "You are going to do this! You can get your brother Aaron to go with you. He is a very good speaker. I will be with both of you and will teach him what to say for you. Now go and don’t forget your staff so that you can do those signs!”
Moses FINALLY did as God said.

Does God ever talk to you? Yes! He speaks to us through His Word. (The Bible) God tells us in the Bible how much He loves us. He also says that if we love Him, we will do what he says. It is no use trying to come up with excuses as to why we can’t do as He asks, because God made us. He made our minds and our hearts. He would never ask us to do anything that we can’t do, especially with Him helping us. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us to help us, encourage us and teach us. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.

Moses and the (non)Burning Bush (Exodus 3)

2011-09-23T21:51:00.001-07:00

Welcome back friends! Last time we found out that Moses got married to one of the women he helped in the desert when some mean shepherds wouldn’t let her and her sisters feed their sheep. After he got married, Moses’ father-in-law gave him a job taking care of all his sheep. Moses would take the sheep on a four mile walk to the other side of the mountain to eat. While the sheep were grazing, Moses looked over and saw a bush that was on fire. He saw the large flame, but the bush was not burning!
“That’s strange.” He thought to himself as he walked toward it.
“Moses!” a voice came from inside the bush.
“This bush can talk, and it knows my name. This is really weird!” He said to himself as he got even closer.

“ I am the God of Abraham and Jacob. Come closer, but take off your sandals. This is Holy ground.”
Moses did as God said and God continued. “I have heard the cries and prayers of the Hebrews. I am going to rescue them from the slavery of the Egyptians. Go tell the king of Egypt to let the Hebrews go.
Moses got a little nervous. “Who am I that I can just walk into the king and tell him what to do?”
God answered. “I will be with you. The king will refuse at first, but with my power and might, I will convince him to let you go, and to top it all off, I will have the Egyptian women give you their jewelry, silver and gold before you leave.”

Moses was a little more confident now, but he still had some questions. “Why would the Hebrew people even believe that you talked to me. What do I say? What is your name? Who do I talk to first?”
“Relax Moses.” Said God. “I am the God of all your ancestors. Just go to the Hebrew church leaders and tell them that I spoke to you through a burning bush. They will believe you. Tell the people that my name is I Am, because I always was and always will be.

What would you do if you saw a burning bush and it talked to you? I’d be a little scared myself!
When God spoke, Moses knew it was God right away. When we think that God is speaking to us, we can be sure by going to His word (the bible) and seeing if it agrees with what we heard. God never contradicts Himself.
God told Moses. “I will rescue the Hebrews.” He didn’t say, “Moses, you will rescue the Hebrews.” When we obey what God tells us, He does great things through us. What a privilege!
Moses questiones God. It’s OK for us to question God, but we must remember that God sees all thing.(even the future)He knows what is best all the time.
So relax, obey God and leave the rest up to Him.

Here is a coloring page for you! Ask your guardian to print it out for you. I had a lot of fun coloring the bush!

Moses gets out of Egypt in a hurry! (Exodus 2)

2011-09-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last time we saw that Moses was pulled from the Nile River by the king’s daughter. He was 3 months old. He was raised like the king's son. Moses had the best of eveyrhing, but he was sad for the Hebrews.
When Moses grew up, he went out to visit his people, the Hebrews. He saw how they were forced to do hard labor. He even saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Moses looked all around, and when he saw that no one was looking, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

The next day he went back and saw two Hebrew men fighting. He said to the one who was in the wrong, "Why are you beating up a fellow Hebrew?” The man answered, "Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me just as you killed that Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and said to himself, "Oh No! People know what I have done. When the king finds out, he'll have me killed!" Moses was right. When the king heard about what had happened, he sent orders to have Moses arrested and killed, but Moses got out of Egypt quickly and went to live far away, in a land called Midian.

One day, when Moses was sitting by a well, seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came to get water for their father's sheep and goats. But some shepherds drove Jethro's daughters away. Then Moses went to their rescue. He chased the bad shepherds away and got some water for their animals. When they returned to their father, he asked, "Why have you come back so early today?”

"An Egyptian (they thought Moses was an Egyptian) rescued us from the bad shepherds," they answered, "and he even got water for us and watered our animals." "Where is he?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him out there in the desert? Go and invite him to eat with us." So Moses came to dinner. He must have liked the cooking, because he decided to live there. Moses ended up marrying one of Jethro's daughters. Her name was Zipphorah which means "bird”.

Years later the king of Egypt died, but the Israelites were still slaves and still groaning. They cried out to God for help. God heard their cries and prayers. He remembered the promise that He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw how badly they were treated. God had already planned on using Moses to fufill His promise....but not until the timing was right.

Sometimes we keep asking God over and over for something good. God has already planned on answering our prayers, but He makes us wait for a couple of reasons.
1: God wants us to keep asking. The more we come to Him, the better we get to know Him. God does not want to be our magic genie... he wants a relationship with each of us.
2: God wants us to learn patience. Waiting for something makes us a better person.
3: God has perfect timing. Sometimes if we get what we want right now, it may not be as good as if we get it later. Would you rather get an egg, some flour and oil now....or a cookie later? I'd rather wait for the ingredients to be mixed and baked. See waiting on God is good!

Moses found and reunited (Exodus 2)

2011-08-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

When we left off last time, Moses was just 3 months old. By the king’s order, his mother was supposed to throw him into the Nile river when he was born, but she hid him for three months. Finally, she could hide him no more and decided to make a floating basket for him. She wrapped him in a blanket and placed him in the river. That must have been so hard for her. I’m sure she was crying. Miriam was Moses’ sister. She must have been sad when her little brother was floating away down the river.

Do you have a little brother or sister? I know that you can understand how sad and afraid for Moses she was. She began running along the river, watching the basket that carried Moses. It got caught in some weeds. Miriam stayed and watched. Then she saw someone coming down to the river. It was the king’s daughter and her servants. The king’s daughter waded into the water. The servant girls waited on shore with towels to dry herr when she was done swimming.
"What is that in the weeds?” The king’s daughter asked. “Go get it and bring it to me.” She commanded one of her servants.

The servant girl reached into the water and pulled out the basket. The baby was covered and quiet. When she brought the basket to the king’s daughter, she pulled back the blanket.

"Why it’s a baby!” Exclaimed the king’s daughter. “ I can see that he is very special.” She said smiling. Just then, the baby began to cry.  “This must be one of the slave women’s babies.” The king’s daughter said as she picked the baby up and patted him to get him to stop crying. “I think I will keep him and raise him as my own son.” She told her servants.
Miriam saw the whole thing from her hiding place along the river. She was trying to get up enough courage to come out of her hiding place and speak to the king’s daughter. Miriam thought about how sad her mother was and it gave her a burst of courage. She emerged from the weeds and approached the king’s daughter.
  “Would you like me to get one of the slave women to nurse the baby for you? Miriam asked.
  “Yes, that’s a wonderful idea!” The king’s daughter replied.

Miraim ran as fast as she could to get her mother. When she finally reached her mother, Miriam told her all about how the King’s daughter wanted to raise the baby, and that she needed someone to care for the baby. She grabbed Moses’ mother’s hand and they both ran back to the king’s daughter.

“Please care for this baby.” The king’s daughter said to Moses’ mother. "I will pay you for your time as well.” She added. Miriam and her mother took the baby and thanked God as they turned to go home.
"Oh one more thing,” the king’s daughter added. “His name is Moses because I pulled him out of the water.”
In Egyptian, moses means to pull out.
So Moses’ mother not only got her baby back, but the king’s daughter paid her to take care of him! God is so amazing!
We can read the story of Moses and think to ourselves, “Wow! He was so lucky! But God had a plan for Moses. Everything that happened was part of God’s plan. We will see more of God’s plan unfold as we follow the life of Moses.
Did you ever think to yourself. “ That was a lucky break", or, “ what a coincidence.” God is in control of all things. There isn’t any luck or coincidence involved. God is working his plan in your life, just as he did in Moses’ life. Isn’t it exciting just wondering what God has in store for us!

The Birth of MOSES (Exodus 1-2)

2011-07-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

We just finished the story of Joseph, and even though he lived hundreds of years before Moses, the stories are connected. Joseph brought all of his relatives over to Egypt because it was the only place that had food. The king at the time loved Joseph because of all that he had done for him and for Egypt and he didn’t mind all the Israelites living in Egypt. The Israelites had many children. Their children had many children. Many years after Joseph had died, a new king forgot all about Joseph and how he helped Egypt. He was just worried that there were too many Israelites, and that they might start a war and take over Egypt. So he used his army and forced the Israelites become slaves to the Egyptians. The king wanted to build a huge city, so he used the Israelite slaves to make bricks out of hay and mud. The Israelites were not treated very well.

The Israelites kept having children and the king was getting more nervous than ever. He told the Egyptian nurses to kill the baby boys as soon as they were born. Months and months later, the king noticed that there were still many Israelite boys being born so he called the Egyptian nurses before him. “Didn’t I order you to kill all the slave boys right after they were born? Then why am I seeing all these little slave boys everywhere?” He scowled.

“Yes my king, we tried to follow your orders, but the Israelite women have babies so fast, that the babies are born and already in their mother’s arms by the time we arrive.” Said one of the nurses.

The nurses knew that it was wrong to kill the babies, so they purposely took their time getting to the Israelite women when they were having their babies. God was pleased with the nurses and blessed them with many children of their own.

The king was getting angry. He made it a law, that all slave boys, born from this day forward, must be thrown in the Nile river! The baby boys would drown if the crocodiles didn’t eat them first. The Israelites hated being slaves and they hated the kings laws. They prayed that God would free them.

An Israelite woman had a baby boy. Her and her husband hid the baby for three months. When they knew that they could hide him no longer, they mad a difficult decision. The baby’s mother made a basket out of papyrus (which they used to write on. It’s where we get the word paper) and his father coated it with tar so it wouldn’t sink.

They wrapped the baby in a blanket, placed him in the basket, set him in the Nile river and prayed. The baby’s older sister, Miriam, ran along the banks of the nile and watched as the current carried the basket with the baby further and further from his family. Wow! That must have been so hard for the family! The baby didn’t have a name yet, but we know him as Moses. Next time we’ll find out if the crocs got him! What do you think?

Next up.... Moses

2011-06-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

I hope you enjoyed and learned something from the series on Joseph.
He is one of my all-time favorite Old Testament characters. There is so much to learn from his life. (Genesis 37:1-50:26)

    Let’s review some of the lessons that we took away from studying Joseph’s life and other Bible passages that go along with what we learned.

1: Jealousy is a sin. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and it lead to other sins.

Let us behave decently, not tearing each other down or with jealousy. Romans 13:13

2: We can choose the right thing (God’s way) or the wrong thing. Joseph chose to do the right thing.

Hate what is evil and cling the what is good. Romans 12:9

3: Always do our best at everything we do. Joseph was the best slave EVER!

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord. Colossians 3:23

4: Sometimes doing the right thing causes problems, but God has a plan. Joseph ended up in prison .

Blessed is the man, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good rather than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:17

5:Trust God and obey Him... He is working behind the scenes. Joseph became head of the prison.

Blessed is the person who hangs in there during hard times because God promises a crown of glory to those that love Him. James 1:2

6: Be patient. God’s time is not our time. Sometimes it takes a while. Joseph was in prison for 13 years.

“I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Says the Lord. Jeremiah 29:11

7: God does far more than we can imagine! Joseph became head of Egypt.

God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or even imagine. Ephesians 3:20

8: God can change a heart! Judah, (Joseph’s brother who sold Joseph into slavery) became loving and compassionate.

I will remove from them, their heart of stone, and give them a soft heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19

9: God is in charge... so don’t take revenge. Joseph could have had his brother’s thrown in jail or killed.

Don’t seek revenge for yourself, but let God do what He sees fit. Romans 12:19

10: God forgives us and He wants us to forgive others. Joseph forgave his brothers.

Forgive us as we forgive others. Matthew 6:12

MOSES

Next time we will be looking at Moses. Most everyone knows about Moses and the ten commandments and that he was found in the Nile river as an infant,
but there are a lot of things that I found out about him. We’ll be looking as some very interesting things in the life of Moses in the upcoming weeks!
God bless you!

Joseph Reveals His Identity

2011-05-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

While Judah was pleading for his brother’s life before Joseph, Jacob was back in Canaan wondering why it was taking his 11 sons so long to return from Egypt. He was so afraid that something had happened to them, especially his youngest son Benjamin.
Last time we saw that the brothers had left Egypt with the food they bought. They were on the way home. They were stopped by guards and returned to Joseph, the ruler of Egypt, because the king’s silver cup was found in Benjamin’s traveling pouch. Joseph said that all the brothers could leave except Benjamin. This is when Judah started to plead for Benjamin’s life and offered to take his place in prison if Joseph would just let Benjamin go back to his father. Judah had promised his father that he would not let anything happen to Benjamin.
Judah’s heart for his brother, and his sincerity at keeping the promise to his father really touched Joseph. His eyes began to tear up. He sent all his servants and attendants out of the room and began to cry in front of his brothers. He cried so loudly, that his servants heard him outside the door. Joseph’s brothers were terrified. "Now look what you’ve done Judah!” One of them shouted.

“No no, you don’t understand,” said Joseph through his sobs. “I am your brother Joseph!”
All 11 of the brothers were speechless. They stared at Joseph in disbelief! "It is me! Don’t you believe me? Remember when you threw me in the pit and were going to leave me there and then a few merchants came along. You decided to sell me instead.”
The brothers realized that this WAS Joseph. Now they were really terrified. "Joseph will take revenge on us and we will die here in Egypt!” Whispered Reuben to the others.

Joseph overhead Rueben. “God is so amazing! What you meant for evil, He used for good. Now I am in charge of all the food in the land. There will be another five years of famine (no rain for the crops and animals) . If God had not brought me here, our entire family line would have died of starvation!” Joseph continued. “So don’t be afraid, I brought you here to forgive you!” With that Joseph went over to his little brother, whom he had never met and gave Benjamin a great big hug!

The brothers all broke down and wept. “After all we had done to Joseph, he still forgives us. We don’t deserve such love!”
“Go get your father and all his belongings and move him here to Egypt so that you will be near the food and that I may spend some time with him,’ said Joseph as he wiped away his tears. So the brothers did what Joseph said. What a wonderful reunion Joseph and Jacob had!

Forgiveness can be so hard sometimes. Have you ever had to forgive someone? God asks us to forgive others, just as he has forgiven us. Jesus even forgave the people who nailed him to the cross!
Forgiveness is not excusing someone’s bad behavior. It is letting God take care of it. We may not see God doing anything, but we can trust that he is or will. Why does God want us to forgive? To make us miserable? No. Just the opposite. God cares for us. Holding a grudge against someone plants the seed of bitterness in our heart. The longer it goes.... the more bitter we become. Forgiving is more about our own well being than the other person.
Have you ever had to carry something very heavy? Try this. Carry about 5 books around the room. Now add another and walk around the room again, now add another. Thats how it is when we don’t forgive. It gets heavier and heavier on our heart. Now put the books down. Doesn’t that feel great! A weight has been removed. When we forgive. A weight is lifted from us. Now we don’t spend all day thinking about what the person did to us or we don’t think about revenge all the time. We are free to enjoy the life that God gave us and spend more time with Him.

The Brothers Return (GN 44 & 45)

2011-04-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

So the brothers finally convinced their father Jacob, to let them take Benjamin with them to buy more food. Judah promised his life that Benjamin would be safe. Jacob prayed for the brothers as they left, but he was very worried. Why was Jacob so protective of Benjamin? It was because, out of all twelve brothers, Joseph and Benjamin were the only ones born to Rachel. (Rachel was the only woman that Jacob truly loved with all his heart) Rachel had died and Joseph was gone too. Benjamin was all that was left of Jacob’s true love.

Joseph looked out the window of his castle and saw that the brothers were back. He was so happy when he saw Benjamin with them. He had never met Benjamin because Benjamin was born after he himself had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.
"Take those men to my home and prepare a great feast for them.” Joseph told his assistant as he pointed to his brothers.”I will be there at noon to eat lunch with them.”
Joseph’s assistant did as he was told and brought the brothers to Joseph’s home. The brothers were terrified! This was a very unusual thing to do. Foreigners and shepherds were looked down upon in Egypt and would never be invited into an officials home unless he was planning to ambush them. That’s what they thought.
“If this is about the silver that was in our sacks when we got home,” one of the brothers spoke up. “We have no idea how it got there! We even brought it back plus more to buy more food and gifts for Pharaoh.”
Joseph’s assistant smiled and said, “God had retuned your silver to you . Don’t worry."
Just then, Joseph walked in the door. “So you have returned. And with your little brother I see, and how is your father? He asked.
“Our father is fine.” Said Judah as all the brothers bowed before Joseph.
Joseph looked at Benjamin. He looked a lot like their mother. Joseph’s eyes filled with tears and he quickly excused himself from the room and found a place to cry so that no one would hear him. He dried his eyes, washed his face and returned to the dining area where his brothers were being seated. Remember Simeon, the brother that was tied up and left behind as assurance that the brothers would return with Benjamin? He was released and able to join the brothers for lunch. I’m sure he wanted to ask them what took so long. All twelve brothers were together for the first time ever!
Joseph went and ate in the other room because he could not share a meal with foreigners although I’m sure he wanted to. All this time, not one of the brothers recognized Joseph as the brother they had sold into slavery 14 years earlier.

Benjamin’s plate was piled twice as high as the others.

After lunch, Joseph talked with the brothers a while and then sent them on their way with the food that they came for. Before they left, Joseph told his assistant to take his silver cup and put it in Benjamin’s donkey pack.
After the brothers had been on their way for a while, Joseph told his assistant to take some armed guards and find his silver cup that had been stolen and bring back the thieves. The brothers were startled as Joseph’s men rode up on them. “What’s going on?” They asked.
“Our master’s special silver cup has been stolen.” Replied one of the guards.
“Search us and our packs.” Said Judah confidently. “We would never repay your master’s goodness toward us with evil.”

  Just then one of Joseph’s men pulled the cup from Benjamin’s traveling pack. The brothers were so upset that they all tore their clothes. Benjamin was in shock! The guards escorted the brothers back into Joseph’s home. The brothers threw themselves on the ground, begging Joseph for mercy.
  Judah was the first to speak. “If one of us is guilty lord, then we are all guilty! Lock us all up!”
  “No, no, I would never do that.” Said Joseph. “You are all free to go except your little brother. My silver cup was in his possession!”
  Judah pleaded with Joseph. “Please, please lord! Let me take his place! It was so hard for my father to let Benjamin go with us. He was so afraid that something would happen to him. I promised my father on my life that Benjamin would return home safely. It would kill my father to lose another son! Please lord! Take me instead!”
  We’ll find out next time if Judah gets thrown into prison or not.

Let’s take a look at Judah for a moment. Judah was the brother who convinced the others to sell Joseph as a slave. (GN 37:27) Then when they returned home after selling him, Judah lied to his father and told Jacob that Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal . He even gave his father Joseph’s blood-stained coat as proof.(GN 37:32) He was probably the one who came up with the idea to put animal blood on the coat to deceive his father. It is hard to believe that the Judah that is begging for Benjamin’s life, is the same Judah that sold Joseph and deceived his father. Joseph saw that God had changed Judah’s heart! Do you know someone who lies and cheats all the time? Don’t hate them. Pray for them. If God can change Judah’s heart, he can change someone you know. God doesn’t like the lies and the cheating, but he loves the person. He wants us to love them too. It’s not easy, but God loves us... even when we make mistakes.

The Brothers’ Guilty Conscience

2011-03-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

So Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him and were bowing before him. They were asking for food since there was a great famine across all the land. Joseph was in charge now, because God interpreted Pharaoh’s dream through Joseph. Joseph stored up a lot of food during the good years, because he knew that the famine was coming. He looked down on his brothers and remembered the dream that he had when he was just a little kid.

  "You say that you have come to Egypt to buy food?” Joseph said harshly as the brothers nodded yes. “I don’t believe you! I think that you are ten spies sent here to check out the land and scope out our wealth.”Joseph snarled.
  “No, no, really sir. We are just ten brothers wanting to buy food. Our father and little brother are still back in Canaan waiting for us. We had one more brother, but he is no longer with us.” They said humbly .
  “If you are telling the truth, then leave one of your brothers here in prison and bring back your little brother.” Joseph said. “You will leave with food for your family, but this one,” Joseph pointed at Simeon, “will be left behind until you return with your little brother.”
“Please sir!” Rueben begged. “Our father did not send our little brother along with us because of what happened to our other brother (Joseph). It would kill him if anything happened to him.”

Joseph remembered how his brothers threw him into a pit, and the sold him as a slave to passing merchants. His brothers figured that Joseph was probably dead by now. If they only knew that they were speaking to the one they treated so badly, I wonder what they would have done.
“Go!” Joseph commanded. “Or you will all be locked up!”
Simeon was bound in front of his brothers and led off. The brothers got their food and headed home.
On the way back to Canaan, Judah stopped to get something out of his pack that was on his donkey. He was shocked when he saw that the silver that he had used to buy some of the food, was back in his pack!
“How could this be?” Judah shouted.

“What?” His brothers responded.
“ Look!” He held out the silver. “It’s all the silver that I paid for my food!”
The brothers were all scared to death now. Through some kind of mistake, Judah ended up with the silver. When Pharaoh finds out about this...... they knew it wouldn’t be good. Pharaoh would accuse them of stealing and have them either killed or imprisoned. They thought that they were being punished for selling Joseph. They had no idea that Joseph had told his servants to put all the silver that the brothers had brought with them to buy food back into their traveling packs.

When they got home and were unloading their stuff in front of their father, Jacob, they saw that all their packs were filled with silver!
Jacob cried out in fear. “What have you done?” And he tore his clothes. (That was a sign of distress in those days. I think mom would get mad if we tore our clothes every time we got upset now. Don’t you?)
“We didn’t do it father!” The brothers answered.
In the back of their minds, the brothers were still thinking that God was punishing them for what they had done to Joseph.
Then the brothers explained all that had happened in Egypt and how Pharaoh wanted them to bring their little brother, Benjamin back to prove that they are not spies.

“Never!” Said Jacob. “I lost Joseph thirteen years ago. Now I’ve lost Simeon! There is no way that Benjamin is going to Egypt! I’m not going to lose him too!”
Judah said, “I will not return to you if anything happens to Him. You have my word and my life father”
After weeks and weeks of arguing, the family was out of food again. Finally Judah put his foot down. "We could have been there and back two times in the time it has taken us to resolve this. Let us go father. Benjamin with be safe with me!”
Finally Jacob said alright, but he made them take double the silver and a few gifts with them. The brothers, with Benjamin, headed back to Egypt.... To face Joseph again.

Did you ever do something wrong and then felt like God was punishing you. That’s how Joseph’s brothers felt. God is in control of everything, that’s true, but a lot of times we are suffering the consequences of our own decision to do the wrong thing. When someone goes to jail for robbing a bank, that is not God punishing them. It is the consequence of a bad choice. We all make bad choices. Things that we know are wrong. Things we know that God doesn’t like. God doesn’t like us to make bad choices, because He knows that there are consequences. He wants the best for us. The less time we spend paying for our mistakes, the more time we have to love Him. That’s what He wants.

Joseph is freed from prison (Genesis 41)

2011-03-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

So, last time we left off, the cupbearer, who promised to put in a good word for Joseph to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, forgot all about Joseph. Joseph spent two more years in prison.

One night, Pharaoh had two dreams. He called his wizards. He called his magicians. He even called his cupbearer to see if anyone could interpret his dreams, but no one could. Finally the cupbearer remembered Joseph!

"Remember when you were displeased with me, oh king, and you had me thrown into prison for three days?” The cupbearer asked and the king nodded yes. “Well, I messed up big time. I should have told you about him sooner, but there is a man named Joseph that I met in prison. The baker and I both had dreams the same night and Joseph told us what they meant. He was right both times. I was restored as your cupbearer, and the baker.... well let’s just say that you made sure that he won’t be baking any more bread ever again, just like Joseph said!”

"Bring him to me at once!” The king demanded.

Joseph was given clean clothes and shaved before he was brought before Pharaoh. The king told Joseph about both of his dreams. “Can you tell me what they mean? The king asked.

“No, I can’t” Replied Joseph, much to the dismay of the king.... and the cupbearer. “But God can!”

“Your dreams are about a seven year abundance. During this time everyone will have more than enough food. Those seven years will be followed by a seven year famine. During this time your kingdom and surrounding countries will not have enough food. If you do not find a wise man that will store up five percent of the food for the first seven years so that you will have enough during the next seven, your kingdom with perish.” Joseph advised the king.

The king could see that God was with Joseph. He trusted Joseph’s words and his heart. Can people see God at work in you? Do they trust you because they know that you are a Christian? We should always live our lives so that people will see God’s goodness and His love in us. That is living for God’s glory!

The king not only freed Joseph from prison, but he put him in charge of his whole kingdom! The king put a royal robe on Joseph and a gold chain around his neck. He even put the governor’s ring on Joseph’s finger. Joseph had his own personal chariot! Would’t that be cool? Nothing was done in the kingdom without Joseph’s approval. During the first seven years while Joseph was in charge, there was an abundance of food, just like God had said. Joseph saved some food in storehouses for the famine he knew that was coming. At this time, Joseph married one of the Egyptian official’s daughters and had 2 sons.

During the famine, people from other countries would travel to Egypt to buy food. Egypt was the only place that had food. Because God was with Joseph, and Joseph obeyed God, Egypt was not only spared disaster from the famine, but it flourished, selling the extra food that they had stored up!

Joseph’s father Jacob and his brothers were living in Canaan and struggling to eat. “Go to Egypt and buy us some food before we all starve to death.” Jacob told his sons. “But leave Benjamin here.” Benjamin was the youngest. Jacob thought that Joseph had died in the desert and he didn’t want the same thing to happen to Benjamin.

The brothers left their father and Benjamin behind and went to Egypt and guess who they had to kneel before to ask for food?! Yep, Joseph! Their little brother that they had sold into slavery 13 years ago was now in charge of who gets food and who doesn’t. Joseph recognized them right away, but the brothers didn’t recognize Joseph.

What do you think Joseph did? What would you have done? We will find out next time :o)

Joseph, from slave to official to prisoner (Genesis 39 &40)

2011-02-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! Joseph was such an interesting guy. Wasn’t he? Let’s do a quick recap of his life so far.
He was sold as a slave by his brothers who told their father that Joseph was dead. Joseph loved God and did was was right and became the best slave ever! Potipher, a big shot in Egypt, saw that God was with Joseph and made him head of his household and put him in charge of everything he owned. Potipher trusted Joseph.

Potipher’s wife liked Joseph (a little too much) and tried to kiss him on several occasions. Joseph tried to keep his distance from her. When we left off last time, Potipher’s wife tried to make a move on Joseph again, but Joseph ran out of the house so quickly, that he left her holding his cloak. Potipher’s wife was mad! She called her servants and said, “ That slave boy snuck in here and tried to force himself on me! When I screamed, he left in such a hurry that he left his cloak. See!” and she held up Joseph’s cloak.Word got back to Potipher about what Joseph had (supposedly) done.

”How could he do this to me? After I trusted him with all I own?” Potipher asked himself. He had Joseph thrown into prison!

Joseph looked around his prison cell at the four gray walls that surrounded him. Joseph did what was right by running from Potipher’s wife, but he still ended up in prison! That doesn’t seem fair, does it? It seems like God should have shown Potipher the truth. Then Joseph would have been rewarded and Potipher’s wife thrown in prison. But God’s thoughts and his plans are way higher than our own. (Isaiah 55:9) Joseph trusted that God knew what he was doing and he still loved God and became the best prisoner ever!

Have you ever done the right thing and no one noticed? Or even worse something bad happened to you because you tried to do the right thing? I have. Once when I was in school, someone tried to give me the answers to a test. I didn’t take them and did poorly on the test while most of the class did great because they had the answer sheet. It is hard to do the right thing sometimes, but God wants us to.

Because Joseph was a model prisoner, he became head of the prison. (God is planning something) A short time later, the king threw two of his royal officials into prison with Joseph. One was the king’s personal baker and the other was his cupbearer. The cupbearer would taste the king’s food before the king to make sure that it wasn’t poisoned. I don’t think I would like to have that job!

One night, the baker and cupbearer both had dreams. They told Joseph that they were sad because there wasn’t anyone who could tell them what the dreams meant.
Joseph said that God could tell them what the dreams meant.”Tell me your dreams.” He said.
When the cupbearer finished telling of his dream, God revealed to Joseph what it meant.

“You will be given your job back.” Joseph told the happy cupbearer.
The baker was excited to tell Joseph his dream after hearing the cupbearer’s good news.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.” Joseph said to the baker. The baker’s smile turned to a frown. “Your dream means that the king is going to execute you.” Yikes! That is bad news! The sad baker turned and walked away. Then Joseph said to the cupbearer, “When you get your job back and you are speaking with the king, put in a good word for me.”

“Oh I surely will! Right away! When the king hears how you were wrongly imprisoned, he will have you released . I’m sure!" Said the cupbearer. But three days later the cupbearer got his job back and forgot all about Joseph. Joseph was left in prison for years and years but he continued to love God and obey Him.

Sometimes being a Christian is not easy, but God has a plan and His plan is much bigger than us. As we go through Joseph’s life, we can see God’s plan working. It is a lot harder to see God’s plan in our own lives, especially when things are not going too well. Trust and obey God and leave the rest up to Him.

Joseph Becomes a Slave (GN 37 & 39)

2011-01-31T18:33:00.000-08:00

Poor Joseph! Sold to the Egyptians as a slave! Could you imagine being free to do whatever you want one day and being a slave the next?

Now the brothers had to go face Jacob, their father. What do you think they told him?

Here’s what the brothers did. They took Josephs colorful coat that his father gave him and sprinkled it with blood. Then they gave the bloody coat to their father.

“We found this on the way back home father.” one of the brothers said. “It looks like some kind of wild animal tore him to shreds!” They continued.

Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son so he was very upset. He screamed and tore his clothes. ( in those days when you tore your clothes on purpose, it was a sign of sadness and hurting). if we tore our clothes on purpose.... we’d get grounded!

Jacob’s sons all tried to comfort him, but he was too upset. “Leave me alone! My son favorite Joseph is dead!” Jacob cried.

Meanwhile Joseph was sold by the traders that bought him to a very important man named Potiphar.

Potiphar was one of Pharaoh’s main guys and Pharaoh was the king. Even though Joseph was in a bad spot, he never stopped loving God or never stopped trusting Him. Sometimes when things go wrong, we start doubting God and His love. We should be like Joseph. He became the best slave ever! Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph in all he did. Potiphar trusted Joseph and made him head of his household and he put him in charge of everything he owned. Joseph even got to live in Potiphar’s very expensive home.

Everything was going pretty good for Joseph for a couple years. As time went by, Joseph got older and more handsome. One day Potiphar’s wife was alone with Joseph. She tried to kiss Joseph, but Joseph backed away. “Potiphar has put me in charge of everything. He trusts me and I’m not going sin against him or God by kissing you!” Joseph told her and he left.

As time passed, Joseph kept his distance from Potiphar’s wife. He didn’t want a repeat of what happened before. But Potiphar’s wife made sure that Joseph would be alone with her again. When she got him alone, Potiphar’s wife snuck up on Joseph and gave him a hug and tried to kiss him. Joseph took off so fast, that he left Potiphar’s wife holding his cloak!

In hard circumstances, we always have a choice. Most of the time it is easy to see what God would want us to choose. Joseph made Godly choices when he decided to be the best slave that he could be and when he didn’t kiss Potiphar’s wife (and the Bible says that she was very beautiful!)

We have to remember that God has a plan. Sometimes our life gets a little harder for a while so that God’s plan could work. Hard times make us a better person, and the better person we are, the more God can use us. We should obey God and we have to trust God! Do you think God knows what he is doing? Me too!

Joseph, his coat and his brothers (Genesis37)

2011-01-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a great Christmas and New years!

Remember last time we were talking about Isaac, his two sons, Jacob and Esau and how Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him the family blessing? After that happened, Jacob was so afraid of his brother that he left. Jacob and Esau only met one time after that.

Jacob had 12 sons. One of his sons was named Joseph. In the next few blogs, we will be talking about Joseph. he had a most amazing life!

Out of all Jacob’s sons, Joseph was his favorite. Jacob treated Joseph extra special. He even made him a very colorful robe. Joseph loved the robe. he wore it all the time.
But Joseph’s brother’s were jealous of him. They did not like that their father treated him extra special. One day, all the brothers, except Joseph, were tending the sheep just outside of town. Jacob called Joseph over. “Joseph, could you go check on your brother and see if they need any water?”

Joseph left right away. Of course he was wearing his favorite colorful robe that his father gave him. Joseph’s brother’s could see him a mile away wearing it! They got madder and more jealous the closer Joseph came. By the time Joseph reached the brothers, they had already planned on killing him.

Rueben was the oldest. he said, “No we don’t want Joseph’s blood on our hands. We’ll just throw him in this abandoned well. If he dies, he dies.... but we will not have shed his blood.
So they took off Joseph’s robe and tossed him into the dry well. I bet Joseph was scared and hurt. His brother’s were just about to leave, when they saw some rich merchants passing by. One of the brother’s came up with the idea to pull Joseph out of the well and sell him as a slave! So that’s what they did. The brothers traded their brother, Joseph, for 20 coins!
Joseph was probably glad to be out of the well, but I’m sure he was really hurt that his brother’s did that to him. His brother’s did some bad things to Joseph because they were jealous. Jealousy is a sin and it leads to other sins. Whenever I see something that someone has that I wish I had, I have to ask God to help me, because I can feel jealousy starting. God helps me to be happy for the other person. Have you ever felt jealous? It doesn’t feel good does it? Have you ever been happy for someone? It feels good doesn’t it? Next time you start getting jealous, ask God for help. He loves you!!

Isaac Gives His Blessing (GN 27)

2010-10-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

You thought the story of Esau and Jacob and the soup was crazy... wait till you hear this one!

So Isaac,(Jacob and Esau's father) was getting very old. He couldn't even see anymore. He knew that he had better give his son his blessing before he died. The blessing put one son in charge of everything after the father died. The blessing was a big deal!

"Esau!" Isaac called.

"I'm here father."

"Take your bow and go into the fields. Bring back something and cook it up just the way I like it!" I'm getting old and I want to give you my blessing before I die." Isaac said.

Isaac's wife Rebekah was listening at the door.

Rebekah called to her other son Jacob. "I overheard your father tell Esau to hunt some food, cook it and bring it to him, and he will give him his blessing! Hurry Jacob! Run out to the barn, grab a nice fat goat, and I will cook it just the way your father likes it. Then you can bring him his favorite meal and he'll give YOU his blessing!"

The funny thing was that God had already told Rebekah that Jacob was going to be in charge of everything! She lied and cheated to make something happen that God was already planning to do! Do you think that was right? She didn't trust God. She trusted her own lies and tricks more.

The Bible says that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Have you ever put yourself first instead of waiting for God? The Bible says to give and you will receive. Have you ever kept something for yourself because you didn't trust God enough?

"It's not going to work mother!" Jacob said. "Esau is hairy! I am smooth skinned! For sure my father will want to hug me during the blessing and know that I tricked him! My father will curse me.... not bless me!"

"Just do as I say!" Replied Jacob's mother. "I'll take the curse if my plan doesn't work!" With that, Jacob ran out to the barn. He brought back a nice fat goat and Rebekah cooked it up just the way Isaac liked it!

Rebekah had already laid out Esau's clothes for Jacob to wear. After getting dressed, Jacob's mother took the goat's skin and wrapped it over Jacob's arms and hands so that he would feel hairy like Esau.

...........see if you can come up with something funny that Jacob is saying to his mother.............

Jacob took the meal to his father. "I'm back father and I've done just as you asked me. " Jacob handed his father the food.

"How did you hunt it and cook it so fast my son?" Isaac asked.

"With the Lord's help." Jacob quickly responded.

"Come closer so I can smell you and touch you my son." Isaac said. "You sound just like Jacob!

"Ah but you ARE Esau... you smell and feel like Esau." Isaac ate the food and gave his blessing to Jacob, who he thought was Esau! The blessing is in Genesis 27:28-29.

As soon as he got the blessing, Jacob took off. A few minutes later Esau showed up with some food. "Here is your favorite meal just as you had asked father." Easu said with a smile. He couldn't wait for the blessing and handed Isaac the bowl.

"What is going on? I just gave Esau the blessing. who are you?" Isaac asked

"I AM Esau, your oldest son, father."

Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. "Your brother tricked me into giving him my blessing!"

"Bless me too father." Esau begged. "There must be some blessing left over!"

"No, I'm sorry son. I made Jacob ruler over all, including you and your servants. There is nothing else." Isaac said.

"Please father! Anything! Something!" Esau was crying like a baby.

"There is nothing I can do, you will serve your brother." Isaac said as Esau lowered his head and left with tears in his eyes.

The twins- Jacob and Esau Genesis 25

2010-10-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

When Isaac grew up, he married Rebekah. One day Rebekah told Isaac that she was going to have twins. She knew this because God told her so. God told her that her two sons would become two nations. He also told her that the older son would serve the younger..... which was not the usual way in Rebekah's time.

When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, she did have twins, just like God said. The first baby was very hairy and the second was not. The funny thing was that the second baby was holding the heel of the first baby when they were born!

Here is a coloring page for you. Click on picture and print.

God made us all different. You are not exactly the same as your brother or sister. How did God make you different? Why does God make us different? Because we all have a different purpose. We all have a special job that God has planned for us to help Him build His kingdom.(Eph.2:10)

Isaac and Rebekah named the twins Esau (which means hairy) and Jacob ( which means heel).

The twins grew up and Esau became a strong hunter. Jacob was a quiet stay at home kinda guy. He liked to cook with his mom.

One day Esau came back from a day of hunting. He smelled something delicious. Jacob was cooking up some of his famous Red Stew. " Give me some of that stew my brother!" Esau said

Jacob replied, "If you trade me your birth right, you can have all the stew."

Even though they were twins, Esau was born first, right before Jacob, so he got all the special favors, rights, blessings and inheritance. This is called the birth right.

Are you a twin? or the oldest in your family? or do you like to cook? do you love the outdoors?

Esau thought to himself, "I am starving to death, what good is the birthright if I'm dead!" So he traded his birthright to Jacob for a big bowl of red stew.

Have you ever done something without really thinking, and then regretted it later?

The Bible says that we should wait on the Lord.(Isaiah 30:18) Pray and ask God for guidance. (Psalm 27:11) We don't have to have everything we want right away. If we learn to be patient and persevere it builds our character.(Rom.5:3-4)

Abraham Passes the Test (GN22)

2010-09-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

Sometimes God asks us to do hard things. God asked Abraham to do a very hard thing.

"Abraham, I want you to sacrifice your son, Isaac, to me on a mountain that I will show you." God said.

Wow! God will never ask us to hurt anyone. He may ask us to give up a favorite toy or do things that we don'y want to do, but He won't ask us to hurt anyone... ever.

The next morning, Abraham took his son, Isaac and a few servants and headed toward the mountain.

Remember how long Abraham waited for a son? 100 years! He must have been brokenhearted as they walked up the mountain. But Abraham trusted God. He trusted that God would keep His promise. Remember that God promised Abraham that he would have lots and lots of grandkids and great grandkids and great, great grandkids. (more than the stars in the sky) Abraham didn't know what God had planned, but he knew that he should obey God.

About halfway up the mountain, Abraham told his servants to stay there until he and Isaac came back. A little farther up the , Isaac asked Abraham, "We have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?"

"God will provide a lamb for the sacrifice." Abraham answered. He kept remembering God's promise.

When they got to the top of the mountain, Abraham tied Isaac to the alter and raised a knife above him. "Stop! Do not harm the boy!" a voice said. It was God. "Now I know that you trust me and believe me." God said. "I will bless you!"

Just then Abraham saw a ram caught in a thorn bush. God had provided a sacrifice! Abraham named that place: God Will Provide.

God wants us to realize how hard it must have been for Abraham to sacrifice his son so that we can appreciate how hard it was for God to sacrifice His son, Jesus for us.

God provided the ram in the thorn bush to save Isaac. Jesus is the lamb (with a crown of thorns) to save us! God has PROVIDED!

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed! (Gn 19)

2010-07-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

"I am Going to send fire down from the sky and destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah!" God told Abraham.

"Please, God." Abraham pleaded . " My nephew Lot is a good man. He and his family are living in Sodom. I ask you to spare the city."

"There is just too much evil there. I cannot spare the city. But I will save Lot and his family." God answered.

The next evening, God sent a couple of angels to the city of Sodom. They found Lot sitting at the gate of the city. Lot saw the men/angels and knew they were special. "Come home with me for the night. I will give you a hot meal and a bed." Lot said. At first the men said no, but Lot insisted and they agreed.

"You have to get you family together and leave this evil city." One of the angels told Lot after they had gone back to Lot's house. Lot's wife and his two daughters were there and heard as the angel continued. " Sodom is an evil city and is has been marked for destruction by God himself. If you have any other family members, like sons or son-in-laws..... let them know!"

Lot's wife said, " Be careful and hurry back." as Lot ran off to tell his sons-in-law about what God had in store for the city of Sodom. When Lot returned home he told his wife and daughters that he couldn't convince the sons-in-laws to leave Sodom because they thought he was joking.

One of the angels shouted, "OK, well it's time to get going!" But Lot and his wife started to look around at everything they had. Lot was rich and they would be leaving a lot of stuff behind.

" I can't believe it! You guys are worried about what you are leaving behind! If we don't leave right now...." The angel said as they grabbed Lot and his wife by the arm."... you will be burned up with all your stuff! Just start running toward the mountains and whatever you do, don't stop and don't look back!" The angels had to pull Lot and his family out of the house.

"There is a small city named Zoar." Lot told the angels. " The mountains are quite far and it would be hard to live there. Can't we just go as far as Zoar and stop there?"

"OK." said the angel, " Zoar will be spared and you can start a new life there. But get there quickly, because as soon as you get to Zoar, fire will fall from the sky and destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah!"

Lot, his wife and two daughters ran a fast as they could, remembering not to stop and not to look back. As soon as they reached the city gates of Zoar, Lot and his family could see the sky brightening and they knew that fire was falling from the sky behind them. Lot and his two daughters continued to head into the city and not look back, but Lot's wife stopped and looked behind her. and she became a pillar of salt!

Abraham got up early the next morning and stood on top of a hill. He looked down toward Sodom and saw very thick smoke coming from where the city once was. He knew that his nephew was safe, because God promised to spare him and God always keeps his promises.

Wow! What a story! We can learn a few things from Abraham, Lot and Lot's wife.

1. Abraham was asking God to spare his nephew's life. We can talk to God! Isn't that amazing that we can talk to the same God that Abraham talked to. The same God that created the earth!

It's called PRAYER. When we are praying, we are talking to God. When we are talking to God, we are praying. We can pray for other people. God wants us to pray for others.

2. Lot's son-in-laws didn't believe Lot. Why? Probably because Lot had not told the truth all the time. We have to be careful not to lie. Because then people won't believe us when we tell them the truth.

3. Lot and his wife almost didn't get out in time because they were looking at everything that they were leaving behind. Because we are in God's family now, we can't live the same way that we did before.

4. Lot's wife looked back and she became salt. She looked back with her eyes and her heart. This word looked means "longed for". She wanted what she left behind. If we keep looking back at what we can't do or can't have now that we are Christians... we will miss what God want for us and what purpose He has for our lives.

TRY THIS: Put a penny on the floor at the base of a wall. Now you to the opposite side of the room. Start walking toward the penny, but look at something on the wall behind you. ( a picture of a clock etc...) Now try to pick up the penny while you are still looking backwards. How did you do?

Abram becomes Abraham

2010-07-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

Remember last time... God told Abraham to look at the stars. God promised that Abraham would have more descendants than the stars. Beginning with a son. Well... twenty years later God reminds Abraham of that promise. Imagine waiting twenty years! But this time God told Abraham that it would happen in a year. I'm sure Abraham felt much better, but he laughed because he was now 99 years old. "You mean I will have a son when I am 100 years old?" asked Abraham.

"Yes!" said God, "and from now on your name will not be Abram... it will be Abraham." The first 99 years of his life.... Abraham's real name was Abram. (Which means honored father) Now God changed it to Abraham (which means father of many).

Later that day, Abraham was Looking out his tent and he saw 3 men walking along. He ran out to them and offered them dinner. When they said yes, Abraham ran back and asked Sarah (his wife) to throw together something good to eat for their 3 guests. Abraham brought them out some food and ate with them under a tree.

"Where is your wife Sarah?" One of the men asked.

"She's in our tent." Abraham replied.

"We will be back at this time next year, and by the time we return, Sarah will have had a son."

Sarah was listening to the men from the inside of her tent. She laughed when the men said that she will have a son. The men heard her and told her that she shouldn't laugh because nothing is too hard for God. They were right. Sarah had a son the next year. Abraham and Sarah named him Isaac, just as God told them to.( Isaac means, laughs)

Sometime we have to wait . It is hard to wait. It seems like the more we want something.... the longer the wait. Have you ever counted down the days till Christmas? It seems like forever! When God makes a promise, He always keeps it.... but sometimes it is not right away... and we have to wait.

Before the men left that day, they were wondering wether or not to tell Abraham some disturbing news. They decided to tell him.

"The city where your nephew Lot is living will be destroyed because it is too wicked.

After the men left, Abraham prayed. " God please spare the city because not everyone in that city is evil."

God said that if there were 10 good men in the city, He would not destroy it. But there were not even ten good men.

The name of the city was Sodom and next week we will see if Lot and his family get out of the city before it is destroyed

Abraham believes God

2010-06-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

After God confused the language of the men building the Tower of Babel, the people moved to different lands. Hundreds of years later, God talked to a man named Abram. (God changed his name to Abraham .. we'll find out why later)
So God told Abraham to gather up his family and all his belongings and go. He didn't tell Abraham where he was going, He just said to head east. So right away, Abraham took his wife, his nephew Lot, his servants (Abraham was pretty rich) and all his stuff. Wow! Abraham really obeyed God! It was probably pretty hard leaving the place where his father had made a home for them. Abraham was 75 years old when he left his home. He followed God for hundreds of miles to a place called Canaan. When they arrived, God told Abraham, "See all this land, I will give it to you and your children and their children." But Abraham didn't have any children. But he didn't question God, instead he built an alter to thank God for all the blessing in his life.

Abraham couldn't stay in the land however. It hadn't rained for a while and it was hard to find food. So Abraham took his family and all his belongings to a place a couple of hundred miles away along the Nile river where there was plenty of food. When food became a little easier to find back in Canaan, Abraham took his family again and headed back toward the land that God has promised.

So let's see. God tells Abraham to leave is comfortable home and travel for months to a place where there is no food. So Abraham has to travel for a few more months to a place where there is food.... then he has to travel for a few more months back to the place that God promised to Abraham's kids... and he doesn't even have any kid's. On top of that, Abraham is about 80 years old! If I was Abraham, I'd be thinking " God... are you sure?"

We are so blessed that we get to see the whole story in the Bible. We know that God ALWAYS knows what He's doing. He ALWAYS keeps His promises and He's ALWAYS good and he ALWAYS will be good.

Ok back to the story. Remember that Abraham took his nephew Lot along with him. Abraham took him along because Lot's father, Haran, had died and Abraham had taken care of Lot as he was growing up. Well Lot was a man now, and as Lot and Abraham headed back to the promised land, they realized that they had to go their separate ways. It was too hard to travel together since both men were very rich and had a many cattle and sheep. Abraham gave Lot a choice and Lot decided to go toward the best looking land, so Abraham headed in the other direction.

Sometimes the best looking things are not really the best. That's why we should pray about our choices. We see the outside but God sees the whole picture. He knows best. As it turned out, the land that Lot chose was full of a lot of evil men. Also there was a war going on there and Lot was taken prisoner. Abraham was living peacefully with his wife Sarah when he heard about what happened to Lot. Abraham got 318 of his men together and they rescued Lot and all the other people that were taken prisoner. Abraham gave God all the credit and the king praised God. We should always give God the credit. That's called glorifying God and then other people may realize what great things that God does and give Him the credit too.

So Abraham went back home. He was living just outside of the land that God promised. There were people living in the land at the time. Finally Abraham asked God. "Remember when you said that this land would be my children's and their children's? Were you saying that I am going to have children? Or did you mean my servant's children?"

God answered Abraham by taking him outside. "Look up at the stars Abraham." God said. " If you could count every star, it still would not be as many as your own descendants." Abraham believed God and because he believed, Abraham was now in God's family.

We can learn a lot about trusting God, following God and believing God from Abraham. The Bible is God's word. First we have to trust what He says in His word. Second we have to do what He says in His word. That's what following is all about. Finally God want's us to believe that he sent His son Jesus to die for our sins so that we can spend eternity in heaven with Him. When we believe Him, we become part of God's family... just like Abraham.

Next time we will find out how long Abraham had to wait for a son and why God changed his name from Abram to Abraham.

The Tower of Babel (Gn11)

2010-05-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is a story about putting ourselves before God. When we do that, we are prideful. Pride is the root of a lot of bad things. We will se a couple of them in this story.

After Noah and his family finally came out of the ark. (Remember the flood?) Noah built an alter to God. Noah thanked God and worshipped Him. Then God told Noah to "be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth." So what does that mean? God wanted Noah to have a great big family, so that his children would have great big families. Then God wanted them to move into all different parts of the world. The world is a big place and God wanted everyone to spread out and not stay in one place. We have to remember what God told Noah, because it is important in the tower of Babel story.

A few hundred years after the flood, there were a lot of people on the earth again. Noah had obeyed God and had a lot of children and they had a lot too. Many moved east to the other side of the river (not too far away) and found some nice flat land. Flat land was great for building. The people said "Come let us build a city with a giant tower that reaches all the way up to heaven. We will make a name for ourselves here and we won't end up being scattered around the world." (Gn11:4) God was looking down and knew what the people were planning. He knew that they were not building a tower for Him, but for themselves. God also knew that if they built the tower, the people would not fill the earth (spread out through the whole earth) like he told Noah, because they would stay near the tower.

God had a plan. His plan is funny if you think about it. God confused their language so that they couldn't understand each other!(vs.7) Imagine trying to build something and you can't understand your boss or the other workers. If one of the other workers asks you to pass a medium sized brick, but to you it sounds like blah blah blah blah blah, you wouldn't know what to do. Construction on the Tower of Babel had to stop because no one could understand each other. Babel means confused. They were confused all right! Did you ever hear anyone babbling about something. Not making any sense. I have.

So God scattered the people throughout the earth.(vs8) They didn't obey God, so He had to do something to make His plan work. I think God was pretty easy on these guys. He didn't hurt them. They deserved a lot worse. When God doesn't give us what we deserve, it's called mercy. God had mercy on the people building the tower. Has God ever had mercy on you?

Sometimes we put things before God. Things like our toys or games, our friends, or our allowance. Imagine if all of a sudden you spoke a different language than everyone else. You could't play games with your friends, or you could't understand your teachers or your parents. God may not confuse us like he did to the people in this story, but He does try to get our attention in different ways if we are too prideful or disobedient. Have you ever lost a favorite toy. Maybe it was more important than God. God says that if we put him first, He'll make sure about everything else that we need. (Mt6:31)

God gave us talents, when we draw a beautiful picture, write a wonderful story of play terrific music, we have to be careful not to be prideful about what we have done, but instead about what God has done through us. That is called glorifying God. He likes that. (Ps86:12)

Noah is saved.... and God's promise Gn 8&9

2010-05-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, we got to know a little about Noah. Noah and his family were the only people on earth that knew God and loved God. When God told Noah to build a huge boat and gather all the animals inside, he obeyed. When the flood lasted a long time and then Noah and his family had to wait for God to let them out of the boat, we saw that Noah was patient.Here is a coloring page for you. Thanks to RaisingOurKids.com

We can be like Noah if we love God, obey God and wait for God. There is one more important thing that we can learn from Noah.... and that is to believe God. The Bible says that Noah was

righteous because he believed God. What does that mean? It means that Noah was going to heaven when he died. We will see Noah in heaven some day. Won't that be so cool! We could ask him about the flood and all the animals. What would you ask Noah? God didn't say that Noah was going to heaven because he built the ark. God didn't say that Noah was going to heaven because he was patient. God said that Noah was going to heaven because he believed Him.

A few weeks ago, we talked about believing God. We believe that Jesus is His son. That He died for our sins and that we would follow Him. We believed God and that's why we are going to heaven some day. If God said all we have to do is run around the block to get to heaven... some people can't walk. If God said it would only cost a penny to get to heaven... some people don't even have a penny. God wants everyone to know him and be in heaven with Him. Believing is something that everyone can do and Jesus made it possible.

After Noah and his family finally got off the ark, Noah wanted to thank God for saving him and his family, so Noah built an alter to God and prayed to Him. We should thank God for sending Jesus to save us. God was pleased with Noah. He blessed Noah and his family and He promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth. Do you remember what God put in the sky as a sign to Noah about this promise? Right.... a rainbow! Have you ever seen a rainbow. Aren't they wonderful?!

The Flood

2010-05-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

Last time we saw how Noah obeyed God by building an Ark. (a really big boat) Did you know that God gave Noah exact instructions about building the ark? He told him what kind of wood to use, how big to make it, where to put the windows and how to make it waterproof. Did your dad ever have to follow the instructions to put something together? Like a bicycle or a swing set? If he followed the instructions, it made putting it together a lot easier. God gives us instructions for our life. It's called the BIBLE! Because He wants our lives to be blessed.

This week we find that Noah has finished building the ark. (It only took him 100 years!) Do you think Noah ever thought it would never be finished? The Bible says that after he finished building the ark, Noah took his whole family into the ark and then God sent the animals in two by two. (Gn 7:6-9)

God shut Noah and his family in the boat with the animals. They were waiting for the rain to start. First day, no rain. Second day, no rain. Third day no rain! Do you think Noah was wondering if he heard God right? Finally on the seventh day it began to rain. (Gn 7:10)

It rained for forty days! When the rain finally stopped, the water was 20 feet above the highest mountain! Have you ever seen a mountain? Imagine a flood higher than that! The water didn't go down right away either. It took 5 months for the water to go down enough to see the tops of the mountains. Do you think that God could have flooded the earth in one day and dried it up the next? He sure could have. Remember we learned that God created the water in one day, then the land the next. Nothing is impossible with God.. (Lk 1:37)

Finally the ark came to rest at the top of a mountain called Mount Arafat. Noah, his family and all the animals stayed in the boat for three more months as the water kept going down. (so far they have been in the boat for over nine months, thats more than one full school year.)

After another forty days, Noah let a dove go. The dove flew away and then came back. Noah was hoping it would bring some kind of proof that the land was drying up, but the dove had nothing in its beak. The next week Noah sent it out again. This time the dove brought back an olive branch. I bet Noah and his family were celebrating! They knew that they would soon be stepping on solid ground. Noah knew that he had to wait for God to say that it was OK. So they waited and waited and waited. Finally 2 months later, God said it was OK for them to come out. God opened the hatch and Noah and his family and all the animals came out. I bet they were so happy to see the ground!

Noah and His family were in that boat for more than a year. They showed patience over and over again. They waited seven days for the rain to begin. They waited for the rain to stop. They waited for the ground to dry and then they waited for God's OK to come out.

The Bible tells us that we should wait for God. (Is 30:18) Why? Because God sees all things. He knows what will happen in the future. So by waiting for Him, we are showing that we trust Him. Being patient is not easy. We always want everything right away.

I remember one time, my mom had baked a cake. She took it out of the oven and put it on top of the stove to cool. I started to take a piece and my mom said to wait. When she left the room, I hurried up and took a piece and shoved it quickly into my mouth before she came back. It was so hot! I burned my mouth. I was screaming and crying. My mom came in. " Couldn't you even wait for it to cool down?" She was just trying to protect me. She knows what is best for me. I couldn't eat anything for two days, my mouth was so sore. By that time, the cake was all gone.

God tells us in the Bible to be patient. (Jas 5:7) He knows what is best for us.

2 turtles for the ark

2010-04-14T10:06:00.001-07:00

you can feed these turtles and lead them into the ark

Click your mouse to feed them or drag it to lead them.

Noah Builds an Ark Genesis 6

2010-04-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a rainbow? I love rainbows. Noah and his family were the first people to ever see a rainbow. God made a promise to Noah and to us and he put the rainbow in the sky as His signature. For the next couple weeks we are going to join Noah and his family on an amazing adventure and find out about the promise of God.

God was very upset because all men on the earth had turned away from Him. All except one man named Noah and his family. Noah loved God and he showed God how much he loved Him by obeying Him. It's hard to obey God when everyone around you is not. Have you ever done the right thing when all your friends were doing the wrong thing? Good for you. God sees what we do and he is pleased when we choose to do the right thing. I like to make God smile.

God wanted to clean up the world by removing all the bad people, but He wanted to reward Noah and his family for their obedience and love. God had a plan, but it required a lot of hard work by Noah and his family.

One day God said to Noah, "I am going to wipe the earth clean of all the evil men, so make an ark for yourself and your family because I am going to flood the earth." God gave Noah instructions for building the boat and Noah followed them exactly. If Noah was lazy and didn't make the ark exactly as God had said, it would have sunk or flipped over. If we only obey God sometimes or in some things, we are really not obeying Him. What if Noah said that he'll do it later?

God told Noah to make the ark so big, because Noah was going to keep 2 of every kind of animal in the boat during the flood. Imagine being on a boat with elephants and zebras and snakes and raccoons and monkeys! Noah had a wife and three sons. His son's were married.

So there was a total of 8 people to take care of all those animals. That must have been a lot of work!

Noah believed God and began building the ark right away. Noah didn't live anywhere near water, so all his neighbors would tease him. They thought he was crazy. Sometimes when we do the right thing when no one else is, people tease us and call us names, but God calls us His children. Remember how we talked about how God gave us the ability to make choices? Noah chose God's way and so should we. Noah believed God and so should we.

Here are a few interesting facts.

1. The ark was as long as 1 1/2 football fields and a tall as a 4 story building!

2. It took Noah 100 years to build the ark!

3. It rained for 40 days but Noah had to wait for the ground to dry, so he was in the ark for one year and 10 days!

4. Noah was 600 years old when it started to rain.

5. It had never rained before the flood.

6. The ark was big enough to hold 45,000 animals!

Here is a modern ship the same size as Noah's Ark!

Next week Noah fills up the ark with animals and God fills the earth with water.

Congrats to our 3 winners!

2010-04-10T19:50:00.001-07:00

In the past 3 weeks , I selected 3 random comment makers on this blog to receive Mr. BibleHead t-shirts. Let me introduce them : Kelly has 3 boys. She has a blog about her three sons. It is called God Bless My Boys. Give her a visit here. Brian is has 2 sons. You can check out his inspiring blog here. Krista is a mom to 2 boys also. Her blog is called Krista Hamrick Illustration. She has a lot of wonderful and inspiring artwork. Check it out here. Thanks to everyone who commented the last few weeks. Don't worry there will be more give-aways. This past give-away of 3 t-shirts was in celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. I picked 3, because Jesus rose on the 3rd day! This week we will be on board with Noah, his family and thousands of animals. So stop on by for an amazing adventure! (in Genesis chapter 6&7)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday is Easter, so I thought we'd take a break from the book of Genesis and talk about Easter. It's fun to think about bunnies and to get an Easter basket full of goodies on Easter, but let me tell you the real meaning of Easter.

The story of Easter can be found in the book of Matthew 26:20through Matthew 28:20. Remember we talked about how Adam and Eve had to leave the wonderful Garden of Eden because they sinned. Then the last two weeks, we talked about God's wonderful plan and how Jesus took our punishment so that we could live forever with Him. Well Easter is the finishing touch of God's great plan. Jesus died on Good Friday, then on Easter Sunday, He rose from the dead!

You may be wondering "what does that have to do with me?" The answer is everything! Easter is a time for more celebration than Christmas! When Jesus was born on Christmas, it was just the beginning of God's plan. When Jesus rose from the grave on Easter, God's plan to allow us into heaven was complete.

Jesus was the first to rise from the dead and lead the way to heaven so that we could too. Jesus died for our sins so that we could be forgiven, But if He didn't rise we would stay dead forever. We would have no way of getting into heaven.

Let's say that you went to the animal shelter and picked out a dog. Your dad paid for the shots and license. Now the dog was yours. You brought the dog home and while you were still in the driveway, the dog jumped out of the car and ran up to the front door of the house. He couldn't open the door by himself and get into his new home. You had to open the door first and let him in.

Just like the dog, Jesus paid a price for us. We are His. He saved us. But it wasn't until He rose from the dead that we were able to go through the gates of heaven. Heaven will be our home forever. Do you see that the whole Bible is about Jesus and His love for us. All the way back to Adam and Eve..... God had a plan.

Next week we are going to climb aboard Noah's ark! Genesis chapter 6 Happy Easter!

Choosing God

2010-03-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

.....and we have a winner!!! Congratulations to Kelly! She has 3 boys ... I wonder how she will choose who gets the shirt. Don't fret tho... We have 2 more weeks of give-aways. A random comment maker on this weeks blog will win a Mr. BibleHead shirt next week. The deadline is April 1st.

Last week we found out about God's wonderful plan and how he wants us to join Him in heaven forever. Remember the A,B,Cs? Admit....Believe....and Confess. Some of you may have been thinking about that. You may have want to let God know that you are ready to be in His family. Here is a short prayer. You don't have to say it word for word. But you must believe it in your heart. God loves you. Just talk to Him. Tell Him:

Dear God,

I admit that I do the wrong thing sometimes, and I'm sorry,

I believe that Jesus is your son and that He came to earth and died for my sins.

From now on, I will follow Jesus because I want to be more like Him.

Thank you God .

If you prayed that prayer and meant it in your heart, that means you joined God's family!

Jesus is now preparing a special place for you in heaven!

The Holy Spirit is now living inside you!

And the angels are singing and celebrating!

You made a great CHOICE!

Today we are going to talk about why God created us with the ability to choose sin.

Remember that Adam and Eve chose to disobey God? Have you ever chose to do something that you knew was not right? We all have. Adam and Eve sinned and were removed from the Garden of Eden. Now everyone that is born, thinks more about themselves than they do about God. So why didn't God just make us so that we couldn't sin?

God could have made us like robots. We could be programmed to always obey and tell Him that we love Him evey 20 minutes. But God wants us to choose to love Him.

If you had a toy that said "I love you." when you pressed it's stomache. Would that make you feel as good as when your mom or grandma hugs you and says "I love you"? Do you think your toy would be happy when you tell it "I love you too." When we tell God we love Him, it makes Him happy. We can choose tell God we love Him when we pray and we can show God that we love Him by obeying Him. God says that we should love Him and love others, when we do , we are obeying Him and showing Him that we love Him. God tells us He loves us through the Bible, and through people. Every time someone tells you that they love you, it's also God telling you that He loves you.

Every time you do something, you are making a choice. Remember that God gave you that ability. If you are in God's family, you can ask the Holy Spirit who is living inside you to help you make the right choices.

Here is a coloring page for you.

Next week we are going to talk about Easter. Easter is a day for celebrating! Then in two weeks we will be back in the first book of the Bible, Genisis and the story of Noah and the ark.

God's wonderful plan & Mr BibleHead giveaway

2010-03-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Whoo Hoo! Today begins the first Mr. BibleHead give-away! I will be giving this nifty Mr.BibleHead t-shirt to one lucky person who leaves a comment after this week's post. The deadline is Thurday, March 24. Kids please ask your parents or guardian if it's OK. There will also be give-aways for the next 2 weeks.

I hope you liked the story about Stanley the Snake in the Garden of Eden. Remember 2 weeks ago we talked about how Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden. They were so sad because it was a wonderful place. God would walk and talk with Adam and Eve. God was sad too. Because Adam and Eve sinned, we can't be with God either.

But God has a plan . He wants us all to join him in heaven! (2Pt3:9) Heaven is a perfect place. We can't go there because we are not perfect. Jesus is perfect. He was very happy in heaven. God asked Him to give up everything so that we could be allowed to go to heaven. Here is God's wonderful plan:

Jesus came to earth as a baby. That's when we celebrate Christmas. Jesus' birthday. He lived a perfect life.(Heb4:15) He never disobeyed his mom and dad, or never lied or stole. When he was 30 years old, Jesus started teaching people about God. He healed some people so that they would know God, but His main purpose was to be punished. Why do you think He came to earth to be punished? God is so good that he can't let anyone get away with sin. He has to punish someone. Jesus came to take our place. He was punished so that we don't have to be.

Have you ever been punished for disobeying? What if you lied, and your mom said to go to your room while the rest of the family went to a movie and out for ice cream. As you were walking upstairs to your room, your dad says "Wait, I'll go sit in your room. You go to the movie and out for ice cream." God loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus to take our place so that we could spend forever in heaven! (Jn3:16)

So why doesn't everyone get to go to heaven? Because God gave us a choice. He created Adam and Eve with the ability to choose, and they made a bad choice. (Next week we will talk about why we can choose right or wrong and why God made us like that) We can choose the gift of heaven that God is offering us, by believing that Jesus took our punishment. We know that we deserve to be punished.(Rm3:10) We understand that Jesus took our punishment. We are so grateful to Jesus that we want to obey Him from now on.

Here is a fun way to remember. A B C !

(A)dmit that you have sinned.

(B)elieve that Jesus is God's son and that he died for you.

(C)onfess that you will follow and obey Jesus. (Rm10:9)

When we do this from our hearts and really mean it, God says that you are guaranteed a place in heaven when you die. The Bible also says that every time someone is saved (ABC), the angels throw a big party in heaven. (Lk10:15)

Stanley the Snake in the Garden of Eden

2010-03-08T18:36:00.001-08:00

The Good Little Snake

by Judy Andrews

Everything was just fine for Stanley the snake in the Garden of Eden. He was a harmless little snake and just wanted to play with all the other animal children. He liked playing with the lambs, the muskrats, the raccoons and the turtles. In the Garden of Eden none of the animals were enemies so they all played together all day long. That is how it will be in heaven too.

Stanley loved foot races with Billy the Buffalo. Oh, I forgot to tell you that snakes had legs and feet in the Garden of Eden. Well, everything was peaceful and fun and loving in the garden....

... until one day, all of a sudden, the garden became very dark. The animals scurried about trying to figure out what was going wrong.

"What is it?" Stanley pleaded with his best friend Morris the Muskrat.

"Something is wrong in the garden." Morris cried out.

"We should find Adam. He will know what to do. " Stanley said trying to calm his friend.

"That's just the problem." Morris yelled as they ran. "Adam and Eve caused the trouble!"

They joined all the animals that were rushing to the center of the garden where the great tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood. They stopped at the ridge that surrounded the center of the garden where God always walked and talked with Adam and Eve. They looked over the ridge and there stood God, majestic and awesome as always. Adam stood before him and Eve

was on her knees crying! Nobody ever saw anyone crying in the garden before, because there was no sadness or pain in the perfect garden. Then in the distant, Stanley and the others spotted a very strange beast. It was a snake, but not a sweet snake like Stanley and all his snake family and snake friends. This beastly snake was puffed up. He was swelled up like he was full of bad things. He was snorting and hissing like he had been very angry since the beginning of time.

"Do you know that snake Stanley?" Doris the Dove asked as she landed on Stanley's head.

"No." said Stanley. "He isn't like any snake I ever saw. He isn't sweet and full of love like all the snakes I know."
"That's because he's not really a snake." A voice came from behind. Everyone turned and saw Henrietta the Hummingbird darting above everyone. "A few of us hummingbirds went down there. That is no snake Stanley! That is God's enemy.... Satan! He has just done a terrible thing!"

Suddenly there was a great earthquake and everyone was tossed around like dolls. Stanley was screaming as he tried to stay close to his friends, but it was no use. Things were falling all around him. Poor Stanley couldn't even tell what was up or what was down. The earth shook for what seemed like days..... then all of a sudden it was still. Stanley was in some weeds as he stared up at the sky. Suddenly Henrietta the Hummingbird appeared. "You OK Stanley?"

"Yes I think so Henrietta." Stanley said as he rolled over. Then he noticed something terrible. His legs were gone! " Hey! No I'm not OK! Somebody stole my legs!"

"They weren't stolen Stanley." The little bird explained. "God punished the evil snake because he brought sin into the garden.

"Well that's not my fault!" Stanley complained. "Why should I have to suffer because someone else did wrong."

"Everyone is suffering, Stanley." Henrietta continued. "Look around you. We are no longer in the garden. No one can go back there. The earth, the animals and the people are fallen because Adam and Eve did the one thing that God told them not to do."

"What could they have done that was so bad?" Stanley asked. They kept the garden nice. Adam named us all, and they played with us every day."

"Remember God told them that they only had one rule and that was not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?"

"Oh no, they didn't." Stanley gasped.

"Yes they did."Henrietta quickly replied." Now they are cursed and we are cursed."

Stanley tried to crawl without his legs. He wanted to show Adam and Eve what they had done to him. He struggled but finally mad it over to where the two were standing.

"Look at me." Stanley said to them. "My beautiful legs are gone! I look stupid like this! Now what are we going to do? Is there any hope for us?" Finally after a few moments, Adam turned and looked into Stanley's eyes. Adam smiled and touched Stanley's head. There was hope and love in Adam's eyes.

"I know you are sad. We all are Stanley." Adam said to the little snake. "But God will not leave us to perish. He loves us too much for that. Before we were punished, God gave us a promise. He said that someday His Son would come to earth and make it all like it was before. He will defeat the evil snake Satan. He will defeat death and He will make everything perfect again."

"He will?" Stanley asked with happy tears in his eyes. "Maybe then I will get my legs back."

Don't worry Stanley. " Eve said as she picked him up. Stanley wrapped himself around her arm. "You look so cute like this. "We will take care of each other until Jesus comes and makes everything right."

Eve put Stanley down on the ground and he gave her a hug as he coiled around her leg. Stanley was still a little sad, but now he had a Savior to look forward to. He had hope for the future. Besides if Eve thought he was cute without legs, he thought he might get used to it... for a while.

The end.

I hope you liked the story this week. I have a real treat for you next week. We are going to have 3 weeks of give aways leading up to Easter. Some really cool stuff! Next week we are going to find out what God's plan is. And how He will let us back into the garden.

The Fall of man. (Gn3)

2010-03-03T18:39:00.002-08:00

Last week we found out that God had placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden called the Garden of Eden. When God first made Adam and put him in the garden, He was walking around with Adam giving him a tour of the whole place. When God and Adam got to the center of the garden, God pointed out a certain tree. He told Adam that he could eat the fruit from all the other trees in the garden, but not this one. The tree even had a name. It was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

"If you eat the fruit from this tree." God said. " You will die." (Gn 2:11)

One day Adam and Eve were strolling through the Garden of Eden. Eve heard a voice and she looked down and realized that a snake was talking to her. "Did God say that you can eat any fruit from any tree in the garden?" the snake asked.

"Any tree except for that one that is in the very middle of the garden," Eve answered.

The snake then said,"God just doesn't want you to be smart like him, if you eat the fruit from that tree, you'll be as smart as God." The snake must have been leading Adam and Eve to the center of the garden as they were talking, because as they got closer to the tree, Eve saw that the fruit looked delicious. She thought for a moment about how cool it would be to be as smart as God. (She didn't know that the snake was lying to her in order to trick her) Then she plucked a piece of fruit from it's branch and took a bite. Adam, who was standing right beside her took a bite too!

Right away, they felt strange. They never noticed before that they were naked. So they grabbed the first fig leaf they could find and covered themselves. Just then Adam heard God walking through the garden and calling out to him. "Adam , where are you?"

Adam and his wife, Eve hid behind some trees because they knew that they had disobeyed God.

What do you think they were feeling? Maybe guilty... or scared....or sad? Did you ever do something that you knew you were not supposed to?

How were you feeling afterwards? God wants us to feel bad when we do something wrong. That's how he made us. That is called our conscience. But God doesn't want us walking around feeling bad all the time. So what can we do? We can say that we are sorry to whoever we disobeyed and to God. Then we can decide to obey next time.

The snake was really the devil disguised as a snake! He is very tricky. We don't have talking snakes trying to trick us every day, but we do have the devil whispering in our ear. God didn't tell us not to eat certain fruit, but he does talk to us through the Bible. The more we learn about what God is telling us through the Bible, the more we will know what to do when the devil whispers in our ear.

So, back to Adam and Eve. God knew where they were and He knew what they had done. God asked Adam what he had done. Adam blamed it on Eve and Eve blamed it on the snake. God doesn't like when we blame others. That means that we are not sorry.

God had to make Adam and Eve leave the amazing garden that he had made just for them. In the garden, Adam and Eve would have lived forever. But now they were going to die someday, just as God had told them. This was called the fall of man. But God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit had a plan to bring Adam and Eve and all of us back to the garden someday. In two weeks we will talk about that plan. Next week I will tell you a story about a good snake named Stanley that lived in the Garden of Eden. I think you'll like it.

the Garden of Eden

2010-02-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

But first let's look back at our awesome God and His creation. God created the earth, then He created the animals. Then on the sixth day.... God created Adam. Remember we found out that Adam named the animals. We made up a pretend animal, and some of you came up with some great names for it. Here are a few: Becky came up with chipunny :o) Andrew came up with stoink :o) and Debby's granddaughter Faith came up with flopus :o) Great names!!! Then after God made Adam, He made Eve.

Before we get to the Garden of Eden, here are a couple more eye-popping facts.#1. When God created the world and all things.... Jesus was with Him! The Bible says that Jesus was there in the beginning and all things were made by Him and for Him! (John1:3) #2. Before God created the earth, He already had planned on making you! It's true! God is an amazing planner. Have you ever planned your day. Like first going to school, then playing with friends, then eating dinner, then doing homework. Well God not only planned out one day.... He planned from the beginning of the world till the end and you are part of His plan! He made you on purpose.(Eph1:4)Next time you look in the mirror, Say, "I am part of God's plan!"

#3. God walked and Talked with Adam and Eve in the garden. They were friends! That's so cool! Next week we'll find out what happened to that friendship.

OK, Let's go to the garden! The Garden of Eden was where God placed Adam and Eve to live. He loved them so much that He wanted them to live in a wonderful place. The word Eden means "pleasant" or "comfortable". Let's pretend we are going on vacation to the Garden of Eden. It will be fun.

That's right, in the Garden of Eden, there were no tears, no pain or no hunger. Adam worked in the garden, but he never got tired. All the animals were like pets. If you could have any animal in the whole world as a pet..... what would you like? An elephant to ride or a giraffe to climb or a monkey to play with? I think that I would like a kangaroo to go for a ride in his pouch!

Well it's time to leave the Garden of Eden. Next week we'll see why we don't live in the garden. Here is a puzzle for you. Just follow the secret code and color the picture! What is it?

In the beginning

2010-02-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

For the last 2 weeks we talked about how God created man. (Adam and Eve). But before God made man, He had to make the world for man to live on. So today we step back one chapter in the Bible to Genesis 1. Do you know what the first three words of the Bible are? I'll give you a hint: Look at the title of this week's blog. Yep "In the beginning". It says that in the beginning God created heaven and earth. So that means God was already there at the beginning, because God always was and He always will be. Does anyone know what "created" means? It means to make something that wasn't there before

So that means that before God "created" the earth... there was no earth. God made Adam and Eve on the sixth day. That means God worked for five days creating everything just right for them. God's creation is so amazing! He made the flowers and the mountains and the birds and the stars. He picked out the perfect colors for everything. God is the greatest artist! Imagine if He made the sky dark green and the trees pink! Next time you look out your window and thank God for this wonderful world!

God gave us the ability to create things too. Not as awesome as Him of course. Here are some examples of how we create things. Painting pictures. Writing stories. Building buildings. Cooking. Making music and many many more. Did you ever play with legos? or draw a picture? You were creating something. Let's create something! How about a sun catcher! Here's how.

Trace this picture of the earth onto wax paper and color it. Then cut out the wax paper earth. Ask your parent or an adult to help you. Take a paperclip and poke it through the top of the earth and tie a string to it. There, you created a sun catcher! Hang it in the widow and when the sun shines through it, you will se the colors glow.

Here is a fun way to remember how God created the world. God l.o.v.e.s. man. God was there in the beginning. He created man on the sixth day. The five days in between God and man spell "loves".

On the first day God said "let there be Light." On day two God created the Oceans.(lakes and land) Then he made the Vegetables (trees and plants). The Elephants (animals). And the Stars (sun and moon). Then He made man.

Here is a coloring page with the five days of creation. You can cut them out after you color them and try to put them in order. Have a blessed week!!!

God's gift to Adam

2010-02-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

When Adam finished naming all the animals, he was so tired, he fell asleep. That must have been a lot of work. God looked at Adam and said "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper for him". So God made sure that Adam was in a very deep sleep. God opened up Adam's side and took out one of Adam's ribs. From that rib, God created a woman.When God made Adam, He scooped up some dirt and formed him. Then God breathed into Adam's nose and he came to life! Imagine if you made something out of clay and breathed on it and it came alive. God is so amazing!! But when God made Eve, He used Adam's rib.
I wonder if God was excited to give Adam such a special gift. God probably smiled as he waited for Adam to open his eyes. Did you ever tell someone to close their eyes and then had a surprise for them when they opened their eyes? Here is something fun to do. On a piece of paper , draw a heart and write I love you in the heart like this.

If you can't spell or write yet, just make a heart.Tell your mom or dad or grandparent to close their eyes. Then , with some Scotch tape, tape it to the front of your shirt. Tell them to count to 5 and open their eyes.

Did you feel that joy and excitement while they were counting? That's probably how God felt while he was waiting for Adam to open his eyes. God loved Adam and that's why He gave him Eve. God loves us, that's why He gave us Jesus. In the book of John, in the new testament of the Bible, it says that God loved us so much that He gave us His only son, Jesus.(John 3:16) The Bible also says that every good and perfect gift comes from God.(James1:17) So that means that everything we have, is because God gave it to us. What is your favorite thing in the whole wide world? God gave it to you! God wants us to be like Him. He wants us to give to others. We have a lot of things to give like we can give someone some help. We can give someone love. we can give someone some nice words. When we give, we are doing something that God does.
Here is a fun page for you. It is a coloring page of Adam and Eve. But there are 10 hidden animals in the leaves. Can you find them?

Here is a list of animals to help you. 1.elephant 2.fox 3.butterfly 4.snake 5.giraffe 6.cat 7.mouse 8.cow 9.pig 10.owl

Adam Gets a Job

2010-02-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

In the beginning God created the earth. Then he put a man named Adam on the earth. Did you know that Adam means "man"? Do you know anyone named Adam? You can tell them what their name means.
God didn't want Adam to be lazy so he put him in charge of the garden. Have you ever worked in a garden? It is fun!
Then God gave Adam another job. He told Adam to start naming all the animals. God had created the animals but he let Adam name them. Wow! There are a lot of animals in the world! That must have taken a long time! Adam probably had fun naming the animals. He gave some of them short names like--- cow, pig, dog and cat. He gave some of them long names like--- elephant, hippopotamus and rhinoceros. Some he gave funny names like walrus, ostrich and aardvark!
Here is a contest for you. Let's see who can come up with the funniest name for this animal I made up. He has the ears of a bunny, the tail of a cat, the body and legs of a bird and the nose of a pig. He is also a coloring page. Have your mom or dad print out the animal and you can color him.
The story about Adam naming the animals is in the first book of the bible called Genesis. It is in the second chapter. Next week, Adam gets so tired after naming all the animals that he falls into a deep sleep and God does something amazing while Adam is asleep!