In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn about a guy named Joseph. Joseph was one of Jacob’s many sons and Joseph was the favorite. One day, Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful robe to show him how much he loved him. Joseph loved his robe because it made him feel special. Joseph’s brothers hated the robe because it was a reminder that Joseph was the favorite. To make matters worse, Joseph told his brothers a dream he had that showed all of his brothers bowing down to him. Now, that really angered the brothers! So, they hatched a plan to get rid of Joseph. One day when they were all out working, they captured Joseph, ripped off his robe and sold him to some foreign traders who brought him to Egypt. Then, they dipped the robe in some blood and brought it back to Jacob saying that Joseph had been killed by animals. This is a crazy story but there is an important lesson to learn. Jealousy makes us do silly things that can really hurt people. Joseph’s brothers made a terrible decision when they got rid of Joseph all because they didn’t like the attention he got from their father. So kids, don’t be jealous!

In today’s lesson, we’re going to continue talking about Jacob and Esau. Remember, they were twins but Esau was born first. Last week we learned that Esau was willing to give up his birthright, or inheritance, for a bowl of Jacob’s yummy stew. Well, today, we’re going to learn how Jacob tricked Isaac, his father, into giving him the blessing. Now, Isaac was old and he couldn’t see well. He knew he was going to die soon. So, he told Esau to go hunt and then prepare a special meal for him and then he would give him the blessing. Well, Jacob and his mom came up with another plan. They made Isaac’s favorite meal and then Jacob dressed up like Esau to trick Isaac into thinking he was Esau. Well, it worked. Isaac thought he blessed Esau, his oldest, but he actually blessed Jacob. So, Esau was out of luck. Once the words of blessing were spoken, it was too late to take them back. Now kids, we don’t deal with birthrights anymore but we do deal with the power of our words. Let’s learn from this story that we should be careful what we say because our words have power to help or hurt others.

In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn about Isaac’s twin sons named Jacob and Esau. Esau was the older brother which meant that he got the birthright. The birthright meant that when Isaac died, Esau would get all of his money and land. That was a big deal. Esau grew up to be a skilled hunter so he spent a lot of time out in the wilderness. Jacob was more of a homebody and enjoyed to cook. One day, Jacob made a delicious stew. When Esau came home from a long day, all he wanted was the stew. He was starving. Jacob decided to take advantage of the situation and told Esau he could have the stew if he gave up his birthright to him. Now, anyone would know this is a bad trade. You don’t give up your inheritance for a bowl of soup but that’s what Esau did. Esau lacked an important quality in his life -self control. He gave up his future because he was hungry. Let’s learn from this story that we should practice self-control in our own lives by not giving up big things for little things.

In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn about Abraham and his son, Isaac. Abraham was famous for his faith in God because he knew that God would fulfill his promises. One promise God gave to Abraham was that he would be blessed with many children. Even though Abraham and his wife were really old, God gave them a son. They were so excited and Abraham loved Isaac with all of his heart. One day, God put Abraham to a test. He wanted to see if Abraham would trust him, even if it meant giving up something Abraham really loved. So, God told Abraham to give up his son by offering him as a sacrifice. Abraham was crushed. He didn’t understand why God would ask this of him. He had to make a choice- obey God and trust that his ways are best or ignore God and hold onto his son. Abraham decided to trust God and he did what God asked and prepared to give up Isaac. At the last second, God told Abraham he didn’t have to do it. God was testing Abraham’s faith to see if he was willing to give up everything to follow God, even if he didn’t understand. We can learn from Abraham’s faith.

Today we’re talking about a guy named Abraham. God promised Abraham some really important things and they all came true. One promise affects you and me! The first promise God made to Abraham was that his people would have land to call their own. It was called the promised land. Abraham had to really trust God to leave the place he grew up to go start a new life somewhere else. The second promise was about kids. God told Abraham that he would have kids as numerous as the stars in the sky! Abraham had to trust God on this one, too. He was already old, like grandpa old, before he had his first kid! This promise meant that the nation of Israel would grow in numbers. The third promise was the really big one. God told Abraham that all people would be blessed through him. This blessing was referring to Jesus. Jesus came to save the world from sin and death and that includes us! Abraham had a lot of faith in God and he trusted in God’s plans. We should trust in God, too.

The day Jesus was born was a special day because it was the day God came to be with us. Do you remember his nickname from last week? Jesus is Immanuel which means “God with us”. Now, you would think that Jesus would choose to be born in a fancy hotel. He’s God so he should have the best. Nope. That wasn’t the case at all. Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ parents, were traveling a long way when it was time for Jesus to be born. So, they found an inn to stay in for the night. Well, the inn was full of other travelers so they had to stay in a barn. This is where Jesus was born- a stinky barn full of animals. And, he didn’t even have a nice crib to sleep in that night. He was put in a manger which was a feeding trough for the animals. Can you imagine how dirty and smelly? Yuck! We can learn an important lesson from this story. The inn keeper didn’t make room for Jesus. He didn’t understand who he was. Let’s not let that be true of us. We know that Jesus is God who came to save us from our sins so let’s make room for him in our hearts. Let’s make Jesus our first priority, not our last.

Christmas is such a fun time of year as we put up all the pretty decorations, eat yummy food and see a lot of presents under the tree. All those things are great but Christmas is about so much more than that. Christmas is all about God’s desire to have relationship with us. God sent Jesus into the world- a baby born in Bethlehem who would grow up to be the Savior of the world. In fact, another name for Jesus is Emmanuel which means “God with us”. Jesus came into the world at Christmas time so he could fix our relationship with God. He came to die for our sins. When we trust in Jesus, the Bible says we are saved and our relationship with God is fixed. That’s why Christmas is more about relationships than anything else. Instead of just focusing on the gifts and pretty decorations, we need to remember that Christmas is really about having a relationship with God. And, Christmas is a great time to spend with other people we love like family and friends. So kids, when you’re opening presents, remember that a relationship with Jesus is the best gift of all.

We’re going to learn about the most famous sermon Jesus preached. It’s known as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus sat on a mountainside with his disciples and a crowd of people gathered to hear what Jesus had to say. He started by talking about the kinds of people God blesses. Now, to bless means how God loves, protects and provides for people. I’m sure the crowd was excited to hear who the lucky people were! Jesus started by talking about the poor, hungry and people who were sad. I bet the crowd was looking around thinking, “Why are these kinds of people getting God’s blessings?” Well, that was part of Jesus’ point. God wants to bless everyone, even those that seem unimportant. And, the other lesson Jesus taught is that people can still be happy, even when they’re sad. The reason- because God is on their side and he will help them to get through it. This is also true for us. We can experience God’s blessings, too. We just need to look to him for our protection and provision and he’ll take care of the rest.

In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn about the first miracle Jesus ever performed. One day, Jesus, his disciples, and even his mom were invited to a wedding. It was a fun time of celebrating with friends. People were eating, drinking and probably dancing! Well, at some point, the host of the party ran out of wine for the guests. This was not a good thing. Jesus’ mom told Jesus to fix the problem. So, Jesus went to some workers and told them to fill some big jars with water. When the workers brought the jars full of water to the host for him to taste, the host was shocked at how yummy the wine tasted. Now, to the workers and the disciples, this was a very confusing reaction. They knew the jars were full of water, not wine. So, why was the host saying it was wine? Well, that’s because Jesus turned the water into wine! Jesus is God so he can make anything happen! Now, the point of the miracle wasn’t about wine. The point was to remember who Jesus is and that he came to save us from our sins. Now, that’s something to celebrate!

We’re going to learn about the day Jesus got baptized. Remember, last week we talked about Jesus’ cousin, John, who would baptize people in the river. He baptized so many that his nickname was John the Baptist! One day, Jesus came to John and asked John to baptize him. John’s initial reaction was, “No way! You’re Jesus. You should be baptizing me!” But, Jesus insisted that John baptize him. You know why? Because Jesus wanted to model what he wanted his followers to do. Baptism is a really important symbol that shows what Jesus came to do for us. Going into the water means we’re dying to our sin and coming out of the water means we get to live a new life with Jesus. So, when we get baptized, we’re announcing to the world that we belong to Jesus. And, that makes God really happy to see people say that they belong to him. So kids, if you’ve trusted in Jesus, talk to your parents about getting baptized. It will make God smile!

In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn about a guy named John. John was a special guy for a few reasons. First, he was the cousin of Jesus! That’s pretty cool! Second, he was known for wearing weird clothes and eating weird food. He did that because that’s what the prophets did in the Old testament. Prophets were chosen by God to speak to the people for him and they wore odd clothes to show that they were special. That was true for John, too. He had a special job and it was to tell people to get ready for Jesus. He told people that they needed to repent of their sins and be baptized. So, people would come to be baptized by John. John baptized a lot of people and that’s why his nickname is John the Baptist. But, once Jesus started traveling around telling people that he was God who came to save the world, people stopped going to John and just went directly to Jesus. John was okay with that because he knew his job was to make Jesus famous, not himself. We need to remember that, too. We should point people to Jesus every chance we get!