High Wire

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September 25th, 2016 .:. .:. Room 301

Pathways Kids Weekend Small Groups

This curriculum is for the 4th, 5th and 6th graders.

This Weeks Scope

Family Re-Ties
Bible Story: Family Re-Ties (Joseph Forgives His Brothers) Genesis 4245
Bottom Line: You can trust God no matter what.
Memory Verse: Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5, NIrV
Life App: Trustputting your confidence in someone you can depend on.
Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

Welcome Time
Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience
todays story.
Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group
for the first time. Ask God to help you wrap up this month by impressing on kids hearts that He is a
trustworthy God who will never leave them and always wants and does whats best for them. Pray for
kids who dont yet have a relationship with God. Pray that todays story and message would stir some
questions in their hearts. Ask God to guide you as you answer those questions.
Bible Story: Genesis 42-45 (I chose parts of Genesis 45 for your reference!)
Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come close to me. When they had done so, he said, I am your
brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with
yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two
years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and
reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to
Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Now hurry back to my father and say to him,
This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; dont
delay. You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near meyou, your children and grandchildren,
your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are
still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute. You
can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. Tell
my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my

father down here quickly. Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and
Benjamin embraced him, weeping. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his
brothers talked with him. When the news reached Pharaohs palace that Josephs brothers had
come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased. Pharaoh said to Joseph, Tell your brothers, Do this:
Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, and bring your father and your families back to
me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land. You are also
directed to tell them, Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get
your father and come. Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.
So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave
them provisions for their journey. To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three
hundred shekels[b] of silver and five sets of clothes. And this is what he sent to his father: ten
donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and
other provisions for his journey. Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to
them, Dont quarrel on the way! So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the
land of Canaan. They told him, Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt. Jacob was stunned;
he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw
the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, Im
convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.
What You Need: The Grand Finale Activity Pages; 1 for each kid, markers
What You Do:
Hand out the Activity Pages and markers and encourage kids to be creative about how the
circus acts could end. (Try to discourage violent/inappropriate endings.)
If you have extra time, let kids come up with new acts to draw on the back of the page. They
can draw the first two panels and then trade with a friend to finish the final panel.
What You Say:
You never can tell what will happen next in the circus! [Transition] Lets head to Large Group to
hear who we can trust no matter what.
Lead your group to the Large Group area.

Activity #1
Discussion Questions for your kids:
If you lead mostly older kids, consider asking these discussion questions:

Read Philippians 4:12-13. What do you think Paul meant when he said he could do all things
through Jesus? Why would that help him be contentwhich means confident and calmno
matter what? How did that show that Paul trusted God?
Can you think of anyone you know who is having a hard time being content and trusting God in
their situation? Dont name names, but tell us what theyre going through. What would you tell
that friend to help him trust God?
What about you? What is hard for you to be content about right now? How could you trust God
in that situation?

Activity #2
What You Need: The Journey Activity Page, Canaan and Egypt papers, colored paper (9 pieces)
What You Do:
Place the Canaan paper on one side of your space and the Egypt paper on the other side.
Tell kids to stand on the Canaan side.
Explain that you are going to tell them the Bible story. Every time Josephs brothers journeyed
from Canaan to Egypt or from Egypt to Canaan, the kids will take the journey with them. But
theres a catch.
Hold up the cardboard pieces. Tell kids they will be given a certain number of pieces of paper for
each journey. They will need to get the entire group from one place to the other without
anyones body directly touching the ground. They can only touch the piece of paper.
Read the story. Pause and hand out the piece of paper where noted. (Read the story quickly so
kids dont get bored standing and listening.)
When the story is finished, ask kids if they can figure out why they were given different amounts
of piece of paper for each journey.
You may need to quickly recap why they made each journey and how many pieces of paper you
gave them for each trip. They should be able to figure out that the harder the journey would
have been for the brothers, the harder their own journey was because you had given them
fewer pieces of paper.
What You Say:
Joseph went through some really tough times in his life, but God was always with Him. God had a
bigger plan than Joseph could have imagined, and He used Joseph to help the brothers who had once
sold him into slavery. His brothers also went through some hard times. They ran out of food multiple
times, and they had to journey to a foreign land several times to get it. And those journeys were not
always easy for them. But God was with them, too. He was busy using their brother to save their whole
family, as well as an entire nation. When we face difficult situations, we can remember the story of
Joseph and know that we can trust God just like Joseph did. I want you to always remember that
[Bottom Line] you can trust God no matter what.

Prayer
Opposites

Time

What You Do:

Gather kids together and have them bow their heads.
What You Say:
Dear God, there are a lot of times it seems hard to remember [Basic Truth] I can trust God no
matter what. Please help us, in all the mysterious times in our lives, remember that You are doing
something fantastic in and through us because You love everyone and have a plan for all people.
Thank You for hearing us and never leaving us. Amen.