pharaoh

Through the water

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hey all! Welcome back! Today we are continuing to follow Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt (found in Exodus 13-14) and last year’s lesson can be found HERE.

 

After Pharaoh said the Israelites could go, he changed his mind and said “But who is going to build things for me? Or clean my house? Or serve me?! Why did I let those slaves go?”

So he gathered up his soldiers (there were thousands!) and took off after God’s people.

The Israelites were not an army…just regular people…mommies, daddies and kids so they were moving kind of slow, and it was easy for the Egyptian soldiers to catch up.

Soon the Israelites got to a big sea called the Red Sea….(but it’s regular blue water) and they saw the Egyptians coming and they were scared.

But God told Moses to raise his hands and lift up his staff (his big stick). Remember, there wasn’t anything special about that stick–it’s not a magical stick or anything…GOD was the one who did the cool things. God made a big wind come and He parted the water. There were two big walls of water on either side on the sea, but a dry path down the middle.

The Israelites walked through the water…water on this side…water on that side…but dry on their feet. Can you believe it?!

Pharaoh and his men chased after the Israelites. The Israelites hurried through and when the last of God’s people were through, Moses raised his staff again, and the water came crashing down on the Egyptians. They were all washed away.

God protected His people. God had a plan to lead His people back to the land He promised them and nobody, not even a big king with a HUGE army was going to stop God. God can do ANYTHING and nobody can stop God’s big plans. (Is 14:27, Job 42:2)

We watched Veggie Tales Moe and the Big Exit and talked about what was the same in the video and the Bible and what parts were different.

For our activity today, we parted the Red (pepper) Sea based on THIS VIDEO. You take a bowl of water and sprinkle red pepper on top, then dip your moses (however you want to make him–we used a spoon and some paper) in dish soap and when he gets in the water it separates. (Full disclosure: this worked awesomely the 1st time and then not again….I guess because there was now dish soap already in the bowl? But it’s pretty cool the 1st time you try it.)

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Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Passover

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Today we are continuing the story of Moses–this lesson is found in Exodus 5-12. Last year’s lesson and craft (focusing on more on the plagues than the Passover) can be found HERE.

So Moses and Aaron were headed back to see the new Pharaoh and to tell him “God says, ‘Let My people go!'” (God was going to take His people back to the promised land and away from the mean Egyptians.)

When they got to the Pharaoh they said, “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

The Pharaoh was not happy! “Who is your God? Why should I listen to YOU? NO! These people can not go! And because you tried to set them free…now they will work EVEN HARDER!”

The Israelites DID work harder and they were not very happy with Moses. Again Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh and said “God says ‘Let my people go!’” The Pharaoh again answered no. And now he was MAD!

Then God said “This king will not change his mind. Because he will not let My people go, I will send plagues (a lot of bad things) and you will know that I am the Lord.” God told Moses and Aaron to meet the Pharaoh at the Nile River (the river Moses had floated on as a baby…the big important river that everyone got their water from). When they did, Aaron put his staff (like a big stick) into the water and it turned into blood. EW!? The people couldn’t drink it, they couldn’t wash their clothes or take a bath. It was disgusting.

**Sidenote: Aaron’s staff was not a magical stick…it was not anything special…but GOD made it do cool things sometimes. It was God’s power…not the stick that did the cool things.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

Pharaoh responded, “Ummmm NO.”

Then God sent frogs. They were in peoples’ houses, in their food, in their potties, everywhere! Pharaoh said “If you take these frogs away, I’ll let the people go!”

So Moses asked God to take the frogs away…but as soon as Pharaoh saw that the frogs were gone, he changed his mine and said “Ummmm NO.”

Then God sent bugs.

God sent Aaron and Moses back to Pharaoh to say “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

And Pharaoh said “Ummmm NO.”

Then God sent flies.

God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to say “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

And Pharaoh said “Ummmm NO!”

Next God killed the animals of the Egyptians, which means they didn’t have any milk to drink or any meat or eggs to eat.

God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to say “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

And Pharaoh said, “Ummmm NO.”

Next, God made the Egyptians have yucky, sick skin. They had big ouchy spots all over.

God told Moses and Aaron to go tell Pharaoh “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

Again, Pharaoh said “Ummmm NO.”

Then God sent hail (which is like big rocks of ice that come down during a storm). The hail hurt the people and their houses.

Pharaoh said “If you will take the hail away, then the people can go!”

God took away the hail, and told Moses and Aaron to say to Pharaoh “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

But Pharaoh changed his mind (AGAIN) and said “Ummmm NO.”

Then God sent locusts (kind of like grasshoppers) and they ate up all the food the Egyptians were growing in the ground.

God told Moses and Aaron to go to Pharaoh and say “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

And Pharaoh again said, “Ummmm NO.”

Next, God made everything dark. There was no light for 3 days. The people couldn’t cook, they couldn’t play, they couldn’t even move around it was SO.DARK.

God had Moses and Aaron say to Pharaoh “God says ‘Let my people go!’”

But once again, Pharaoh said “Ummmm NO.”

Lastly, God said, “I have one more plague. After that, he will let you all go. In the middle of the night, I will come through Egypt and I will kill the firstborn son of every person, UNLESS, you kill a lamb and wipe the blood on your door. THEN, I will pass over that house, because I will know that that house has people who love Me and who obey Me.”

This was a sacrifice. If you remember, before Jesus came and died for us, people used to give sacrifices to God…they would kill one of their best animals and that would be like a special present to God to show God they were sorry for their bad choices. This time, God asked them to sacrifice a lamb and paint their doors with the blood. It sounds gross and it probably kind of was. But this also reminds us of Jesus. Jesus is like a sacrificial lamb who died for us and when we love and trust Him and ask Him into our hearts, His blood covers over our sins, just like the blood covered the doors of the houses of the people who loved God.

The Israelites obeyed God. They sacrificed a lamb (just the kind God said to) and they wiped the blood on their doors. That night, the first boy in every family died, even the Pharaoh’s son…but not the Israelites who obeyed God.

Before, the Egyptians had been so scared of the Israelites being so strong that they had killed all their baby boys. And now God took the Egyptians’ first born boys.

(Later, God would give His OWN son, Jesus, to save all of us!)

It was the middle of the night when Pharaoh found his son dead and he called Moses and Aaron and said “GET OUT!” The Egyptians were so scared of Moses and his God, that they gave the Israelites food and money and sent them away. They were finally leaving Egypt and heading to the land God had promised them.

For our craft today, we cut some cardboard and drew doors on it. Then we painted (with paint, not blood…but hey…knock yourself out if you want) the “blood” on the doorframe.

Our text reads: Passover Exodus 12

 

 

THIS is an EXCELLENT overview of the story and of Passover posted by Crossroad’s Kids Club.

 

Another craft we have done at church is to take this sheet and add cotton balls to the lamb. It has a simple explanation of Passover on it for the kids.

 

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(If it won’t load for you, it is a coloring page of a lamb and the description says:

When the Pharaoh would not let God’s people go, He sent plagues. The Israelites gave God their best lambs, and put the blood on the door just like He said. He saw that they obeyed Him and passed over their houses. God is all-powerful. He is omnipotent. The blood from the lambs saved the Israelites just like Jesus’ blood on the cross saves us. Exodus 7-12, John 1:29)

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

God speaks to Moses

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again! Today’s story is from Exodus 2 and 3.

Last year’s story and craft can be found HERE.

So Moses and God’s people, the Israelites, were living in Egypt. There was a new king (Pharaoh) who didn’t like the Israelites and was very very mean to them. We learned last time that Moses had been adopted by the king’s daughter (she was going to keep him and he would grow up in the king’s house.)

Moses always knew he was an Israelite, even though he grew up in the fancy king’s house. One day he saw one of the Egyptians being mean to one of his family–another Israelite. And do you know what he did? He KILLED him! (Not a good choice…but even “heroes” of the Bible like Moses made bad choices sometimes. Jesus is the ONLY perfect person.)

But everyone saw and everyone knew what Moses had done. The king tried to kill Moses (because he defended an Israelite instead of acting like an Egyptian Prince and being mean to him too) so Moses was scared and ran away.

He ran FAR away and he stayed away a loooong time. He stayed away so long, he got married, he had a family, he had a new job…he had a whole new life.

One day Moses was taking care of the family sheep and he saw something funny. He saw a bush that was on fire…but it wasn’t burning up. Have you ever seen a campfire? If you burn the wood, it burns down and turns to ashes. But this wasn’t turning to ashes. (Like the Israelites…they were “burning” in Egypt having to work so so hard…they should have been destroyed…but they weren’t…God kept them going because He had good plans for them…just like He kept the bush burning even though it should have burnt down.)

Moses went to have a close look and then God spoke to him from the bush!

God said “I AM the God of your father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I have an important job for you. I have seen how the Egyptians treat my people and I don’t like it. It’s time to bring them back to the land I promised them. YOU will go to the king (the Pharaoh) and say “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”

The old king had died by now and there was a new Pharaoh. Moses was SCARED to go back. He had killed someone!? Did everyone still remember that? Were people still mad at him? Would this new king want to kill him too?

Moses asked if he could take his brother, Aaron with him to help him talk to the king. So Moses and Aaron set off and we will see next time what happens when they talk to the Pharaoh.

For our craft today, we painted a bush and branches and then added fiery tissue paper.

Our text reads: God spoke to Moses in a burning bush. Exodus 2-3

 

Thanks for joining us. Come again tomorrow to see what happens next in our story!

Love to you all!

Baby Moses

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello all!

Today’s story is from Exodus 1 and 2.

Last year’s lesson and craft can be found HERE.

If you remember from before, Jacob had 12 sons, and one of them was Joseph. God had promised Jacob that he and his family would always live in that special land, but they moved to Egypt to be with Joseph. (But God would bring them back).

Joseph and his brothers were all living in Egypt and had lots of kids and those kids had kids, and they had kids…and the people of Jacob/Israel (that was the new name God had given Jacob)  lived in Egypt for 400 years.

These were the people God had chosen, the people of Jacob…and He blessed them. There were SO many of them and they were strong and healthy and good workers. BUT, there was a new king in Egypt (the Pharaoh) and the people of Egypt began to be afraid of the Israelites because there were so many of them. “Maybe they’ll try to take over and be King instead of me!” said the Pharaoh.

The king said “We will kill all the baby boys of the Israelites. That way none of them can be king and then they won’t be able to grow up and make any MORE babies!”

But one of the Israelite mommies had a baby and she just couldn’t let them kill her baby boy, so she hid him in a basket. She covered him up and put him in the Nile River (a really big and important river through Egypt).

Then she said to her girl, the baby’s big sister…”Go sneak along the river and make sure he’s ok.”

The basket with the baby inside floated down the river until it came to a group of women and one of them was the princess! The Pharaoh’s daughter!

“Look! It’s a baby! He’s soooo cute! I must keep him! I will name him Moses,” said the princess.

Just then the sister came out from where she was hiding and watching baby Moses and said, “Would you like me to find someone to help take care of the baby for you?”

“Yes! He’s so little! He needs mommy milk…and I don’t know how to take care of a baby. I’ll need someone to take care of him!” said the princess.

“I know somebody who can take care of him!” said the sister, and she went and got Moses’ mommy. The mommy was able to keep her boy and take care of him, until he was old enough, then he lived with the princess. He got to be with his mommy AND grow up with the princess!

God took care of baby Moses and He had big plans for him too. We will see what happens in Moses’ story more tomorrow.

For our craft today we drew some water on a blue piece of paper and then cut out basket shapes and some baby boys from a magazine. Lastly, we practiced our writing and wrote Moses’ name. We talked about how Moses means “I pulled him out of the water.”

 

This video is a summary cartoon posted by Mei Yee Wong.

And this video is from Saddleback Kids.

Thanks for joining us. Looking forward to more tomorrow! Love to you all.