People of the Bible: Moses & The Israelites

Book of the Bible: Exodus 14-24

After about 400 years of living in Egypt, Joseph’s family grew to about 2 million people. The Bible says that there came a time where everything Joseph did for Egypt was forgotten and Joseph’s descendants or the Israelites were forced to be slaves because the new Pharaoh feared they would be too powerful if he set them free.

Then one day, God picked a man named Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage to the land God had promised Abraham many years before. That land would one day become the nation of Israel.

When Moses told Pharaoh that he and the rest of the Israelites wanted to leave Egypt, he wouldn’t let them go. So, God had to send 10 plagues against the nation of Egypt. Finally, after the 10th plague Pharaoh finally let all the Israelites leave.

However, after he let them leave he changed his mind and wanted them to come back. Pharaoh gathered his army and chased the Israelites through the wilderness. Pharaoh and his army eventually cornered the Israelites at the Red Sea but God saved the Israelites by splitting the Red Sea and letting them cross through. The Egyptians ran after them, but after all the Israelites went through, the sea crashed on the army and killed all Pharaoh’s soldiers.

God saved his people and eventually set them up as a nation. But the Israelites didn’t always listen to God. Throughout their entire history, the Israelites were stuck in a cycle of disobeying God and needed him to rescue them again.

The Israelites would turn their back on God, and bad things would happen as a result. Then they would see how they had sinned and they would turn back to God and ask for forgiveness. After the Israelites repented, God would save them. This happened time after time after time. God would always redeem His people.

Each time Israelite would turn their backs on God, their sin would get worse. Then one day God sent His son Jesus as a final redemption for not only the Israelites but for all people. When Jesus died on the cross, he saved the entire world from its sin. When we believe that Jesus did this for us, we will experience eternal life in heaven.

Key Takeaways:

• Turn from sin and turn to God

• God saved the Israelites

• God saved us through His son Jesus

Parents, 3treesKIDS will be covering “Moses & The Israelites", both in-person and online this week.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.

People of the Bible: Joseph

Book of the Bible: Genesis 37-50

Who was Joseph?

• Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob.

• He was Jacob’s favorite son because he was born to him in his old age.

• Joseph wore a coat of many colors that his father had made especially for him.

God gave Joseph dreams and the ability to interpret them. Joseph would tell his older brothers that those dreams depicted them bowing and serving him. This angered his older brothers and one day they sold Joseph as a slave to the Egyptians.

Before they sold him, they took his coat of many colors and poured goat's blood on it to make it look like he had been killed by an animal in the wilderness. When his brothers brought the coat back to Jacob, Jacob mourned for his son because he thought he had died.

After Joseph got to Egypt, he was thrown in prison for something he didn’t do. While in prison he helped to interpret the other prisoner's dreams and word began to spread about the gift Joseph had. One day the Pharaoh of Egypt had dreams that no one could interpret.

Pharaoh had heard of Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams, so he had Joseph brought from prison to help him understand his dreams. Joseph told Pharaoh that his dreams were telling them that Egypt would experience 7 years of plentiful harvest and then 7 years of drought. To be able to survive, they would need to save food from the first 7 years to eat in the second 7 years.

Joseph was put in charge of the food and its storage. Joseph was second in command, he only answered to Pharaoh himself. When the drought came along, Joseph’s family needed food so they went to Egypt to buy some. At first, his brothers didn’t recognize Joseph but when they did they were all scared that Joseph would be mad at them for the way they treated him when they were younger.

But Joseph showed mercy on his brothers, in fact, he was extremely happy to see them and he gave them food and places to live in Egypt. Eventually, Joseph’s whole family came to Egypt and he was reunited with everyone, including his dad Jacob, who loved him very much.

Instead of being mad at his brothers, Joseph saw how God used their situation to bring about something good: the saving of their whole family. Sometimes bad things will happen to us, but if we love God, He’ll always use those things for our good.

It is similar to our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is like Joseph and we’re all like his big brothers. Because of our sin, Jesus died on the cross. But God used that to give us all the chance to be saved and live with Him in Heaven forever.

Key Takeaways:

• When we seek him, God will use bad things for our good (Romans 8:28)

• We must trust in God’s plan

Parents, 3treesKIDS will be covering “Joseph", both in-person and online this week.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.

People of the Bible: Jacob & Esau

Book Of the Bible: Genesis 25-28

Who were Jacob and Esau?

• Twin Brothers

• They were the sons of Isaac and the grandsons of Abraham

Differences between Jacob and Esau:

• Esau was an outdoorsman and his father’s favorite. He was also an extremely hairy man.

• Jacob was a quiet man that preferred staying at home. He was his mother’s favorite.

Esau was born first meaning he had the birthright or the greater share of the inheritance from Isaac. Esau had the rights to be the heir of the family, which meant he would also carry the covenant with God that his grandfather Abraham established.

One day, after Esau had been out in the field, he came home and saw that Jacob had made some stew. Esau asked Jacob if he could have some stew. Jacob said he could have some stew only if he sold him his birthright. And he did it, Esau was so exhausted that he sold his entire birthright for a bowl of stew.

Esau let his physical needs overpower his spiritual needs. He traded a life of blessing, for a moment of pleasure.

When their father, Isaac, was old his eyes became weak and he went blind. He knew he was getting close to death, so he called Esau to go hunt an animal and cook him a meal that way he could give him the blessing as the firstborn son. But, Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother, overheard this conversation and while Esau was out hunting Jacob prepared a meal behind Isaac’s back so he could steal the blessing.

Rebekah helped Jacob because he was her favorite. She helped him prepare the meal and dressed him up like his brother in order to deceive Isaac. She even went as far as to put goat hair on Jacob so when Isaac felt him he would feel like Esau. Because Isaac was blind, this plan worked and Jacob stole Esau’s blessing and received the birthright that Esau had sold him years earlier.

When Esau returned he was furious. Because Jacob received the blessing from Isaac, nothing was left for Esau. Fearing that Esau would kill him, Jacob fled his home to live with his mother's family. For years Jacob and Esau lived far away from each other, but later in their life, they put the past behind them and were able to work together again.

Esau shows us that we should value spiritual blessing over worldly attraction. The Bible says that a person who values physical needs over spiritual needs is “godless” or “ungodly”.

Even though Jacob stole the blessing, God still blessed him. When God blesses someone, no one can take it away.

Part of this blessing included the Messiah being born in his bloodline. We later find out that Jesus was born as the Messiah and Savior of the world. Jesus was born in Jacob’s bloodline because of this blessing.

While no one can take away God’s blessing, God’s blessing can be removed if the person He blessed doesn’t obey Him. To remain in God’s blessing we must remain in His word and continue to obey Him day after day.

Key Takeaways:

• Spiritual needs are greater than physical needs

• No one can take away God’s blessing

Parents, 3treesKIDS will be covering “Jacob & Esau ", both in-person and online this week.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.