LESSON LIFESAVER Activity
I Can Choose Blessings! Jacob and Esau thumb puppets
OBJECTIVE: To help the youth recognize how our values influence our choices.
TO MAKE: Print and cut out the Jacob and Esau thumb puppets for each youth. Tape the tab ends to fit their finger.
THOUGHT TREAT: CTR Cookies. Write with frosting CTR on a cookie for each youth. Tell them that as they choose the right each day they deserve a thumbs-up, which means good job. Let’s try each day to make thumbs-up choices.
ACTIVITY: Jacob and Esau thumb puppets
Using the puppets, talk about Jacob, who obeyed the commandments, making thumbs-up choices, and Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, making thumbs-down choices (Genesis 25:30–34).
To Play Game: Jacob chose the right, so place a Jacob (thumbs-up) puppet on the right hand and an Esau (thumbs-down) puppet on the left hand of each youth. Read the following actions as children vote thumbs-up for right actions and thumbs-down for wrong choices.
Thumbs Up & Thumbs Down CHOICES: Going to a movie on the Sabbath ➘ Saying a prayer at mealtime ➚ Cheating on a test ➘ Reading the scriptures each day ➚ Being a friend to someone who doesn’t have friends ➚ Complaining when it’s time to help with dinner ➘ Cleaning up after yourself ➚ Doing your chores cheerfully ➚ Smoking ➘ Listening reverently to your teacher ➚ Listening to your little brother or sister ➚ Working hard to get your homework done each day ➚ Going to a friend’s house after school without permission ➘ Forgetting to call your parents when you get to your friend’s house ➘ Making a get-well card for a sick neighbor ➚ Smiling ➚ Sweeping the garage without being asked ➚ Spending money foolishly ➘ Watching a bad movie ➘ Listening to uplifting music ➚ Saying please and thank you ➚ Staying up too late ➘ Eating junk food often ➘ Repenting ➚
The Choices I Make show Me What Is Important to Me and God
Joshua 24:15
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
DISCUSSION POINTS (Choices, Scriptures, Jesus Christ)
• Esau and Jacob were twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. Esau was the firstborn and had the birthright.
• A birthright is usually given to the eldest son in a family. It meant that when the father died the birthright son would inherit most of his father’s possessions and become the leader or patriarch of the family.
• One day, Esau was very hungry. Jacob was making food and Esau asked him for some. Jacob asked Esau to sell him his birthright for a bowl of soup and bread. Esau did not care about his birthright, so he sold it for food (Genesis 25:30-34).
Would You Sell Your Birthright (the right to be recognized as the firstborn)?
• Temporary means lasting only a short time, not permanent. Esau’s hunger was only temporary.
• Other things that have temporary worth or value are candy, a movie, a toy, a soccer game, money, or getting your own way. Why are these considered temporary?
• Some things have lasting worth or value such as family, freedom, scriptures, a happy home, or a birthright. How do these bring lasting value?
• What we value influences our choices if we ask Him and listen to His Spirit.
• If you had to choose between riding your bicycle with your friend or helping your mother, who is not feeling well, helping her fix dinner, which would you choose? Which would bring you temporary pleasure and which would bring you lasting happiness?
• The choices we make show us what is most important to us.
• Esau and Jacob had different values and their choices affected the rest of their lives.
Esau valued temporary food and Jacob valued the birthright and the covenants he made with God.
• Why do the choices we make matter?
• God has given us moral agency to choose and act for ourselves. While we are free to choose, we cannot choose the consequences of those choices. Good choices lead to lasting happiness. God will help us make wise choices.
• Small choices can bring to pass great things. A small crack in a sidewalk made by a tree root can in time cause great damage. We may not see the changes in a day but in many months or years, the damage is far greater.
• Daily repentance can fix the small cracks before they become more difficult to repair.
BIBLE SCRIPTURES TO UNDERLINE:
• Matthew 26:39
“O my Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
• John 5:30
“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgement is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.”
• John 14:15
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
• Matthew 12:36
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement.”
• Luke 16:2
“And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship.”
• Galatians 6:7
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
ALSO INCLUDED IN THE pdf is the Bright Ideas lesson planner (shown).
OT13