Adam and Eve left the garden to start a life out in the world. Despite the grief of their sins, imagine their joy as their family grew. With each birth, maybe Eve hoped this son would be the one to end the curse of sin, to crush the head of the snake. (Gen. 3:15) But Adam and Eve witnessed sin’s effects on their own children: Cain murdered Abel. Cain was not the Promised One, and neither was Abel.
Some time later, Eve gave birth to another son, Seth. Seth lived 912 years. He saw the earth’s population grow as God sustained generation after generation. Less than 20 years after his death, Seth’s sixth-great-grandson, Noah was born.
By this time—10 generations after Adam—people had stopped following God. Scripture describes a deplorable situation: “Human wickedness was widespread on the earth ... every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5).
God decided to send a flood to cleanse the earth. He was right to punish this sin. The waters would cover the earth and destroy everything. God graciously chose to save one man and his family, so he warned Noah about the flood and told him to build an ark.
Noah believed God’s warning about the coming judgment. He obediently worked to build the ark. But the work took years, and Noah likely faced ridicule from his friends and neighbors. Was Noah crazy, building a boat where there was no water?
Finally, God’s judgment came. Floodwaters covered the earth. Every living thing was destroyed, but Noah and his family were safe inside the ark. God rescued Noah’s family— the family His own Son would be born into. Jesus would warn of God’s coming judgment too, but instead of condemning the world, Jesus would give up His life to rescue sinners.
#JesusJams for today!
---> And here's this week's story!!
Christ Connection: God rescued Noah and his family from the flood. People continued to sin, but God did not want to destroy people; He wanted to rescue them! The story of Noah points ahead to a greater rescue. God’s Son, Jesus—the only perfectly righteous One—came to take the punishment for our sin. By trusting in Him, we are saved from the punishment our sin deserves.
If you have a bible at your house, grab it! We'll be reading Genesis 6-9 today! If you don't have a Bible, that's okay! CLICK HERE to read it!
OPTION 1: 40 Exercises Invite the kids to write down a simple exercise/action on a piece of paper (jumping jacks, stomping, clapping, squats, etc). Then, put the papers into a hat or bowl like you would for charades. One at a time, each person will draw a paper and the class will do 40 of the action. Count to 40 out loud for each repetition. For younger kids, you can do four activities (10 each) for a total of 40.
SAY • It rained for 40 days and 40 nights during the flood. That's a really long time! Then Noah and his family had to wait for the earth to dry. God rescued Noah and his family because of their obedience. Later, there was an even great rescue! Jesus came to save people from sin.
OPTION 2: Make a rain stick
OPTION 3: Trueway Kids Printables I LOVE LOVE LOVE these printables from Trueway Kids.
To visit their "Noah's Ark" page CLICK HERE
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CLICK HERE to download their PDF printable of the Bible story!
Our 'BIG PICTURE' Question:
Our unit 1 Bible verse:
