Noah Builds the Ark

Bible Point: God wants us to obey.

Key verse: “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than men!’ ”
(Acts 5:29).

Bible Exploration: Genesis 6:5-22


Obedience is no easier for adults than it is for children. But adults can better understand God’s call to obedience and how the answer to that call reflects the depth of our relationship to God.
We don’t know how often Noah was discouraged. We don’t know if his neighbors ridiculed him, but we assume they must have. We don’t know if Noah’s family thought he had lost his mind. But we do know that “he did everything just as God commanded him.” And that’s a great example of faithful obedience for all of us.

To think about and discuss:
1. How does popular culture affect your sense of right and wrong?
2. How is it possible to know what God wants when society and the media tell us that all truth is relative?
3. Give examples of what obeying God might look like in the faceof an “anything goes” society? What obstacles might you have to overcome?

Family Worship Challenge:

• Play a game of Simon Says with your children. Allow each person to have a turn being Simon. Then have familymembers discuss how following the leader in the game is like and unlike following God.
• Have each family member come up with one question they’d like to ask God about the reason for one of his rules or commands. Then have other family members tell how
  they think God might answer that question.

Cain Kills Abel

Bible Point: God wants us to love and honor our families

Key Verse: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor
one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10).

Bible Exploration: Genesis 4:1-16

“Family” has a wider range of meaning to adults than to children. To adults the concept
of “family” might include their own parents and siblings, or their own spouses and
children, or their spouses’ parents and siblings. Adults have more family to love—and
more potential for family conflicts. Unresolved issues from one part of the family can
spill over into relationships in another. The story of Cain and Abel shows us that the first family had many more problems than most of us have had. Yet God still loved them,
even knowing how sinful they were. He will never abandon us because of our sinful ways.

To think about and discuss:

1. How does God want us to treat our families?
2. When God already knew what had happened to Abel, why did he ask Cain where his brother was?
3. Does God expect us to be our "brother's keeper?"

Family Worship Challenge:

• Make a list of things that make you glad you’re a family. Clap for each family member as you list special qualities they each bring to your family.
• Pick a family that you see on a TV show, discuss the things about that family that God would like/dislike.

Adam and Eve Sin

Bible Point: We all sin

Key Verse: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

Bible Exploration: Genesis 3:1-24

To think about and discuss:
Sin is a problem for every human, but we sometimes allowourselves to be more open to temptation and sin than at othertimes. The Bible tells us that sin results in death. By accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin and believing in him, we receive eternal life. However, that doesn’t mean we automatically stop all sinning. We sin because we are weak and tempted by too many pleasures of the world, including material things, sexual sin, power, and money.

1. How does God provide a way out of temptation so we can withstand it?
2. Is temptation a sin?
3. How does God want us to deal with sin?

Family Worship Challenge:

• Is there a sin that you have committed this recently that you are feeling guilty of? After confessing the sin and asking for forgiveness from God and others who may be affected, bury your guilt. Write your sin down, pray to God to give you the ability to sin no more, and then bury the paper in the ground. Thank God for your his forgiveness, grace and power, but let it die so your future can live.

God Creates Adam and Eve

Key Point: We're important to God

Key Verse: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful” (Psalm 139:14).

Bible Exploration: Genesis 2:4-22

To think about and discuss:

1. Think about a specific time you felt God was letting you know how important you were to him.
2. What does it mean that we are fearfully and wonderfully made?
3. In what way are you fearfully and wonderfully made? Name one characteristic that sets you apart from others.

Family Worship Challenge:

• Parents, talk about ways your parents or family made you feel special. Then assign each family member a special day when everyone else in the family does special things
  for that person, such as helping him or her with chores, making their favorite meal for dinner or sharing small gifts (handmade ones are best).

God Creates the World

Bible Point: God created the world.

Key Verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Bible Exploration: Genesis 1:1-23

To think about and discuss:
The Bible describes our creator God as having spoken matter into existence in a period of six days. Some Christians believe the days are literal 24-hour periods. Others believe that God measures time differently than we do (Psalm 90:4) and took longer to mold creation. Some believe creation may have begun with a God-ordained “big bang” that took many millenniums
to come to fruition.

Whatever position we take, we must be careful not to compromise at least three clear principles from the Bible:
1. God exists and “created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
2. Without Jesus “nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).
3. Jesus sustains and supervises all that exists today (Colossians 1:17).

How does what you believe about God creating the world impact how you feel about yourself and others?

If God didn't create the world and the people in it, how would that change the way we live our lives?

Family Worship Challenge:

• Go for a nature walk around your neighborhood. Ask each family member to pick up one example of God’s creation. When your family gets home, read Genesis 1 together.
  Then ask each person to show what he or she picked up and to identify what day of creation God called that sort of object into existence.