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In going through this “Bible Overview” series, I wanted to make a Bible study where the kids did some of the foot work, not just listen to me. So for Noah’s Flood I gave them a really simple task broken into three parts as follows: (I put them into two teams so they could work together.)

Team #1

Read Genesis 6 & 7

Find 3 interesting facts that other may not have noticed before.

List 2 things we can learn from this passage.

Name 1 thing you can do this week to apply that principle.

Share your findings with the rest of the group.

Team #2

Read Genesis 8 – 9:17

Find 3 interesting facts that other may not have noticed before.

List 2 things we can learn from this passage.

Name 1 thing you can do this week to apply that principle.

Share your findings with the rest of the group.

Be prepared for them to be finished in 10 minutes, but also be ready in case they take the next 30 minutes.

This is a good exercise for them to start learning to study the Bible for themselves.

In the very first verse in the Bible we read “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1 emphasis mine

The word ‘created’ here means ‘to form out of nothing’. God didn’t create the heavens and the earth from scratch – He created the ‘scratch’ too! (So to speak…) He took a bunch of nothing, a handful or zilch, a truckload of zero, and made the universe and everything in it.

I find it amazing enough that someone can take some wires and silicone and make my computer – but to think that God created everything that anyone has ever seen all from absolutely zero – that just boggles the mind.

So if God can create the entire universe from nothing, can’t He make something wonderful out of my life? Absolutely. God can take my weakness, my failure, my emptiness – all the nothing that I have to offer God – and make it into something completely wonderful that will glorify Him.

Was Peter something great? He was a stinky ol’ fisherman with a big mouth. He even denied that he ever knew Jesus! What a zero he must have felt like! But God took that zero and made him into a great leader in the early church.

Or what about Moses? He was a son of a slave – a murderer running from the law. But look at how God took his pile of nothingness and made him into a hero to millions.

The Bible is full of stories of people who have absolutely nothing to offer God, but when they surrender themselves to God, He uses them in great and powerful ways. So next time you feel useless, worthless, like a big fat zero – great! You’re just the kind of person God’s looking for. Give yourself to Him and let Him turn your nothing into something.

This is a quick and easy game to play with a small group. The idea is to have everyone draw a self-portrait of themselves and then everyone will try to figure out which drawing is of which person. Sound easy? Well, there are some extra rules.

The Rules

1. You must only draw your face – no body.
2. You may NOT draw ANY hair. (Not on your hear, not on your face)
3. You may NOT draw any accessories (such as glasses, jewelry, makeup, etc….)

Once everyone has draw themselves in secret (so no one has seen what you’ve drawn), gather all the pictures together and mix them up. Show the group the pictures one at a time and have them write down the name of the person they believe is in the drawing. Once you’ve been through all the pictures and everyone’s answer is locked in, reveal who drew each picture.

For every picture you guess right, you get one point. For every person that correctly guesses the picture you drew, you get a bonus point. The person with the most points at the end wins!

As a group, read Genesis chapter 4:1-16

Discuss:

Why do you think Cain killed Abel? Jealousy? Venting his anger at God?

Let’s try to figure out Cain’s brain: After each statement, discuss what thoughts may have been going through Cain’s head.

1. The Lord rejects his offering.
2. The Lord tells his that sin is waiting to destroy him, but that he must subdue it.
3. Just after Cain kills Abel.
4. God askes him where his brother is.
5. God tells him that he is to be a homeless fugitive.
6. Cain leaves God’s presence and heads to Nod.

Have any of us ever had those same kind of thoughts?

What’s the difference between us & Cain?

It comes down to what choices we make. God warned Cain that sin was waiting to attack him. Cain choose to give in and let sin destroy him.

Sin can only destroy or harm our lives if we let it. Romans 6:6-7

As Christians, we aren’t slaves to sin, but we can still choose to obey it if we want.

So what kind of choices have you been making? Have you chosen to give in to sin?

Begin by reading through Genesis Chapter 3

Hand out a printout of chapter 4 to each person. (You can find one here.) Have each person circle any sinful actions or statements. Also have them highlight any consequences of sin. After everyone has had a change to do those two things, bring the group back together to discuss their findings.

Here are a few additional topics of interest you may want to discuss:

• Talking Serpents?
• What type of fruit was it? An apple?
• Serpents had legs?
• Had Eve had children yet?
• Did Adam rule over Eve before?
• What happened to the Garden?

Lesson of the Day

There are consequences for our actions.

Have the group come up with a list of sins. Then list the possible consequences for those sins.

The biggest consequence of all is separation from God. Even as Christians, when we sin, that sin keeps us distant from God. We need to quickly confess, repent, and make things right with God.

This is the first in a series of Bible studies that gives a brief chronological overview of the entire Bible – from Creation to the imminent return of Christ.

Discussion Groups

Break everyone into three groups and give them the instructions as listed below:

Group 1

Read Genesis 1:1-8 and discuss the following questions:

• Verse 3 says that God created light on the first day, but later we read in verses 14-16 that God created the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day. What, then, was the “light” that He created on day 1?
• When God separated the light from the dark, calling the light “day” and the dark “night” – thus making up one day, was this the first rotation of the earth or is it talking about something else?
• What water is God separating in verses 6-8? Where is the water above the sky? Read the rest of this entry »