KIDS OF THE KINGDOM - LESSON 1
Memory Verse: Revelation 4:11
Creating Earth– God Creates Because He Loves Plain
BIBLE INTRO
1. Intro
- The Bible is the most special book in the entire world! It’s alive and full of true stories about God and people.
- As you start exploring the Bible, you will probably be shocked at how personal it feels to your heart! God loves to speak to His children directly as they spend time in His Word.
- Theres a scripture, Hebrews 4:12 that says : For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
- Did you know that God’s Word is alive? Can you think of a time that you were reading the Bible and it felt SO personal to you– almost like it was speaking right to you? That’s exactly what Hebrews is talking about!
- The Bible is written by God, through at least 40 different people of God.
- While each writer has their own experience, language, and context, they are all writing down God’s forever Truth.
- The Bible isn't just for grown ups– it’s for kids, too!
- Jesus explained to us that the God’s Kingdom actually belongs to children.
- God’s Kingdom is a way of saying God’s order, Lordship, and the way that God designed life to be. His Kingdom is full of beauty, wonder, worshiping God, and connection between God and all that He created.
- For now, just know that you’re a perfect person to be exploring this book! I’m really excited to see how God moves through your heart as we do!
2. OT and NT
- The Bible has 2 main parts
- Part 1 is called the Old Testament (39 books).
- All of these books were written before Jesus, the Son of God, came to the earth.
- Part 2 is called the New Testament (27 books).
- These books were written about the life of Jesus and the life of His followers after He was lifted up to be back with God the Father!
- Together that is 66 books that make up the Bible! These books look forward to and back to the life of Jesus– our Savior who is ALIVE today!
- His life changed the entire world and His life changes entire lives!
- I can’t wait for you to explore who He is through His Word.
- Can you find the old testament and the new testament in your Bible?
3. Trinity
- There are 3 key parts of God that we see throughout the Bible GOD CIRCLE– people call this the TRINITY. This verse will give us a hint about the 3 different parts of God! See if you can find the 3 parts!
- Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!
- What were the 3 parts?
- Oh yeah! We see God as the Father, God as the Son, and God as the Holy Spirit! ADD EACH PIE CIRCLE
- All 3 of these parts of God are in the one and only Living God, but it’s helpful to recognize that He has many parts to who He is!
- What were the 3 parts of God that we just talked about? _____ Say them out loud or tell a friend!
4. GOSPEL PRESENTATION
- Before we get started with our study of the Bible, we want to go ahead and give your heart space to believe the Truth about who Jesus is!
- You have already learned about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has “set eternity in the human heart”. This means that God put something inside of you that knows that you were made for God!
- But there’s one huge issue. God is perfect, and humans are not. He is fully good, and humans are full of so much sin and darkness. How can such messy humans be fully brought together with a perfect God?
- There is one way— only one way. And His name is Jesus. Jesus, or God the Son, came to earth as a man and died on a cross so that we could be fully brought together with God.
- Satan throws so much sin, pain, and evil at humans that were made for God. But here’s the best news ever! Jesus made a way for us to be washed from the darkness of the world and brought all the way back to God!
- God’s Spirit is inviting you into eternal life with Him– He has done everything to make a way for you to be with Him from this day into forever!
- All you have to do is “confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead” Romans 10:9.
- Some of you may even feel like God is knocking at the very center of your heart right now. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
- This shows us that Jesus is actually knocking on our hearts, and that we have the choice of whether we let Him in or not! If we choose to let Him in, God promises to come into our lives, be with us forever, and share His life with us!
- This is the best thing we could ever do– what we are made for!!!
- Will you open your heart to Jesus so that you can begin walking in eternal life with Him?
5. Scripture Memory Intro
6. Memory Verse
- Let’s take a look at our memory verse of the week!
- Revelation 4:11 Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.
- What were some of the ways we talked about memorizing scripture? Oh yeah! Saying it over and over again, writing it down, memorizing it with a friend, or listening to a song!
- Let’s say it again! Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.
7. Theme Intro
- Throughout these lessons, there’ll be one major theme: the journey back to God.
- In every Bible story, there is a pretty consistent story line.
- Our perfect God chases after sinful people with a crazy amount of love, and people choose one of two paths.
- Path 1: People choose to do life with God.
- OR Path 2: People choose to do life without God.
- It’s pretty much as simple as that.
- When people choose path 1, life with God, things like love, obedience, trust, blessings, power, peace, and purity fill their lives!
- When people choose path 2, life without God, their lives are full of fear, exhaustion, confusion, emptiness, and frustration.
- As we learn about the Bible, keep these two paths in mind! You’ll be surprised how many times this theme comes up!
8. Genesis Intro
- We’re going to study stories in the first book of the Bible– a book called Genesis.
- The word Genesis means “beginning”, and the beginning is what Genesis is all about!
- Let’s talk about God as a Creator!
- One of the most important things to remember about this story is that God created everything out of love.
- He didn't create because He needed people or beauty- He created because He was so full of love and goodness.
- Open your Bibles to Genesis 1:1.
- Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Ahhh yes, the very beginning of time!
- “Create” is a word used only with God! It means to make something new. When God made our world, he began with nothing at all! Only God is able to make something out of nothing!
- Verse 2: Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
- God was getting ready to do something amazing! It’s like the Spirit of God was on its tiptoes, just waiting for the word of God.
- God decides He’s ready to create, and He works for 6 days straight.
- Let’s take this one day at a time!
9. First Half of Creation—DAY 1 **
- And we’re off! It’s day one, God is ready for work, and the Spirit couldn't be more excited, hovering, waiting for God’s command.
- Genesis 1:3 **“And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.”
- Genesis 1:4-5** "God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness He called “night”. And there was evening, and there was morning– the first day."**
- God gave the day for work and play and darkness for rest and sleep.
- What did God make on the first day? Day and night, morning and evening.
DAY 2
- Genesis 1:6** "And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water."**
- When God spoke this time, He separated the atmosphere of the earth from the water of the earth– the atmosphere of earth was kind of like a vault!
- God made this separation because He knew that animals and humans would need air to breathe! God was preparing a place for people to live– He’s always thinking about us and because He loves us.
DAY 3
- One the third day, God spoke again! Verse 9: "And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good."
- On day 3, it’s like God made pockets and holders for the water on earth!
- He gathered together water to fill up oceans, seas, and lakes.
- He called the dry parts of earth “land” and made hills and valleys and plains!
- On day 3, God also said in verse 11 “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it”
- God wanted the earth to be full of trees, fruit, flowers, vegetables, and grain!
- Here, we see that God loves increase. He loves for His beauty to be multiplied throughout the earth. He’s generous, and He’s confident in His ability to care for everything He creates!
- - Whats your favorite day so far? Day 1) light 2) sky 3) dry land, seas, plants, trees
10. Second Half of Creation- DAY 4
- Remind me what God made on the first day… oh, yeah! LIGHT!
- Well on day 4, God crafts the light and makes it something special .
- Verse 16: God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
- On this day, God made the sun, the moon, and the stars!
- God tells us that these lights are there to take care of our day and our night.
DAY 5
- It's like God is rubbing His hands together at this point. With each day, He gets closer and closer to forming His children! On day 5, God is focused on creating living creatures!
- God spoke and said v 20 ““Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth ”
- He made great creatures of the sea 10 and incredible birds11!
- Just like with the plants, God tells the sea creatures and birds to be fruitful and multiply!
DAY 6
- This day is the final day of God’s work! He had His sleeves rolled up, ready to get to one of the most fascinating days yet!
- Verse 24: And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals”
- On the sixth day, God made all the land animals– from huge elephants like animals to tiny animals like ants! 8, 9, 12, 21
- Throughout the Bible, we learn that God cares so much about animals. He cares about protecting the life He created— even the little things matter so much to God.
- God also makes humans on this day, but we will save this story for a later clip.
- What's your favorite day of this clip?
- Day 4) sun, moon, stars 5) sea creatures and flying creatures 6) animals and humans
11. DAY 7
- One of my favorite days of creation is the last day– the 7th day.
- Genesis 2:2 “On the 7th day, He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested”.
- The Bible later refers to this day of rest as a “Sabbath”.
- The first thing we see God doing with His children is resting with them– He loves to spend time with us, not because He needs something from us, but because He loves us.
- God didn't rest because He was tired- He rested because He loves rest and is showing us that it’s so important!
- If God chose to rest, how much more do humans need to rest?
- Rest isn't necessarily sleep– rest can include sitting outside, spending time with your family, taking a walk, or reading a book. Rest is more about stopping work, not sleeping.
- When we stop working, our hearts become really soft to what God is saying or doing– He created rest so that we could have quality time with Him and with one another.
- To rest, or sabbath, every 7 days with God is a gift to humans! There are many people who think they can never afford to stop working– God gives us this gift of rest and promises to provide what we need.
- What could you do this week to rest with God?
12. OUTRO
- We have seen how God created our earth, plants, and animals all because He wanted to let His love out!
- How many days did it take God to do this? 6 days
- What did God do on the 7th day? Rested with everything He made.
- How did God describe what He had made? Good! Except humans– He named these very good!
- Aren't you so glad that God wrote down this story through someone He trusted? If He hadn't, we would have no idea how or when the earth was formed! We’d have no idea that God hand made oceans, lakes, fields, pigs, cucumbers, stars, and flowers!
- Every time you see the beauty in the world around us, let it remind you of God and how magnificent He is!
- He is speaking to you through the things He created because He loves you.
- What was your favorite day of all of creation? Let’s walk through them one more time–here are some hints
- 1) light 2) sky 3) dry land, seas, plants, trees 4) sun, moon, stars 5) sea creatures and flying creatures 6) animals and humans
13. Declarations
It’s important to declare out loud what is true about God! It helps our heart come into line with what our minds understand! Say these things to God from your heart with me!
- God, we thank You for Your Word, and that we can trust it with our whole hearts.
- We believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that every part of You is good toward us.
- We want to know more about how to choose life with you, instead of doing life on our own.
- God, we believe that you created everything, and that what You make is good!
- We thank You for creating everything out of love.
- We love that You took time to create everything because You aren't in a hurry.
- God, let your creation lead us to connect with You!
- God, help us to learn how to create with You and how to rest with You.
In the next clips, we will learn about one last thing that God made in the creation story! Do you think you know what it might be? Watch the next clips to see if you’re right!
We are including Sara's notes for complete transparency for parents.
