MS Bible Thur

Intro and Review

Yesterday we talked about:

God creating the world

Humans being made in God’s image

How sin entered the world through disobedience

So before we start, let me ask some questions to see if we all got it.

What does it mean to be made in God’s image?

What went wrong in the garden?

Did God abandon humans after they sinned?

Great answers! Today we are going to look at the story of Noah, which is important for understanding God’s justice and mercy.

Setting the Context

As time passed after Adam and Eve, sin spread throughout humanity.

People were violent and just generally terrible to one another.

Read Genesis 6:5 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

So after reading that verse, it becomes clear that:

God saw that violence and evil filled the earth.

Human hearts were constantly turned away from God.

Let me ask, What do you think this passage tells us about how serious sin is?

Introducing Noah

Read Genesis 6:8–9 “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”

It is important to understand that

Noah was not perfect. He was still a sinner like everyone else.

The difference was that Noah trusted God.

And because he trusted God, he chose obedience even in a corrupt world.

Being righteous does not mean being sinless, it means trusting and following God.

Discussion

Let me ask

Do you think that it would have been easy or hard to follow God when everyone else ignored God?

Have you ever had a time where you felt like you were doing the right thing when others weren’t?

See even in today’s world we have to try and live right, when everything is telling us to do wrong.

Music, movies, and culture in general tries to reward those that do things that dishonor God.

We have a choice, just like we discussed yesterday, to follow God.

The Flood: Judgment and Mercy Together

Read the flood account from Genesis 6

We see in this passage that God judges sin because He is just.

God saves Noah because He is merciful.

The ark is a place of safety from the storm.

We must understand through this that God’s judgment is not random or cruel—it comes after patience and warnings.

Activity

Okay so now we are going to do two separate activities.

So for the first one, I want you all to get a sheet of paper and make a comic strip of the story that we just read.

I want to see the whole narrative as a comic.

Take up the comics.

Now that we have done that, lets move to the next activity.

I want you to split into groups and we will discuss like we did yesterday three more questions.

Those questions are:

Why do you think that God chose to save Noah?

What did the ark represent for Noah and his family?

How did obedience protect Noah?

God’s Promise

Read Genesis 9:8-13

We see that:

God makes a covenant (or a promise)

He promises that He will never destroy the earth by flood again.

The rainbow serves as a reminder of God’s faithfulness

Realize that God keeps His promises, even when humans fail.

Connecting the Story Forward

Realize that:

Sin is serious

God is patient

God provides a way of rescue

God keeps His promises

See, the stories that we are reading all point forward to the idea that God will one day provide a greater rescue.

Reflection and Preview

I want you to think deeply before answering these questions:

What do you learn about God from the story of Noah?

What do you learn about people?

Why do you think that obedience matters?

See, God desires our trust, not our perfection.

Tomorrow we are going to look at

The Tower of Babel

Human pride and unity

Why God would spread people across the earth.

PRAY

Thank you Father for being both just and merciful. Help us to trust You even when obedience is difficult. Thank You for keeping Your promises and caring for Your people. Teach us to listen to Your voice and Your word, so that we may follow you all of our days. In Jesus name, Amen.