The Once-A-Week Bible Literature for Children, taken from the book in progress (please scroll down to see further lessons as they are added - currently upto Leson 2 - Enjoy!): THE BLESSED-BE-THE-CHILDREN’S BIBLE STORY...by "Janice L. Ezelle" |
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” Matthew 19:14 (NIV). All scriptural reference: Holy Bible, New International Version Lesson 1 In the Beginning Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 (NIV) In the beginning was God, and before the earth, or anything amongst it, came to being, He lived; for God always has. Nothing existed, except God. Long ago, God decided to create the world. He wanted to express His love by creating the universe, and us. Through God’s creation, we learn that God is not only our Creator, but far different from all He created. God is everlasting, and is in control of our world and everything in it. We are not sure how old the earth is today, but we are precious in God’s eyes. God was, and still is, the All-knowing and powerful, that when He spoke, the earth and heavens formed. But the earth had not yet received its beautiful mountains, valleys, trees, rivers and seas; nor were there any living creatures. The whole earth was in total blackness; there was no life on it at all. God said, “Let there be light,” and daylight came upon the planet. God grew pleased with the light, but separated it from the darkness. Sometime it was light to the world, and at other times, it was dark. God called the light time day, and the dark time night. This was the first day of God’s creation. Then, similar to an eagle caring for her young, the Spirit of God moved over the waters (Deuteronomy 32:11-12; Isaiah 31:5). A great division between the sea and the mist of skies began to take place at God’s word. Have you ever wondered why the ocean and sky seem alike? The beautiful blue in them look almost the same, don’t they? It is because the deep waters that were once in the clouds became separated from water that was upon the earth. God called the arch of the shy over the earth heaven. This was the second day. Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And so it was. God called the dry ground land, and at the gathering of the waters, He called seas. At His gentle command, surrounding waters had formed into oceans and seas, while dry land arose. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants, and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it came to be, for the earth began to contain such array of fresh green grass, beautiful flowers and trees that bore all sorts of fruit. The evening came, and morning had arrived, being the third day. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years…” The sun, moon, stars and other planets came into sight around the earth. The earth began to have the warm sunshine by day; and the night skies became lit with the moon and other bright-shining stars and planets. This was the creation on the fourth day. God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” Fishes and all kinds of reptiles, great and small, began to fill the waters; and the wings of fowls of many kinds began to fill the skies. God blessed the creatures to increase upon the earth. This was the fifth day. Then God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” Animals of all kinds began crawling, walking and romping in the fields and forests. The earth was now looking more beautiful, with winding green valleys filled with high mountains,rocks and trees, bright flowers blossoming in gardens, birds singing upon higher branches and animals playing among rivers and caves. God saw that everything was good; and the world was now ready for a family of His own. So God said, “Let us make man…” And God took some dust of the ground, and out of it He made man. God breathe the breath of life into the man, and he became a living being. But this creation was far different from all the other creatures upon the earth. In fact, God blessed the man to master all things upon the earth. For the man to have a home, God created a special garden. The Garden of Eden, planted in the east, where four rivers met, was much larger than any garden anyone has ever seen. It stretched for miles and miles in every direction. Special trees grew; trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. But in a separate place, in the middle of the garden, God planted the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told the man to care for the garden, to gather seeds and fruits from the trees and plants, and live on them; but not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God gave the first man a name, Adam. God sent the animals He had created to Adam and allowed the man to set names for each of them. God saw that Adam was alone, and caused the man to fall in deep sleep. God took one of the ribs from Adam’s side, and filled the place with flesh. From the rib that God took out, He created a woman. God sent her to Adam, where he named her Eve. “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ for she was taken out of man,” Adam said. For this reason, Adam and Eve were as one flesh; husband and wife, who were in love with each other. They knew no shame, and were happy in the beautiful home that God had given them. Thus God was pleased with His creation in all six days. The heavens, the earth, the seas and all the living things in them, were completed just as He commanded. And on the seventh day, while God rested from His work, He blessed the day-of-rest by making it holy. Questions to Ponder On: 1. Why did God create the world? 2. Why did God create man and woman? 3. Who was/is the Creator of all? |
Lesson 2 The First Disobedience God gave Adam the responsibility for caring for the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were happy, and did just as God told them to do. Adam and Eve knew of no evil or wickedness, for they understood they must obey God. The Lord God commanded, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Meanwhile, there came along a serpent, craftier than any of the animals in the field that God created. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Eve answered, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Eve’s eyes then turned upon the delicious-looking fruit. It looked delightful to her sight. Eve’s mouth must’ve watered as she wondered, How will the food taste?...Will it really make me wise as God? Before Eve gave it a second thought, she had already plucked the fruit from its branch, andplaced it to her mouth; and then she gave some of the fruit to her husband, who was with her. Then both Adam and Eve knew they had done wrong for not obeying God. Now they were afraid, and tried hiding from God. They not only tried to cover themselves with leaves, but when they heard God coming through the garden, they hid among the trees. The Lord God called, “Where are you?” Adam stepped out, and answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” “Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” “The woman you put here with me--” Adam replied, “She gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” “What is this you have done?” the Lord God asked the woman. “The serpent deceived me, and I ate,” Eve replied. So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Then God said to Eve, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam He said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Now because Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, He drove them out of the beautiful Garden of Eden. They were driven out into the world to make way on their own. On the east side of the garden, God placed angels with flaming swords to guard the gates of the tree of life, where no one may enter. God still loved Adam and Eve, but because of their disobedience and fall from His gracious presence, all of creation had become contaminated with sin. Sin in our lives is similar to filthy pollution coming from a nearby stream…just a dab of it is deadly.Questions to Ponder On: |
Lesson 3 THE BLESSED-BE-THE-CHILDREN’S BIBLE STORY by Janice L. Ezelle “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” Matthew 19:14 (NIV). All scriptural reference: Holy Bible, New International Version Chapter 3 The First Children Genesis 4:1-17 Adam, the first man, and Eve, the mother of all the living, are now out into the world, making their own way. Because of their disobedience to God, this act of sin separated them from the Creator. Adam and Eve no longer had the things provided for them as it had been in the Garden of Eden. They had to struggle through daily tasks to provide food, clothing and shelter for themselves, just as we do today. Because of their sin, Adam and Eve realized they could no longer see, hear or talk freely to God like they once had in the garden. They loved God, and felt ashamed of their sin; and after building an altar of heaped-up stones, they laid up something upon it and burned it. This was to show it was their heart’s desire to provide a gift to God. Adam and Eve then asked God to forgive them for all they had done wrong, and to bless them and to do good to them. And God did bless them. Adam and Eve had a baby boy, whom they named Cain. “I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord,” the proud mother said. And later, Eve gave birth to Cain’s brother, Abel. The two boys grew, and like their father, they worked hard in the fields. But Cain and Abel were different from one another. Cain grew to be a farmer, while Abel became a shepherd. Through their mother and father, the brothers both knew how important it was to lift offerings up to the Lord. Cain brought an offering of fruits and grain he had grown. Abel brought sheep from his flock and fat portions, which pleased the Lord. The Bible does not say why, but the Lord was not pleased with Cain’s gift. May be it was because Cain’s heart was not right, or perhaps his offering was not up to God’s standards. Because of the Lord’s rejection to his offering, Cain became angry. “Why are you angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” As we can see, the Lord had given Cain another chance to make his wrong right. But because Cain had already allowed anger and jealousy in his heart between God and Abel, he refused to listen. Instead of asking the Lord to forgive him of his anger and help make his heart right, he killed his brother while the two of them were out in the field. “Where is your brother Abel?” the Lord asked Cain. “I do not know,” replied Cain. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” “What have you done?” the Lord said. “Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” Cain then realized his wrongness and how sin has taken a foothold on his heart that caused him to do something he had regretted. “My punishment is more than I can bear,” he cried. “Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” The Lord had great compassion on Cain because the young man recognized his guilt. “Not so; if anyone kills Cain,” the Lord said, “he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” The Lord then put a mark on Cain for his protection so that no one would harm him. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and made his home in the land of Nod, where he and his wife had a son named, Enoch. Cain later built a city and named it after his son. Although the Lord judges all sins, His punishment toward Cain was meant to correct him and restore his fellowship with Him. When we’re shown our mistakes, let us not dwell in anger about it. Instead, let us admit our wrongness and renew our fellowship with God.Questions to Ponder On: 1. Why did Adam and Eve build an altar? 2. Why did Cain become angry with his brother, Abel? 3. What could Cain have done, rather than kill his brother? 4. Is there anger or jealousy upon your heart today? We must not let anger or jealousy creep into our heart because it is sin. When we allow envy or jealousy, not only will it displease God, but may cause us to speak unkind words, or place harm upon another. Let us ask God to forgive us, and help change our heart.
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The First Descendants We have just learned that Cain had married and given birth to a son. Many questions have arisen that since there were only four people upon the The Bible tells that God told Adam and Eve to "fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28, 5:4). Therefore Adam and Eve had many children. Perhaps their son Cain had chosen one of his sisters or a niece. The human race at the time was still genetically pure, and there was no fear of side effects from marrying relatives. Cain feared of becoming killed because he knew if he was capable of killing, then so could others. But because Cain showed sorrow for the murder of his brother, the Lord placed a seal of protection upon him. During Cain and his wife's travel, they spotted the land of Nod. While settling in the east of Eden, Cain built a city which he named after his son, Enoch. Enoch grew, married and had a son named, Irad. Irad's wife gave birth to Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech. Before God's law of marriage came into place, Lamech married two women. We don't know much about some of the families, but the Bible tells that Lamech's family had gifts and talents. One of Lamech's son, Jabal, became the father of those who lived in tents and raised livestock. Jubal became the father of all who played the harp and flute. Tubal-Cain had a special gift creating tools out of bronze and iron. One day Lamech became disturbed because of something he had done. "Adah and Zillah, listen to me," he said to his two wives. "I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." Meanwhile, Adam and Eve had given birth to other children. Although these other sons and daughters' names were not mentioned (Genesis 5:4), Adam had a son in "his own likeness, according to his image", named Seth. Seth also grew, married and had a son named, Enosh; and later, fathered other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:7). During Cain and his wife's travel, they spotted the land of Nod. While settling in the east of Eden, Cain built a city which he named after his son, Enoch. Enoch grew, married and had a son named, Irad. Irad's wife gave birth to Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech. Before God's law of marriage came into place, Lamech married two women. We don't know much about some of the families, but the Bible tells that Lamech's family had gifts and talents. One of Lamech's son, Jabal, became the father of those who lived in tents and raised livestock. Jubal became the father of all who played the harp and flute. Tubal-Cain had a special gift creating tools out of bronze and iron. One day Lamech became disturbed because of something he had done. "Adah and Zillah, listen to me," he said to his two wives. "I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." Meanwhile, Adam and Eve had given birth to other children. Although these other sons and daughters' names were not mentioned (Genesis 5:4), Adam had a son in "his own likeness, according to his image", named Seth. Seth also grew, married and had a son named, Enosh; and later, fathered other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:7). Even though few men began to call upon the name of the Lord, there were many throughout the world who had forgotten the Lord. Not only other lands and cities were being populated with more and more people, men often lived to be 800 or 900 years old. We don't fully understand how these people could have lived so long. But we do know the human race was genetically pure at the time, so there were fewer diseases and less aging upon the earth than the lives we lead today. God allowed longer and healthier lives then so the earth could be filled. Families began to spread far and wide.After Enosh grew, Seth's son fathered, Kenan, and other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:9); Kenan fathered Mahalalel, and other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:13); Mahalalel fathered Jared, and other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:16); Jared fathered Enoch, and other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:19); Enoch fathered Methuselah, and other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:22-23). The Bible tells us that Enoch was close to God, and rather than dying like the other men who were very old, God took him up to heaven (Genesis 5:24; 17-1; Jude 1:4). Enoch's son, Methuselah, fathered Lamech, and other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:26); Lamech fathered Noah, and other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:28-30); and Noah fathered three boys, Shem, Ham and Japheth (Genesis 5:32). Do you now see how God multiplied the earth with all these people? But as time went on, more people drifted from God and became wicked, while fewer of them became close to the Lord. Even the children, around those who acted in wickedness, grew to be bad. This made God sad. He looked down on the earth and said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them." But because one man was righteous, and blameless before all the people on the earth, God's eyes fell upon him. The man's name was Noah. Questions to Ponder: 1. Why was there so much wickedness in the world? 2. How did Cain's murder affect others? Have you noticed how the curse of sin has been passed down through families, such as Lamech's? 3. Do you have a special talent given to you by God? Do you use your talent for God's glory? 4. When you see someone do something bad, do you go along with them by being bad, too? Or, do you tell them of God's love and pray for them? 5. How did Noah have the favor of God? Do you have the favor of the Lord?
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