genesis

Jacob and Esau

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Hello again!

Today’s story is from Genesis 25:19-34 and Genesis 27.

As Isaac grew up, he got married to a woman named Rebekah and they had two boys, Esau and Jacob. God told Isaac and Rebekah that the older boy would serve the younger boy. The babies were born at the same time, but Esau came out first and then Jacob. That made Esau the oldest.

If you remember from the story of Cain and Abel, the oldest boy was supposed to get all the honor and all the land, and money and STUFF when the daddy died. He would be in charge and be the most important. He would also get a special blessing from his father…his dad would ask God for special things for him.

As the two boys grew up, they were very different. Esau (the big brother) was very manly and covered in hair. He liked to hunt animals and work outside. Jacob, was very smooth, shiny, clean and he like to be inside.

One day, after hunting, Esau came home and he was SUUUUPER hungry. Jacob had just made some stew (like soup). Esau was not patient and he didn’t appreciate what a big honor it was to be the biggest. So he BEGGED Jacob for some stew. Jacob was kinda sneaky and he said, “ok…you can have some stew…if i can have your birthright (the land and stuff and to be in charge.)” And you know what? Esau said ok!? That’s like giving up ALL your toys for one piece of candy.

Later, when Isaac was very old and about to die, he called Esau into his tent and asked for some food so he could give him the extra special blessing. But Isaac couldn’t see very well.

The mommy, Rebekah, remembered that God had said the younger brother would be blessed, so she told Jacob that HE should sneak in and get the blessing. Esau went out to hunt some food, but Jacob got some goats and the mommy cooked them. Then Jacob put some animal fur on his arms so he would feel and smell like Esau.

Then he went to see his daddy Isaac and it worked. It tricked Isaac and he gave Jacob his blessing. He prayed to God and asked that Jacob would always have lots of land and food and that all the other people would bow down and serve him.

Just then, Esau came in and asked for his blessing, but it was too late. And he was MAD. He wanted to kill Jacob! (like Cain had done when his blessing was given to Abel).

So Rebekah told Jacob how mad Esau was and told him to RUN away and he did, he hid for a long time.

Once again, God chose not the most important person, but the “lesser” person. God has chosen us too! Even though we are “lesser” and don’t deserve God’s love…He loves us anyway. And He chose to give His son, Jesus for us.

God had always meant for Jesus to be one of Jacob’s descendants, but Jacob got there by being sneaky and because he did it his own way, he had to run away and hide for a LONG time.

When we trust in God, He will lead us where we should go. God loves you has big plans for you and you can trust that He knows what is best.

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For our craft, we drew red, hairy Esau and a smaller, smooth Jacob. We drew Esau drinking the stew and Jacob covered in animal fur.

We also found this video posted by Crossroads Kids’ Club.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Abraham Tested/God Provides

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again!

Today’s story is from Genesis 22.

So God had kept His promise and given Abraham and Sarah a son, named Isaac.

Isaac grew up…and one day God asked Abraham to give Isaac back to Him. Isaac would have to die and live with God in heaven.

This made Abraham very sad. But he loved God. He trusted and obeyed. He took Isaac up a mountain to make an offering and worship God and Isaac said, “Dad, where is the sheep for the offering?”

Abraham told him “God will provide.”

As Abraham was going to give Isaac as a sacrifice to God, God said “Stop! Don’t hurt Isaac. I know you really love and obey Me. And because you have loved Me, all of your descendants (children, grandchildren, their children and grandchildren) will ALL be blessed. And through your family line ALL people will be blessed.”

(Later God would send HIS son, Jesus (one of Abraham’s descendants to die for all of US!)

Abraham then saw a ram (a daddy sheep) and he sacrificed that to God as an offering. God provided. He provided a son to Abraham, He provided a ram, and He provided Jesus, His son, as a sacrifice for us.

The funny thing about this story is that God already knows everything. He knows what is in our hearts and He knew Abraham loved and trusted Him. BUT, Abraham’s obedience was a way for God to show Isaac and US that even if God asks us to do something scary, we can trust Him to take care of us. Even if things are scary or sad, we can know that God is in control and He has a great plan.

We found this little video from saddleback kids on YouTube:

Watch here

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

Isaac is born!

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again, friends.

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Todays story is from Genesis 21.

Do you remember when God told Abraham and Sarah they would have a baby? And the. The visitors told them they would return in one year and by then the baby would be born!

And soon, Abraham and Sarah had a baby boy and they named him Isaac (which means “he laughs”) because Sarah laughed and she knew everyone else would too when they found out that two people who were Sooooo old had a baby!

God had kept His promise. A promise is when you say you will DEFINITELY do something…like your mommy and daddy PROMISE to always love you no matter what. It won’t change! It will FOR SURE happen.

God promised He would look after Adam and Eve (and He did). God promised that it would flood, but that Noah and his family would be safe (it did and they were!) God promised a baby for Abraham and Sarah (and they had one!) and God promised a savior for us, for our sins…and He sent one.

God ALWAYS keeps His promises. He he has lots of promises in the Bible. We will learn more of them as we read through. But you can be sure, if God promises it, it WILL happen.

For our craft today, I traced a silhouette of the family and the kids cut it out and we talked about keeping promises and how God is always faithful. (Pardon the excessive glue :0) and they didn’t like that the people had no faces so they drew those on too).

Thanks all! More tomorrow, love to you all!

Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18/19)

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi friends.

This month we are journeying through the books of Genesis and Exodus. Today’s story is from Genesis 18:16-33 and 19:1-29.

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If you remember from last time, Abraham and his wife Sarah had three visitors come to them. (Probably angels, possibly Jesus was one of them based on the text, but it doesn’t explicitly say.)

When it was time for the visitors to leave, they warned Abraham that the people of the city of Sodom and it’s neighbor Gomorrah were very wicked. They made REALLY bad choices and God was NOT happy. He said He would destroy the cities because the people were THAT bad.

But Abraham asked, “God, but what if there are 50 people who are making good choices? Who follow You? Will You save the city if 50 people love you?”

God answered, “Yes. For 50 people, I will save the city.”

Then Abraham asked “What if there’s only 45 people?”

God replied, “For 45 people, I will save the city.”

Abraham then asked “What about only 40?”

“For 40 righteous (people who make right choices) people I will not destroy the city.”

Then Abraham got bold and asked about 30, or 20….”or maybe God…what about even 10? Will you save the city if only 10 people follow You?”

And God once again answered “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

Isn’t God patient? He let Abraham ask and ask and ASK. This story also shows us that God is listening to us. He already knows what we’re going to say, but He is alive and real and His heart can be moved by people who love Him.

So then the visitors went to Sodom and stayed with Lot, Abraham’s nephew. The people in Sodom wanted to do very bad things to the visitors, but Lot stopped them. The people were so bad, they then threatened to do bad things to Lot, but the visitors pulled Lot back into his house and warned him to GET OUT because indeed these people WERE making terrible choices and God WOULD destroy the city.

(If you have older children, you can discuss how in order to save his guests, Lot offered his daughters to the bad men for them to do whatever they wanted to the girls. This is not ok and i don’t believe Moses or God is condoning with Lot did. We have to remember that everyone in the Bible (besides Jesus) sinned and was susceptible to making terrible choices. Characters (real people!) in the Bible stories are not portrayed as heroes or villains…though it sometimes appears or is taught that way. Everyone in the Bible is a complex person with real emotions, and choices. This was bad choice. We also need to remember when we talk to people who don’t believe in God, that we are no better than they are. Christians are often called hypocrites because we falter just as much as people who don’t follow Christ, but it is not our choices that give us our righteousness, but the grace and patience and mercy of God.) (Romans 5-6)

God had mercy on Lot and his family (which means He was nice to them even though they didn’t deserve it.) Lot hesitated leaving, but the visitors took Lot, his wife and their two daughters out of the city. Lot was more sure of his evil city than he was of God. But God saved Lot and had the angels move him out of there. They told them to go to the mountains, but Lot asked if they could just go to a different, closer city instead.

Again, God was patient and had mercy on Lot and his family and said ok. BUT, they were warned, when they left “DON’T LOOK BACK!”

When the sun came up the next day, God sent burning fire and sulfur like a volcano on the cities and it destroyed everything there…the plants, the animals, even the people.

As they hurried away, Lot’s wife disobeyed and she looked back and do you know what happened? She turned into salt. (In Luke 17, Jesus implies that she actually WENT back). Even though God was very patient to listen and merciful to Lot and His family, there are still consequences when we disobey God.

Even though God was angry at the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, He listened to Abraham because Abraham loved and served God. He also showed patience and mercy to Lot and his family.

When you talk to God, do you know that He is listening and He cares about what you have to say?

What does patience mean?

What does mercy mean?

God showed us mercy by sending His son Jesus to die in our place. He shows us mercy every time we make bad choices. If we ask for His help, He will lead us away  from sin, like He led Lot and his family away.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Sarah Laughs (Genesis 18)

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi friends!

Today’s story comes from Genesis 18.

So God had promised Abram many children and grandchildren. He even gave Abram a new name: Abraham, which means “father of many.”

Abraham and his wife, Sarah were still waiting for a child. And they were REALLY old. One day, three visitors (probably angels, but the Bible doesn’t say for sure) came from God and visited Abraham and Sarah.

Sarah hurried and prepared some food and Abraham cooked one of his best calves for the visitors to eat.

They asked where Sarah was and Abraham said “she’s in our tent.” (They already knew her name! This is a sign that God had definitely sent these visitors here.)

The visitors told Abraham they would be back next year and by then Sarah would have a son.

Sarah had been listening from the tent and she laughed! She was too old to have a baby!? She was old enough to be a grandma?!

God said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for God? God wasn’t mad at Sarah, but He did want her trust Him.

What do you think? Is anything too hard for God?

For our craft today, we cut out 4 simple shapes. One big orange circle, one red half circle and two small pink circles. Then we glued them on like below:

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Then we drew some white hair and some laughing eyes (which here look more like a series of hills, but eh, 3 year olds get over-exuberant sometimes, whatcha gonna do?)

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

Abram (Genesis 12, 15)

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello all.

Today’s study is an introduction to Abram from, Genesis 12 and 15.

After Noah’s sons had kids, and they had kids and they had kids and THEY had kids…eventually a man was born whose name was Abram. God knew Abram, and one day, when Abram was already old, God came to him and told him to pack up and move.

God promised to make Abram and his people into a great nation, a great country. God said He would bless Abram (which means give him great things). So Abram took his wife, some of his family and his things and off they went. God hadn’t told them where they were headed, but Abram trusted God.

After traveling a while, Abram’s nephew Lot settled in one place, and Abram and his family settled in another. God told Abram He would bless that land and that THAT would be the place where God’s people would live.

One time, Abram had a vision (like a dream) and he asked God how he could be the father of a great country since he didn’t have any kids yet? “There’s no one else after me?!”

God told Abram to look up at all the stars in the sky and to count them. (Do you know how many stars there are!? I don’t either…there’s TOO MANY to count!) That’s how many children and grandchildren God told Abram he would have.

Abram wanted to believe God, but asked God for some assurance.

God told Abram to bring a cow, a goat and a male sheep called a ram, and also a dove and a pigeon. Abram cut the cow, the goat and ram in two parts and lined them up across from each other. This was a gift to God, called an offering. Before Jesus came, people would kill animals as an offering to God. Once Jesus came, HE became the offering for all of us.

Abram watched over the animals (so the present would not be all yucky when he showed it to God.)

And when it was night time, God put Abram to sleep. He told Abram that his people would be stuck working and living in a different, mean place for 400 years, but then they would be returned to this land.

Then God used a glowing pot and fire to go between the animals. God passed between the offering and made a covenant (a strong and forever promise) that all these things WOULD happen.

Abram would have as many children and grandchildren as the number of stars in the sky.

Abram’s descendants would have to live in a terrible place for a long time.

Then they would come back and live in the land God promised them.

Abram trusted God when God told him to move. He believed God when God told him these things would happen, but it was GOD who made the covenant with Abram. God loves His people and He promises His people good things.

We can already see God making His plan to bring His people back to Him.

For our craft, we cut out the animals described in the story, then i let the kids cut them in half. We glued them in two lines and then cut a slit in the middle of the paper. We used a glue stick and colored it like fire (you could also use tissue paper for the fire). Then we made the fire pass between the offering.       IMG_5965       IMG_5969

We did find this video posted by dandysinger. It’s definitely an amateur home video, but our kids wanted to watch it twice; they thought it was silly…but it does reinforce the story.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Tower of Babel

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi again, friends!

This month we are learning the stories in the Bible books of Genesis and Exodus.

Today’s story comes from Genesis 11:1-8.

After Noah and the big flood, all of Noah’s kids had kids and they had kids and they had kids…soon there were a lot of people and they built a city and houses to live in.

They learned how to make bricks and use tar like glue to hold all the bricks together.

Then they decided to build a really REALLY big tower all the way to heaven so everybody would know how big and important they were. This did not make God happy. Instead of honoring God, THEY wanted to be honored.

So God made them all talk differently and no one could understand each other?! They tried to keep building…but no one made any sense…so they had to stop.

Then they all spread out. The people who spoke one language lived together, and all the people who spoke another language lived together, and another group who all spoke the same language went a different way.

No one is more powerful than God. The people thought they could be as important and powerful as God, but He confused them, to remind them that HE is the most powerful.

We built a tower as high as we could (they had it almost to the ceiling, but it collapsed before i could take a picture haha!) out of duplos and talked about working together. Then we discussed that God wasn’t mad about the tower, He was mad because of what was in the peoples’ hearts…they had hearts that didn’t honor God.

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This video from kidswise is a nice, brief synopsis.

Thanks for joining us, love to you all!

Noah’s Ark

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello friends.

Today’s study is from Genesis 6-9:17.

Adam and Eve had their children, and they had children and those children had children and soon, the earth was a pretty busy place. BUT the people did whatever they wanted, and not what God wanted and so He decided to get rid of ALL people.

Except, there was one man named Noah who God was pleased with. So God went to Noah and said, “Noah…I am very unhappy with all these people.  I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”

BUT, He told Noah to build an ark (like a REALLY big boat). God told Noah exactly how to build it…He gave Noah all the measurements and directions and told Noah to make room for all the animals…one mommy and one daddy of each kind of animal. For some of the animals, God said to bring 7 daddies and 7 mommies. Then God also told Noah to take every kind of food on the ark with them.

Then, God told Noah He would make a covenant (like a strong promise) with Noah and that he and his family would all be safe if they followed God’s directions.

He warned Noah that it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Noah and his wife, and their three boys and the boys’ wives all got on the ark and then it rained and rained and rained….over the WHOLE earth. The Bible says even the highest mountains were covered in water…all the people who disobeyed God were washed away, but Noah and his family (who loved and obeyed God) floated in the ark on top of the water.

The Bible says the earth was flooded for 150 days! (That’s almost half a year!) God sent a big wind and the waters went down. Noah sent out a raven, but it flew right back (there was no where for it to land.) So Noah waited and then sent out a dove, but it also came back with nothing. He waited a week and sent the dove out again and this time it came back with a branch from an olive tree (that meant there were *some* dry spots). He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again and this time, the dove didn’t come back (he had found ground or a tree to live in). Noah knew that meant everything was dry enough for them to leave the ark.

God told Noah and his family, it was time to come out!

Noah gave God some of the best animals, and it made God happy. God made another covenant with Noah and said “I will never flood the whole earth again. And I will give you a reminder. Every time you see a rainbow (when the sun and rain mix), you can remember this promise that I will never again destroy everything with water.”

Below are a few of the Noah’s ark crafts we’ve done before:

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First, is using pipe cleaners and beads to make rainbows, and a brief description of the story on the cloud. (This was part of our advent calendar last December.)

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We also made rainbows using 2 pieces of contact paper and some tissue paper.

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These rainbows were made using only red, yellow and blue paint (so it was a color mixing activity as well.)

Animal crackers make a great snack to go along with this story. You can take a paper plate, cut it in half and staple the two halves together, along the rounded edges and make your own little paper plate ark for your animals to live in.

Also, veggie tales has a noah’s ark movie.

The Beginnner’s Bible has a video on youtube of the ark story.

And Disney has a Silly Symphony of Noah’s ark which you can find here.

Thanks for joining us today. Remember to “follow” us to get each lesson. Love to you all!

Cain and Abel

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi friends.

Today’s story is from Genesis 4. The story of Cain and Abel.

Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain was first, and then Abel. Cain grew up and worked in the fields. Abel grew up and was a shepherd (he took care of the sheep.) One day, the boys decided to bring an offering (or a present to God). Cain brought some of the food from the fields. But Abel worked hard to make sure he gave God his BEST sheep.

Back then, the first son was supposed to get all the blessings and money and honor. But God wasn’t happy with the first son. This happens a lot in the Bible. People who are supposed to be first or extra important, are not the people God picks. God doesn’t care who is first or most important, He cares about what is in someone’s heart.

God was very happy with what Abel brought. It made Him happy that Abel gave Him his best. He was not as happy with Cain. That made Cain jealous and he was angry. He was thinking angry thoughts when God said “Why are you angry, Cain? You are planning bad things, but you should not give in to sin. If you make good choices I will be pleased with you, but if you make bad choices, there will be bad consequences.”

Cain didn’t listen to God, and he tricked his brother Abel into going into the fields with  him and he killed Abel.

Later, God said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

Cain replied “I don’t know?! How should i know?! Am i in charge of him?”

But God knew EXACTLY what Cain had done. We can not hide from God.

God said, “Because you sinned and disobeyed me, you have to leave this land. You will always be a drifter and have to work extra hard to get anything from the land.”

Cain was sad that he had to leave God, but even though he made a bad choice and had a bad consequence, God still promised to be with Cain. Even when we mess up, God still cares for us. There are consequences for our choices, but God still loves us.

For our craft, we drew a picture of Cain and Abel…Cain looks angry (we used dry spaghetti for the fields) and Abel is surrounded by his sheep (cotton balls.)

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We found these two cartoon synopsis on youtube:

This one posted by bibliatv.

And this one posted by stayathomeninja.

Thanks for joining us today. We’ll have more tomorrow! Love to you all!

The Fall of Man

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi again friends!

Today’s story comes from Genesis 2 and 3.

We learned yesterday about God creating EVERYTHING. And He made man just like Himself. He took some dust from the ground and breathed life into the man and He named him Adam. He made a beautiful garden called the garden of Eden and He put Adam in charge of taking care of the garden and all the animals. But He knew Adam would need a helper. So, He made a woman. They worked and lived together and everything was perfect.

In the middle of the garden were two trees. One was the tree of life and the other was called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God told Adam and Eve (the woman) they could eat ANYTHING in the garden EXCEPT the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or else they would die.

But God has an enemy. One of God’s angels made a bad choice and decided he wanted to be better than God and became God’s enemy. His name was satan. He tries to keep us from God. He came as a snake to the garden and said to Eve “it’s ok. You can eat the fruit.”

“No i can’t. God said we will die if we eat it,” Eve replied.

“No no no,” he said. God just knows that when you eat the fruit, you’ll be smart like Him…but really it’s ok. Go ahead.”

Eve made a bad choice and she took a bite of the fruit. Then she gave some to Adam and he ate some too. This was the first time a person had sinned. (Made a choice to disobey God). Then they were ashamed and knew they had done a bad thing and they hid from God.

God called for them and they said “here we are.”

“Why are you hiding?” God asked.

Adam and Eve told God what they had done.

God was very sad. Now He knew the man and woman would have to die, instead of living with Him forever in the beautiful, perfect, garden.

God cursed the bad snake and sent Adam and Eve away from the garden and told them they would now have to work very hard to eat and live…and that one day, because of their sin, they would have to die.

God put an angel with a fiery sword in front of the garden so they couldn’t come back.

But, God did not leave Adam and Eve. Right away He had a plan to save them. One day, He would send His son, Jesus, as a little baby and He would pay the price for man’s sins so that they could once again live with God forever in the perfect place.

Some people like to be mad at Adam and Eve because they “started sin” and got kicked out the garden…but we ALL sin. We all disobey God sometimes and we ALL need Jesus’ love and forgiveness.

Click here for the 2nd part of the creation story from the Beginner Bible. This story of Adam and Eve starts at about minute 12.

We also made a craft. We started by cutting a green and a black piece of paper each in half. Then i clipped them together and traced a tree on the green one. Then the kids cut out the tree on both pieces of colored paper and we glued each to a piece of white paper, side by side.

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Next we drew some fruit on our trees. Then we drew a snake on the green side and a sad Adam and Eve on the black side.

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(And one of mine wanted to draw a sad God on top). Then we reviewed the story using our pictures.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!