Tag Archive for: Youth Bible Lessons – Level 1

Read Together:  Abraham and Sarah were very sad that they had no children. God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Yet Abraham and Sarah were old—too old to have children. Even so, Abraham and Sarah believed God would keep His promises, and He did. When Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 100, Sarah gave birth to a little baby boy! They named him Isaac as God instructed. After waiting 25 years, their promised son had finally arrived. You can imagine how happy they were to meet their new baby!

Read Together: Genesis 17-21 (Read selections as desired)

Discuss:

• Ask your child if it is easy to wait on something that you want badly. Can they think of anything they really want but haven’t received as yet? Help them to imagine how Abraham and Sarah might have felt waiting for a child to be born.
• Help your child to understand that God does things when it is the right time to do them. We have to learn to be patient and wait for God to fulfill His promises just as Abraham and Sarah waited.
• Ask your child what they think Isaac was like since his name meant laughter.
• Explain to your child that Abraham had other children, but only Isaac was the son that God promised. Though the other children received different gifts and blessings, God told Abraham that He would pass on His covenant through Isaac.

Review Memorization:

Genesis 22:18  “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

By Janth English

Read Together:  Abram was born in the city of Ur in Chaldea which was near the Middle Eastern country of modern day Iraq. He was the son of Terah, who was a descendant of Shem. Shem was one of the three sons of Noah, and lived through the Flood. Abram married his very beautiful half-sister Sarai, but they had no children. Terah left Ur for Canaan and took Abram, Sarai, and Lot, his grandson, with him. For a period of time, Terah and his family lived in Haran, where the Bible tells us that Abram became a very wealthy man. He had gold, silver, livestock and many servants. In time, Terah died, leaving Abram as the leader of the family. His life would change dramatically, however, when, God told Abram to take Sarai and leave Haran. Where was he supposed to go? God told Abram that He would guide him to the right place. In return for his obedience, God promised to make Abram a great nation and to bless all nations through him. At this point in his life, Abram was already 75 years old and had a home and great wealth in Haran. He made the right decision, however, and obeyed God. He took his wife, his nephew Lot, all their possessions and left Haran just as God commanded.

Read Together:   Genesis 11:26-32; 12:1-9.

Discuss:

• Show your child where Abram lived and where he traveled   (There are many maps available over the Internet.) Talk about how different it would have been to travel over long distances in those days, in comparison to today. People walked and used animals like camels to travel instead of cars!
• Help your child to understand what Abram was willing give up in order to obey God. For Abram and his family, Haran was home. Yet God asked them to leave everything they knew behind.
• Explain to your child that it took faith for Abram to obey God.  All he had was God’s word to believe that things would work out.

Review Memorization.

Genesis 22:18. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Read Together: After God sent the first nine plagues on the Egyptians, the crops had been destroyed, most of the livestock was dead, and Egypt was suffering. But Pharaoh would still not let the Israelites go free. God decided to bring one more plague on Egypt. This plague would be so great that Pharaoh would demand that Israel leave Egypt. God was going to put to death the firstborn of man and beast in all of the land of Egypt. However, God planned a way to save the Israelites. God told Moses to have each Israelite family select a perfect lamb from their herd. Four days later, just after sunset, they were commanded to kill the lamb, placing its blood on the doorposts of their home. Then, they were commanded to roast and eat it. Every home that had blood on the doorway of their home was protected from the last plague. The Egyptian homes, with no blood on their doorways, would suffer the death of their firstborn as the death angel passed over their house.

This was a dramatic and terrifying night. Throughout Egypt, many people died. But the Israelites were kept safe by the protection of God, and the blood of the lamb. And they were released from their Egyptian taskmasters, as the Pharaoh commanded the Israelites to leave Egypt.  

God commanded Israel to remember what had happened in Egypt, how He had protected the children of Israel, and to keep it as a memorial forever. That is why the name of this memorial is Passover. The Passover lamb pictured the sacrifice that Jesus Christ would make by shedding His blood for the salvation of all mankind. The Church of God still observes the Passover every year as God commanded, but with bread and wine instead of a Passover Lamb.

Read Together: Exodus 11:1; 12:1–14, 24–30; John 1:29; Mark 14:14, 22–24

Discuss:

• Help your child to understand that every household in Egypt was affected by the tenth plague. Help them identify all the people in their family who are firstborn.
• Ask what would happen if an Israelite family did not obey Moses’ instructions.
• Ask your child to explain why this memorial is called Passover.
• Discuss what it might be like to have a lamb living in in your house for four days. Explain that the sacrifice of the lamb was symbolic of Jesus Christ’s future sacrifice.
• Explain to your child that the Church of God still keeps the Passover, but with different symbols which Christ taught. Help them understand what the new symbols(wine and bread) represent.

Review Memorization:

The Ten Plagues:  (1) Waters turned to blood, (2) Frogs, (3) Lice, (4) Flies, (5)Animals die, (6) Boils, (7) Hail, (8) Locusts, (9) Darkness, (10) Death of the Firstborn

Read Together: The descendants of Abraham, now called the children of Israel, were living as slaves in the land of Egypt just as God had foretold. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, commanded that all infant boys be killed, but Amram and Jochebed wanted to save their newborn son. Jochebed placed her son in a basket of reeds and put him in the river to be protected from the Pharaoh’s order. The Pharaoh’s daughter found the basket among the reeds in the river and was moved to rescue the baby inside. The thought came to her to raise him as her own son! She named him Moses, and brought him into Pharaoh’s palace. The name “Moses” was perfect since it means “to draw or bring out of the water”. He grew up in the palace, as if he were a prince of Egypt, but he knew that he was really an Israelite. Then one day, Moses went out to see how his brethren were doing. When he saw an Egyptian beating a fellow Israelite, he lost his temper and killed the Egyptian. When the Pharaoh found out he was very angry, so Moses decided to run away. He escaped to the land of Midian, and eventually married a woman named Zipporah. Meanwhile, the children of Israel continued to suffer in slavery. Little did they know that God was planning to use Moses, the prince of Egypt, to free them from the Pharaoh.

Read Together: Genesis 15:13–14; Exodus 1:8–17; 2:1–25

Discuss:

• Explain to your child in a way they can understand that Pharaoh had absolute power over life and death of everyone under his authority.
• Help your child to see the bravery that the midwives, and Moses’ mother, father, and sister showed in hiding Moses from Pharaoh.
• Ask your child what they think it might have been like to grow up in Pharaoh’s palace with servants and riches.
• Help your child to understand that the Israelites were powerless to free themselves from Egypt. Only God could set them free!

Review Memorization:

The Ten Plagues: (1) Waters turned to blood, (2) Frogs, (3) Lice, (4) Flies, (5) Animals die, (6) Boils, (7) Hail, (8) Locusts, (9) Darkness , (10) Death of the Firstborn

By Janth English

Read Together: Babel, the first city that Nimrod built, was the beginning of his kingdom. The people all spoke the same language, so it was easy for them to share ideas and work together. But instead of working together for good, they began to rebel against God. Even though God had commanded them to fill the earth with their families, the people refused. With Nimrod as the leader, the people built a huge tower in the city of Babel. The city they built, with its towering fortress, made the people very proud of themselves and what they had done. They were so proud that they believed they could defy God. But the people did not know the amazing miracle that would happen next.

Read Together:  Genesis 10:9–10; 11:1–4

Discuss:

• Explain to your child that Noah and Shem could tell the people about the flood and what happened before the flood. (According to the genealogies contained in the Bible, they were still alive during the time that Nimrod built Babel.)
• The people knew what they were doing was wrong. Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), and he would have continued to preach after the flood. Explain to your son or daughter that the people were being disobedient and wanted to do things their own way, regardless of what God said.
• Help your child to understand that there is never a time when we can rebel against God. Still, when we do something wrong, we can ask God to forgive us, and He will. God loves us, and we can rely on Him to provide for us and protect us.

Review Memorization.

Genesis 11:4 “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’