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=BIBLE DOCTRINES= The Bible Versus Evolution Objects to have: A clear bowl with water in it A sheet of black construction paper or square of black cloth An oblong pan with sand or gravel in it Clump of grass, twig from a bush, short artificial flowers, a kernel of corn, an apple A circle of blue construction paper with sun, moon and stars on it Pictures of fish, birds, animals, a man, a lady Your Bible. Introducing the lesson: The Bible is the best book in all the world. It is God’s Word. Every word in the Bible is true. The Bible is full of stories—true stories. I’m going to tell you another good Bible story for today. Our story has sights in it, and it has sounds in it. Sights are what you see; sounds are what you hear. Say that with me, "Sights are what you see; sounds are what you hear." We’re going to think together of the sounds and the sights that are in our Bible story. Telling the story: Did you ever wake up at night when there were no lights on in the house? Did you ever go into your clothes closet and shut the door? It is so dark that you cannot see anything. Our first Bible story sight today is darkness. There was nothing but darkness. Our first Bible story sound today is the stillness of water when there is no wind. (Pick up the clear bowl that is filled with water and covered with the black construction paper or black cloth.) There was nothing but darkness, and there was absolutely nothing but water. There was water everywhere. There were no buildings, no trees, no people, no animals, no fish, no ground, no sun, no moon—nothing but water. The Spirit of God moved upon the waters. Oh, I thought there was nothing but darkness and water. There wasn’t anything that you or I could see, but there was God. God always has been, and He always will be—God has no beginning and no end. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit have always been. God said, "Let there be light." God likes light. The only time when darkness is good is when we need to get some sleep. The rest of the time we need to have light. God tells us that some people love to do things in the dark because they want to do wrong or bad things. With the light, God made the darkness go away. Part of the time it was light; part of the time it was dark. Then God gave names to the light and the dark. Isn’t that interesting? God wanted the light and the dark to have names. "God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night." God said, "There has been darkness and there has been light. We have had night and day, evening and morning." The evening and the morning made one day. It made the first day of Creation. On the first day of Creation, God made light. Light did not just happen; God made it. The sights that we have seen so far have been darkness and light. The sounds that we have heard have been still water and God’s speaking. When God spoke, "Let there be light," Jesus made the light, and the light was good. On the second day of Creation God said, "The waters need to be divided. I want some waters up here (hold your hand high) and some waters down here (hold your hand low)." So God said, "Let there be a firmament. Let the firmament divide the waters; it will be between the waters up here and the waters down here." Jesus made the firmament, the space that is between waters down here and the clouds up there. The firmament is what is called the sky. The firmament is something for us to see, but it is not a sound. God looked at the firmament. It was good. The second evening and morning had come and gone. God decided that He did not like having only water down here below the firmament. He said, "Let the waters under the firmament be gathered together. Let some dry land show." The waters were gathered together. I think that there was a lot of swishing of the waters. After the waters got into the places where God wanted them, the dry land showed. God called the dry land Earth. (Put down the bowl of water and pick up the sand pan.) He called the waters Seas. God saw the earth, and He liked it. (Tilt the sand pan so that the children can see the bottom of it.) Nobody wants just plain old dry earth. God wanted His new creation to be pretty and useful. God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass and food and trees and let the trees have fruit on them." (Place into the sand or gravel appropriate items while saying the following.) So, Jesus made grass. He put the grass into the earth. He made some corn and potatoes and pretty flowers and trees and apples on some of the trees and many more things to grow. Jesus made the things and put them into the earth. Some of the things were food to eat, and some of the things were for beauty. The grass and food and fruit made no sounds, but they could look pretty and some could taste very good. Another evening and another morning had ended by now. That was the third day of Creation. God said, "Into the sky I need to put some lights that will light the earth. There needs to be light for the day and light for the night. The daytime light should be the brightest and the warmest. The nighttime light should not be so bright." God put into the sky a great ball of fire to give light by day and to make the earth warm for the growing things. That light was the sun. (Hold the circle of lights so that only the sun will be visible.) God made it so that the earth some of the days of the year was farther away from the sun than other days of the year. When the earth is farther away from the sun, it is colder. When the earth is closer to the sun, it is warmer. Then God made a ball that would not have any light of itself; light from the sun would shine on this ball. When the evening comes, and we can no longer see the sun (turn the sun down out of sight), the light of the sun shining on this ball gives light by night. That ball that shines by night is called the moon. God made the stars, also. The stars have light of themselves. After the sun, moon and stars were created by God and put into the sky, there had been another evening and morning. So, that was the fourth day of Creation. On the fourth day, God made no sounds, but there were sights—bright things to see. Let’s remember what has happened so far. (Hold up your hand and have your hand closed. Now hold up one finger.) First, God made light. (Now hold up the second finger.) Second, God made the firmament. (Now hold up your third finger.) On the third day, God made the earth and all the growing things that are in the earth. On the fourth day (hold up your fourth finger), God made the sun, moon and stars. (Now you can put your hand down. Mount on the bulletin board or wall the circle showing the sun, moon and stars.) God said, "It would be nice to have something that would fly around in the sky. It would also be nice to have something to swim in the lakes and oceans and rivers. (Show these pictures while saying the following.) Birds, chickens, ducks, and geese fly. Fish and big marine animals swim. (Show appropriate pictures.) The day when the birds and fish and chickens and ducks were created was the fifth day. There were many sights and sounds on the fifth day. Birds and chickens and ducks and geese were making a lot of noise. There was a lot of splashing of water as the fish were swimming and jumping up out of the water and splashing back down into the water. On the sixth day God said, "There should be some things that could walk around and run on the dry earth. There are living things in the waters and there are living things flying in the sky, but there is nothing that makes its home only on the earth. I’ll make some animals." (Put into your sand pan some models or pictures of many different kinds of animals.) Let’s name some of the animals that are in the earth. (Let the children help you.) There were certainly a lot more sights and sounds as God was making all the different kinds of animals. God made something else on that sixth day; He made bugs, too. Then God picked up some plain old dust from the ground. From the dust of the ground, He made the greatest miracle of all. From just dust God made a man. God made a man who had skin and teeth and bones and blood and hair. God made man so wondrously! Inside that body that God made, He put a soul. Man can think; he can decide whether he wants to run or walk or sit or lie down; he can decide whether to eat and what he wants to cook to eat. Best of all, man can talk with God, and God can talk to man. Man can learn new things every day. Man can do all sorts of things. Remember, it was just from the dust of the ground that God made man. God made man to be the best thing that He ever made. So, God made the first man. (Put a picture of a man into the sand pan.) Then God said, "It is not good that this man is alone. I will make something else that can think and talk and decide things. I will make something else that can talk with me." So God said, "Lie down, Adam." Adam was the name that God gave to that first man. God said, "Adam, go to sleep." God caused Adam to fall fast asleep and to sleep so hard that he could feel nothing. While Adam was asleep, so that it would not hurt, God took out of Adam’s chest—right here—a bone that is called a rib. From that rib, God made another person—God made a lady. (Put the picture of a lady into the sand pan.) Then God said, "Wake up, Adam." Adam woke up. God said to Adam, "Here is your wife. I have made this lady to be your wife." Adam named his wife; he named his wife Eve. God had made all the animals and all the birds and all the bugs, and then He made the man and the lady. God made each one of these things. God made all the birds to have little birds, all the fish to have little fish, all the horses to have little horses, all the mommies and daddies to have little boys and girls. God made sure that His earth stays together the way that He made it. He makes sure that apple trees have only apples, that cherry trees have cherries, and that frogs have baby frogs. On the seventh day, God said that everything was finished. God had created everything in six days. On the first day, He had made light. On the second day, He had made the firmament. On the third day, He had made the earth and the plants and the trees. On the fourth day, He had made the sun, moon and stars. On the fifth day, He had made everything that swims and flies. On the sixth day, He had made animals and bugs and people. On the seventh day, it was time for God to rest from the work of Creation. In the very beginning there was only God—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God the Son created everything. Don’t ever forget, children, God made you and me. The Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12 and verse 1—"Remember now thy Creator...." People did not come from anything else; God created people. He made the first man from the dust of the ground, and He made the first woman from the rib of the first man. That is the truth. LEARN OUR BIBLE VERSE: Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heaven and earth." |