All In The Family
Children's sermon
Ping-Pong Words
And 30 More Children's Sermons
Object:
Scripture Reference
The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled.
-- Genesis 9:18-19
Materials Needed
Card stock printed with scripture reference and verses
Chalkboard or poster board
Writing materials
Family Tree prepared on the chalkboard or poster board in advance
Family History page for each child, copied from this chapter
Telling The Story
Does anyone know what "genealogy" is? (Let children answer.) Genealogy is the search for your ancestors. It's the study of your family! Genealogists often keep track of information on a family tree. They start with one person -- the root of the tree. Let's make a family tree using me as the root. (Write your name on the first line.)
The next thing a genealogist will look for would be the names of the root person's parents. Everyone has two biological parents. Sometimes the person lives with both of them and sometimes the person doesn't, but everyone has two biological parents -- a mother and a father. My parents' names are: (insert parents' names and write them on the tree).
If everyone has two biological parents, does that mean that my parents have parents? They sure do! Do you know what you call your parents' parents? Grandparents -- my grandparents are (insert grandparents' names and write them on the tree).
Okay, so we have my name, my parents' names, and my grandparents' names. Do you think my grandparents have parents? They do, and do you know what grandparents' parents are called? They're called great-grandparents! My great-grandparents are (insert great-grandparents' names and write them on the tree).
Now, we could keep going with this chart and it would get rather large, but I want to talk about your family trees. You see, I've been doing some research and I discovered an ancestor for each one of you. Do you know what his name is? (Let children give answers.) It is Noah!
(Show the card stock printed with the scripture and verses and read them.) "The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled."
That's right. Noah ... as in Noah's Ark! Noah was a real person who lived a long, long time ago. According to this Bible verse, after the flood, no one was left on Earth except Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their sons' wives. That means that everyone who is alive today is a descendant of Noah ... that means Noah is our great-great-great-great-great-great ... I'm not sure how many greats ... many-greats-grandfather!
That also means that every person in the world is a relative ... maybe a distant relative ... but every person in the world is related to you, even if you have to go back to Noah to find that common ancestor. So what should we learn from this?
Number one: When you're reading the Bible, you aren't just reading stories about unknown people. Sometimes you're reading stories about your own family! That makes those stories even more interesting, doesn't it?
Number two: Whenever you meet someone, you're meeting a family member. Whenever you play on the playground, you're playing with family. Whenever you're tempted to be less-than-nice to someone, stop and think, "Is this how I want people to treat my family?" That's what you're doing! You're treating your family member well or treating that person badly. We all need to remember to treat the people we meet with the same respect that we want others to treat our family members because that's exactly what we're doing!
We're going to have a prayer now, and after the prayer, I have a Family History page for each of you. This is a list of questions to ask family members to help you start your own genealogy project. You may photocopy this page as many times as you wish.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this beautiful day, and thank you for giving us family members who love us and take care of us. Please help us to remember that everyone we come in contact with is a descendent of Noah and so everyone we meet is a distant cousin. Please help us to treat everyone with respect.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Family History
Form to fill out is in the printed book.
The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled.
-- Genesis 9:18-19
Materials Needed
Card stock printed with scripture reference and verses
Chalkboard or poster board
Writing materials
Family Tree prepared on the chalkboard or poster board in advance
Family History page for each child, copied from this chapter
Telling The Story
Does anyone know what "genealogy" is? (Let children answer.) Genealogy is the search for your ancestors. It's the study of your family! Genealogists often keep track of information on a family tree. They start with one person -- the root of the tree. Let's make a family tree using me as the root. (Write your name on the first line.)
The next thing a genealogist will look for would be the names of the root person's parents. Everyone has two biological parents. Sometimes the person lives with both of them and sometimes the person doesn't, but everyone has two biological parents -- a mother and a father. My parents' names are: (insert parents' names and write them on the tree).
If everyone has two biological parents, does that mean that my parents have parents? They sure do! Do you know what you call your parents' parents? Grandparents -- my grandparents are (insert grandparents' names and write them on the tree).
Okay, so we have my name, my parents' names, and my grandparents' names. Do you think my grandparents have parents? They do, and do you know what grandparents' parents are called? They're called great-grandparents! My great-grandparents are (insert great-grandparents' names and write them on the tree).
Now, we could keep going with this chart and it would get rather large, but I want to talk about your family trees. You see, I've been doing some research and I discovered an ancestor for each one of you. Do you know what his name is? (Let children give answers.) It is Noah!
(Show the card stock printed with the scripture and verses and read them.) "The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled."
That's right. Noah ... as in Noah's Ark! Noah was a real person who lived a long, long time ago. According to this Bible verse, after the flood, no one was left on Earth except Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their sons' wives. That means that everyone who is alive today is a descendant of Noah ... that means Noah is our great-great-great-great-great-great ... I'm not sure how many greats ... many-greats-grandfather!
That also means that every person in the world is a relative ... maybe a distant relative ... but every person in the world is related to you, even if you have to go back to Noah to find that common ancestor. So what should we learn from this?
Number one: When you're reading the Bible, you aren't just reading stories about unknown people. Sometimes you're reading stories about your own family! That makes those stories even more interesting, doesn't it?
Number two: Whenever you meet someone, you're meeting a family member. Whenever you play on the playground, you're playing with family. Whenever you're tempted to be less-than-nice to someone, stop and think, "Is this how I want people to treat my family?" That's what you're doing! You're treating your family member well or treating that person badly. We all need to remember to treat the people we meet with the same respect that we want others to treat our family members because that's exactly what we're doing!
We're going to have a prayer now, and after the prayer, I have a Family History page for each of you. This is a list of questions to ask family members to help you start your own genealogy project. You may photocopy this page as many times as you wish.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this beautiful day, and thank you for giving us family members who love us and take care of us. Please help us to remember that everyone we come in contact with is a descendent of Noah and so everyone we meet is a distant cousin. Please help us to treat everyone with respect.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Family History
Form to fill out is in the printed book.
