brian dembowczyk

The Tower of Babel

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 11 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People Disobey

Scene 7: The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1–9

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Genesis was written by Moses sometime between 1445–1405 BC to help the Israelites leaving Egypt understand their history with God. It’s one of the five books of the Law that Moses wrote, which we also call the Torah, or the Pentateuch, which means “five books.”

Today’s true story is one that shows even after God’s “reset” of the world by a flood, things had not changed. People continued in their sinful ways. This story is in Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 11:1–9

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

After the flood, the people settled in one place and decided to build a city with a tower that reached up high into the heavens. They wanted to make themselves famous and not have to spread out around the world as God had commanded.

When God saw what they were doing, he went down, confused the people’s language, and forced them to scatter. This is where the languages of the world came from.

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Why did they want to make such a tall tower?
Why did they want to make a name for themselves?
Why didn’t the people want to scatter around the world as God had commanded?
How did confusing the people’s language stop the work and force them to scatter?
What does Babel mean?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder what language everyone spoke to start with.
I wonder how much of the city and tower the people had built before God stopped it.
I wonder what it was like the moment God confused everyone’s language.
I wonder if anyone was left to live in the city the people had started making.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

One final time in Act 2, we see an example of what the world is not supposed to be like. God had told the people to multiply and fill the earth, but they wanted to stay in one place. God made people as his image-bearers so we could make much of him, but the people wanted to make much of themselves. God made people to be unified in our worship and honor of God, but they were unified in their worship and honor of themselves instead.

We also see a contrast between “up” and “down” here. The people were building the tower up to celebrate themselves, while God looked down and came down to stop their work. Instead of God coming down to enjoy relationship with his people as he had done in Eden, he is now coming down to break fellowship between his people.

This is all the opposite of the world God intends, one in which we live together in harmony and unity, but also in obedience. It’s a world in which we make God’s goodness known. As we have seen throughout this Act, it’s a world where we live in humility, not boastful pride like here at Babel, and joyful obedience, not blatant disobedience like here at Babel.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

While the people after the flood refused to go where God told them to go and do what God told them to do, that was exactly what Jesus did. By coming to earth, Jesus went exactly where the Father wanted him to go. And by living a life of perfect obedience and laying down his life, Jesus did exactly what the Father wanted him to do. Jesus did this for the primary reason of bringing the Father glory. It was amazing humility that prompted amazing obedience, and we owe our forgiveness, eternal life, and everything else to it.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

How can you be especially humble this week? Remember, humility is not thinking poorly of yourself; it is thinking more highly of God and others. It is putting God first, others second, and yourself third. What are ways that you can display humility with your friends, family, and others to show them Jesus?

How can you obey God this week, in big ways and small ways, so that people might see Jesus in you? Think about all the places you will be this week and what you will do. How can you obey God and people he has placed in authority with joy?

NEXT: Act 3: God Promises Jesus; Scene 1: Abraham Is Called by God (Genesis 12:1–20)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

Noah After the Flood

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 8–9 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People Disobey

Scene 6: Noah After the Flood

Genesis 8:20—9:17

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story is a pretty well known one. It’s the story of a man named Noah, a huge flood, and a very big boat. This story is in Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 8:20—9:17

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

Once leaving the ark, Noah built an altar and worshiped the Lord (v. 20). God promised he would never destroy the earth again as he had done (vv. 21–22).

God then blessed Noah and his family and gave them animals for food, but he warned them that animals would now be hostile (9:1–6). He then told Noah to be fruitful and multiply and increase on the earth (v. 7). God made a covenant with Noah never to flood the world again as he had and gave the rainbow as a sign of that covenant promise (vv. 8–17).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Why did Noah build an altar and sacrifice so many animals?
Why did God determine never to destroy the earth again as he had?
Why did God now give people animals for food?
Why does not eating blood matter so much to God?
What is a “covenant”?
Why would God need to “remember” his covenant? Does he forget?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder how many animals Noah sacrificed.
I wonder if this is why God had Noah take so many clean animals on the ark.
I wonder how Noah knew what animals were clean.
I wonder what it was like for Noah and his family to eat meat for the first time.
I wonder if the animals became afraid of Noah and his family right away.
I wonder why God chose the rainbow as a sign of his covenant with Noah.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

Genesis 8 and 9 are a “do-over,” reminding us of Genesis 1 and 2. In Eden, God gave Adam and Eve food to eat and instructions to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the earth. Here, he gives Noah and his family food to eat and instructed them the same way he had Adam and Eve. The flood hasn’t changed anything; God is still a good provider for his people and he expects his people to obey him. What people had messed up through their pride and rebellion, God wants to start anew.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

Once again, we see the centrality of humility and obedience, both of which remind us of Jesus. Noah obeyed wonderfully, but not perfectly. Right after this, he will make a major mistake (Gen. 9:18–29). Thankfully, Jesus made no mistakes. He committed no sins. He perfectly obeyed the Father in full and genuine humility.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 7: The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

Noah During the Flood

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 7–8 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People Disobey

Scene 5: Noah During the Flood

Genesis 7:1—8:19

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story picks up from our last story. Last time, we saw how people had become so evil that God decided to wipe them off the earth by a flood. But he chose to spare Noah and his family from this flood of judgment. He gave Noah very specific instructions to build a very large boat. That’s where we pick up the story. This story is in Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 7:1—8:19

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

God told Noah to get ready to get on the boat and that he would need to bring seven pairs of every clean animal and a pair of every unclean animal with him. It would rain in seven days and that rain would last 40 days and 40 nights (7:1–4).

Noah obeyed God. They got on the boat and God shut them in. Noah was 600 years old when the rains began. The rains lasted just as God had said; waters burst forth from above and below. All the people and animals outside of the boat died (vv. 5–23).

The flood lasted 150 days (v. 24).

God then caused a wind to drive the flood waters down. The boat then came to rest on a mountain. After 40 days, Noah sent a dove out to see if the ground was dry, but it wasn’t. A week later, he sent the dove again, and this time it returned with an olive leaf, meaning the ground was dry. A week later, he sent out the dove again and it didn’t return (8:1–12).

Noah then removed the cover from the boat and saw the ground was indeed dry. God told Noah and his family to come out of the ark and bring the animals with them. They were to be fruitful and multiply across the earth (vv. 13–19).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Why does the Bible repeat the details of this story so often?
Why did Noah bring seven pairs of clean animals and a pair of unclean animals?
What are clean and unclean animals?
What were the fountains of the great deep that burst open?
Was this flood across the entire world?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder what it was like seeing God bring all the animals to the boat.
I wonder what it smelled like and sounded like on the boat.
I wonder if the animals got along on the boat.
I wonder what it was like to be on dry ground again.
I wonder if it was hard for Noah and his family to see any of the animals leave.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

This story reminds us of how seriously God takes sin. We often think of a little boat with cute animals when we think of Noah’s ark, but we can’t miss that many, many people (and animals) died in this story. God had warned Adam and Eve that sin would lead to death. And here, we see that God is true to his word. This is another glimpse of an upside-down world, one that is nothing like it’s supposed to be. Instead, the world is supposed to be one where all people obey him. God didn’t intend for floods of judgment to cover his creation, but rather floods of blessings.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

God sent a flood upon the earth because people had become full of pride and weren’t just disobeying him, but they were also looking for ways to do disobey God even more. Noah, on the other hand, is a person full of humility who did exactly as God told him to do. It took great humility for Noah to believe God about the coming flood and build an ark on land that was dry at the time. We can only imagine the puzzled looks, questions, and mockery he endured while building it. But no matter, Noah obeyed God down to the smallest detail.

Noah is a good example of humility and obedience, but Jesus was an even better example—the perfect example. Jesus came to earth in the greatest of humility. He, too, endured scorn and mockery. And all the while, he obeyed the Father fully—in all matters big and small.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 6: Noah After the Flood (Genesis 8:20—9:17)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

Noah Before the Flood

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 6 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People Disobey

Scene 4: Noah Before the Flood

Genesis 6:1–22

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story is a pretty well known one. It’s the beginning of the story about a man named Noah, a huge flood, and a very, very big boat. This story is in Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 6:1–22

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

As families continued to grow and spread out, they continued to sin against God, becoming more and more evil. People couldn’t do anything but rebel against God. God is patient, but he has his limits. He decided to wipe all people and animals off the face of the earth. He would bring this judgment in 120 years. But God chose to give grace to Noah (vv. 1–8).

Noah was godly. He wasn’t perfect, but he wanted to know God and follow him. God told Noah his plans to wipe out all the people and animals with a great flood. But he told Noah to build a large boat and gave him instructions for how to do that. Noah and his family were to enter that boat and take every kind of animal with them. God would spare all the people and animals on that boat. Then, God would make a covenant with Noah (vv. 9–21).

Noah obeyed God (v. 22).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Who were the sons of God and daughters of men and why was what they did wrong?
Who were the Nephilim?
What does it mean that God regretted making people?
Why did God want to wipe out the animals too?
What does it mean that Noah found favor?
What does it mean that Noah was blameless?
What does it mean to walk with God?
Were animals sinful too? How?
Why did God give such exact instructions for building the ark?
What is a covenant?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder why God chose 120 years.
I wonder if the Nephilim were giants.
I wonder why evil was all people could do.
I wonder how God felt seeing the world he made fall apart.
I wonder how Noah managed to remain godly in such a crazy world.
I wonder why God chose a flood.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

Like the stories we have recently covered, this one shows us how the world is not supposed to be. It shows us how badly we can break things if we go our own way instead of following God’s way. The world God is after is one filled with Noahs—men, women, and children who love God and want to obey him. It’s a world where every thought and action isn’t evil, but rather delighting in God. It’s a world overflowing not with water, but God’s glory.

Like the family of Seth in the previous chapter, this story is another hard one, but there is hope in it to. God will bring judgment on sin because he is just. But he will also provide a way of salvation because he is loving. Noah didn’t deserve to be spared from the flood. He was a good man, but he was not perfect. He sinned too. It was nothing he did that saved him, it was all God’s choice and actions. God chose to spare Noah and then God told Noah exactly what to do to be saved—follow his plans of building the ark.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

As we will see in the next two parts of this story, Noah obeys God and is saved in the ark as it floated in the waters of God’s judgment. This is an important picture of how God brings salvation through judgment. We are saved not by God changing his mind to punish sins. God must punish sin. So, like Noah, we are saved through judgment. God used a wooden ark to save Noah; he used a wooden cross to save us. This all points to Jesus, who died on that cross and took our punishment.

This story is another one that shows us the importance of obedience. Noah obeyed God fully. In this, he was living like Jesus. Jesus obeyed the Father fully when he came to earth, did not sin even one time, and pleased God. He also obeyed the Father when he gave up his life on the cross to pay our punishment.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 5: Noah During the Flood (Genesis 7:1—8:19)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

Seth’s Family

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 5 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People Disobey

Scene 3: Seth’s Family

Genesis 5:1–32

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story is another hard one, but it’s one where we see a beautiful glimpse of hope midway through it. This story is in Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 5:1–32

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

This chapter is the story of Adam’s family line through Seth (vv. 1–2).

Adam lived 930 years and was the father of Seth (vv. 3–5).

Seth lived 912 years and was the father of Enosh (vv. 6–8).

Enosh lived 905 years and was the father of Kenan (vv. 9–11).

Kenan lived 910 years and was the father of Mahalalel (vv. 12–14).

Mahalalel lived 895 years and was the father of Jared (vv. 15–17).

Jared lived 962 years and was the father of Enoch (vv. 18–20).

Enoch lived 365 years, but because he walked with God, God took him without Enoch dying. He was the father of Methuselah (vv. 21–24).

Methuselah lived 969 years and was the father of Lamech (vv. 25–27).

Lamech lived 777 years and was the father of Noah (vv. 28–31).

Noah lived 500 years and was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth (v. 32).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Why does this chapter begin by talking about God making people in his image like in Genesis 1?
Did these people really live so long? How?
What does it mean that Enoch “walked with God”?
Why and how did God take Enoch?
What did Noah’s father mean when he said Noah would bring comfort from their work?
Why aren’t we told how long Noah lived in total and that he died?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder how many of these people were alive at the same time.
I wonder what it would be like to live almost 1,000 years.
I wonder why we don’t learn more about Seth’s family like we did Cain’s.
I wonder if Seth’s family and Cain’s family knew each other.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

This story bridges all the ones we’ve covered so far and the next one. In Genesis 1–2, God made people in his image to have a special friendship with him. But then, in Genesis 3, we saw how people disobeyed God and broke the one rule he had given—not to eat from a special tree. God had said that if they sinned, they would die. Genesis 4 showed us how deeply sin affected Adam and Eve’s family, starting with one of their sons, Cain, killing their other one, Abel. We then learned that Cain’s family line continued to sin.

Here, Genesis 5 shows us how Seth’s family did. As we read the chapter, one phrase might standout because it appears time and time again: “and then he died.” What God promised would happen—death—came true. Seth’s family line was better than Cain’s family line, but they still were sinners, deserving to die. Life and death. Life and death. Over and over again.

Except one: Enoch. Enoch apparently was especially close to God and God did something very special for him. Enoch didn’t die. God took him into heaven instead. Enoch shows us that there is a way to escape the curse of death, but it isn’t because of anything we do; it’s because of what God does.

This idea is why Seth’s family line ends with Noah. We will follow Noah’s story for the next few chapters and we will see that God spares him and his family from sure death in an amazing way. And just like he did for Enoch, God spares Noah not because of anything he would do, but rather because of God’s good grace.

Sin has shattered God’s good world. It’s not as it’s supposed to be. But God is at work fixing what people have broken.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

This story is one about humility. Pride is what got people into trouble in the first place as we saw in Genesis 3. Then, pride cemented itself into Cain and his family line as we saw in Genesis 4. But here, we see that humility is the path toward being made right with God again. While God’s salvation is a free gift from him, we must be humble to receive it. When we are humble, we imitate Jesus who humbled himself to come to earth and then suffer and die to provide the very salvation that we need.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 4: Noah Before the Flood (Genesis 6:1–22)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

Cain’s Sinful Family

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 4 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People Disobey

Scene 2: Cain’s Sinful Family

Genesis 4:1–26

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story is another unhappy one. It’s the story of a brother doing the worst thing imaginable to his brother. This story is in Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 4:1–26

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel (vv. 1–2). God accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s and this made Cain very angry (vv. 3–5). Despite God warning Cain, he took his brother out into the field and murdered him (vv. 6–8). God punished Cain for his sin and made him wander the earth, but he also was kind to provide Cain with protection (vv. 9–16).

Cain’s family followed in his sinful footsteps, with one of his offspring bragging even bragging for killing someone who wounding him. (vv. 17–24). With Abel dead and Cain banished, God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth (vv. 25–26).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Why did Cain and Abel give God offerings?
Why did God accept Abel’s offering but not Abel’s?
Why did God rejecting Cain’s offering make Cain mad?
Why did Cain kill Abel?
Why did God punish Cain the way he did?
Why did God protect Cain?
Where did the people Cain was afraid of come from?
Was it OK for Lamech to take two wives?
What does it mean that people began to worship the Lord when Enosh was born to Seth?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder how old Cain and Abel were in this story.
I wonder what made Abel’s offering good and not Cain’s.
I wonder how God warned Cain.
I wonder what it was like for Adam and Eve to lose Abel and Cain in different ways.
I wonder what the “mark” on Cain was.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

This story echoes the last one—Adam and Eve sinning in the garden—but it is worse. Humanity went from being perfect to one where a brother kills his own brother. This shows how quickly people’s hearts became hard because of sin. Sin just isn’t a small problem we have to deal with; it is a plague that haunts us. This is not the world God intended. God intends for us to live at peace and with love for one another. He intends that we put others before ourselves as we obey him in every area of our lives.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

The story of Cain and Abel, and then Lamech’s later bragging about murdering someone, points to our great need of a Savior—Jesus. We’re more like Cain that we want to admit. While we may not have murdered anyone, let alone our own brothers, we are quick to be full of pride and anger. We are slow to listen to God and obey him, even if he knows us best, loves us, and wants only good for us. We’re broken and we need someone else to fix us. That someone is, of course, Jesus.

While this story shows us that sin runs deep and God will not ignore it, we also see something wonderful too. God gave Cain mercy and grace, even if he didn’t deserve it. Judgment will always come, but so will God’s mercy and grace. We see this also in the God’s provision of Seth. God had promised the rescuer would come from Adam and Eve’s family. It couldn’t have been through Abel, since he died. And Cain was excluded because of his terrible sin. But God provided another way when he gave Seth as a son.

This story shows us the same two characteristics of Jesus (by counterexample), that we can see in Genesis 3: humility and obedience.

Cain’s main mistake was that he lacked humility. He lacked humility to celebrate Abel’s blessing from God. He lacked humility to listen to God’s warning and act on in. And he lacked humility to put Abel’s life first. This is all the exact opposite of who Jesus is and how we are to live.

At the same time, Cain, like his parents, failed to obey God. He failed to honor life and bring about flourishing. And we see this same pattern of disobedience in his family after. God’s design for marriage is one man and one woman, but Lamech took two wives and like Cain, he murdered someone else too. Again, this is the opposite of how Jesus lived—in full obedience to the Father—and how we are to live as well.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 3: Seth’s Family (Genesis 5:1–32)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

Adam and Eve Disobey

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 3 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People Disobey

Scene 1: Adam and Eve Disobey

Genesis 3:1–24

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story is the first one in the Bible that a happy one. It’s the story of how people messed up God’s perfect creation and the reason for everything else that follows in the Bible. This story is the first one of Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 3:1–24

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

The serpent told Eve half truths and lies to confuse her about who God is and who she is (vv. 1–5).

Because Eve was confused, doubted God’s goodness, and believed she deserved more, she disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and so did Adam who was with her. When they recognized they were unclothed, they made coverings for themselves (vv. 6–7).

When God came into the garden, Adam and Eve hid themselves and God drew out of them what had happened (vv. 9–13).

God then disciplined each person involved in this act of disobedience. The serpent first (vv. 14–15), then Eve (v. 16), and finally Adam (vv. 17–19).

Then, Adam named Eve, God made Adam and Eve clothes from animal skins, and God removed Adam and Eve from the garden (vv. 20–24).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Was the serpent Satan or controlled by him?
Could animals normally talk?
Did God say Adam and Eve couldn’t touch the tree?
Why didn’t Adam do anything to help and protect Eve?
Why did Adam and Eve hide from God?
What does it mean to be cursed?
Did the serpent have legs before?
What does it mean that an offspring would strike the serpent’s head and it would strike his heel?
Why did God make Adam and Eve clothes from an animal?
Why did God ban Adam and Eve from the garden?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder what it was like to hear a serpent talk.
I wonder how long it took for Adam and Eve to recognize they made a huge mistake.
I wonder if God had always come to spend time with Adam and Eve in the garden.
I wonder what it was like for Adam and Eve to leave the garden.
I wonder what the angels guarding the tree looked like.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

This story shows us the opposite of how things are supposed to go. In it, we see the world broken and not working as it should.

First, we see the serpent confusing Eve and causing her to think more highly of herself than she should have. Instead of trusting God, she came to believe she knew better than God and that she deserved more from him. We can guess that Adam, who was with Eve, felt the same. This is pride, and it’s the opposite of how God intends for people to live. We are to live with humility instead.

Second, we see Adam and Eve go from obedience in Genesis 2 to disobedience here. We don’t know how much time passed, but the brief telling of Genesis 2 and that Adam and Eve had no children likely means it wasn’t too much time. God had given Adam and Eve one clear instruction about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he was clear in his warning. But it didn’t take much for Adam and Eve—even if they were perfet—to disobey. This shows us how hard it is to obey God in our lives. But this is the world God made and what he expects of us.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

In this story, we see two amazing pictures of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

First, he is the “offspring” God promised would come and crush the head of the serpent (v. 15). This is talking about the cross, when Satan thought he beat Jesus, but he only wounded him (“strike his heel”). In reality, the cross is when Satan, sin, and death were defeated.

Second, while Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin and shame themselves, using leaves, God covered them in a different way. He used animal skin, meaning an animal had to die—the first recorded death in the Bible. God took an animal’s life to provide a way to cover Adam and Eve’s sin and shame in a better way. This is what God did by providing Jesus to lay down his life on the cross, so that if we believe in him, our sin is covered and forgiven and are shame is removed forevermore.

We also see two marks of living like Jesus in this story.

The first is the humility of Jesus. He demonstrated amazing humility in leaving his rightful place in heaven to come to earth, so that he could live the perfect life we have not lived, lay down his life to be our sacrifice for sin, and rise again from the dead, showing sin and death are defeated. Jesus put his Father’s will first while on earth, and loved us and cared for us more than his own life.

The second is the obedience of Jesus. He obeyed God fully—in big ways and small ways. He shows us what it looks like to obey even when it’s hard. Satan tried to trick Jesus and get him to disobey, but Jesus didn’t fall for it. He shows us that obedience is possible—in his power and with his help.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 2: Cain’s Sinful Family (Genesis 4:1–26)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

Adam and Eve Obey

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 2 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 1: God Creates

Scene 2: Adam and Eve Obey

Genesis 2:1–25

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story that finishes and then retells the last one. In Genesis 1, we had a bird’s-eye view of creation; in Genesis 2, we will zoom to see more details of God creating people, his most special creation. It is in Act 1 of the Bible’s big story, God Creates.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 2:1–25

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

After God made everything, he rested on the seventh day (vv. 1–3).

In retelling how God made people, we see that God breathed life into the first man, Adam (vv. 4–7)

God made a garden, or orchard, in Eden with trees with perfect food on them. In this garden, he placed two special trees: the tree of life and the three of the knowledge of good and evil. The garden was watered by several rivers (vv. 8–14).

God gave Adam one thing he could not do: eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He warned Adam that if he did, he would die (vv. 15–17).

After saying everything in creation was “good,” God said one thing was not good: Adam being alone without another human. So God placed all the animals before Adam so he could name them, but Adam did not find a companion—a friend like him. So God caused him to sleep and made the first woman, Eve, from him. When Adam woke up and saw the woman, he was grateful and they became husband and wife (vv. 18–25).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Why did God rest on the seventh day?
What does it mean that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy?
Why did God breathe life into Adam?
Why did God put the two special trees in the garden?
Why would Adam die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Why did God think it was not good for Adam to be alone?
Why did God have Adam name all the animals?
Why did God make Eve from part of Adam?
What did Adam mean by what he said when he saw Eve?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder what the garden of Eden looked like.
I wonder what types of vegetables and fruits were in the garden.
I wonder what Adam did at first?
I wonder why Adam named the animals like he did.
I wonder if Adam’s side hurt when he woke up.
I wonder what Adam thought when he saw Eve.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

While we don’t know how much time passes in Genesis 2 before Genesis 3 happens, it is a time marked by perfect obedience to God. At least for this time, everything God made was working like it was supposed to. Adam and then Adam and Eve did what God told them to do and experienced a perfect life in a perfect world with a perfect God.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

Obedience is a mark of living like Jesus. He was obedient to the Father in everything he did. It wasn’t always easy, but Jesus did it anyway. The greatest reward of Jesus’ obedience is that it led to our salvation from sin.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 1: Adam and Eve Disobey (Genesis 3:1–24)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

God Creates Everything

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 1 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 1: God Creates

Scene 1: God Creates Everything

Genesis 1:1–31

Analyze the Passage

Step 1: Introduce the Passage

Today’s true story is the very first one in the Bible; the one story that begins all the rest of the true stories we will read. It is in Act 1 of the Bible’s big story, God Creates.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 1:1–31

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

In the beginning, there was nothing but God (v. 1).

Then God created:

Day 1: Light and separated light from darkness (vv. 2–5).
Day 2: The sky and separated the waters (vv. 6–8).
Day 3: Land, separated the waters from the land, and created plants and trees (vv. 9–13).
Day 4: The sun, moon, and stars to fill the heavens (vv. 14–19).
Day 5: Fish to fill the waters and birds to fill the sky (vv. 20–23).
Day 6: Animals to fill the land and people in his image (vv. 24–31).

Everything God created was good.

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Why did God create everything in this order?
Why did God create everything?
What did God create everything from?
What were the waters above the sky?
Why does this passage talk about things producing according to their kind?
Were these literal days?
Who is God talking to when he said “let us” in v. 26?
What does it mean to be made in God’s image?
Were people vegetarians to begin with?
What does it mean that God “blessed” people?

Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder why God made everything.
I wonder what the universe looked like after each day.
I wonder why God made so many different kinds of plants, fish, birds, and animals.
I wonder what food tasted like at first when everything was perfect.

Connect the Passage to Christ

Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text

The ideal world that God created is one of perfection: perfect design, perfect harmony, perfect purpose, perfect everything. This is a world without sin, conflict, pain, or death. It is a world where everything is good.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

God was abundantly kind and generous to create such an amazing world for us to live in and to make us in his image. He didn’t have to do this, but he did because he wants us to love him and enjoy what he has made.

Generosity is a mark of living like Jesus. He was so generous to us that he gave us his very life so we can be saved from sin.

Translate It to Your Context

Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

How can you be amazingly generous with someone this week to show them Jesus? Who might you be generous toward, how might you do it, and when might you do it?

NEXT: Act 1: God Creates; Scene 2: Adam and Eve Obey (Genesis 2:1–25)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

The Obedience of Jesus

This is the last of seven core characteristics of Jesus we’ve been called to imitate and thus disciple our kids toward using the ACT Bible Study Method. Learn more about this family discipleship method here.

TLDR: Jesus coming to earth was an act of obedience, an attribute he continued every minute of every day of his earthly life. This obedience was not always easy, but what enabled him to live in obedience no matter what was his desire to bring glory to the Father.

After celebrating the Passover feast with his disciples, Jesus takes them to the Mount of Olives to pray (Luke 22:39). Jesus knows what is in store over the coming hours. He would soon be arrested and paraded through several illegal trials. He would be beaten within an inch of his life, and then be nailed to a cross, left to die a slow, painful death. In these final quiet moments before that encroaching storm, Jesus needs to draw strength from the Father, so he kneels in prayer (Luke 22:41). We might not think much about kneeling in prayer. Some of us might pray this way at times, so we might quickly read over this detail. But kneeling was not the general prayer posture of Jesus’ day. Standing or sitting was. When Jesus kneels, it’s a clue about the intense emotion he feels in the moment (Matt. 26:38).

Take this Cup

We see this intensity of emotion in what Jesus prays about. At the center of his prayer is the request for the Father to “take this cup away” (Luke 22:42). We can’t be sure what Jesus meant by “cup.” Some think it might have been the physical suffering that was coming. Others think it was bearing the weight of sin and suffering the Father’s wrath. Jesus would become sin on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21) and the thought of this was perhaps too much to bear.

It’s important that we work through what Jesus meant by “cup” as we study this passage, but we shouldn’t focus on that so much that we miss what is around it. What Jesus said right before and after the “cup” is just as important as what that “cup” is.

“Father, if you are willing…”

Then the request.

Then, “Yet not my will but yours be done.”

Yet Not My Will but Yours

Do you see why this is so important? This moment in the garden is the most challenging of Jesus’ life—even more than the three temptations by Satan in the wilderness. Taking this cup away might have been the boldest request Jesus could have made. We may not know exactly what Jesus meant by the “cup,” but we do know it had something to do with the cross. Yet, that cross was at the center of the Father’s eternal plan of redemption. And now, mere hours—perhaps even minutes—from this plan going into overdrive, Jesus asks the Father for another way. Do you see the boldness? That boldness, however, makes what surrounds it even more compelling. As excruciating as this moment is, Jesus is fixated on obeying the Father. The Father’s will is more important than his will. Jesus doesn’t want what he wanted if the Father doesn’t want it, too. No matter how difficult the cup would be, Jesus would endure it if it was what the Father willed. Why? Because Jesus loves the Father. Yes, Jesus loves us. Yes, he died for us. But we were not primary on his mind in that moment—we never are. The Father was and the Father is.¹ And praise God that Jesus obeyed the Father out of love! Without it, we would still be bearing the cup that Jesus took. We would still be separated from God. We would still be under his wrath. We would still face an eternity of suffering, apart from God.

A Perpetual Posture of Obedience

As we teach our kids about obeying God, we need to position obedience not as an accessory to our lives, but as the priority. Doing God’s will should be our primary focus, and our obedience should be done unconditionally out of love. This is the obedience that marked Jesus. To imitate him requires that we obey likewise.

But we don’t want to “super-spiritualize” our obedience either. A “God said it; that settles it” mentality might be theologically true, but it’s theologically incomplete. Jesus wrestled with obeying the Father in the garden. His struggle wasn’t one of whether to obey or not, as the bookends of his request prove. He was going to do the Father’s will—that was not in question for him, and it shouldn’t be for us. His struggle was one of wishing there were another way for the Father’s will to come to pass. He shows us that sometimes obedience is painful. Sometimes it’s costly. That is what gave him pause. And his struggle in that moment gives us permission to do likewise. It’s OK for us to wish God had another way. It’s OK for us to fight against our flesh that recoils from obeying God or from doing hard things. There’s nothing wrong with the fight. It’s part of being image-bearers in a fallen world. But each struggle should end the exact same way it did for Jesus: “Not my will but yours be done.”

NEXT: Act 1: God Creates; Scene 1: God Creates Everything (Gen. 1:1–31)

If we are primary on the mind of Jesus, even for a split second, then he would become an idolater. God is primary even for himself. He is the greatest good. He is the one that deserves all glory. ↩︎