Wonder of the Word Kids Audio, Day 1

Day 1: Genesis 1-2, Creation

Intro

Narrator

Hello…and welcome to Wonder of the Word for kids! We are ready to begin an incredible journey through the Bible and I’m so glad you’re joining me. We get to memorize Bible verses together, and learn amazing, wonderful things from God’s Word.

You might be wondering, “Who is this lady that I’m listening to?” You can call me Nana Helen. And, there’s a short video for you and your parents to watch on our website, where you can meet me. I’ll tell you some things about myself and what we’ll be doing together this year. You’ll hear about the memory verses we’ll be learning and a contest we’ll be having. You can find that video at reviveourhearts.kids, so make sure you check that out with your parent’s help.

Why don’t we begin this journey by asking God to help us.

Pray

Father God, thank you for giving us this opportunity to learn your Word together. Would you help us to understand who you are? We want to know you and love you more, but we need your help. In Jesus Name, Amen

Teaching 1

We’re going to start at the very beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis. In fact, that’s what the word Genesis means – beginning. It’s the beginning of everything! And we need to know what this book says in order to understand the rest of the Bible.

I’m going to have my friend Ella read right from the first chapter about how God created everything. And while she does that, I want you to pay close attention to the verbs. Verbs are words that show action and here’s how to find them. If I said, “The boy ran a race,” in order to find the verb or action, I need to ask this question. “What did the boy do?” He “ran” didn’t he? We want to look for what God is doing while we read, so I’ll ask, “What did God do?“ When we ask that question, we’ll find out what God did to create everything we see. And when we think about what he did, we’ll learn new things about him. So let’s get started!

Music Intro

Stone earth/reverb sfx

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Helen: Who was already here in the beginning? God was. He is eternal. That means He has always been. And what did God do? Here’s our first verb. It says God…created. He’s the one who made everything. It didn’t “just happen” over billions of years, God planned everything and then created it all. When you make something, maybe out Legos, or Play Dough, you think about how you want it to look or what you want it to do. You plan and then you make it. That’s what God did!

Now what was our earth like in the beginning?

SFX: Water/ Eerie Musical Drone/Empty wind

Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Helen: Would you like to live in a dark empty world covered with water? I don’t think we could live in a world like that. But God wasn’t done, was he?

Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

SFX: drone changes/music starts/WHOOSH

God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening and a morning: one day.

Helen: What did God do? He just “said”, he spoke. There was power in His words. And then He separated, didn’t He? He separated the light and the darkness so that we can have days and nights.

Verse 6 Then God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.

SFX: Water Whoosh/ocean sfx

So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. God called the expanse sky. Evening came and then morning: the second day.

Helen: That may be a little hard to understand. God made the expanse and separated water. The expanse is our sky. And up in the sky are clouds, aren’t there? What are clouds made of? Little drops of water.(SFX: Water droplets) And then, of course we have water on the earth.

Verse 9 Then God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the water he called seas. And God saw that it was good.

Helen: Can you imagine the power it took to move the water to one place so that the land could appear? God spoke and that happened. And he saw that it was good. He speaks again in verse 11.

Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation, seed bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. SFX: Organic growing/little pop for seeds

Helen: All this happened on the third day of creation. God was getting the world ready for people and animals to live on so there would be food for everyone. But something else was needed before that could happen.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years. God made the two great lights – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night – as well as the stars. God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.

Helen: You know what we call the great light, right? It’s our sun. And the lesser light? The moon. If we pick out the verbs…. God said, God made, God placed. It’s hard to imagine how he made the sun, moon and the stars. And how he placed our sun just at the right spot. If it was closer to us, earth would be way too hot to live on. If it was farther away, our planet would be too cold. And we use the sun and the moon to tell time and to keep track of days and years. Every time the earth travels around the sun – that takes a whole year - you get to celebrate another birthday again!

Now, everything was ready for people and animals to have a place to live. Let’s find out what happened on the fifth day of creation.

Verse 21 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky. So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. SFX: Splashes/wing flaps/bird calls/Whale calls

Helen: It’s really fun to learn about creatures in the oceans and all the birds. There are so many different kinds, each one unique. Our God is so creative, isn’t he? I have a bird feeder outside my window and I love watching them. The design on some of their feathers is amazing. And the colors… red birds, blue ones, black and white ones, and all different sizes. And there’s these little birds that like to hang upside down. They’re funny to watch! God designed and planned and made each of them.

(SFX: Subtle nature scape with bird noises –close)

Helen: We are ready for day six. Let’s start with verse 24.

Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

God saw the animals he had made and they were good. Do you have a favorite animal? How about a favorite insect? Some animals are funny, some are beautiful, some are fast and some are slow.

But now we come to God’s most special creation. Pay attention to see how he made people. Was it different than how he made everything else? Listen for the verbs!

Verse 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.

So God created man in his own image: he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. (SFX: Subtle wind and sound scape- forming sfx? Rock or earth?)

Helen: So, are we different from animals? We are! God made us in his image. There are ways we are like him. We can communicate with him and with each other. We can think about things, reason, and make decisions. We can love, we can understand what is good. And we have feelings like God does.

He gives us more detail about how he made the first man in chapter 2. It tells us that He formed Adam from the dirt, the dust of the ground. SFX: Small particles, earth moving, breath Stop and imagine God doing this, how carefully He would have worked. And think about how he made all the parts of our bodies, our heart, our lungs, our eyes work-they’re incredible, and our ears that hear so many different sounds! And then, how he made all the parts work together.

Not only did God form Adam and Eve, but he also did something else. It says he planted a garden in Eden for the people he made. Doesn’t that just show how much love and care he had for them?

God blessed Adam and Eve. The word bless in this case means he was giving them his good favor and approval to carry out what he intended them to do. And what was it God wanted them to do? They were to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth with their children and grandchildren. And they were to rule over and take care of His world.

At the end of this 6th day of creation, God looked at everything he had made and it was very good indeed. On the 7th day, God rested and said it was a holy day. A day set apart to rest. (SFX: all the creation sfx layers brought together and calming on the word rest)

God has given us imaginations. And as you get to know me, you’ll find out I love to imagine things and I’m guessing you do, too. We’ve done a little of that today, but let’s imagine what it might have been like for Adam and Eve in that garden. What kinds of things would they have seen? What would they have discovered? What would they have enjoyed? What would have made them laugh? I wonder if it could have been a little like this…

Audio Drama

Characters: Adam, Eve

SFX: Paradise sounds, running water, birdsong, foliage, barefoot footsteps, Chameleon steps- cute scuttling)

Eve: Adam, Adam, come here, quick!

Adam: What is it?

Eve: Look what I found! (with wonder) He’s a funny little thing!

Adam: I named that kind chameleon, Eve!

Eve: Chameleon? You chose a good name for him. Watch him while he’s crawling on this branch. (pause) It’s amazing! See? See?

Adam: What?! He’s changing to a different color!! He was green and now…now he’s purple. I wonder how he does that?

Eve: A few minutes ago, he was blue! And look at his eyes, Adam. They don’t move together like ours do. He can move one eye one direction while the other is looking off somewhere else.

Adam: Oh, he’s turning orange now. Incredible.

Eve: I can’t wait for this evening when our Father God comes to walk with us. I have SO many questions to ask…

Adam: He loves us so much, Eve. He made us different from the animals so we can talk to him and think about things, and…and know him.

Eve: You are right…. and I just love this garden He planted for us. It’s soo beautiful! I keep looking inside each of the flowers I find and see such amazing designs on each petal.

Adam: I know Eve, and I found something I want to thank him for tonight.

Eve: What is it? (ask innocently).... Something to eat, isn’t it? (in a kidding voice)

Adam: How did you guess?

Eve: Hmmm… not too hard!

Adam: Here it is…You’re going to love this!

Eve: Oh, it’s beautiful! I love the peach color… and, Adam, it’s fuzzy on the outside.

Adam: Take a bite, Eve!

Eve: (SFX juicy bite taken) MMMMM…. So juicy and sweet and… delicious! Ah! It’s dripping down my chin! He has given us SO many good things to eat, but this….this is really good. (talking with mouth full)

Adam: Maybe we should call it a peach! …….Oh,look, the sun is starting to set! He’ll be coming soon!

Eve: (calm, peaceful, full of wonder, sigh) Look at the colors he is putting in the sky…red, pink, purple, and blue. It’s beautiful! I am so happy!

Adam: I am, too. Everything is perfect.

Music transition

CLOSING

Helen: Perfect. It was perfect. That’s because a perfect God made it all and He loves what He made. That includes you. The Bible says you were knit together in your mom’s womb and that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Let me pray for us.

It would have been so wonderful to live in a perfect world, but it didn’t stay that way, did it? That’s what we’ll learn about next. There won’t be a lesson for you to listen to but there will be a page on our kid’s website telling you what verses to read, some things to think and talk about, and you’ll also find our memory verses to start working on. Remember it’s reviveourhearts.kids.

I hope you’ll join me again next time and we’ll learn more from the book of Genesis!