God’s Big Plan | from Genesis 1

a, B, C . . . 1, 2, 3 . . . everything begins somewhere. Imagine a place with nothing to see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. no earth. no sky. In the beginning, there was nothing but God the Father, his son—Jesus—and the holy spirit.

God had a plan to create something big.

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On the first day, God said, “let there be light,” and light happened! God called it daytime. The darkness he called night. On the second day, God separated the sky and the waters, and on the third, he created land. Water whirled and swirled all around. God gathered the waters into seas, and then up came land: hills, mountains, valleys, and plains.

God spoke again, and plants sprouted from the earth. Colorful flowers of every kind. Vegetables. Trees tall and strong, their branches loaded with plump, juicy fruit. God saw it all, and he said, “This is good!”

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On the fourth day, God created the sun and popped the moon in the sky. God hung more stars than you could ever count!

But he wasn’t finished yet.

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God created birds and sea creatures on the fifth day. little minnows and giant whales. Tiny hummingbirds and tall ostriches!

day six was really special! God filled the earth with animals. Worms wiggled in the dirt. Giraffes reached for the sky. lions roared. monkeys laughed.

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animals, animals everywhere!

But he still wasn’t done. What do you think God made next?

Jesus Calling“I am the Alpha and the Omega,

the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”Revelation 22:13 nkjv

I am the Alpha and the Omega. That means the Beginning and the End. Most people call Me Jesus.

I am God the Son. I made the heavens and the earth. Even then—long before you were born—

I thought of you and I loved you.

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God Starts a Family | from Genesis 1

God said, “let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and they can rule over what We have created.”

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God saved his best for last. he made a man and then a woman, breathing life into them so they had bodies and spirits. God loved them more than anything else. They were the start of his big family.

God made a wonderful Garden for them to live in. adam and eve were happy in their perfect new home. They had everything they needed and plenty of delicious food to eat. They could eat the fruit from every tree in the Garden except for one . . .

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Adam and Eve’s Big Mistake | from Genesis 3

God said, “don’t eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil. If you eat the fruit, you will die.”

God has a terrible enemy named satan. satan is evil, and he always wants people to do bad things. he came into that beautiful Garden pretending to be a snake. he slithered around that one tree and whispered to eve, “You won’t die. If you eat this fruit, you will learn about good and evil, and you will be like God.”

satan lied.

But the woman chose to believe him instead of God.

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she ate the fruit. adam did too. all at once, God’s perfect world changed. When the man and woman broke God’s rule, something called sin entered the world.

and that made God sad.

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God made clothes to cover them because they were ashamed. adam and eve could no longer live in his perfect Garden of eden. God had to send them away, where work would be hard and life would be painful.

But God had a plan. he would come to earth as a baby and grow to be a man who would defeat satan and rescue God’s children. Jesus would be his name.

Jesus CallingNo power in the sky above or in the earth below—

indeed, nothing in all creation will . . . separate us from the love of God.

Romans 8:39 nlt

I was there when Adam and Eve left the Garden forever. Wherever they went, I was with them—watching over

them. Do you know that I am with you too? Nothing can separate you from My Love.

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Cain and Abel, Two Brothers | from Genesis 4

adam and eve had two sons. Cain was a farmer, and abel was a shepherd. They each decided to give God a gift. Cain gave God some of his crops, but abel sacrificed his best lamb—something he really wanted to keep.

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although Cain and abel both gave gifts to God, abel trusted God and gave his best to him. and so God accepted abel’s gift, but he was unhappy with Cain’s. he scolded Cain. That made Cain mad, even jealous of his brother.

later, the two brothers were in a field, and Cain felt so angry that he killed abel! he wasn’t sorry either. But God saw what happened. “Cain, where is your brother?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Cain lied. Cain was punished by God for his great sin, and for the rest of his life he was a wanderer who never got to stay in one place for very long.

Jesus Calling“If you do good, I will accept you. . . .

Sin wants you. But you must rule over it.”Genesis 4:7 icb

When you are angry or you’re about to do something bad, come to Me and I will help you. I want you to do what

is right and trust Me, as Abel did. I like that kind of faith. I am always near you—ready to help.

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