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A Rescue Plan Underway!

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Do you knowwho God is?It can be hardto get to knowsomeone you can’tsee, right?EDITORS:Steven Koster, Robin Basselin,and Chris HuntWRITER:Ron VandenBurgARTIST:David FlegeDESIGN & LAYOUT:Five QGod's Big Story is published by Kids Corner, one of a family of programs from Reframe Ministries.Copyright 2019 ReFrame Ministries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotationsembodied in other works or reviews.—1—

The good news is thatGod tells us who he is.God chose many differentwriters over a long periodof time to tell his story.Today, we callit the Bible.The Bible is a story of deeplove between the two maincharacters: God and his people.But God keepstaking themback, becausehe loves themso very much.God's peoplearen't perfect.In fact, theyoften turnaway from God.—2—

Did you know that you arepart of God's story too?We are all God's people.Start your journey throughthe Bible now and find yourplace in God’s big story!—3—

God’s big storyhas six main parts.12God CreatesEverythingPeople Fallinto SIn43God Choosesa PeopleGod sendshis Messiah56God makesall thingsright Again—4—God sendshis Spirit

God Creates EverythingWho is God? TheBible begins withGod, the creatorof the universe.“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).God created thewhole world, dayand night, land andsea, birds and fish,plants and animals.The whole universebelongs to God, andhe is activelyinvolved with everything you see, bigand small.—5—God has no limits, nobeginning and no end.He has always beenand always will be.And yet he knows yourname, and you can talkto him each day.

Who are God’speople?God created the firstpeople, Adam and Eve,and placed them inthe Garden of Eden.There, they enjoyedall the good thingsthat God had made.God put one rule in place:Don’t eat from the tree of theknowledge of good and evil.(Genesis 2:16, 17)God also gave Eveand Adam the bestjob, to work withhim in caring for theworld as their home.Even today, God callsall of us to do thatvery same job: todevelop and protecthis good gifts.—6—

God created usin his image, toresemble him.(Genesis 1:27)We representGod by who weare, what wedo, and whatwe say.For example,God is creativeand so are we.People are God's veryfavorite creation andHe created each oneof us to be unique.We are created forGod, and each one ofus is special, createdin God's own image.—7—

People Fall into SintneWtWha gW ro nBut today, life isnot perfect. So,what happened?What changed?In the beginning,God made everythingperfect.In the garden, Satan, the enemy of God, tookthe form of a snake. He came to Adam andEve and tempted them to disobey God.He told them if they atefrom the tree of theknowledge of good andevil, they would becomelike God. And they did it.—8—

Adam and Eve's sinchanged all of creation—it spoiled theirrelationship with Godand with each other.The good news isthat the story doesn’tend here.God sent Adam andEve out of Eden.Outside of Eden, theirwork would be moredifficult.God created a rescueplan to save us,because we couldn’tsave ourselves.One day they wouldnow even die. Today,we too live in aworld broken by sin.Already in Genesis3:15, God promises aMessiah, a rescuer,who would crush thehead of the snake,Satan, and defeat sin.Generationslater, Adam andEve’s descendant,the Messiah,would repairour relationshipto God and fixall that sin hasbroken.There is still anotherchapter to be told beforethat promise is fulfilled!—9 —

God Chooses a PeopleHow did things go afterthe Garden of Eden?Adam and Eve andtheir children didnot stop reflectingGod’s image, but theydid make lots ofmistakes, hurtingGod and each other.To set his rescue plan inmotion, God chose a man namedAbraham. God called him tojourney to a new land, God’spromised land. (Genesis 12)God then made a covenant withAbraham. God promised to giveAbraham the land he was in andtold him his family would blessall the people of world.Abraham was not theMessiah, but one of hisdescendants would be.— 10 —

Generations later, Abraham’sdescendants left the promisedland and moved to Egypt.After many years, the Egyptianleaders forced them to laboras slaves.God heard thesuffering of hispeople. He sentMoses to leadhis people outof slavery.Was Moses thepromised Messiah?No, but he wouldlead God’s peopleback to the landpromised to Abraham.God also gaveMoses the 10commandments,rules for howGod’s peopleshould live.(Exodus 20:1-18)After God's people returned tothe promised land, God chose ayoung boy named David to growinto a great king and warrior tolead the nation of Israel.Was he the Messiah?No, but David’s descendant would bethe Messiah! And through theMessiah, David’s kingdom wouldlast forever.— 11 —

After David, there wasa long period of kingsin Israel.Some were God’sservants and followedGod’s laws, but otherkings did only whatthey wanted and ledthe people away fromGod.Soon, empires from far awaytook over Israel.They forcedmany Israelites to leave theirhomes in the promised land.As they suffered in foreignlands, the people becamehopeless. They wondered if Godhad broken his promise to senda Messiah. (Ezekiel 34:23-24)— 12 —

But God continuedto love his peopleby sending prophets.Preachers like Isaiah,Jeremiah, and Ezekieltold the people theywere in this messbecause they had turnedaway from God.Through the prophets, God toldthe people that he would bringthem back to the promised landand finally send the Messiahthey were waiting for!— 13 —

God sends his MessiahGod came to earth asa tiny baby, Jesus ofNazareth. Jesus wasthe Messiah that Godhad promised from thebeginning. (Luke 2:1-7)Both poor shepherds and rich wise menfrom far away came to see baby Jesus.The angels declaredthat God’s big rescuefor all people hadbegun! (Luke 2:8-21)Jesus led a perfectand sinless life.He taught that God loved all peopleand wanted everyone to be includedin his kingdom.Even the wind and wavesobeyed him. (Matthew 8:23-27)— 14 —

Jesus also did powerfulmiracles to heal people.Some people began torecognize that Jesuswas the Messiah thathad been promised somany years before.(Mark 5: 37-43)Jesus challenged many of theincorrect teachings of thereligious leaders of his day.The crowds loved Jesus, but the pridefulleaders didn’t want to recognize thatJesus was the Messiah.They were angryenough to kill Jesus.Judas, one of Jesus’ followers,betrayed Jesus and made a dealwith the religious leaders. Theygave Judas money to lead themto Jesus.— 15 —

Soldiers arrested Jesus. The religiousleaders put him on trial and askedhim if he was the Messiah and God.Jesus could not deny who hewas. This made the leadersangry. No one was allowedto call themselves God!They turned Jesus over tothe Roman authorities tobe killed.— 16 —

Roman soldiers put a crownof thorns on his head andnailed Jesus to a cross.The angry crowd cheeredas they crucified him.Jesus hung on the crossuntil he died.This brutal act begins themost important event ofGod’s story."Since Adam and Eve, deathhas been the result of sin,but Jesus had no sin.God himself died inour place on thecross, paying for allof our sins.— 17 —

Jesus crushed Satan’s headonce and for all! Just likeGod promised in Genesis 3:15.Three days after Jesus died,God brought him back to life!Jesus won. He conquered notonly sin but also death.Through Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we receive new life. We canreconnect with God, one another, and restore his world. (John 3:16)Jesus stayed ashort time withhis followersand then wentup into heaven.Jesus told them toshare the good newsof God’s Messiah withall people and tobuild God’s kingdomall over the world.(Matthew 28:16-20)— 18 —

Today, God calls us to tell his story!God uses us to buildhis kingdom. We arepartners with God infixing all of creation.And God’s got a plan to help us.— 19 —

God sends his SpiritAfter Jesus returned toheaven, God sent the HolySpirit to guide the followersof Jesus and invite others tojoin God’s People (Acts 2:1-13).The gifts of the Holy Spirit(Galatians 5: 22-23) help usreflect God’s image every dayand spread the story of God’srescue plan to the world.Lydia worshipping(Acts 16)Dorcas serving(Acts 9:36-43)— 20 —Philip baptizing(Acts 8)

With the help of theHoly Spirit, earlymissionaries, likePaul, spread God’sstory throughoutthe Roman Empire,starting churcheswherever he went.Paul wrote many lettersthat are in the NewTestament of the Bible.— 21 —

For two thousand years, Christianshave worshipped God,cared for each other,and cared for all of creation,all while sharing the goodnews of Jesus. This is therole of the Church.— 22 —

God has asked lots ofpeople before us to helpout, and now it's our turnto be part of God's story.’serHe erewh and I.you me inco— 23 —

God makes all things right againThrough theHoly Spirit, Godis already fixingthe world,and the Bible tells us that one dayGod will make all creation right,and he will live with his peopleagain. (Revelation 21).The Bible ends with apromise that Jesus willreturn and establishGod’s kingdom on earth.— 24 —

“Now God makes his home with people. He willlive with them. They will be his people. And Godhimself will be with them and be their God. Hewill wipe away every tear from their eyes. Therewill be no more death or sadness. There will beno more crying or pain. Things are no longer theway they used to be” (Rev. 21:3-4 NIrV).To this we say“Amen, Come,Lord Jesus!”— 25 —

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Eve out of Eden. Outside of Eden, their work would be more difficult. Adam and Eve's sin changed all of cre-ation—it spoiled their relationship with God and with each other. One day they would now even die. Today, we too live in a world broken by sin. God created a rescue plan to save