Game / Bible / Life Connection:  You were Warned in the Game / God is Warning People Today that Jesus’ return will be like the time when God instructed Noah to build and enter the Ark / God Warns You in your Life through the Bible

This is Step 1

1. Announce that we are going to play a game we call “Shipwreck” and that this game takes place on an imaginary ship.  As sailors, they will be expected to do a lot of running  around following the “Captain’s” orders.
2. Point out the designated four areas of the imaginary ship to the Players.
• The FRONT of the ship is called the “BOW”
• The BACK of the ship is the “AFT”
• The LEFT side of the ship is the “PORT”
• The RIGHT side of the ship is the “STARBOARD”
3. Explain: For example, if they hear the “Captain” call out “Aft,” they all need to run to the “Aft.”  And if they hear the “Captain” call out “Righteousness,” they must run to the “Captain.”
4. The “Captain” of the ship is the Game Zone Leader.
5. For any area if they are the last 2 players to arrive they are out and must go sit down outside the ship. 

Game / Bible / Life Connection: You were Warned in the Game/ God is Warning People Today that Jesus’ return will be like the time when God instructed Noah to build and enter the Ark / God Warns You in your Life through the Bible

People are being Wicked: There was a time a very long time ago, over 4,000 years ago, when people on the earth were so wicked that God was full of sorrow.

Knowing how kind and good God is, it is hard to imagine Him being that sad and disappointed with mankind’s sinful behavior.  Even though God is kind and patient with us, He hates sin. And the sins of the people were so bad in those days that the Bible said they were thinking and doing wicked things all the time!

Noah is Righteous: God saw one man that was living a life pleasing to God, that man’s name was Noah and he was what God called a righteous man. That means he pleased God.  Noah was faithful and obedient to God. Noah was not perfect, but his heart was to serve and honor God.

God talked to Noah and told him that because of the wickedness and violence all over the earth, that God was going to destroy everyone, except Noah’s family. Noah had three sons and they each had a wife but no children. God told Noah He wanted him to do an amazing thing. He wanted Noah to build a HUGE boat. It was called an Ark. This boat was so big that it would take Noah 100 years to build it. God wanted to put Noah and his family in it as well as several of all the different kinds of animals.

Noah is Obedient: Noah didn’t build the ark by the sea or near a river. He built it in the middle of the desert. God gave him very clear instructions on the size it should be and what materials to use to build the Ark. The instructions were so clear that some people have even built one exactly the same as Noah’s in America. It is huge and can hold thousands of animals. 

God Saves Noah’s Family: So when the ark was finished, Noah and his family moved in. Do you think they spent a long time hunting for all the animals to put in there? No, they didn’t have to do that at all! God miraculously brought the animals to the ark! Just the right numbers. Two of every kind of unclean animal, bird, and insect that lived on the land. and seven pairs of all the clean ones. ( We will learn later about the difference between what God called clean and unclean animals  later ) And God told Noah to store all the food that they would need too. Noah did everything that God asked him to do.

God closed the door on the ark Himself. Noah didn’t have to close the door. And then it began to rain like it never had rained before lots of rain coming down without stopping for 40 days and 40 nights, the Bible also says that water came up from underground too. ( The Bible calls it the fountains of the deep.) 

After it stopped, no one could leave the ark until the water had drained away. There was no dry land to be seen. All the mountains were covered in water. It took another 150 days before there was dry land for the ark to rest on so that the people and animals could come out. Noah and his family came out and thanked God by offering a sacrifice.  God made a new promise not to destroy life again with a flood. He put a beautiful rainbow in the sky as a reminder. Whenever you see a rainbow you can remember why it is there and think about Noah and the importance of pleasing God in all that we do. We can know the things that please the Lord by reading His Word. He warns us about what will happen if we disobey Him and the wonderful blessings He has in store for us when we obey His Word.

God’s Warning for Us Today: From the book of Matthew 24:37-39 “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

Game / Bible / Life Connection:  You were Warned in the Game / God is Warning People Today that Jesus’ return will be like the time when God instructed Noah to build and enter the Ark / God Warns You in your Life through the Bible

Memory Verse:  “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37