Opening
Have you ever thought about what life would be like without your family? Sometimes we have disagreements with members of our family but we would all agree that life without our families would not be good. Evan and his family had their problems, but in the end, they came together as a family to carry out the will of God. Let’s take a look at how Evan and his family came together to finish the ark.
Watch DVD Scene 14 (“Together Again”) Start time: 1:02:17—End Time: 1:07:16 (4:59)
Discussion Questions
1. In this clip, Joan says to Evan, “I don’t know what’s going on or what you are going through, but we got into this as a family, and we’re going to get out of it as family side by side.” When God created families, do you think He envisioned families going through good and bad times “side by side”? (Yes.) Is part of being a member of a family being there for other members when we don’t know all that’s going on? (Answers will vary.)
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4. There were some other unique families from the Bible. Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law, Naomi, although Ruth’s husband had died. This was very unusual for that time period. Ruth was very loyal to Naomi. There was much turmoil in Joseph’s family between his father, Jacob, his brothers and himself, but in the end they reconciled. Joseph’s brothers asked for forgiveness for selling him into slavery, and Joseph forgave them. Each of these biblical families weren’t perfect but were special in many ways. What are some special things about your family? (Answers will vary.) Is your family perfect? (No.)
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7. A reporter asked Evan, “What makes you so sure God chose you?” Evan replied, “He chose all of us.” How does it make you feel that God chose you to be part of his family? (Answers will vary.)
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9. What can and will you do this week to make your family a better place to be? (Answers will vary.) What can and will you do this week to make the family of God a better place to be? (Answers will vary.)
Closing Thought
Families are gifts from God! Sometimes gifts don’t fit, or they break, or they just weren’t what you were expecting. Families are the same way. Being part of a family isn’t always easy or fun. It takes work from all involved to build a successful family. Are you willing to put forth the effort to make your family a success?
Closing Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer
“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching” (
“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man.’ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (
“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’ Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (
“This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.’ Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days” (
“Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, ‘Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers'” (
“Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged” (
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord” (
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—’so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth'” (
“The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob” (
“For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain” (
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (
