Children’s Sermon

Genesis 9:8-17

Rainbows and Promises

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Genesis 9:8-17

Rainbows and Promises

Have you ever made a promise? (Give children a chance to respond.) Did you keep your promise? (Again, give the children the opportunity to respond to your question. Did you know that God made a promise? (Let children respond.)

Yes, God did make a promise. Listen:

God made his promise long ago. People who lived on the earth were very wicked. They did bad things and they hurt other people. Instead of worshipping God, many people worshipped rocks and pieces of carved wood that they called idols. Most of the people on earth refused to do good things or help others.

God decided to destroy everything that was on the earth – all of the animals and people. But God knew that Noah was a good man. He told Noah to build a big boat and gather animals from the earth and take them inside the big boat.

It took a long time, but Noah did what God told him to do. Noah built the big boat and he collected animals. And when Noah and his family were inside, and so were the animals. God shut the door of the big boat and it began to rain. It rained and rained and rained. The boat rocked and rocked on the water. Soon, no tree tops could be seen, and before very long, no mountain tops could be soon. The only people left alive were Noah, his wife, his three sons and his son’s wives. They were inside the big boat with all the animals that Noah had collected. And then the rain stopped.

The big boat still floated on very deep water. Days went by and the waters went down. Still Noah and his family waited. After a long time the big boat rested on the ground and Noah was able to open the door and allow the animals to leave and go on their way.

That was when God made a promise. He said he would never again destroy every living thing as he had done with the water. (Genesis 8:21-22) I’m sure Noah was very relieved to hear that.

God went on to say, “When I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, … I will remember my covenant (promise)…. The waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:14-15 World English Bible).

A rainbow happens when light shines through rain or droplets of water. It is made up of seven colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. God created the beautiful rainbow-promise in such an orderly way that we know we can depend on God to never break his promise.

PRAYER: Thank you, God for the rainbow. Every time we see a rainbow we can remember that you promised not to destroy the whole earth with a flood.