When God first created the Earth, people lived a long time, a long, long time ... ... a very long time like 700, 800, and 900 years. Living that long made people very old. This story is about a few very old men and the oldest man that ever lived. Find the heart on every page reminding us who God is. His name is Methuselah. God is patient. Methuselah’s story is found between the stories of Adam and Noah. You can find it at the beginning of the Bible in a book called Genesis. Do you remember the story about when Adam sinned? Do you think people learned their lesson? They did not. They continued to sin and things got worse. This is very sad. In Genesis 6 the Bible tells us the Earth was growing with people. God saw the wickedness of the people not only in their choices but Designed & Written by Jennifer Abbatacola also in their hearts. In our hearts is where sin begins. Illustrated by Lillian Abbatacola Thank you to the team: Amanda Taitel, Bridget Keeran, Dave Pearson, People’s sin upset God very much. Sarah Portz, Susan Kopp, Malissa Szwiec, Gaby Baltazar and Travis Doucette This is when Methuselah was born. Copyright 2020 Harvest Bible Chapel 1 But before you hear the story about very old Methuselah and his family full of very old men, let’s talk about his name. Parents choose a name for a child because they like the sound of it. They choose a name because the name reminds them of someone special. When Methuselah was born, names had a lot of meaning too. Do you know 2 the meaning of your name? Some names mean “faith” or “savior” or “wisdom” or “helper”. But old Methuselah’s name means, “When he dies, God will bring judgment.” 3 So when Methuselah was a little boy and his mom would call him, “Methuselah” everyone who heard it knew “When he dies, God will bring judgment.” When his friends called Methuselah to play, everyone who heard it knew “When he dies, God will bring judgment.” When he fell in love, married his wife and she called him Methuselah, everyone who heard it knew “When he dies, God will bring judgment.” 4 Methuselah lived 969 years and every day during every year, someone said his name. This was God’s special way of telling the people of Earth, “I am warning you about your sin. I am waiting patiently for you to follow me, to love me because I love you. I want to be your friend.” It is in Methuselah’s name and his long, long life, that we see God’s patience. In God’s patience, we see His amazing love for us. 5 So let’s start from the beginning, the very beginning of everything. (Just so you know, there were girls too who grew into women. But in this story, we are only going to talk about the men.) God created Adam. Adam lived over 900 years and during this time he had sons and daughters. One of his sons was named Seth. Seth had a son named Enosh. Enosh had a son named Kenan. Yep. Those are some very old and kinda Kenan had a son named Mahalalel. odd names. Mahalalel had a son name Jared. Jared had a son named Enoch and Enoch was Methuselah’s father. 6 All these men lived to be very old and all of these men knew each other. They listened to the very old, great, great, great, great, great, great Grandpa Adam tell stories about how he walked in the special Garden with God. They heard the story of how Grandpa Adam and Grandma Eve lived in the perfect world that was ruined by sin. Maybe they made old Grandpa Adam show them his tummy without a belly button. All of them had belly buttons except for Adam because Adam was never born. Can you find your belly button? Adam was never born because he was the first man created by God. 7 As Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, and Enoch sat around and shared stories, Enoch announced “My wife gave birth to another baby. It’s a boy and we named him “Methuselah.” Methuselah’s father Enoch loved God. Enoch warned people that God would destroy the Earth because of their sin. Maybe this is why Enoch knew to name his son Methuselah. Remember Methuselah’s name means, “When you die, God will bring judgment.” 8 Methuselah had a son named Lamech. Lamech had a son named Noah. You know Noah … the man who built the ark. 9 Methuselah watched his grandson build the ark. He heard the people make fun of Noah for following God, for listening to God. I bet they would say, “Hey Methuselah, your grandson is crazy!” And in saying his name they were saying, “When you die, God will bring judgment.” 10 But the people didn’t care. They loved themselves and their sin more than they ever cared about God. They couldn’t see how patient God is. 11 For over 900 years through the life of Methuselah, God was showing people His patience through Methuselah’s name. Patience is just one way God shows His love. When Methuselah was 247 years old, Grandpa Adam died. Although this one family loved God, one by one, each very old man left Earth and went to be God. Then, only Methuselah and Noah remained. 12 Noah worked hard to build the ark in a place that never saw rain before. I bet his Grandpa Methuselah told him to keep following God. It took 120 years for Methuselah’s grandson Noah to finish the ark. 13 Methuselah is the oldest man to ever live showing us God’s enormous amount of patience, through the name of a very old man. At 969 years old, Methuselah died, and in that year, God sent rain for the first time in the history of the Earth. God brought judgment. Except for Noah and his family, God destroyed everything on the Earth by a great flood, just as He said He would in the name of a very old man. Methuselah “When he dies, God will bring judgment” 14 Only with God’s help, we can be patient. God’s Word teaches us that God wants us to be patient. If God was patient for 969 years, with such wickedness on the Earth, can’t we be patient with our family, parents, teachers and friends today? If God can be patient with us as we make the same bad choice again and again, can’t we be patient with others too? But we need His help to patient. When you feel like you can’t be patient, take a quiet moment and ask God through His Holy Spirit to help you. “Holy Spirit, please help me be patient right now. I can’t be patient without You.” Patience requires time. You don’t have to respond right away to someone. Count to three before you respond. This helps a lot. Only God can work in others. When your sister and brother are learning how to play a game, with God’s help, you can be patient. You can be patient with your parents when they forget something or are late from work, with God’s help. When your teachers are having a difficult day, God can help you be patient with them. With God’s help, you can be patient with your friends when they are working out their own feelings. Be patient with yourself too. Remember, God is working on you too. Even on hard days, very hard days, we can be patient with ourselves and each other, only with God’s help. Remember our four steps towards patience. 1. Take a deep breath (and when you breath out say “God please help me …”) 2. Count to 3 3. God is working on you 4. And He is working on me. Copyright 2020 Harvest Bible Chapel.