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50 Chronological Lessons
Several years ago, some missionaries recommended the book Firm Foundations, Creation to Christ, by Trevor McIlwain of New Tribes Mission. Basically, it is a collection of 50 lessons that teach the Gospel from the very beginning of creation, unfolding the story of the promised Savior through the Old Testament, and presenting the story of Christ with the proper scriptural foundation for understanding. It was designed for people who have little or no knowledge of the Bible. I found a Russian version of the book at a Christian book market, and I decided to develop a course of study based on these lessons.
I adapted all 50 lessons into worksheets to use in our Thursday night English Bible study. Students follow along as I read the lesson and fill in the blanks. This gives them the chance to practice listening, reading, and writing in English as they learn the Gospel story. We look up the scripture references and take turns reading the verses.
I am posting the lessons here on my website for anyone to use as they wish. They would be appropriate for Sunday School or a series of Bible studies. Missionaries might want to use them, as I did, in a weekly class for those who study English. I tried to be careful not to use difficult vocabulary words. Many of the lessons have Russian words in parentheses to clarify unfamiliar words. You may want to delete them if they are a distraction to you.
The lessons are based on Mr. McIlwain's book, but they are not an exact transcription of his work. I only had a Russian translation of his book to work with, so I translated the ideas back into English. I added some things that seemed important to me, and deleted some things that I did not find necessary. I kept to the order and titles of his 50 lessons, except for a few of the first lessons that teach the "gap theory". I personally do not accept a time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, but smarter men than I have said that there is one, so I may be wrong about that.
Here are all 50 lessons and worksheets in one zip file. They are Microsoft Word Documents. They are formatted for European size A4 paper, so they may not print exactly right on American 8.5 x 11 inch paper. It shouldn't be too hard to fix that. Your printer driver may have an option to "fit to paper size" that should work well enough.
50 Lessons in one zip file (1MB)
Thank you for making use of work that I did for Jesus. I hope it will be a blessing to somebody and will help someone to find their way to Salvation in Him.
If you want any individual lesson, here are all the files separately.
Lesson 1 - Introduction to the Bible
Lesson 1 worksheet
Lesson 2 - One God
Lesson 2 worksheet
Lesson 3 -
Creation part 1
Lesson 3 worksheet
Lesson 3
watermelon story
Lesson 4 -
Creation part 2
Lesson 4 worksheet
Lesson 5 -
God created man
Lesson 5 worksheet
Lesson 6 -
God created angels
Lesson 6 worksheet
Lesson 7 -
Garden of Eden
Lesson 7 worksheet
Lesson 8 -
God Created Eve
Lesson 8 worksheet
Lesson 9 -
Review of 1-8
Lesson 9 worksheet
Lesson 10 - Adam and Eve Disobeyed God
Lesson 10 worksheet
Lesson 11 - God’s Promises and Curses
Lesson 11 worksheet
Lesson 12 - God’s Care and Judgment
Lesson 12 worksheet
Lesson 13 -
Cain and Abel
Lesson 13 worksheet
Lesson 14 - The Flood
Lesson 14 worksheet
Lesson 15
- God Remembered Noah
Lesson 15 worksheet
Lesson 16 - Abraham
Lesson 16 worksheet
Lesson 17
- Sodom and Gomorrah
Lesson 17 worksheet
Lesson 18 - Isaac
Lesson 18 worksheet
Lesson 19 -
Jacob and Esau
Lesson 19 worksheet
Lesson 20 - Joseph
Lesson 20 worksheet
Lesson 21 -
Israel in Egypt
Lesson 21 worksheet
Lesson 22 -
Plagues on Egypt
Lesson 22 worksheet
Lesson 23 - Red Sea
Lesson 23 worksheet
Lesson 23
population chart
Lesson 24 - Preparation for the 10 Commandments
Lesson 24 worksheet
Lesson 25 - God Gives the 10 Commandments
Lesson 25 worksheet
Lesson 26 - Tabernacle
Lesson 26 worksheet
Lesson 27 - Israel did not trust God
Lesson 27 worksheet
Lesson 28 - Israel in the Promised Land
Lesson 28 worksheet
Lesson 29 - Prophets
Lesson 29 worksheet
Lesson 30 - Births of John and Jesus
Lesson 30 worksheet
Lesson 31 - God Begins to Fulfill His Promises
Lesson 31 worksheet
Lesson 31 promises
handout
Lesson
31 promises handout answers
Lesson 32
- The Promised Savior
Lesson 32 worksheet
Lesson 33 -
John the Baptist
Lesson 33 worksheet
Lesson 34
- Satan Tempts Jesus
Lesson 34 worksheet
Lesson 35 - Jesus Begins His Ministry
Lesson 35 worksheet
Lesson 36 - You Must Be Born Again
Lesson 36 worksheet
Lesson 37 - Jesus Reveals His Divine Nature
Lesson 37 worksheet
Lesson 38 - Jesus Calms the Storm
Lesson 38 worksheet
Lesson 39 - Jesus Feeds 5000 People
Lesson 39 worksheet
Lesson 40 - Scribes and Pharisees
Lesson 40 worksheet
Lesson 41 - Jesus is the Christ
Lesson 41 worksheet
Lesson 42 - Jesus the Only Way
Lesson 42 worksheet
Lesson 43 - Jesus Raised Lazarus
Lesson 43 worksheet
Lesson 44 - Jesus Blessed the Children
Lesson 44 worksheet
Lesson 45 - Foolish to Trust in Riches
Lesson 45 worksheet
Lesson 46 - The Last Supper
Lesson 46 worksheet
Lesson 47 - Jesus in the Hands of His Enemies
Lesson 47 worksheet
Lesson 48 - Jesus Christ Died on the Cross
Lesson 48 worksheet
Lesson 49 - Christ’s Death Pictured in the Old Testament
Lesson 49 worksheet
Lesson 50 - Christ is Risen
Lesson 50 worksheet