Among my favorite accounts are Gideon obeying God even though he described himself as the smallest member of a small family (like me), and Peter's journey to strong faith once he suddenly 'got' who Jesus is.

Too many to choose from, but probably just about anything from the Gospels! Jesus' healings of Jairus's daughter and the bleeding woman are particularly close to my heart. 

I would say my favorite Bible story is the Christmas story from Luke 2.  I think it is one of the best loved Bible stories in its simplicity in telling how the shepherds found the baby Jesus lying in the manger.  Luke 2: 8 - 20 is the most beautiful in the King James Version.  I also like Matthew’s version of the story, which includes the Star of Bethlehem and the Magi. These are some of the most beautiful and meaningful passages in the Bible. 🙂

Those are all good ones that you've mentioned. I've just started teaching about Joshua in my Sunday School class, who was chosen to replace Moses as leader of the Israelites into the Promised Land.

The women in the Bible don't really get a whole lot of attention. Miriam helped save her baby brother Moses's life in the Nile River. Rahab chose a different path than the Canaanites, and used the scarlet cord in her window as a sign to help save her family when Jericho fell. Deborah was the only woman judge, and was known for her fairness and openness. Ruth was dedicated and was willing to leave all that was familiar to her in Moab to help take care of her mother-in-law, Naomi. Esther became a queen not by accident, and saved her people from a massacre (God's name is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, but He was working behind the scenes).

Women do play a big role in the New Testament, especially in the Gospels of Luke and John and the Book of Acts — also written by Luke, who seems to have been particularly keen on highlighting the roles of women, Gentiles and other marginalised people in the early Christian movement. It's a subject worth studying, particularly if you want to discuss it with Sunday School students.

@courtenay 

Oh yes, like Mary the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth, Mary Magdalene, the woman with the alabaster box, the woman at the well, Mary and Martha, Tabitha or Dorcas, and who can forget Priscilla?

@jasmine_tarkheena Yes, and not to forget Lydia — successful businesswoman, member (perhaps organiser) of a women's prayer group, and to our knowledge, the first ever Christian in Europe!  

@courtenay 

Right, famous for selling purple dye. And there's also Julia, one of the early Christians in Rome when it was under persecution. She also witnessed half of Rome being burned (You might recall the famous saying, "While Rome burns, Nero fiddles".) Paul had Julia sent letters that he had written for Rome.

Other women we forgot to mention were Hannah, Abigail, and Bathsheba. Hannah was barren, and she brought it before God, and He gave her a child, Samuel. Abigail was known for her wisdom and insights. Bathsheba became the mother of the wisest king of Israel, Solomon.

I had an elementary school teacher in the fifth grade who was really gifted in retelling Bible stories. I think she should have been an actress or something like that. I remember the story of Ahab telling the prophet Elijah. “Are you the one who troubles Israel?”  It makes me wonder if elementary school teachers still will retell lively Bible stories in the church supported schools. It’s a good way for them to use their talents.

@narnian78 

Oh yes. Ahab and Jezebel promoted worship of Baal and Asterate in Israel. Elijah prophesied that God was going to hold back rain and bring an drought. And that's what happened.

There's even a story about where Elijah and the prophets of Baal had a contest to see which one was the true God. The prophets of Baal called on Baal to send rain and fire, but nothing happened. Elijah called on God, and God sent fire from Heaven on the altar. Then finally it rained.

My mother used to read Bible story books to us when we were kids. Of course the books are not the Bible itself but stories adapted from it for children. One of these was The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos. The illustrations in that book were quite good. And of course the text was plain and simple to read.  I think the book is still available in a later edition, although some of the pictures might seem a bit old fashioned now. I would still recommend that parents use it today to help their children understand the Bible. 

I used to do a religious after school program called Good News Club, where we taught kids Bible stories and include applications, as they apply to our lives today.

I was going through the Lord's Prayer in my Sunday School class one year. I've broke up each stanza and did different lessons that went with each stanza.

One of my favorites in the Bible is, oddly enough, the Book of Jonah. I really love this story because it really shows God's mercy and our wretchedness lol. As children, we mainly think about the part Jonah is swallowed up by the whale. I, too, focused on that aspect a lot as a child, but the other parts didn't go over my head. I think I recall thinking about how it was not nice of Jonah to have been mad that God spared the city, but again I didn't give it as much thought. Now that I am older, and really studying that story, Jonah was pretty messed up. The story begins with God telling him to go to Nineveh to basically give a message of destruction, but instead Jonah goes the other way. One may assume maybe Jonah didn't want to deliver such a dangerous message. Of course, then when we get near the end, when he is spit up by the whale, and actually does what God wants, only for Nineveh to repent, and God to feel compassion--relenting from destroying the city, the plot twist is we get a very angry Jonah and learn he ran away BECAUSE he knew God was loving and merciful and probably wouldn't destroy Nineveh after all. That's messed up if you asked me lol. But it shows how we humans are. Nineveh was hated for a reason, so obviously Jonah held some reasonable resentment, but it also shows how unforgiving we are. We want forgiveness, but we don't like dishing it out. Jonah has a really good lesson for us all. We never know what Jonah answered when God said should I not care for Nineveh, that great city of (I forgot the population) and much livestock? We even get a glimpse of God caring about the animals in that city with that line. I think it is left open ended for a reason, so we can ponder, because if we were in Jonah's shoes we probably would have done no different. We'd probably run from God, we'd probably yell at God for being merciful and kind (what a weird thing to be angry about!) etc. So I feel like the question at the end of Jonah is also left to us. Let's be honest, if we had a similar situation, even if at a much smaller scale like to reach someone we don't like, I don't doubt we'd respond similarily to Jonah unfortunately lol. 

There's a story in Acts about Peter having a vision where there was a sheet spread out, and there were animals that were prohibited by Jews. God said to him, "Rise, kill and it." And Peter says, "No, LORD! I was never allowed to touch or anything unclean." And God says, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

Here, God was making a point to Peter that He wants to reach out not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles. Peter was sent to talk with Cornelius, a Roman soldier that was a Gentile (any person who is not Jewish). God wants to reach out to all people, regardless of their cultural background.