The Promise
Theme: A Journey with Abraham
Theme Verse: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." Hebrews 11:8 NIV
Readings: Genesis 15:1-7
Optional Readings: Romans 4
Memory Verse: "Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6
Word received: Abram honored Me and put Me first. That is what I want from you too. "After these things" (victory, rescue of Lot, giving a tithe, refusing loot) "the LORD (the I AM) came to Abram in a vision", and reassured him. Abram saw something and heard God tell him not to be afraid, that God Himself was Abram's protection and reward. Abram's relationship with God was his greatest reward.
Notice what comes first--"Don't be afraid". How often the LORD wants us to hear this. Over and over in encounters with God or angels, the first word is "don't be afraid". They are awesome encounters but often bring good news. Abram had just put himself in a precarious position by fighting and by refusing the loot that the King of Sodom offered, and thereby refusing to be obligated to him. In African villages people don't want people to not have mutual obligations to each other because they can't be controlled. In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul tells Timothy "for God did not give us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and love and self-control."
Second, God as our shield and protection (and even identification) is a theme that runs through the Bible. David says of God in Psalm 18:35, "You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me and your help made me great." When others fail us, when we cannot help ourselves, the I AM is always there for us. In the "armor of God" (Ephesians 6), the shield of faith is in fact our trust in God to protect us.
PRAYER: Thank you Lord, for being our greatest friend, our most reliable Father, our most valuable possession. Thank you that we are your treasured possession, that we belong to you.
Word received: ________, I want you to know in your heart that I AM your shield and your reward as well. I want each child, each teacher to be able to put their name in that sentence. (Go around the class and each person say this to his neighbor by name or let the teacher speak it to each child by name.)
Third: "I AM your very great reward." Knowing God is its own reward. Notice the relationship Abram has with God. They are close friends (James 2:23), and they talk to each other and hear each other. Abram doesn't hesitate to bring his pain, his concern and problem to the LORD. This relationship with God is absolutely vital. God the Father, sent Jesus so that each one of us could have a personal relationship with Him and have the burden of our sins removed. If any of you do not have this relationship through Jesus, please pray or ask your teacher to pray with you, to receive Jesus, his forgiveness and new life. If your relationship with God has gotten distant, repair it today so that you may have fellowship with God like Abram did.
After God has revealed Himself again to Abram, Abram tells God his pain, his problem and burden. He has no heir. A trusted slave in his household would inherit everything. (It was the custom of people without sons to adopt a trusted slave or person as an heir. I have heard of it in other cultures too. Remember in Genesis 24:2 a trust servant over all his property is mentioned. Probably it is the same person.
Word received: "Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7, also in Psalm 55:22) Look at what Abram is actually doing: he is giving Me the burden by telling Me he has no heir. Come to Me, tell Me your burdens as Abram did. Let Me have your cares and burdens. Let Me give you hope. In Deuteronomy 33:27, Moses remind us of God's care and love, even in our most frightened and discouraged moments, "The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms."
Abram talks to God again about what is weighing on his mind--no heir and he says, God you haven't given me one. (But you promised! See 12:2,7 and 13:15-16) God gives Abram a Word of reassurance. (He reminds Abram of His plan. His plan is always the best). You will have a son of your own and your descendents will be too many to count, like the stars in a desert night. The reassurance was hard to believe because of Abram's circumstances. God obviously knows that Abram needs to be told over and over--just like us--because he couldn't yet see the answer to the promise. But we need to respond as Abram did...AND HE BELIEVED GOD! This is big! as the kids say. In spite of age, barrenness, years of disappointment (he would soon be 86) Abram trusted, believed God would do what He said. And God counted it as righteousness. God pays attention when we believe Him. He remembers when we trust Him. He counts it as righteousness.
Word received: Talk with Me and respond. I want you to have a relationship with Me--a personal relationship with Me.
In verse 7 God is reminding Abram of how He has brought him safely and faithfully "thus far" Genesis 15:5 says "Look now...I AM the (same) LORD who brought you out of Ur...to give you this land". Word received: Look at where you were 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, even 10 or 5. Could you have known all the blessings you have now? I want you to see that Abram becomes a man who lives in the hope of what I will do. That is what I want for you as well.
NOTE: What is righteousness? There are many examples of righteousness in the Bible but it boils down to trusting, believing God and acting out, living out that trust, faith in God and doing those things God asks of us, doing the will of God in a relationship of faith. When someone asked Jesus what must we do to do the will of God, Jesus answered, that it is to believe the one that God has sent (John 6:28-29) .
Romans 4 discusses this righteousness. If we have received Jesus by faith, we are Abram's spiritual descendents. He was a real person with thoughts, feelings and struggles like ours. That is why he is a good model for us. Word received: Do you see that I AM saying the same thing to you that I did to Abram? I AM the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I want My people to enter into My word and promise to Abram. I want the children and the adults to be people of promise--people who live in the hope of My promise to you. this is the way Abram lived; this is the way I want you to live. PRAYER: Lord help us to enter into your word and promise to Abram and live in the hope of your promise to us.
Teaching Ideas for Lesson 08
Please read the Study Guide first.
Go over Memory Verse to make sure the children understand it and then if they have memorized it.
Remind them their parents need to sign a report slip monthly if they have read the lessons, so they will get credit at the end of the year.
Make sure they know what happened in the story. Get them to tell you.
Basic points of the lesson for little ones.
1. We CAN trust God. He wants us to trust and believe Him so He can be our closest friend. He wants us to really, really know He is our protection (shield) and the friend who always wants the best for us.
2. God wants us to talk with Him and listen to Him as our very closest friend.
3. He wants us to give him our problems because He cares about us and cares for us. He wants to give us hope.
4.. God doesn't change His mind, so we can trust what He says. He already knows everything.
5. God wants us to put Him first in our lives, even before ourselves!
CRAFT
It will be about shields, what they do, what they represent, also how they identify the one who has it (like a police shield or a medieval soldier's shield). There were 2 kinds of shields mentioned in the Bible: the small ones for hand to hand combat and the full body shields that soldiers could hook together to form a wall or a roof (protection from flaming arrows. The shield of faith is the latter type. In prayer we hook our shields together.
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