Lesson 6: God's Promise to Abraham

Aims:
* To learn that God made a covenant (agreement)with Abraham. If he trusted and obeyed all of God’s commands, God promised to make him the start of a great nation.
* But because he failed to do one offering correctly, God said his descendants would suffer

Materials:
* Bible passages – Genesis 12:1-20, Genesis 15: 1-21
* large pictures of a goat and ram, a dove and pigeon, and a heifer
* worksheet
* coloured pencils

Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. Story
3. Discussion
4. Activities – worksheets, Simon Says, ‘Stars in the Sky’ display, stargazing tube
5. Review the aims
6. Prayer

1) Introduction
For many years after the Tower of Babel, God was searching for another good man like Noah.

God needed someone who loved and trusted Him so much that he would obey all His commands.
This person was to start a new and special nation. Finally God found someone.

* One of Noah’s descendants was a man called Terah. He was an idol maker and didn’t believe in God. He had a son called Abraham. He did believe in God and he was a man God could trust.
The story of the nation of Israel begins with him. He and his wife Sarah lived in a place called Haran. When the story starts both he and Sarah are quite old and have no children of their own.
Abraham is 75 and Sarah 65 years old.

2) Story
* God told Abraham to leave his country and go to a new land, that God would lead him to and promised he would be the start of a great nation. When he reached Canaan God told Abraham that
He would give the land of Canaan to his descendants

* They went to Egypt because of a famine. Abraham told Sarah, to pretend to be his sister, otherwise they might kill him and take her away. They were protected and left Egypt safely.

* Though Abraham believed God would bless him, he still had no children and started to wonder how the promise would be fulfilled. Then God made another promise. He told Abraham that he
would have a son and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.

* Abraham wanted to know how this would happen. Then God told him to make an offering, by cutting animals in half. Abraham promised to do this, but he didn’t finish it. He didn’t cut all of
them in half. Because of this God said his descendants would suffer for 400 years. But still God promised the land to his descendants

* When Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90, she gave birth to a son and called him Isaac.

3) Discussion

* What did God promise Abraham?
– If you obey me I will give you a new land
– You will be the start of a great nation
– Your wife, Sarah will have a son
– Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars

* What did Abraham have to do?
– Leave his country
– Obey God’s direction
– Sacrifice some animals and cut them in two.

* What happened?
– He left his country as God asked
– God protected him and Sarah in Egypt
– He cut the animals, but not the birds. He fell asleep. Birds of prey tried to take the birds away. In a dream God told him his people would suffer as slaves for 400 years in a land that was not their
own, because he didn’t do the offering properly,

* What can we learn from this story?
1. God kept all His promises. He gave Abraham the land of Canaan. He had a son. He had many descendants. They formed a great nation – Israel
2. Most of the time Abraham obeyed God and he was protected and blessed, but because he failed to do one offering correctly, God said his descendants would suffer.
3. God wants to bless us, but we have to obey Him, otherwise we can lose His blessing.
4. Our parents want to bless us. When we do as we are told everything goes well. When we don’t, things can go wrong.

4) Activities
* Play ‘Simon Says’ to practise obedience. When we don’t obey ‘Simon’ we are out of the game
* Play Follow the leader – Take turns to be the leader. Do actions, walk around the room, etc, for everyone to follow
* Act out the story of Abraham cutting the animals
* Complete the worksheet
* Make a star-gazing tube
* Make a stars-in-the-sky display.

5) Review the aims
* To learn that God made a covenant (agreement)with Abraham. If he trusted and obeyed all of God’s commands, God promised to make him the start of a great nation.
* Because Abraham failed to do one offering correctly, God said his descendants would suffer

6) End with a prayer