Icebreaker: Tell about a time that you moved from one place to another.
Read: Genesis 12:1-8
1. Abram left his country, and his patriarchal family. There would be different language, culture, geography and gods. Everything Abram had known would be left behind.
2. God was asking Abram to go to a land he had never been to before. He could have been moved by the fear of the unknown.
3. “God cares more about your character than your comfort.” John Bevere Q: How does this relate to Abram’s story?
4. God promised a blessing with obedience. Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. This was definitely an IF/THEN situation. God didn’t make any promises to Abram in his place of comfort. Abram would have left a permanent home in order to become a nomad. Once he got there, other people were occupying this land…and there was a famine. Q: Have you ever obeyed a leading God has given you only to have the promise delayed?
5. Abram built an altar. As an act of faith and a reminder of God’s promise Abram built an altar in the place God had given him. Q: What are some ways that we can build an altar on a promise God has given us?
6. Share something that you feel God is asking you to do in faith. Matthew 16: 24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
7. Prayer:
God, thank you for speaking to me about this instruction you are leading me to fulfill. Give me the faith of my father, Abraham, so that I can please you. Help me to obey you with willingness. Make me more interested in the building of my character than in my comfort.
In Jesus’ Name
Amen
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This is a nice Bible study! It’s right where God’s had me over the last few months. I’ve read Abram’s life over and over. The thing that baffles me the most is God always sees the big picture-He asks Abram to leave everything He knows and to start walking until He says stop. But He does this because He has a promise out there for Abram(soon to be Abraham) that he can’t see yet. And because of this, the same promises are given to ALL God’s children! It’s hard to imagine that our obedience could effect so many people! Thank you for sharing this!
You are right. God always sees the big picture, and we, like impatient children become angry and stomp our feet, not realizing that what He’s doing is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to us.
Yes, thanks for sharing.
“There would be different language, culture, geography and gods. Everything Abram had known would be left behind.”
Well, drop gods, and change Abram to John, and that’s pretty much my travelogue of a long and bumpy road from Chicago to rural Ohio! (And yes, the language IS different. Or at least the accents are – the ones the locals accuse the wife and I of having. 😉 )
Seriously, great post. You always get me thinking, no matter how dangerous that might be.
John,
You have the faith of Abraham to leave everything behind you. I think Chicago has different gods than Ohio. Let’s see there’s the deep dish pizza god, da Bears god…