Chapter One
ABRAHAM
BELIEVE IT OR NOT
Genesis 12:1-7 Genesis 21:1-7
15:1-6 22:1-12
17:1-9
INTRO
I don't believe it .
You'll need .
the video
Father
of the Bride, Part 2
You'll need .
3 signs as described
below
Could it happen?
statements on page 12
Show the humorous video clip from
Father of the
Bride, Part 2
, where Steve Martin's and Diane
Keaton's characters find out they are going to be
middle-aged parents (start tape at 42:35; end tape
at 45:27).
Then segue into your game by saying-
When Steve Martin and Diane
Keaton find out they're going to be parents, they're surprised because they
think they're too old. I'm going to test
your expertise in sex education by playing
a game.
(The "S" word gets everyone's undivided
attention. Trust me, it works every time.)
GAME
Could it happen?
Place these three signs around your room:
Could definitely happen Could possibly happen Could never happen
Request students to stand up and move their chairs (if they need to) so they
can move freely across the room. Ask them to listen as you read aloud the
following seven statements. Tell them they must respond by moving to stand
by the sign that expresses their opinion about whether the statement could
definitely happen, could possibly happen, or could never happen.
Keep your students listening carefully and responding rapidly by reading
quickly through the statements.
1. It's possible for a 70-year-old man to have a child. (Be ready for some kids to reply: "Men don't have children.")
2. It's possible for a 60-year-old woman to have a child.
3. It's possible for a 80-year-old man to have a child with
a woman who is 25 years younger than he is.
4. It's possible for an 70-year-old woman to have a child
with a man who is 15 years younger than she is.
5. It's possible for a 90-year-old man to have a child.
6. It's possible for a 90-year-old man to have a child with
a barren woman.
7. It's possible for a 100-year-old man to have a child
with a barren woman who is 10 years younger.
Periodically stop and ask students to explain their responses. (Their answers
will let you know what you need to teach in your love, sex, and dating series.)
When you get to statement seven, your kids should all be standing by the
COULD NEVER HAPPENsign. Tell them that statement describes Abraham and
Sarah when they gave birth to Isaac.
Segue into your Bible lesson by saying-
Most of you (with good reason) said there was no chance for
that last couple to have a baby. It was hard enough for Steve
Martin and Diane Keaton to believe they could have a baby in
their 50s! Yet Abraham was 100, Sarah was 90, and they had
never been able to have children. But God had promised
Abraham that, in spite of his circumstances, he and Sarah
would have a son.
Why did God wait so long to fulfill his promise? It seems
God was as interested in building Abraham's faith as he was in
answering his desires. Therefore, God took Abraham through a
series of challenges to build him into a great man of faith. He
does the same in our lives, too-if we let him.
As we look at Abraham's journey, think about your own
faith journey . and how much you are able to trust God.
BIBLE LESSON
Abraham's journey of faith
Although Abraham's story occupies 12 chapters in Genesis, your lesson will
focus only on his lessons in faith. If you are giving a talk, here's a suggested
outline:
THE MOVE
* Genesis 12:1-7 * Describe Abraham's first test of faith and reflect
on how it must have felt for him to move after
years of living in Ur. (Use an illustration from your
own experiences of moving to another town.)
THE PROMISE
* Genesis 15:1-6 * Describe the circumstances surrounding God's
promise to Abraham.
* Genesis 17:1-9 * Explain why (as time passed) it was so difficult for
Abraham and Sarah to believe they would actually
have a son. (Refer back to the video clip, or add an
appropriate personal illustration.)
* Genesis 21:1-7 * Ultimately, God honored his promise: Abraham
and Sarah did finally have a son.
THE SACRIFICE
* Genesis 22:1-12 * Tell the story of when God asked Abraham to sacrifice
Isaac.
* It seems crazy to us that God would ask Abraham
to sacrifice Isaac after all it took to bring him into
the world. Yet God wants us to hold things loosely, always putting him first. (Talk about how hard it
is to do that with some things).
* Abraham knew he could trust God because of all
the things he had seen God do. Even when we
don't understand what God is doing, God calls us
to trust and obey. In the long run, we'll often
understand why.
SMALL-GROUP DISCUSSION
Abraham's journey of faith
You'll need .
copies of
Abraham's Journey
of Faith-Small
Group Q's 1.1
pencils
extra Bibles
In the real world, there's seldom
time for both a complete talk and a full-blown
small-group discussion. Let your small-group facilitators
pick and choose from among the
Small-Group
Q's
, or save the discussion for another
time.
GET UP & GET MOVING
Help your kids experience the lesson of faith and trust by using one of the
options explained below. Option 1 can be done right in the youth room.
Option 2 requires a climbing wall and equipment.
Option 1: Backward leaps of faith
You'll need .
1 folding chair
a table
at least 8 people
(recruit adults for
smaller groups)
Set the chair and table facing the group. Choose a fairly small student to come
to the front. Blindfold the volunteer. Stand six to
eight kids as close
together as possible in
two parallel lines in
front of the volunteer.
Gripping each other's
forearms, the group
members form a sturdy
platform.
Face the volunteer away from the group and
ask him to fall backwards onto the arms of the
group. Instruct the group to catch the student.
Next, help the student onto the chair that's facing
the group. Once more ask the student to turn his
back to the group and fall onto their arms. Finally,
help the student onto the table. In the same way
the student turns around and falls back onto the
group one last time. (Make sure this begins and
ends as an object lesson, not a lawsuit.)
Debrief your group by asking these
questions:
What did you observe about what we just did?
What (if anything) does this exercise illustrate about faith? (By staging three increasingly more risky falls, the volunteer
learns by experience to trust the group. The parallel, of
course, is that God builds our faith by taking us through
bigger and bigger challenges as we learn to trust him more
and more.)
Option 2: Rock climbing
You'll need .
a beginner's rock-climbing
site (5.5
and 5.6 routes are
good for this lesson)
or an indoor
climbing gym
climbing equipment-harnesses,ropes, shoes, helmets
(in climbing
gyms, available
to rent)
a certified or highly
experienced
instructor or coach
For a concrete experience of what faith is all about,
take students rock climbing outdoors or at a gym.
Climbing while they're on belay (that is, harnessed
to a rope with an anchored partner at the other
end) or rappelling (lowering oneself backward off a
rock) is a lesson in trust. The only way they learn
to trust the rope, the belayer, and themselves is by
resting their weight on the harness.
It's the same with trusting God-you won't
know whether you can really trust him until you
take a step of faith. Rock climbing can anchor that
truth in a student's mind for a long time. (For information
on group rock climbing, call Christian
Wilderness Adventures at 800-884-8483.)
APPLICATION
Faith detector
You'll need .
copies of
Faith
Detector
-Making
Connections 1.2
Pass out copies of the
Faith Detectoron which
students can graph their faith journey over the next
week. Ask them to bring their worksheet back to
youth group next week and share with their small
group what their graph looks like. (Optional: For
kids who would like to track their spiritual growth
over a longer time, provide additional copies of the
chart.)
Abraham's Journey of Faith
Read aloud or skim the following Scriptures.
Use what you learn to discuss the related questions.
Genesis 12:2,3
1 The first time God speaks to Abraham, he tells him to move (v.1) and then gives him a list of
promises. List the promises God makes to Abraham if he chooses to obey God.
2 Look at the kinds of moves listed below. Rate them from least difficult to most difficult.
_______ Moving to a different school
_______ Moving to a different room in your house
_______ Moving to a different country
_______ Moving to a different grade
_______ Moving to a different neighborhood
_______ Moving to a different state
_______ Moving to a different group of friends
3 Which of these moves have you experienced?
4 Which did Abraham experience?
5 How do you think Abraham's move affected his relationship with God?
Genesis 15:1-6
6 What was Abraham's second test of faith?
7 Why was this promise hard to believe?
Genesis 15:6
8 According to this verse, is it our actions or our belief that makes us righteous before God?
9 How do we become righteous?
Skim Genesis 16
10 What did Abraham and Sarah do to try to help God fulfill his promise?
11 Do you think their intentions were good or bad?
12 List the positive and negative results of their actions.
Genesis 21:1-7
13 Why do you think God waited so long to fulfill his promise?
14 How do you think the delay affected Abraham's and Sarah's faith?
Genesis 22:1,2
15 After all that Abraham had been through, how do you think he was feeling when he heard what
God said?
Genesis 22:3-8
16 Despite what Abraham was feeling, he obeyed God. Why do you think he did?
Genesis 22:10-12
17 How did God respond to Abraham when he saw his obedience?
18 After looking at Abraham's faith journey, think about where you are in your faith. On a scale
of 1 to 10 (1 being no faith and 10 being a lot of faith), where would you put yourself ? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
19 What would help you increase your faith?
(Continues.)
