GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM- Sunday October 24, 2021

Sunday October 24, 2021 (Vol 1, Unit 3, Session 1)

Hi there, and thanks for joining us this week. FriendshipKids exists to help families bring their children to Christ and disciple them to be maturing, lifelong, reproducing followers of Jesus Christ. We hope this blog will be a useful tool for you to use to fulfill that call on your life. Week by week, we will review the previous Sunday’s Children’s church lesson and help your kids grow in their faith. Please feel free to use as much of it as you choose. You know your kids and are the best possible teacher for them. God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do more than you think possible (Eph 3:20). So, let’s have some fun and teach our kids from the scriptures.

Parent Devotional

God made a Covenant with Abraham

Think about all of the choices that we have each day. Just in the morning, we have dozens of different cereals to eat, perhaps that many varieties of milk to pour on top of the cereal, and nearly as many ways to make coffee to go with it. All of these are choices that we often take for granted.

Now think about all of the choices God had as He took a significant step in redemptive history and chose a couple to start a new people from whom the promised Rescuer would come. (Gen. 3:15) We see some of those choices at the tail end of Genesis 11, but we need to remember that God is not confined to choices like we are. He is all-powerful and sovereign; God had an infinite number of choices for this critical couple.

So whom did God choose? A man named Abram and his barren wife Sarai. Now that’s a surprise, isn’t it? This is the couple whom God would give descendants as numerous as the stars? (Gen. 15:5) From the world’s perspective, this was a curious choice at best—and a laughable choice at worst.

But from God’s perspective, Abram and Sarai were a brilliant choice. First, God made it clear from the inception of this new people that He was the One bringing everything to pass. This family was special because God clearly worked in them to bring forth children. This is what Sarai understood when she said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age” (Gen. 21:7). That the son of promise, Isaac, married a wife, Rebekah—who was also barren—is not a coincidence. (Gen. 25:21) Nor is it a coincidence that Jesus would be born to a virgin. (Luke 1:34) God is the God who makes possible that which is impossible, including rescuing people from sin.

Second, it took a while, but Abram’s faith in God came to fruition because of his wife’s barrenness. This was his barrier to faith in God. This is what he struggled with for so many years. In the end, Abram’s greatest struggle became the greatest kindling of his faith. God didn’t just begin a people through barrenness; He began a faithful people through it.

God’s covenant with Abram was certainly amazing. But perhaps His choice of Abram in the first place is even more amazing.

TERMS TO KNOW

Covenant: Promise between two people or between a person and God. Sometimes keeping the promise depends on one person’s meeting conditions set by the other person.

Parent Guidance and Instructions

As we begin to explore this week’s devotional, take a moment to pray and meditate on the verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:7 says: “You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Maybe you do not have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or perhaps your children are too young to sit for that long. Consider the key points of the lesson and ask God to give you opportunities to speak them into the hearts of your children throughout the week. Let the Bible become a part of your day-to-day. Be blessed this week, my friends! 

Each week we include songs, activity pages, the bible lesson video, and memory verses. We pray this will help you find ways to engage your kids spiritually. It is written in script form from the K-2nd grade lesson, so you can read directly from it or change it to suit your children. Take some time to look at and print the activity pages and to review the lesson so you can adjust as needed. Once you are ready, go ahead and start with these songs if you would like, or pick some of your favorite worship songs and then jump right in! Have fun! And remember, this does not need to be done in one sitting! Feel free to break it up over the week. Please contact us at the church if you have any questions or suggestions. We would love to hear from you!

Opening

“Blessings and Bummers”

Let’s get started. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives this week? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest challenges?

Parents share your blessings and bummers, encourage the kids to do the same. The goal is for kids to see God at work in the everyday, seemingly small and mundane things. It doesn’t matter if it is something as small as getting to watch a favorite TV show or something big like a new baby sibling being born, God is active and in our midst.

Prayer

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer: Father God, Thank you. Thank you for providing for our needs. You are so good to us even though we do not deserve it! Thank you for continuing to bless us, Lord. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you to our friends as well as our families. Most importantly, we thank you always for sending Jesus to live a perfect life and die to pay for our sins. Thank you for raising Him from the dead and promising us life with you forever if we believe in Him. Please help us be thankful for all you do for us and look to you in all that we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(Please add to or customize prayer time to fit your family)

Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers!

Think about it.

Have you ever moved to a new city? What did you leave behind? What surprised you about the new place? If you haven’t moved, what would you miss most about leaving your current home?

Spend a few moments considering the questions before moving into the next section.

Let’s go!

Hi, everyone! I’m glad you came today. If you brought your Bible, hold it up. [Provide Bibles for kids who need one.] Can anyone tell me what the Bible is about? [Allow kids to respond.] The Bible is God’s Word. It tells us the wonderful story of God’s plan to rescue sinners.

As we will see, God uses people—ordinary people—as part of His good plan.

Today and over the next few weeks, we are going to be thinking about a big picture question. The big picture question is a question that helps us remember something that is true about God or ourselves. It reminds us that beyond the smaller details of a Bible story, God is working out a greater plan.

Our big picture question is, Who is in control of everything? Who do you think? [Allow kids to respond.] Of course! God is in control. Here is our big picture answer: God is in control of everything in heaven and on earth. Nothing is outside of God’s good plan. We’ll talk more about that after we hear today’s Bible story.

Review

Can you remember the first stories we heard from the Bible? First, God did what? [Allow kids to respond.] God created everything. On the sixth day, God created His most special creation. What was it? (people) We saw that God created everything for His glory. He made people to know and love Him. Creation glorifies God.

But God’s perfect creation was ruined when Adam and Eve sinned. To sin is to think, speak, or behave in any way that goes against God and His commands. Ever since, every person has rebelled against God. God had a plan all along, though. He wanted to bring people back into a relationship with Himself. God commanded people to spread out and fill the earth. When they rebelled and tried to build a tower for their own glory, God confused their language and scattered them.

People’s rebellion did not stop God’s plan. Several generations after Noah, a man named Abram was born into the family of Noah’s son Shem. As you’ll see, Abram became known as Abraham. Today’s Bible story is called ‘God’s Covenant with Abraham.’ The people at Babylon had tried to make their name great by building a tower up to heaven. In today’s story, God reached down and promised to give Abraham a great name. Let’s find out what happened.   

Bible Lesson

Abraham was a descendant of Noah, and he was living in Haran (HAY ran) when God spoke to him. What did God ask Abraham to leave? Look at Genesis 12:1. [Choose a volunteer to read the verse aloud.] God asked Abraham to leave his land, his relatives, and his father’s house. Abraham didn’t even know where he was going, but he had faith in God. Faith is trusting that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do.

What three things did God promise to Abraham? Look at Genesis 12:2. [Choose a volunteer to read the verse aloud.] God promised to give Abraham a new land, to make him into a great nation, and to bless him.

There were some problems, though. Abraham and his wife Sarah did not have any children, and they weren’t getting any younger. But God was in control. He had made a covenant with Abraham. A covenant is a promise between two people or between a person and God. Sometimes keeping the promise depends on one person’s meeting conditions set by the other person. This covenant depended only on God. God didn’t say, ‘If you and Sarah ever have children, then I will bless the world through them.’ God said, ‘I will do this.’ God would keep His promise no matter what.

Remember in the Bible story when a smoking pot and a flaming torch passed between the animals? Back in that time, when two people made a covenant they would both walk between the animals as a sign that they were promising to keep their part of the covenant. When God made a covenant with Abraham, the smoking pot and flaming torch passed through the animals—not Abraham. This was a sign that God alone was going to keep His covenant promises.

The Bible says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. This is what the New Testament Book of Romans says. [Read aloud Rom. 4:20-21.] Abraham believed that God could do anything He promised to do. Even though Abraham and Sarah were old and didn’t have any children, Abraham believed God’s promise that his family would be as numerous as the stars.  

Christ Connection

God promised to bless all the world through Abraham. Remember God’s promise to Eve in Genesis 3:15. Eve’s descendant would come from this nation promised to Abraham, crush the head of the serpent, and bring about the greatest blessing to all people. The blessing was not land or family, but salvation from sin. The curse would be broken. Sin would be defeated. Death would be overcome. And all who would trust in the one coming would be blessed. God sent Jesus from His home in heaven to be born on earth into Abraham’s family. Through Jesus, all the nations of the earth are blessed because Jesus saves people from their sins.

Bible Time!

Distribute Bibles and look up an Old Testament Mediterranean Map. Guide kids to open their Bibles to Genesis 17. Point out the approximate location of Haran on the map.

Say    God spoke to Abraham and told him to leave his home in Haran. Abraham, his wife, and his nephew went to Canaan [point to Canaan (H9) on the map] and then to down to Egypt [point to Egypt (H7)].  

Consider comparing the map to a modern-day map to help kids understand where this story took place. (Tip: Locate the areas in and around modern-day Syria, Israel, and Egypt.)

Choose a volunteer to read aloud Genesis 17:19.

Say    God said that Sarah—even though she was old—would have a baby. God would keep His promise through Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac. God would repeat His promise for Isaac and his future descendants. The rest of Genesis focuses on four generations of this one family.  

DISCUSSION

Ask the following questions. Lead the group to discuss.

Say    What are some things God might call us to leave behind in order to follow Him?  

Remind kids that God called Abram to physically leave his home and go to a new land. God might call us to live in a different place; He always calls us to leave behind our old way of living in sin. Emphasize to kids that though we may give up lesser things to follow Jesus, He has so many better things for us.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read Rom. 6:4.)

Say    How does God’s blessing to Abraham extend to us?  

Guide kids to recall that God promised to bless the world through Abraham’s family. Jesus was one of the numerous offspring God promised Abraham. It is because of Jesus that all people would be blessed through Abraham. All people who trust in Christ are blessed because Jesus provided salvation from sin.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read James 1:12.)

Say    Are you quick to obey your parents when they give you a command? Why? Are you quick to obey God? Why?  

Invite kids to be honest about their attitude toward their parents’ commands. Kids might be tempted to ask questions, drag their feet, make excuses, or flat out refuse to obey. Help them consider why. We might hesitate in obedience to God if we believe our own plans are better than His. Point out that when Abraham chose to believe God, he surrendered his life to God’s plan. When we trust Jesus, we surrender our lives to follow God’s good plan for us.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read Prov. 7:2.) 

Key Memory Verse

Show the key passage poster. Lead kids in reading aloud Psalm 135:5-6 together.

Then lead them to make up motions for some of the key words in the passage. Allow kids to suggest motions, or use the following with the CSB® translation: point to head (know), point upward (Lord), thumbs up (great), thumbs up above head (greater), nod head (does), shrug shoulders (whatever), sweep arms outward (pleases). Let kids practice saying the key passage using the motions as they say the words.

SAY    We know that the Lord is great. The Bible tells of His wondrous works. He created the world, shows grace to sinners, and called Abraham for His special purpose of blessing the world. God is in control, and He is good. Over the next several weeks, we will work on memorizing this passage to remember the important truth that God is great and in control.

Lead kids to sing “For I Know (Psalm 135:5-6).” You may also choose to sing a worship song of your choice. 

That is all I have for this week. Let’s pray together:

Lord God, thank You for Your Word. You are faithful and You always keep Your promises. You kept Your promise to bless the world by giving us Your Son, Jesus. We love You. Amen.