Promises of God :: The Beginning

• Use the lead app to check in students and make sure any students not listed fill out a connect card digitally.

• Do not move on until check-in has happened and any students not listed have filled out a connect card.

• Remind them they can ask us anything by texting AMA to 678-798-8338 or by dropping a card in the lobby AMA Box.

How did god begin to fulfill his promise?

Let’s start with a little fun. Have the group circle up to play a quick game.

• Stand in a circle and have each person say their name. Now, throw a ball (In your boxes) to someone in the group.They have 2 seconds to call the name of someone and throw the ball to them. If they cannot remember a name, then that person is out of the game. Do this for a few rounds and then add every one back in and shorten the time to 1 second.

Now a brief discussion about the video we watched before we got into small group.
(Here are a few questions to help)

• What does God promise to Abraham?

• How does the video summarize the book of Genesis?

• Why do you think that God continued to include humans in his plan rescuing the world?
  

Now Take turns reading the following passages of Scripture together, drawing particular attention to the bold portions of text:

• Genesis 12:1-3
  1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

• Genesis 17:1-6
  1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.

• Isaiah 49:1-6
  1 Listen to me, O coastlands,
  and give attention, you peoples from afar.
  The Lord called me from the womb,
  from the body of my mother he named my name.
  2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
  in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
  he made me a polished arrow;
  in his quiver he hid me away.
  3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
  Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
  4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
  I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
  yet surely my right is with the Lord,
  and my recompense with my God.”
  5 And now the Lord says,
  he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
  to bring Jacob back to him;
  and that Israel might be gathered to him—
  for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
  and my God has become my strength—
  6 he says:
  “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
  to raise up the tribes of Jacob
  and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
  I will make you as a light for the nations,
  that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

In the last lesson, we learned that God promised a Savior would defeat evil and rescue his creation from the power of sin and death.This promised Savior would come through Abraham’s descendents.We will explore how God called Abraham to be a blessing to the world.

Now lets explore the passages.

• What does God promise Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3?

• What did God ask Abraham to do before he blessed him?

• In Genesis 17:1-6, In what specific ways did God promise to bless Abraham?

• What does God call Isaiah to do?

Now lets try to figure out how to apply this to our lives.

• Have a discussion with the students and be intentional to get the conversation going and the students sharing.

  • How is God wanting to use you/us as part of his plan to restore the world?

  • Have you ever felt like God has asked you to give up something because he has something better for you? If so, share your experience.

  • How can you be a blessing to others this week?

THE BIG QUESTION:

HOW DID GOD BEGIN TO FULFILL HIS PROMISE?

Allow students to answer the question in their own words.

Finish by making sure they understand this answer though:

• God began to fulfill his promise by calling Abraham. God promised to bless the world through Abraham and descendants..

NEXT STEPS:

Give students a piece of paper, a pen, and a few minutes to journal a response to the following prompt:

Take a minute to imagine yourself as a part of Abraham’s family.

1. What promises apply to you if you are a part of Abraham’s family?

2. How does being a part of this family change your perspective on your value to God?

3. How does being a part of this family change your perspective on the way you live for God?

Finish by having the students commit to a particular person be a blessing to this week.

Now pray together.

(Put their papers back into your small group buckets.)

We will know we have hit our target if:

-Students and leaders understand that God began to fulfill his promise by calling Abraham. God promised to bless the world through Abraham and his descendants. And we should bless others in order to point them back to the God who blesses his people.

-Everyone leaves with a specific name of someone to bless this week.