02/28/2021 Lord, Thank You For Keeping Your Promises

Scripture of the week: Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16

Lesson:

This week we are still talking about promises and we are going to learn about a very old man named Abram. He wasn’t perfect and he made many mistakes, but he loved and trusted God. Because of this, God had a special plan for his life, just like he also has a special plan for each of our lives.

Abram sinned by lying to other people. He lied to protect himself from being harmed, but these lies could have caused other people to get hurt instead. Abram was married to Sarai. They did not have any children and had grown very old. In fact, Abram was 75 years old when God first spoke to him. He told him that he was to take Sarai and pack up everything they owned and move to a new land called Canaan. This was really hard for them to do because they had never lived anywhere else, but Abram did what God asked of him.

God spoke to Abram again and this time he told him that his name would now be Abraham and Sarai would now be Sarah. He changed their names to show that they were starting a new life. God also made promises to Abraham. He told him he would give him land, make his name great, and he would be blessed. God promised Abraham that his children would also be blessed and he would become known forever as the father of the Jewish nation.

Abraham and Sarah were confused by this because they knew they didn’t have any children and that Sarah was way too old to have a baby. They still continued to do what God told them and when Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah had a baby boy. God told them to name him Isaac. One day, God tested Abraham. He told him to kill Isaac. Although Abraham loved Isaac very much, he was ready to do what God had asked. This proved to God that Abraham was his obedient servant and he did not let Isaac be hurt. From then on and to this very day, God kept all of his promises to Abraham. The land called Canaan that he and Sarah moved to became known as Israel, the home of the Jewish nation.

Even though Abraham had been a sinner, God was willing to forgive him. God’s only son, Jesus, died for us while we were sinners. As long as we are willing to obey and trust in him, God will keep his promise to us and forgive our sins, just like he did for Abraham.

(Go to the Activities section for a project related to this lesson and then come back here and leave a comment about what you completed)