Elementary Level, Block 2—Noah to Isaac
Week 12
Abraham—God Having a New Beginning (Revised on 3/4/2021)
Point to Emphasize: We can be those who respond to God and are open to something new.
Reference Reading: Genesis 11—12:1-3
Memory Verse: By faith Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out unto a place… (Heb. 11:8a)
Story Sample
Do you all remember how we learned about Noah and his three sons last week? Well, this week we will begin to talk about the important people that came after them. Many, many years had passed since Noah, and again there were many people on the earth. However, these people forgot about caring for God and cared only for themselves. They wanted to be in control, doing whatever they wanted and forgetting about God altogether. They even began to worship and pray to things other than God. How terrible!
Well, now what do you think God should have done? Here were the people He had created, and once again, they had become very bad. They didn’t care for God’s plan or purpose for their life. Should God cause another flood? No! He would never break His promise to Noah. Should He forget about these people entirely and just give up? Thankfully, He did not. God was not frustrated or angry. Instead, God was very wise in what He did.
God needed a new beginning. He would not give up on man. Rather, in His wisdom, He decided to start again in a whole new way.
In the land of Ur of the Chaldeans was a man named Abram. Later, we will hear about how his name was changed to Abraham. God decided to use this man. He told Abraham to leave the land he was living in and to go to a new land. God needed to have a new beginning, and He was going to use Abraham. God said to him, “Go from your land and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you; and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:1-2). Now what if God called Abraham and Abraham did not listen to God? What if Abraham said, “Sorry, God, I am too old for You to use me. I don’t want to follow You or move away from my comfortable home and everything I have. I think I will just stay here and not follow You.” What if Abraham was not willing to let God use him? How sad that would be. But you know what? That’s not what happened. Instead, Abraham listened to God and followed Him, and God was able to use Abraham to have a new beginning with a new race of people.
Just consider if you were Abraham. God called Abraham and told him to leave his home, but did not tell him where he would be going. Imagine you are busy playing in your room, and Mom and Dad come to tell you that it is time to get in the car and go somewhere. You want to know where you are going, but they don’t tell you, even though you keep asking them. Will you listen to them even though they don’t tell you where you are headed? Or will you refuse to go because you are not sure what their plan is? Well, imagine you willingly follow your mom and dad’s directions and you end up going to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa for a surprise visit. Wouldn’t you be glad you were open to something new and followed them even if they didn’t tell you where you were going? [Storyteller, add an age appropriate story of your own where you responded positively to something new.]
Well, this is like God and Abraham. God wanted to use Abraham for a really important job. So He came to Abraham and told him to follow Him to a new land. I’m so glad that Abraham listened to God and followed God’s way. Abraham listened to God, and he was open to something new, so God could use him for a new beginning!