Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
Introduction Video
Opening Question
What’s the farthest place you’ve traveled to?
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
– Genesis 12:1-12:5
Abraham Was Trapped Spiritually
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.
– Joshua 24:2
In Genesis 3, God promised that a descendant of Adam and Eve would redeem the world. What was at risk if Abram chose to follow his father’s way instead of following the call of God?
Do you think Abram understood the far-reaching consequences of his faith in the One True God when he left for Canaan?
If, like Abraham, our personal decisions can have eternal consequences, how can our faith help us to choose wisely?
Abraham Was Trapped Physically
“The barrenness of Sarah is an effective metaphor for hopelessness. This text tells us there is no foreseeable future, there is no power to an invent a future. The human race and human history have just hit a dead end.”
– Walter Brueggemann
How did their barrenness lower the chances of survival and flourishing for Abraham and Sarah when they left their home and families?
How could their barrenness have made them more willing to answer God’s call despite the risks involved in leaving the safety and provision of a larger community?
Has there ever been a time when your physical circumstances motivated you to make a leap of faith? Can you share what that was like with the group?
Abraham Was Trapped Culturally
“Abram, a mere figure in a notation of genealogy and migration in the preceding passage, becomes an individual character…”.
– The Five Books of Moses, Robert Alter
“God didn’t just give Abraham a promise, God gave Abraham himself.“
– Dr. Morgan Stephens
Abraham left his hometown, his father’s faith, and his collective community to answer God’s call. What do you imagine were some of the greater cultural challenges and losses processed as a result of this choice?
What modern cultural ideas and priorities must we overcome to live lives of courageous faith?
Is God currently calling you to greater dependence on him in an area of your life? If so, what are the first steps you will take toward that call? If not, how are you seeking to grow in your faithfulness to God where you are now?
Closing Thought
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
– Hebrews 11:8-12
In your final moments together, spend some time praying for one another. Ask God to open your ears to his call in your life, to increase your faith in him as the One Who Calls, and to give you courage to answer his call and follow him in all things.