3.13.22 Huddle
INTRO QUESTION
- Are you more of a winter or spring person? Why?
LESSON INTRO
This week we are continuing our series “The Grace Of Giving” by exploring the story of Abraham. We will look at this Old Testament story and ask, How can it inform our lives today? And, How does it point to Jesus?
OPENING LESSON QUESTIONS
This week, Karen Kizlin pointed us to 3 lessons on “The Grace of Giving” from the story of Abraham.
- The Grace of Giving: The place to start is to give our lives to the Lord.
- The Grace of Giving: In tithing, we give God the first fruits and trust him to provide.
- The Grace of Giving: God’s great grace is giving His one and only Son for us.
- Which is harder for you to give, your time or your finances? Why do you think that is?
- In the book of Leviticus, we learn about the Feast of First Fruits. On this day, the Israelites were to Harvest the first of their crops for the year and give them to the Lord, trusting that he would continue to provide. Why is it significant that the Israelites gave the first of their crops rather than the last? How can that inform our understanding of giving today?
BIBLE ENGAGMENT- READ GENESIS 22:1-19
Background Info: Before Abraham’s name was changed, he was known as Abram. The name Abram means “exalted father.” What is ironic about that is that in a time and place where one’s descendants were the most important thing about them, Abram, “the exalted father,” had none. When Abram was 75 years old, God promised Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the “dust of the earth” (Gen 13). At another time, God promised Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in that sky. Yet, at this time, Abram still had no children. It was not until Abram was in his 90s, almost 25 years later that God’s promise came true and he had his son Isaac. Keep this information in mind as you read Gen 22:1-19.
THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
BIBLE ENGAGMENT QUESTIONS
- What stands out to you about this text?
- How does this story make you feel as you read it?
- In what ways does this story parallel the coming/death of Jesus?
- God’s promise to make Abraham “a great nation” was not fulfilled during Abraham’s lifetime. However, more than a thousand years later at the time of the Exodus, we see that the nation of Israel (Abraham’s decedents) number over 2 million people (some 600,000 men, plus women and children). What can we learn about God’s promises from the story of Abraham?
- Have you ever had a time when a prayer was answered much later than you thought it would be?
CLOSE IN PRAYER