Choosing to Follow

                                                                    Sunday School Lesson
                                                                        December 4,2011

Lesson Focus:
God will lead and bless those
who follow Him.

Lesson Scripture:

Genesis: 12:1-9

Introduction:

Abram's call,how closely are we following God's lead?When life gets tough,do we abandon the Christian journey and go back to old ways, or do we keep pushing forward,confident God will reward our faithfulness? Here's what Abram(Abraham) did.God instructed Abram to leave his father's idol worshiping city ,Ur and follow Him.God promised to make Abram a great nation,give him blessings,make his name great,enable him to be a blessing to others,protect him from enemies, and the final and most important promise,Abram's family would be the ancestors of the Messiah.God invited Abram on a faith journey,paved only with His words and promises.Abram accepted the invitation.Abram packed up his family with all their possessions and headed for God's appointed land,Canaan.When Abram arrived in Canaan,he observed on obstacle he would have to overcome, the canaanites who inhabited the land.Abram is an excellent example of a man who heard God, followed His lead,and drew closer to God each step of the way.He is a good example to follow on your faith journey.

God Calls Abram
Genesis 12:1-3KJV
¹Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
   ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
   ³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Footnotes:
Here we have the call of Abram,and the promise of God to make a great nation of his descendants. The promise of God to Abram is powerful and far-reaching,and was perhaps even overwhelming. God made it clear that his descendants would help change the course of history.In order for this to happen Abram would have to leave everything that was dear to him and follow God.This journey God has called us on is one of that can change the course of history.But like Abram we to must be willing to leave all that we might find dear to us to follow the path which God has laid out for us.

Abram Leaves Haran
Genesis 12:4-5KJV
⁴So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
   ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Footnotes:

Continuing to be obedient to the call of God,Abram set out for Canaan from Haran.Abram left all he knew, having only the word of the Lord to hold to.He had nothing to hold to but that which God had promised him.We too have been called to walk out on faith ,to live a life of faith having only the word of God as our guide and His promises as our protection.We are on a journey to a land that we know exist solely on the promise of God,and that same promise tell us it is ours to posess,but we have to leave and forsake all and follow Him to get there .And like Abram we have one obstical to overcome,self. Self is all that stands between us and the promises of God.

Abram Builds an Altar
Genesis 12:6-9KJV
 ⁶And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
   ⁷And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
   ⁸And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
   ⁹And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.

Footnotes:

Abram's journey to the land of Canaan would have taken him through the fertile cresent and around the Arabian Desert,which is simply unhabitable and uncrossable,a least for all the family members and livestock Abram brought with him.This trip probably took Abram about a month to make, and would have seemed a difficult journey.But he had God's word to lead him and guide him and in faith he perservered.Abram built an alter at Shechem because the Lord appeared to him there.Because of his faith,Abram remains one of the most powerful examples of what it means to trust God,even when the final outcome of our faithful obedience remains a mystery.