Teaching 3rd - 5th graders about the Faith of Abraham
Faith is essential in a walk with God. Abraham is one of the first stories of someone who walked with God, but also struggled to make God's promises come true.
The Scriptures are Genesis 15: 1-6
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
The other Scripture is Romans 4:18-25
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”[d] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Abraham's story is encouraging in helping children develop their own faith. Abram (exalted father) , as he was known before God changed his name Abraham (Father of a nation) certainly had a lot of faith. Abraham was 75 years old when God first called him to leave his home and travel to what is now Israel. Twenty Four years later at age 99 God promised him a son and that he would become a great nation. The Bible says that Abraham believed God and was credited as righteous because of his belief.
However there is more to the story. As Abraham waited for God's promise he and Sarah must have wondered how God would or could fulfill his promise. If you don't remember Sarah laughs in disbelief when she hears God promise Abraham a son. I'm sure she is thinking all my child bearing years I have prayed, wished and hoped for a child and now that I'm ready for the grave, God is telling me I'm going to have a child. Good luck with that!
You may remember that as time went on and Sarah was not pregnant, Sarah decided that maybe God's promise was not going to be fulfilled through her but through her servant, Hagar. She offers Hagar to Abraham, they are intimate, and she becomes pregnant. Now tension arrises between Hagar and Sarah, which of course involves Abraham. Sarah blames Abraham for the situation.
Hagar has a son, Abraham's first named Ishmael who becomes the founder of the Arab people, who have been fighting the Jewish nation (Abraham's son born through Sarah, Isaac) for approximately 4,000 years.
So what can we learn and share with 3rd, 4th and 5th graders? Well really the lesson applies to every one of us who are trying to follow God.
• Abraham trusted God throughout his life as recorded in the Bible. As a result he became the father of two great peoples. He is called the father of the Arab people and the Jews.
• Abraham was not perfect. He and Sarah tried to understand God's promise and help fulfill God's promise. If Abraham and Sarah had not taken God's promise into their own hands there would have been no Isaac or Arab people. The middle east would look radically different.
What we can learn from this story is that while God wants us to trust in him, sometime we hear His Word or His promise but then try and fulfill it ourselves. We may fail but God still loves us and still has plans for our lives.
You may suffer for following your own path, but God still loves us. If you remember King David saw this really hot girl sunbathing (Bathsheba). Even though he had 7 wives he saw her and his heart burned with lust. He had her brought over and made love to her. This is olden times and he was the king so no one said anything, but God knew and sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. Little more history, Bathsheba got pregnant and David tried to bring Uriah home from the battlefield to sleep with Bathsheba. No luck so king David has him killed.
So when you or your kids think that you have fallen, think of King David and Abraham. God called David a friend of God and Abraham as a great leader of faith. If there was redemption for them, there is forgiveness for us. Yes we may have to suffer for our sins and lack of faith but God will use you if you turn back and do your best to follow Him.
Back to our children, how can you share this message of faith and the story of if or when you fall, there is forgiveness and God will never forsake you?
For younger kids there are a ton of great books that talk about Abraham. Here is one by Kay Authur.
There are a number of videos that can help us understand faith but before I share them I want to talk about a new tool where you can create your own video just by describing what you want. In the video below I said create a video about Abraham and Sarah in the Bible and their walk by faith. I did not specify it for children. In three minutes it had created this video. The website is Invideo.ai and it is pretty amazing.
Rick Warren said "Faithful people don’t live for themselves. They realize that the talents God gave them are not for their own benefit. They’re meant to make the world a better place.
When God made you, he gave you all kinds of gifts, talents, abilities, and experiences. Those things make you you. And God made you you. There’s nobody like you in the whole world, and he wants you to be you for his glory.
God shaped you to serve him, and there’s only one way to do that: by serving other people." Jesus said the greatest commandments were to love God and love others. The disciples did that and changed their world. We can do the same.
The image of Abraham and Sarah at Isaac's birth was created by ChatGPT. ChatGPT can help you with ideas, writing, and even images. I'm sure I'll be covering it more in 2024.
Last video. We all fail. If you are not failing, you are not trying. Some of the most high profile failures turned into some of the most amazing success stories.