The Abraham Bible story is really the story of an old old man.
No, Abraham wasn’t an old, old man. He was an old, old, old, old, old man.
We don’t even meet Abraham and learn of his story until one day God plucks a 75 year-old man out of obscurity and asks him to leave his home country.
It’s only from this point forward in his life that we know his story.
So I’d like to present the Abraham Bible Story for help with your own kid or even for use in a Sunday School classroom setting.
First, let’s start with a fun game to get the kids moving and excited!
Group Game for the Abraham Bible Story
Yell out a number from 1 to 10.
For whatever number you yell out the students must get in a group with that many people in it.
If you yell ‘3’ the kids will get in a group of 3 and so on.
For each round, whoever is left without a group is out of the game. Keep playing until only three players are left. These 3 players are the winners of 3’s Company.
Whenever Abraham saw 3 strangers walking by his tent he had no clue that it would be the Lord coming to visit him. Thankfully, he greeted the Lord with his arms wide open and a tasty feast.
Abraham Bible Story: Complete Sunday School Lesson Script
Let’s play a game to start off today. Unless you would rather just sit there quietly?
I didn’t think so! 🙂
The game is called, How old is TOO old?
I’m going to describe something and then give you an age. If you think someone is too old to be doing that than say “too old!”, and if you think the age is about right, say, “just right!”
Let’s practice:
Sucking your thumb Age 25
“Too old!”
Alright, here we go:
Going to 1st grade Age 44 (too old)
Learning how to spell ‘dog’ Age 4 (just right)
Talking like a baby Age 23 (too old)
Living with your parents Age 6 (just right)
Living with your parents Age 66 (too old)
Going to Work Age 36 (just right)
Having a baby Age 24 (just right)
Having a baby Age 95 (too old)
Going to College Age 23 (just right)
Riding in a car seatAge 42 (too old)
Today we are going to talk about one of these…but before we do, we need to revisit a promise we started to talk about last week.
(this lesson is from Week 2 of my The Promise Keeper curriculum series)
Remember God told Abram that he would have lots and lots of kids? God had promised Abram a big family…even though he had ZERO kids and wasn’t getting any younger!
After that promise Abram, and his wife Sari, did not kids. The continued to be kid-less.
We read their life story in Genesis. In there it talks about God coming to visit…again.
And He makes the same promise. Only this time, He doubles down.
You know what it means to double down?
How many of you have ever been playing a game or having a competition and while you thought you were going to win you just can’t seem to.
Maybe you are racing a friend to see who’s the fastest. You tell your friend that whoever wins gets to decide what video game you are going to play together. After the first 2 races you are shocked that your friend beat you, both times. But you don’t give up, instead, you say…”Ok whoever wins THIS race gets to pick the video game AND what we have for dinner!!”
You just doubled down. You decided on a prize and now, you just made the prize (or you might say the stakes) even higher.
That’s exactly what God did with Abram.
God comes to visit Abram in Genesis 17 and he retells him that Abram is going to have a big family, AND then adds another guarantee to the mix.
God adds ANOTHER guarantee to the mix
He changes Abram, and his wife Sari’s, names.
Why does this matter? Because he changes their names so their names mean they will have a big family!
Sari, becomes Sarah.
Abram becomes Abraham. And the name Abraham means “the father of many nations”.
This would be like changing the name of the slowest person you know to Speedy Gonzalez! That would be ridiculous, right? Nobody that’s slow has the word “speedy” in their name!
But God promises Abram, now Abraham, once again, that he WILL have a big family. And he reminds them of this promise by changing his name.
Abraham and Sarah go about their business and a little under 3 months later some visitors show up at their tent…aka: their house. These aren’t just any visitors…listen to how Abraham greets them:
“My Lord, if I have now found favor in your sight,
do not pass by on your Servant.”
Genesis 18:3
Abraham is hosting God!
So he does what would have been expected of him, he runs hurries to prepare them food. Remember, they didn’t have cars back then, so after all that walking they would be hungry!
Listen to Abraham’s hurried preparations:
So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said,
“Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.
And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf,
gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it.
Genesis 18:6-7
As they sit down to talk, we are told that Sarah, who was inside the tent, not able to see them, could hear what they were saying.
God tells Abraham what he said only 3 months earlier… “Sarah your wife shall have a son.”
Sarah head this…and laughed. But not out loud…just to herself. Remember at the beginning we thought it was funny to think about a 44-year old going to 1st grade! Well Sarah thought about her 95 year-old self and thought it was funny to think about having a baby.
Abraham and Sarah were the age of Grandparents. Their days of being a wild young crazy couple were LONG over. And Sarah knew this. So when she heard talk of her having a baby…it was ….funny to her.
But the Lord, sitting where He couldn’t see her, or hear her, noticed that she laughed. And he asked Abraham, “Why is Sarah laughing, Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
Sarah, in that moment, forgot that God’s promises, however crazy they may seem, are guaranteed to come true. Even a woman, the age of your grandparents, having a baby.
We will see in 2 weeks how this promise from God absolutely came true. Just like God had said it would.
God is the great promise keeper. What he promises comes to pass. Sarah, when she had Isaac probably held the Guinness Book of World Records for the oldest woman to ever have a baby! Was it because of some scientific miracle? Absolutely not! It was because God had promised that it would happen.
God keeps His promises…always!
Abraham Bible Story: Lesson Review Questions
Why was having a baby a big deal? Because God had told Abraham he would have a big family, and he didn’t have any kids at the time. Also, being childless in this time was seen as a curse from God.
Why did God change Abram’s name? To remind Abram of the Promise He had made.
Can you spell Abraham? Can you spell it backwards!?
If you could change your name, what would you want to change it to?
Who came to visit Abraham? 3 strangers, one of whom was the Lord
What did the Lord tell Abraham during his visit? That Sarah would have a baby in her old age.
What was Sarah’s response? She laughed to herself (not out loud)
And then what happened? The Lord asked Abram why she had laughed, even though the Lord couldn’t see or hear her
How old were Abraham and Sarah? They were the age of grandparents, in their 90s
Is anything too difficult for God? No
What promises has God made you? Are you trusting Him to keep those promises?
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