Christian Enrichment Studies
Welcome to our Christian Enrichment Studies section. Here you will find brief lessons weekly on various topics or Bible figures. These lessons are designed to aid in your spiritual development and maturation.
Going forward, we will continue to make every effort to post weekly, written lessons on Mondays; but at this time, they most likely will not be posted until Monday evenings, or possibly as late as Tuesdays. Again, our apologies.
UNIT ONE: THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
We will examine pivotal events in the life of Abraham in this unit, and their historical significance. Even though we will not study every aspect of the life of Abraham and others, we highly recommend that you read through each assignment in its entirety for your spiritual edification, and even to fill in some gaps.
* Please see our note below.
LESSON 1: Abram's Call ( January 7th, 2024)
Learning Objective: that the student gain an understanding of the purpose that God had for mankind through the life of Abraham
Reading Assignment: Genesis 11:27- Chapter 13
Abram's Call
In Genesis 11:27, we are introduced to Abram , whose name means " exalted father". This was Abraham's name before God changed it. As we see in the Scriptures, names given to individuals were significant because of their meanings, and often foreshadowed God's purpose for a person's life. Abraham's name was no different. The name "Abraham" means " Father of a multitude" , or " Chief of Multitude" (See Strong's Exhaustive Concordance). We will see shortly how this name- change related to the purpose that God had for Abram's life.
In this chapter, we are also introduced to some of his relatives. Among them were his father, Terah; his nephew , Lot; and his wife , Sarai. Sarai means " princess". She too experienced a name -change later, from Sarai to Sarah, which means "noblewoman" ( See Strong's). In verse 30 of this chapter, we learn that Sarah is barren, or infertile. This will become a key element in the story of Abraham and Sarah.
Chapter 11 of Genesis closes by telling us that Terah ( Abraham's father), Abram and Sarai, and Lot ( Abram's deceased brother Haran's son), left their homeland of Ur of the Chaldeans ( in modern -day Iraq), and journeyed towards Canaan. Terah, Abram's father, died while they camped at Haran.
Chapter 12 of Genesis is one of the most important moments in history-not just biblical history-but history, in general. We learn from it that God told Abram to leave his country, and separate himself from his family. We learn even more of the details of this encounter in Acts 7:2 in the New Testament, when we learn that this happened in Mesopotamia before Abram and his family left Ur. In verse 1 of Chapter 12, we find these words from God to Abram:
" Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a
land that I will show thee. "- Genesis 12:1
This was the first stunning , and possibly difficult thing that the Lord said to Abram. In those days, people not only greatly treasured family ties, but even often lived in close proximity to their relatives. Therefore, what God instructed Abram to do was no small matter; yet his obedience would have great consequences. Then, in verse 2, the Lord said to Abram, "And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing". This was the first hint that Abram and Sarai would have offspring. God could not have been speaking of Abram and his last living sibling of his father's household, Nahor, becoming "great" because He told Abram to leave his country and kindred; so the Lord must have had some other nation of greatness in mind when He spoke these words to the childless Abram; so it would be one that Abram himself would found.
As we see in the very next verse, the Lord makes His promise to Abram more explicit, or plain. In verse 3, part A, He says: " And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee...". Many people have failed to understand the seriousness of this verse, to this day. There are those who do understand that God blesses and favors those who help whoever or whatever He says is blessed , such as the Jewish people, and is opposed to those who fight against them or it. However, for ages, many people throughout the world have hated the Jewish people who are descendants of Abraham . Jews have suffered many injustices for generations, with nothing rivaling Hitler's Holocaust against them. Approximately 6,000,000 Jews, described by Hitler as "vermin", were "exterminated", or killed, during his reign. That has not boded well, and will not bode well , for those who mistreat or harm them. In Part B of verse 3, God said to Abram, "...And in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed". God said ALL NATIONS; and as we continue our study of the life of Abraham , and his story unfolds, we will see that God meant that for all generations, forever ( See Romans 4:13-16; Galatians 3:16-19). Finally, in verse 4, we see that Abraham obeyed God's commands.
Questions of the Week:
1 What does Abram's obedience to God teach us about what our own attitudes should be towards God's written Word, as well as any promptings or leadings that He gives us for our lives?
2 What does Abram's willingness to leave his country and relatives in obedience to God show us about his qualities and character?
3 Do you think that you , personally, have those qualities?
Answers to come on next week.
*Note: Normally, these lessons will be posted every Monday by 3 PM; but due to an outbreak of COVID and other viruses in our midst, some things are not running on a regular schedule, nor are all things fully up to our normal standards. Please excuse any formatting or grammatical errors, as well as the lack of full references in some cases. Our apologies.
Blessings
God Makes a promise to Abraham Docx
A note about an answer under last week's questions that you will see near the end of this lesson: Just to clarify my answer to Question 1 of Lesson 1, Abraham and his relatives descended from Noah's son, Shem. Shem, himself, was seemingly a God-fearing man. Eventually, his descendants, through Abraham's descendants, became the founders of Israel.However, Abraham's father, Terah, served false gods; and even from God's instruction to Abraham, seen in Genesis 12:1, to leave his country, kindred, and father's house, implies that his family, and that region, as we know ( Babylon) ,was given over to false religion;and that Abraham needed to separate himself from that to serve the True and Living God.<br>
Abram and Sarai take matters into their own hands Docx,
God Affirms His Promises to Abram Docx.
God and Abraham Interact Docx.
God Fulfills His Promise to Abraham Docx.
God Tests Abraham's Faithfulness Docx.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Docx
Jacob, Esau, and The Providence of God Docx.
Jacob's Ladder at Bethel Docx.