The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

Picture yourself as a 75-year-old man or woman, and God tells you to uproot your entire family, pack up all your belongings, and travel to an unknown destination. At retirement age, one would hope to relax in some sort of comfort and familiarity with grand-kids crawling all over, but this was not to be Abraham and Sarah’s lot. Or, so it seemed.

At this point in their lives, Abram and Sarai had settled into the mindset that they would probably never have children, and now they are preparing to live as nomads in their old age and establish new roots in a strange land. Little did they know that God had some huge plans for them and their descendants! However, Abram, (or Abraham, as he would later be renamed) chose to believe and to trust God every step of the way.

Abram traveled the length and breadth of what would eventually become the Promised Land for God’s chosen people for all generations to come. He could not have possibly understood the immensity of all that God had planned as God promised that through him, all the nations of the world would be blessed. Repeatedly, we see that God speaks to Abram, giving him promises and instructions, but at the time, the extent of God’s Words could not have been realized through Abram’s finite understanding. Yet even so, Abram chose to believe and to follow.

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 NIV

We have seen this past week, as well as the coming week’s study, that Abram/Abraham was the ultimate example of faith in action, and because of his faith, God declared him righteous. We will have some wonderful truths to understand for our own lives through his example!

We also see that Abram messed up and revealed that he had a sinful human nature as well, like the rest of us. But again, what hope is demonstrated through his example that God’s grace can make things right again. We can glean from this part of the story that none of us are a lost cause or a hopeless mess. We are heirs to the promises of God, and through Christ, we can be 100% forgiven, set free, and made whole!

What curious symbolism God demonstrates in chapter 15 when the smoking fire pot and the blazing torch pass through the pieces of meat as he established the eternal covenant with Abraham and his descendants. However, God had specific reasons for every single detail of this interaction. Probably most amazing of all is how the expression of this covenant directly points to Christ! He is the fulfillment of all the promises God made to Abraham and his descendants!

Did you grasp the fact that in Christ we are all descendants of Abraham and heirs of the promise? Yes, God was talking about us!

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 NIV

Like Abraham, faith includes waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises. Abraham did not see the fulfillment of all God’s promises in his lifetime, yet he still chose to hope in God.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. …

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.

Hebrews 11:8-10, 13 NIV

Ultimately, we look forward to the day when Christ shall return, and all the promises made to Abraham and his descendants, including us, will be completely and eternally fulfilled. What a day that will be!

In our daily lives, faith is about trusting God, even when we don’t understand how things will work out. It is about moving forward with only the limited sight God has given us. It is “stepping out on nothing and landing on something.” Don’t let your heart be troubled but rest assured that God will always be true to His Word. He will always fulfill his promises. While waiting, continue to trust and obey!

I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14 NIV

 My calm confidence is that every promise of God is fulfilled to me in Christ.

 My great comfort is knowing that one day the curse of sin will be gone for good.

 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ³⁷ For,

“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”

And, 

“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Hebrews 10:35-39 NIV

Week 6 Discussion Questions

Here is a preview of what we will be talking about in our small groups for WEEK 5.

ICE BREAKER:  We have read this week about Abraham picking up roots and moving to a new land. Most of us fit into one of two camps: either you still live near the family you grew up with or at some point you moved away and started a new life and family of your own, like Abraham did. Some of us have even moved multiple times! What about you? What do you see as some of the upsides or downsides of each?

QUESTION 1:  What question or activity from the Personal Study this week was especially meaningful, interesting, or challenging to you?

QUESTION 2: Do you see Abraham as a hero of the faith? What are some reasons you read specifically from Genesis 12-15 that confirm your belief?

QUESTION 3: Through Abraham’s example, we have learned various ways God has fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will fulfill his promises. How has this helped you in understanding and perhaps accepting how God has fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will fulfill his promises to you? How can we wait and maintain our faith and hope?

 QUESTION 4: What difference does it make that Abraham’s believing God was not a good work through which he earned the righteousness that was credited to him, but rather his believing God was the channel through which the righteousness of Christ was credited to him? Do you understand the difference and the role of grace here? Where do “works” fit in this scenario?

 QUESTION 5: Many people in our world today see God as a harsh judge, and arbitrary power, an uncaring deity. What does the covenant oath ceremony, as unusual as it is, reveal to us about the person of God?

QUESTION 6: The big question of this week was, “Is there a day you are longing for?” We were challenged to nurture our longing for the day when Christ will return and all the promises made to Abraham and his descendants will be fulfilled for eternity. Is that a day you long for? Why or why not? How can we nurture that longing?

Week 7 Assignments

LEVEL 1:

1. Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 16-24
2. Personal Bible Study, pp. 177-182
3. Teaching Chapter: How Will I Know I Am Loved? pp. 183-200
4. Participate in a small group. (Discussing Week 6)

 LEVEL 2:

1. Look for daily activities in the Heart to Heart Facebook group.
2. Watch “Quick Study” video from Genesis 18-22, The Fall of a City
3. Watch “Quick Study” video from Genesis 23-25, Abraham Lived to 175!

LEVEL 3:

Scripture memory of the week:

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, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:17-18 NIV

SOAP Scriptures: See here for instructions and examples.

• Monday: Read Genesis 16 and 17, SOAP 16:13
• Tuesday: Read Genesis 18 and 19, SOAP 18:18-19
• Wednesday: Read Genesis 20-21, SOAP 21:1
• Thursday: Read Genesis 22, SOAP 22:15-18
• Friday: Read Genesis 23-24, SOAP 24:26-27

(Optional): Watch Video, Week 7

 LEVEL 4:

1. Read Genesis, chapters 1-25
2. Daily journaling or blogging about how God speaks to you through His Word

How This Works

1. If you have not done so already, please register by leaving your name and email address in a comment below.
2. Purchase the book, The Promised One: Seeing Jesus in Genesis, by Nancy Guthrie. You can find it at one of these sites:

Nancy Guthrie’s website

Amazon: Paperback, Kindle

Christianbook.com: Paperback, ebook

Barnes and Noble: Paperback Click “View all available formats and editions” for link to purchase Nook book.

LifeWay: This book is no longer available at Lifeway.com. If you would like to pick it up at your local LifeWay store, you may need to request a special order, but they should be able to get it for you.

1. Subscribe to this site to receive future updates by email. Enter your email address in the field to the right, and then click the subscribe button.
2. Join our closed Facebook group, Heart to Heart Women’s Bible Study, for weekly interaction, activities, videos, and small group sessions. Closed means that no one will be able to see our posts unless they are members of the group. This is for your safety and privacy.
3. Small Groups: See the pinned post at the top of the Facebook group, Heart to Heart Women’s Bible Study, for the schedule and instructions. All you need to do is show up at the scheduled day and time, and the discussion will take place underneath the group photo. 
4. Follow my ministry page on Facebook, Shari Lewis Ministries, to stay up-to-date on ministry events and for daily prayers, nuggets of wisdom and encouragement for your life, photos that you are welcome to share, and faith building blog posts to strengthen you in your walk with Christ.

I look forward to seeing you in a small group this week, and I pray that this will be an extremely blessed, eye-opening, and heart-transforming week of Bible study!

God bless!