1. Lesson 16: God chose, called, and guided Abram Genesis 15:6
Firm Foundations
Lesson 16:
God chose, called, and guided Abram
Genesis 15:6
6And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

2. Introduction Do you remember your grandfather?
Do you remember your great-great grandfather?
Today’s lesson is about a man who will be remembered for many generations
Because he believed God
He lived more than 4,000 years ago

3. Abram was a descendant of Shem
Noah’s 3 sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Abram was son of Terah
Abram lived near ruins of Tower of Babel
Genesis 11:27-30
Abram and Sarai were married
God later changed their names
Had no children
Genesis 11:31-32
Terah moved from Ur to Haran
Took Abram and Sarai with him
Took his grandson Lot with him
Got to Haran and died
27This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

4. God called and commanded Abram
Genesis 12:1
God called Abram to go to Canaan
Leave his own country
Spoke directly to Abram
Abram didn’t have Bible
Mesopotamia
Abram’s current home
People worshipped idols
Abram’s father worshipped idols
God called Abram out of this idol-worshipping culture
1 Now the LORD had said to Abram:        "Get out of your country,        From your family        And from your father's house,        To a land that I will show you.

5. God’s promises to Abram
Our ancestors turned away from God
God didn’t abandon His plan to rescue mankind
God’s next step: call Abram
God is the same today
Genesis 12:2
God would give them children!
God would make Abram a blessing to the nations!
Genesis 12:3
The deliverer would come through Abram!
2I will make you a great nation;        I will bless you        And make your name great;        And you shall be a blessing.
3I will bless those who bless you,        And I will curse him who curses you;        And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

6. Abram believed and obeyed God
Galatians 3:8
Abram and Sarai were living in a place where people worshipped idols
Abram and Sarai were childless
Abram believed God’s promises
God would send the Deliverer
God would send the Deliverer through Abram
8And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

7. Abram believed and obeyed God
Genesis 12:4,5
<map of Ur, Haran, & Canaan>
Abram was rich, and left it all behind
Now, Abram traveled and lived in tents
Lot also went with Abram and Sarai
Lot also believed and trusted in God’s promises
<map of Canaan>
4So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

8. Back

9. Abraham’s Journey to Egypt
Nile
Nile Delta
Mediterranean Sea
NASA Photo
Sinai
Canaan
© EBibleTeacher.com
Abraham’s Journey to Egypt
Abraham’s Journey to Egypt
THE TRAVELS OF ABRAHAM
Genesis 12:1-5
"12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go 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." 4 So Abram left, He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
Genesis 12: :12
"10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe."
"13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him."
"13:12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom."

10. Trouble between Lot’s and Abram’s herdsmen
Genesis 13:5-7
Lot was rich like his uncle
They both had large flocks, and it wasn’t long before trouble developed between their men.
5Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. 6Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. 7And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.

11. Abram’s solution Genesis 13:8-9 “Choose for yourself…”
8So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left."

12. Lot’s choice Genesis 13:10-11 Lot chose the best thing for his animals
Why?
Lot did not choose the best thing for his family
What would be the consequence?
Proverbs 14:12
He that is perverse in his ways despises God
Lot moved down to the plain
Who fared better – Abram or Lot?
Genesis 13:12-13
The cities of the plain were wicked
Lot chose what looked good, but God knew it was truly evil
10And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. 11Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.
12There is a way that seems right to a man,        But its end is the way of death.
12Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 13But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.

14. Conclusion Lot made a choice that seemed right to him
Abram believed God and trusted in His promises