Group Bible Study

After all the years of waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled, imagine what it was like for Abraham and Sarah to tell their neighbors and friends that their names were changed to mother of princes and father of many when Abraham was 99 years old? Do you think they were ridiculed? Sometimes the people of God, in order to follow Him wholeheartedly, must endure ridicule in their walk of faith. Here are the verses that relate to the impossibility: 3 Abram fell facedown,   and God said to him,   4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you:   You will be the father of many nations.   5 No longer will you be called Abram ; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations (Genesis 17:3-5). 15 God also said to Abraham,  “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.   16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.

When we look at the life of Abraham, we see a man who learned to wait. The end of Genesis chapter sixteen tells us that Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael, but chapter seventeen begins by telling us that nothing happened for 14 years until God finally spoke to him again at ninety-nine years of age (Genesis 17:1). What did Abram learn in the time of waiting that we are not told about? 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.  17 : 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”  3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,  4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.  5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.  6 I will make you very fruitful; I will

We are continuing to meditate on Abram’s shortcut to the vision God had given him. Shortcuts never work out and it just caused more anguish to Abram and Sarai as Hagar ran away from home feeling that no one cared for her soul or her baby, Ishmael, within her womb. It is in the desert place that the Angel of the Lord speaks to Hagar. This angel is the One watching and listening to all that was going on in Abraham’s household. He speaks kindly to her and asks two very pertinent questions which is good for all of us to hear, “Where have you come from, and where are you going?” (v. 8). 7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.  8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai,  where have you come from, and where are you going?”  “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.  9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”  10 The angel added, “I will increase your descenda

We are continuing from yesterday’s meditation about Sarai’s suggestion to Abraham to use Hagar to birth a baby for them to realize Abram’s vision to be the father of a multitude. The passage we are looking at today begins with Abram sleeping with Hagar: 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.  5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.” 6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.  7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur (Genesis 21:4-7). When Hagar, Sarai’s slave girl, becomes pregnant, there were changes in the household and relationships. Things got messy! Hagar became proud and began

Have you ever been tempted to take a shortcut to what you believe to be God's will? The Lord promised Abraham that he would be the father of a multitude, but there was a problem, Sarah was way past the age of having children. How does one get to have many descendants if his wife cannot bear children? Sarah was barren and it was now impossible for Abraham's wife, Sarah, to bear children. Here’s the text:  1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;  2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.  3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.  4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress (Genesis 16:1-4). Sometimes we get desperate and lo

We are continuing to look at Abraham’s vision of the stars of heaven representing the people that would be influenced by his life of faith. At an earlier time, the Lord had him look at the dust of the earth as a comparison: I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted (Genesis 13:16). The dust of the earth could be a picture of the natural seed of Abraham, the Jewish people, and the vision of the stars of the sky could represent the heavenly seed, those who are born again of the Holy Spirit, the Church of the Living God. In this sense, we see an earthly and a heavenly seed.  5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”  6 Then he believed in the L ORD ; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:5-6 Emphasis mine).  Something happened within Abra

We are continuing from yesterday to think about the vision God gave Abram, soon to have his name changed to Abraham. It was about the future of his descendants, that they would become a great nation. When God calls a man or woman to a particular task, often He will give them a vision. Leaders are often given an image in his or her mind's eye of how the future will look. After getting a vision, one must prayerfully plan how he or she is to bring the image into reality. As I write, I remember more than 40 years ago the thoughts God put in my heart for my future. It is not the same method for every person. Stay open to God and be alert to His promptings. God’s vision to Abraham was to look up at the stars in the night sky: “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:5-6). God used various things in my life. Shortl

1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit 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 be.”  6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:1-6). One of the most stunning sights that I can remember happened one night while I was working as a commercial fisherman on the East Coast of England on my father's fishing boat. At the time, I was working the boat all alone during the ni

We are continuing our thoughts about God’s molding of Abraham’s character to be a man of God. He didn’t live long in the land before he resorted to leaning on Egypt: 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.  11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.  12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.  13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you” (Genesis 12:10-13). To the spiritual man, Egypt is a picture of one leaning on the arm of flesh rather than God. Egypt was watered not by the rain or dew, but by the pumping up of the water with the foot pump. The River Nile was the source of water for the Egyptians, but to get the water to the fields required man to pump it up with their feet. God spoke of the lan

After Jesus was raised to life, the Lord spent time with the disciples, teaching and eating with them, and appearing to over 500 people at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6), taking away all their doubts and unbelief:  “Jesus gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3-4). People come up with all kinds of reasons as to why they won’t believe, but for every skeptic who will reasonably think through the evidence, God has covered all the bases. There are those that say the following: 1) Jesus didn’t die. He just swooned on the cross, and later in the tomb, he revived and left the tomb. We have evidence from the Roman soldiers who made sure that Jesus was dead by thrusting a spear into his side (John 19:33-35). We are told that out of the side of Christ came a “sudden flow of blood and water.” We now know this to be medical evidence of death. The chances that His wounds would have healed

The New Testament tells us of several secret believers at the time of Christ. It was two believers of the Sanhedrin that placed Him in the tomb.  50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man,  51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.  52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body.  53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.  54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.  55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.  56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment (Luke 23:50-56). Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Christ. John the Apostle wrote that he kept his beliefs to himself due

Today we celebrate the crucifixion of Christ. We’ll take time out of our meditations on the life and faith of Abraham, to speak about what Jesus did for us at Passover, when He paid the deliverance fee with His blood.  When they reached Calvary, Simon from Cyrene, the one forced to help, threw down the crossbeam. Matthew tells us that they offered Jesus wine mixed with gall. Mark wrote that the bitter substance also had myrrh, but when He tasted it, He refused it and spat it out (Mark 15:23). This substance mixed into the wine was both  nauseous and narcotic, i.e., a  sedative to enable the soldiers to hold His arms down for Him to be nailed more easily. He wanted nothing that would dull His senses at that crucial time. When He refused the mild narcotic, they pierced His hands and feet. He would “taste death” for every man (Hebrews 2:9). He would not fight those trying to nail His hands and feet, He willingly laid His hands down. This was prophesied by King David nearly 1000 yea

Today we begin to take a look at how God changed the character of Abram and made him into the father of those with faith in the God of Abraham. Over the next couple of weeks, we follow the story of how God took him step by step and honored the promises He made to Abram. Like us, he was not perfect, but he was willing to learn to walk by faith.  1 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 (Genesis 12:1-2). We often don’t stop to think of what it cost Abram to leave Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), and walk by faith step by step. We may know the whole story, but Abram did not have the benefit of knowing what the end would be when he was called to take the first step. 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even t