‘Following the Leader…’

Week 3: Discovering the Character of God through Abraham

3.1. Read and discuss the life-file on page 15 of the Youth Bible (God’s Will). Could we follow God, not knowing what is in store for us or – maybe worse – that only danger lies ahead?

3.2. Read Genesis 12:1-4. Reflect on last week’s session and compare Noah and Abram. God called them both and then gave them both promises – with terms – and both responded obediently. Bonus points to anyone who

3.3. Hand out and discuss ‘Abram’s Journey’. Also, read Romans 4:1-3, 13. Note that it wasn’t Abram’s obedience that made him right with God; his faith made him right with God and obedience was the fruit that came naturally. The writer of the New Testament book, Hebrews, also recognised this. Read Hebrews 11:8-10.

3.4. Abram may have been full of faith, but he was by no means perfect. Read Genesis 12:10-20. These verses remind us that faith can be fickle. It can be easy to trust God when things are good (the promises God gave in 12:2-3), but hard when the odds are stacked against us. Yet, just because Abram’s faith wavered, it didn’t mean God gave up on him. Check out 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

3.5. Read Genesis 17:1-14. This is the symbol/sign of the promise God made in 12:1-4. Note that God gives the sign as a reminder of His promise to Abram, rather than giving Abram lots of signs in order to persuade him to respond.

Week 3: Summary

Some of the characteristics of God that we can discover this week are:

• He calls us – we don’t choose Him.
• He is faithful at all times
• He requires faith first and obedience second.
• He gives us signs to remember His promises, not the other way around.

‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow…’

Week 2: Discovering the Character of God through Noah
2.1. Get the group to imagine that they are artists. There is one particular painting that is precious to them because it’s a copy of one of their best pieces of work. They slaved over the original but an act of vandalism destroyed it. Not to be put off, they re-painted the work onto a new canvas and, although it would never be quite the same as the original, it was still good. One morning, they turn up to the studio, only to find that it’s been broken into and the painting wrecked again. How would they feel?

2.2. Read Genesis 6:5-7. Just like the artist feels like they’re at the end of the rope, so God once felt like giving up with the human race. But we’re still here – evidence that he didn’t. What happened to change his mind?

2.3. Read Genesis 6:8 and 6:17 - 7:5. God found a god man in Noah and Noah’s obedience goes to show that God chose the right man.

2.4. Watch Evan Almighty scene 4 (from 14:28 to 16:39).

• If God were to ask us to build an ark, would we be Evans or Noahs… honestly?
• Which do we want to be?

2.5. Reread Genesis 6:18 and read Genesis 9:8-17 and discuss the connection between these passages. Notice that God promises and ‘agreement’, Noah obeys His ‘terms and then God fulfils His ‘agreement’. (Covenenant)


Week 2: Summary
Three characteristics of God that we can discover through Noah are

• He is a Just Judge
• God wants us to be obedient
• God keeps his promises

‘Original Sin’

Week 1: Discovering the Character of God through Adam

1.1. Invite the group to discuss the nature/definition of a crisis.

• What crises have they undergone in their lives?
• What national/global crises can they think of?

1.2. Invite the group to guess the first crisis in the Bible.

1.3. Read Genesis 2:1-24. Briefly recap Genesis 1 before encouraging the group to compare the two passages. The key observation to make is that Adam’s ‘Aloneness’ displeased God in contrast to the Lord’s pleasure at the rest of creation. This was a crisis in God’s eyes. He views our aloneness as catastrophic as we view things like 9/11 or the Asian Tsunami… yet it was a crisis that He was quick to rectify. Re-read 2:18 (you could also check out John 11:44 for a New Testament picture of this).

1.4. Get the group to imagine that they are Adam and Eve and discuss what life would have been like for them from before sin entered the world, right through to God providing a covering for them.

• What do you think it would have been like to witness the first ever death? (compare with Romans 6:23)
• How would Adam and Eve have felt to know that God still wanted them in spite of their sin, but that an animal had to be killed for them to be put right with him?

Week 1: Summary

Three characteristics of God that we can learn from this week’s study include:

• God wants us to have relationships with each other
• When God isn’t pleased with something, he puts it right
• God provided the necessary sacrifice for Adam and Eve to be made right with Him

…by the way, look again at that animal sacrifice… who/what does that remind you of?

Time for change?

Several people have been saying to me that it would be really good to share my teaching plans, so initially I stated typing them into Word, thinking I would publish them.

Today, however, I decided that, while I would stick with that project it might a be a good idea to undelete this blog and get some decent use out of it! So, coming shortly to a blog near you will be the GiG Teaching notes. Feel free to download and use as you please - I hope that your youth group will be as blessed as ours have.

Any questions? Do feel free to comment. :)