In Genesis 15, Abram asks God for a sign and God tells Him to do something so utterly bizarre that it will require quite an explanation! We’ll also be talking about the prophet Jeremiah and the time the citizens of Jerusalem made a very big mistake.

Gen 15:4-6  Abram has been promised that his kids and grandkids and great grands will be as many as the stars in the sky! God says that Abram is going to be a daddy but what about Sarai? This week we will talk about great faith in the Bible—from Abram to the people who surprised Jesus with their faith!

Continuing with Gen 15, this week’s lesson is a lot about relationship building with the God who wants all of us, even our complaints! We’re going to learn about Ethan the priest’s complaint in the Psalms and about adoption in the ancient world and how the Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus was adopted by Joseph.

Genesis 15 is one of the most important chapters in all of the Bible! It is where God finally makes His covenant with Abram, promises to deal with the sins of humanity Himself, gives someone a vision, and says “Fear not!” This week, I will explain the difference between dreams and visions, talk about what the “word of the Lord” might be, and the difference between when God, the angels, and Jesus tell people to “Fear not!”

What’s Pentecost? Why do we study Exodus and Ruth this weekend? And how does the story of Ruth change God’s mind about the Moabites?

Before we start chapter fifteen of Genesis, I want to talk about what will start happening in chapter sixteen and continue all the way to the end of the Bible. There are a lot of bullies and God doesn’t like it. We’re going to look at some surprising bullies and also the people who were bullied and read a Psalm that tells us how people who are rich, powerful, strong, and popular are expected to treat those who aren’t. We’re also going to talk about our own responsibilities and how we can be bullies too and what the consequences are if we choose to do that.

The King of Sodom wants to make Abram an offer that he figures can’t be refused. But Abram has other ideas because of his growing trust in God. But why does that rascally king think he can accomplish and why is he even doing it?

One of the great unsolved mysteries of the Bible is the identity of Melchizedek, the priest king of Salem (which will later be called Jerusalem). We’ve seen it before, as with Nimrod, that when the Bible and history don’t tell us anything about someone in the Bible, there are a lot of crazy stories trying to fill in those gaps. However, what we really can know about Melchizedek is still very important and very interesting.

At one point, Lot was camped by the city of Sodom and now we see that he is actually living in the city—and when the rebellion of the five kings goes terribly wrong, Lot and his family get taken as captives and all their stuff gets taken too. Instead of paying a ransom for his safe return, Abram and his allies assemble an army and take back all the people and all the stuff that was taken.

If you have read my curriculum book The Ten Commandments and the Covenants of Promise, then some of this will be a review for you. Otherwise, this week you will be learning about why these kings were fighting and how understanding their relationship with King Chedorlaomer also helps us to understand God’s relationship with the children of Israel and with us too!