RCCG LOWER JUNIOR ZEAL FOR 2022/2023 AGE 6-8 TEACHER’S MANUAL SUNDAY 5TH OF MARCH, 2023

[1]And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

[2]And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

[3]And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

[4]Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

[5]And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

[6]And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

[7]And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

[8]And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

[9]And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

[10]And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

[11]And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

[12]And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

[13]And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

[14]And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

[15]And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

[16]And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

[17]That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

[18]And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

INTRODUCTION:

Children! What is faith? Faith is not being able to see. Faith is listening to God and trusting Him that He will help you and lead you where you should go. Many, many years ago, God decided to build a great nation so that this nation could follow Him and bless the world. God chose Abraham as the man that would begin this nation.

Have you ever tried to count how many stars there are in the sky at night? There are too many to count! Well, God told Abraham that counting his descendants would be like trying to count stars. He would have so many Grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren that no one could even count them.

Abraham believed in God but, as the years went by, he and his wife. Sarah wondered how God would make this happen. They were getting older and older and they still had no children together. But, of course, God kept his promise.

PROGRESSION OF EVENT: GENESIS 22: 1-18

1. Finally, when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old they had a baby. They named their son Isaac.

2. Abraham loved his son and loved God. Even though Abraham loved God and believed what God said, a day came when Abraham was tested.

3. The testing day was the day God asked Abraham to do a very difficult thing.

4. God said, Take your only son, Isaac, the son you love, and go to the land of Moria, kill him and offer him as a whole burnt offering. Do this on one of the mountains there.

5. When Abraham and his son got to the top of the mountain they stacked stones on top of stones to build an altar.

6. Isaac asked his father what animal they would put on the altar.

7. And then the time came for Abraham to do what God said and kill his son.

GOSPEL CONNECTION: God loved Abraham and wanted to know whether Abraham believed and had faith in Him. God loves and wants you to believe and have faith in Him. For you to put your faith in God, you need to trust in Jesus who died on the cross to set you free from the bondage of sin (John 3:16).

CLIMAX: Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in some bushes. He and Isaac offered the ram as a sacrifice on the altar.

CHALLENGE: Faith is choosing to trust, believe, and live God’s way, even when we can not see Him or understand what is going on around us. Our faith seed grows when we remember the great things God has done before, and wait patiently to see His promises to us come true

INVITATION: The bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Put your trust in Jesus today to faith.

(Hebrews 11:6).