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leader of the expedition, not Abraham. Furthermore, archaeology has shed some light on the problem by showing that Sin, the Moon god of Ur, was also worshiped at Haran. Since the family worshiped the gods of Ur (Josh. 24:1+), the stop at Haran may have had a religious motive, just as people today moving to a new local ity prefer to settle in a town in which there is a church of their own faith. Golden Text Illustration H ebrews 11:8 In the year 1887 the China Inland Mis sion, under the leadership of J. Hudson Taylor, asked the Lord to send to China, under their auspices, at least one hundred new missionaries. To meet the increased expenses, they also asked for $50,000 more money; .and, knowing that if it came in small amounts it would necessitate a larger office force, they asked that it be sent to them in large payments. At a meeting for prayer held early in the year, these earnest workers poured out their hearts in petition to God for these special things. As they rose from their knees and tarried a few moments before separating, Hudson Taylor said, “Don’t you think, before we go, it would be well to thank the Lord for send ing us*these things? He has surely heard us, and we may not all be able to meet together for prayer again.” Once more they knelt, and this time offered up glad praise and thanksgiving to God for what He was going to do. Such sublime faith was abun dantly rewarded, for, ere the close of 1887, one hundred new missionaries were on the field, and the necessary $50,000 was paid in, having been received in but eleven pay ments.— Christian Endeavor World. Memory Verse: “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest” (Gen. 28:15). Approach: You would suppose that after what happened in our story of last week, the people on earth would try a little harder «V they f o r g o t God. God had promised not to send another flood which should destroy them all. He would try another plan. Lesson Story: In the city of Haran there lived a man named Abram, the head of a large household of shepherds and servants. It was to this man Abram that God came, and to him He made a wonderful promise. God said: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” And God promised Abram several things. Among these, He said that He would make of Abram a great nation, that his name should be great, and that in him all of the families of the earth should be blessed. A Friend o f God -.G enesis 12:1 to 13:18 to be good and to please God and obey Him. At first there were just Noah and his family, but these families g r e w and grew until the earth was filled with peo ple again. And again
How surprised Abram must have been at this promise! But Abram didn’t know very much about God. Would He keep this promise? It wouldn’t be easy to start out for a far-away strange land. Life was very pleasant here. But Abram believed God, and he took his family and his house hold and departed. Because Abram had faith in God, he has been called by a very beautiful name, “The Friend of God.” Object Lesson B elieving I s S eeing Objects: A piece of paper folded to rep resent a bank book, with the words “Bank of Heaven” printed on the outside; and a strong electric bulb connected to a current of electricity. (With full strength lemon juice or with ten drops of sulphuric acid diluted with twenty-five drops of water, write with a pointed stick on the inside pages of the bank book the words, “Seed as the stars; seed as the sands; a great name, and a great nation.”) Lesson: Did you ever hear the expression, “Seeing is believing” ? I want to give you a lesson on “Believing is seeing.” I open this little booklet marked “Bank of Heaven,” and there is apparently nothing on the in side. It reminds me of the people who read the promises of God and then say, “1 do not see anything in them for me.” Abraham was a man of faith, and he believed the promises of God, although he could not see how or when they were to be Lesson Text: Genesis 18:17-32. Golden Text: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avaHeth much” (Jas. 5:16). Outline and Exposition I. T he C all to P rater (17-22) T he man called out (Gen. 12:1) is now called by a new name, Abra ham. Up to this time, Abraham’s dealings with the Lord concerned Abra ham’s own affairs—what he was to have, and what he was to be and do. But now Abraham came into the place of friendship with God and was trusted with knowledge pertaining to other lives. It is one thing to be a servant and to be told what one is to do; it is another thing to be a child of God and to be informed concerning mat ters within the family circle; and it is still another thing to be a friend of God, taken into God’s confidence, sharing His purposes and plans for those outside the family. God trusted Abraham as a friend, because God knew that Abraham: had the character and the faithfulness of obedience (vs. 17-19). Because of this sacred friendship, God could make known to Abraham what was about to take place in wicked Sodom (vs. 20-22). As a result of this revelation, Abraham was driven to intercession. Sim ilarly, the prophetic teachings of the Scrip ture, which declare the certainty of judg ment which is to come upon the world, should bring us Christians to our knees in
fulfilled. We shall let this strong, electric light remind us of Abraham’s faith. As it shines into this book, words are appearing! Listen as I read them: “Seed as the stars.” God told Abraham that his “seed,” that is, his children and grandchildren and their children on down through the cen turies, would be as the stars, for they could not be numbered. What a wonderful prom ise that must have been for Abraham when he was without children 1 Then again, “Seed . . . as the sand.” No one knows how many grains of sand there are by the sea, and no one is able to count the chil dren of Abraham. There are other words appearing, and they read, “A great name, and a great nation.” Just as we could not see anything on the pages of this book until the bright light shone into it, so Abraham had noth ing but his faith in the promises of God to assure him that they would be fulfilled. Abraham believed God, and it has come to pass. When God gives us promises, “believing is seeing.” prayer for the lost. We pride ourselves upon the knowledge of what is to occur upon the earth, and in some measure we bear testimony to that truth, even as Enoch did to his generation. But the revelation is a call not only for testimony to the world but also for intercession for the world. II. T he C haracter of A braham ’ s P rayer (23-32) Only by divine revelation could Abraham know of Sodom’s doom. Had' he talked with the men of Sodom, he doubtless would have heard much of the advantages of set tling there. To the residents, Sodom must have seemed to be a great city. Perhaps some of the people would speak, in an undertone of pride, of its night life and its wickedness. But God spoke of its iniquity and its danger growing from that iniquity, and because God spoke, there was the pos sibility that some in that city might be pre served. BLACKBOARD LESSON
MAY 9, 1937 ABRAHAM A MAN OF PRAYER G enesis 18
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