Lesson Note

Subject: CRS

Topic: Call to Obedience

Class: JS1

Lesson Objective: by the end of this lesson, the learners should be able to:

1.Explain the meaning of the term
obedience.
2. Narrate the story of the call of
Abraham.
3. State the blessing from Abraham’s
obedience to God’s call.
4. Define Covenant.
5. State how Abraham demonstrated
his obedience to God.
6. Give three moral lessons on call to
obedience.

Lesson Summary/Discussion

Meaning of Obedience
To obey means to do what you are
told to do or expected to do.
Obedience therefore means the
willingness and readiness to keep
and do whatever instruction given
to us by God, our parents, teachers
and governmental authorities.

Two factors are responsible for us to obey instructions commands given to us.
They are faith and trust on the one who gives the instruction. God does not want human beings to continue in disobedience and it’s consequences. He therefore decided to call human beings to obedience and thereby enjoy the rewards. The Bible has record of people, who responded to God’s call to obedience and reaped the rewards as examples for us to follow. Amongst them is Abraham.
Abraham obeyed God because he
had absolute faith and trust in God
as the Almighty.

The Call of Abraham (Abraham Obeys God’s Call Genesis 12:1-9)
Abraham who was known as Abram was the son of Terah of Ur in Chaldea. Terah had three sons, Abram, Haran and Nahor. Haran died before his father leaving behind a son named Lot. At a time, Terah took his family from your Ur to Haran where they settled. Later, Terah died and left the responsibility of the family to Abraham. It was there in Haran, the call of God came to Abraham.
God said to him, Go from your
country and your kindred and your
father’s house to the land I will show you.

God’s Promises to Abraham
To encourage him God made the following promises to him:

  • I will make of you a great nation;
  • I will bless and make your name great so that you will be a blessing;
  • I will bless those that bless you;
  • And will curse those who curse you;
  • By you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Abraham responded by obeying
what God instructed him to do.
He was seventy five years old
when the call came to him. He took his wife Sarai, Lot his nephew, servants and their possessions and departed. When he came to Shechem in the plain of Oak of Moreh, God appeared to him.
God made a promise to him, “to your
descendants will give this land”.
Abraham in turn, built an alter unto
the Lord. From Shechem, Abraham
moved to Bethel (Luz) where he built
an alter to the Lord and called the
name of the Lord.

The land God promised his descendants was the land of Canaan which the Israelites inherited as the Promised Land. God also blessed Abraham for this single act of obedience to His instruction

Reward of Abraham’s Obedience/Blessing from Obeying God’s Call
(Genesis 21:1-8)
One of the blessings of Abraham’s
obedience was that God entered into
a covenant relationship with him.
God promised to bless him exceedingly. Among features of the covenant were:

  • God changed his name from Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of many nations or multitude)
  • Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah (mother of many nations). God also promised to bless Abraham and Sarah with a son whom they would call Isaac.
  • God promised to extend the covenant relationship with Isaac and his descendants as an everlasting covenant He gave them the physical sign of the covenant as circumcision of every male born to Abraham and
  • his descendants.

What is a Covenant?
A covenant is an agreement or a
bond between two parties with specific terms for each party to keep and obey.

The Birth of Isaac (Genesis 21)
Abraham persisted in his faith and
trust on God and the promises. At
the appointed time, God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90 years old, when a son was born to them. Abraham called his name Isaac meaning “laughter”.
Abraham in keeping to the terms of
the covenant circumcised him on the
8th day. Sarah was so joyful and said, “God has made me to laugh so that all that hear will laugh with me. Isaac grew up to be weaned and Abraham made a great feast for his weaning.

Abraham Demonstrated his Obedience to God (Genesis 22:1-18)

Isaac, as the only child and son of their old age was greaty loved by
Abraham and Sarah. Isaac was the
covenant child and heir of all the
covenant promises.
Once again, God tested Abraham’s obedience.
God had earlier told him to leave his
country and his people, which he
obeyed. This time, God instructed Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loves and go to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering.

Early in the morning, Abraham took
two of his servants, Isaac and with
wood and left for Moriah. On the third day of their Journey, Abraham saw the place of sacrifice nearer. He told the servants to wait for him while he and Isaac continued the Journey.
Isaac asked for the lamb for the
sacrifice and Abraham answered that God would provide the lamb. On
getting to mount Moriah, Abraham
prepared an alter with the wood. He
bound Isaac hand and foot and laid
him on the alter. He drew out his
sword to slay him.

At this point, an Angel of God called on Abraham who answered.
The Angel said to him, Do not lay
your hand on the child or do anything
to him, for now I know that you fear
God. God then provided for him a
ram for the bunt offering in place of
Isaac. Abraham unbound Isaac and
took the ram and offered it as burnt
sacrifice.

From this episode, God believed that Abraham loved Him more than any family tie.
Again, God rewarded him for his
obedience. The reward included:

  • the promise that his descendants would be as many as the stars of heaven and as much as the sand by the sea-shore.
  • That his offspring would possess the gates of his enemies.
  • That is, his child would have dominion over his enemies.
  • That, through his offspring, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

Is God still calling people?

Yes! Today, God is still calling people to obedience. He is calling people from all walks of life such as teachers, students, politicians, soldiers, engineers, doctors and people of all classes and race. He expects them
to respond in obedience in order to
have temporary and eternal blessings in His Kingdom.

Moral Lessons
1. We must learn to do whatever we
are told to do.
2. We must pray to have faith and
trust on God and every human
institution.
3. Obedience attracts great reward
and blessings from God, we should
ask God for the grace to obey in all
things.
4. We should realize that our obedience must be tested.
5. We should pray hard to ask for the power to pass any test that comes to us.
6. God is a covenant keeping God,
we too should ask for the grace to
keep all the promises we make to
God and humanity.

Lesson Evaluation/Test

1. Explain the meaning of obedience.
2. Narrate the story of the call of
Abraham and his response.
3. State the three blessings of Abraham for obeying God’s call.
4. Dramatize the story of the
sacifice of lsaac.
5. Outline how Abraham demonstrated his obedience to God.
6. State two moral lessons on obedience.

Questions answered correctly? Kudos😍

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