Game / Bible / Life Connection:     Confidence in the Game / In the Bible Abram had Confidence in God / In your Life You can have Confidence in God

This is Step 1

1. Show Players the boundaries that the game will be played in. There is an outer square where the four teams will line up on and an inner square where the “Castle” is.                Inside the castle are small objects for the Players to retrieve.
2. Divide the Players into four teams placing each team on each of the four sides of the outer square.
3. Promise: Each of you will win the game. The four teams will be winners.
4. Once the Players have been divided into teams assign each Player a number. Each team should have a one, a two, a three, and so on.
5. Place four objects in the middle of the inner square.  Explain that when the Game Zone Leader shouts “Number ones (or ones and threes) Storm the Castle” the Players           with that number can run to get only one object from the middle or wait until the guards are distracted to do so.
6. Choose 6 Players to be “Castle” guards. If a guard tags a player before they pick up an object, the player is out.
7. Note: Each round two guards are removed.
8. Play several more rounds.
9. The last round, there are no guards and every team wins the game.  The promise is fulfilled. 

 Game / Bible / Life Connection:    Confidence in the Game / In the Bible Abram had Confidence in God / In your Life You can have Confidence in God

Abraham: After the big flood, with God’s blessings, Noah’s family grew. Noah had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren too! Abram was the descendent of Noah. God selected Abram to be a means of blessing to all the nations. God called Abram, to leave his hometown in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans with his wife Sarai to go to an unknown place that He would show him.  By FAITH alone, Abram along with his wife Sarai, left all his relatives and friends and followed God’s command. God led Abram to a land called Canaan.  He promised him that he would be the father of many nations.

God keeps his promise: One night, at the age of 100, God blessed Abram with a son, whom he named Isaac. God spoke with Abram, and lovingly renamed him, Abraham, meaning father of many, and he called Sarai, Sarah, meaning princess.

The test of faith: One day, many years later when Isaac was grown up,  God asked Abraham to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice! What? The Bible doesn’t say anything about what Abraham said or felt, but we know it would have been a very hard thing God was asking him to do. Even so, Abraham set out to obey God! With FAITH and OBEDIENCE, He took his son to Mount Moriah, which was 3 days walk away from where they were staying. So all they took with them was the wood to make the fire, as well as two servants.“Where is the animal to be sacrificed?” the puzzled Isaac asked his father.  Can you imagine how confused Isaac must have felt? Maybe he even said something like, “Hey Dad! Haven’t you forgotten something? Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham answered that God would provide a lamb for them. After reaching Mount Moriah, he placed Isaac on the altar. Isaac realized that he was the offering for the Lord! Isaac was obedient and submissive to his father to the point of death. He was a strong young man and could easily have overpowered his father and run away. But he didn’t. He allowed his father to tie him on the altar. God was pleased with Abraham’s obedience and willingness to offer his most precious possession and I am sure He was also pleased with Isaac. Just in time, the Lord called out to Abraham from Heaven. “Abraham, Abraham!”  “Here I am, Abraham replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy”, He said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son “. Abraham looked around and there was a lamb caught in a thorn bush close by! So as Abraham had said, God did provide the sacrifice!  What great faith Abraham had! He knew that God had promised that his descendants would be many, and that couldn’t happen if his son was killed! 

Passing the test: Listen to what the Bible says about Abraham’s faith “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Hebrews 11:17-19

Boys and girls, God was testing Abraham’s faith.  Abraham passed the test because of Abraham’s faith in God “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

According to the Bible, faith is belief in the One True God without actually seeing Him. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”   Hebrews 11:1 

  Game / Bible / Life Connection:    Confidence in the Game / In the Bible Abram had Confidence in God / In your Life You can have Confidence in God

Memory Verse:  “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”   Hebrews 11:1  Extra:  “Without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11:6