All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons and daughters. 15 You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “ Abba, Father. ” 16 The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. 17 But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.
The Abraham and Sarah unit uses the Bible story included in Genesis 12; 13:1-4, 12; 17; 18:1-15; 21:1-8. At God's call, Abram and Sarai left Haran for Canaan. God promised land and a son to a man already 75 years of age. Abram trusted God and waited for the promise. Sarai was also very old, and fulfilled her duty to provide her husband a child by following a culturally acceptable practice. She gave Abram her maid Hagar to conceive a child. The child who was born--Ishmael--would have been considered Sarai's by custom. Ishmael was not the son God had promised, however.
God told Abram to change his name to "father of nations" and Sarai's to "princess" because she would be a mother of nations. God promised they would have a son in the next year. Abram laughed to himself and suggested, "Why not let Ishmael be my heir?" God sent three visistors and spoke again, promising a son in nine months. Twenty-five years after Abram left Haran, Sarah bore a son. They called him "Isaac."
Children will explore these concepts:
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