SESSION 1 REDEEMED FROM POOR CHOICES

SESSION 1 REDEEMED FROM POOR CHOICES 68 SESSION 1

Share a funny time when things didn't turn out like you planned. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 69

THE POINT God s plans are always better than our own. THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE Few things cause me more anxiety and discomfort than waiting to see if someone will come through on a promise. (Although, spiders and clowns are definitely high on the list too.) I m not alone. Many of us dislike waiting, and we've learned the hard way what happens when we aren't patient. I have a friend who loves watching movies blockbusters, B-list movies, cult classics, etc. If a movie is known to be good or interesting, he wants to see it. Unfortunately for my friend, a love of movies and a desire to save money don t exactly go together. Though my friend knows it would be more economical to wait for movies to stream for free or to become rentals, when a good movie comes to the theater, he has to see it immediately. And, he loves buying movies. He even owns some movies he's never watched and has an account for an online movie watching company. In his first few months of online movie watching, his bill totalled around 200 dollars. He almost had a heart attack, especially after realizing that most of the movies he paid money for were now streaming online for free. There is value in waiting. And when God is the One you re waiting on, there is great value in waiting. 70 SESSION 1

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? Genesis 15:1-6; 16:1-5; 17:18-19 After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great. 2 But Abram said, Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? 3 Abram continued, Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir. 4 Now the word of the Lord came to him: This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir. 5 He took him outside and said, Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them. Then He said to him, Your offspring will be that numerous. 6 Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. 1 Abram s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family. And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So Abram s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the Lord judge between me and you. 1 So Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael were acceptable to You! 19 But God said, No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring. 18 The Setting God called Abram to leave his relatives and his homeland for a land that God would show him. In addition to giving Abram the land, God promised to bless Abram, make his name great, and to make him into a great nation (Gen. 12:1-3; Acts 7:2-4). God made another covenant with Abram, promising him that he would have a son, from whom would come countless descendants (Gen. 15:1-5). But Abram and his wife Sarai were advanced in years, and Sarai remained childless. Abram struggled with the tension between God s promises for the future and his present reality. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 71

THE POINT God s plans are always better than our own. How do people sometimes respond when we don't see the details in God's plan? GENESIS 15:1-6 We ve all made poor choices, and none of us are immune to making them including people in the Bible. Consider Abram. He was hand-picked by God to be the father of Israel. We first meet Abram in Genesis 11. He was living in a place called Ur, which is modern-day Iraq. God chose Abram, who would become Abraham, to build the nation of Israel, which would introduce the world to God through His Son, Jesus Christ. God promised to give Abram a son. He also said that through Abram's bloodline, all the nations on earth would be blessed, and his descendants would be greater than the stars in the sky (Gen. 15:4-5). YY This promise did not come without its own challenge. Abram's wife, Sarai, had been unable to have any children, and when God promised a great nation from Abram, she was well past the child-bearing years. Share This YY Though this promise seemed impossible, Abram placed his faith in God and his faith was counted as righteousness. God continues to speak to us through His Word, through His Spirit, and through other believers. He calls us to step out in faith, but He does not always give us the entire picture in intricate detail. God expects us to simply trust Him, like Abram did (Heb. 11:1-3). When we respond to God's calling with faith, even when we don't know what He is doing, we please Him and bring Him glory (Gen. 15:6). We must remember that God has a plan. We don't need to take matters into our own hands; we simply need to trust and follow Him. YY What expectations do we often have when we follow God s leading? Do our expectations come from faith or fear? Explain. 72 SESSION 1

GENESIS 16:1-5 Initially, it can be exciting to commit to God's plan, but it can become difficult if we feel like God isn t coming through. How would it change our experience of waiting if we embraced the process of God's plan? It can be challenging for any believer to trust God in the middle of a promise. Sarai lost faith that God would follow-through on His promise of a child, which led her to take actions into her own hands. She even blamed God for her inability to have a child. So, Sarai told Abram to have a child with her servant, Hagar. Sarai knew that anything that belonged to a slave, including a child, could be considered the master s possession. Thus, Hagar s child could be viewed as the child of Sarai. Abram joined the plan and conceived a child with Hagar, but immediately things began to fall apart. Bitterness grew between the two women, and Sarai became upset with Abram. Though Sarai had come up with this plan, she still found herself unhappy. In her bitterness, Sarai treated Hagar horribly. Before we get too judgmental with Abram and Sarai, think about the how we try to rush God s plan for us. Sarai and Abram waited 10 years. That is a long time to wait. When we try to force God s plans, it never works. Waiting on Him produces steadfastness. God uses those times to draw us closer to Him. It s far better to let God be God. We are not big enough, smart enough, or strong enough to do His job. YY Describe a situation when you had to rely on God's faithfulness while you waited. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 73

THE POINT God s plans are always better than our own. Action Point Have you ever been shocked by the ending of a movie? From The Dark Knight Rises to Ender s Game, we ve all seen movies with endings that make us say, I might have done it differently. Our lives can feel the same way. YY What movies would you change the endings to if you could? What are some choices and situations you would change if in your life if you had the chance? How can you develop deeper trust in God's timing and plans? GENESIS 17:18-19 God is always working and He can always be trusted. He knows what we don t know because He can see what we can t see and He can do what we are unable to do. YY Abram and Sarai knew God s promise, but they could not see the whole picture. YY Abram and Sarai couldn t open a infertile womb, but God could. After realizing that their plans ended in frustration, Abram and Sarai refocused their attention on God and His plan. Neither God s promise or character changed. He planned to deliver on His word, and He did. We must often come to the end of ourselves before we truly surrender control to God. It s often only after we ve made a series of poor choices that we fully surrender ourselves into His hands. God renewed His promise to Abram and Sarai and gave them a son named Isaac (Gen. 21:1-3). Abraham and Sarah got their baby boy when they were 100 and 90 years old. From that child came the nation of Israel. And ultimately, another baby was born in the nation of Israel who would save the world. God had a perfect plan all along. YY God s ways are never predictable, but they are always reliable. Trust and wait on Him. Take a minute to do a self-check. Write out three lists. First, list the areas of your life you want to control. Second, list ways you try to control these areas. Finally, list how you will give these areas of your life to God each day. Develop a plan to pursue God intentionally. 74 SESSION 1

"God's plan and His ways of working out His plan are frequently beyond our ability to fathom and understand. We must learn to trust when we don't understand."3 J E R RY B R I D G E S APPLY IT How will you focus your time and energy on God s plan this week? YY Turn: Talk to God about your sins. Confess them to God and ask Him to forgive you. Then, turn from doing things your own way and trust Christ. Fun Facts When its founders were trying to decide on a name, Netflix.com was incorporated under the name Kibble.com.1 YY Remember: Think about poor choices you have made in the past. How did they cause you pain, and how did God use them to bring good? What would've happened if you had simply waited on God? YY Share: Others who have made bad choices can be encouraged from learning how God has worked in your life. Of adults age 34 or younger, 29% have posted something on social media that they think could harm their career.2 BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 75

LIVE IT OUT MY STORY Psalm 51:1-13 We have all made poor choices, because we have all sinned against God. The question is whether we will live in the failures of our sin, or turn from our sin and let God make us more like Christ. In the Old Testament, King David was called a man after God s own heart, and even he found himself in the middle of extremely poor decisions. David wasn t perfect and neither are we, but he realized three major things. One: God is holy and we have no excuse for our sins. We can not make up for our sin, but we can confess it to God. Two: God is the only One who can forgive us for our sins and change our hearts. Three: God wants to use our past failures to point others to His love and forgiveness. David asked God to use his failures to teach others to be obedient. Read each section of Psalm 51 and then rewrite the Psalm in your own words. What areas of your life need God s forgiveness, restoration, and redemption? 76 SESSION 1

DAILY READING YY Day 1: Genesis 15:1-21 YY Day 2: Romans 4:1-12 YY Day 3: Romans 4:13-25 YY Day 4: Genesis 16:1-16 YY Day 5: Galatians 4:8-31 YY Day 6: Genesis 17:1-27 YY Day 7: Colossians 2:1-23 BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 77

REFERENCES UNIT 2, SESSION 1 1. Trusting God Quotes, Goodreads [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ww. goodreads.com/work/ quotes/123695-trusting-god-even-when-life-hurts 2. Jake Rossen, 14 Facts About Netflix, Recommended For You, Mental_Floss [online], [cited 6 October 2015]. Available from the Internet: ttp://mentalfloss.com/article/64325/14-facts-about-netflixrecommended-you 3. 90 Percent Of People Say They Have A Major Regret. Here s How To Move Past It, Huffington Post [online], 26 June 2014 [cited 6 October 2015]. Available from the Internet: ttp://ww.huffingtonpost. com/2014/06/26/regret-infographic_n_5529641.html UNIT 2, SESSION 2 1. Quotes About Humility, Goodreads [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/humility 2. Heather Fishel, 7 Surprising College Dating Statistics, Campus Explorer [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ww.campusexplorer.com/college-advice-tips/e6f6928c/7-surprising- College-Dating-Statistics/ UNIT 2, SESSION 5 1. Quotes About Restoration, Christian Quotes [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: www.christianquotes.info/ quotes-by-topic/quotes-about-restoration/ 2. Tariq Malik, Space.com [online], 21 July 2011 [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ww.space.com/12376-nasa-space-shuttleprogram-facts-statistics.html UNIT 2, SESSION 6 1. Quotes About Repentance, Goodreads [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/repentance 2. Greatest Rivalries in Sports, Fox Sports [online], 7 July 2013 [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ww.foxsports. com/collegebasketball/lists/greatest-rivalries-in-sports#photo-title=nfl%25 3A+Packers+vs.+Bears&photo=29718132 3. Americans Believe in Heaven, Hell, and a Little Bit of Heresy, LifeWay Research [online], 28 October 2014 [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ttp://ww.lifewayresearch.com/2014/10/28/ americans-believe-in-heaven-hell-and-a-little-bit-of-heresy/ UNIT 2, SESSION 3 1. Tony Dungy, Brainy Quote [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/tony_dungy.html 2. Cyber Bullying Statistics, NoBullying.com [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: http://nobullying.com/cyber-bullying-statistics-2014/ BONUS UNIT 1. Radical Quotes, Goodreads [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ww. goodreads.com/work/quotes/9657002- radical-taking-back-your-faith-from-the-american-dream 2. 5 Fun Facts You Didn t Know About Windshields, Buzzfeed [online], 27 February 2014 [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ww.buzzfeed.com/marlenas3/5-fun-facts-you-didnt-know-aboutwindshields-j977#.woky5zeoe NIT 2, SESSION 4 1. John Piper > Quotes > Quotable Quote, Goodreads [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: ww.goodreads. com/quotes/701102-faith-is-born-and-sustained-by-the-word-of-god 2. Trust in Government, Gallup [online], [accessed 17 July 2015]. Available from the Internet: www.gallup.com/poll/5392/trust-government.aspx