Each meeting covers one lesson. The passage, questions and notes are all on the lesson page, and group members can print their own copy.
Leaders need only this guide: first the flow that is the same every time, then the focus points and tips for each lesson.
A lesson takes about an hour. Meet weekly or every other week — whatever fits your group.
Each Meetingabout 55 min
Snacks and catching up
10 min
Read together
10 min
Discussion
25 min
This week
5 min
Close (prayer optional)
5 min
Opening: Start with last time’s ‘This week’: ‘Did you do it? How did it go?’ For the first lesson, ask everyone to say in one sentence why they want to read about this person. The leader goes first.
Read together: Take turns reading the passage, a few verses each. The leader reads the short notes between sections.
Discussion: You don’t need to discuss every question in ‘Think It Through.’ Pick one or two from each group, add this lesson’s focus points, and that is plenty.
This week: Read it together, and ask each person to decide on the one small thing they will do this week.
Close: You can pray using a verse from the lesson. If some aren’t used to praying aloud, a minute of silence together is fine too.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–4): The LORD tells Abram to leave without telling him where, but says ‘I will’ again and again; “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him.” Ask the group: reading this, what would you most like to ask Abram?
Focus 2 (vv. 7–8): Wherever Abram went he built an altar and “called on the LORD’s name.” Ask the group: in your own life, what could be an altar like that?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person finds a set time in a ‘new place’ to call on God. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: There may be immigrants, international students, or people forced to leave home in the group — and also people who want to leave but cannot. Don’t turn this lesson into ‘If you really have faith, you will quit your job and leave home.’ 12:1 is what the LORD said to Abram, not an instruction to everyone; don’t press on question 9. Read “Canaanites were in the land” (v. 6) and “I will give this land to your offspring” (v. 7) as written; don’t connect them to modern nations, territory or Middle East politics. “Sarai was barren” (Gen 11:30) comes up in later lessons; don’t develop it here — someone in the group may be facing infertility; don’t press. Read “They served other gods” (Josh 24:2) as written; there is no need to discuss which gods they served.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–3): The LORD says, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward,” and Abram answers, “what will you give me, since I go childless.” Ask the group: reading Abram speak to God like this, what comes to mind?
Focus 2 (vv. 5–6): “count the stars, if you are able to count them”; “He believed in the LORD.” Ask the group: he still had no child. What did he believe?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person spends a little time one evening looking at the sky and tells God about what they have long waited for. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: There may be people in the group facing infertility, or waiting for marriage, for work, for family members to come to faith. Don’t turn this lesson into ‘If you believe like Abram, you will surely receive’ — the passage records God’s promise to Abram, not a promise to everyone; don’t press on question 9. Read verse 6 as written; Rom 4 appears only side by side in Pointing to Christ — don’t develop it into a doctrinal lesson on justification by faith. Read “how will I know that I will inherit it?” (v. 8) as written; don’t judge whether his faith was strong enough. The divided animals, the smoking furnace and the flaming torch (vv. 9–17) are not explained by the passage; no need to guess, or to explain ancient covenant customs. Read “four hundred years” (v. 13) as written; no need to calculate dates. Read the peoples and borders in verses 16 and 18–21 as written; don’t connect them to modern nations, territory or Middle East politics.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–6): Sarai’s plan, Hagar’s contempt, Sarai’s harshness, Hagar’s flight. Ask the group to keep to the passage: in this household, what did each person say and do?
Focus 2 (vv. 7–13): The LORD’s angel calls Hagar by name in the wilderness — “the LORD has heard your affliction.” Ask the group: reading how God treats a runaway servant, what comes to mind?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person begins one prayer with “You are a God who sees.” Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Don’t make Hagar the villain of this lesson, and don’t make Sarai the villain either; don’t judge Sarai’s plan, and don’t discuss polygamy or surrogacy. “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands” (v. 9) is what the angel said to Hagar; don’t turn it into ‘People who are mistreated should go back and put up with it.’ If anyone in the group is being mistreated or facing violence at home, be with them first, and where needed, help them find safety and professional help. Read verse 12 as written; don’t connect it to modern peoples or Middle East politics. Galatians has a passage that uses Hagar and Sarah as an allegory (Gal 4:21–31); this lesson does not use it. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Lesson 4 · Is Anything Too Hard for the LORD?Gen 18:1-15
Focus 1 (vv. 1–8): In the heat of the day, Abraham “ran to meet them.” Ask the group to find every word in the passage that shows speed, and say what it shows them.
Focus 2 (vv. 12–15): Sarah laughs within herself, and the LORD says, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Ask the group: reading this, whom are you more like — Sarah laughing, or someone hearing this question?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person writes down one thing they no longer dare to hope for, and puts it beside verse 14. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read both Sarah’s laugh (v. 12) and Abraham’s (Gen 17:17) as written; don’t say whose laugh was faith and whose was unbelief, and don’t judge Sarah for denying it. As for who the three visitors were: the passage says “The LORD appeared to him” (v. 1) and “three men stood near him” (v. 2), and later “The two angels came to Sodom” (Gen 19:1); just read it as written, and don’t teach it as a picture of the Trinity. Don’t turn verse 14 into ‘Just believe, and God will give you whatever you want’ — someone in the group may be waiting for a child, for healing, or may have given up hope; don’t press on question 9. Circumcision in Genesis 17 is only summarized; no need to discuss it.
Focus 1 (vv. 17–19): “Will I hide from Abraham what I do.” Ask the group: why did God tell him?
Focus 2 (vv. 23–32): From fifty down to ten, Abraham asks on the basis of “Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” Ask the group: he dared to ask like this because he knew what kind of God?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person chooses a place or a group of people and prays for them once a day. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Don’t turn this lesson into a bargaining technique, or into a prayer method of ‘keep asking and God will give way.’ The passage does not say why Abraham stopped at ten; no need to guess. What Sodom’s sin was (Gen 19) is not discussed in this lesson; Genesis 19 comes in only through the one line in the Notes about how it ended. Read verse 21, “I will go down now, and see,” as written; no need to discuss whether God already knew. If someone in the group has prayed for a long time for family or a city and seen no change, don’t use this lesson to urge them to ‘ask a few more times’; don’t press on question 9.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–7): “The LORD visited Sarah as he had said”; Sarah says, “God has made me laugh.” Ask the group to look back over Lessons 1–4 and say how long this promise was waited for.
Focus 2 (vv. 11–19): “The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight”; Hagar “lifted up her voice, and wept”; “God heard the voice of the boy.” Ask the group: of the joy and the grief in this one household, where do you most want to stop and stay?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person chooses the one that fits their situation. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Explain Isaac’s name only by Sarah’s own words in verse 6, with no word study. Don’t make Hagar and Ishmael villains, and don’t judge Sarah’s demand in verse 10. In verse 9 the passage gives only the one word, ‘mocking’; no need to guess what he did. “In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice” (v. 12) is what God said to Abraham about this one matter; don’t turn it into teaching on how husbands and wives should relate. Read “I will also make a nation” and “I will make him a great nation” (vv. 13, 18) as written; don’t connect them to modern peoples or Middle East politics. How old Ishmael was, and why she “put the child under one of the shrubs” (v. 15), the passage does not explain; no need to calculate. Galatians has a passage using Hagar and Sarah as an allegory (Gal 4:21–31); this lesson does not use it. There may be people in the group whose families have split, who were thrown out of home, or who are raising children alone; don’t press on question 10.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–2): The passage first tells the reader “God tested Abraham” (v. 1), and God speaks of “one of the mountains which I will tell you of” (v. 2) — set this beside Lesson 1’s “the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1). Ask the group: reading these two side by side, what do you see?
Focus 2 (vv. 7–8): “where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”; “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Ask the group: reading this question and answer, what comes to mind?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person writes down one thing whose outcome they cannot see, and prays about it once a day. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Don’t turn this lesson into ‘God will ask you to give up what you love most,’ don’t make Abraham a model for parents, and don’t discuss ‘Would God ask this of people today?’ How old Isaac was, what he felt, and whether Sarah knew — the passage does not say; don’t guess. Verse 19 does not mention Isaac; don’t guess about that either. Read verse 5, “We will worship, and come back to you,” as written; don’t say what Abraham was thinking — Heb 11:19 appears only side by side in Pointing to Christ. Read “your only son” as written; don’t set it against Ishmael. The New Testament does not say that the ram in verse 13, Mount Moriah, or the wood Isaac carried are types of Christ; don’t teach them that way. There may be people in the group who have lost a child, or who were hurt by their parents — don’t press; only those who want to share need to answer questions 9 and 10; question 11 is for the review.
Principles
The leader is not a teacher, but someone walking alongside everyone else.
Give everyone a chance to speak. If some talk a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s hear from those who haven’t spoken yet.’
Don’t rush to give answers. If there is silence, wait a few more seconds.
If you can’t answer a question, it’s fine to say, ‘I don’t know — let’s look into it together,’ and come back to it next time.
What is said in the group stays in the group.
At the start, the leader can share their own answer first. Keep it simple and honest.
In the lessons, words in double quotes with a reference are scripture. What the passage does not say, we can only guess; guessing is fine, as long as we say we are guessing.
Don’t press on painful things. If someone becomes upset, stay with them after the meeting; if needed, involve a pastor from their church or a professional counselor.