Overview of series 2 - Abraham and Sarah

The daily devotional readings focus on the life of Abraham, tracing the journey from his birth in Ur of the Chaldeans through to his death at the age of 175 years. It highlights the way he gradually learnt to trust God through the many challenges of his life and so become an example of how to ‘walk by faith and not by sight.’ Although the main account is contained within Genesis there are numerous references to him and his wife Sarah throughout the Old and New Testament. The aim of this series is to consider God’s call to Abraham and His promise to bless him and his descendants which was part of the divine plan to send Jesus to bring Salvation to all mankind. Themes such as faith, obedience, covenant, inheritance and blessing will feature and encourage us that ‘those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.’ (see Galatians 3:9) The translation used will be the NIV (1984 Study Bible edition) unless otherwise stated.

The series consists of 57 ‘days’ and can be viewed as complete in itself. Please follow the links for Series Two to subscribe whenever you wish to join up. Please note that you can choose to receive both Series One and Two concurrently.

How the course works

However, there is the option to use this daily devotional series as the basis for a course for a small group. The daily readings can be pictured as the backbone of the course and the weekly meetings provide an opportunity to look deeper into the key themes raised. There are New Testament concepts which can be easier understood if we have a good comprehension of the way God related to Abraham, and the additional course material may be used as a stimulus for such a study. There are links to maps, charts, songs and other related teaching materials on the course notes.

Group leader

Each group requires a coordinator to gather email addresses of the group members. Once these details are logged onto the system each person receives a verification email to invite them to confirm that they wish to proceed with the course. It needs to be explained that they will receive 57 daily devotional emails relating to the life of Abraham and Sarah and are invited to nine weekly meetings to study further together. On Day 1 everyone receives the first email and that would coincide with the first group meeting which would be an introductory session explaining the format and introducing the main themes for the group meetings. Subsequent meetings are on days 8, 15, 22, 29, 36, 43, 50 and 57 being the concluding meeting.

It would be expected that the group meets on the same day each week for nine weeks, but there is the facility to halt the emails for a week should the group request a ‘half-term break’.

The suggested time for each group meeting is one hour. This is divided into three sections which are called – Reflect – group discussion time reflecting on ‘story so far’, Inspire – Bible study on a theme arising out of the readings, Activate - time to pray and encourage each other to walk by faith.

To assist the group leader’s preparation it is possible to have advance access to the entire series of daily readings, plus a list of weekly topics. Guidelines for the weekly meetings will be available for the group leader via email. If you would like more information please email admin@arise-walk.org