Abraham: Following God’s Promise: Complete Church Curriculum
Following God’s Promise
Abraham: Following God’s Promise helps your entire church dig deeper into the life of Abraham—together.
This all-in-one curriculum package has something for everyone:
- Preaching resources and sermon starters for pastors and teachers
- Videos, slides, and media for the tech team
- Bulletin inserts and handouts for the congregation
- Discussion guides and videos for small group leaders
- A take-home book for small group members
Key Features
It’s the Best Curriculum for Churches
- Discover new meaning in the life of Abraham. Dig up the nuggets you might have missed. Find the perfect sermon illustrations. Discuss questions you’ve never thought to ask. Infuse your sermons with energy and conviction. Learn new ways to apply Abraham’s story in your life—and in the life of your church.
- Do ministry more effectively. Abraham: Following God’s Promise gives you everything you need to hit the ground running—which means less time in meetings and at your desk, and more time doing ministry. You get to focus on your strengths and leave the heavy lifting to us.
- Stay organized. This program helps you coordinate all your ministry programs. With a single, shared curriculum, your media team, small group leaders, Sunday school teachers, and everyone else all stay in the loop. This means fewer phone calls and last-minute surprises for you—and more time in the Word for your church.
- Help your church get connected. Abraham: Following God’s Promise connects people in your small groups to each other, and connects your small groups to the Sunday-morning experience. The topics in each small group Bible study integrate with your sermons. Best of all, everything is centered on the Word, so your church gets a complete, shared Bible study experience.
Deeper Bible Study All Week Long
- Leading up to Sunday, you have everything you need to get started on your sermon—a sample outline, key points in the text, exegesis, and more. We’ve done the biblical research for you, so you can focus on preparing your sermon and connecting with your congregation.
- On Sunday morning, video introductions set the stage for your sermon, and custom-designed slides complement your preaching. Your media team has everything they need—the presentation is ready to go right out of the box, but they can customize it as much as they want. Your congregation follows along with handouts and bulletin inserts. Everything flows together elegantly and seamlessly.
- During the following week, your small groups can unpack the text and the topics you talked about on Sunday. The curriculum is perfect for all types of learners and interest levels. Leaders get handouts, videos, and discussion questions to help guide the group, so they’ll need to purchase this edition. Everyone else gets a self-study book available separately that helps them participate to the fullest—and get ready for the next Sunday.
It’s a comprehensive program to help your entire church dig deep into the Bible together.
What You’ll Get
- The study book:
- A complete introduction to the life of Abraham
- Reflection questions to keep you focused on the text
- Fill-in-the-blank answer boxes to keep your group engaged
- Recommended resources to help you continue your study
- An elegant design, featuring 32 graphics tied to the commentary—also in slide format
- Presenting/Preaching materials:
- 8 sermon outlines
- 8 sermon handouts
- A video lead-in for your sermon
- 8 teaching slideshows, which work on PowerPoint, Keynote, and Proclaim
- Group curriculum:
- The leader’s book
- 8 lesson plans
- 8 teaching slideshows, which work on PowerPoint, Keynote, and Proclaim
- 8 handouts with discussion questions, in Microsoft Word and PDF
- 8 intro videos, one for each lesson, which you can download after you check out.
The entire program is designed for Logos Bible Software and Logos’ Faithlife Study Bible app. It combines text and visuals with today’s most advanced Bible study tools. All Scripture passages link to your favorite Bible translation and to the original language texts in your library.
This is the complete church curriculum for leaders and pastors. The version for individuals and group members is available here. Both versions feature infographics, maps, artifact images, thought-provoking questions, “writable” answer boxes, Bible study tips, an annotated reading list, and printable handouts. The complete church curriculum for leaders and pastors includes everything in the individual/group member version plus videos, small group lesson plans, sermon outlines, and teaching slideshows.
The Studies in Faithful Living Series
The Studies in Faithful Living series examines the lives of biblical characters who responded faithfully to God’s call. Combining narrative analysis with infographics, maps, and questions for reflection, each volume explores key events in these characters’ lives, combining the depth you expect from a biblical commentary with application and teaching insights. Each volume is available as an individual/group member version or as a complete church curriculum version for pastors and teachers.
Praise for the Studies in Faithful Living Series
Logos has taken group Bible study to the next level with their new Studies in Faithful Living series. Deeply engaging, biblically accurate, and filled with life-changing applications, this series is destined to be the go-to resource for lay leaders for years to come.
—Israel Loken, Chair, Bible and Theology Departments, College of Biblical Studies, Houston, TX
Contents
Each chapter of Abraham: Following God’s Promise is structured to maximize your church’s study:
- Setting the Stage:
- Theme: Introduces the meaning and relevance of an event in Abraham’s life
- Literary Context: Illustrates the conditions surrounding that event
- Historical and Cultural Background: Presents relevant data about the ancient world
- A Closer Look: Gives a walk through of the event while exploring issues of interpretation, original language, and theology
- Throughout the Bible: Examines discussion of the event elsewhere in the Bible
- Beyond the Bible: Treats references to the event in ancient documents and extracanonical texts, as well as references by theologians, the church fathers, and contemporary thinkers
- Application: Concludes the chapter by exploring the event’s relevance to your journey of faith
You’ll also find Quick Tips on difficult passages and Quick Bits of historical information, original language wording, and ancient thought.
8-Week Program
- Stepping Out in Faith (Genesis 11:27–12:9)
- Fear versus Faith (Genesis 12:10–20)
- Active Faith (Genesis 14:1–24)
- Dealing with Doubt (Genesis 15:1–21; 16:1–15)
- Promising the Impossible (Genesis 17:1–18:15)
- Bargaining with God (Genesis 18:16–33; 19:1–38)
- God’s Faithfulness despite Relapse (Genesis 20:1–18; 21:22–34)
- Of Sons and Sacrifice (Genesis 21:1–21; 22:1–24)
Product Details
- Title: Abraham: Following God’s Promise: Complete Church Curriculum for Leaders and Pastors
- Authors: Miles Custis, Michael Grigoni, Douglas Mangum, and Matthew M. Whitehead
- Editor: Michael Grigoni
- Series: Studies in Faithful Living
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2012
- Format: Logos Digital
About the Editor and Authors
Michael Grigoni previously served as the Studies in Faithful Living series editor and Lexham Press’s managing editor of Bible reference. He holds a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a PhD candidate at Duke University.
About the Authors
Miles Custis is the author of The End of the Matter: Understanding the Epilogue of Ecclesiastes, a Faithlife Study Bible contributing editor, and a regular Bible Study Magazine and Lexham Bible Dictionary contributor. He holds a Master of Arts in biblical studies from Trinity Western University.
Douglas Mangum is an academic editor for Lexham Press. He holds a PhD in Hebrew from the University of Free State and holds an MA in Hebrew and Semitic Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a Lexham English Bible and Lexham Bible Guide editor, a Faithlife Study Bible contributing editor, a Studies in Faithful Living co-author, a regular Bible Study Magazine contributor, and a frequently consulted specialist for the Lexham Bible Dictionary.
Matthew M. Whitehead has served as a Faithlife Study Bible contributing editor and Bible Study Magazine contributor. He assisted with the digitization process for the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series and worked on the Oxford Hebrew Bible project. Matthew holds an MDiv from Northwest Baptist Seminary and is pursuing an MA in biblical studies at Trinity Western University.
Sample Screenshots
Reviews
31 ratings
Robert Polahar
10/23/2019
Jason A. Smith
11/28/2017
GracePoint Plant City
11/12/2017
Bill
3/22/2017
Charles Arriola
1/31/2017
Robert Christian
8/29/2015
I love it. This is for grown folks (mature in the word) who is serious about learning.
Dr. CJ Walker
7/16/2015
BlockMuse
12/2/2014
“Have you ever felt torn? Had your call questioned? Ever struggled to accept God’s grace? These among others are the real questions that this course will work in challenging you, your congregation or small group.” I must admit, I have never engaged in a course as extensive and detailed as this one. Any group courses engaged in before lacked as much detail and exposure. I write this review with the total bias of liking expository teaching and yet again, LOGOS has come up trumps in scratching this itch. When LOGOS gave me the opportunity to review this, I engaged with a low bar of expectation and to my surprise it has caught me off guard. Little did I think of application to my own life, newly wed, in a foreign country and changing career! In reality it has been well timed and inspiring. Although the Bible often depicts Abraham as an exalted figure, his journey of faith resembles our own. Along with the glory of his victories, the Bible fully describes the scandalous details of his failures. It does not hide Abraham’s shortcomings; instead, it recounts these examples of failure so that we might have hope. Grigoni, M. R., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Abraham: Following God’s Promise. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software. Each chapter is laid out extremely well and clearly so your group get familiar very quickly with what’s coming up in each section. • Setting the Stage • A Closer Look • Throughout the Bible • Beyond the Bible • Application • Further Reading “Beyond the Bible” is a very intriguing part where you discover how the Jewish faith struggles with explaining the story, or interesting historical information. Interwoven with this is “Quick Bit”, with a sort of “did you know” style which is quite refreshing. The hand-outs, slides and leader guide are very well written and finished. The harmony across all the material is excellent and will keep the group focusing on each Lesson objective without wandering. The Leaders Guide In providing Small Group Resources and Sermon Resources, this Leader’s Guide is designed to be used in conjunction with Abraham: Following God’s Promises. Here, you’ll find eight Small Group Lesson Plans and Teaching Slideshows that correspond to the eight chapters of the commentary text. You’ll also find eight Sermon Outlines and Teaching Slideshows that tailor the commentary text to a preaching context. When used together, these resources will aid individuals, small groups, and congregations to delve deeper, together, into the life of Abraham and the lessons we can learn from his efforts to follow God’s promise. Grigoni, M. R., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Abraham: Following God’s Promise: Leader’s Guide. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software. Along with the content of the main textbook you get a Preaching Themes section which allows you to queue the video and flesh out the text more and give you a chance to close in on the learning objective. Conclusion: In conclusion, I highly recommend this course. Well written and in depth and will leave you and your group changed, inspired and understanding the “father of many nations” a lot more. For the pessimists out there who would push me for one negative I’d have to dig very deep to satisfy your insatiable demands, it would be this: The authors’ language can sometimes appear a bit too academic for their own good in the use of their wording in analysing God’s Word: “The writer seems deliberately to prolong the tension of both Abraham and the reader in his depiction of the last moments before God interrupted the action and called the test to a halt” Grigoni, M. R., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Abraham: Following God’s Promise (Ge 21:1–22:24). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software. Again I have to say, it’s one of the best study group courses I have done and you would greatly benefit from it. © 2013 faithireland.com (faithireland.wordpress.com)
LasVegasMars
10/4/2014
