Genesis 14 Youth Sunday School Lesson

Please refer to my Most Effective Way to Teach a Youth Bible Study

Discussion Points:

- Caught Up - Nine kings were having a war and Lot, and by extension Abram, was caught up in the middle of it. With God's help, Abram was able to defeat the attacking kings and recover what had been lost.

In the same way, through no fault of our own, we sometimes get caught up in the events of life. Things happen that we have no control over. Circumstances take a down turn for us.

But with God's help, we can come out of those victorious. With God's help, we can regain what was lost.

Has life ever caught you up? How did God make you victorious in that situation?


- The Tenth - When Abram is victorious over the attacking kings, he gives a tenth of the recovered possessions to the priest, Melchizedek. Why did he give this priest a tenth of what he had received? The priest didn't fight the battle. The priest didn't recover the possessions. The priest didn't have anything stolen from him in the first place.

But Abram gave him a tenth in order to show his gratitude to God. He was thankful that God had given him such an amazing victory. And since he couldn't give the tenth to God directly, he gave it to God's representative, the priest.

We do the same thing. When we want to acknowledge the good things God has done for us by giving us certain skills and the opportunity to work at our jobs and make an income, we thank God by giving a tenth of what we have received to Him. But we give it to Him by entrusting it to His chosen representatives, the officials of the church.

Tithing, or giving God a tenth of what we have received, is our way of showing our gratitude to Him.


- Refusing to Take Dirty Money - When the king of Sodom offers the remaining possessions to Abram, he refuses to accept. He knows that the king of Sodom is corrupt and does not want to owe anything to him. Abram trusts only God's blessings and does not want to deal with people who don't share his values.

We can take some lessons from Abram here. Where does your money come from? Who do you do business with? Don't dirty yourself or your finances by taking money from someone you know to be of low moral value. Do business with integrity, work for a company of integrity, buy from people of integrity, and God will bless you for it.