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This week, we’ll be practicing the act of compassion. Dallas Bible Church partners with Compassion International to mobilize our body in helping to release children from poverty in Jesus' name. This mobilization involves encouraging individual monthly sponsorships and organizing annual mission trips to minister to the kids we sponsor.

In April 2021, DBC began to partner with Compassion as we took on sponsorships for 100+ kids! Today, let’s consider the heart of God for the world as we do some Bible study.

Let’s read from Genesis 12:1-8:

1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord

At age 75, Abram appears for the first time in the biblical text of Genesis 12. What we know about him is quite little. Commentators have compiled descriptions of him that include the words “wealthy,” “nomadic,” “pagan,” and “polytheistic.” Whether or not the God of Israel (Yahweh) had spoken to him before is not made clear in the text. Regardless, we see Abram take radical steps of obedience to this God who speaks.

Underline or circle the promises that God makes to Abram. What stands out to you about these promises? Who is going to receive blessing?

Now let’s read from Revelation 7:9:

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…”

What parallels do you see between Genesis 12 and Revelation 7? 

We serve a God who loves the entire world. He creatively and passionately pursues all ethnicities to bless them through His Son Jesus.

Spend a few minutes in prayer. Thank God for His commitment to bless the world. Ask Him to give you a love for the nations as He has. Recite Revelation 7:9 out loud. Anticipate the coming day when you’re with Jesus, praising Him from among the great multitude. Let that fuel your vision of the world today.