Discovering True Intimacy with Our Savior

E26: Genesis 26

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E26: Genesis 26
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Over the last month, we’ve heard about the creation story, the fall of mankind, and its continual spiral into corruption.  God executed judgment on those who were immoral through the great flood and then scattered everyone in countless direction when they were exhaling themselves at the tower of Babel. 

The thread of covenant continues throughout the book of Genesis starting with God’s covenant to never again destroy the earth with a flood.  He also made a covenant with Abraham to give him land and countless descendants that would bless all the inhabitants of the earth.

Last week, we said goodbye to Abraham & Sarah, and studied God’s continued faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham through the life of Isaac.  We heard how Isaac prayed for his wife to bear a son, and saw God give him a double portion through the birth of twins, Jacob and Esau.  Their relationship was complicated.  Let’s keep reading their story in Genesis chapter 26.

Reflection Questions

  1.  What stood out to you today?  Did anything surprise you?
  2. 2. Does anything sound familiar to you?  Does anything remind you of a situation in your life?
  3. Think of how God interacted with each of these people in their stories.  Now think about God’s bigger story.  How does this fit in and what purpose does it serve?

E25: Genesis 25

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E25: Genesis 25
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Yesterday, Abraham had his servant go and find a wife for his son, Isaac.  God answered the servants prayer at  the well to make his mission successful by sending along Rebecca.  When we left the story, they had just married.  Let’s continue with Genesis chapter  25.

Reflection Questions

1.  Where do you see God’s faithfulness on display in this passage?

2.  Where did you see humans fail?  How might that apply to  your life?

3.   How do you need to respond to God in light of what you’ve learned.

E24: Genesis 24

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E24: Genesis 24
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Yesterday, we said goodbye to Sarah, and even though Abraham was a foreigner living in the land, the residents of Canaan looked favorable on him and offered him land to bury her.   Abraham insisted that he purchase it from them.  And so Sarah was buried in the promised land.  Let’s continue Abraham’s story in Genesis chapter 24.

Reflection Questions

  1.  Recap the story in your own words.
  2. What were the people in this story going through? Do their circumstances remind you of anything in your own life?
  3. How did God respond to their situation?  What does that teach you about who He is in light of yours?

E23: Genesis 23

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E23: Genesis 23
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Yesterday, God tested Abraham’s faith.  It is an uncomfortable and painful story, but it had a happy ending.  I’ve often wondered how Isaac felt afterwards.  Did it change his relationship with his father?  Did Abraham explain everything on the way back home?  What happened when Sarah found out?  Let’s continue reading about Abraham’s journey in Genesis chapter 23.

Reflection Questions

  1.  In a time of deep sadness, Abraham was welcomed as a friend among those who occupied the land God promised him.  How do you see God’s hand at work in this situation?
  2. Think back to a time when someone showed you favor during a season of deep sorrow.  Where can you see God’s hand in that situation?  How did you feel?
  3. Use the next few minutes to thank God for his lovingkindness in dark places, for his bountiful provision and faithfulness throughout your life, and for those things that we might not understand in our lifetime, but how eternal significance.

Resources
11 Easy Steps to Studying the Bible at coffeewithchrist.org

 

E22: Genesis 22

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E22: Genesis 22
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Yesterday was a BIG day.  Isaac was born.  Ishmael and Hagar were banished.  And Abraham made a covenant with King Abimelech for a well.  Let’s continue the journey in Genesis chapter 22.

Reflection Questions

  1.  What did you see God doing in this passage?  What does it teach you about who He is?
  2. How does this story point to Jesus?
  3. Think back to the beginning and how God named his creation – the space, sky,  the dark, night and the light, day.  Then, Adam named all the animals and Eve.  God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sarah.  Hagar gave God a new name:  El Roi – The God Who Sees Me, and God told us a new name for himself:  El-Shaddai – God Almighty.  Today, we heard Abraham give God a new name:  Yehovah Yireh – The God Who Provides.  Why do you think names are so important to  God?

Resources:  coffeewithchrist.org

E21: Genesis 21

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E21: Genesis 21
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The first covenant God made was not to destroy the earth with water ever again.  The second, was to Abraham.  God promised to give him land and descendants as numerous as the dust on the ground and the stars in the sky.  We spent the last 2 weeks getting to know Abraham and his wife, Sarah. We’ve seen them at their best and at their worst. 

God deemed Abraham righteous because of his faith and then Abraham turned around and lied – not once, but twice – about who his wife was in order to save his own skin. 

We heard God listen to Abraham’s prayers of salvation for his nephew, Lot, and saw God show mercy by saving his family, and then Lot’s daughters turned around and slept with him while he was drunk.   

We saw Sarah and Abraham get frustrated with God’s timing and take matters into their own hands.  Sarah convinced Abraham to sleep with her handmaid, and then watcher her mistreat Hagar once the deed was done.   When Hagar fled to the wilderness to escape Sarah’s cruelty, we saw God speak tenderly to her there.  Let’s see what happens in Genesis chapter 21.

Reflection Questions

  1. A birth day for Isaac; a sad goodbye for Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael; a life and death situation for a mother and her son; and deals made around wells…today’s episode had all the feels.   What stood out to you today?  Did anything surprise you?
  2. Who do you relate to most in the story?  Is it Sarah who spent years waiting for a prayer to be answered and a promise fulfilled?  Do you relate more to Hagar – feeling shut out and rejected through no fault of your own?  Do you feel like Abraham stuck in the middle in an impossible situation? Or maybe you feel a bit like Abimelech seeing only how God has blessed others?
  3. Think of how God interacted with each of these people in their stories?  How might that pertain to yours? 

Sovereign God – We come to you with all of our feelings and situations.  Where ever we are, whatever we are doing, and however we feel, will you teach us who you are in the midst of our circumstances?  Amen.

References: 
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