05 Mar Discussion Guide: Genesis Week 8
PRAYER
Take the first few minutes of your time together to listen to what God is doing in one another’s lives and pray for any specific needs people in your group may have.
Today’s Discussion
This week we continue our series titled Genesis, where we will be walking through the first book of the bible by the same name. We will be exploring who God is, what was His purpose in creating the world and humanity, and how, in the midst of all the brokenness our sin has brought to His creation, how is God putting it all back together again. I want to challenge us over the course of this series to think deeply, speak honestly, and perhaps even learn how to love more passionately. Let’s get started with the beginning.
Discussion Questions
Can you think of a time when someone made a promise to you and kept it, and it really mattered?
pregunta
Genesis 15:1
After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Why did Abraham need to be encouraged?
What does God’s encouragement to Abraham tell you about God’s nature?
As we continue through the text, we’ll see that two cycles of promise-pain-promise-resolution occur — the second building upon the first. Abraham was learning that God’s promises involved a bit of pain. Yet, in the pain of life and following God, the promise was greater still.
note
Referencia
quote sp
pregunta
Genesis 15:1-6
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God , what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord , and he counted it to him as righteousness.
How do you respond when the gap between a promise and its fulfillment create a pain in your heart?
How did Abraham respond?
What can you learn about how to respond in that moment from Abraham’s response?
What was the promise that God gave Abraham in response to his pain?
What does that tell you about God?
ref sp
quote sp
pregunta
Genesis 15:7-21
And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God , how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
What, right now, is a promise that God has given that you find really hard to believe?
In this cycle, who promised to endure the pain of keeping the promise?
How does knowing who Jesus is and what he has done transform pain?
ref sp
quote
pregunta
Closing Thought
How would your life change today if, in your pain, you didn’t become cynical, but more faithful?
What is one practice that needs to change in order to live this way?
Pensamientos de Cierre
pregunta