When we look carefully at the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers, we find that the story is much more difficult, dramatic, and unpredictable than we tend to assume. In a time when all of life seems to similarly be more difficult, dramatic, and unpredictable for most of us it is the perfect story for this moment. It reminds us that not only is God always in control, but that is plan is perfect, even when it seems like that couldn't possibly be true.

Application Questions:

1. In what ways do you feel in a "pit" right now?
2. How does the perspective from the pit change knowing that God truly is in control?
3. What tempts you to forget that God is in control? In what ways do you try to assert your own control?
4. What "false happy endings" do you put your hope in?
5. How can you regularly be reminded of the ultimate happy ending promised and secured for us through Christ?

Throughout the story of Abraham and Sarah, God continually initiates. God chooses Abram and calls him to leave his homeland. God unilaterally makes promises and commitments to Abram. God enters into a covenant with Abram on His own terms. God changes Abram's name to Abraham. God fulfills the promise of a descendant for Abraham. And God provides a substitute sacrifice for Abraham's chosen son. Abraham and Sarah respond with shaky, imperfect faith- showing us how we too, in our own imperfections, can confidently submit ourselves to the God who initiates.

Application Questions:

1. Why is it so important that God is the greatinitiator?
2. How have you seen God initiate with you in your life?
3. In what way does Abraham and Sarah's imperfect faith give you hope?
4. What practical steps of faith can you take in your life to take hold of the promises of God for you?

The story of the tower of Babel is about a lot more than language. It's about two ways of viewing the world, and two ways of finding security and significance. One comes from a city we try and build to keep our life safe and important apart from God. The other comes from God by grace. Christianity offers a city to come, that is built by God for us through Jesus Christ.

Application Questions:

1. What are some ways that you try to be God in your life? What are some ways you see our society try to be God?
2. How are the ways we try to be God connected to our desire for security?
3. Why is God's grace the only sustainable way for humans to be united?
4. How can you pursue the eternal city God builds through the way you live your life now?

We usually think of Noah and the ark as a kids story, especially the animals going on the ark two by two. But a closer look at the story shows us a rich message about what God is like, how we can be delivered from our sin, and how we find hope and a future. What's more, we see the kind of refuge God provides us in Jesus Christ that we can turn to now and forever.

Application Questions:

1. What parts of the story of Noah surprised you? How do they change the way you think about a familiar story?
2. What does this story teach you about sin and God's reaction to it?
3. What can we learn about faith from Noah? How can you apply those lessons in your own life?
4. What can we learn about God's desire for us and our world from this story? How does that encourage you and challenge you?

We're probably all familiar with the story of Adam and Eve. There's a tree, and an apple (or a "fruit"), and a couple of fig leaves. But when was the last time you took the time to really look carefully at what God was revealing about himself through this incredible historical story. When we slow down and walk through this story with our eyes fixed on God we begin to see things we never saw before. And we begin to understand God's goodness afresh, and in a way that we desperately need in this moment in time.

Application Questions:

1. When you think about the story of Adam and Eve, what comes to mind?
2. How do you see God's goodness on display in this story?
3. How have you experienced the kind of shame Adam and Eve experienced when they rejected God's goodness?
4. How have you experienced the kind of grace and kindness Adam and Eve experienced when God confronted them?
5. How do you see God's goodness on display in your life, through the gospel?

In a world where pain, struggle, and difficulty continue to mount, we instincitvely turn in all sorts of directions looking for comfort. But, we so seldom find it. What does it mean that God is the "God of all comfort?" And how can we access that true comfort when the waves of suffering keep coming? In our passage today God teaches us about the true nature of comfort, and about the ultimate purpose he has for the comfort he so consistently gives us.

Application Questions:

1. Where, other than God, do you tend to turn for comfort?
2. Whether you had a particularly comforting mother or not, how is God's comfort uniquely reflected in the God-given comfort of mothers?
3. How does remembering all of the different attributes we've studied over the past few months bring us greater comfort?
4. How can you practically help those around you turn to the God of perfect compassion for comfort?

God's glory is the weightiness of his nature and character—the summary of what we've been learning in the entire series. When Moses asks God to show him his glory, he teaches us all about what we really needs, and what it means to be close to a God this significant.

Application Questions:

1. How has this series helped you get to know God better? How has that affected your life?
2. Where do you try to have an experience of glory in your life?
3. How does Jesus show you the glory of God and lead you to worship?
4. How is God calling you to respond to his glory in your life now?

God is sovereign over the entire universe. He is sovereign over the natural world, He is sovereign over individual people, and He is sovereign over the spiritual realm. His sovereignty is one of His perfections that makes Him absolutely unique in all the universe, and absolutely powerful over all things.

Application Questions:

1. How does the biblical picture of God's sovereignty over all the universe challenge your understanding of God?
2. What are ways that you think of God more like a "big, strong human" than as truly God?
3. How does God's sovereigntychallengeyour understanding of the world? How does God's sovereigntyencourageyou and give youhopein the midst of this world?
4. What three things should change in your life this week in light of the power of God?

The author of Hebrews writes to people who are weighed down and struggling, and at the end of chapter 6 he points them to God's faithfulness as the anchor that can hold them fast even when the world is spinning around them. We also need God's faithfulness, not just in a pandemic but all the time. Without it, we have no anchor that can really hold. When we know God's faithfulness, we enjoy his security in our lives.

Application Questions:

1. How have you experienced your own need for an "anchor for the soul"?
2. How does the story of Abraham—and the story of Jesus—help you understand the depths of God's faithfulness?
3. How might knowing God's faithfulness change the way you approach the coming week?

Knowing God means knowing his justice, an often misunderstood aspect of God's character. Far from being something that repels us, God's perfect justice invites us to joy, comfort, and even a new way of being in the world.

Application Questions:

1. How do you react to the idea that God is just? Is God's justice compelling or dry, troubling or joyful?
2. What makes God's judgment different from our judgment?
3. How does God's justice affect how you relate to him? How does Jesus' death and resurrection fit in to your answer?