Genesis 22:1-20

Questions for thought

What is your only comfort in life and death?

What is the purpose of God testing us?

(What is the purpose of Satan testing us?)

Do you think that Abraham had to struggle with Isaac to put him on the altar for sacrifice?

Genesis 16:1-14

FIRST TAKE AWAY

Decisions made under duress and in the moment rarely go well.

SECOND TAKE AWAY

Failing to take counsel from others can lead to disaster.

Proverbs 11:14

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

Proverbs 24:6

for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

THIRD TAKE AWAY

God does not always follow the world’s wisdom

FOURTH TAKE AWAY

It doesn’t matter how many bad decisions you make, God never gives up on you.

Questions for thought

How do you know what God's will is for you?

What goes wrong between Sarai, Abram and Hagar?

What happens when we go outside of God's will for us?

Genesis 15:1-21

Questions for thought

What is the difference between

Believing in God

Believing God

For the covenant (Genesis 15:17-21) who passed between the carcasses?

What is the significance of this?

What can we do on our own to be right with God?

Genesis 12:10-20

I can't see how You're leading me

Unless You've led me here;

To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led...

And so You've been here all along, I guess; It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get...

1) Humanity’s second chance was at God’s Initiative.

2) Humanity’s second chance required faith in God. Even it that faith was imperfect.

3) Humanity’s second chance finds its fulfillment in Christ

“I command thee to go forth with closed eyes …until having renounced thy country thou shalt have given thyself wholly to me”

John Calvin

What is Biblical Hope?

It is a certain and secure future that powerfully shapes us here in the present because of what GOD has done in the past.

“Hope is the way we overcome the lurking suspicion that all our getting and spending amounts to fidgeting while we wait for death.”

– Andrew Delbanco

“This hope we hold as the utterly reliable anchor for our souls, fixed in the very certainty of God himself in Heaven, where Jesus has already entered on our behalf, …”

– Hebrews 6:19 (J.B. Phillips Translation)

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”

– Revelation 21:6 (ESV)

Romans 8:1-17

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,

1) Indwells all followers of Jesus to experience forgiveness

2) Empowers all followers of Jesus to live for Him

3) Unites all followers of Jesus into God’s family the church

Matthew 7:13-14

Hebrews 4:14-16