Renew EPC: Sermons

How do we practice justice and mercy in a broken, messy world?

Outline: Three responsibilities that we have to be people of justice and mercy.

1) The responsibility as God’s chosen (18:16-18)

2) The responsibility as God’s instructed (vv. 20-33)

3) The responsibility as God’s emissary (vv. 19)

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

2. What injustice in the world is your heart in grief over today? (Take time to lift these to the Lord at your table)

3. Read 1 Corinthians 2:15-16: Based on this verse, should the truth of Scripture be the highest authority in the formation of our conscience and view of justice? Explain why or why not.

4. What are some distractions/interferences that limit your hearing the Scriptures clearly and meditating deeply upon them? Discuss possible solutions.

5. A friend just came from a funeral of a relative whose faith the Lord was unclear at best, she wants to know what will happen to him at the judgment. How would you use Genesis 18 to offer comfort without declaring what you cannot know for certain?

6. Ian Duguid comments: “Even Sodom, for all its wickedness, may not have been destroyed if only 10 righteous men had been found in it. That’s the difference that a small community of believers can make on a city, if God empowers them by his Spirit. As long as there is a remnant, there is hope.” Discuss what effect his truth should have upon (a) raising children (b) advocating for policy (c) interceding for our cities (d) supporting church planting?

What do we do when life is done with us?

Outline: Three demonstrations of God’s grace shown to us through Sarah:

1. God chooses the disqualified (7:15-21)

2. God seeks the unseen (8:1-10)

3. God regenerates the dead (8:11-15)

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

2. What about Sarah’s story do you most resonate with?

3. Where do you experience the cultural narrative of winning/ succeeding/ flourishing is everything? How is it affecting your self-evaluation?

4. “Oh that Ishmael might live before you” How does substituting Ishmael represent an “I can win” mentality? What are some ways we try to make God bless our efforts and plans?

5. Read I Corinthians 1:26-31. Imagine you are in a conversation with an unbeliever who remarks: “The church is just full of losers and nobodies, who would want to be in that group?” How might you share that what he finds as a criticism is one of the most encouraging things about the church?

6. What is a “new name/reputation” the gospel has given you that has helped you not be defined by your past or failures?

7. How has God shown you “nothing is too difficult for him”?

By covenant we are united to God Almighty.

Outline: 3 ways the covenant gives us a close relationship with God

1. Through the covenant we live with God

2. Through the covenant we live by God

3. Through the covenant we live for God

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

2. Share a story from your childhood where you were overwhelmed, confused, or uncertain. How did a close relationship with a parent or adult help you through it? 3

. Imagine having a conversation with a person who has a general belief/acceptance of God. How would you show or explain the Bible describes faith as a committed, personal relationship?

4. What difference does it make between knowing God’s promises and knowing God personally?

5. Read Isaiah 49:15: Put this verse in your own words. How might you apply this statement to moments of uncertainty in your life?

6. Circumcision visually taught Israel the Lordship of God was over every part of their lives. How do you keep this truth at the forefront of your mind?

7. How does the truth that Jesus, the Holy One, became the Cut Off one so that you might have an eternal personal relationship with God (1) remove uncertainty in your relationship with God? And (2) motivate you to live fully for him?

The God of Scripture is the one who chases you down to bring you good promises because he hears you and sees you.

Outline: Why worship the Lord?

1. He chases you down.

2. He has good plans for you.

3. He hears your cries

4. He truly sees you.

Questions for Personal Application:

1. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

2. What is something that makes you feel cared for or reminds you that someone is looking out for you?

3. Hagar was mistreated and felt she had to flee into the wilderness. What stands out to you about the fact that God sought her out, even though she was an Egyptian servant and a complicated part of Abraham and Sarah’s story?

4. The sermon highlights four reasons God is worthy of our worship: He chases us down, has good plans for us, hears our cries, and truly sees us. Which of these stands out to you most, and why?

5. As followers of Jesus our actions should reflect God’s character to others. How might our words, attitudes, or treatment of people cause others to misunderstand who God is? What would it look like to represent Him more faithfully?

6. If you truly believed that God sees you, hears you, and pursues you with His love, what might change about how you approach Him and how you treat others this week?

The gospel is not “finish what I started” its “It is finished.”

Outline: Three traps that produce bad faith:

1) The trap of shame

2) The trap of self-reliance

3) The trap of pride

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

2. Why do you think we are so prone to find our worth in things like our job, marriage, kids, popularity, success, possessions, etc.? Of these, which do are you prone to find too much of your worth in?

3. Imagine a friend sharing with you that they cannot imagine God could love someone like them, what might you say? What Scriptures would be good to share?

4. A friend says to you “God helps those who help themselves.” How would you explain in a gracious manner that this is NOT what the Bible teaches. Discuss what verses/stories would help you explain the truth that God helps those who can’t help themselves.

5. Why do you think we are so tempted to turn toward pride when we have so many experiences of it making situations worse?

6. How is the gospel shame’s destruction?

How are we to know we will be saved? God provides great assurance.

Outline: Three ways God greatly assures His people

1. By His Covenant (15:7-11)

2. By His Sovereignty (vv. 8-16)

3. By His very Being (vv. 17-21)

Questions for Personal Reflection

1. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

2. All of us are familiar with the sidelines of faith and life. What are some of the reasons you have lived at the sidelines?

3. The question “How am I to know?” can be a question we use to support our doubt or to seek greater assurance. What makes the difference for which it is?

4. Does God need to prove His trustworthiness to us? Why do you think He does?

5. Read Hebrews 6:17-19 together. Share a Scripture that you call to mind frequently to be an anchor for your soul.

6. “God’s Sovereignty assures us that even the bad things do not stop His promise, they can only be part of fulfilling it.” How would you support this statement?

7. God has made a blood-oath to save you. How can you apply this truth to leave the sidelines of your faith?

Do we have faith for the long haul? How can we know?

Outline: Three gifts we receive from God by faith alone to survive the long haul.

1. By faith alone we have God's presence

2. By faith alone we have God's assurance

3. By faith alone we have God's righteousness

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

2. What is an area of your life where you can relate to Abram’s long waiting to see God’s promise fulfilled?

3. “God’s presence is a fact, not a feeling.” What can be the problem with associating a feeling or sensation as evidence of God’s presence in our life?

4. By faith alone, God is present to us all the time. What are some ways you can keep yourself aware of God’s presence in your life?

5. “By faith we can always raise our needs, questions, complaints to God.” Read Philippians 4:6-7 slowly. Share what phrase or word most catches your ear and why it is comforting. What is something in your life you need to take to God in prayer?

6. Why is it good news that God gave Abram righteousness on the basis of his faith and not on his obedience? 7. Put in your own words what it means to be justified (counted righteous) by God.

How can your life look different with the eyes of faith?

Three life-changing truths only visible with the eyes of faith:

1. The victory belongs to the Lord (vv. 13-20) 

2. The spoils are not the prize (vv. 21-23) 

3. The one greater than Abraham has come (v. 18)

Questions for Personal Reflection

1. Share a specific “thank you” to God from this last week.

2. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

3. Hebrews reveals Melchizedek is a foreshadow of Jesus. How might you use this truth to show a non-believer the divine nature of the Bible?

4. How have the “eyes of faith” changed your understanding of your victory and/or failure? Give an example.

5. What are the spoils of this world that most entice you? Consider money, success, social standing, relationships, lifestyle, political causes, etc. How have you felt these spoils exert leverage against your faith and witness? How can you use the “eyes of faith” resist these spoils?

6. Read Hebrews 10:23-25: According to this verse how does worshipping together strengthen our eyes of faith?

7. Because Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, he is able to save us to the uttermost by faith in Him. How does fixing your eyes on this truth allow you to face your week ahead with hope?

Are your daily choices moving you closer to God or further from Him?

Outline: Why we should live by faith in every part of our lives:

1. The Way of Lot: Living by sight (or how our good decisions can lead us away form God)

2. The Way of Abram: Living by faith (or how every decision we make is about God)

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. Think of something that has become significant in your life: a relationship, workplace, friendship, school, hobby, neighborhood etc. How did this very important part of your life begin out of the mundane?

2. What was something from the sermon that encouraged you?

3. Which do you default to: choosing by faith or choosing by sight? Why did you choose by sight?

4. What is an area in your life that may be overly influenced by the desire for personal comfort?

5. Read Romans 12:2. What are some practices that have helped you renew your mind (live by faith) in the gospel?

6. Share a time where your faith changed the decision you would have made by sight. How did you bring your faith into the decision? What difference did it make to your decision?

7. Spend time walking in your inheritance by reading 1 Peter 1:3-7. What word/phrase comforts you? Think of a decision you are facing: How do these verses bring new perspective to it?

The scandal of God’s faithfulness is that He saves every faithless sinner who calls upon his name.

Outline:

1. The scandal that brings us down: our faithlessness (12:10-16)

2. The scandal that brings up up: His faithfulness (12:17-13:4)

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. Share a time when you thought you had a good plan, but that in the end it only made things worse.

2. Which of the four faithless acts was most relatable? Share why?

3. Nathan asked, “Do we accept that in God’s will for us can be hardship?” Why do you think we struggle to accept this?

4. Stephen Altrogge calls worry “imagining a future without God in it.” Do you agree/disagree? Share why. What can we do to better see our future with the presence of God?

5. Read Romans 14:23 & Hebrews 11:6. Why is faithlessness a sin?

6. “Abram is delivered and blessed opposite of what his actions merit.” Why is this message a stumbling stone for many?

7. Read Romans 5:8. Personalize it by replacing “sinners” with where you have stumbled, i.e. unfaithfulness, anxiousness, lust, dishonesty, cowardice, greed, selfishness, pride etc. How does this change what the scandal of God’s grace means to you?