The Next Generation, Part 1

FCC Vision Statement: Building on Exposition, Centering on Christ, Dying in Community, Serving on Mission

Genesis 25:19-34

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The Next Generation, Part 1 — Lonnie D. Bell, Jr.
Genesis 25:19-34
Sermon Series: Genesis
May 5, 2019

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1.   How do Old Testament narratives help us build our view of God? What would it look like for you to devote more time to meditating on God’s attributes?
2.   How does Rebekah’s barrenness point us backwards and forwards in the story of Genesis? What does it highlight about God’s character?
3.   What does it mean to say that the life of faith is one of relinquishing control and overturning pride?
4.   Where do you tend to turn when problems arise in your life? How does this narrative direct us to a life of prayer?
5.   How does this passage illustrate the doctrine of election? What has been your understanding of election, and how does this passage help?
6.   How do the battle in the womb and the circumstances of the birth anticipate later developments in the story of Jacob and Esau?

References: Genesis 35:29; Romans 9:4-5; Genesis 8:1; Exodus 2:24; Genesis 20:17-18; Romans 9:10-13, 16; Malachi 1:2-3; Ephesians 1:4-5; Acts 13:48; Genesis 27:36.

Feebleness & Faithfulness Revisited

FCC Vision Statement: Building on Exposition, Centering on Christ, Dying in Community, Serving on Mission

Genesis 20:1-18

1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

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Feebleness & Faithfulness Revisited — Lonnie D. Bell, Jr.
Genesis 20:1-18
10 February 2019

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1.  What does this narrative teach us about God’s attitude toward marriage?
2.  How does this passage show us God’s authority, control, and power?
3.  Why should God’s protection of his promises to Abraham bring us reassurance?
4.  How would you describe the various facets of Abraham’s sin?
5.  Why is it significant that Abraham repeats this deception after all that he has experienced between chapters 12 and 20? What does this tell us about the “old sins” in our lives?
6.  How does God use Abraham’s sin to confirm some important things for him? What does this tell us about God’s ability to turn our failures for good?

References: 2 Peter 2:7-8; Genesis 12:10-20; 3:15; 1 Peter 1:4; Ephesians 1:13-14.

The God Who Prevails

FCC Vision Statement: Building on Exposition, Centering on Christ, Dying in Community, Serving on Mission

Genesis 11:10-32

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The God Who Prevails -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series: Genesis
Genesis 11:10-32
23 September 2018
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FCC Vision Statement: Building on Exposition, Centering on Christ, Dying in Community, Serving on Mission
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Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  How would you describe the significance of Abraham in the biblical storyline?
2.  How are the first eleven chapters of Genesis both hopeless and hopeful? How do they turn us to God alone?
3.  Where do we see God’s sovereignty in salvation history in Genesis 1-11?
4.  What impact should the unstoppable nature of God’s plan have on our theology?  How does it comfort us in our battle against sin?
5.  How does Abraham’s religious background remind us that God is able to overcome any barrier to belief?  Why should this motivate our evangelism?
6.  Why do you think God chose to work through the barren woman, Sarai?