Like Father, Like Son, Part 1

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

Genesis 26:1-11

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Like Father, Like Son, Part 1 — Lonnie D. Bell, Jr.
Genesis 26:1-11
Sermon Series: Genesis
May 19, 2019

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1.  What are the priceless treasures of friendship with God that were discussed in the sermon? How do we experience these in the Christian life?
2.  Where do we see Isaac’s faith, and how does it reflect that of his father? What does this brief description teach us about the nature of faith?
3.  Where do we see “generational folly” in this passage? How should this affect our parenting?
4.  How would you describe the various facets of Isaac’s sin in this passage?
5.  How does Isaac’s frailty point us to God’s grace in and through Christ?

References: Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chronicles 20:7; James 2:23; Galatians 3:29; John 15:14-15; Hebrews 1:2; 1 John 1:1; Matthew 28:20; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Peter 1:4; James 2:21-22; Deuteronomy 11:1; Genesis 12; 20.

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 Faithful God & The Feeble Faith

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

Genesis 12:10-20

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The Faithful God & The Feeble Faith -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series: Genesis
Genesis 12:10-20
7 October 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 are the “heroes” of the Old Testament useful to us as Christians? How do they always point us to Christ?
2.  How would you summarize Abram’s stumbling in verses 10-13? What do you think was going through his mind?
3.  In times of difficulty or danger, what does it look like for us to go into survival mode rather than seeking mode? Describe a time when you have done this.
4.  How would you summarize God’s faithfulness in this passage? How does it show God’s care on both a macro and a micro level?
5.  How does this passage prefigure later events? How would this have encouraged the first readers of Genesis?

References: Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19; Galatians 3:9; Genesis 20:1-18; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Genesis 3:22; 11:6-8; 2 Timothy 2:13; Ephesians 1:3; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9.