Making Our Way Stage by Stage

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9 (NRSVue)

In Genesis 1 and 2, God spoke the worlds into existence. Now God speaks to Abraham, calling him to leave the known for the unknown. First God called worlds into existence, now God calls a man into a new community. In this leap of faith, God would make this childless seventy-five year-old into a “knight of faith,” blessing him, making his name great and making him into a great nation. These three simple words describe the start of something beautifully courageous: So Abraham went. Let us follow in the footsteps of Abraham and Jesus as we too journey in faith into the great unknown God has for us.

June 11, 2023 — Worship Service Bulletin

Sermon Art: “Abraham Receives the Promise,” Jewish School (2^nd Century), Dura-Europas Synagogue, National Museum of Damascus, Syria. Zev Redovan/The Bridegroom Art Library 

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Bible Study Questions

1. Are you naturally more of an adventurer or a homebody?
2. Genesis 1 and 2 address how God called creation into being. It’s been said that Genesis 12 is yet another creation story—God calling a community into being. How do you see this at work in our passage?
3. Why do you think God didn’t tell Abraham up front where he would be going?
4. How do you imagine Abraham’s friends and family thought of his decision to leave? What do you think Abraham was feeling?
5. What is easy for you to let go of? What is hard to let go of?
6. Genesis 12:1-9 is overflowing with promises from God. What are they?
7. What challenges in Abraham’s life make these promises seem a bit far-fetched?
8. How does our passage speak to these ideas:
   a. “What God commands, he also enables.” – St. Augustine
   b. The callings of God never leave a person where they presently are. To stay where one is after God has summoned them to move on, is itself a backward movement though no actual steps are taken.
   c. “There is no ideal place to serve God except the place in which God sets you down.”
9. God’s call beckons us to move, to leave the familiar and step out into the unknown. This may involve actually leaving a place, but are there ways to faithfully respond to God’s call without physically moving?

Other Sermons In This Series

Return to Give Thanks

October 08, 2022

Persistence is a Virtue

October 16, 2022

A Tale of Two Prayers

October 22, 2022