May 6, 2018 | Kyle Brenon | Genesis 22:4-8
Community Group Questions
This week we continue our sermon series “EPIC” as we uncover more echoes of Christ throughout the Old Testament. Often when we revisit passages that we are well familiar with, we have a tendency to overlook important details assuming we already know all there is to learn. Today we look at the familiar story of Abraham and Isaac and trace the crimson thread that leads us straight to the cross of Christ!
Genesis 22:4-8
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
READ: Genesis 12:1-4, Genesis 15:1-6, Genesis 17:1-7, Genesis 17:15-19, Genesis 21:1-7, Hebrews 11:17-20, Genesis 22:1-19 (Main story!)
DISCUSSION:
1. We often see the Old Testament as less relevant than the New, or at the very least, less applicable. How has this series changed the way you read the Old Testament?
2. What are some barriers we have put up in our lives that prevent us from “Believing God” as Abraham did? (15:6)
3. Abraham gives us two hints that he knows God is up to something big, as he walks forward in obedience. Do you remember what those two hints were? (22:5, 22:8)
How would our lives look different, if we were to pursue a faith that in the eyes of man was as “reckless” as Abraham's? (Note: We realize that faith in the one true God is never reckless! But, it is in the eyes of man…)
4. How does viewing the story of Abraham and Isaac, through the lens of the gospel increase your awe of God?
