Covenant

Piecing it All Together: Covenant

Week of September 23, 2018

Genesis 12-50

Connect

It sounds like your groups had great first gatherings!  Give the time to have informal conversations together so people can get to know one another.  When you sense that it’s time, have your group consider this question:

What is the difference between a covenant and a promise?

Pray

As a facilitator, make sure that you follow up with specific needs that people had last week.  As you share together, you might all consider the answer to the Passionate measure—“Where did you see God today/this week?”  Here’s the measures and their questions just so you have them here:

Passionate: Where did I see God today?

Accepting: How am I building diverse relationships?

Invitational: Who am I connecting with God’s family?

Trusting: Where does God rank?

Active: How am I engaged with God’s work? 

Reflect

Invite your group to share questions or insights from Sunday’s sermon or the Scriptures read. 

Ask your group to reflect on this question together: How do you feel about God’s special relationship with the people of Israel?

(Some people might feel like God choosing the people of Israel is unfair.  It is important to recognize the purpose of Genesis 12:3—God intends to bless the whole world through this family.)

After this introductory conversation, watch The Bible Project on Genesis 12-50:

Here are some questions that you can follow up with after your group reflects on the video:

-Read Genesis 50:19-26.  How does the idea that “humans keep choosing evil but somehow God keeps working it out for good” encourage you and connect with you?

-How do you see yourself in the stories of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph?

-Why did God not just give us a simple instruction manual?  Why did God choose to reveal himself to us in stories like these?