Week 3 - The Old Testament
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Family Life - Small Group Warm Up Question:
What are some of your favorite things about your family? Least favorite things about your family?
The Old Testament
Genesis 31-45
1. What was one of your biggest takeaways from this week’s reading? How do you like following the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? What is challenging about this part of the Bible? How is God growing you through these readings and study?
2. Read Genesis 31:3. What does God command Jacob? How does God reassure Jacob? Read Matthew 28:18-20. What does Jesus command His disciples and us? How does God reassure them and us?
3. Although Jacob has been wronged by Laban (Genesis 31:7), Jacob reiterates the good that the Lord has shown him by saying to Leah and Rachel “God did not permit him to harm me.” Jacob not only sees God’s protection and presence; he also sees God’s provision (Genesis 31:9). When we are suffering why is it so easy to focus on the wrongs we have suffered rather than the rights God has blessed us with? What are some of God’s continued blessings on your life that you may sometimes take for granted? What practical steps can you take to be more regularly grateful.
4. Rachel’s theft of her father’s “household gods” (Genesis 31:19) both dishonors God, her father, and her husband. Her actions show her distrust of God for her future. What are some modern-day ways we might show that we don’t fully trust in God’s presence, protection, or provision?
5. Even after hearing God’s voice directly (Genesis 31:3) and encountering God’s angels (Genesis 32:1-2) he still fights fear and anxiety over meeting his brother Esau (Genesis 31:7). He takes things into his own hands before he goes to God in prayer, asking God to save him (Genesis 31:11). Have you ever had an experience when you should’ve gone to God in prayer sooner? When you should have not been afraid or anxious? How did you grow through that experience?
6. How is Jacob’s statement to God that “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant” (Genesis 32:10) instructive to us all?
7. In Jacob’s lifetime he has “striven/wrestled with God and with man” (Genesis 32:28) but realized the importance of being blessed by God above all else (Genesis 32:26). When was a time in your life that you personally prioritized God in your life? When you experience His blessing after a season of suffering or the trials of life?
8. Despite Esau being wronged by Jacob with both his inheritance and blessing, Esau extends love and forgiveness to Jacob (Genesis 33:4). How does this encounter remind you of the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24)? How does this illustrate Christian repentance? Salvation through Jesus? Christian forgiveness?
9. Jacob returns to Bethel/Luz in Genesis 35, remembering it as the place where “God revealed himself to him” (Genesis 35:7) and commanding his family and servants to get rid of their foreign gods/idols and purify themselves. What is a place that has special significance to you in regard to your spiritual growth? How does remembering that past experience with God challenge and encourage you?
10. Joseph’s life is full of powerful events and significant statements of truth. What are some of your favorite parts from the life of Joseph (Genesis 37,39-50)?
11. When Joseph refuses the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife, he says “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9) Why is it so important to see how our sin is against God? How is it helpful to think of sin this way? What are ways people, then and now, try to justify sexual sin in particular? Why is Joseph’s response to her daily advances (“he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her” Genesis 39:10) instructive to us protecting our sexual purity? What practical steps can we take today to flee sexual temptation like Joseph did (Genesis 39:12)?
12. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and put into prison by the lies of Potiphar’s wife. In spite of this suffering “the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor” (Genesis 39:21). When was a time you experienced the Lord’s presence and favor even in the midst of human injustice? When was a time you felt forgotten and abandoned like Joseph was by the chief cupbearer (Genesis 40:23)? How can we better persevere through such seasons?
13. When Joseph interprets Pharoah’s dreams (Genesis 41) he immediately gives credit to God by saying “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” (Genesis 41:16) Why is it important to give such recognition to God’s hand and power? What is the danger of taking credit for God’s work? When Joseph names his first two sons (Genesis 41:51-52), what is the significance of their names? How did his sons thus become a living witness of God in the midst of a pagan nation? How can you be a living witness in the midst of your nation?
14. When Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, he says “it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8). What does this reveal about Joseph’s faith? About his view of God? How does his response to his brothers (Genesis 45:15) show both mercy and grace?
15. When Joseph sends his brothers on a mission to get their families and return to an amazing blessing of land and provision in Egypt, he says “Do not quarrel on the way” (Genesis 45:24). Why do we need a similar reminder on our way to the amazing blessing of Heaven? What sort of things do you see Christians quarrelling about today?
General Discussion Questions
• What do these passages teach us about our enemies’ attacks (deceptions, distractions, discouragement, and temptations)? How can we better resist these attacks?
• Application Questions: How do you need to respond to and apply these truths to your life? (Is there a sin to avoid? A command to obey? An example to follow? A prayer to offer? A truth to remember or memorize? An attitude to change? A teaching to share?)