Big Idea

The Real OT - Jacob Team/Individual Guide

Big Idea:
God uses our struggles to shape and mold us into the people we were created to be.

Key Verse: Genesis 32:27-31 (The Message)
The man said, "What's your name?" He answered, "Jacob." The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through."
Jacob asked, "And what's your name?" The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel (God's Face) because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!"

The Scoop:
The story of Jacob reveals that he has been a deceiver, a conniver, and a con man since day one.  He does whatever he has to do to get what he wants.  Jacob deceives his brother, his father, and nearly meets his match when he tries to deceive his uncle Laban.  He had been wrestling with everybody since the womb until he finally meets his match when he wrestles with God.

Jacob becomes “crippled” when he wrestles with God.  Throughout Jacob’s life he fights to attain what he wants for himself, but finds out quickly that he could not do this with God.  While we may not feel we can directly relate to Jacob, we all wrestle and fight with God for control.  God is always present and always pursuing us, but we push him away trying to take control of any and all situations.  Often it is not until we have come to complete desperation that we cry to God for help.  Jacob has come to the point in his life where he has reached the end of himself and is now completely reliant upon God.

1.    What does it look like in your life to wrestle with God?

2.    What is the significance of Jacob’s name change?

3.    How have you seen God positively change your life through struggle?

What’s Next? Reflect on the struggles in your life and the struggles in the lives of those around you.  Look for God in tough situations and pray regularly for an understanding of His plans.

The Real OT - Isaac Team/Individual Guide

Key Verse:
Read Romans 8:31-32 (The Message)
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?

The Scoop:
From the story of Abraham and Isaac, we, as observers learn that Abraham was prepared to do anything for God, even it it meant killing his son!.  Abraham didn’t try to resolve the conflict, but moved ahead on faith, realizing that an infinitely perfect God does not make mistakes.  Not only did it not make sense for God to ask Abraham to offer the son he loved, but it must have confused him immensely considering Isaac was the son God had promised.  Nonetheless, his trust in God is exhibited through his unwavering obedience to the call to action.

Abraham is following God’s call for his life – not blindly, but by faith.  We can be sure that even when God is working in ways that seem mysterious to us – our God is trustworthy.   The same God behind your trials and testing is the God who sacrificed His one and only son Jesus for you, out of sheer love for you.  That is how we know we can trust God no matter what.

We need not worry, the fruit and benefit of our obedience may not be immediately obvious to us, but it will most certainly be eternally beneficial to us.  Our hope is not grounded in emotion or circumstance or events in our lives, but in the immutable, unchangeable love of God. 

1.    Are there challenges in your life that have left you bitter, resentful, or angry toward God?  How might God use these times for good?

2.    Are there areas in our lives that we say we trust God, but our actions might suggest otherwise?

3.    How have God’s challenges for you developed and strengthened your faith or changed your view of God in a positive way?

What’s Next? (take home/further processing/application)
Make a list of the things you struggle with giving up and the things with which you struggle to trust God.  Pray daily for one week about those things and then write a response or update to the each item on your list.  See how God works through your faith! 

The Real OT - Sarah Team/Individual Guide

Big Idea:
Learning to wait on God and trust in God is essential to being a person of faith.
Key Verse: Genesis 18:14 (The Message)
Is anything too hard for GOD? I'll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby.
The Scoop:
Many of us live by various axioms or, “words to live by,” so much so that they become innate or the foundation on which we live and make decisions. “'Know-so' hope” is one of these axioms that needs explaining. The hope that we have as followers of Christ is not a “hope-so” hope built upon chance or potential or even deep desire; it is a "know-so" hope built on the promises of a faithful God.
When God tells Sarah that He is still going to give her a child despite her advanced age, she laughs. She gets tired of waiting on God’s promise and tries to take things into her own hands by having a surrogate child through her handmaid Hagar. All of Sarah’s problems seem to be rooted in her struggle to wait on God. Even after Sarah goes about having children in disobedience to God’s plan, God still reaffirms His promise to make Abraham into a great nation through his offspring with Sarah. God chose Abraham and Sarah out of His grace, not because they were great role-models for all generations to follow. God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah is about God’s character.
Have you ever heard the question, “Can God make a rock so big that He can’t pick it up?” In Genesis 18:14, God asks a grown-up version of that question to Abraham; “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” The obvious answer here is, “no.” However, all logic and understanding that Abraham and Sarah possess leaves them hopeless even with the possibility of reproducing.
1.    Have you ever gotten tired of waiting on God and tried to make something happen on your own?
2.    What helps you get through difficult times of waiting?
3.    Is there a situation in your life that logically has no hope? How could God’s promises be challenging you to stand firmly in a "know-so" hope? 

What’s Next? (further processing & application)
•    If there was a promise of God revealed to you through this study that spoke to an issue with which you are struggling to wait, write that promise in 3 different places that you are sure to see each day. (i.e.: your car, mirror, planner, etc.)

•    Find ways this week to encourage those around you who are clinging to a shallow “hope-so" hope in the deeper truths of a faithful God.  Find Scripture-promises that will help them find firm footing as they face their painful circumstance.

•    Make it a discipline to ask yourself in the face of your daily doubts, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

The Real OT - Abraham Team/Individual Guide

THE REAL OT
ABRAHAM

The BIG Idea Team, Individual and Family Study Guide
Please take time to run through this study guide with your team, on your own, or with your family so that you can further apply and process the BIG Idea.

Big Idea:
God is in the process of restoring the world and wants me to be part of it.

Key Verse:
Genesis 12:2-3 (The Message)
I'll make you a great nation and bless you.  I'll make you famous; you'll be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I'll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you.

The Scoop:
In contrast to other Biblical figures like Job or Noah, Abraham is just as well known for his flaws as he is for his great faith.  However, despite the many character flaws in Abraham, God’s decision was to bless him and his family and to use them as a catalyst to bless the nations – including us today!  In effect, the mission of the Church – our mission as Christ-followers – “Helping people take next steps with Christ” - began with “Father Abraham” stepping out and blindly following God’s call.

The life of Abraham clearly shows us that our God is concerned with the hearts of His followers.  It is through our faith in Him that He uses us, despite our character flaws and short-comings. 

Beginning with Abraham, God set aside a group of people to be His spokespeople to the rest of the world.  Today, as Christ-followers, we are all “children of Abraham.”  The words God spoke to Abraham are the same words He speaks to us today.  We have been blessed so that we, too, can be a blessing. 

1.    Have you ever experienced a time that you felt God was clearly asking you to make a bold move (geographically, relationally or in some other way)?

2.    Do you find yourself encouraged by Abraham’s “human side” or frustrated that he couldn’t keep his act together?

3.    In what ways are you being challenged to be a blessing out of the abundance you have received?

What’s Next? (take home/further processing/application)
•    This week, identify one way you have been blessed by God and ask Him to show you how to be a blessing to others through that.  

•    Make a specific attempt this week to live with your eyes open to the foundational need for reconciliation and ask God to grow your understanding of what it means to be a catalyst of reconciliation in this world.