CTK North Bay
Control Issues
Archived – October 23, 2022
Main Scripture Reference(s)
Genesis 22:1-18

Control Issues

October 23, 2022 / Dan McEvoy / Genesis 22:1-18

Question: What area(s) of your life are you desperately grasping for control?
  • Control of our surroundings and circumstances
  • Control of other people 
  • Control of ourselves
Today’s Truth: A true test of our faith in God is when we relinquish our need to be in control of our lives.

Genesis 12:1–3 (NIV)

  • Blessing comes through

Genesis 12:4a (NIV)

  • Obedience not just in believing but in the

Genesis 12:11–13 (NIV)

  •   will always be a test of our true obedience. 

Genesis 15:1, 5-6 (NIV)
Genesis 16:1–2a, 2b-4 (NIV)

Question: Who are or what are your “Hagars?”

Genesis 17:4–5, 17-19 (NIV)

  • The  test of control is willing to let go of what God has given us.

Genesis 22:2, 11-14a (NIV)

Closing Question: Who or what is your greatest concern that you are needing to lay on the altar before God today?

 


 

Theme:  Your One and Only

Share Together:  

Who do you admire in history or personally that made a great sacrifice and why do you look up to them?

Reflect Together: 

What impacted you the most from last week’s reading that you expressed in your Genesis Growth Guide as well as learned from last Sunday’s gathering?

Read Together: 

Genesis 22:1-18 
(If you are following the Genesis Growth Guide, you will find this passage for discussion ahead of the reading plan. The purpose is to show the culmination of the faith of Abraham from which God had called him.)

Discuss Together:
  • What type of emotions are stirred with this story? What bothers you most about it?
  • Knowing God waited 25 years for Abraham to provide a son, how would you expect Abraham to react to God’s instructions, his feelings, as well as Isaac’s as they walked up the mountain?
  • Do you think Abraham would have killed his son if God didn’t intervene?
  • What do you think God desired for Abraham as a result of this test?
  • What do you think Isaac learned from this experience?
  • How is Isaac a foreshadow of Jesus? How is verse 8 prophetic? How is Jesus, called the “The Lamb of God,” like the ram?
  • When have you sensed God calling you to sacrifice your “one and only?” At what expense to you and others? What was the result? How did it change you based on your obedience?
  • What would be an example in your life, past or present, that is needing you to relinquish control in order to follow Jesus more fully? How could you use prayer to do so?
Pray Together:

Share updates of what God is doing and needs to pray about. 

Next Week’s Reminder:

In preparation for next week’s gathering and Group, remember to read Genesis 12-15 and write your responses in your Growth Guide.

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