A Promising Love
Audio Recording
Sermon Outline
Speaker: Rev. Tim Chang
Sermon Series: The Love of God
Genesis 11:27-12:7 (ESV)
27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Sermon Outline
A Promising Love…
1. Seeks us out
12:1 – The LORD said to Abram…
2. Knows us through and through
12:1-3 – to the land that I will show you…I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
3. Reminds us of his promises
12:7 – Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”
Prayer of Confession
Eternal and merciful God, you have loved us with a love beyond our understanding, and you have set us on paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. Yet we have strayed from your way; we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, through what we have done and what we have left undone. As we remember the lavish gift of your grace, O God, we praise you and give you thanks that you forgive us yet again. Grant us now, we pray, the grace to die daily to sin, and to rise daily to new life in Christ, who lives and reigns with you, and in whose strong name we pray. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
What connected with you from the sermon or the passage?
How have you experienced the love of God?
Do you resonate with any aspect of Abraham’s story?
When have you felt as though you might not be worthy of God’s love?
How have you struggled with striving for your own sense of worth? Have there been times when you’ve instead settled for status quo?
When have you experienced reminders of God’s love for you?