Our Resurrection Weekend services begin with our Good Friday Evening Gathering, March 29 at 7:00 pm, and conclude with our regular Sunday activities on Resurrection Sunday Morning, March 31!

Genesis - Summer 2017

Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

  • This Sunday we will be back to our summer exposition series in the OT. We will pick up in Genesis 10. To listen to last summer’s sermons in Genesis, or the overview sermons from Genesis click here: http://swbcls.org/sermons/_scripture/genesis
  • In order to prepare for this Sunday, it might be helpful to skim through chapters 1-9 and get back in the flow of the book of Genesis and what has happened so far. You will recall God’s creation of the universe and mankind, the disobedience and fall of man, man’s plummeting into sin, God’s judgment of man’s sin in the flood, and God’s grace to save Noah and his sons.
  • Chapter 9 records God’s covenant with Noah, and Noah’s drunkenness. Read 9:20-29. Be careful to observe Noah’s cursing of Canaan, and blessing of Shem and Japheth. Remember Genesis was written by Moses after the children of Israel were redeemed from slavery in Egypt and were headed to the land of Canaan.
  • Read chapter 10. In light of when the book was written, why would this section be helpful for the children of Israel? Take particular note of the names of the descendants of these three brothers. How many of those names are the names of nations that dominate the rest of the Bible? Why does this matter?
  • Observe the first sentence in verse 1. Do you recall what significance this phrase has in the book of Genesis? (See 2:4, 5:1, 6:9, 11:10, 27, 25:19, 37:2) What does this phrase mark throughout the book? Why is that significant for our understanding of this chapter?
  • Notice the second sentence of verse 1. How is this a demonstration of God’s grace? Why would this matter concerning the promises already made in the book of Genesis? How does v. 32 help us understand the purpose of chapter 10 in the book of Genesis, and in the Bible as a whole?
  • The Sermon Study equipping class notes are available online for anyone wanting to dig deeper. Please review this week's notes to help study this passage. Click here for the notes.

Prayerfully Meditate

  • Consider the importance that this chapter plays in the unfolding of God’s plan and purposes for mankind. What would the children of Israel, and what would we not understand if this chapter weren’t in Scripture?
  • What purpose do all these nations play in God’s narrative? How does this chapter demonstrate the precise carrying out of God’s perfect plan? How does the rest of Genesis and Scripture fill in the roles each of these nations were to carry out? What was the ultimate goal of God creating and establishing all these nations?
  • What comfort might the Israelites have derived from this genealogy? What comfort might we derive from it? What does this narrative reveal to us about our God? How does this passage point us to the fulfillment of God’s plan in Christ?