A heavy burden

It is apparent that Joseph’s older brothers still carried around a great guilt associated with their sins. How can sin shackle us and keep us from living a healthy, fruitful life?

Praise Him in the storm

Despite Joseph’s prolonged enslavement and imprisonment, he still maintained a healthy and fruitful relationship with God? How can we share in that same experience of continued fellowship and discipleship of God when our circumstances in life aren’t so ideal?

Pickin' a Fight

It could be argued that God took steps to provoke a conflict between Joseph and his family. If this is so, how does provoking a conflict relate to authoring evil?

White lies?

Jacob’s sons deceive the town of Hamor and Shechem as an avenue for justice. Are there times when deceit is appropriate and God-sanctioned? If so, what is the distinction?

Making lemonade

Although Laban was far from being a fair and just landlord, Jacob still had to put in twenty years of labor in order to build the family that God was blessing Him with. Are there times when you’ve had to work through a tough situation in order to answer God’s call?

Too much grace?

The story of Esau and Jacob is a classic story of how sometimes people seem to be rewarded despite their evil deeds. What are your thoughts when people ask why God would allow this contradiction of justice?

Decisions, decisions, decisions

How have you seen God use your decisions both large and small to make a great impact in your life and the lives of those around you?

A matter of God's timing

God's answer to prayer and fulfillment of His promise to grant Abraham a son by Sarah seemed like a long time coming, yet to God, it was perfect timing. What are some examples in your life of how God has challenged or is challenging you to be patient in waiting for His perfect timing?

Intercessory prayer

The salvation of Lot and his daughters from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is credited as being carried out as a result of Abraham's prayer request. This is a very powerful and tangible example of intercessory prayer by Abraham. How have you practiced intercessory prayer in your life and how have you seen God answer it?

The Mark of the Covenant

Circumcision as a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant is often seen as analogous to baptism as a sign of the New Covenant. It is because of this apparent correlation that many churches today still practice infant baptism (circumcision was to be administered to infants who were 8 days old). Is this a fair assessment and is this practice a proper application of baptism as it is Biblically described?

To give or not to give

Many Christians suggest that Abram's encounter with Melchizidek is not only the first known example of offering a tithe of 10% to God (represented by the church as an intermediary recipient), it is the very precedent that all Christians are intended to follow. What are your thoughts as to what God has to say about offering and/or tithing in this and in other passages of the Bible?

God and Slavery

Although most of us would never condone slavery as we've most recently known it to exist, the Scriptural relationship between God and slavery has been hotly debated for most of history. What are your thoughts on passages of Scripture that speak about slaves and how do these passages speak of God's desire in regards to this institution? In short, what does God have to say throughout the Bible in regards to slavery?

Genesis small group discussion

This is just a general Genesis discussion post. Respond to this post when you want to make comments about what we're studying in Genesis in general. If a topic is popular enough, we'll create a separate post for it.

God takes a "walk"

One of the speculative questions from Genesis 3 asked what Scripture means when it says that Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden. There are two likely theories as to what this means.

The first is that this may be a literary device commonly used in Scripture called an anthropomorphism, meaning that a divine action is described in human terms. It could well be that God in whatever form may have been moving through the garden and that the author had no way to describe such movement in a comprehendable way other than to say that He "walked". We've certainly seen other anthropomorphisms in Scripture such as when God is described as "breathing" or writing with His "finger" or even when He "grieves" or "repents".

The second theory is that God actually was walking because He chose at that specific moment to appear in human form. From what we know of the interaction of the trinity, it is likely that the Son would have been the one to appear before Adam and Eve and encounter them about such an incident. Although some find it difficult to believe that the Son, or Jesus, would appear prior to His incarnation in the same way that He often appeared after His resurrection, the idea of Christophanies, or appearances of Christ in human form (specifically in this case prior to His incarnation) actually has mountains of Scriptural evidence that are far too numerous to be discussed here.

For more information or to respond in general, don't forget to submit your own questions, ideas, or research in blog form.

Testing the Waters

This blog's main purpose will be to keep the Young Adult Ministry of MST informed on small group information. We will be able to have conversation and keep up with the latest that is happening in our small group ministry.