Sermon Notes & Slides – 8.17.2014

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8.17.2014

Sermon Notes

No Place for a Dead Body
Genesis 23
Pastor John Sloan

Introduction: More than one hundred years of marriage together. Six decades of wandering around Canaan with each other, never securing a permanent home. Abraham has experienced more with Sarah, his wife, than he ever thought possible. Good and bad. And now she’s gone. She has breathed her last breath. Well, what can we learn about God from the testy negotiations surrounding Sarah’s funeral arrangements?
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Questions for Discussions & Discovery

1. How did Abraham (a man who, though imperfect, was commended for his faith) respond to Sarah’s death (v.2)? What does this say about the relationship between grief and those who walk with God?
2. “Unfortunately, the spiritual joy of salvation that comes with knowing Jesus does not always precipitate earthly health or happiness (Germer).” What do you think this statement means?
3. Why were the Hittites reluctant to give Abraham land to own? What were their stated reasons (v.6)? What were their real reasons?
4. How does this story reveal something of God’s care for even the smallest details of our lives?
5. What are some of the promises of God that you find comfort in? How do you know that God will deliver on those promises?

Sermon Slides

1. 01. Genuine, godly believers experience deep sadness and profound grief.
2. “I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come to be. I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes…I will never again experience pleasure … I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this. I hate my life.” – Job 3:23-26, 7:11, 15-16, NLT
3. “Unfortunately, the spiritual joy of salvation that comes with knowing Jesus does not always precipitate earthly health or happiness.”
4. “Land ‘given’ is land on loan. A gift, as opposed to a sale, places the recipient under obligation to the donor.” – Gordon Wenham
5. “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim.”
– Genesis 15:18-20
6. 02. Often defying odds, human wisdom, and even opposition, God is always faithful to deliver on his promises.
7. “Wherever possible, the writer seizes the opportunity to shoe that the patriarchs came by their possession of the land fairly and that it was a gift from God, not from those who were dwelling in the land at the time.” – John Sailhamer
8. “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” – Psalm 2:8
9. “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” – 2 Peter 3:13
10. 03. The inheritance reserved for God’s children is a much greater parcel of land: a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.