Part of the HARBOR HAWAIʻI ʻOhana
HARBOR HAWAIʻI ʻOhana

Sermon Questions and Resources

All In On God’s Call

Community Group Discussion Questions
Week of Aug 9
Genesis 11:27-12:9

OPENER

  • What’s something you started going all-in on, then stopped halfway? What made you stop?

DISCUSSION
Abram wasn’t looking for God, he was raised in a house full of idols, in a city built to worship the moon. But God called him anyway, and told him to leave everything: his land, his people, his identity. No map. Just a promise and one next step. We’ll explore what it actually looks like to go all-in on God’s call and why it’s worth it, since God already went all-in on us first.

  • Read Genesis 11:27–29 and Joshua 24:2. Abram was raised in a house full of idols. God called him anyway. Was there a time you felt disqualified or too far gone for God to call you? What happened?
  • Read Genesis 11:27–32. Terah set out for Canaan but stopped in Haran and died there. Haran wasn’t rebellion, it was comfort. What’s your “Haran” right now? The place you’ve settled that’s easier than where God actually called you?
  • Read Genesis 12:1. God tells Abram to leave his land, his relatives, and his father’s house: his comfort, his community, and his identity. Which of those three would cost you the most to hand over?
  • Read Genesis 12:2–3. Count how many times God says “I will.” What does it tell you about God that his call to Abram comes wrapped in promise, not just command?
  • Read Genesis 12:4–5. The text just says, “Abram went.” No long process, no waiting for certainty, just obedience. What’s one step you’ve been stalling on because you’re waiting to feel more ready?
  • Read Genesis 12:6–7. Abram arrives in the promised land and finds it already occupied with Canaanites. How does it change things to realize resistance can be confirmation you’re following God, not proof you’re not?
  • Growing as a Worshipper: In Genesis 12:7–8, Abram builds a stone altar to worship God, and a canvas tent to live in. The altar was built to last. The tent was built to be taken down and moved. Where in your life have those two gotten flipped? Where something about your comfort has become permanent, and something about your worship has become easy to pack up and leave behind?
  • Fruit → Root: When the fruit is settling for comfort instead of going all the way with God, what root might be underneath: fear of the unknown, love of control, or doubt that God’s promises can actually hold you? How does the gospel change how you see that risk, knowing God already emptied his hands for you at the cross?

ACTION STEP

  • If you knew God had already gone all-in on you, what’s one thing you’d stop holding back on this week?

DIG DEEPER
We study Scripture to understand what it says, means, and intends, patiently walking with the text instead of moving too quickly to application.

OBSERVATION – What Does It Say?

  • Genesis 11:31–32 tells us Terah set out for Canaan but stopped and settled in Haran, where he died. What does the text tell us he was heading toward, and where did he actually end up?
  • In Genesis 12:1, God tells Abram to leave three specific things — his land, his relatives, and his father’s house. What is named in each part of that command, and how does the language move from the outside in?
  • Count the number of times God says “I will” in Genesis 12:2–3. What is God promising to do in each one?

INTERPRETATION – What Does It Mean?

  • Joshua 24:2 tells us Terah’s family worshiped other gods beyond the Euphrates. Given that background, what does it mean that “the God of glory appeared” to Abram (Acts 7:2) before Abram was ever seeking him?
  • In Genesis 12:1, God calls Abram to give up his land, relatives, and father’s house — his comfort, his community, and his very identity. What does this reveal about what God’s call typically costs, and why might God ask for all three rather than just one?
  • Genesis 12:4 simply says, “Abram went.” What does the simplicity of that response reveal about the nature of faith — and how is that different from faith being a feeling you work up rather than an action you take?

CROSS REFERENCE & CONTEXT(Connect the Bible to Itself)

  • Genesis 12:3 promises that “all the peoples on earth will be blessed through” Abram. Read Galatians 3:8. How does Paul interpret this verse, and what does it tell us about how far back the gospel actually goes?
  • Abram builds an altar in Genesis 12:7–8 but only pitches a tent for himself. Given the difference between something built in stone and something made of canvas, what does this ordering reveal about where Abram placed what was meant to last?
  • Matthew 1:1 identifies Jesus as “the son of Abraham.” Tracing the promise in Genesis 12:3 forward through Scripture’s storyline, how does this one call to one man become the hinge that the rest of the Bible turns on?

SERMON RESOURCES

SERIES RESOURCES