Essential 100

Week One : In the Beginning

1.    Creation (Genesis 1:1—2:25)

 What do you believe about God?  Who is he?

In what ways do you see evidence for God—if any—in the world around you?

2.    The Fall (Genesis 3:1-24) 

How do you define “sin”?

What makes you feel guilty?  How do you handle your feelings of guilt?

3.    The Flood (Genesis 6:5—7:24) 

Do you ever find yourself in situations where, like Noah, you are surrounded by sin?

How do you resist temptation? What do you think about “judgment”?

Does God still judge people today?  Is that fair? 

4.    God’s Promise to Noah (Genesis 8:1—9:17) 

Do you think God loves you?  Why?

Would you like God to give you a “clean slate”?  Why?

5.    The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) 

When is pride a bad thing?  A good thing?  Why?

Are there people in your life with whom you have strained or even broken communication?

How could you change things for the better?

Pastor's Meditation for the Week:

Dear Essential Fellow Travelers,

Today we begin the journey through God’s Word. This week we will be reading and reflecting upon the texts of Beginnings. The stories you read this week come from our shared Judeo-Christian heritage found in the Old Testament. These stories offer  us a glimpse into not only  God’s beautiful and good creation of the natural world but also into the on-going revelation of God to humans beings and their  response. We see the highs and the lows of the human condition; walking with the Lord in the Garden of Eden to entering into a world of brokenness and sin.

 I hold on to two major truths in  these stories. The first being that although we are indeed broken and sinful we are still made in the image of God and have the promise in Christ to have that image perfectly realized as we cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Secondly, I hold to  the truth of God’s love for us, as Paul says in Ephesians  1:4, we are loved before the very creation of the world.  God’s love is still present even in the face of the willful rebellion of his creation thorough his covenant with Noah.

May you hold on to these two truths as well as others that the Holy Spirit gives to you in your reading and reflections this week.  

Blessings in Christ, Pastor Jim