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

• Read Genesis 12-15 noting all the times God is making a promise to Abram.
• Reread chapter 15 looking for the question-response discussion between Abram and the LORD. What does the whole conversation revolve around specifically?
• What is the significance of God's request to Abram to retrieve those animals, cut some of them up, and then for the smoking firepot to pass through?
• In verses 12-16 what is God informing Abram will happen? Why is he doing this?

Prayerfully Meditate

• Why after seeing displays of faithfulness to rescue Lot is Abram questioning God again regarding the promises God made?
• What makes it hard to trust God? Is it immediate overwhelming odds that seemed impossible OR do lost trust in the mundane everyday drudgery of life that seems overwhelming and seems void of God's intervention?
• When God cuts this covenant with Abram what is the purpose of the covenant versus the previous promises? What impact on us as believers and a church can we take from this covenant?