FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION
Week 2 — Genesis
God Uses Messy People
Text: Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 50:20
CONGREGATION SERMON NOTES
1. Genesis Is the Foundation
Genesis means __________________________.
Genesis introduces us to:
- God as __________________________
- The beginning of __________________________
- The entrance of __________________________
- God’s plan to __________________________ what sin has damaged
Genesis is God’s __________________________ Word and gives us the foundation for understanding the rest of Scripture.
Genesis gives us the beginning of the story—but the story is ultimately leading us to __________________________.
2. God Starts With a Man Who Doesn’t Know Where He’s Going
God called __________________________ to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household.
God didn’t give Abraham the entire plan.
He essentially said:
“__________________________.”
Abraham didn’t need to know everything.
He needed to know __________________________ was leading him.
My faith doesn’t require me to know the whole plan. It requires me to trust the One who __________________________ me.
3. Abraham Didn’t Get Everything Right
Abraham:
- Got __________________________
- Tried to protect __________________________
- __________________________ about Sarah
- Tried to __________________________ God when the promise seemed delayed
Sometimes we become impatient with God’s timing.
God doesn’t operate according to my __________________________.
The promise was fulfilled because God kept His __________________________.
4. Jacob — Grace Changes Us
Jacob was a:
But God didn’t leave Jacob the way He found him.
God loved Jacob enough to __________________________ with him.
God’s grace doesn’t simply overlook our sin.
God’s grace begins to __________________________ us.
Holiness means allowing God to change:
- Our __________________________
- Our __________________________
- Our __________________________
- What __________________________ us
There comes a place where we say:
“God, I belong completely to __________________________.”
5. Joseph — Faith in the Hard Places
Joseph was:
- Betrayed by his __________________________
- Sold into __________________________
- Falsely accused
- Put into __________________________
Joseph had to trust God even while he was still in the __________________________.
Faith isn’t only praising God when we understand. Sometimes faith is saying, “God, I don’t understand, but I’m still going to __________________________ You.”
6. God Gets the Final Word
Joseph eventually told his brothers:
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for __________________________.”
Joseph wasn’t saying what happened was good.
He was saying:
“You didn’t get the __________________________ word.”
The brothers didn’t get the final word.
The prison didn’t get the final word.
The famine didn’t get the final word.
__________________________ did.
God can take things He never desired for us and still bring __________________________ out of them.
7. God Uses Messy People
The people in Genesis weren’t perfect.
- Abraham __________________________ and lied.
- Sarah __________________________ at God’s promise.
- Isaac repeated some of his father’s __________________________.
- Jacob was a __________________________.
- Jacob’s sons were jealous and __________________________.
- Joseph experienced years of slavery and __________________________.
The story of Genesis isn’t:
“Look how great these people were.”
It’s:
“Look what God can do with people who __________________________ Him.”
8. God Doesn’t Leave Us Where He Finds Us
Sometimes we come to church and say:
“I’m doing __________________________.”
But inside we may be:
- Struggling
- Worried
- Angry
- Tired
- Carrying regret
- Questioning God
Genesis reminds us that God meets people where they __________________________.
But He doesn’t leave them there.
Grace __________________________ us, and grace begins changing us.
The Holy Spirit can do something in our hearts that we cannot do for __________________________.
9. God Is Building Something Bigger
God told Abraham:
“All peoples on earth will be __________________________ through you.”
God was building a family through which He would eventually bless the world:
Abraham → Isaac → Jacob → Twelve Tribes of Israel → __________________________
God took a complicated, imperfect family and brought the __________________________ of the world through them.
Only God could do that.
10. God Isn’t Finished
Genesis begins in a __________________________.
Genesis ends in __________________________.
It begins with creation and ends with a __________________________.
But Joseph’s coffin wasn’t the end.
The next book is __________________________.
God isn’t finished.
Don’t put a __________________________ where God has only put a comma.
MY RESPONSE TO GOD
Will you trust God with your story?
Today, I will give God:
☐ The good parts of my story
☐ The painful parts
☐ My mistakes
☐ My disappointments
☐ My family problems
☐ The things I understand
☐ The things I don’t understand
I will trust God with my story because ________________________________
ONE-PAGE ANSWER KEY
From Genesis to Revelation — Week 2
God Uses Messy People
- Genesis Is the Foundation
- beginning
- Creator
- humanity
- sin
- redeem
- inspired
- Jesus Christ
- Abraham
- Go / Trust Me
- Who
- leads
- Abraham’s Failures
- scared
- himself
- lied
- help
- calendar
- word
- Jacob
- schemer
- deceiver
- manipulator
- deal
- change
- hearts
- attitudes
- desires
- controls
- You
- Joseph
- brothers
- slavery
- prison
- prison
- trust
- God Gets the Final Word
- good
- final
- God
- redemption
- God Uses Messy People
- got scared
- laughed
- mistakes
- schemer
- violent
- prison
- trust
- God Doesn’t Leave Us Where He Finds Us
- great
- are
- forgives
- ourselves
- God Is Building Something Bigger
- blessed
- Jesus
- Savior
- God Isn’t Finished
- garden
- Egypt
- coffin
- Exodus
- period
MAIN TRUTH
Genesis isn’t primarily a story about how great people are. It’s a story about how great God is—and what God can do through imperfect people who trust Him.
TODAY’S QUESTION
Will you trust God with your story?