Two friends in wheelchairs decided to drive an off-road vehicle across both Americas, from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. The neighbors thought they were crazy, just as Abraham and Sarah once laughed when a hundred-year-old man and a ninety-year-old woman heard they would have a son (Genesis 18). This sermon shows that God’s promises often seem too great to be real, and yet it is God who laughs last. Listen and ask yourself which of God’s promises in your own life make you smirk today.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Genesis 18:1-15 Abraham runs to meet three travelers, bows to the ground and prepares a huge meal, while he himself stands to the side. What does his behavior tell us about how he recognized and treated God?
- God repeated the promise of a son for about 25 years, and in the meantime Abraham tried to handle things his own way through Hagar. Why do you think both Abraham and Sarah laugh at this announcement?
- Sarah laughs in disbelief, yet a year later she says, "God has brought me laughter" and names her son Isaac, meaning laughter. What does this change tell us about who has the last word in our stories?
- The speaker reminds us that people laughed at Peter and Andrew, Martin Luther and William Wilberforce. What decisions rooted in faith might draw pitying smiles around you today, and how do you respond to that?
- The question "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" is asked about a promise that seems too big to be real. Which of God's promises do you find hardest to believe, and what makes you skeptical about it?
- Who in your life (a neighbor, a boss, someone you pass every day) do you consider someone whose life could never change, and how can you begin praying for that person this week with faith in God's power?
