A Six-Week Adventure in the Old Testament
Sermon Outlines
Following are seven sermon outlines—one for introducing God’s Grand Story, and one for each of the six sessions in the series. Together, they give a broad overview of the major emphases of the Old Testament. These outlines provide key Scriptures and talking points for your messages. Feel free to stick to them as closely or as loosely as you like. Adapt them, develop further details, add your own illustrations, and make them yours.
Introductory Sermon: Influencing a Generation
(Note: Ideally this message should be given the Sunday before the Walk Thru the Old Testament live event that kicks off the church-wide campaign)
Key Scripture: 2 Chronicles 34
Introduction:
Josiah lived in turbulent times.
He became king when he was eight years old, stepping into his reign in the midst of conflict.
In a nation that had forgotten how to worship God and had lost His Word, Josiah was in over his head.
But he had his priorities right. When he was 16, he began seeking God; when he was 20, he tore down the nation’s pagan idols; and when he was 26, he reinstituted the Word of God as the law of the land.
He brought stability and faithfulness to his country and became one of the most respected kings in Judah’s history.
1. Without the Word of God, we are missing the key to receiving His will for our lives.
• Josiah heard the Word of God that had been lost for generations. (2 Chronicles 34:14-15, 18)
• Josiah repented of his and the nation’s sin. (2 Chronicles 34:19-21)
• Josiah understood God’s discipline. (2 Chronicles 34:23-28)
Personal application:
Have you longed to have a closer relationship with God?
To hear His voice?
To know His purposes for your life?
How do you think His Word might begin to meet some of those longings?
What is God saying?
• The Word of God is our bread. We have to eat it often to be healthy. We suffer personally, and society suffers as a whole, when the Bible is not well known.
• Sometimes God disciplines us to bring us in line with His nature and His purposes.
• Josiah knew God’s Word demanded a response.
Our lives depend on how we respond when we encounter God’s Word.
2. When we reintegrate God’s Word into our lives, it impacts us and the world around us.
• Josiah leveraged his influence. (2 Chronicles 34:29-30) • Josiah modeled total obedience. (2 Chronicles 34:31)
• Josiah persuaded the people. (2 Chronicles 34:32) • Josiah rescued his generation. (2 Chronicles 34:33)
Personal application:
How do you think God’s Word might address your need to feel significant and make a difference in the world? What kind of influence do you want to be on the people around you?
What is God saying?
• Our response to God’s Word influences those around us.
• God’s Word draws us into a deeper relationship with Him and gives us a passion to see others drawn into a relationship with Him too.
• When many turn to God’s Word, it can change an entire nation.
• Immersing ourselves in God’s Word is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves, for those around us, and for our culture.
Conclusion:
Like Josiah, we live in a time of extreme turbulence, massive uncertainty, and personal stress. If we do what Josiah did and turn to worship and the Word of God, we can find ourselves increasingly grounded in His safe and certain truth. That’s where our peace comes from, and that’s how lives and nations are changed.
Week 1 Sermon: The Life of Faith
Key Scripture: Genesis 12:1-6
Introduction:
For whatever reason, God chose faith to be the primary basis of relating to Him.
After the fall, we can’t see God and walk with Him like Adam and Eve seemed to be able to do.
The way we relate to God, and everything we receive from Him, must be by faith now.
So when He chose a man and a family and a nation through whom to reveal Himself, He began with someone who believed: Abraham.
1. “Go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
• Abraham’s father had begun moving the family to Canaan, but settled halfway.
• Abraham was called to leave his family and everything familiar to him.
• He was not given any information more than the next step.
Personal application:
How would the people around you react if you said you were moving but had no idea where?
What is God saying?
• Faith requires risk and getting out of our comfort zone.
• God keeps us in relationship with Him by rarely giving more than the next step. We can’t rely on principles or follow a plan. We have to listen to Him.
2. “I will make you into a great nation.” (Genesis 12:2)
• Abraham had no descendants yet and was already well past age.
• Abraham’s attempts to help fulfill God’s promise only complicated things.
• Both Abraham and Sarah laughed when God affirmed that His promise would soon come to pass.
• But the New Testament says they believed without wavering (Romans 4:18-21).
Personal application:
How would you react to a couple in their 90s who were still clinging to their belief that they would one day have a child?
What is God saying?
• He is the promise keeper. We don’t need to “help” Him.
• The path to fulfillment may be filled with twists and turns and take a very long time.
• If we land in a place of faith, God calls it “not wavering” – even when we’ve had questions, doubts, and maybe laughed at the absurdity along the way.
3. “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.” (Genesis 22:2)
• Isaac was born 25 years after the promise.
• God had already ruled out Ishmael as the fulfillment.
• Abraham had a choice between clinging to God’s promise and letting it go.
Did he wonder if God was contradicting Himself?
• Abraham surrendered. But did he really? Hebrews 11:19 says he expected God to miraculously fulfill the promise anyway.
Personal application:
How would you respond if God told you to give up the most important thing to you—something He had promised you long ago?
What is God saying?
• Love Him above all else.
• Believe Him even when He seems to wound your heart at its most vulnerable place.
• Cling to hope in His goodness but release expectations for how He will show it.
Conclusion:
Hebrews 11:6 says it is impossible to please God without faith.
The Apostle Paul wrote that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Jesus said all things are possible to those who believe (Mark 9:23).
Apparently, faith is really important to God.
It is the currency of His kingdom, and our experience of His kingdom depends on what we are able to believe.
Week 2 Sermon: The God Who Delivers
Key Scripture: Exodus 14:5-31
Introduction:
God had seen the plight of His people and had compassion on them.
They were hopelessly captive—until He gave them hope.
He sent Moses to deliver them from a hard-hearted captor who did not want to let them go.
He demonstrated His power, led them on an unusual way of escape, and then parted waters for them to pass through. He proved Himself to be a powerful deliverer—and painted a picture of a much greater salvation to come.
1. God allows hardship and pain, but He also promises deliverance.
• He looked on Israel and had compassion.
• He heard their cries.
• He sent a deliverer.
Personal application:
How do you respond to suffering? What attitudes do you have toward God when He seems distant?
What is God saying?
• Even when we think He doesn’t care, He is watching closely with compassion.
• He hears us when we pray and walks with us through our trials.
• He has a solution for whatever problem we face. He knows the way out.
2. Deliverance comes at a cost
• The captor doesn’t give up easily.
• The people rebelled against the process.
• God will do whatever it takes to free His people, even at the cost of lives.
Personal application:
In what ways does the captor keep trying to enslave you?
Why is freedom such a messy process?
What promise does God give about freeing us?
What is God saying?
• We also have been captive—in sin, in a broken and fallen world—and our captor doesn’t like to lose. He keeps coming after us.
• When we experience hardship, it’s part of the process, not a sign that God isn’t working on our behalf.
• God will finish what He started. He doesn’t leave us behind.
• God paid an enormous cost for this deliverance, but it was only a shadow of the greater deliverance to come—Christ crucified as the Passover sacrifice.
3. God initiates and accomplishes deliverance; we enter into it by responding
• Moses and the Israelites simply followed God. He led them to an impossible place.
• “Stand still and see”; “tell them to move” (14:13-14 vs. 14:15)
• God didn’t just provide an escape; He completely eliminated the enemy’s threat.
Personal application:
How would you feel if God led you directly into what looked like a worst-case scenario?
Would you be angry with Him or have faith that He would deliver?
What impossible situations do you need deliverance from?
What is God saying?
• No matter how impossible a situation looks, it isn’t too difficult for Him. Sometimes He even guides us into a place of impossibility before He shows His power.
• When God delivers, it isn’t partial. It’s thorough and complete.
Conclusion:
Whatever situation you’re in, God knows the way out and will intervene to provide it for you.
It is not His desire for His people to live in any kind of captivity.
We have even been freed from our greatest captivity, the sinful condition, and He is leading us into the fullness of His promises.
Week 3 Sermon: Taking Ground for the Kingdom
Key Scripture: Joshua 1:1-9
Introduction:
The Promised Land was a gift from God, but it still had to be possessed through faith and action.
Joshua led the people in, and they immediately faced battles.
But God promised they would win those battles and live fruitful, satisfying lives in the land if they remained faithful to Him and followed His directions.
1. “I will give you every place you set your foot.” (Joshua 1:3)
• God has called His people to take territory.
• For Joshua, it was land. For us, it’s advancing His kingdom in the world.
• When Israel disobeyed, they lost battles. They didn’t lose their standing with God, but their experience of the Promised Land suffered.
Personal application:
What territory has God called you to take?
What is your mission in life?
What is God saying?
• We are on assignment from God to advance His kingdom in this world.
• Our relationship with Him determines how effectively we carry out that mission.
• Our status as His children doesn’t change, but our capacity to fulfill His purposes depends on our faith and commitment to Him.
2. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5)
• Joshua needed reassurance, and God gave him plenty of it.
• God’s presence is with His people in all situations.
• He empowers His people to do what He has called them to do.
Personal application:
What is God leading you to do that would be impossible without His presence?
What is God saying?
• He doesn’t send us into battle alone. He reassures us and promises His constant presence—even when we don’t feel it.
• His assignments for us will require His help. Jesus said, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” If it’s small enough to do on our own, it isn’t a God-sized task.
3. “Be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9)
• Joshua was in an intimidating situation, and God spoke words of strength to him.
• Fulfilling God’s mission is not an easy, trouble-free assignment. It requires courage.
Personal application:
What are you facing that scares you?
What would God say to you about that situation?
What is God saying?
• With Him on our side, we have nothing to fear.
• The obstacles against us may be great, but He is infinitely greater.
4. “Be careful to do everything written in the Book.” (Joshua 1:8)
• God’s Word is critical to our well being.
• For Joshua and his people, it was God’s Law. For us today, it’s all of God’s Word.
Personal application:
How diligent are you to read, meditate on, and follow God’s Word?
What do you have to gain by being diligent about it?
What do you have to lose if you aren’t?
What is God saying?
• God doesn’t give us instructions to limit us; He gives them for our benefit.
• We must cling to Christ, who fulfilled the law perfectly on our behalf. His life in us is critical to our well-being.
• If we love Him, His words will deeply matter to us.
Conclusion:
Israel failed to keep God’s Word during the time of the judges, as well as many eras since, and they experienced negative consequences as God disciplined them. But when they were faithful to His Word, God fully supported them with His strength. When we neglect our relationship with Him, He has to focus on bringing us back. When we honor our relationship with Him, He can focus on blessing us with His favor. He faithfully brings us into the places He promised us.
Week 4 Sermon: The Heart Matters
Key Scripture: 1 Samuel 13:14; 16:1-13
Introduction:
God had wanted Israel to live without a king, but the people demanded one.
So God gave them their request, and the first king demonstrated that his heart was not inclined toward God. That gave God the occasion to describe the kind of person He is really looking for: someone after His own heart. David didn’t run from God’s will; he pursued it. And he shows us the kind of heart God looks for in us.
1. Saul’s heart was focused on his own interests, on building his own kingdom.
• He cut corners with his obedience. (1 Samuel 13, 15)
• He made rash decisions. (the hasty sacrifice in 1 Samuel 13; his vow in 14:24-45)
• He was consumed with jealousy, fear, and even paranoia, bitterness, and rage. (immobilized in the standoff against Goliath; his pursuit to kill David for years)
• Bottom line: Saul related to God as someone who would serve his own interests, not as someone whose interests he could serve.
Personal application:
Who is central in your relationship with God: you or Him?
How does your pursuit of your own purposes affect your relationship with and attitudes toward God and others?
What is God saying?
• He wants our hearts to be focused on Him—for us to pursue Him above all, and to pursue His vision as evidence of our love for Him.
• We don’t need to be anxious about His will for our lives or jealous of anyone else He chooses to use.
• He loves us, but He doesn’t exist for us. We exist for Him. When we realize that, we can love and serve Him with joy and freedom.
2. David’s heart was focused on God and on building His kingdom.
• His outrage at Goliath was based on the giant’s defiance of the armies of the living God (even though David knew he would benefit too). (1 Samuel 17:26)
• When he had chances to kill Saul and assume the throne himself, he refused to touch “the Lord’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 24:1-7; 26:5-25)
• His greatest desire was to build a temple for God. (2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 28- 29)
• Even when David fell, he was eventually able to see his sins honestly and repent of them. (2 Samuel 12:1-13)
• Bottom line: David related to God as someone whose interests he could serve, not as someone who could serve his own interests.
Personal application:
What are your greatest desires, and to what degree do they reflect God’s heart?
What is God saying?
• He is looking for those whose hearts fully belong to Him to promote them into His kingdom purposes.
• We will be in conflict with those who pursue their own self-interests, but God will fulfill His purposes for us.
• When He is our first priority, we find Him giving us His favor and leading us into fulfillment as He did with David.
Conclusion:
Our hearts matter. Many religions focus on behavior, but we are called to love God, to live and breathe His purposes, and to be zealous about lining up with His character and nature. When He sees someone doing that—not perfectly, of course, but as an overall direction in life—He is drawn to them and chooses them to accomplish His greatest purposes.
Week 5 Sermon: A Very Vocal God
Key Scriptures: Amos 3:7; Joel 2:12-14
Supporting passages: Micah 6:8, Isaiah 58, the story of Hosea, and God’s many promises of restoration and a future deliverer.
Introduction:
After Solomon, the kingdom divided, and the history of both north and south is filled with disobedience and idolatry. The people were not living up to their calling, and God was grieved. But He did not remain silent. He patiently called them back to Himself through His prophets.
1. The problem: Not just disobedience, but spiritual adultery. Unfaithfulness is a matter of the heart.
• God had laid out the terms long ago. (Deuteronomy 28, Joshua 24)
• Israel repeatedly failed to live up to the covenant.
• This was not a matter of works but of the heart (from which works flow). The people were committing adultery, unfaithfulness against God (an especially strong message in Hosea and Ezekiel).
• God gave them warnings for centuries, especially toward the end, and called them back to Himself.
Personal application:
In what areas do you have a hard time being faithful to God?
What is God saying?
• God has made a covenant with us, but we have agreed to the terms (in the New Testament era, to be joined with Christ and live in union with Him).
• As we have seen, our hearts matter to God. Our love is important to Him. When we are casual about it, it grieves Him.
• He is not an obscure, silent God. He speaks to His people. He calls us back when we have gone astray.
2. The high stakes: On the positive side—life in the land, God’s blessing, being a light to the nations; on the negative—judgment, discipline, but with a hope of restoration.
• God’s people were called to represent Him to the world.
• Instead, they gave a distorted picture of Him that grieved His heart.
• They treated a sacred calling as though it were not sacred. They squandered all the blessings He had promised in pursuit of their own interests and idols.
Personal application:
What is at stake in your life as you live out your relationship with God and others?
In what ways are you an expression of Him to the world around you?
What is God saying?
• We have choices, and those choices have consequences.
• Our calling is sacred. We can’t afford to treat it casually.
• God’s desire is for us to love Him and be a powerful reflection of His goodness.
3. The core of the prophets’ message: “Return to Me.”
• God is not focused on judgment; He is focused on restoration.
• He is not short on mercy. Any time we return to Him, He receives us, even up to the last minute.
• Even when God has to discipline us, He will work it together for our good and use it for His best purposes.
Personal application:
Have you noticed that we are incapable of responding to God and carrying out His will on our own?
How do the promises of Jeremiah 31:33-34 and Ezekiel 36:26-27 encourage you?
What is God saying?
• His desire is to draw us into deep relationship with Him and bless us through that relationship.
• He enables us to be everything He wants us to be.
• No matter what happens, we are still His treasured possession, and He will accomplish His will for the good of His kingdom and for our benefit.
Conclusion:
God has placed His affection on us, and we are always living in His love.
But within that relationship, we have high-stakes choices to make.
Will we pursue Him with all our hearts and become a reflection of His glory?
Or will we neglect the relationship and pursue our own interests, squandering the gifts and calling He has offered? God wants us to say “yes” to Him. The world needs us to say “yes” to Him. And we are blessed by saying “yes” to Him.
Week 6 Sermon: The Depths and Heights of Knowing God
Key Scriptures: Zechariah 8:1-17 Supporting passages: Micah 4:1-5; Isaiah 65:17-25
Introduction:
Centuries earlier, God’s people were captive in Egypt and soon-to-be headed to the Promised Land.
Now they find themselves in a similar situation— captives in Babylon but promised a future restoration full of peace and glory. Through the story of His people, God is laying the foundation of His coming kingdom.
1. God will do whatever it takes, even at the expense of His own reputation, to bring His people back to Him.
• Judah was judged harshly and carried off into captivity to Babylon, and Jerusalem was destroyed.
• All of God’s people lived in exile for 70 years, at which time some were allowed to return and rebuild.
• Many remained scattered across the region for centuries to come.
Personal application:
When have you experienced God’s discipline? How did you respond to it?
What is God saying?
• Our ultimate welfare is so important to God that He will let us experience deep pain for our greater good.
• God does not allow us to stray far from Him without consequences if we are truly His children.
• Even our most difficult trials are filled with hope and promise. We will see His goodness.
2. God’s ultimate goal for His people is greater than we can even imagine.
• Even before He chastened His people for their rebellion, God had promised great hopes and a wonderful future.
• In the midst of their suffering, God continued to send prophets to assure His people of His love.
• Though God allowed them to experience heartache, He limited it and protected them from evil plots.
• He brought His people back to their homeland, helped them rebuild, and gave them beautiful prophecies of a much greater destiny.
Personal application:
What dreams and goals are stirred in you when you think about God’s vision of a fulfilling, satisfying future for you?
What is God saying?
• Even when we’ve fallen to the deepest depths, God can raise us to the highest heights.
• Live in hope. There is never a reason in God’s kingdom not to be filled with hope.
• God has not only promised restoration for His people, He has promised a glorious fulfillment of His kingdom forever. That future is to shape our present every day.
Conclusion:
As a citizen of God’s kingdom, it’s possible to have setbacks and experience trials and difficulties.
But it is not possible to be ultimately defeated or to find ourselves in a place of hopelessness.
He works all things together for our good— and the good is not just a nice consolation, it’s greater than we can imagine.
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