REALLIFE
STUDY GROUP
“From Zero To Hero”
Part 5 - Confidence
ICEBREAKER: Name one thing that you are confident that
will happen tomorrow. Everybody has to
give a different answer.
DEFINITIONS:
Confidence: Batach (Hebrew) To trust,
To make secure, To be bold
(Psalm 118:8)
Hupostasis (Greek) What
stands under (Hebrews 3:14)
OUTLINE: How did Joseph keep his confidence in God?
1.
Joseph refused to be a slave to
circumstance. He owned the circumstance. The circumstance became an opportunity for
advancement and not retreat.
2.
Joseph refused to be a prisoner to
disappointment. He
turned the disappointment into a divine appointment. He realized that the blessing was not an
event; it was a lifestyle. In other words the blessing is not about where you
are and what you have. It is about who you are and to whom you belong.
3.
Joseph refused to be a product of his past. Instead he chose to name his seed after his
success and not his sorrow. He named his
posterity after his prosperity.
TEXT: Genesis 37:1-5, 20, 28; Genesis 39:1-5,19,20,23;
Gen 41:39,40,51,52
STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:
1. Who
in your life who has helped you to build confidence in your calling or gifts?
2. Describe
some of the circumstances that Joseph had to endure. In other words what would it have been like
for a seventeen year old to be thrown into a pit, sold into slavery and/or
thrown into prison?
a. Total
cultural shock
b. He
went from favored son to slave boy
c. Was
there anybody he could really trust?
d. ______________________________________________
3. Name
one of the emotions he must have felt.
4. I
am sure that he must have thought that his father or one of his brothers or
relatives would have eventually come looking for him but no one ever came. That would certainly cause one to lose their
confidence in humanity. How do you
rebuild trust when you have lost someone’s confidence?
5. Joseph
prospered in every circumstance of his life.
The circumstances did not own him.
He owned the circumstances. What
kind of choices would he have had to make in order to do this?
a. He
chose to be grateful no matter where he was
b. He
chose to always give his best
c. He
chose to be better and not bitter (To Forgive)
d. He
chose to be faithful to God even when life didn’t seem fair.
e. He
chose to serve his way to the top
f. _______________________________________________
6. Before
Joseph was ever sold into slavery by his brothers, he chose to be sold out to
his principles and his God. What has been
the most difficult situation or circumstance that you have had to trust God
with in your life?
7. Joseph’s
confidence in God took a teenager from zero to hero. Not only was he in a position to save his
family in the time of famine but he also saved the rest of the known
world. If you could do something really
great for your family, your community, your nation or even your world what
would you do?