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

                   To be open, nothing hidden creating a secure place

                   (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?