How Do You Handle Your Blessings? Genesis 37:1-36 1. Have you ever tried to refuse a blessing or blessed opportunity from God? 2. What has helped you handle God's blessings well- being a good steward? 3. What are some of the ways you can bless someone else? 1. Read Gen 37 1-4. Describe a time when your response to a blessing from God has led to your taking your eyes off of Christ. 2. Read Gen 37: 5-11. Have you ever received a great blessing from God but revealed it or spoke of it in the wrong way? 3. Read Gen 37: 21-25. Has there been a time when you have been so overwhelmed that you saw no blessing in the circumstance? Looking back can you describe how God brought about a blessing through the situation? 4. Reread Gen 37: 26-28. Describe a time when God used "strange" connections or circumstances to guide you where He wants you to go. 5. Read Gen 37: 29-33. Often God's promises to us seem to take a very long time to come to fruition. Have you experienced this before- how do you continue to trust God in it? 6. Read Gen 37: 34-36. When have you later realized that God was working behind the scene? 7. Why are God s blessings often different than our expectation?
Character In Crisis Genesis 39:1-23 1. Can you relate to being away from your family or country? 2. Can you relate to family dysfunction? Have you experienced God s overarching, healing goodness to you? 3. Can you share a time when your difficulties prepared you for greater responsibility? 1. Read Genesis 39:1-6 & Psalm 1:1-3. How was Potiphar blessed by having Joseph in his home? What can we learn from this? Does our American spirit of independence get in the way of obeying our Master sometimes? 2. Read Genesis 39:7-10 & Proverbs 7:32. Joseph was not a free man, but his will was free. How can this be? What are we always free to do? 3. Read Genesis 39:9 & Ephesians 4:15. Our culture seems to love coming up with new euphemisms for questionable practices. Have you ever done this too? Joseph knew when to call sin, sin. 4. Read Genesis 39:11-12 & 1 Peter 5:8 1 Corinthians 10:13. Jesse said we need to stay alert even in successful times. Have you ever had to flee a situation so fast you forgot your coat? 5. Read Genesis 39:19, 20 & 1 Peter 4:19. When has doing the right thing landed you in a prison of trouble but your mind was at peace and you found help to have control over your feelings? 6. Read Genesis 39: 21-23 & 49: 22-26 & 50:18-20. Like Joseph, have you experienced increased trust in God, and found power for from God as you increasingly make good decisions? 7. Recall what happened in Acts 16:22-30 & Matthew 4:1-11, also 2 Corinthians 12:9. Discuss what we can learn from Joseph, Paul and Silas and Jesus as to how to stay faithful in intense suffering. How do the stories of these over-comers bolster your resolve to stay faithful now?
Making It Through Disappointment Genesis 40:1-23 1. At some time in your life you have experienced being disappointment about something. How did the Lord help you overcome it? 2. As with Joseph, we can have life changing disappointments which sometimes takes years to realize God's blessings through the situation. Share your thoughts on this. 3. What are some of the ways you can help someone who is now going through a disappointing event or circumstances? 1. What caused the king of Egypt to put the cupbearer and his baker into prison? Proverbs 13:12 What did Joseph see in their faces? He was to give the interpretation of their dreams, what was his reply to them? Do you depend on God's direction when you have opportunity to help someone who's plans have crumbled? Genesis 40:1-8 2. Has there ever been a time when you had done the best you could and then been treated badly? How did it make you feel? What was Joseph's request of the cupbearer? v.14 Genesis 40:9-15 3. When you serve someone and they betray you what do you do? Mark 14:44-46 4. Have you had a time when your birthday or a special day has been forgotten by someone you felt should have remembered? How did you respond to them? What if someone breaks a promise to you? Do you quickly forgive? Joseph had made a request of the cupbearer, did the cupbearer remember him? Do you think Joseph was disappointed? Genesis 40:20-23 5. Joseph had a number of disappointments and many people in his life to forgive. Read Matthew 6:14-15 If we don't realize how much we have been forgiven, can we forgive others or forgive ourselves? How was Joseph able to remain faithful to God? Read Psalms 3:3 6. Joseph made a choice to be faithful to God (Proverbs 19:3), he allowed God's work in his life even though he did not understand the circumstances. How did Joseph use what he did have left? (Ruth 1-4; Ruth and Naomi were given as examples of using what one has left. 7. This was at a very low point in Joseph's life. Has there been a time where you felt you couldn't take another day of the circumstance, how did the Lord begin to restore you? What has been your reactions, are you allowing God to work and thanking Him for His faithfulness?
While You Wait Genesis 41:1-57 1. What are some of the situations where you find it especially difficult to wait? 2. How has God helped you in these difficult "waiting times"? 3. How can you encourage others to have faith during their "waiting times"? 1. Read Gen 41: 1-8 and Eph 2; 10. Name a current situation where you are needed or can be used. 2. Read Gen 41: 9-13, Ecclesiastes 11: 1-2 and Ps 126: 5-6. Describe a situation where you have prayed, served, fasted, shared your faith or given to others this week. 3. Read Gen 41: 14-16 and 46-52. Describe a situation where you have pulled out of despair because of a change in circumstances. Did you give credit to God? 4. Read Gen 41: 25-32 and Acts 16: 6-10. How willing are you to go where God asks you to go and to say and to do what He asks of you? Which is toughest for you: go, say, or do? 5. Read Gen 41; 33-37. Have you ever wanted something for your life that wasn t in God s plans? 6. Read Gen 41: 38-41. How does a future reward from God affect your decisions now? 7. Read Gen 41; 53-57. How can waiting well make a difference in many lives?
Making Sense Out Of Your Past Genesis 42-50 1. What aspect of your life do you tend to dwell on; your past defeats / past successes or your future hopes and aspirations? 2. When have you listened to God and sensed His prompting? 3. What kind of experiences in our past can help us to better live out our future? 1. Read Genesis 42:1-6 and v. 36. How do these verses give us confidence in God s promises? Review John 14:1-4. How does Christ give us individual confidence in God s promise? 2. How does Paul, in Romans 12:21 instruct us to overcome the burden of evil? In what ways does faith give us the strength to actually live out verse 21? 3. Review Genesis 45:2-8 and Hebrews 13:15-16. How do these verses speak to the purpose, value and power of sacrifice? 4. Read Genesis 46: 2-4. Why is it important to listen closely to God with humility? If we have clearly heard God s word, what is needed to ensure that we act accordingly? 5. Genesis 46:28-30 speaks to the powerful relationships that develop and endure with families. How are we strengthened both in our faith and as individuals when we focus on the positive aspects of our families? 6. Our free will is often thought to be as much curse as a blessing. How (and why) does Joseph choose to act as he does in Genesis 50:15-21? 7. Victor Frankl, a psychologist and concentration camp survivor, philosophized in his book Man s Search for Meaning that humans are unique in our ability to choose our response to adversity. How is this important in our Christian walk?