TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 41

 What do you do when you have a bad dream?

 Would you rather play first string on a losing team or second string on a winning team?

Description:
First, Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. He then came to be in charge of his master’s household in Egypt, until he was falsely accused of assaulting his master’s wife, which he was thrown into prison. While in prison, he accurately interpreted the dreams of two other inmates. (the cupbearer and the baker)

Read: Genesis 41:1-40
1. How would you feel if your were Joseph, in prison for 2 yearss?
2. What quality in Joseph’s life stands out the most?
   o patient, as he sat in prison
   o intimacy with God, as he interpreted dreams
   o humility, as he gave God the credit
   o diplomacy, in relating to people
   o wisdom, as he designed a solution for a problem
   o faithfulness, as he endured much suffering

3. Which of these qualities do you need or desire for youself?
4. When was a time you wondered if God had forgotten about you?
5. What have you found helpful when going through these tims?

Prayer
Ask God to give you patients, humility, diplomacy, wisdom, and faithfulness.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 40

 What believe it or not dream have you ever had?
 Which of these dreams illumine in the past?
 Which reveal the future?

Description:
Two servants of the king of Egypt, offended him and they were sent to Pharaoh for punishment. Each servant had a dream and wanted Joseph to interpret it. One servant even betrayed Joseph afterwards.

Read: Genesis 40:1-23
1. How does Joseph show concern for the cupbearer and the baker?
2. What strikes you the most about the 2 dreams, their interpretation or fulfillment?
3. Why might the cupbearer forget Joseph?
4. How might this make Joseph feel?

Prayer
Ask God to release you from what ever is making you feel imprisoned in your life?

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 39

When have you been accused of something you didn’t do?

Description:
As the story unfolds, the actions of Joseph’s brother, is just the beginning of much stress and crisis in his life

Read: Genesis 39:1-23
1. How was Joseph able to resist Potiphar’s wife?
2. How can the example of Joseph help you resist temptation in general?

3. In what way is your life like Joseph’s right now?
o I’m feeling imprisoned.
o I’m not sure what’s going to happen to me.
o I’m experiencing God’s blessing in my life.
o I’m in a difficult environment in school.
o I feel like I’m constantly facing temptation.

Prayer
Ask God to help you resist all temptations and to follow Joseph’s example.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 38

 Have you ever been picked on?
 Who stood up for you or recued you?
 Have you ever played a prank on someone? Did it go too far?

Description:
Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son was hated by his half brothers, because of the dreams he shared with them, which elevated him above the rest of the family. When an opportunity arises they take advantage of it and put him in harms way. Reuben starts to feel guilty and tries to rescue Joseph, but fails.

Read: Genesis 37:12-36
1. Why did the brothers end up selling Joseph, instead of killing him?
2. How do you think Joseph was feeling?
3. How do you respond when betrayed by friends or family?
4. What do others have that you may be jealous of?
• money and possessions
• good looks
• good friends
• good job
• close family
• talents
• accomplishments
• happiness
• other _________________

Prayer
Ask God to help you forgive family or others when they have done wrong against you and to ask for forgiveness from family or friends when you have hurt them.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 37

 What do you what to be when you graduate?
 How well do you get along with you brothers or sisters?

If you haven’t guessed it, we are going to read and study one of my favorite Bible Stories about Joseph.

Description:
Jacob had 12 sons, who would become the founding fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. The 2 youngest were born to him by Rachel, Jacobs favorite wife, who died giving birth to Benjamin. This story, in rest of Genesis is about Joseph, Jacob’s 11th son and Rachel’s firstborn.

Read: Genesis 37:1-11
1. How do you feel about Joseph’s behavior?

2. If you had a bother like Joseph, what would you do?

3. Why do you think God gave Joseph these dreams?
o because he loved Joseph more than his brothers
o because Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son
o God was revealing the future to Joseph

Prayer
Ask God to help you not to be jealous of your siblings. Open your eyes, ears, and heart to God’s plans for your future.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 36

When Life Gets To Be a Burden

 When was your last bad day and what happened?
 How did you handle feeling what you felt?

Read: Matthew 11:28-30

1. What does Jesus say He will do for those that come to Him?
2. How did Jesus describe His yoke and His burden?

A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen.

3. What are some of the most common burdens we as young people bring to Jesus?
4. Do you ever have the urge to keep your burdens to yourself?
5. What is a burden you are carrying by yourself right now?
6. What will you do with your burden this week?

No matter how strong we are, or how mature our faith is, we all experience moments in life when our burdens seem to overcome us. It’s not necessarily an indication of weak faith or sin or punishment from God; sometimes, it can just be “life.” In those moments, we need to have a close enough relationship with Jesus that we can turn to Him for relief from our burdens.

Prayer
Ask Jesus to lift the weight (yoke) from you when life and worldly things get to be too much for you. That He will give you peace.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 35

What Do You Hear?

 What’s your favorite pet?
 How did this pet respond when it heard your voice?
 What do you think the voice of God sounds like?
 How can you tell when He’s speaking to you?

Read: John 10:1-30

1. Jesus compares His followers to which animal?
2. In verse 5, Jesus says His sheep will run away from a stranger’s voice because they do not recognize it. What do you think He was referring to?
3. Jesus also teaches in this passage that His sheep recognize His voice. Do you think that’s easy or difficult to do?
4. Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd in this passage. Do you think that has anything to do with His sheep listening to Him?
5. Some people in this passage didn’t understand Jesus’ words. What did He tell them was wrong with them? The answer is in verse 26.
6. According to verse 28, what does Jesus do for His sheep?
7. What makes it difficult to hear Jesus today?
8. What areas of your life does Jesus seem to be the quietest in, or say the least?
9. What do you think you can do to listen to God better?

We need to ask God to speak to us.. If this sounds silly, let me help you make sense of this important step. If you’ve got a boyfriend or girlfriend, don’t you want them to talk to you? Don’t you call them up or swing by their science class to chat with them as much as you can? You tell them over and over again that you love the sound of their voice and that you enjoy talking to them. Why wouldn’t God feel the same way? He wants to know that you want Him to speak to you. He wants to know that you love the sound of His voice. By the way, He’s given His life for you! Why wouldn’t He want to speak with you about the new direction He has planned for you?

Prayer
Tell God you ant a closer relationship. We do that by repenting of our sin, asking God to forgive us, and promising to follow Him the rest of our lives.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 34

Adopted by God


We’ve been adopted by God because of His love for us, and so we must now live our lives in a new way because of the new family we’re a part of.

 Think of two words that describe your family.
 Whom do you know who has been adopted?
 What do you think God thinks about adoption?

Read Ephesians 1:3-11

1. How does it make you feel knowing God chose us?
2. The Bible says that God has adopted us through Jesus Christ. From this passage, does it sound like God was reluctant to do that, or excited to do that? How do you know?
3. What was Jesus’ role in our adoption by God?
4. This passage describes God’s plan for his new family. What is it? (Hint: the answer is in verse 10.)
5. What do you think the “inheritance” is that God speaks of in verse 11?

Prayer
God has chosen us! Wow!! Thank you.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 33

Extreme Forgiveness


 What was one of the worst things one of your brothers or sisters ever did to you?
 How do you define forgiveness?

Read: Matthew 18:21-35

1. When asked, how many times did Jesus say we should forgive others?
2. Why do you think the servant who was originally forgiven didn’t show forgiveness to his fellow servant?
3. What is Jesus’ point in telling this story? In other words, what’s He trying to teach us? (The answer is in verse 35.)

4. How would the first servant’s life been different if he would have forgiven the second servant?

5. What usually keeps us from forgiving others?
6. How does having a relationship with Jesus affect our ability to forgive? Or, how does being a Christian affect our ability to forgive?

Prayer
Ask God, that you will have the courage to go and forgive others this week.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 32

To Cheat or Not to Cheat


 What’s your favorite subject at school?
 Do of you know someone who was busted of cheating?
 What are the motivations to cheat?
 Do you think most students cheat, or do you think most students do not cheat?

Read: Psalm 15:1-5
1. How could these characteristics/traits apply to our school lives?
2. We have all heard the expression “Cheaters only cheat themselves.” Do you believe this or not?
3. What if a person who is a follower of Christ cheats but DOES NOT get caught. Does he or she still do damage to the name of Jesus?
4. What are some very specific ways we as Christ’s followers can guarantee that we won’t cheat in school in any way?

This lesson from the Bible sheds some light on how we are supposed to act. We are told to “do what is right,” “honor the faithful followers of God” and “speak the truth” among other things. If we do, God says we can enjoy His presence.


Look, making good grades isn’t easy, and to tell you the truth, a lot of times, people who choose to cheat get away with it and they make better grades than those of us who choose to study instead of cheat. It doesn’t seem fair does it? But, God honors those who want to do life His way. Clearly, God would never allow cheating, so when we commit to being “academically pure,” God will honor that and help us.

Prayer
God, you and I both know that I could have cheated on this up coming test, but I want to honor You by staying academically pure. Please help me bring glory to your Name by helping me make a great grade on the up coming test in a way that pleases You.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 31

Reality Self Esteem Beauty

 Think of an actors/actresses you might consider ‘hot.’
 Do you think these people really look like the way they do on the big screen?
 How would you define ‘beauty’?

Read: 1 Peter 3:3-4

1. What does the verse tell us “don’t be concerned” with? What are some examples of how kids at your school become “concerned” with stuff like this?
2. Do you ever become concerned with this stuff?
3. What’s the downside to constantly being concerned about just outward beauty?
4. What does inner beauty look like? What positives come out of focusing on inner beauty?
5. How would focusing on inner beauty help us not get so hung up on outer beauty?
6. Think of a way that you could focus on your inner beauty instead of your outer beauty this week.

Prayer
Ask God to forgive your sins. If you’re willing to truly trust in Him, tell Him that you’re ready to turn away from the world’s obsession with outer beauty and focus on being like Christ..

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 30

Violence


The increase of violence shows the fact that we all have sinful natures that tempt us to do unimaginable things. As Christians, we are called to overcome our sinful natures and be peacemakers.


 Who’s your favorite cartoon characters?
 Were any of those cartoons violent? If so, do you think that impacted your view of violence?
 Do you think all of us have the potential to react in violent and physical ways? Why or why not?

Read: Matthew 26:47-52

1. This is at the end of Jesus’ life when He was betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Obviously His followers were scared and angry, and one of them, Peter, reacted in a fairly violent way. What would you have done when the soldiers came?
2. Do you think Peter’s sinful nature overcame his better judgment? Why or why not?
3. What was Peter trying to accomplish by reacting in violence?
4. What does Jesus mean when He says, “those who use the sword will die by the sword”?
5. What is our reward for being peacemakers? Read Mathew 5:9
“God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.”

Prayer
This is the prayer of St. Francis, I thought this would work well with this lesson. I hope you would copy it and keep it close.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith ;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 29

ANGER


What motivates you to live a good Life?

Read: Galatians 5:16-25

1. According to this passage, what is at the root of our bad behavior?
2. Does it initially feel good when we give into our sinful nature?
3. When we do, will there always be regret later? Why or why not?
4. According to the passage, what is one motivation for not following our sinful nature? (“Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”)
5. What counsel does Paul give us for fighting our flesh?
6. What are some specific ways we can fight our sinful nature and not end up with heavy regret and consequences?

Prayer
Pray that God will strengthen the power of the Holy Spirit in you when we go places we know are tempting or look at things we know are destructive, so we don’t feed our sinful nature..

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 28

When you fight with your sibling or others, what kind of fighter are you?

 Scrapper?
 Underdog?
 Top dog?
 Pit bull?

Nehemiah Helps The Poor
Open you Bible up to the book of Nehemiah. Before we read from chapter 5, (Read: 5:1-13) I need to give you a little background on what’s happened in the story. Nehemiah has gathered many of God’s people (the Israelites) to help rebuild the walls around the city of Jerusalem, because years earlier, it had been taken over by their enemies and destroyed.
As if the job of rebuilding an entire city wall wasn’t enough trouble, in the middle of the project, food becomes scarce, which meant it now costs even more money to eat. And on top of this, the king has put a high tax on the Israelites! A lot of the people working in Jerusalem were getting poorer and poorer, while the richer ones were taking advantage of the poor people and lending them money at HUGE interest rates. These people are hurting. Let’s find out what happens when Nehemiah hears of this scam.


1. Put yourself in Nehemiah’s shoes, and think about all the people he had to stand up to.
Think about that moment right before he started talking.

• What do you think was going through his mind?
• What would that have been like?

2. What is it that keeps people from speaking up at times like these?
3. t are the risks we take if we decide to stand up and speak up for what is right in tough situations?
4. What are the benefits to standing up against those who are unfair or brutal toward others?
5. What would this world be like if we all did this?

Prayer
Pray that you don’t just simply wait to see if someone else will stand up for what’s right. But as God’s child, you are called to speak out and bring what’s right into this world. We have to stand together and be like Nehemiah, taking risks by speaking up, even when it’s tough.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 27

Accountability is a big word. What is accountability? Why do I need it? Who can offer it to me? And, What does the Bible have to say about it? These are just a few of the questions we are going to learn the answer to, in today’s reading.


 Who do we usually go to for help?


Read: James 5:13-16
The Prayer of Faith


1. Why do you think James tells us to confess our sins to one another?
2. Do you agree with the old saying, “Confession is good for the soul”? Why or why not?
3. What kind of person do you look for in an accountability partner? Why?
4. Do you have an accountability partner? If so, why and if not, why not?

Prayer
Ask God to help us to get real about our struggles. and help us find somebody who is willing to be godly for our benefit. Finally, ask Him to help us to stay disciplined in our relationship to offer one another the best we’ve got.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 26

Have you ever helped a stranger in distress?

Read: Luke 10:25-37

The Parable of the Good Samaritan.


1. If you were traveling down the road and saw this hurt man, what would you have done?
2. What grade would you give yourself over this last week for loving God wholeheartedly? For loving others?
3. What attitude or behavior does God want you to have that is most difficult to accept?
4. Who has been a Good Samaritan in your live?
5. How could you be a Good Samaritan to someone in need?


Prayer
Ask God to give you the strength and courage to help others in a time of need.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 25

o What is your favorite perfume or cologne?
o Who is the most affectionate person in your family?


Read: Luke 7:36-50
Jesus anointed by a sinful woman.

1. Who can you identify with the most in this story right now?
o The women- because I feel bad about my past
o The Pharisee-because I have a tendency to be judgmental
o Jesus- because hypocritical attitudes made me angry


2. What have you found to be the hardest thing about dealing with sin and failure?
o admitting it to myself
o asking for forgiveness
o receiving forgiveness
o feelings of guilt and shame

3. What is the most loving thing you have done for someone?
4. How was Jesus apart of it?
5. What have you learned from this story you could apply rest of this week?


Prayer
Ask Jesus for forgiveness, strength, wisdom, and guidance.

TEEN TALK IN THE WORD DAY 24

o What would you rather be a movie director or a movie critic? Why?

o Where would you like to locate your dream home?

Read: Luke 6:37-45

Judging others and a tree and it’s fruit.

1. In the passages 41-45, how would you approach people who need help or correction?

2. What quality of fruit would your friends say you are producing?
a. Grade A-1? Why?
b. So-so? Why?
c. Wormy? Why?

3. What Jesus have to do to made it good?

4. During the last storm to hit your life, what did you learn about your foundation or faith?