Conversation Starters: Live Your Life with Joy
Posted by Karah
CONNECTION POINT: God wants people to experience the joy of Christ.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE: We’ve all experienced the negative impact of a bad attitude on our work, productivity, and relationships. Conversely, a good attitude makes us better workers and better people to be around. Something is missing, though, if we just try to convince ourselves to “think happy thoughts.” Christians are called to center their lives in Christ, fill their minds with the things of God, and continually go to Him in prayer. The result is far different: a cause to rejoice.
Concept: Live Your Life with Joy
Preschool
Jeremiah 36
LIFE POINT: God told Jeremiah, “Take a scroll and write the words I tell you.” Jeremiah and his helper, Baruch, wrote the words. Baruch went to the temple (church) and read the scroll to help the people know how to live. A king’s helper heard the words on the scroll and told the king about them. The king wanted to hear the words himself. The king’s helper read the scroll to the king. The king did not like what he heard, so he cut the scroll into pieces and burned it. God told Jeremiah to get another scroll and write the words about how to live again. Baruch helped Jeremiah write the words from the first scroll again and write many more words. These words from God could not be destroyed.
LIVE IT OUT: Find the Book of Jeremiah in the Bible and point to Jeremiah’s name. Turn to other books named for the people who wrote them such as Daniel, Matthew, Luke, and John. Explain
that these people wrote God’s words in the Bible.
Kids
Jeremiah 36
LIFE POINT: God said to Jeremiah, “Write on a scroll what I tell you to write.” Jeremiah told Baruch God’s words. Baruch wrote them on the scroll. Baruch read the scroll at the temple. The king’s helper hurried to tell the king’s advisers. They listened to the message from the scroll. “The king must hear this,” they said. The men warned Baruch and Jeremiah to hide. They told the king about the scroll. The king listened to his helper read the scroll. After a few minutes, the king reached over and cut off part of the scroll! He threw it into the fire! The king kept cutting off pieces of the scroll and throwing them into the fire. He burned whole scroll. God told Jeremiah, “Write another scroll. Put the same words on this scroll. Add more words to it. Tell him I will punish him.”
Jeremiah told Baruch God’s words again. The king could not destroy God’s message.
LIVE IT OUT: Do you turn to the Bible to help answer important life questions? Read together 2 Timothy 3:16. Discuss with your child how the Bible fits each of the purposes listed. Find other verses that help with each of those categories.
Students
Philippians 4:4-9
THE POINT: Focusing on Christ brings joy and peace into our lives. When has focusing on the wrong things affected a situation in your life? How does prayer help us move from worry to trust What tends to cause anxiety in our lives? Why is our life so important to Christ? How can we help one another practice the things Paul taught in this passage? Discuss the following quote:
“When our lives are filled with peace, faith and joy, people will want to know what we have.”1 —David Jeremiah
LIVE IT OUT: Encourage your student to take practical steps to take his or her faith and Live It Out. Here are some ways you can encourage your students to live out their faith with Christ personally, in community, and in their culture:
• CHRIST: Pray with your student for peace and discernment as he or she faces challenges. Remind your student to go to God first with problems, before trying to solve everything alone.
• COMMUNITY: Each night help your student to find the moments of joy in his or her day especially during difficult situations.
• CULTURE: Our minds are our most dangerous battlefields. Help your student to fight a strategic battle through prayer and time spent in God’s Word.
1. “18 Wonderful Quotes About Joy,” Christian Quotes [online], [accessed 1 May 2016]. Available from the Internet: http://www.christianquotes.info/top-quotes/18-wonderful-quotes-about-joy/#ixzz47uWqPEHa
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