Genesis 65

 

 

JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

(Gen. 39:1-6)

   

 

Introduction:

Being with God is the greatest blessing. The concept of blessing spoken of in the Bible and the concept of blessing spoken of by people in this world are different. What people in this world call blessings refers to the outward results. However, the blessings spoken of in the Bible are different in that they speak of fundamental blessings before they are revealed as results. The greatest blessing mentioned in the Bible is that God is with us.

If God is with me, everything I do will prosper and blessings will come to me because of Him, and the visible results will be more accurately perceived by the people closest to me. Potiphar did not trust Joseph deeply from the beginning and entrusted him with important responsibilities.

Joseph was young, free from illness, and able to use his strength, so he would have been just one of those slaves who could be used for long periods of hard work. However, the more he saw Joseph working, the more he felt drawn to him, and when he entrust Joseph with the work, he saw that Joseph does a better job than expected.

 

 

1. Sufferings Joseph endured

  1) Gen. 45:5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

  2) Job 1:20-22, 19:25-26, 23:10-14

  3) The sufferings Joseph had to endure were unimaginable sufferings.

 

2. The secret to his success (How he overcame them)

  1) Genesis 9:2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along

      the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.

  2) Dan. 6:10-22

     v. 10. Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.               Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

  3) Daniel 3:1-23

    v. 22. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach,

           Meshach and Abednego,

    v. 23. and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.

  4) Jer. 33:1, 33:2, 33:3-9

    v. 3. 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

 

3. The standard of faith

  1) Gen. 39:2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

  2) Gen. 39:3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did,

  3) Gen. 39:4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care

       everything he owned.

  4) Gen. 39:5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian

      because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.  

 

4. When a believer faces a crisis

  1) The interpretation of the crisis

  2) Jer. 33:2 "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name:

  3) Gen. 39:2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

  4) The reason God gives us crises

 

Conclusion:

It was God's work that allowed Joseph to find favor with Potiphar. This is the work was all due to the grace of God working through the people with whom

God works that allowed Daniel and his three friends to be favored by the chief of eunuchs, the work that allowed Esther to become more loved by

King Xerxes and be chosen as his future queen, and the work that allowed Nehemiah to be a high-ranking official in charge of serving wine who was

trusted by King Artaxerxes.

In this way, the Bible consistently calls God's presence a blessing. The things that happen because God is with us are the results. People say they are

blessed or cursed based on visible results, but if you dig deeper into the essentials, there is nothing more important than whether God is with you.

Joseph was a man who was successful in everything he did because God was with him.

Dear everyone! Remember. Please remember that God first humbles man before exalting him, that the blessing of prosperity depends not on circumstances

but on whether God is with you, and that prosperity is a product of God's grace given to faithful people.

I hope that the blessings of prosperity will always be with you.