Prison Ministry

Prison Ministry (Genesis 40)

Joseph was Jacobs favorite son

Gave him a special coat, coat of many colors

His brothers became very jealous and came up with a plan to kill him

Reuben came up with a plan to just throw him in a pit and he would go back and get him out later so that he could live

Some Ishmeelites came by and the brothers sold Joseph to them for 20 pieces of silver

The 20 pieces of silver that Joseph was sold for is worth approximately $20 today

That shows you how strong jealousy and just pure evil really is

He was in there way and needed to go

It wasn’t even about the money

It was merely about getting rid of him b/c he was the favorite

They then took the coat of many colors, killed a goat, dipped the coat in the blood & took it to Jacob and told him that Joseph was killed by a wild beast

Talk about betrayal on a whole new level

Imagine your family doing that, the mental damage it would cause

The Ismeelites then sold Joseph to Potiphar who is over the jail (The Warden) for Pharaoh

Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph and he promoted him to overseer of his house & Joseph served him

Joseph never complained, he just did it b/c God was with him and Joseph knew it

Potiphar’s wife tried to get Joseph to sleep with her

He refused, as he was walking away, she grabbed his clothes and it ripped

She had it in her hand and she framed Joseph

She went and told Potiphar that Joseph tried sleeping with her but she said no

As you could imagine, Potiphar became furious

Potiphar threw him into prison - even though he was innocent

Lets face it, what did Joseph do to deserve any of this

This takes us to where we are going to start today

This is how I came up with my title prison ministry

We have all heard of a few churches that does jail ministry

They will go to the jails and preach and witness to inmates

After they are done, they get to go home

Joseph didn’t get that option, he was in prison, couldn’t leave and still ran a prison ministry

So far, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver, got promoted, got tempted by Potiphar’s wife, did the right thing, got framed and now in prison

This doesn’t sound very appealing to me

It just amazes me that Joseph just kept on going, kept serving

God was with Joseph and he knew it

Look at 39:2 - 39:21 - 39:23

I have said it before, if it is in the Bible once, it is important, if it is mentioned in the Bible 3 times, you might want to pay attention to it

People gossip all the time, they did back in this time as well

I personally believe b/c of 39:23 that he saw that the Lord was with Joseph b/c of how he conducted himself that he was innocent of the accusation

You know word got around just like it does now of days

But I also see that Potiphar felt that he had to throw Joseph into prison b/c of what had been said

What I am getting at is yes, accusation happened, he was innocent but the way he conducted himself, you can tell that God was with him

He never defended, he never complained, he never got upset, he served and served and served

He knew he was innocent and he knew that God knew the truth

I would say that is pretty difficult to do

But man, what strength, what courage and I guarantee you that God saw it and I promise you God was pleased with Joseph’s actions

When and if this happens to you, take this approach if you can

There is going to come a time in your life where all hope seems lost, the odds are against you, no answer, no where to turn but to God - that is when he will say I can do something with that

God knows, God will handle it and God will make things right

That is when you will have this peace that overcomes you like you have never had before

I have 100% faith in that

1-4) The butler and baker offended Pharaoh

It doesn’t tell us what they did to offend him but Pharaoh put them in jail where Joesph was at

Scripture tells us that they was the chief of the butlers and the chief of the bakers

That tells me that they was the top in those 2 areas

I am not sure if they called Pharaoh a name, burnt a biscuit or did something pretty severe to get this punishment but it happened