Jr. Tree of Life 
Unfairness and the Faith-Rest-Drill Part 4
05/03/2020
Joseph Genesis 40:1-42:3
Bible Verse
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1
Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)
I know that many of you boys and girls have been missing a lot of fun things that you use to be able to do. Some of you may miss doing flips and flying high into the air at gymnastics. Others might wish you were laughing with friends at school, playing your trumpet in band, selling Girl Scout cookies, or running around the soccer court. I will even bet that there are many of you that wish you could spend the day with your grandparents or other family members whom you have not seen in a while.
Right now, in the Church Age, every boy and girl that has believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior can be an invisible hero! God thinks you are a hero simply by obeying your parents. He has given them authority over you. God loves you and cares about everything that happens to you. If you decide not to obey your parents, then you will be out of fellowship with God. God wants you to rebound and recover.
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1
Last week, we saw that no matter how many unfair things happened to Joseph that he always tried to do his best to obey the person that was in authority over him. He did this because he loved God and wanted to do things His way.
In our Bible lesson the Pharaoh of Egypt had the baker and the cupbearer thrown the same jail that Joseph was in. Joseph was given the job of taking care of them while they were all in jail.
After the cupbearer and the baker were in jail for a while, both of them had dreams that they didn’t understand. Joseph told them that only God knew what the dreams meant. God helped Joseph to understand the dreams so that he could explain them.
The cup bearer dreamed that there was a vine with ripe grapes on it and he squeezed the grapes into Pharaoh’s cup. Joseph told him the dream meant that he would soon get his job back and he did.
The baker dreamed that he had three baskets of bread and bakery foods on top of his head, but birds came and started eating them. Joseph told him that the Pharaoh would have him killed and that’s what happened.
Before the cupbearer was let out of jail, Joseph told him about how unfair it was that he was thrown into prison when he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was hoping that the cupbearer could help him to get released. Joseph forgot that only God could rescue him. God is our deliverer.
After the cupbearer was let out of jail, he forgot all about Joseph and his story. Joseph waited and waited to be rescued. His beard grew long and his clothes got very dirty. I’m sure he probably didn’t smell the best.
Two long years later, the Pharaoh had two dreams. In the first dream he was standing on the bank of the Nile River and he saw seven fat cows coming out of the water. While they were eating grass, seven skinny, ugly cows came out of the river and ate the fat cows, but they didn’t look any healthier afterwards.
In the next dream, Pharaoh saw seven full ears of grain growing on one stalk and right after that he saw seven thin, withered ears that looked burnt by the wind. Then the thin ears swallowed the good, full ears.
The pharaoh couldn’t find anyone in the kingdom to tell him what the dreams meant. One day the cupbearer remembered that Joseph had told him what his dream meant while they were in jail together. He told the Pharaoh about him.
The pharaoh sent for Joseph so that he could learn the meaning of his dream. When Joseph found out he was going to see the Pharaoh he shaved and put on clean clothes before he was brought to him. Joseph told him that only God could give him a favorable answer to his dream.
Both dreams meant the same thing. God was warning that there would be seven years where there was plenty of food grown. Next there would be seven years where there would be a shortage of food grown (famine.) This meant that unless something was done, many people wouldn’t have enough to eat and they would die.
The Pharaoh decided right away that Joseph was the man he would put in charge. Joseph was released from jail and made the second in charge of Egypt. The Pharaoh gave him a chariot, special clothing and jewelry to wear and even a wife. Isn’t it exciting that God rescued Joseph from jail? God is powerful (omnipotent.) Joseph obeyed the Pharaoh who was his boss and did the best job possible for him. He gathered part of the extra grain for seven years and saved it. There was so much grain that he lost count of it all.
Next came seven years where there was not much food anywhere in the world. Many people came to visit Joseph in Egypt to by grain. One day Joseph saw something totally unexpected; his older brothers were in line to buy grain. What do you think is going to happen? Next week we will see what happens.
Everyday God wants us to obey our parents and rebound and recover by using the faith-rest-drill below. When we obey our parents, we are invisible heroes.
Faith-Rest-Drill
- Remember a Bible verse from God: In today’s lesson, the Bible verse is:
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1
- Think of a reason to trust God with your problem: Today’s lesson, Joseph always tried to do obey his authority and do the best job possible. God rescued Joseph from jail? Joseph did not do anything wrong it was unfair that he was in jail. God is powerful (omnipotent.)
- Relax: We need to trust God when He tells us to obey your parents. He isn’t trying to keep you from having fun. He wants to give you a chance to be an invisible hero.