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Tag: prison

Peace, Prayer, and the Sovereignty of God

We’ve been working our way through the book of Acts for the last several months and this morning, we find ourselves in Acts chapter 12. Now I know that the book of Acts is an action-packed account of the early church – with one exciting story after another –  and it seems like all of these events are happening in a matter of weeks or months. But in reality, by the time we get to Acts chapter 12, we’re actually about 12-14 YEARS after Christ’s death and resurrection. More than a decade has passed since the Holy Spirit’s first arrival on the day of Pentecost!

So a lot has happened since that time – and a lot has changed! 

You know for yourself how much the world can change in a decade! Just think about your own life – how much has change for you in the last 3 years – let alone the last 12-14 years!? You’re different, your family is different, the world different! A lot of stuff changes over a decade!

And so those same kind of changes had happened in the world between Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 12.

Kings & governors have come and gone – and there are new authorities in places of power. The church, which once enjoyed the goodwill of all the people (according to Acts chapter 2) – is no longer looked upon quite so favourably – as we are going to see today.

But despite all these changes, the purpose and the work of God remains the same. In fact, while the world’s authorities & rulers change on a frequent basis – the ultimate and sovereign authority of God never changes. God’s Word & God’s will will prevail! You can count on it. And that’s one of the key lessons that we’re going to see in our passage today.

Acts chapter 12 – starting at verse 1 – begins like this:

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Joseph in Prison

Today we continue looking at the story of Joseph. For those who may not have been with us for these past few weeks, Joseph was a young man, who, although the favourite of his father, was hated by his brothers. I won’t rehash the backstory of why that was, but they hated him so much that they were willing to kill him! In fact, one day they grabbed him and threw him in a pit and left him to die. But then, through the providence of God, a roving band of slave traders came by and so rather than leaving him to die, they decided to sell Joseph as a slave to these slave traders instead.

To make a long story short, Jospeh’s new owners took him down to Egypt where he was sold to a man named Potiphar – who happened to be the captain of the the guard for Pharaoh.

And as Mike shared with us two week ago, the Lord was with Joseph – even in slavery – and Joseph quickly rose in the ranks among the slaves in Potiphar’s house – eventually becoming the head of the household – with no one having more authority than he did (except of course for Potiphar himself).

Mike also noted that the Bible described Joseph as being very handsome and well-built. Potiphar’s wife made note of that as well and she tried relentlessly to convince Joseph to sleep with her. But Joseph wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t sin against his master Potiphar and he would not sin against God.

This didn’t sit well with Mrs. Potiphar and so one day, after her advances were once again rejected by Joseph, she falsely accused Joseph of trying to sleep with her. She painted him as the bad guy and Joseph ended up being thrown into prison.

And so that’s where we last left Joseph a couple weeks ago. And you’ve really got to appreciate the roller coaster ride that Joseph life has been so far. It’s just a series of highs and then lows, highs and then lows – over and over again.

  • He was the favourite of his father – but all his brothers hated him.
  • His dad honored him with a beautiful coat of many colours – then his brother’s threw him in a pit and left him to die.
  • He was was rescued from that pit – only to be sold as a slave.
  • He rose to be the head of Potiphar’s house – but then falsely accused and thrown in prison.

It’s just one thing after another after another….

But throughout the story we get this cool little reminder – there’s a phrase that keeps popping up: (I think it comes up 4 times in Genesis 39…) And it’s that phrase that I want to start with today. I think I’m overlapping a little bit with where Mike left off, but I want to start in Genesis chapter 39, starting at verse 21.

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