{"id":16550,"date":"2021-07-07T22:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T05:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_38_12-30-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-07-04T17:49:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T00:49:49","slug":"genesis_39_1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_39_1-10\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Keys to Fighting Temptation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 39:1-10 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 39:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 39:1-4 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When his master saw that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was with him and that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0gave him success in everything he did,
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Joseph 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0Joseph, the favoured son of Jacob, is sold as a slave to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh\u2019s officials, the captain of the guard.\u00a0\u00a0Because of God\u2019s favour (\u201cThe Lord was with Joseph\u201d \u2013 v2) and presumably because Joseph did his best to be faithful with what was entrusted to him, Joseph was promoted to be in charge of Potiphar\u2019s entire household (v4).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Just as cream tends to rise to the top, so you can put a guy like Joseph in a difficult situation and with God\u2019s help he will find a way to rise and to prosper.\u00a0\u00a0Like Joseph, be faithful and responsible with what God gives you and, sooner or later, God will make sure that you are promoted.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 39:5-6 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the\u00a0LORD\u00a0blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-6:\u00a0\u00a0With Joseph in charge, Potiphar\u2019s household was blessed.\u00a0\u00a0May that be the same with you.\u00a0\u00a0Wherever you go, whatever place where you work, may you bring the blessing and presence of God because God is with you and you represent Him well by your work ethic and character.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 39:6-7 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u2026Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 6-7:\u00a0\u00a0God blessed Joseph with good looks, and Potiphar\u2019s wife takes notice and tries to seduce him.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0In whatever way God has blessed you, be aware that Satan will sometimes try to tempt you to use that blessing for a sinful and selfish advantage.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t fall for it.\u00a0\u00a0How? See below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 39:8-10 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 8-10:\u00a0\u00a0How was Joseph able to stand up against the persistent attempts by Potiphar\u2019s wife to seduce him?\u00a0\u00a0Here we learn three keys to Joseph\u2019s victory over temptation.<\/p>\n

First, Joseph was humbly self-aware.\u00a0\u00a0As Joseph says himself in verses 8-9a, “With me in charge\u2026my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In other words, Joseph realized that he was a steward, a trustee, not the owner of what was in his care, but a manager of it who was accountable to others.\u00a0\u00a0He was accountable to his boss and did not want hurt or disappoint him.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0To stand up against temptation, it helps to remember who would be negatively impacted by you falling into temptation if they found out.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0May the thought of hurting people unfairly and unnecessarily help to keep you from sinning against them.<\/p>\n

Second, Joseph realized that to give into the temptation would be a sin not only against his boss Potiphar, but a sin against God.\u00a0\u00a0As Joseph says in verse 9, \u201cHow then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0What\u2019s the lesson here?\u00a0\u00a0Whenever you are tempted to sin, remember that God is watching you and He will hold us accountable for what we did with our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Third, Joseph set clear boundaries by refusing to even be near Potiphar\u2019s wife.\u00a0\u00a0As verse 10 says, \u201che refused to\u2026even be with her\u201d (v10).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Realizing that the flesh is weak, Joseph resolved not to put himself in situations where he could more easily fall into temptation.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not just about willpower to fight temptation when it comes, but it\u2019s about wisdom to avoid as much as possible situations where you will be tempted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that because You are with me, I have Your favour and that I can bring Your blessing and presence everywhere I go.\u00a0\u00a0May my home, my workplace, my school, my church and my city be blessed because I am here.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you also that whenever I am tempted, You are faithful and will give me a way to stand up over that temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 39:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 39:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0When his master saw that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was with him and that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0gave him success in everything he did,
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Joseph 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.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0Joseph, the favoured son of Jacob, is sold as a slave to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh\u2019s officials, the captain of the guard.\u00a0\u00a0Because of God\u2019s favour (\u201cThe Lord was with Joseph\u201d \u2013 v2) and presumably because Joseph did his best to be faithful with what was entrusted to him, Joseph was promoted to be in charge of Potiphar\u2019s entire household (v4).\u00a0<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Just as cream tends to rise to the top, so you can put a guy like Joseph in a difficult situation and with God\u2019s help he will find a way to rise and to prosper.\u00a0\u00a0Like Joseph, be faithful and responsible with what God gives you and, sooner or later, God will make sure that you are promoted.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16550"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16551,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16550\/revisions\/16551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}