Children Bible Overview 23 09/09/07

IN GOD’S TIMETABLE, JOSEPH WAS RAISED TO BE

KING OF THE WHOLE WORLD

Teachers to read bible scripture: <Gen 40-41>

Children to memorize bible scripture: <Gen 41:42-43>

Recap
Last week, we saw how God trained Joseph and allowed him to experience many problems. But
because God was with him, he was victorious. What was more important was that God had the
greatest plan for Joseph, which was to prepare him to manage the whole world.

Introduction
Later, God’s timetable for Joseph finally came. The Pharaoh had two officials who were sent
to prison. One night, both of them had dreams. Joseph who had God’s wisdom was able to
help them interpret their dreams, telling one of them that the Pharaoh would hang him while
the other would be restored to his former position. Eventually, true enough, what Joseph
interpreted took place. However, the official who restored his position forgot about Joseph.
Two years later, the Pharaoh also had two dreams (to elaborate on the dreams). However,
even the magicians and wise men of Egypt could not interpret the Pharaoh’s dreams. That
was when the official remembered how Joseph interpreted his dream while he was in prison.
He told the Pharaoh about Joseph and the Pharaoh sent for Joseph, telling him his two
dreams. Because Joseph had God’s wisdom, he knew the meaning of the dreams. Joseph
told the Pharaoh that the whole of Egypt would enjoy 7 years of great abundance but
following that, there would be 7 years of severe famine. Therefore, there was a need to find
an extremely wise person to collect all the food and store them during the good years so that
the reserves could feed the whole of Egypt in the 7 years of famine and the people would
not starve to death as a result of the famine. Pharaoh saw that Joseph had the wisdom of
God and immediately appointed him as Premier of whole Egypt. He put Joseph in charge of
everything in Egypt, and in particular, appointed him to handle the impending famine. In a
short time, Joseph became the most famous person in Egypt and also held the highest
position. He ruled over the whole Egypt and influenced the whole world because when the
famine was severe, the whole world was without food. Only Egypt, the country managed by
Joseph, had food. Therefore, all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.
Within a short period, Joseph became the king of the whole world. This was all arranged by
God.

1. What God has promised us would definitely happen, even if the whole world
disbelieves
1) God says, “Those who believe and know Jesus Christ would influence the whole
world and lead many people to know Jesus Christ.”
2) Even if the whole world disbelieves, even if I do not have good qualities (not
intelligent, not eloquent, people do not like me, not strong in my studies), even if my
circumstances are not good (like Joseph: being held captive in prison), God will fulfill
all, and can fulfill all.
3) Therefore, all we need to do is not to forget the words God promised us. Because
Satan’s only job is to let us forget God’s promises, and cause us to forget that we
would influence the whole world and bless many people.

2. In God’s timing, God would fulfill the things He had promised

 1) Look at Joseph: In God’s timing, the things that God promised were fulfilled.
[Question: Who allowed Joseph to be sold to Egypt, go into prison and later meet the
Pharaoh’s two officials? Who allowed the Pharaoh to have two dreams? Answer: It is
all allowed by God!]
2) Why did God arrange these things? This was because He wanted to bless Joseph!
Similarly, all that God has prepared for us today is to bless us (regardless of good
things, bad things, meet with good people or bad people, etc)
3) Therefore, sometimes when we meet problems, we do not have to be angry, do not
have to be sad or do not have to grumble. Although others may treat us badly, God
would turn a bad event into a good event to bless us. [Activity: Children, think for a
while: Is there anything that is making you unhappy? How do you think God is using
that to bless you? ]

3. Therefore, we should not look down on ourselves now

1) God says, “We who know Jesus, are just like Joseph.” When Joseph was young,
God gave him dreams. Now, God gives us His words (the Bible) to tell us, “We will
bless many people.”
2) Therefore, we cannot look down on ourselves. Even if we may not be excelling in our
studies or in art, or people do not like us, we should not look down on ourselves. This
is because we are God’s children, the most dignified. If we look down on ourselves,
we are looking down on God.
3) But today, God wants us to learn His wisdom everyday. Joseph learnt God’s wisdom
daily. That was why he was able to interpret dreams and also knew how to manage
the entire country. It is the same today. If God wants us to attend Sunday school,
then let us learn God’s words well; if God tells us to study, then study hard and do
our best. It is the same for our art lessons, piano lessons, etc.