Lesso 11 109 Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2:1-24 First- ad secod-graders have o trouble believig i thigs they ca t see, eve if they ca t completely uderstad spirituality. The example of Rahab s faith ca be ecouragig to kids as they see a woma who had little literal uderstadig of God but was still able to use her faith i a powerful way. Use this lesso to direct kids faith to the oe true God ad what he ca ad will do i their lives. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Bible Poit We ca have faith that God will do big thigs i our lives. 1 Gettig Started Do You Believe It? (about 15 mi.) Liste to ews stories to thik about believig i thigs they do t see. Bible, CD player Teacher Pack: CD Key Verse Ad without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Rahab Hides the Spies (about 20 mi.) Play a game of Hide-ad- Seek i which Rahab helps the spies hide from the kig s me. Bibles Teacher Pack: Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Weavig Faith Ito Life Kids will trust God to do big thigs i their lives. 2 Bible Exploratio Sigs of Faith (about 15 mi.) Lear that a scarlet cord was Rahab s sig of faith, ad make their ow sigs of faith. Bibles, scissors, glue sticks, 24-ich legth of red yar per child, hole puches Teacher Pack: red cellophae, Heart puch-outs Cut apart the rectagles o the solid lies o the Heart puchouts. The puch out the hearts, ad save the rectagles you ve cut apart. Cut the cellophae ito squares the same size as the rectagles. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 11
110 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Wated: Kids With Faith (about 10 mi.) Create wated posters, ad commit to actig o their faith. My Bible Fu, crayos Tear out the Lesso 11 pages from each My Bible Fu studet book. 4 Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. My Bible Fu, pes Lastig Impressios Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 11
111 Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2:1-24 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS A Differet Method As Joshua prepared to sed spies ito the Promised Lad, o doubt he remembered the fiasco of 40 years earlier whe Moses set a large group of spies ito the lad. This time Joshua set oly two ad gave them a very specific missio: Ivestigate Jericho. He set them secretly, ot watig the Caaaites to kow what they were doig ad probably also to protect the Israelites from the distressful result of the first spy missio. Good Gossip to her faithfuless ad icludes her i the lie of Kig David ad of Jesus (Matthew 1:5)! The Jesus Coectio Rahab s faith laded her amog Jesus acestors. Whe we veture forth with a small act of faith, God respods ad shows us his much larger faithfuless. I what areas of your life would you like to show more faithfuless to God? What are some ways you ve see God s faithfuless to you? You ca write your prayer askig God to use you to do big thigs. There s othig too big for the God of the uiverse who wats to lead ad guide your life. It may seem suspicious that the place the spies wet was to the home of a prostitute. However, it s likely that this was a place where gossip would aboud. I additio, the word most ofte traslated prostitute ca just as accurately be traslated ikeeper. Either way, it was a place where the spies were able to hear ad gauge how the people of Jericho felt about the Israelites who were camped just across the Jorda River. A Woma of Faith Rahab, though she lied about hidig the spies i her house, had apparetly become a believer i God through what she had heard about the Israelites experieces ad coquests. She hid the me at great persoal risk. She was commeded for her strog faith i the New Testamet i Hebrews 11:31. Note that God did ot commed her for lyig but for actig i faith ad hidig the spies. God blessed her for that faith. The ed of this evet lies beyod the scope of today s passage. Durig the victory over Jericho, Rahab ad her family were ideed spared from death (Joshua 6:17). Moreover, the New Testamet attests Lesso 11
112 GETTING STARTED Do You Believe It? Supplies Bible CD player Teacher Pack CD: News Report, Part 1 (track 14); News Report, Part 2 (track 15); News Report, Part 3 (track 16) Do You Believe It? What You ll Do Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Gather everyoe together. Say: Today we ll talk about faith. The Bible says faith is beig sure of thigs we do t see. Let s thik of what it s like to be sure of thigs we do t see as we liste to some ews reports. Play News Report, Part 1 (track 14 o the CD). After listeig, lead the childre i talkig about whether they believe what they hear o the ews ad how they kow they ca believe the ews reports. Play News Report, Part 2 (track 15 o the CD). After listeig, lead the childre i talkig about whether they ve see the price of Eglad ad how they kow he s real eve if they have t see him i perso. Ask the childre to discuss how they kow prices are real, eve if they ve ever see or met oe. Play News Report, Part 3 (track 16 o the CD). Say: That ews report was from a faraway place ad a faraway time. I fact, it was based o somethig that really happeed. Today we ll hear all about it whe we read the Bible. Ope your Bible to Hebrews 11:6, ad show it to kids. Say: Our Key Verse today remids us that faith is importat. Whe we read the Bible, we ca have faith that it s true, ad we ca trust that God is with us. Liste while I read our Key Verse: Ad without faith it is impossible to please God. Have the childre repeat the verse with you several times: Ad without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Explai whether it s easy or hard to believe thigs you hear about faraway places or faraway times. How do you kow you ca believe the Bible? Why do you thik faith is so importat? Lesso 11
113 Say: Eve though we do t usually see for ourselves the thigs we hear about o the ews, we believe that those stories are true. Ad we believe what the Bible says is true eve though we were t alive whe those thigs happeed. I the same way, we ca believe i God eve though we do t see him. WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Today we ll hear about a big thig God did i oe woma s life. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Rahab Hides the Spies What You ll Do Ope your Bible to Joshua 2, ad show kids the passage. Say: I the Bible today, we ll lear about a woma amed Rahab. We ll hear how she had faith, ad we ll lear that WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Before we liste to what happeed, let s get ito character. Preted to seak aroud the room with me. Lead the childre i pretedig to seak aroud the room for a miute, ad the have the childre sit i a circle. Rahab Hides the Spies Supplies Bibles Teacher Pack Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Show the Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho poster. Say: God promised to give the Israelites a lot of lad, icludig a city called Jericho. Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, asked two of his me to seak over ito the lad God had promised them. This was very dagerous, but the two me agreed. So they seaked ito the city of Jericho ad stayed with a woma there amed Rahab. Let s read i the Bible to fid out what happeed ext. Have childre ope their Bibles to Joshua 2. Read aloud Joshua 2:2-3. Say: Let s play a game to fid out what Rahab ad the two spies did. Put kids i groups of three. Ask oe group to be the Kig s Me, ad explai that they ll try to fid the other groups. Ask oe child i each other group of three to be Rahab ad the other childre i each group to be the Spies. Say: I each group, Rahab will help the Spies hide from the Kig s Me. Rahab must fid a place for the Spies to hide, but she must ot hide with the Spies. Ask the Kig s Me to cover their eyes while the Spies hide. After a few momets, explai that the Kig s Me must go to each of the Rahabs ad ask if the Spies are with them. The Rahabs must try to divert the Kig s Me away from the Spies. Lesso 11
114 After the Kig s Me have looked for o more tha 30 secods, have aother group become the Kig s Me while the origial group of Kig s Me becomes Rahab ad the Spies. After several groups have played the Kig s Me, call time. Have the childre sit dow, ad read aloud Joshua 2:4-7 as kids follow alog i their Bibles. The have the kids discuss what might ve bee scary about what Rahab did for the me. Read aloud Joshua 2:8-11 as kids follow alog i their Bibles. Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Why do you thik faith helped the two spies ad Rahab do what they did, eve though it was scary? Tell about a time you had faith i a scary situatio. How ca faith that God ca do big thigs help you this week? Sigs of Faith Supplies Bibles scissors glue sticks 24-ich legth of red yar per child hole puches Teacher Pack red cellophae Heart puch-outs Say: Whe we believe i God, we kow that God is powerful ad that what God promises will actually happe. Rahab had oly heard about God ad how he helped the Israelites, but she believed i God ad his promises. Whe we have faith, we kow God will take care of us. Our Bible Poit tells us that WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Sigs of Faith What You ll Do Say: Rahab believed i God, ad she believed that God was goig to give the city of Jericho to the Israelites. Because Rahab had faith, she helped the spies ad asked the spies to help her. She asked them to protect her ad her family whe the Israelites took the city. The spies told Rahab that if a red cord was hagig i her widow, everyoe iside her house would be protected. The Rahab set the spies to a place outside the city where they d be safe from the kig s me. Sigs of Faith Easy Prep Cut apart the rectagles o the solid lies o the Heart puchouts. The puch out the hearts, ad save the rectagles you ve cut apart. Cut the cellophae ito squares the same size as the rectagles. Lesso 11
115 Say: Today let s make red cords as a remider that WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Give each child a 24-ich legth of red yar, ad set out the other supplies. Explai that kids will make red su catchers to hag i their widows at home. Give a square of cellophae to each child, ad show kids how to glue the cellophae to the rectagle. Circulate to assist as childre work. Whe the childre fiish, carefully puch a hole i the top of each child s shape. Show kids how to thread the yar through the hole ad the tie the eds of the yar together to form a hager. Gather kids by a widow. Have kids hold up their su catchers to the light as you lead kids i repeatig the Key Verse with you: Ad without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What do you thik about how Rahab was rewarded for her faith? Tell about a time you were rewarded for your faith. How ca your experieces help you i the future? Say: I retur for Rahab s faith ad help, the spies agreed to protect Rahab ad her family. The red cord i the widow would be a sig to the Israelites of where Rahab ad her family were. God wats us to have faith, too. Ad as surely as the su will rise, WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Wated: Kids With Faith What You ll Do Say: Today we heard how the leader of the Israelites wated spies to look at the lad. The spies wated help from someoe livig i Jericho. Today whe our leaders wat help, they make help wated posters. The poster might say, I wat you! ad the describe the help the leaders eed. God wats our help, too. He wats people who have faith to help tell others about him. Let s make help wated posters to show that God wats us to have faith. Give each child a Lesso 11 My Bible Fu page, ad poit out the God Wats You! sectio. Distribute crayos, ad have kids write their ow ames i the poster s subtitle. Wated: Kids With Faith Supplies My Bible Fu crayos Wated: Kids With Faith Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 11 pages from each My Bible Fu studet book. Lesso 11
116 Have kids draw themselves stadig with faith o the upper part of the page ad some big thigs God ca do i their lives o the bottom part of the page. After kids fiish drawig, have them form pairs ad display their pictures to their parters. Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Why do you have faith i God? Why are you proud to have faith? Say: Rahab was cofidet i her faith i God. Ad she did somethig to show her faith, eve whe it was scary. WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES, too, whe we trust i ad stad with God. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies My Bible Fu pes Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Let s thik about how WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges i their My Bible Fu pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Tell a fried about a time God did somethig big i your life. Say a prayer ad tell God that you have faith i him, ad ask him to do big thigs i your life. Ask your mom or dad to help you take a plate of cookies to a eighbor, ad the tell your eighbor about your faith i God. Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell kids what you chose. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same. Lesso 11
117 Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Because Rahab had faith i God, she helped the spies. She used her faith, ad God did big thigs i her life. WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES as we follow through o our Daily Challeges. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about how God does big thigs i our lives whe we have faith. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their My Bible Fu pages with their families. Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Take a couple of miutes to pray with your kids, thakig God for the childre s faith i him ad his promises ad askig God to help childre show their faith i the comig week. Pray: God, help us have faith i you this week, ad help us look for the big thigs you re doig i our lives. I Jesus ame, ame. Lesso 11