November 1, 2015 Bible Passage: Joshua 1 6 (Jericho) God Is Faithful REMEMBER VERSE Let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24 Tru Mission Statement Tru helps kids and their families connect to God, find their place in His big story, and respond to Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Lesson Path: Seeing the Mission Statement in a Tru Lesson Connecting leaders to God > Inspire, Equip, and Support Connects kids and their families to God > HomeFront Weekly ANTICIPATE His big story > CELEBRATE And invites them to respond to Him > RESPOND Through the power of the Holy Spirit. > BLESS 1
Inspire My sister Laurie and I walked down the long hall and into the doctor s office. We weren t expecting good news about our 83-year-old mother, but we still found it difficult to hear the prognosis. Mom needed 24-hour care and was being transferred to a nursing home that very day. Laurie and I looked at each other with the same questions rolling through our minds. How will Mom adapt when she s used to living independently? Will she get the care she needs? Who will be there for her as a friend? It was hard to go home that night. My heart was heavy. Before I closed my eyes to sleep, I prayed, Lord, You know my mother better than anyone. You made her, so please give her what she needs. Please comfort and provide for her at this new place. The following day, Laurie and I walked down another long hall. This time we entered our mother s room at the nursing home. To our surprise, she wasn t alone. The hospitality director, Rachel, was holding her hand and reading the Bible. My sister and I could hardly contain our joy. I m here to serve your mom and your family, Rachel said sweetly. Please let me know how I can make your mom s time here as enjoyable as possible. Over the next month, Mom became the bingo champion, and Rachel was her biggest fan. Rachel continued to read the Bible to Mom and attend to her with a servant s heart. I was so grateful to God for giving us Rachel, and I was reminded, once again, that God is faithful. He hears our prayers. He knows our hearts. And He never leaves us alone. Sue Funkhouser Scottsdale, Ariz. Equip God is faithful. He proves this to His children again and again. Still, the first generation that left Egypt during the exodus had a hard time trusting God. They knew the promise God gave to their forefathers to take them to a land flowing with milk and honey, where they could live as a nation set apart for Him (Exodus 33:1 3). They also agreed to the covenant at Mount Sinai, during which God gave His people the Ten Commandments and called them His treasured possession. The Israelites saw God s faithfulness when He rescued them from slavery in Egypt. They experienced His provision when He gave them food in the wilderness. Yet they continued to grumble and complain because they didn t truly trust Him. And though their spies discovered that the Promised Land was, indeed, a good land, the people weren t excited, for they also heard the cities were full of powerful men (Numbers 13:26 29). Their fear blinded their trust that God would be faithful to His promise. Because of this, God said that no one in the first generation would enter the land (Deuteronomy 1:35 36). The next generation, though they also would grumble and complain, spent their entire lives depending on God to provide for their every need. When God asked them to do unconventional things, they followed His lead. Because God was with them, the second generation crossed a flooded river, marched around the fortified city of Jericho, and overtook it. The second generation saw the land God had promised. God kept the promise He made to bring His people into a good land, and He proved to His people that He was and is always faithful. He only asked that they trust Him and follow His lead so He could transform them 2
into faithful people who served Him with their whole hearts. Driving Out the Nations God commanded His people to drive out the people who lived in the land because they were immoral and spiritually bankrupt. We can read God s command to drive out the people from the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 7:1 6, 16. God did this because He knew these pagan people would tempt His people s hearts away from Him, the one true God. (Because the Hebrews didn t annihilate everyone in the land, we see that this became true: The foreign nations eventually pulled God s people away from worshipping Him only.) This is the spiritual reason for God s command. As a cultural reason, one scholar asserts that this command to destroy these foreign nations would not have been strange to the ears of the Hebrews. It was a common practice in the nations of the ancient near East to annihilate those in nearby lands in dedication to a deity and in order to protect themselves. As human beings with limited perspectives, we will not be able to understand everything God does. What we do know, however, is that we can trust what we know about God s character. We know that He is a loving, trustworthy God who holds an eternal perspective. He will bring about what will give Himself the most glory and be for our best interests. God is good, and we can trust Him! Support Sometimes it s easier to acknowledge the faithfulness of God when life is easy instead of painful. During trials, hardship, or even despair, it can be difficult to see how God is at work. But one thing remains true amidst our circumstances: God s constant faithfulness. Faithfulness is a part of God s character. And God doesn t change. Regardless of what s happening in your life, He s always faithful. Lamentations 3:22 23 says, Because of the LORD s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. God s faithfulness isn t just constant; it s renewed each day. Spend some time reflecting on this promise. Ask God to show you, every day, the immense depth of His faithfulness. Ask God to give you the ability to be a faithful servant who asks the following question: What needs to be done to serve God and His people? 3
Lesson Overview Time Element Summary & Notes Supplies Provided 5-7 1. WORSHIP & Creates an inviting atmosphere Welcome Slide on the Screen Min Total WELCOME (Host) by worshipping and welcoming kids. Let s kids know class has begun. 3min a. Worship through song Play Easy Worship Song - Big House 2min b. Welcome & introduction Welcome kids to Worship and say a prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to come and teach us through worship and The Big God Story what God would have for us to learn about Him this day. Welcome kids to Worship and say a prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to come and teach us through worship and The Big God Story what God would have for us to learn about Him this day. 2min 15-18 Min Total c. Announcements 2. CELEBRATE (Host) Establishes community and tells stories both personal and biblical in a fun and engaging way. 5min a. Remember Verse Kids can work on the remember verse together as a large group. 5min b. Traditions During Traditions, you are helping the kids work toward a common goal. Award a rock to kids if they: are a first time guest, bring their Bible, bring a friend or can say their remember verse. 2min c. Offering We give our offering as an act of worship to God. 3min d. Communion This is a time that we are quiet before the Lord and we take a few minutes to remember what He s done for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. After I pray, if you ve been baptized and made Jesus the king of your life, you may stand and one of our leaders will come around and serve communion to you. Otherwise, stay seated and take this time to talk to God silently. 3min e. Connect Connect is a time to laugh, play, and enjoy each other s company. Encourage them to ask someone Remember Verse Cards Remember Verse slide/animation Rocks/Rockwall Offering Slide/Pics Volunteers (a boy and a girl) to pass around the offering buckets. Communion Tray Connect Question Slide Countdown video 4
20-22 Min Total 15-18 min 3. STORYTELLING AND RESPONSE a. The Big God Story (Storyteller) 5 min b. Worship Response (Storyteller continues) 10 min 4. WORSHIP THROUGH SONG (Host/Worship Leader) 1 Min 5. BLESS (Host) they might not know yet. Creates space for children to hear God s word & respond to the Holy Spirit in worship and community as a large group. Point out that what they are about to hear is true and is recorded in the Bible. Open your Bible to the passage and leave it open and visible throughout The Big God Story. Invite kids to open their Bibles and follow along as you storytell. Encourage adult volunteers to keep an eye out for kids who need help finding the Scripture passage and allow enough time for each child to locate the passage. Sends the kids out with a sense of peace and blessing so they can be a blessing to others. 6. DISMISS Remind kids to stay seated until their name is called and take off their name tag and be prepared to hand it to the volunteer at the door. Timeline Scripture slide Slides: Ark of the Covenant, Parted Jordan River, Jericho (see Resources) Spotify response playlist SUPPLIES Wood blocks (2 per child) Permanent markers Worship Response slide (make it) SET UP Place the blocks and permanent markers in several locations around the room. Play Easy Worship Songs - Movin Me - Jump Up Use your Bible & tell kids that their parents can pick up a HomeFront Weekly at the check-in desk so they can prepare for next week s lesson. Play fun videos while names are being called 5
Worship & Welcome// 5-7 min Host Creates an inviting atmosphere by worshipping and welcoming kids. Let s kids know class has begun. Welcome: Before you begin today s storytelling time, invite kids to play a quick game of Follow the Leader. Invite three children to the front. Tech: Cue upbeat worship music.- Big House Invite kids to follow the dance moves of one child at the front for 30 seconds. Then invite them to follow the dance moves of the next child, and so on. Opening Worship Song: Big House Announcements: 6
Celebrate// 15-18 min Worship Leader Children participate in traditions, connect through fun questions and activities, experience The Big God Story through creative storytelling techniques, and respond to God in worship all within the faith community. Ponder Point: God Is Faithful WELCOME & TRADITIONS REMEMBER VERSE OFFERING GOAL: $600 CURRENT: See slide COMMUNION CONNECT After everyone is gathered together as a large group, open with Traditions. During Traditions, you are helping the kids work toward a common goal and giving them mementos to celebrate things like memorizing the Remember Verse, inviting a friend, or bringing their Bibles. Once the kids have been awarded their mementos, direct them to put the mementos into the rock wall. When the common-goal tradition is complete, tell the kids are going to have a celebration! This week s Remember Verse focuses on a character trait of God that s highlighted in today s portion of The Big God Story. Let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24 We give our offering as an act of worship to God. Today s Fact: This is a time that we are quiet before the Lord and we take a few minutes to remember what he s done for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. After I pray, if you ve been baptized and made Jesus the king of your life you may stand and one of our leaders will come around and serve communion to you. Otherwise, stay seated and take this time to talk to God silently. Invite the children to ask one another the following question or one of your own. Encourage them to ask someone they may not know. After a minute or two, ask several children to tell the group their friends answers. (For Connect Question and Activity slides, see Resources.) Question What is something you believe in or know to be true? 7
The Big God Story// 15-18 minutes for storytelling & 5 minutes for response Storyteller Worship 23 1.9 Point out that what they are about to hear is true and is recorded in the Bible. Open your Bible to the passage and leave it open and visible throughout The Big God Story. Invite kids to open their Bibles and follow along as you storytell. Bible Passage: Joshua 1 6 Storytelling Technique: Actions Big God Story SUPPLIES Bibles (1 per leader and 1 per child) Timeline slide and animation (see Resources) Slides: Ark of the Covenant, Parted Jordan River, Jericho (see Resources) SET UP If the children made trumpets during ANTICIPATE, have them bring their trumpets to the storytelling time. Worship Response SUPPLIES Wood blocks (2 per child) Permanent markers Worship Response slide (make it) SET UP Place the blocks and permanent markers in several locations around the room. RELATE Earlier we played a fun game of Follow the Leader. The Israelites followed the leader God chose for them Joshua into the Promised Land. First, let s invite God to teach us today. Lead the children in a Prayer of Release. Where have the Israelites been recently in The Big God Story? Where are they going? Allow responses. Yes, the Israelites left Egypt and traveled through the wilderness for 40 years on their way to the Promised Land. Invite children to stand up and march in place. We heard about how they sent spies ahead to see the land (invite kids to pretend to use binoculars or a telescope to see), and these spies reported that the land was great! But lots of big, strong men lived there. Have children make a muscle pose. The Israelites became afraid. Have kids show scared faces. They didn t want to face these huge men, even though God promised to be with them. Because the Israelites didn t trust God, He didn t allow that generation to enter the Promised Land. But God is always faithful to His promises. Have children sit down. What does it mean to be faithful? Encourage kids to answer. To be faithful means you do what you say you will do. You keep your promises. God is faithful to us. He always keeps His promises. What promises did God make to His people after they left Egypt? Allow responses. Yes, He promised to lead the people and be with them and bring them into a new land. God s people were in the wilderness for 40 years. As they wandered, the older, unfaithful generation died, including their leader, Moses. Read Joshua 1:1 3 aloud. 8
1 Moses was the servant of the Lord. Joshua son of Nun was Moses assistant. After Moses died, the Lord said to Joshua: 2 My servant Moses is dead. Now you and all these people go across the Jordan River. Go into the land I am giving to the people of Israel.3 I promised Moses I would give you this land. So I will give you every place you go in the land. Then, when the time came, God led the new generation into the Promised Land through a man named Joshua. God spoke to Joshua and told him to get the people ready to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. Read Joshua 1:6 aloud. 6 Joshua, be strong and brave! You must lead these people so they can take their land. This is the land I promised their fathers I would give them. Invite eight volunteers to come up to act out the next part. The Israelites gathered all of their things and got ready to cross the river. Have volunteers pretend to gather items. At this time of year, the Jordan River was at its flood stage, meaning the water was very, very high, maybe even a mile wide! Just as God parted the Red Sea years ago, He was faithful to part the water of the Jordan River so the people could cross it safely. The priests were the first to enter the river. Select two children to be the priests. They carried the ark of the covenant. Tech: Cue Ark of the Covenant slide. The ark of the covenant was the symbol of God s presence with them. Have the priests pretend to carry the ark. As the priests carried the ark into the river, the water the water parted, creating a wall of water the people walked past. Tech: Cue Parted Jordan River slide. About a million Israelites crossed the river into the Promised Land that day! Have the rest of the group follow the priests. The Israelites had crossed the river and reached the Promised Land! Have everyone cheer and the volunteers return to their seats. But there was still more to be done. God told His people He would help them defeat those living in the land. And the first city God told them to defeat was Jericho a very strong city with a wall that wrapped all the way around it. Tech: Cue Jericho slide. But God is faithful. This mighty city would not stop Him. He is faithful. Read Joshua 6:2 aloud. 2 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua. He said, Look, I have given you Jericho, its king and all its fighting men. God would win the battle for His people. God gave the people specific instructions about how they would defeat the city. Read Joshua 6:3 5, 3 March around the city with your army one time every day. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets made from horns of male sheep. Tell them to march in front of the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day march around the city seven times. On that day tell the priests to blow the trumpets as they march. 5 They will make one long blast on the trumpets. When you hear that sound, have all the people give a loud shout. Then the walls of the city will fall. And the people will go straight into the city. and have the kids act out this next part as you share it. Let s imagine what this would be like.. After the Israelites had marched around the city seven times on the seventh day, they all gave a great shout! The kids can shout as loud as they can. Then guess what happened? The walls all came down, and the army 9
marched straight into Jericho. God had been faithful! God had defeated the city for His people! Encourage the kids to cheer again. God fulfilled the promise He had made to the Israelites ancestors to bring the people into the Promised Land. God is always faithful. He loves all of His children very much. Next time we re together, we re going to hear more about the Israelites and God delivering His people even further. I m looking forward to sharing it with you! Share a story of how God was faithful to you. Storyteller continues into a time of Worship Response The new generation of Israelites entered the Promised Land and received what God had promised them. God gave it to them because He is faithful. He knew this new generation would be faithful and trust Him with their whole hearts. All of us have things that make us afraid things that can get in the way of our ability to trust in God s faithfulness. Today, let s spend a few minutes in prayer, and ask God to show you what might be holding you back from trusting Him. Give the kids some time to pray quietly. We ve set up stations around the room with wood blocks and markers. If you want, take a block or two and on them write what God is telling you is getting in the way of trusting Him. It could be fear, worry, hard situations in life, etc. Once you write those down, bring your block or blocks to the front of the room, and help each other stack the blocks to build a wall. After kids have had some time to write on their blocks, share: This represents the wall that s blocking our faith. On the count of three, just like the Israelites did in Jericho, we re going to knock the wall down and shout as loud as we can. Just as God defeated Jericho, God can defeat anything that keeps us from trusting Him! Lead the kids in knocking down the wall on the count of three, and then close in prayer, thanking God for being powerful enough to knock down anything in our lives that holds us back from trusting in His faithfulness. Worship// 10 minutes Play Easy Worship Songs 1. 2. Movin Me 3. Jump Up 10
Bless// 1 min Host As you bless your kids, tell them they have the opportunity to also be a blessing to others. Encourage them to freely share the joy and love they have received from God. Encourage the children to stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder. Starting at one end, have each child turn to the next person in line and say, God is faithful. Then open a Bible and read Deuteronomy 7:9: Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. End with the following blessing over your group: May you know God loves you very much. May you see His faithfulness in your life. HomeFront Weekly: Be sure to send home the HomeFront Weekly for next week s lesson! This preteaching tool for parents encourages families to spend time in God s Word together before children arrive at church. 11