Joshua 6:18-19; 7:1-26 Winter Lesson 8 Achan s Sin Dear Teacher, Achan thought that his sin was well hidden and that it wouldn t affect anyone else. What about my own sin? What good things has it made me miss out on? What harm has it caused others? I want to always keep in mind that my words and actions matter. When they are careless or outright rebellious, my words and actions can get in the way of others seeing and knowing the amazing truth of God s love. God offers us the gift of forgiveness through Jesus. But as significant as my sin is, there is something so much more earth shattering! While we were still sinners, God sent Jesus to die to forgive our sin. So there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Does that truth stop you in your tracks as it does me? God forgives my sin and makes me right with Him not because of anything I have done but because of what Jesus has done and who Jesus is. May we live in gratitude of this fact! Debbie Barber Senior Editor Connecting You to Jesus Achan was just one person, but his sin caused great trouble for all the Israelites. Similarly, when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin entered human history and became a problem for all of us. But there is good news found in another man. This perfect man, Jesus Christ, died to pay the penalty for all our sin. And His death made the way for us to be forgiven and to have eternal life. Action Plan Admit my sin and thank God for His forgiveness. Bible Verse For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 The basics (s e e contents) Bottle of cle anser Icebreaker two beanbags Bible Verse large sheet of paper, ind ex cards, tap e Story props (see p. 80) WinterB L 8 LGG.indd 77 Materials 77 7/26/12 3:47:10 PM
Winter Lesson 8 Opening Music As children come into the large-group area, play Hope in the Lord (on Media DVD or track 4 on Worship CD). Lead children in singing and doing motions (see Song Motion Chart on p. 142). This song tells us some great reasons to hope in, or trust, Jesus. We ll find out more about this today! Icebreaker Let s play a fun and quick game! Divide group into two teams, and invite teams to line up. Give first person on each team a beanbag. Let s see how quickly you can pass the beanbag to each person on your team! But in this game, you will pass it over and under. That means the first person will pass the beanbag over above his or her head and the next person will pass it under, or between his or her legs. Demonstrate with two or three volunteers. Ready? Go! Teams pass beanbags over and under until they reach the last student in each group. To play this game, you had to do the opposite of what the person in front of you did. Our Bible verse today has some opposite words in it. See if you can figure out what they are. Bible Verse (10 minutes) Ahead of time, print the words of Romans 6:23 on a large sheet of paper, leaving blank lines for six to eight key words, and tape paper to wall. Print missing words on index cards, and hide cards around the room. Our Bible verse today is missing some words! Invite several volunteers to find cards hidden around the room. Once cards have been found, open your Bible and read Romans 6:23 aloud. Invite students to tape cards in place on paper. Other students give directions to help students put words in correct places. What opposite words do you see in our Bible verse today? ( Wages / gift, sin / God, death / eternal life. ) When we do wrong things, or sin, we deserve the punishment of death. That s very serious! But because God loves us, He sent His own Son, Jesus, to make a way to forgive our sin and to give us eternal life with Him! Lead students in repeating Romans 6:23 aloud several times together. God offers us the gift of forgiveness through Jesus. TIP Greet kids as they arrive, and ask, What are some reasons people do things that are wrong? Playlist Hope in the Lord Merciful Jesus My God Will Meet All Your Needs All for Jesus Tip After the verse has been put together, lead students in repeating the verse in different ways (whispering, shouting, in high-pitched voices, in low-pitched voices, etc.). 78
Winter Lesson 8 Optional Game or Story Starter Invite 10 students to the front of the room. Select one student to stand beside you. The other nine stand against a wall, shoulder to shoulder in a line. Give the first student in line a penny. Student passes the penny behind his or her back to the next student in line, attempting to keep the penny hidden. Students continue passing the penny behind their backs down the line. When the student beside you calls out Stop! students freeze. Choose a volunteer from the students watching to guess who is holding the penny. Repeat several times, asking different students each time to guess who is holding the penny. It is fun to try to keep things hidden in a game. But in our story today, we ll find out about a man who tried to hide some things and about the GIANT trouble he caused! Music (15 minutes) When we do wrong things, we can trust Jesus to continue loving us. He will forgive our sins when we ask Him to, because He is merciful to us. Lead children in singing and doing motions for Merciful Jesus (on Media DVD or track 5 on Worship CD; see Song Motion Chart on p. 143). Being forgiven when we do wrong is our biggest need! Let s sing about how God meets ALL our needs. Lead students in singing and doing motions for My God Will Meet All Your Needs (on Media DVD or track 6 on Worship CD; see Song Motion Chart on p. 144). Because of Jesus love and forgiveness, we can live for Him! Lead students in singing and doing motions for All for Jesus (on Media DVD or track 1 on Worship CD; see Song Motion Chart on p. 139). Story Starter Wouldn t it be great if we could go back and undo the times we have done wrong things? Show Lesson 8: Do Over on Media DVD. That would be an amazing product! The truth is, Do-Overs don t exist! There is nothing we can do to completely take away the wrong things we do! But God sent Jesus to make a way to forgive our sins and make us part of His family. And that is much better than a Do-Over! In our story today, we ll find out about someone who probably really wanted a Do-Over! 79
Winter Lesson 8 Achan s Sin (15 minutes) God offers us the gift of forgiveness through Jesus. Joshua 6:18-19; 7:1-26 STORYTELLING IDEA Gather a large bag, a robe, several silver-colored items and a gold-covered item, and arrange objects in different places near the front of your storytelling area. Use the items as directed in the story. Tip God Says How many of you have ever played Simon Says? It s a simple game IF you listen carefully. If you don t listen, you are out of the game! But that s not so bad. I wish I could say that things weren t so bad for the man in today s story! His name was Achan, and he did NOT listen carefully. In today s story, you ll hear lots of things that God said to the Israelites things that God expected the people to listen to and follow. You might say that today s story is called God Says! But in THIS story, the penalty for not following what God said was... well, we ll get to that at the end of the story. Let s start at the beginning. Invite a volunteer to find and point out the locations of Jericho and Ai on the map on page 57 in What the Bible Is All About for Kids. The Instructions Achan was a soldier under the leadership of Joshua. Last week we learned that Joshua and the Israelites followed God s instructions exactly as they marched around Jericho. And God destroyed the wall of Jericho! The Israelites took over the city. But before God made the wall fall, God gave the Israelites some other very important instructions about what to do AFTER they took over the city! Listen to all the things that God said to Joshua. God said, Stay away from anything silver, gold, bronze or iron. God said, Those things should be set apart for Me. God said, Don t take any of those things. If you do, you ll be destroyed and bring trouble on Israel! God said, All the silver and gold is holy. God said, Anything that is silver, gold, bronze or iron should not be kept by any Israelite. God said, All those things should be given to the house of the Lord. What God said was pretty clear! STAY AWAY FROM, SET APART, DON T TAKE anything made from what? Kids reply, SILVER, GOLD, BRONZE OR IRON! Exactly! And Joshua made sure that all the people knew what God had said. 80 WinterB L 8 LGG.indd 80 2012 Gospel Light. Permission to photocopy granted to original purchaser only. Elementary Large Group Leader Guide 7/26/12 3:47:40 PM
One Big Problem Winter Lesson 8 But here s what happened: Achan didn t listen to what God said, and he didn t OBEY what God said! Achan did exactly what God said NOT to do! Pick up bag. He took a beautiful robe. Pick up robe and put it in bag. He took five pounds of silver. Pick up silver-colored items and put them in bag. He took a bar of gold. Pick up gold-colored item and put it in bag. And he kept them for himself! Achan hid these things under his tent, hoping no one would find out what he d done. Hide bag under a chair or table. Days later, Joshua sent some men to spy on a small city called Ai. When the spies reported back, they told Joshua that there was no need to send the entire Israelite army. Two or three thousand will be enough, they said. The city is small, and there are only a few people there. It should be easy for us to take the city. So Joshua sent about 3,000 men to Ai. But instead of taking over, the Israelites were overtaken! The men of Ai chased the Israelite soldiers out of town! Thirty-six Israelites were killed in the battle! YIKES! That s NOT what Joshua had expected. Joshua and the leaders of the people were so surprised and afraid! They tore their clothes, fell facedown on the ground and sprinkled dust on their heads. Joshua asked God WHY He had let the Israelites be defeated by such a little town! Tip Guide students to open their Bibles to Joshua 7:10-11and follow along as you read what God said to Joshua. Listen up again, because God said some more things to Joshua! God said, Get up! God said, You were defeated because the people have sinned! God said, Israel has stolen some of the things devoted to Me! God said, You cannot stand against your enemies unless you remove this sin! Then God told Joshua exactly what to do. An Unhappy Ending The next morning Joshua gathered all the Israelites together. God showed Joshua that the thief came from the tribe of Judah, so Joshua let everyone else go back to their tents. Achan could have said something, but he didn t. Then God showed Joshua which family the thief came from. Joshua told the other families to go back to their tents. Achan could have said something, but he didn t. Then God showed Joshua that Achan was the thief. Finally, Achan was forced to admit what he had done. YES! It s TRUE! I took those things! Joshua sent some men to Achan s tent. They found the things Achan had stolen, and the men brought them out. Ask a student to bring you bag from where it was hidden. Why did you disobey God and cause such trouble for all of us? Joshua sadly asked. Thirty-six people had died because of Achan s sin. Now Achan and everything that belonged to him had to be destroyed. 2012 Gospel Light. Permission to photocopy granted to original purchaser only. Elementary Large Group Leader Guide WinterB L 8 LGG.indd 81 81 7/26/12 3:48:01 PM
Winter Lesson 8 Wrap-Up God showed the Israelites that disobeying Him makes BIG trouble. Sometimes we might think that our sins are so small that they don t matter. But OUR sins can make big trouble, too. Read Romans 6:23 aloud. God offers us the gift of forgiveness through Jesus. We need help to get rid of our sin! Show cleanser. A cleanser like this claims that it can get rid of most germs. But it can t clean everything! In the same way, there is nothing we can do to completely take away the wrong things we do! But the Bible tells God s plan to forgive people s sin. God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to take the punishment for sin. But Jesus didn t stay dead! He came back to life to show that He really is God s Son and that He is able to forgive us for the wrong things we do. Provide Connecting Kids to Jesus (on CD-ROM) for small-group leaders. Encourage small-group leaders to talk with interested students about salvation. Connecting Kids to Jesus Achan was just one person, but his sin caused great trouble for all the Israelites. That s like what happened when sin became a problem for all people after the first man, Adam, broke God s rule. But the good news is that God s Son, Jesus, came to make a way to forgive us. Adam started the problem of sin, but Jesus finished it! When He died on the cross and rose again from the dead, He took the punishment for our sins. God forgives our sin and makes us part of His family when we trust in Jesus. Prayer When we do wrong things, we can admit our sins to God. Because of what Jesus has done for us, God will forgive us. You can silently talk to God about any wrong things you have done. Give students a short time to pray silently. Then lead students in prayer. Dear God, thank You for loving and forgiving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to make a way for us to be forgiven. In Jesus name, amen. Dismiss to Small Groups In your small groups, you can talk some more about God s forgiveness. It is a great thing to talk about! 82