I choose God!

August 23, 2016August 23, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hey all! Today’s lesson is based off of Joshua 24. Last year’s lesson and craft can be found HERE.

After Moses died, God had Joshua lead His people into the promised land. They divided up all the land so that each tribe (or big family) got their own part.

When Joshua was very very old and about to die, he called the leaders together and reminded them of all God had done for them and all He had taught them.He reminded them of how many times He had saved them and fought for them. (Sometimes we don’t even KNOW God is helping us! Sometimes we forget! Maybe take a minute to think with your family about some of the great things God has done for you, or things He has taught you!)

He told them to be strong and not to be afraid. He reminded them to always love and obey God.

Lastly, in Joshua 24:15, he told the people they had to choose for themselves if they would serve God or not. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” he said.

Your mom and dad can tell you about God and about Jesus’ love and how He died for your sins. You can sing songs and your family can go to church. But YOU, in your heart, have to choose to follow God. You don’t just love God because mommy and daddy do. You have to choose in your heart to love and obey God. As you grow up, you will learn more and more what it means to follow and love God and you’ll also understand more and more how much He loves you!

And we don’t just choose to love God one day and then forget about it. (That’s what happened to the Israelites a LOT!) We choose to love God everyday…we pray…and read our Bibles…and obey what He tells us. We worship God everyday with the choices we make. But just like Joshua told the people they had to have faith of their own, you have to choose too, if you want to follow and obey God.

For our craft today, we made hearts and then added the text: “As for MY heart, I choose God!” Then we made a space to write our names and added some heart stickers.

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

The day the sun stood still

August 21, 2016August 21, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again! Today we continue in Joshua. Today’s story is from Joshua 10. Last year’s lesson and craft can be found HERE.

As the Israelites (God’s people) were moving into the promised land God was giving them, it was a pretty big place and there were a lot of cities already there. So Joshua and God’s people had to fight a lot of people to get that land. (You may ask why God would have them defeat people for THAT land instead of giving them some place where no one lived? Why all the fighting? Well…God DID give them that land a looooooong time ago. Remember way back when, when God first promised that land to Abraham? Then Isaac and Jacob? That had always been the plan–for God’s people to live there. But now that other people had taken that land, Israel had to take it back.)

Whenever they obeyed God, they would win. If they didn’t obey God, they wouldn’t win. Well, they had taken a lot of cities and made peace with several kings. (They were going to work together). One of those places with Gibeon. Gibeon and Israel were on a team now. But the king of a different city was scared! He said…”Those other people are working WITH the Israelites!” So he called 4 of the other nearby kings and said, “Maybe if we all work together…we can defeat those guys AND the Israelites!”

So the king of Gibeon asked Joshua and Israel to come help! The 5 kings all joined together to defeat Joshua, but God said, “Don’t be afraid. I will make sure you win.” So Joshua and the Israelites went ahead and they surprised the kings and other armies. It took a long time to defeat all those guys, so Joshua said, “Sun! Stand still!” (Because you can’t fight very well in the dark).

And do you know what happened?! The sun STOOD. STILL. It took FAITH (Joshua TRUSTED in God’s power) to ask God to make the sun stand still. And we know God CAN make the sun stand still because God can do…ANYTHING!

The sun stayed in the sky almost a whole extra day, until Israel had defeated all those other guys.

Joshua and his men defeated a LOT of people as they took over the promised land–because GOD fought with them. When God is for us who can stand against us? (Romans 8:31)

God doesn’t always do the things we ask…if you go outside and ask the sun to stop…it probably won’t. But that doesn’t mean God isn’t fighting for you. God has big plans for you, and just like He parted the waters for Moses, or made the sun stand still for Joshua, or even sent His own son to die for my sins and your sins, God will do GREAT things in your life if you trust Him and obey Him.

For our craft today, we made suns. We used paper plates and cut some triangles out of yellow and orange paper and attached the triangles with tape to be the sun’s rays. Then we decorated them. We used stamps and stickers today but you could use anything you want. Then we acted out the story using our suns.

Eating a snack is an important part of the process

THIS is a cartoon of today’s story posted by SharefaithSolutions.

THIS is another video posted by Kids Bible.

Thanks for joining us, love to you all!

Joshua at Jericho

August 21, 2016August 21, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hey all! Today we begin the book of Joshua. Last year’s lesson can be found HERE.

This story is from Joshua 1-5 in the Bible.

joshuajericho

If you remember, the Israelites had been wandering around the desert for 40 years on their way to the land God had promised them. It shouldn’t have taken that long, but they had disobeyed and as a consequence weren’t allowed to go there for a loooong time. Moses, their leader, had gotten very old and died and now Joshua (one of the people who DIDN’T disobey God) was in charge.

And finally…it was TIME! Time to go into the promised land!

The Israelites were getting closer to Jericho. Jericho was a strong city surrounded by a HUGE wall. So Joshua sent two men to go check out the city. They met a woman in Jericho named Rahab who helped them. She hid them from the soldiers of Jericho and asked that they would keep her and her family safe when the Israelites take over Jericho. They agreed (and they did keep their promise!) The spies returned to Joshua and they said, “YES! God has given us this land! Let’s go!”

To get to Jericho, the Israelites had to cross a river. God dried it up for them so they could cross, and then once they were across, He let the waters flow again. (Just like how they left Egypt with the parting of the red sea, their journey ended with God parting the waters for them again!) If God asks you to do something, you can be sure He will help make a way–even if it seems like a crazy idea. But walking through water wasn’t God’s only crazy idea for His people.

They soon came to Jericho. The Israelites were supposed to take over this land, but they were scared about the big wall and the big people in the city. They talked about going back to Egypt, or finding a different way to go.

But Joshua reminded the people that God had led them here and He would help them. Joshua prayed (talked) to God and God sent an angel who told him what to do.

The angel told Joshua and the people of Israel to march around the city one time for 6 days. The priests (the guys in charge of the church) were to carry trumpets and then, on the 7th day, all the people would march around the city 7 times and the priests would blow the trumpets. Then everyone would shout really loudly and the walls would fall down.

Sounds kind of funny, doesn’t it? “Just walk and then yell and blow the trumpets? Doesn’t God want us to smash the wall? Or kick it? Or shoot cannon balls at it?”

No. God wanted the people to OBEY and TRUST Him. HE would knock the wall down.

So the Israelites obeyed. They marched around the city one time for 6 days and on the 7th day, they marched around 7 times. Then Joshua told the people “Shout! God has given us this land!” The people shouted, the trumpets blasted and the walls fell down. The Israelites ran in and took over the city, defeating all the people who lived there. (Saving Rahab and her family though)

GOD is the one who knocked down the wall. He was showing the people of Israel AND of Jericho that HE is God and we know God can do….ANYTHING! Nothing is too hard for God. No matter how hard something may seem, with God all things are possible. (Matt 19:26). When God has a plan, anything is possible. We only need to TRUST Him and OBEY Him.

We watched the Veggie Tales “Josh and the Big Wall” today.

THIS is another cute video of today’s story from Little Heroes Bible Stories posted by Gold Quill. And THIS is a little video about Rahab who helped the Israeli spies.

THIS is an acapella version of “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” posted by Keith Lancaster. THIS is the same song but by Cedarmont Kids.

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

Advent-Day 13-Joshua

December 13, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all.

This month we are learning about God, God’s son Jesus and Jesus’ earthly family tree.

Today’s story is from the book of Joshua (chapters 5-6), and our lesson can be found here. Below is an abbreviated version of that story.

When it was time for the Israelites to enter the promised land, they had to get through a city called Jericho. But instead of using their big swords and fighting their way in, do you know what God told them to do? March around the city every day for 6 days and on the 7th day, march around the city 7 times, and then everybody yell and scream and blow your horns. Doesn’t that sound kind of silly?!

But it worked. The people obeyed God and the walls FELL DOWN! Sometimes God’s plan seem silly to us, be can ALWAYS trust that He knows what He’s doing.

Joshua was the commander (leader) of the Israelite army but God was HIS commander. And God leads us too. (Is 55:4) We might not always understand His plan, but we can trust Him.

When Mary and Joseph got to Bethlehem and there was no where for them to stay, then ended up staying in a barn?! Can you believe it? Baby Jesus was about to be born…and in a barn? With animals? And stinky hay? That probably seemed like a silly way for a King to be born, but God knew all along that’s the way it should be.

Bible story: Joshua

Attribute of God: Commander

Jesus’ birth story: God had a plan!

Craft:

Side one of our ornament today is a circle with a horn on it.

Our text reads: Joshua led the Israelites. God is our leader. Joshua 6, Isaiah 55:4

Side two we cut out a brain shape and then drew the squiggly brain lines

Our text reads: God knew it would happen this way. Isaiah 40

We taped a string on the inside and glued the sides together and then hung it on our family tree.

Thanks for joining us. We’ll have more tomorrow! Love to you all!

Advent-Day 11-Rahab

December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all.

This month we are learning about God, God’s son Jesus and Jesus’ earthly family tree.

The next person in the family tree is a woman named Rahab. (Story found in Joshua 2) Rahab was NOT an Israelite. She was from Jericho. (Have you heard that name before?) After Moses died, Joshua was in charge of leading the Israelites to the land God promised them. But there was a city called Jericho they had to get through. Jericho had big walls around it and seemed scary to the Israelites.

Joshua sent two spies into the city to see how many soldiers there were and to see how they should break in and take over.

The two spies were helped by a woman named Rahab. She hid them in her house and after the soldiers of Jericho found out some spies were in town, they started searching all over. When they came to Rahab’s house she said, “They came by, but they ran away that way! If you hurry, you can probably catch them!” So the soldiers took off running (but really the spies were hiding on Rahab’s roof!) She let them down with a red rope. She said “I know God has given this land to His people, the Israelites, but since I helped you, please remember my family when you come through and keep us safe!”

The spies thanked her for helping them and they promised if she put the red rope out of her window, they would keep her and her family safe.

When it came time for the Israelites to march around the city and for the walls to fall down, the Israelites made sure Rahab and her family were safe. And Rahab became the great great great grandmother of King David. God used all kinds of people in Jesus’ family tree-even people who weren’t Israelites. Because God doesn’t just love the Israelites, He loves ALL people.

Rahab gave the spies a hiding place. The Bible says God is OUR hiding place. Psalm 32:7 says, “You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” When we are scared, we can turn to God and know that He will keep us safe.

Well, after Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem (Luke 2), they started looking for a place to stay. Remember, Mary was just about to have baby Jesus and her tummy was really big and uncomfortable. So Joseph asked at every hotel and house, but because so many people were coming to Bethlehem to be counted, nobody had any beds for them. They sure could have used a hiding place! Next time we will see where they ended up sleeping that night.

Bible story: Rahab

Attribute of God: Hiding Place

Jesus’ birth story: No room to stay

Craft:

Sie one of our ornament is a red rope made from several strands of red ribbon all taped onto a circle.

Our text reads: Rahab hid the spies. God is our hiding place. Josh 2:1-21, Psalm 32:7

Side two of our ornament, we cut out another circle and wrote “no room”, then we covered it with a circle and a red slash through the middle.

Our text reads: There was no where for Mary and Joseph to stay. Luke 2

Then we taped a string on one side of the ornament and glued the sides together. Then we taped it to our “family tree” on our wall.

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

Joshua 24

August 17, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi friends. Welcome back! Today is our last day in the book of Joshua.

After Moses died, God had Joshua lead His people into the promised land, Canaan. They had to defeat all the people who lived there and they weren’t even done by the time Joshua died! Can you imagine?! It took a long time to get settled in the promised land!

But they got a lot of the land and defeated a lot of the people…as long as they obeyed God and did things His way.

The land was divided up so that each tribe (or big family…there were 12) got their own part.

When Joshua was very very old and about to die, he called the leaders together and reminded them of all God had done for them and had taught them.

He told them to be strong and not to be afraid. He reminded them to always love and obey God.

Lastly, in Joshua 24:15, he told the people they had to choose for themselves if they would serve God or not. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” he said.

You know, your mom and dad can tell you about God and about Jesus’ love and how He died for your sins. You can sing songs and your family can go to church. But YOU, in your heart, have to choose to follow God. You don’t just love God because mommy and daddy do. You have to choose in your heart to love and obey God. As you grow up, you will learn more and more what it means to follow and love God and you’ll also understand more and more how much He loves you!

But just like Joshua told the people they had to have faith of their own, you have to choose too, if you want to follow and obey God.

For our craft today, we drew a house and ourselves. (Does the house building love God? No…it just means that everyone IN the house loves God).

Thank you for joining us today. I hope today’s lesson can spark some good conversation with your kids about why you believe and maybe if/why they believe. Next time, we’ll start in to the book of Judges. Love to you all!

The sun stood still!

August 14, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi again!

Welcome back to the book of Joshua. Today’s story is from chapter 10.

So Joshua was now leading God’s people, the Israelites, through the promised land. They had to defeat a bunch of different people before they could call it “their land.” When they obeyed God, they won. When they did things their own way, they didn’t win.

One day they had a big fight, with 5 different kings and their soldiers. The 5 kings all joined together to defeat Joshua, but God said, “Don’t be afraid. I will make sure you win.” So Joshua and the Israelites went ahead and they surprised the kings and other armies. It took a long time to defeat all those guys, so Joshua said, “Sun! Stand still!” (Because you can’t fight in the dark).

And do you know what?! God made the sun stand still. The sun usually comes up up up in the morning, and then goes back down until bedtime, when the moon comes up. But this day, the sun just stayed and stayed in the sky until the Israelites had defeated ALL the other guys.

And what do you think the other kings thought when they saw that God made the sun stand still for His people? Maybe some of them started to believe in God too.

God helped His people! He made sure they won, just like He said they would. God always keeps His promises. Joshua believed God could do anything and he asked God to make the sun stand still. It’s so important that we remember God can do ANYTHING and that when we love and obey Him, He can do amazing things through us and for us.

For our craft today, we drew the people fighting and then cut out suns. We used our scissors to make a slit in our paper and then threaded the sun (which we attached to more construction paper, but you could us a popsicle stick or pipe cleaner too) through the paper so we could move the sun up and then command it to stay!

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Joshua and the Battle at Jericho

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again! And welcome to the book of Joshua.

Today’s story is from the opening 5 chapters of the book of Joshua.

Moses had died and left Joshua in charge of the Israelites (God’s chosen people). They were completing their 40 years in the desert and getting ready to enter the land God had promised them.

The Israelites had to cross a river which God dried up for them so they could cross, and then once they were across, He let the waters flow again. (Just like how the left Egypt with the parting of the red sea, their journey ended with God parting the waters for them again!)

They came to a place called Jericho. Jericho was a strong city surrounded by a HUGE wall. The Israelites were supposed to take over this land, but they were once again scared. They talked about going back to Egypt, or finding a different way to go.

Joshua reminded the people that God had led them here and He would help them. Joshua prayed (talked) to God and God sent an angel who told him what to do.

He told Joshua and the people of Israel to march around the city one time for 6 days. The priests were to carry trumpets and the ark of the covenant and on the 7th day, all the people would march around the city 7 times and the priests would blow the trumpets. Then everyone would shout really loudly and the walls would fall down.

Doesn’t that sound kind of silly?

The Israelites obeyed though. They marched around the city one time for 6 days and on the 7th day, they marched around 7 times. Then Joshua told the people “Shout! God has given us this land!” The people shouted and the walls fell down. The Israelites ran in and took over the city, defeating all the people who lived there.

It seems like a funny way for God to knock a big wall down. God didn’t tell them to use rocks, or sticks or to kick it down…He only told them to obey…and HE would knock the wall down. When they obeyed and shouted, HE knocked the wall down and gave the city to His people.

We watched the veggie tales episode “Josh and the Big Wall.”

There is also a Beginner Bible story on youtube found here. (This video does include the story of Rahab helping the Israelites which we didn’t include in our story today.)

Another great activity for this story is to act out the story with blocks and figurines. Duplos, magnet tiles, big cardboard blocks…and any little toys like happy meal toys, fisher price little people…any little characters you have at your house.