joshua

I choose God!

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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.

 

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Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

The day the sun stood still

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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.

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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

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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.

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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!

Do not be afraid

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Hello again! So last year we did an overview of Leviticus found HERE and then covered the first part of Numbers HERE.

Today, however we are just going to jump in and continue following the Israelites. This story is from Numbers 13/14. Last year’s lesson and craft on this can be found HERE.

So Moses and the Israelites had been freed from Egypt and had been given God’s rules on Mt Sinai and God was leading them to a special place He had for them. This was the land He had promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God was bringing His people back to this promised land.

As they got closer they realized this place (called Canaan) had people living there. So Moses asked 12 guys (one leader from each tribe/family) to go check it out. They were like secret spies. For 40 days (a little more than a whole month) they watched the place. They wanted to see what kind of people lived there and if food would grow well there. They wanted to know what kind of weapons the people had, or if they had a big army.

Well…when they came back to report to all the Israelites they said “Good news! It has LOTS of great food! It’s beautiful!’

“But the bad news is….those are BIG scary people! And the city walls are BIG….it’s too scary…we shouldn’t go in.”

Two of the men, Caleb and Joshua tried to remind everyone that GOD was leading them. They didn’t have to be afraid with God on their side! God was on THEIR team! God had PROMISED them this land! But the people didn’t want to trust God’s promise. Instead…they trusted their fear. They said “It doesn’t matter what God promised us!? This is too scary! We shouldn’t try to take that land.”

And they all decided to NOT obey God. God was not happy and He said “Only Caleb and Joshua (who wanted to obey) and the children will get to go in someday. The rest of you, who didn’t obey Me will never live in the promised land. The grown ups who were too scared to obey Me will be old and die before it’s time to go in to the promised land.”

And even though their trip from should have taken about two weeks….God kept the Israelites in the desert for 40 YEARS!!!

We NEVER have to be afraid to obey God. God might ask us to do some pretty scary things sometimes…but we can always know that God loves us, and protects us, and the best thing we can do is obey God, no matter what. Like Caleb and Joshua said “Do not disobey the Lord, and don’t be afraid…the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid!” (Nu 14:9)

For our craft today we used paper plates to draw a face. Then we traced our arms in a “strong position”. We cut out the arms and taped them to the face. Then we bent them in half so they could cover the eyes of the face OR be bent out to be like strong, muscle arms.

Our text reads: We never have to be afraid to obey God! Numbers 13/14

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Joshua 24

~ 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).

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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!

~ 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!

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Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Joshua and the Battle at Jericho

~ 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.

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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.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!