The Promised Land

Session 10 Session 10: The Promised Land

FOR THE The Promised Land LEADER Joshua 1–2 Joshua, whose name means “Yahweh delivered” was with Moses from the early days. A descendant of the tribe of Ephraim, Joshua was a servant to Moses. Shortly after crossing the Red Sea in their escape from Egypt, the Israelites were confronted by the Amalekites. Joshua is identified as Moses’ general and led the forces into battle. Later Joshua is seen when Moses is on the mountain talking with God (Ex. 32:17), and is one of twelve men chosen to spy in the promised land (Num. 13:8). God had chosen Joshua to become the spiritual leader of Israel following Moses’ death. After Moses died, Joshua prepared the people to cross over the Jordan River and take possession of the land God had promised Abraham many years before. God’s command was forthright and not misunderstood. Remember that Joshua had been in this land before. As one of the twelve spies, Joshua had seen not only the goodness of the land, but the enemies it presented. God knew also that Joshua had been there, so God offered one of the most quoted comforts in all of Scripture—be strong and courageous. God offered this encouragement three times in this first chapter alone. God wanted Joshua and the people to know that God was going with them and no matter what they faced, they could be strong in their resolve knowing God was there. Immediately following God’s pronouncement of His care, Joshua assembled the leaders and prepared them for the crossing. Since the nation was camped across the river from Jericho, Joshua sent two spies to observe Jericho. The spies went to Jericho where they found refuge in the house of a woman named Rahab. Men from the city saw the foreigners and alerted the king who sent messengers to Rahab to capture the men. Rahab secretly let the men down a rope from her window which was built into the walls of Jericho. Promising safety for Rahab and her family, the spies returned to Joshua and reported to him that there was no question God had handed this city over to Israel.

SESSION FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Joshua 1–2 MEMORY VERSE: Joshua 1:9 BIBLE VERSE: Isaiah 41:10 TEXT TRUTH: God is always with us. BIBLE SKILLS SPOTLIGHT: Names the 10 divisions of the Old and New Testaments. Knows some of the names of the people in the Bible. Begins to find the names of prominent Bible people in the books where their stories are recorded.

BIBLE STUDY APPLY THE TRUTH ACTIVITIES (35 MINUTES) (20 MINUTES) (20 MINUTES) ¨ Jump In: “Rahab’s House ¨ Explorer Guides: Bibles, ¨ Bible Skills: “Bible Illustration” (Slide) Explorer Guides, pens Books” (Books of the Bible ¨ Examine the Text: ¨ Review: “Review Posters), “Bible Book Bibles, “Text Truth 10” Questions” (Printables), Cards” (Printables) (Slide), red yarn, scissors paper, marker, tape ¨ Move: paper party ¨ Play the Video: Explore ¨ Tech Connect streamers, tape the Bible on Location (Optional): a device with ¨ Make: “Allergy Alert” video the LifeWay Kids app (Printables), puffed ¨ Memory Verse: rice cereal treats (pre- “Joshua 1:9” (Poster Pack) packaged), a tray or piece ¨ Prayer: Family Cards of cardboard, red licorice, plastic knives, plastic disposable food gloves ¨ Explore: none

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THE PROMISED LAND Joshua 1–2 CHRIST IN CONTEXT: The Book of Joshua is a God had promised His people the land of Canaan, but other people lived in reminder of God’s divine the land. The other people did not love God or honor Him. They worshiped provision for His people. God, false gods. as a part of His covenant relationship with the Because of his sin, Moses did not get to enter the promised land. Instead, Israelites, chose Joshua to lead the people to enter the he died on Nebo after God allowed him to see the promised land. Joshua promised land and a time of became the new leader of the Israelites. rest. Through Jesus, God has established a new covenant of God spoke to Joshua, “Get ready to cross the Jordan River. I am giving grace and forgiveness of sin you this land. I will be with you like I was with Moses. I will not leave you through faith. Jesus will one or abandon you. Be strong and courageous to obey My commands. Think day lead His people into their about My word day and night. Do not be afraid or discouraged. The Lord inheritance, an eternity with God, and an everlasting rest. your God is with you wherever you go.” The people of Israel prepared to fight the people of Jericho. This would be their first battle after they crossed the Jordan River. Joshua sent two spies to the city. The king of Jericho heard about the spies and sent soldiers to find them. But a woman named Rahab hid the spies under piles of plants on her roof. Later Rahab told the men, “I know the Lord has given you victory. Everyone is afraid. We heard how God dried up the Red Sea for you to cross. Because I have been kind to you, please save my family.” The men promised Rahab that she and everyone in her house would be saved if she tied a scarlet cord to her window. Rahab helped the men leave the city by tying a rope from her window. Her house was built into the wall of the city, so the spies were able to climb down the rope. When they left, Rahab tied the scarlet cord to her window. The spies reported to Joshua that God would give Israel the victory.

DON’T FORGET TO SEND HOME THESE FAMILY RESOURCES EACH WEEK: • “Explore the Bible at Home” (Printables) • Explore the Bible: Kids Family Cards

BIBLE STUDY (35 MINUTES) TOOLS: Need an Opening Activity? Choose one of the activities in the Activities • Jump In: “Rahab’s House section and adapt it to introduce the session. Illustration” (Slide) • Examine the Text: Bibles, JUMP IN “Text Truth 10” (Slide), red • Display the “Rahab’s House Illustration.” yarn, scissors • Ask: “What do you notice that’s interesting about some of the houses?” • Play the Video: Explore the (They are built into a wall.) Bible on Location video • Explain that in Bible times many cities were surrounded by walls because • Memory Verse: “Joshua 1:9” (Poster Pack) people from different lands often tried to conquer each other. The walls • Prayer: Family Cards helped to protect the cities from attack. • Say: “This is an illustration that shows what the walls around a city called Jericho may have looked like. Jericho was extra protected because it had TWO walls surrounding it. The Bible tells us that in Jericho there were houses built into the sides of the walls, and one person who lived in a house like this was named Rahab.” • Show the kids how the houses had flat roofs where people could go to get a cool breeze because there was no air conditioning. • Say: “After the Israelites left Egypt with Moses and wandered around in the desert for forty years, it was finally time for them to go into the land that God had promised them. Some people already lived in that land, so God’s people would have to fight for the promised land. Let’s see what happened.”

EXAMINE THE TEXT • Guide kids to open their Bible to Joshua 1. • Say: “The Book of Joshua was probably written by a man name Joshua, but we don’t know for sure if he was the one who recorded all that happened in this book. We do know he was the man that God wanted to lead the Israelites into the promised land.” • Read verses 1-3 aloud to the kids. • Say: “Moses died, and God told Joshua to get ready to take the people into the promised land. He told Joshua that He would give them the land. Joshua believed God and trusted Him.” • Tell the Bible story in your own words. A Bible story page has been provided for you to use as a guide. • Ask: “Have you ever felt afraid? Or felt like you needed some courage? God told Joshua that His people didn’t have to be afraid because God was always with them. Do you think knowing that made it easier for Joshua to have courage?” • Say: “Did you know that God also tells us to have courage because He is always with us? In fact, in the Bible God says not to be afraid hundreds of times! God knows that it’s easy for us to be scared and worried. But He wants us to trust Him because He is always with us.”

• Display the Text Truth. Read it together: God is always with us. • Explain that one way we see that God is with the two spies that Joshua sent to Jericho is because He sent Rahab to help them. • Ask: “How did Rahab help the spies?” (She hid them on her roof and then helped them escape by lowering a rope out of her window.) • Say: “The spies told Rahab to tie a scarlet cord to her window, and they would save her and her whole household on the day they came to take over the city. Rahab did as they said. She trusted God.” • Cut a piece of red yarn for each child and help them tie it to one wrist. • Say: “Today when you wear this scarlet cord on your wrist I hope it will help you remember that God is always with us.”

PLAY THE VIDEO • Play the Session 10 video. • Ask: “What special location did Joel visit? Name one of the challenges Joel faced. What did Joel learn about trusting God? How can we remember to be courageous when we obey God?”

MEMORY VERSE ¨ Bible Verse Option: The Memory Verse activity each week is focused on the monthly Memory Verse, Joshua 1:9. If your kids quickly memorize the Memory Verse, you may opt to challenge them to learn an additional weekly Bible Verse. This week’s Bible Verse is Isaiah 41:10.

• Display the “Joshua 1:9” poster. • Read the verse together a few times until the kids begin to get familiar with it. Make it fun by using a different voice each time. • Choose one child to stand with his back to the group. • Choose a volunteer to walk up to the “Joshua 1:9” poster and silently point to a word. • This time when the kids say the verse together, tell them to clap instead of saying the chosen word. • The child with his back turned to the group will then try to guess which word was left out of the verse.

PRAYER • Ask the kids to form a circle. • Say: “Today we are going to do a round of sentence prayers. Each person in the circle will say one sentence in prayer to God. If you don’t want to pray for something in particular, just pray, ‘Father, help me to be strong and courageous.’ ” • Lead the kids in prayer. • Give them Family Cards and encourage them to share today’s story with their families.

APPLY THE TRUTH (20 MINUTES) EXPLORER GUIDES TOOLS: • Explorer Guides: Bibles, • Distribute Explorer Guides and help kids find today’s pages, “The Explorer Guides, pens Promised Land.” • Review: “Review Questions” • Select a volunteer to read about “How Scarlet Is Made.” (Printables), paper, marker, • Review today’s object, “Rahab’s House.” tape • Direct kids to recall today’s Bible story as they complete the “Review • Tech Connect (Optional): a Matching.” device with the LifeWay Kids • Invite a couple of kids to take turns reading aloud the “Spotlight on app Joshua.” • Help kids to “Name That Emotion.”

REVIEW • This week’s “Review Questions” are true/false statements. • Label opposite sides of the classroom with signs that say true or false. • Lead the kids to stand in the center of the room. • As you read the true/false statements, give the kids 10 seconds to move to one side of the room, depending on whether they think the statement is true or false. • You can either play this as an elimination game or as an all-in review.

TECH CONNECT (OPTIONAL) • Prior to Small Group, download the LifeWay Kids app. Use the activity labeled “Explorer Plus” in the Explore the Bible: Kids section of the app.

ACTIVITIES (20 MINUTES)

• Select one or more of the activities to complete as time allows. MAK EXP MOV IBLE E L E B S O K R I MA L O IBL E L

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E L SPY LASER MAZE S NO FAIRY TALES, JUST Tools: paper party streamers, tape HISTORY • Turn one section of your room into a spy laser maze by Tools: “Bible Books” (Books of the Bible taping streamers from wall to wall in Posters), “Bible Book Cards” (Printables) different patterns. • Say: “Today we learned that there were spies • Display the “Bible Books” poster. in the Bible. Who can tell me why the five • Say: “You already learned that the first two spies went into Jericho?” (to check out of books of the Bible are called the books the city and see if they thought it could be

the Law. Joshua is the first book of History defeated) Bible are • Ask: in the Bible. Thirteen books in the “What did the spies come back and

called books of History. One is in the New report to Joshua?” (that God would give them Testament. Can you find it?” (Acts) victory over the people of Jericho) real • S • Explain that these books are about ay: “God was with the Israelites. And God is people and true things that actually always with us. ” real • Tell the happened. Moses and Joshua are kids that they are going to practice trace historical figures, and these books help their spy skills. Israelites. • Challenge the history of God’s people—the the kids to make it through the that are m • G ive the kids the “Bible Book Cards” aze by going over and under the laser the Old Testament History books. beams. poster to • Lead them to use the “Bible Books” order. help them put the books in the correct Option: Create any obstacle course with the them • Encourage them to shuffle and arrange in supplies and space you have. several times until they can put the books poster. the right order without referring to the

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E L E L S BUILDING JERICHO’S DREAMS S WALLS Tools: none Tools: “Allergy Alert” (Printables), puffed • Share today’s missions rice cereal treats (pre-packaged), a tray or story: ▸Noora (name changed for security piece of cardboard, red licorice, plastic knives, purposes) was a regular kid living in Syria. disposable plastic food gloves She dreamed of becoming an astronaut one day. Now, Noora is one of millions food • Give each child a set of plastic disposable of Syrian refugee children. A refugee is gloves. someone who was forced to leave their

• Guide the kids in using the puffed rice cereal country because it is no longer safe to

treats to build the wall of Jericho on the live there. In Syria, a war has been raging cardboard or tray. for more than nine years, causing many • As they build, talk about why cities like people to escape to safer parts of the Jericho had walls. world. what • Ask for volunteers to tell the story of ▸When it was no longer safe for Noora and happened when Joshua’s spies came to her family to stay in Syria, they left. At Jericho. first, they went to a refugee camp. These

• When the wall is built, cut a window in it with camps are for displaced families like

the plastic knife and lower Rahab’s scarlet Noora’s. Because of the large number cord (the red licorice) through the window. of people staying there, it was dirty and creation • Take a picture of the kids with their crowded. Noora’s little sister became sick of and then allow them to eat the walls due to lack of clean water and supplies, so Jericho. the family decided to leave again. • Lead kids to say the Text Truth: God is always ▸Noora and her family finally found a home with us. in another country where she works hard to take care of her sisters and brother. She cooks and cleans for her family. Now, Noora’s dream is to return to Syria one day. She prays for peace in her country. ▸You can pray with Noora. Pray that the God of peace will end the fighting in Syria. Pray for Christian workers who are showing God’s love to people in the refugee camps. Pray that many Syrians, like Noora, will hear the gospel. • Close by inviting at least one kid to pray for Noora and other Syrians.