Joshua 3
“Walk by Faith!”
Scripture: Joshua 3:1-17
Memory Verse: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
Lesson Focus: To follow God through faith!
Activities and Crafts: Coloring Page; Word search
Craft for 1st & 2nd graders: “Pop-up Promised Land paper
Introduction: Game: “Blind Man” Play a game blindfolding one of your students and asking another one to lead the child around the group. Play several games and ask the kids: “was it hard to trust the person leading you?” Why or why not?
Bible Lesson:
Bible Review:
√ What are the first 5 books of the Bible called? (The Pentateuch)
√ What 3 promises was Abraham given in the Pentateuch?
- Promise that he would become a great nations
- Promise of land
- Promise of a blessing to all of the world
√ What promise did the Israelites receive in the Pentateuch? (the promise of becoming a great nation.)
√ Who wrote the first 5 books? (Moses)
√ Name the first 5 books? (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.)
√ The book of Joshua begins what new section of the Old Testament? (The Historical books)
√ How many historical books are there in the Old Testament? (12…Begin with the book of Joshua and end with Esther.)
√ What promise (that was made to Abraham) do you think that we will see fulfilled in the book of Joshua? (The promise of the land)
The book of Joshua is the fulfillment of God keeping His promise!
Joshua 3:1
√ What facts can you get from verse 1?
- Rose early in the morning
- They moved to Acacia Grove
- Came to the Jordan River
- Stopped and stayed there
Joshua 3:2-4
√ How long did they stay there? (three days)
√ Is it easy to wait for something?
The people of Israel had been waiting since the time of Abraham for the promise that God made to them to have their own land. They now had to wait 3 days more. Even though it is hard to wait; it is a truth of Scripture that we need to wait on God and wait on His timing. We want things right away, but God does not work that way.
√ What did the officers tell the people
- Follow the Ark of the Covenant and the Priests bearing it
- Space between the Arc and the people of 2,000 cubits
- Do not come near it
√ Why where the people not to come near the ark?
So they would know which way they should go because they have not gone this way before.
They were to stay back approximately ½ mile from the Ark.
√ Is it always easy to follow? Why do you think it is hard to follow sometimes?
Bible’s view on following:
1. Jesus made it very clear that we are to follow Him. We are never in the lead.
Mark 1:17, “Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men.” When Jesus called His disciples, He called them to follow Him. To follow means to learn from and gain knowledge from their example. The disciples where to follow Jesus and learn form His life and to imitate they way He lived.
1 Peter 2:21 tells us; “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” Just as Jesus called the disciples to follow Him, He has called us to follow His example also.
2. To follow Jesus is to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. Jesus told us in:
John 16:13, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
Romans 8:14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
We are to follow Jesus and be led by the Holy Spirit!
Joshua 3:5:
√ What did Joshua tell them to do?
√ What does the word “sanctify” mean? (It means to “set apart” or “prepare.” God wants them and us to make sure that our hearts are ready to receive all that He has for us. When we have sin, it blocks us receiving the blessing of God. Sin separates us from God. We need to make sure that our lives are in “right standing” with God.
√ How do we get our hearts right?
- Accept Jesus as our Savior! (Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but he gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” Jesus paid the price for our sins and our heart is not right until it is cleansed by Him.
- Confess our sin regularly! (1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”) Sin keeps us from a relationship with God. We want to daily ask for forgiveness so that our relationship with God is not broken.
- Ask for the Holy Spirit’s filling. Again – just as we talked about before the Holy Spirit is our guide and we need His filling to follow God and to be close to God.
√ What did Joshua tell them that they would see tomorrow?
Joshua 3:6
√ What did Joshua tell the priest to do?
√ Did they obey?
Joshua 3:7
√ What did God promise Joshua? (That He would be with Joshua and would exalt him before the people. That as the people obeyed Moses they would obey Joshua.)
Joshua 3:8
God’s instructions for crossing the river:
- Priests carry the Ark of the Covenant
- Priest stand in the water with theArk
Joshua 3:9-11
Joshua’s instructions for crossing the river:
- Listen to God’s words
- Know that God is among you
- Know that God will drive out our enemies
- The Ark will go before us and we will follow
- God the Lord of all the earth will go before us
Joshua 3:12-17
Crossing Orders:
3:12 – select 12 men – one from each tribe
√ Are the 12 men told what they are going to do? √ Why did they select 12? (we will find out in chapter 4 what the 12 men will do.)
Crossing Plan: “Plan of Faith!”
√ When did the water of the Jordan river stop? (when the soles of the feet of the priest entered the water. When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and they crossed the Red sea, Moses lifted up his hands and the waters stood still in a heap (Exodus 14:21.) Here God asks the Priests to enter into the water first before He stops up the water. They had to take the step of faith first and then God worked.
√ How where the waters stopped? Joshua 3:13 & 3:16
The waters of the Jordan where cut off upstream, about 19 miles upstream. God actually created a supernatural dam.
√ Could the people of Israel see that far upstream?
The people of Israel could not see how God was working this miracle…but they could see the miracles effects.
√ What was the condition of the Jordan river at this time of the year? Joshua 3:15 (The Jordan river was usually only about 100 feet wide, except during the fall when it flooded to about 1 mile wide.)
God tells us to “walk by faith not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7
Conclusion: The story of Joshua and the people of Israel is not just a story that happened a long time ago. These where real people that had to exercise their faith in God! They had to decide if they believed God enough to follow His plan.
√ Do you trust in God?
√ Do you want to follow what God has for you?
√ Do you know how to do that?
When you go back to your classes take the time to talk about following God and how we do it.
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