Aim to learn about the power of faith and the power of God

Aims
*To learn about the power of faith and the power of God

Materials
* The Beginner’s Bible
* March Round the Walls with Joshua – an action rhyme book
* Visual aids – pictures from the story
* Wooden blocks
* Spot-the-difference pictures
Key word: faith – to believe in the power of God

Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. Story
3. Discussion
4. Activities – correct order of pictures, perform actions, Tumble Tower game, spot-the difference,
watch a dvd
5. Review the aims
6. Prayer

1) Introduction
*Faith means to trust in the power of God. Who remembers the people in the Bible who trusted in God? Noah, Abraham, Joseph and Moses are some of them. Today’s story shows that great things are possible when we trust in God’s power.

2) Story
The Twelve Spies
Finally the Israelites arrived near the promised land. God told Moses to send 12 spies there. Moses picked 12 men. He told them, “Find out what the people are like. See if the land is good. Find out if the people are strong or weak.”

The men went to the new country. They came back with a lot of good fruit and said, “The land is beautiful. It is ﬁlled with plenty of food. But the people there are big and strong. If we ﬁght them, they will win for sure. ”The Israelites became afraid. “We cannot go into the country. It is too dangerous” they said.

But two of the spies, called Joshua and Caleb, said: “Be not afraid. God is with us. He has promised us this land. He will give it to us.. “But the rest of the Israelites did not listen to them, and God
became angry with his people. “The people do not have faith in me,” God said, “You shall not go into the country yet. So for the next 40 years God’s people wandered in the desert..

Rahab and the Spies
After Moses died, God gave his people a new leader. His name was Joshua. God led them into the promised land, to a city called Jericho. A large wall went around the city. Joshua sent two spies to Jericho to see what it was like there.

The king of Jericho found out that the men had come to his city. He wanted to capture them. But they went home to a woman called Rahab, and she helped them to hide on the roof. When the soldiers arrived, she said, “The spies have already gone. If you hurry, you may catch them.” So the soldiers ran off to ﬁnd them. Rahab house was located just beside the city wall. At night she let out the two men through her window with a rope. “Thank you for helping us,” they said. “When we come back, we promise to save you and your family.

The Battle of Jericho
Jericho was a strong and powerful city, but God told Joshua how he could get into the city. “March your army around Jericho with the priests blowing their horns. Do this once a day for six days. On the seventh day, have your army march around the city seven times.” Joshua did exactly as God had said.

The priests blew their trumpets. The soldiers shouted loudly as they could. Then the great walls of Jericho came tumbling down. The Israelite army rushed in and took over the city. And the two men ran into the house of Rahab. They kept their promise and helped her and her family get out of town.

3) Questions
1. How many spies did Moses send to the promised land?
2. What did they say when they returned?
3. Why was God angry?
4. How many years did God say they had to wander in the desert?
5. Who was the new leader after Moses?
6. Where did Joshua send two new spies
7. Who helped them?
8. God told Joshua how he could get into the city. What did He say?
9. What can we learn from this story?

4) Activities
* Put the pictures in the correct order and retell the story in your own words
* March Round the Walls with Joshua – Perform actions that go with the story
* Tumble Tower Game – The object of the game is to remove one block each turn from the middle or bottom of the tower and place it on top without knocking over the tower.
* Spot-the -difference – find 10 differences between the pictures. Circle them. Colour the picture
* Watch a dvd: “Joshua and the Battle of Jericho.” (Hanna-Barbera’s “The Greatest Adventure: Stories From the Bible”.

5) Review the lesson aim
*To learn about the power of faith and the power of God
According to ten of the twelve spies, conquering Canaan was impossible. Yet that is exactly what Israel did. God gave the Israelites the power to do what they could never have done by themselves. Joshua trusted God; he believed that he could do anything with God’s help. It is the same with us. If we have faith in God, we can do great things.

6) Prayer