Week 251 · about 45 minutes
Joshua 23
Joshua 23 · Memory verse Joshua 23:11
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Joshua 23), the matching word search and answer key (Joshua 23 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Joshua 23 in about four minutes, stopping at Joshua 23:11: “Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Joshua 23?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Joshua 23 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “After many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, ““For Yahweh has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.” Joshua 23 opens with these words: “After many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,” The line to keep is Joshua 23:11: “Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.” Carry the word “take” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Joshua 23:11: “Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Joshua 23? Then try this: Read “Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Joshua 23. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Joshua 23:11. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Joshua 23 and write Joshua 23:11 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Joshua 23:11
“Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Joshua 23. Help us remember Joshua 23:11 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.