Week 252 · about 45 minutes
Joshua 24
Joshua 24 · Memory verse Joshua 24:14
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Joshua 24), the matching word search and answer key (Joshua 24 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a paper crown
Hold a paper crown. Read Joshua 24 in about four minutes, stopping at Joshua 24:14: ““Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Joshua 24?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Joshua 24 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.” 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 it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed.” Joshua 24 opens with these words: “Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their…” The line to keep is Joshua 24:14: ““Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.” Carry the word “fear” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Joshua 24:14: ““Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Joshua 24? Then try this: Read ““Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers…” 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 24. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Joshua 24:14. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Joshua 24 and write Joshua 24:14 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Joshua 24:14
““Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Joshua 24. Help us remember Joshua 24:14 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.