God’s Faithfulness Leads to Our Confidence

This year at Faith West we are studying the books of Joshua and Judges in a series called, Everyone Did Right in Their Own Eyes.  It is going to be incredible to see the contrast between a leader like Joshua who was faithful to the Lord and the people who were seeking their own desires.  It is our hope that by giving you the basic outline of the lesson you can follow up with your teens to see what they have learned and to help them apply those truths in their life.

Joshua 3:1-5:12

 

Spend some time in your small group listing some of the ways that God has provided for you.  Talk about how God’s provisions in that situation lead to you placing more trust in the Lord.

I.          Crossing the Raging River (Joshua 3)

A.        Organizing the Children of Israel (Joshua 3:1-6)

1.         So the first task that Joshua is given is to get the troops together to cross the raging river.

2.         What thoughts and conversations do you think the Israelites were having looking at the river and figuring out that Joshua was about to take them into that river?

B.        Consecrating themselves to God (5)

1.         The Israelites were to consecrate themselves by washing themselves, their clothes and by abstaining for sexual activity (Exodus 19:10-15)

2.         Why were they to consecrate themselves?

3.         How and when should we consecrate ourselves?

C.        Crossing the River (7-17)

1.         The Priests carrying the ark were to wade into the water.

2.         Joshua reminded them of the greatness of God.

a.         What were some of the great things God had done for them as a nation?

3.         The river was raging. (15)

4.         The priests walked in the water and the water upstream stopped and piled up into a pool while they crossed on dry land.

5.         What would be some of the lessons the Israelites would have learned from seeing the rushing Jordan River stop up and become a path of dry land?

II.        A Memorial to God’s Power (4)

A.        Joshua had selected 12 men before they crossed the river.

B.        While the priests were still in the river the 12 men went and gathered big rocks to build a monument to what God had done.

C.        Are monuments or memorials important to remembering what God has done?  What are some memorials you might have?

D.        Did you notice that in 3:7 God has promised to exalt Joshua in the sight of the nation of Israel?  In 4:14 it says that came to pass, why would that be important?

E.         In verse 3:10 Joshua said that this act of crossing the river would be a testimony to others of the greatness of God.  In 4:24 they built the monument so that others could see how great God is.  In 5:1 the other nations saw God at work and were discouraged.

F.         What role can showing the power of God at work in your life play in the world around you?

II.        Identifying themselves as God’s nation (5:1-12)

A.        The crossed the other side of the river and now they were to circumcise everyone in their nation.

B.        Obviously this would be a painful thing.

C.        What are some of the possible doubts that could have come with that command?

D.        How could the greatness of God helped to encourage them that everything would be fine?

 

Johnny Kjaer
Johnny is married to Tori. They have 4 children Leif, Tryggve, Kjirsti and Hroarr. He has been a part of the youth ministry at Faith since his internship began in 2010. He served as the Pastor of Student Ministries from 2013-2023 and now serves as the Pastor of Faith East Community Ministries. Johnny is an ACBC certified counselor. He also serves the church by directing the Lafayette Living Nativity.