Joshua 2

Wasilla Bible Church

Joshua 2

September 4, 2024 • Joshua 2

One of the take aways we want the students is to notice how little information Rahab had and needed to have faith in God, but yet believes and later is mentioned in the book of Hebrews as a faithful believer and takes part in the lineage of Jesus. Therefore, we do not need to be intimidated by our concerns of not having enough biblical knowledge to share with others and bring them to Christ.

The flip side of this is we ought to be thankful for the blessing of the biblical knowledge we have and have access to. Having the access we have to the word of God is not the stand throughout world history and there are even still groups of people in the world that do not have access to the entirety of scripture as we do. For example in the Philippines, where we have a new Acts 29 partnership, there are many peoples who have yet to get full access to scripture in their primary language.

The Moro Joloano Tausug People (1.4 million) – New Testament completed in 2018 but entire bible has yet to be fully translated

The Yakan People (207,000) – New testament was completed in 2019 but the entire bible is yet to be completed

Iranun People (287,000) – Have portions of scripture but yet to have a complete the old or new testament.

We truly are extremely blessed to have full access to the word of God.

One of the discussions that might come up is if it was the right thing for Rahab to do to tell a lie. There are many people who have looked deeply into this and there is still differing opinion so it is very unlikely that we will come to the bottom of it in the hour or so of discussion that we will have this week. Therefore we want to challenge the students to further look it up on their time while giving them the following context and advice. It is fundamentally wrong to believe that the word and honor of God is protected by the works of man. Belief that God cannot accomplish his tasks without you or me is a very flawed and unbiblical position which leads one down dangerous roads of compromise. No matter what Rahab said to the servants of the king, God was going to accomplish what he set out to do lie or truth.

Also the story of Rahab ought to be an encouragement to all of us because she is the ultimate example of making the choice to follow God overcoming all the failures and sins she had committed in the past. We might have made bad choices in the past or be stuck in current sins and moral failings but there is the ever-lingering question of whom will trust my life and faith and that question demands an answer. If we choose to put our lives in the hands of God, then he can overcome all the things that we have holding us back from following Gods will for our lives. Rahab did not have to jump through a ton of hoops before she was able to be a part of Gods plan, she just had to believe. We don’t need to practice self-deprecation, focusing on all the things that may be wrong with ourselves or lives, but we need to be living in the hope and promises that comes with being a follower of Christ.

Joshua 23 & 24

December 11, 2024 • Joshua 23, Joshua 24

A few weeks ago, we took some time to reflect on the ways God has revealed Himself to us in the past, and this week’s focus is somewhat similar. In Joshua 23, much time has passed, and we find ourselves at a point where Joshua knows his time is nearing its end. He wants to solidify Israel’s faith and ensure that he finishes well in his role as their leader. In this chapter, Joshua reminds the people of who God is, emphasizes His promises to Israel, and ensures that they have an accurate understanding and representation of God. In chapter 24, Joshua delivers a long monologue recounting everything God has accomplished—from the exodus from Egypt to the present time. He does this not only to thank God for His works, as we did a few weeks ago, but also to clarify who he means when he refers to God. Joshua makes it clear that God is not defined by what we say about Him but by who He says He is. To add to or take away from God’s attributes or actions is to misrepresent Him. For example, one cannot claim to believe in the Jesus of the Bible while denying that He physically rose from the dead. After clearly defining who God is, Joshua challenges the people to make a choice: not only to believe and trust in God but also to make Him their Lord and serve Him alone. Similarly, we, like the people of Israel, must decide whether we will make Jesus not only our Savior but also our Lord—serving Him exclusively. Please take time to ask the students: Do they understand that being a Christian means more than simply believing the Bible as a set of facts? Encourage them to compare and contrast the difference between merely believing something and becoming a servant of it. Challenge them to go beyond belief and choose to be servants of Jesus Christ.

Joshua 13 & 14

November 13, 2024 • Joshua 13:8–33, Joshua 14

Over the past few weeks, we have been talking about the ways that God has kept his promises and how we can trust him to do so in the future. Here we see a continuation of that theme, and we see how we might have to wait a significant amount of time for God’s fulfilled word. Also, we see that God does not always bless people in the order of their obedience. If you were to go back to when the people of Israel were in the wilderness (Numbers Ch 13-14) Moses sent out twelve spies to spy out the land. Ten of the spies came back and told Moses that they were fearful of the people in the land and did not believe that they could take the land, but there were two spies that believed that they could. The two spies that believed were Caleb and Joshua, who trusted in God’s promise, and are now conversing in chapter 14. Caleb fully believed God and was going to see things through and be true to his word and despite this he ended up being one of the last people to receive the blessing of land. This is something that we might feel uncomfortable with because we normally believe that the people who are the most faithful should be the first to receive blessings. As unfair as we might believe this to be it is something comforting to us. The good things that happen to us are not indicators of our faithfulness to God, because if they were then God hated the Apostle Paul (2 Cor 11:21-29). Therefore, we should look to God’s word as the standard of our obedience to God. This week the main goal will be to encourage the students to continue devoting their lives to God despite seeing others receiving good that they might feel they deserve. God will honor their faithfulness in his way at his timing.

Joshua 12

November 6, 2024 • Joshua 12, Joshua 13:1–7

In C.S. Lewis book “Out of the Silent Planet” he writes about a man traveling to another world and meeting many different peoples and creatures. All the groups that he meets have very unique cultures that the main character finds very different from those of earth. One of these groups sets an age cut off for some of the enjoyable activities they do and the reason for that is very interesting. They say they stop because that is the only way that they could bring about a completion of the joy of doing the activity itself. They believe that it is necessary to look back on and remember good things for the joy of them to be competed. This in a way is what we see here in this chapter. Joshua is looking back at what God has done and the land that he has given the people over the past few years. Likewise, we ought to look back on the good things that God has done in our lives and the lives of others around us and remember them. It is very easy to get caught up in all of life’s troubles so we must have times of reflection where we take account of the victories God has wrought in our lives. Therefore, please set aside time to go through the word doc attached to this lesson.