You Want Me To Do What

Before the lesson, familiarize yourself with the Bible Story found in Joshua 6:1-5.

Bobby: Thank you! Thank you! Hello ALBAQUERQUE!! YEAAAAAAH!!! (he is wearing ear plugs)

Leader: Bobby Rockit! What’s up?

Bobby: What’s that?

Leader: I said, “What’s up!”

Bobby: I’m sorry, bayyy-buh, I don’t have a pup! I sure do wish I had a pup though. He’d be all cute and furry! I’d name him “Fiddlesticks!”

Leader: Ooookay. I didn’t say anything about a PUP Bobby, I said, “What’s up?” like “How’s it going?”

Bobby: No I haven’t been mowing! I don’t even have a lawnmower! Maybe I could teach Fiddlesticks to eat grass, but that’d probably make him sick.

Leader: (screams in Bobby’s face) Bobby HAVE YOU GONE DEAF?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?!

Bobby: Hold on a second, bayyyy-buh! I can’t here ya! I got these earplugs stuffed into my head! (pulls out the ear-plugs) What were you saying?

Leader: I was asking you what was up. Bobby, why do you have earplugs?

Bobby: That’s a good question! I don’t know!

Leader: Don’t know what?

Bobby: Why God told me to wear these earplug thingies!

Leader: God told you to wear earplugs?

Bobby: Yeah! This morning I was backstage praying for the big EXSCREAM/SUCKERPUNCH world tour coming up, and God started telling me to do some really weird stuff.

Leader: Weird stuff? Like what?

Bobby: Well, first He told me to practice some new dance moves! Like these! (dances around the stage. It looks a lot more like he’s just flailing his arms and legs around like he’s on fire.) THEN he told me to wear these earplugs! It just doesn’t make sense! I look like an idiot!

Leader: Hold on now, Bobby, just because you don’t understand what God is telling you to do doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust Him.

Bobby: But it can’t be God! God doesn’t tell people to do wacky things!

Leader: Well, sometimes God tells us to do things that don’t make sense to us at first. But, that’s where TRUST comes in. We have to TRUST God! You TRUSTED God with everything else in your life, haven’t you?

Bobby: Well…yeah…

Leader: And you TRUST God with where he’s taking your life. God has all the wisdom and power of the universe, and He uses it to bring us closer to Him So that means you have to TRUST God and know that He has a reason for everything, no matter how strange it may seem to us!

Bobby: I guess you’re right. I think I’ll go backstage, put my earplugs back in and practice my dance moves. As weird as it may sound, I still TRUST God!

Leader: That’s the right attitude to have. We’ll see you later!

Bobby: So long, kids! I’ll see you next time! I’M Bobby ROCKIT! YEAAAAAAAAAAAHH! THANK YOU, GOODNIGHT!!

Choose five boys and five girls to compete in this game. Set up the table at the opposite end of the room. Place twelve empty cans on the ground next to each team’s starting line. When you say go, the timer begins. The players grab one can and run to the table to begin stacking the cans. They do this in a relay form, one person takes one can down, the next person takes another can and stacks it on that can. They can stack them in whatever manner they like.

Tell them they have exactly sixty seconds to run this relay. The goal is to get as many cans stacked on top of each other as they can. If it falls, they have to start over. Tell them that it doesn’t matter how they stack them, but the team that has the highest stack at the end of the sixty seconds will win.

The time has come for Joshua first BIG battle as the leader of the Israelites. They have crossed over into the Promised Land and are now facing their BIGGEST challenge yet—the city of Jericho. The Bible tells us that Jericho was a city surrounded by a massive wall. The wall was so big and so thick, the people of Jericho would have chariot races on top of it. Now, that is a BIG wall!

So, Joshua was praying one day and God gave him some amazing instructions for how he was going to defeat the city of Jericho. (hold up the “Instructions from God” paper) Now, can you imagine that moment? God is about to give instructions for how to destroy this massive city with this massive wall. Joshua had to be totally excited.

Can you imagine what he must have been expecting in those instructions? If it were me, I would have expected God to say, “OK, here’s your instructions. Set four nuclear bombs at each corner of the city wall. Then, take a tank and get it ready to ram the city gate.” That would have seemed like a pretty good plan, right?

(begin to unfold the “Instructions From God” piece of paper) But, that’s not the instructions that God gave Joshua. Instead, God gave Joshua these instructions...

“March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."

Can you imagine what Joshua must have been thinking? “You want me to do WHAT? You want me to go tell this army that they are not going to fight, but instead they are going to just walk around the city once a day for six days? Then, on the seventh day walk around it seven times, blow some trumpets, and then yell real loud? THAT’S your plan?”

This plan had to seem totally crazy to Joshua. Worse than that, he was going to have to go explain this plan to the army of Israel. This was his first battle as their new leader. Now, he was going to look like a crazy person coming in with this plan.

Joshua was about to learn an EXTREME lesson about trust. He had to trust God in this plan. It didn’t make sense to him at all. He was a military leader. He was trained to fight, not march, blow trumpets and yell a lot. Joshua had to remember several things that we also need to remember...

Joshua had to trust that God had his best interest at heart. Jeremiah 29:11 teaches us, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That is something we can always trust in. God only wants what is best for me!

The second thing Joshua and we need to remember…

If we know God only wants what is best for us, then whatever He tells us to do—we can trust those instructions. God wouldn’t give Joshua instructions that would lead him into destruction. God is not like that. He doesn’t try to “fool” us or lead us the wrong direction. God only wants what is best for me, so I can trust God’s instructions.

God’s instructions didn’t seem to make much sense. After all, how could marching and blowing horns and yelling bring down a massive wall around the city? But, that is where TRUST comes in. If it made sense, then we wouldn’t really have to TRUST, right? It doesn’t take much trust if the outcome is obvious. But, even when it doesn’t make sense to OUR mind, we have to know that God knows all and sees all. We can trust Him, and we can trust His instructions—even when they don’t make sense.

(play soft music) Pray with those kids who have a hard time trusting God. Maybe it “doesn’t make sense” to them that they should “love their enemies”, or “give 10% of their money to God”, or “turn the other cheek." Pray that they will learn an EXTREME lesson in trust just like Joshua did.

1. What was today’s Big Idea? Answer: “I Will Trust In The Lord My God!”

2. What was Ban Daid afraid of in today’s video? Answer: a waterslide

3. What was the city Joshua had to conquer? Answer: Jericho

4. What made Jericho such a tough city to defeat? Answer: it was surrounded by a massive wall

5. Jericho’s walls were so thick, they often had what kind of races on top of it? Answer: chariot

6. In today’s lesson, we learned “God Only Wants What Is __________ For Me.” Answer: Best

7. In today’s lesson, we also learned “I Can Trust God’s ______________ .” Answer: Instructions

8. In today’s lesson, we also learned “Even When It Doesn’t Make ___________, I Can Trust God’s Instructions.” Answer: Sense

9. What was one of the “crazy” things God told Joshua to do in order to defeat Jericho? Answer: march around the wall, blow ram’s horn, yell loudly

10. Where was our Power Verse found? Answer: Isaiah 26:4