Truth: The Bible is about the promise of an inheritance in God’s kingdom. The Bible is made up of sixty-six books, but it is one story. It is the true story of humanity, of the world, and of God’s great redemption. We will only understand the book of Joshua and its relevance for our lives if we understand the full picture of the Bible. What we have in Joshua is a model for inheriting God’s kingdom.

Response: Spend time this week understanding the full, grand story of the Bible. Look for specific instances that show the promise of inheritance for God’s people. Look for opportunities to share the story of the Bible, and Christ, with someone this week.

Truth: You inherit the kingdom by trusting God’s promise. Joshua shows us that God always keeps His promise. This is not a story about what the people did for themselves. This is a story of what God did, gave, and accomplished for His people – a story of a God who fights for His people.

Response: How do you think of your salvation and your inheritance in God’s kingdom? Do you look at it as rescuing yourself from sin and thus saving yourself from hell? Or, are you thankful for a God who did what you never could do in living a perfect life and defeating sin at the cross? Repent of any reliance on your own effort. Trust in Jesus and his work alone.

Truth: You inherit the kingdom by following God’s leader. Joshua is the one who leads God’s people into the land. Joshua is the Hebrew name that we translate in English as Jesus. God intended for us to see Joshua as a model for the One who would ultimately lead His people to inherit the kingdom. We often compare ourselves to Joshua but are not primarily Joshua in this story. We are the people who follow God’s leader, Jesus, into the land.

Response: Who are you following? Yourself? Your heart? A political leader? Maybe you made a decision for Christ in your past, because you were afraid of hell, but you’ve never entrusted your life to Christ. You’re on a path that leads to destruction. Give your life to Jesus today. He is the only Leader sent by God to give you an inheritance in the kingdom of Heaven.

Family Response

Truth:  I love the start of this series on Joshua for the same reason I love our curriculum, The Gospel Project.  Right from the start it declares to our kids that Old Testament Scripture is more than exciting stories; Old Testament Scripture is God’s story of the coming Savior, King Jesus.  Luke 24:27 declares: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

Response:  Enjoy the amazing true stories of God’s power and provision recorded in Old Testament Scripture.  Continue the conversation from your children’s Community Group lessons; they’ll continue building their way through the Old Testament for the next year.  You can use the LifeWay Kids app to access Lite versions of each quarterly volume, the take-home journal page, the Big Picture cards, or the weekly schedule from the monthly newsletter to follow along and extend discussions.

Response:  Remember to make God the hero.  Some of the stories of the Old Testament are so extraordinary it’s easy to stop with the heroes and heroines acting out their special parts assigned by God, but God is always the true Hero of the story.  Make much of those who are used by God to do amazing things but make the most of the God who leads them.

Prepare for Sunday, April 28, 2019