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Overview
God Fulfills His Promise
It had been centuries since God promised to give Abraham and his family the land of Canaan. Now the time had finally come. The Lord—accompanied by Joshua, His veteran commander—leads His people to take possession of their promised inheritance. We find in the book of Joshua powerful reminders for a people prone to forgetting—reminders of what God taught His people about Himself and what it means to be a citizen of His Kingdom.
LifeChange
LifeChange Bible studies will help you grow in Christlikeness through a life-changing encounter with God’s Word. Filled with a wealth of ideas for going deeper so you can return to this study again and again.
Features
- Cover the entire book of Joshua in 16 lessons
- Equip yourself to lead a Bible study
- Imagine the Bible’s historical world
- Study word origins and definitions
- Explore thoughtful questions on key themes
- Go deeper with optional projects
- Add your notes with extra space and wide margins
- Find the flexibility to fit the time you have
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781641580724 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The Navigators |
| Publication date: | 01/08/2019 |
| Series: | LifeChange |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 176 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
The Navigators is an interdenominational, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people "know Christ and make Him known” as they look to Him and His Word to chart their lives.
Navigators have invested their lives in people for more than seventy-five years, coming alongside them life on life to study the Bible, develop a deepening prayer life, and memorize and apply Scripture, The ultimate goal is to equip Christ followers to fulfill 2 Timothy 2:2—to teach what they have learned to others.
Today, tens of thousands of people worldwide are coming to know and grow in Jesus Christ through the various ministries of The Navigators. Internationally, more than 4,600 Navigator staff of 70 nationalities serve in more than 100 countries.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Lesson One
OVERVIEW
The Book of Joshua
You may have heard some of the exciting stories of Joshua — the crossing of the Jordan River, the battle of Jericho — but you may never have read the whole book before. You may have only a vague idea of its contents. This is the purpose of an overview: to give you a broad acquaintance with the themes and flavor of a book so that you can study each passage in light of the whole.
In this lesson you'll be reading most or all of Joshua at least once, as well as the Introduction. If you are a slow reader or if you have never used a LifeChange study guide before, you may want to take extra time for this overview. Also, be sure to look at the "How to Use This Study" section on pages 5–8.
1. Read the Introduction on pages 11–15. If you have any questions about it, write them here so that you will remember them. You can pursue answers later.
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2. Now read the whole of Joshua once. Don't stop to untangle all the details or reflect on an interesting passage. Simply try to form a first impression of what the book is about. (You might want to skim chapters 12 through 21 just enough to get the gist of what they contain.) Keep questions 3 and 4 in mind as you do so.
3. What are your first impressions of the book? (For example, is it like a sermon, a series of stories, facts and figures, a logical argument to prove a point, poetry, or more than one of these? Is it dull or exciting or both in different places? Is it easy or confusing to follow? What mood does it seem to convey — upbeat, enthusiastic, depressing, cynical, angry, joyful ...?)
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4. Repetition is a clue to the ideas an author wants to emphasize. What are some of the words, phrases, and ideas that recur in the book of Joshua?
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5. An outline or chart often helps one see a book as a whole. To make a broad outline for an overview, begin by giving a title to each chapter.
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6. Now group the chapters into larger sections. What is each of the following sections mainly about? What title would you give to each?
1:1–5:15__________________________
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6:1–12:24_________________________
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13:1–21:45________________________
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22:1–24:33________________________
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7. Finally, what would you say the book of Joshua as a whole is about? What themes (ideas that recur throughout the book) do you see? What do you think is God's purpose in giving His people this book?
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8. Your overview may have suggested issues you want to explore and questions you want to answer as you study in more depth. If so, jot them down to serve as personal objectives for the rest of your study. What do you want to understand better by the time you are finished?
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Study Skill — Application
Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture ... is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Paul also writes, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope" (Romans 15:4), and "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us" (1 Corinthians 10:11). Therefore, when you study Joshua, you should keep asking yourself, "What difference should this passage make in my life? How should it make me want to think or act? How does it encourage, warn, correct, or set me an example?" Application will require time, thought, prayer, and perhaps even discussion with another person. You may sometimes find it more productive to concentrate on one specific application, giving it careful thought and prayer, than to list several potential applications without really reflecting on them or committing yourself to them. At other times, you may want to list many implications that a passage has for your life. Then you can choose one or two of these to act or meditate upon.
9. In your first reading of Joshua, did you find any truths that are relevant to your life? If so, was there anything you would like to commit to memory, pray about, or act on? If so, write down your plans.
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For Further Study:
a. Compare the book of Joshua to the New Testament book of Acts. Acts recounts how God began to conquer the world for His kingdom, using His people as a kind of army empowered by His Spirit. Acts also pauses periodically to assess the progress made (see Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7; 9:31; 19:20). How is Joshua like and unlike Acts?
b. Compare the books of Joshua and Revelation, and the missions of Joshua and Jesus. In what ways, if any, do you think Joshua foreshadows Jesus?
For the group
This "For the Group" section and the ones in later lessons are intended to suggest ways of structuring your discussions. Feel free to select what suits your group. The main goals of this lesson are to get to know the book of Joshua as a whole and the people with whom you are going to study it.
Worship. Some groups like to begin with prayer and/or singing. Some share requests for prayer at the beginning but leave the actual prayer until after the study. Others prefer just to chat and have refreshments for a while, then open the study with a brief prayer for the Holy Spirit's guidance, and leave worship and prayer until the end.
Warm-up. The beginning of a new study is a good time to lay a foundation for honest sharing of ideas to get comfortable with each other, and to encourage a sense of common purpose. One way to establish common ground is to talk about what each person hopes to get out of your study of Joshua, and out of any prayer, singing, sharing, outreach, or anything else you might do together. You can also share what you hope to give as well as get. If you have someone write down each member's hopes and expectations, then you can look back at these goals later to see if they are being met. Goal-setting at the beginning can also help you avoid confusion when one person thinks the main point of the group is to learn the Scripture, while another thinks it is to support each other in daily Christian life, and another thinks prayer or outreach is the chief business.
How to Use This Study. Advise group members to read the "How to Use This Study" section on pages 5–8 if they have not already done so. You might go over important points that you think the group should especially notice. For example, point out the optional questions in the margins. These are available as group discussion questions, ideas for application, and suggestions for further study. It is unlikely that anyone will have the time or desire to answer all the optional questions and do all the applications. A person might do one "Optional Application" for any given lesson. You might choose one or two "For Thought and Discussions" for your group discussion, or you might spend all your time on the numbered questions. If someone wants to write answers to the optional questions, suggest that he use a separate notebook. It will also be helpful for discussion notes, prayer requests, answers to prayers, application plans, and so on.
Invite everyone to ask questions about the "How to Use This Study" section.
Overview. Ideally, everyone should have read the whole book of Joshua and the Introduction before you meet together. However, some may not have done so, and others may not retain much of what they read quickly. So, ask a few questions to draw out the main points of the Introduction, such as:
1. What do you remember of Israel's history up to the point where the book of Joshua picks it up?
2. What do you know about Joshua the man?
3. Who are the main characters in the book? Who do you think is the main character? Why?
4. What is "prophetic history"? How is it helpful for you to know that Joshua is a prophetic book?
You may have to explain that Joshua is not necessarily prophetic in the sense of foretelling the future (although some people think it foreshadows Christ's work) but it is prophetic in the sense of interpreting history from a prophet's perspective. That is, the story is told with a focus on God.
Now go on to lesson 1. Let group members share their first impressions of the book. Together, make a list of repeated words. What do they tell you about the ideas the author wanted to emphasize?
Compare your titles for each chapter and each larger section to those in some commentaries, study Bibles, or handbooks. What similarities and differences do you see? Which approach do you find most helpful? Irving Jensen offers the following titles for four main divisions of the book:1
Preparation (1:1–5:15)
Conquest (6:1–12:24)
Inheritances (13:1–22:9)
Consecration (22:10–24:33)
What do you think of this view?
Next, make a list of the themes you can trace throughout the book. Try to come up with a clear concise statement of what the book of Joshua is about, and another clear statement of what its purpose in the Bible might be.
Let everyone share questions he or she has about the book. Come back to them at the end to see if you have answered all of them.
Don't spend a lot of time on application in this lesson. Later lessons will attempt to guide those who are unsure how to apply Scripture to their lives. However, to give everyone something to think about, do share any ways you did find Joshua relevant to your lives.
Wrap-up. Briefly tell the group what to expect in lesson 2. Whet everyone's appetite, and ask the group to think about any optional questions that you plan to discuss.
Worship. Many groups like to end with singing and/or prayer. This can include songs or prayers that respond to what you've learned in Bible study, or prayers for specific needs of group members.
Some people are shy about sharing personal needs or praying aloud in groups, especially before they know the other people well. If this is true of your group, then a song and/or some silent prayer and a short closing prayer spoken by the leader might be an appropriate ending.
For instance, thank God for giving you this account of Israel's conquest of the land God had promised to give them. Thank Him for what it reveals about His nature and the whole story of His molding of a people for Himself. Thank Him for the opportunity to study His Word together.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Joshua"
by .
Copyright © 2013 The Navigators.
Excerpted by permission of NavPress.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction -
What Is Joshua?Lesson 1: The Book of Joshua (Overview)
Lesson 2: Marching Orders
Lesson 3: Reconnaissance in Jericho
Lesson 4: Jordan Crossing
Lesson 5: Final Preparations
Lesson 6: Jericho
Lesson 7: Trouble Valley
Lesson 8: Covenant Restored
Lesson 9: Gibeon's Deception
Lesson 10: God Fights for Israel
Lesson 11: Inheritances
Lesson 12: God's Provisions
Lesson 13: East and West
Lesson 14: To the Future
Lesson 15: Covenant Renewal
Lesson 16: Review Study Aids