Welcome back friends, I have posted yet another sermon written for the children of my church.  By all means read it and critique it.  I would love to know honest, unbiased opinions.  I will also be recording the sermon as I deliver it and hopefully will be able to post it on here.

Introduction:  (Blow the battle horn a few times.)  Are you ready for battle?  Get on your feet!  Come on!  Stand at attention!  What’s the matter with you?  Grab your armor, your shield, and your sword; let’s go!  What’s the matter?  What’s wrong?  You don’t have any armor?  You don’t have a shield?  You don’t have a SWORD?  What kind of warrior are you?  I’ll tell you what I’m going to do for you.  I’m going to get you battle ready!  First let’s work on a battle cry.  A battle cry is what warriors do to scare the enemy before a battle.  So, any time I blow the horn I want you to yell as loud as you can.  (Blow the battle horn a few more times.)  Great job warriors!  Now before I give you your armor I have make sure you’re ready.  So have a seat and we’ll get started.

We can learn a lot from the Bible and today we’re looking in the Book of Joshua.  Adult’s please help the younger kids find it.  We talked about how the Israelites received the ten commandments from God, they sent spies into the promised land and were too scared to go, and God made them wait 40 years in the desert but now it’s time to get the land He promised them.  Let’s read.  (Joshua 1:1-9)

Now, let me tell you about what’s waiting for us!  Our Leader and Lord, Jesus Christ God’s Son has given us some “Promises” too.  (Slide 1)  We’ve read a promise already.  It’s in verse 1:5.  What does it say at the bottom.  “I will not leave you nor forsake you.”  This is what God said to Joshua.  He gives this promise to us too!  Jesus said something similar in Matthew 28:20.  He said “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”.  That means no matter who we are, no matter what we do, no matter where we are; He will always be with us!  He’ll be with us whenever we need help and even when we don’t!  God is a good friend and that’s only one of the promises for us!  James 1:5 promises wisdom, Matthew 7:7 promises to provide our needs, John 14:2 states the promise of Heaven!  There are more promises than I can tell you about.  So, there are many rewards for our hard fought battles.

Now that you know what our promises are let’s move to “Preparation”(Slide 2).  Joshua had to do some preparation.  If he just marched into the land without food or water they would have died very quickly.  In verse 1:11 Joshua commands the people of Israel to make preparations.  They need to store up food and water to take with them because there were no grocery stores or fast-food restaurants back then.  However, in verse 1:8 he had them prepare something totally different.  (Joshua 1:8)  He had them prepare their souls!  This was very important because in a war a lot of people die, so if any of them died he wanted to be sure that they went to be with God.  Also, he know that God wouldn’t help them unless their souls were right.  The best way we can prepare our souls is to study the Bible, pray, and worship.  If we do that then God will equip us with his armor.  How many of you have heard of the “Armor of God”? (Slide 3)

(Ask for a helper to put the armor on.)  Well, let’s go through the armor piece by piece so you know what to expect.  Everyone turn to Ephesians 6:13-17.  (Ephesians 6:13-17)  If we seek after God in prayer, worship, and Bible study then He will give us the armor.  Now what do you do if you don’t feel like reading your Bible even though you know you should?  Let’s take a look.  (Psalm 37:4)  This verse says that if you do God’s work to make you happy then He will give you what you desire.  This doesn’t mean that He’ll give you a new bike or a game system.  There is another way to look at this verse.  God will not only give you what you desire, but He will also give you the desire itself.  He’ll help you to want what He wants.  All you have to do is go to God and ask Him!  (Have helper take off armor and then sit down.)

So, after you know what promises await you, and after you prepare, then you’re ready to “Proceed” (Slide 4)!  In Joshua 1:16 the Israelite warriors answered him.  (Joshua 1:16)  Why were they ready to do whatever Joshua told them?  The answer is back in verse 1:5b.  (Joshua 1:5b)  They weren’t afraid because they had the promise that God would be with them, and they had made all of their preparations.  So, now that we have our promises, and we know how to prepare ourselves; how do we proceed?  Jesus told us how to proceed in something called “The Great Commission”.  (Matthew 28:19-20)