Click below to download the Cornerstone Connections leader’s guide and student lesson. This week’s resources also include two lesson plans and a discussion starter video which offer different ways of looking at the topic. Each lesson plan includes opening activities, scripture passages, discussion questions, and real-life applications.
If you know how to play the game of chess, that’s amazing! There are many strategies and the game is known for taking a long time. World championships might last for days, with 90 minutes allowed for each move. But there are much shorter ways to play chess. At some tournaments all the moves must be completed in 60 minutes for Action Chess, 30 minutes for Quick Chess, and 10 minutes for Blitz Chess. For the Youth Sabbath School opening activity, use Blitz Chess. If you don’t move in that time frame, you’ve lost the game. There are actual chess timers with flags (if you want to get that involved).
If you don’t know how to play, get overview at https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Blitz-Chess. For a video of how to play.
Some people are open to instructions, while others tend to ignore instructions. Sometimes instructions are vitally important, such as how to get into a locked room you need to enter right now. If you don’t really need to get into that locked room, those instructions aren’t very important—at least not now. But want if you want to get into that locked room? Then instructions become important to you again.
Arrange the following 10 types of instructions in the order of importance to you. These can also be downloaded and printed on one sheet of paper in Word or PDF format, or you can download them as single sheets for youth to arrange with the PowerPoint, Keynote, or PDF version in a large format.
As we consider “First Things First” today, we continue the flow of the story of God’s people entering the Promised Land of Canaan. Last week the walls of Jericho miraculously came tumbling down. Everything is going great now, right? Well, first things first, as we’ll see in today’s lesson.
This is a short video clip and an idea to help you create your own video on this week’s topic, plus a few follow-up questions to spark discussion afterwards.
Create a video that relates to “First Things First.” Ask someone in advance to create follow-up questions based on this video.
Stephen Covey wrote a best-selling book for business and for life way back in 1989. Many people still consider it to be spot on. It’s called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit #3 is nearly the same at the title for this week’s lesson: “Put First Things First.” Here’s a 4:42 video about it:
There’s a downloadable file for you to illustrate the four quadrants explained in this video. You can download it in PowerPoint, Keynote, or PDF format.
These are more approaches to the same topic featured in the Teacher’s Guide, but just a different way of looking at it. Expect activities to illustrate the topic followed by some questions.
Following Instructions
BASED ON JOSHUA 8:1-29
One quart of fist-size rocks
One quart of marble-size rocks
One quart of pea-size gravel
One quart of sand
One quart of water
(If you have more than 12 youth, you might need to increase these supplies which are based on a group size of 1-12 youth.)
This week’s passage isn’t the first we’ve heard about Joshua. He’s been a central figure in the story of Israel for quite some time now. He was first Moses’ assistant, and now he is the leader of God’s people. His name means “Yahweh is salvation.” Every time people asked him for advice, or each time he spoke to the people, they were reminded that God is their salvation. Joshua was present at Mount Sinai when God gave instructions to the people, as well as when God gave instructions directly to Moses. Remember, Joshua was on Mount Sinai with Moses! Joshua received lots of instructions from God. He was the ideal person to follow Moses in leading the Israelites.
Let’s read Joshua 8:1-29 all the way through, and then we’ll return and take it a few verses at a time, discussing it one section at a time.
The paragraphs for this section can be read aloud by one person while the rest of the group follows. The eight paragraphs contain the following verses:
First, let’s read Joshua 8:1-2. Then we’ll follow up with some questions.
Let’s take a timeout from our reading and engage in an activity that illustrates the importance of good instructions—which is what God gave the Israelites after the Ai defeat and demoralization.
Engage your participants by inviting them to add items to a 1-quart, clear container. Your group will be doing two of these, but the different will be the order in which you put things into the two containers. You can have as few as one person add items to both containers, but up to six people for each container. If you have a large group of more than 12 people, you may choose to have multiple stations and replicate this simultaneously in order to include everyone. Depending on the size of your group, adjust accordingly for maximum participation.
The difference between what goes into the two clear containers is the order in which items are added. With one, start with the largest objects and gradually add smaller and smaller items (1-5). With each item, add as much as you can, gently shaking the clear container for items to settle in. When no more of that item can be added, set it aside and go to the next item. Do the same as you go through all five items. Note how much is left of each item.
For the first one, go in this order:
For the other container, start with the smaller items and gradually add larger and larger items. As with the first container, add as much of the first item as you can, then the second item, and so forth. (You can expect that less will fit into this second container.) Here is the order to add things in the second container (the exact opposite of the first container).
Let’s continue with the story, followed by more discussion questions. The next paragraph is Joshua 8:3-8.
Continue reading Joshua 8:9-13 out loud.
Let’s remind ourselves what happened next by reading aloud Joshua 8:14-17.
Read about an important turning point in the battle in Joshua 8: 18-19.
The next part reads quite differently than the previous experiences between the Israelites and the people of Ai. Let’s read Joshua 8:20-23.
Joshua 8:24-28 includes the gory and glorious details of the rest of the battle.
There’s one final verse to this story: Joshua 8:29.
Following the miraculous victory over Jericho, God’s people experienced multiple defeats fighting the small town of Ai. After dealing with their own sin in the camp (Joshua 7), and after receiving instructions from God, they followed a much different strategy than the successful one they used at Jericho and also the unsuccessful one they previously used at Ai. God gave them victory and they sacrificed to God in much the same way they had at Jericho, except God’s instructions this time included the plunder of animals and material goods be given to the Israelites.
APPLICATION
The repeated defeats of the Israelites at Ai came from sin in the Israelite camp and a failure to follow God’s instructions. Apply this to your life in two ways this week:
And then do it in a spirit of prayer and power.
Ambushed
BASED ON JOSHUA 8:1-29
When you know the end of the story, it can take away the tension, excitement, and even interest. People call it a spoiler. Here’s today’s spoiler: God’s people defeated the little town of Ai.
That’s to be expected. Ai was completely outnumbered. And the Israelites had just destroyed the large city of Jericho, with its tall, protective walls crashing to the ground—leaving the inhabitants exposed. No wonder the Israelites felt empowered, and the people of Ai must have been petrified.
Joshua 7 describes the “sin in the camp” from Achan coveting and stealing from God, and the horrible result of one man’s selfishness. Multiple defeats by the little group at Ai must have sent God’s people reeling. By the time you get to Joshua 8, God’s people have been humbled and are ready to listen to God. Funny how our attentiveness to God can increase when things don’t go well for us.
You can read the (spoiler alert) overthrow of Ai in Joshua 8. But at this time, we’re going to reverse our perspective and imagine that we are inhabitants of Ai. Let’s learn from the people of Ai so we don’t make the same mistakes they made.
As you read the story from Scripture, take the perspective of the people of Ai. Here’s the Scripture passage from Joshua 8:1-29 (NCV). Plan in advance by having four readers and have them practice together reading their four parts:
Narrator
God
Joshua
King/People of Ai
1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid or give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai. I will help you defeat the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2 You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may take all the wealth and keep it for yourselves. Now tell some of your soldiers to set up an ambush behind the city.”
3 So Joshua led his whole army toward Ai. Then he chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night. 4 Joshua gave them these orders: “Listen carefully. You must set up an ambush behind the city. Don’t go far from it, but continue to watch and be ready. 5 I and the men who are with me will march toward the city, and the men in the city will come out to fight us, just as they did before. Then we will turn and run away from them. 6 They will chase us away from the city, thinking we are running away from them as we did before. When we run away, 7 come out from your ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give you the power to win. 8 After you take the city, burn it. See to it! You have your orders.”
9 Then Joshua sent them to wait in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua stayed the night with his people. 10 Early the next morning Joshua gathered his men together. He and the older leaders of Israel led them up to Ai. 11 All of the soldiers who were with Joshua marched up to Ai and stopped in front of the city and made camp north of it. There was a valley between them and the city. 12 Then Joshua chose about five thousand men and set them in ambush in the area west of the city between Bethel and Ai. 13 So the people took their positions; the main camp was north of the city, and the other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley.
14 Now when the king of Ai saw the army of Israel, he and his people got up early the next morning and hurried out to fight them. They went out to a place east of the city, but the king did not know soldiers were waiting in ambush behind the city. 15 Joshua and all the men of Israel let the army of Ai push them back. Then they ran toward the desert. 16 The men in Ai were called to chase Joshua and his men, so they left the city and went after them. 17 All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel. The city was left open; not a man stayed to protect it.
18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold your spear toward Ai, because I will give you that city.” So Joshua held his spear toward the city of Ai. 19 When the Israelites who were in ambush saw this, they quickly came out of their hiding place and hurried toward the city. They entered the city, took control of it, and quickly set it on fire.
20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. At the same time the Israelites stopped running and turned against the men of Ai, who could not escape in any direction. 21 When Joshua and all his men saw that the army had taken control of the city and saw the smoke rising from it, they stopped running and turned to fight the men of Ai. 22 The men who were in ambush also came out of the city to help with the fight. So the men of Ai were caught between the armies of Israel. None of the enemy escaped. The Israelites fought until not one of the men of Ai was left alive, except 23 the king of Ai, and they brought him to Joshua.
24 During the fighting the army of Israel chased the men of Ai into the fields and desert and killed all of them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there. 25 All the people of Ai died that day, twelve thousand men and women. 26 Joshua had held his spear toward Ai, as a sign to destroy the city, and did not draw it back until all the people of Ai were destroyed. 27 The people of Israel kept for themselves the animals and the other things the people of Ai had owned, as the LORD had commanded Joshua to do. 28 Then Joshua burned the city of Ai and made it a pile of ruins. And it is still like that today.
29 Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king’s body down from the tree and to throw it down at the city gate. Then they covered it with a pile of rocks, which is still there today.
Participants need an open area where they can stand. Each person needs to be paired up with one other person. It doesn’t matter who that person is. Have the two partners stand back-to-back.
Instruct them to hold up both hands so one is on either side of their face, beside their ears. They will need to choose how many fingers/thumbs to hold up, from 0-10. For example, if they choose the number five, they could close one hand into a fist for the number zero and open
the other hand to show four fingers and one thumb. Alternately, they could show five by holding up two fingers on one hand and three fingers on the other hand.
Each partner secretly determines a number and how to show it on their two hands.
On the leader’s count of, “One, two, three, turn around” both partners whirl around and face each other. It then becomes a race to see which of the two will count up the total number of fingers/thumbs showing for both individuals. The person who calls out the correct sum first wins. It’s a good idea to do one practice run first so that people get an idea of what this activity is and how to do it.
Winners remain standing and those who lose sit down. If you have two or more people still standing, have the winners pair up so there are now new partners. They follow the same process of standing back-to-back, turning around, and showing the number of their choice on the leader’s count of, “One, two, three, turn around!”
Continue this elimination game until you have the turn-around count champion for the moment. If you have a small group, you can do this more than once. If you have a large group, you can probably go through the full process only one time.
For the people of Ai, we could quote the proverb, “Pride goeth before a fall.” The Bible doesn’t actually say it that way, but the message is similar. Here’s the actual proverb from the Bible, found in Proverbs 16:18 (NIV): “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” That’s indeed what happened to the inhabitants of Ai. They had readily beaten the Israelites before, so they believed they could do it again! The word “haughty” might not be common in your vocabulary. Here’s that same verse from the New Century Version: “Pride leads to destruction; a proud attitude brings ruin.”
How ironic that the Israelites probably felt proud after defeating the people of Jericho in such an overwhelming manner, and then the people of Ai could easily have developed the same false sense of security after defeating the Israelites more than once. Humility isn’t a matter of putting yourself down, but recognizing that God is the one who makes you who you are. Your reason to feel confident should come because of God, not because of yourself.
Being and/or feeling ambushed is no fun at all! The Israelites who attacked Ai might have felt ambushed when they were repeatedly defeated by this little village. The people of Ai were literally ambushed when God’s people turned to him, dealt with the sin in their own camp, and followed God’s instructions for overcoming the little town of Ai. Taking the perspective of the people of Ai, we recognize that pride does go before destruction. Feeling overconfident can easily result in being ambushed. But we don’t need to be timid. Our confidence comes from God and what God thinks of us and what God does for us; not what we do by ourselves.
APPLICATION
Remembering the overconfidence of the Israelite army, and later the people of Ai, during the week spend time with God to get centered on God’s instructions for you. You can find a compact version of this in Micah 6:8 (NIV). It contains three potent instructions. Pray through these and meditate on these instructions from God, asking him to make them a reality in your life:
Direction
BASED ON JOSHUA 8:30-35; DEUTERONOMY 27:1-8
We have access to an amazing amount of information, right at our fingertips, thanks to the internet. Do you feel sorry for people who had to live before the internet?
But filtering through content to get quality information provides today’s challenge. Just because you have information doesn’t mean it’s good information, or accurate information, or important information.
Our eagerness for information may vary, depending on our situation (see Opening Activity Option 1). As a follower of God, you have access to the Bible as a great resource of information God has shared through centuries with his people. And you can pray at any time and any place and connect directly with God. Some are frustrated when they don’t get an immediate or direct answer from God when they pray, but they may expect God to answer instantly—similar to a Google search. However, an internet search yields many results and not all contain accurate information.
After the Israelite victory at Jericho, and the eventual victory at the little town of Ai, Joshua led the Israelites in a covenant renewal ceremony. Moses, just before he died, instructed Joshua and the Israelites to do this. You can read this in Deuteronomy 27:1-8 (NCV):
1 Then Moses, along with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commands I have given you today. 2 Soon you will cross the Jordan River to go into the land the Lord your God is giving you. On that day set up some large stones and cover them with plaster. 3 When you cross over, write all the words of these teachings on them. Then you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a fertile land, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised. 4 After you have crossed the Jordan River, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and cover them with plaster. 5 Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God, but don’t use any iron tool to cut the stones; 6 build the altar of the Lord your God with stones from the field. Offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, 7 and offer fellowship offerings there, and eat them and rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 Then write clearly all the words of these teachings on the stones.”
Mount Ebal was a barren mountain. The curses for breaking the covenant were spoken there. Mount Gerazim was across from it, and it was fertile. The blessings for keeping the covenant were spoken there. While Moses had spoken these words to the Israelites before they entered Canaan, it wasn’t until they were in Canaan that they could do it at the two facing mountains. And that’s exactly what Joshua did with the Israelites after the victory over Ai. Read it in Joshua 8:30-35 (NCV):
30 Joshua built an altar for the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, as 31 Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. Joshua built the altar as it was explained in the Book of the Teachings of Moses. It was made from uncut stones; no tool was ever used on them. On that altar the Israelites offered burnt offerings to the LORD and fellowship offerings. 32 There Joshua wrote the teachings of Moses on stones for all the people of Israel to see. 33 The elders, officers, judges, and all the Israelites were there; Israelites and non-Israelites were all standing around the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord in front of the priests, the Levites who had carried the Ark. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Ebal, and half stood in front of Mount Gerizim. This was the way the LORD’s servant Moses had earlier commanded the people to be blessed.
34 Then Joshua read all the words of the teachings, the blessings and the curses, exactly as they were written in the Book of the Teachings. 35 All the Israelites were gathered together—men, women, and children—along with the non-Israelites who lived among them. Joshua read every command that Moses had given.
This could easily take more time than you have for Youth Sabbath School. You might want to combine this with a Sabbath afternoon activity or a Friday evening vespers. Or you could do it during Youth Sabbath School. There are several variations. Pick the variation(s) that will enable you to have the youth experience the value and importance of directions.
Here are simple directions for making Toll House chocolate chip cookies. You can substitute your own recipe. You will need to provide the ingredients for each set of recipes.
Here are three recipes for chocolate chip cookies:
¾ cup of brown sugar
¾ cup of white sugar
1 cup of vegetable shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 ½ cups of flour
1 bag of chocolate chips
Mix the ingredients. Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes at 375°. Let them cool a few minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.
¾ cup of brown sugar
¾ cup of white sugar
1 cup of butter or margarine (melted)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of salt
2 ½ cups of flour
1 bag of chocolate chips
Mix the ingredients. Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes at 375°. Let them cool a few minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.
Provide these ingredients, but not the recipe itself. Have the youth create their own version based on these ingredients.
1 bag of brown sugar
5 pound bag of white sugar
1 tub of vegetable shortening
1 dozen eggs
1 bottle of vanilla
1 salt shaker
1 box of baking soda
5 pound bag of flour
1 bag of chocolate chips
Mix the ingredients together, in amounts you choose, and then spoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes at 375°. Let them cool a few minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.
If you want a very challenging recipe, go for John Kanell’s French macarons. This can be found online at https://preppykitchen.com/french-macarons/ and here’s an 18:23 video of how to make these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yz78dFgjKQ. This is difficult and involved!
God gave his people instructions at various times, and had them written down and repeated multiple times. There were times when his people followed his directions, and times when they didn’t. Following the victory over the little town of Ai, Joshua led the people of Israel in a renewal of the covenant with God, including the blessings that come from following the covenant and the curses that come from breaking the covenant. We tried following simple directions when it came to making cookies. Directions are especially important for bigger things in life. And we live in a time when God’s directions are readily available to us through the Bible, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.
This week seek God’s directions for your life from three sources:
This is a bonus just for the youth leader—a quick tip and an illustration to enhance your youth leadership. You may already know this idea, have learned it through trial and error, or just need a quick reminder.
As young people differentiate themselves from their parents, they may look to you, the youth leader, as a trusted adult. That can be very helpful. But it can also backfire if the youth leader becomes merely a friend and not a leader. Some youth leaders seek affirmation and their own acceptance or identify by being a “cool youth leader.” Your identity needs to come from God’s call on you, not what young people think of you. Otherwise you’ll simply try to please the young people rather than lead them.
Here are a few resources to add to your collection as a Youth Sabbath School leader.
1. iBelieve Bible
We get a number of our videos from iBelieve Bible, but that’s not all you’ll find at https://www.ibelievebible.com.You’ll also find articles and more from youthful and creative minds in Adventism. Check it out!
2. The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture by Julian Floyd-Thomas, Stacey Floyd-Thomas, and Mark Toulouse
The thesis of this book is stated in the subtitle. Believing that all humans were made to worship, as post-Christian cultures seek to eliminate God from vocabulary, discussion, and public view, the vacuum gets filled as we worship other things. Chapters address the God-hole fillers we use, namely: body and sex, big business, entertainment, politics, sports, and science/technology. Available at www.amazon.com.
3. Qs 4 U Discussion Question Cards
Just about everyone likes to be part of a discussion, but most wait until the discussion gets going. Often you have to start with light and superficial topics until people have warmed up and start talking about the really good (and deep and important) stuff.
With Qs 4 U can help you get discussions started. With more than 75 cards in the deck, the leader might pre-select 15-20 for the group to choose at a particular time. By choosing a card, participants feel a sense of control rather than being interrogated by the leader. Each card has two questions. The participant can read both aloud and then choose one. Again, this provides more sense of control for the participant.
Be sure to give participants some time to think through answers because the questions do call for some deeper thinking. After a participant answers, open the discussion to the group. You can also have the person select another person to answer the question not yet answered on that same card. (Both questions are related, but stated slightly differently.)
You can also divide your group into sets of two partners and have one person from each group respond to the same question; then switch and have their partner answer the second question.
When discussion stops (or when the leader decides it’s time to move one), have someone pick another card and start with a new set of questions.
These are available at https://www.adventsource.org/store/youth-ministries/leadership/qs-4-u-card-set-19707.