The Story
Feb 10, 2019 • Chris Reighley
The Story:
The Bible As One Continuing Story of God and His People
by Mac Lucado & Randy Frazee
The Story tells the grandest, most compelling story of all time!
God goes to great lengths to rescue lost and hurting people. That is what The Story is all about: the story of the Bible, God’s great love affair with humanity. Condensed into 31 accessible chapters, The Story sweeps you into the unfolding progression of Bible characters and events from Genesis to Revelation. Like any good story, The Story is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption—and this story’s true!
The promised land must be possessed—and the battle is both physical and spiritual. In Lesson 5, Joshua steps into leadership after Moses, leading Israel across the Jordan and into the conquest of Canaan. Jericho falls, battles rage, and tribes receive their inheritance. But the deeper story is this: God fights for His people, honors His promises, and calls for wholehearted devotion. Victory comes not by military might, but by trust in the Captain of the Lord’s army. The question is as urgent now as it was then: “Whom will you serve?”
Lesson 5 – The Battle Begins
Scripture Focus: Joshua 1–2, 6, 8, 10–11 (with allusions to chapters 3–24)
I. Joshua Takes the Lead (Joshua 1–5)
- God commissions Joshua to lead with courage (Josh. 1)
- Spies and Rahab’s faith (Josh. 2)
- Crossing the Jordan and covenant renewal (Josh. 3–5)
- Encounter with the “Captain of the Lord’s Host” (Josh. 5:13–15)
II. Battles with the Canaanites (Joshua 6–12)
- Jericho falls by God’s miraculous plan (Josh. 6)
- Ai: Sin, defeat, then victory (Josh. 7–8)
- Gibeon’s deception and Canaanite coalitions defeated (Josh. 9–10)
- List of victories throughout southern and northern Canaan (Josh. 11–12)
III. Dividing the Land (Joshua 13–22)
- Each tribe receives its inheritance
- Caleb claims Hebron, facing down the Anakim (Josh. 14)
- God’s promise to Abraham fulfilled
IV. Joshua’s Final Words (Joshua 23–24)
- A call to faithfulness and covenant renewal
- Famous declaration: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Josh. 24:15)
Application & Takeaways
- God keeps His promises—but we must obey to receive them
- Battles reveal whether we trust God’s Word or our own strength
- Spiritual courage means identifying with God—publicly and faithfully
- Faithfulness is a choice: Will we serve the gods of this age, or the LORD who saves?
As The Story puts it:
“In the Lower Story, the giants are bigger than the Israelites. In the Upper Story, God is bigger than the giants.”