Lesson: Jesus is God's Beloved Son
1. Story:
- How was your Chinese New Year? How many of you had fun with your cousins?
- In today's story, we meet Jesus’ cousin. His name is John.
- John: quite an unusual man.
- He lived in the desert
- He wore clothes made of camel’s hair
- He had a leather belt around his waist
- He ate locusts and wild honey
- One day, when John was about 31, God told him to tell the people something important:
- Stop running from God and run to Him instead
- You need to be rescued
- I have good news — the Rescuer is coming
- Make your hearts ready for Him!
- John baptised the people in the Jordan river — a sign for them to show that they wanted to follow God and begin a new life.
- The people began to wonder if John was the Savior God had promised.
- Remember the cycle of sin in the book of Judges? God always had to send a saviour to get the people out of trouble. But He had promised to send them the ultimate Saviour who would break the cycle of sin once and for all.
- But John told them “NO”.
- I am just preparing the way for the Saviour
- Someone more powerful was coming
- I am not worthy to untie his sandals
- I baptise with water; but He baptises with Holy Spirit and fire
- One day, guess who wanted to come and be baptised by John too? Jesus!
- At first, John didn’t want to baptise Jesus because he didn’t think he was worthy; Jesus should be the one baptising John! Besides Jesus had no sin to repent of!
- But Jesus wanted to be baptised — it was a prophetic act to show that one day, He will take away ALL their sins and give them His righteousness in return.
- As Jesus was in the water praying, suddenly:
- Heaven opened
- The Holy Spirit came down like a dove
- A voice came from heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
2. Lesson: Good News for today!
- Even before Jesus began his ministry or did anything to serve God, God already acknowledge 3 things:
- You are my Son
- I love You
- I am pleased with You
- Because of what Jesus did for us — take away ALL our sins and give us His righteousness in return —we can have a relationship with God as our Father.
- And we don’t have to earn His love or favour.
- He’s saying to all of you now:
- You are my son/daughter
- I love you
- I am pleased with you
- Now say it for yourself:
- I am God’s son/daughter
- He loves me
- He is pleased with me
- Let’s thank Jesus for what He has done for us!
3. Activity ideas:
a. Craft: Dove Badge
- Prepare: White card paper, medium-sized safety pins
- Trace outline of hand on paper with thumb stretched as far from other fingers as possible — forms a dove shape
- Get kids to write on dove: “I am God’s Beloved child”
- Stick the safety pin behind the dove card so kids can wear it as a badge.
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Youth Bible Study
Leader's Guide
Jesus and John the Baptist
Read Luke 3:1-22.
1. What do you know about John? (cref Matt 3:4)
He was Jesus’ cousin; He lived in the desert, wore clothes made of camel’s hair, had a leather belt around his waist, ate locusts and wild honey.
2. How did Isaiah describe John’s role as?
One who prepares the way for the Lord so that all people will see God’s salvation.
To tell people to stop running from God and run to Him instead; of their need to be rescued; and of the coming Rescuer.
3. What did John preach?
A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; symbolizing a cleansing from the false belief that you can be saved through righteous works. To prepare their hearts for a Saviour.
ie. All of us are in the same boat; all sinners in need of a Saviour
4. What did John tell the different groups of people the fruit of their change of mind (repentance) is?
Crowd: share shirt with those who have none
Tax collectors: don’t collect more than required
Soldiers: be content; don’t extort money or accuse people falsely
Fruit of repentance: realizing all of us are in the same boat, in need of a Saviour. So we don’t lord over others with our wealth, position or power.
5. The people thought John was the Rescuer/Saviour. What was John’s response?
No, he is just preparing the way for the Saviour. Someone more powerful was coming; I am not worthy to untie his sandals; I baptise with water; but He baptises with Holy Spirit and fire.
(cref Acts 19:4: “Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.")
6. What was John’s initial reaction when Jesus came to be baptised? (cref Matt 3:14-15)
John protested, saying that he needs to be baptised by Jesus instead.
7. Why did Jesus want to be baptised?
It is proper to fulfil all righteousness.
Jesus was identifying with sinners and prophetic of His death and resurrection and how all who believed could have new life and His righteousness.
Jesus’ righteousness would fulfil the requirements of the Law that the sinners could never do on their own. And when they came to Him, they would be exchanging their sin for His righteousness.
8. What happened while Jesus was in the water?
Heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. A voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Lesson:
· Even before Jesus began his ministry or did anything to serve God, God already acknowledge 3 things:
o You are my Son
o I love You
o I am pleased with You
· Because of what Jesus did for us — take away ALL our sins and give us His righteousness in return — we can have a relationship with God as our Father.
o And we don’t have to earn His love or favour; we do things as a response to God’s love, not to earn it.
o He’s saying to all of you now:
§ You are my son/daughter
§ I love you
§ I am pleased with you
Let’s thank Jesus for what He has done for us!
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