FAITH CHALLENGE

“This is My Dear Son” Jesus’ Birth to Baptism

Jan 5 – Feb 2, 2003

John the Baptist (Lesson B Week 1)

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12 (CEV)

Memory Verse: 1 John 3:1 (from The Message): “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are!”

Concepts:

• Jesus Christ embodies and fulfills God’s purpose in the world.
• Jesus, the Son of God, has power and authority to save us from sin.
• In Christ, God calls us to a new way of life that exhibits God’s purpose for the world.

Objectives:

The youth will learn who John the Baptist was.

The youth will learn what John the Baptist meant when he called people to “turn back to God.”

The youth will explore the elements of water, wind (Spirit), and fire and how these images are used in the Old Testament so that they can understand why John the Baptist used these images to tell people about Jesus.

Gathering Time

The Coach leads the opening routine: snack, fellowship, Prayer Wall activity, and Prayer Chain. Name tags are available.

Workshop Lesson Procedure:

Introductions (Coach):

1. The Coach reviews the timeline and the previous week’s workshop activity. Ask where the story of John the Baptist is found in the Bible. The story of John the Baptist comes from the New Testament. This is our first Faith Challenge unit from the New Testament. Point out to the youth that we are skipping pretty far ahead from the time of Judges (God judges and redeems a nation), which was the last unit studied, to the time of Jesus (God sends a son). If you are teaching youth who have not already had the “Birth of Jesus” part of this unit, you will also need to point out that the material they are studying now takes place after the material that they will study in two weeks.

2. Introduce the Guide who leads the Workshop Lesson.

Application (Guide takes over from here):

This lesson has four segments:

1. An opening discussion of John the Baptist – 5 minutes
2. A “hands on” discussion of the meaning of repentance (“turn back to God” in the CEV) – 5 minutes
3. A Bible activity to help students understand John’s use of the images of water, wind, and fire to describe the coming of Jesus - 15 minutes
4. A sand art activity to express visually the ideas John the Baptist preached – 15 minutes.

1. John the Baptist (10 minutes)

Ask the youth to turn to Matthew 3:1-12 in their Bibles. Hand out classroom Bibles to any who did not bring theirs. Ask for two volunteers to read the story: one to read verses 1-6 and the second to read verses 7-12. Ask the youth what they learned about John the Baptist from this story:

• Why was he called “the Baptist”? Because he baptized people who were sorry for their sins. He baptized them in the Jordan River.
• What was he asking people to do? To turn away from sin and to turn to God; to change the way they were living so that their lives would show that they had turned away from sin.
• When he said “someone more powerful is going to come,” who was he talking about? Jesus, the Messiah.

Ask what else they know about John the Baptist. Some might know the following from the other Gospels or from later in the Gospel of Matthew: Note: It is not necessary for students to look up these references. They are provided for the guide’s information and to document the information we know about John the Baptist.

· John was a relative of Jesus: Mary and John’s mother, Elizabeth, were related. (Luke 1:36)

• John anticipated the coming of a Messiah and wondered if Jesus was the Messiah. (Matthew 11:2-6||Luke 7:18-23)
• Jesus thought John was a great prophet, like Elijah. (Matthew 11:7-19||Luke 7:24-35)
• John was later imprisoned (Luke 3:19-20) and beheaded (Matthew 14:3-12||Mark 6:17-29).

Tell the youth that during this class they will explore John the Baptist’s call to “repent” and his use of the images of water, wind, and fire to explain the coming of Jesus.

2. Repentance (5 minutes)

Ask the youth what John meant when he said “turn back to God.”

Many answers are acceptable, but some examples are to live according to God’s laws, to live in accordance with God’s purpose, to obey God, to love God, to love one another

Ask each child to take a pie tin full of colored sand and place it in front of them. Encourage them to play with the sand, to draw designs in it with their fingers, to shape it and mount it up in different ways. Tell them that they will use this sand in an art project later in the class, so be careful not to spill it. Tell them to notice how what they do with their fingers in the sand changes the shape and appearance of the sand.

Just as our fingers leave an impression in the sand, so do our lives leave an impression in the world. What we do has an effect on the world: if we are kind to friends and strangers at school, our kindness has a positive effect on the school; if we are unfriendly or bullying at school, our meanness has a negative effect on the school. If we are generous with our time and talent and money, we can help other people who do not have as much as we have. If we are stingy with our time, talent, or money, then it hurts those who really need our help.

This is what John meant when he said “Do something to show that you have really given up your sins.” (Matthew 3:8) He was asking the people he was baptizing to change the impression they make on the world so that it is obvious from their actions that they have turned back to God.

3. Meaning of water, wind, and fire (15 minutes)

Ask the students why John the Baptist talked about being baptized with water, with the Spirit of God, and with fire. Students probably will not know—but tell them he was using images from the Old Testament that were familiar to the people who were listening. These images had certain meanings because of the Old Testament references. Use the following activity to help students understand these meanings.

• Give each student a copy of the Water, Wind and Fire in the Old Testament worksheet and the second page with Bible passages. (Attached at end of lesson)
• Allow students to read and complete the worksheet.
• Review answers with class to assure they understand the meanings that water, wind and fire had to the people who heard John the Baptist. Note: The Old Testament passages referring to creation, Noah, and the Exodus should be familiar to the class, although the Isaiah and Malachi references may not be as familiar.

4. Water, wind, and fire sand art (15 minutes)

In the remaining time, let the youth use card stock, craft glue, and craft sand to create their own images of wind, water, and fire.

1. Have the youth first sketch out a picture on the card stock. They can create an image from the John the Baptist story, from one of the Old Testament stories, or a more abstract depiction of water, wind, or fire (or all three).

2. Working with one area of the picture at a time, cover the area with a thin coating of craft glue.

3. Sprinkle the glue with craft sand and then shake the excess back into the pie tin. Make sure you shake the sand back into the tin that contains the same color you’re working with.

Encourage the youth to create simple images. These do not need to be great works of art; rather, this is intended to be a quiet, reflective activity.

After about 15 minutes, ask the youth to stop and help clean up. If anyone needs extra time, they can continue this activity at the beginning of next week’s lesson.

Closing (Coach):

1. The Coach conducts the closing prayer time.

Prayer suggestion: Lord, thank you for the gift of baptism, which makes us children of God. Whenever we fail to live as you call us to live, help us turn back to you and act in ways that show the world that we really are children of God. Amen.

2. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.

Guide preparation in advance:

1. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.

2. Post a “visual” for the timeline. (see attached)

3. Preparation instructions for this lesson plan:

· Prepare the memory verse on poster to display in class.

· Divide the craft sand into pie tins and distribute tins, pencils, card stock, and craft glue on tables. It might be helpful to cover the tables with newspaper to collect any spilled sand.

· Prepare photocopies of the Water, Wind and Fire in the Old Testament worksheet for each class member.

Supply List

· Craft sand in various shades of blue, green, red, orange, and yellow, plus white.

· Pie tins.

· Pencils.

· Craft glue.

· Bibles.

Juan de Flandes, The Baptism of Christ, c. 1508/1519

Water, Wind (or Spirit), and Fire in the Old Testament

Water, wind and fire can have the following meanings:

A. God changes what is not good

B. God creates something new

C. God helps people live according to God’s purpose

Review the chart below and decide which of the meanings for water, wind and fire applies to each Old Testament reference.

Old Testament Reference	Meaning (A,B,C) (You may use more than one meaning per reference)
God uses water to destroy everything on earth so that God can start all over again. (Noah and the flood--Genesis 6:9-18)
God uses wind and water to save people. (Parting the Red Sea--Exodus 14:21-29)
The Spirit of God moves over the water when God creates the heavens and earth. (Creation--Genesis 1:1-2)
The Spirit of God helps someone tell good news, heal broken hearts, and set people free. Isaiah 61:1
God uses fire to lead people. (Leading the Hebrews through the desert with a pillar of fire at night--Exodus 13:21)
God uses fire to purify people the way a metal worker burns impure metals out of silver and gold. Malachi 3:3

Water

Genesis 6:9-18

Noah was the only person who lived right and obeyed God. He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God knew that everyone was terribly cruel and violent. So he told Noah: Cruelty and violence have spread everywhere. Now I'm going to destroy the whole earth and all its people. Get some good lumber and build a boat. Put rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. Make it four hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof on the boat and leave a space of about eighteen inches between the roof and the sides. Make the boat three stories high and put a door on one side. I'm going to send a flood that will destroy everything that breathes! Nothing will be left alive. But I solemnly promise that you, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law will be kept safe in the boat.

Exodus 14:21- 29

Moses stretched his arm over the sea, and the LORD sent a strong east wind that blew all night until there was dry land where the water had been. The sea opened up, and the Israelites walked through on dry land with a wall of water on each side. The Egyptian chariots and cavalry went after them. But before daylight the LORD looked down at the Egyptian army from the fiery cloud and made them panic. Their chariot wheels got stuck fn, and it was hard for them to move. So the Egyptians said to one another, "Let's leave these people alone! The LORD is on their side and is fighting against us." The LORD told Moses, "Stretch your arm toward the sea--the water will cover the Egyptians and their cavalry and chariots." Moses stretched out his arm, and at daybreak the water rushed toward the Egyptians. They tried to run away, but the LORD drowned them in the sea. The water came and covered the chariots, the cavalry, and the whole Egyptian army that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them was left alive. But the sea had made a wall of water on each side of the Israelites; so they walked through on dry land.

Wind (Spirit)

Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was barren, with no form of life; it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God was moving over the water.

Isaiah 61:1

The SPIRIT of the LORD God has taken control of me! The LORD has chosen and sent me to tell the oppressed the good news, to heal the brokenhearted, and to announce freedom for prisoners and captives.

Fire

Exodus 13:21

During the day the LORD went ahead of his people in a thick cloud, and during the night he went ahead of them in a flaming FIRE. That way the LORD could lead them at all times, whether day or night.

Malachi 3:3

The LORD will PURIFY the descendants of Levi as though they were gold or silver.