Faith Quest
The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
January 2 – January 30, 2005
Creation Station
Scripture: Matthew 3:13-4:11, Mark 1:9-13 and Luke
3:21-22 and 4:1-13
Key Scripture Verses: Matthew
3:15. Jesus answered, “For now this is
how it should be, because we must do all that God wants us to do.” (CEV)
Memory Verse:
Jesus understands every weakness of ours,
because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! Hebrews 4:15 (CEV)
Offering: Hospice of
Concepts:
·
God calls us to
be baptized to show that we are God’s children.
·
The spirit of God
affirmed that Jesus was the Son of God.
·
Although human,
Jesus did not give into temptation – he was obedient to God.
·
When tempted, we
can call on God and turn to God’s word for help.
Objectives:
1. Understand that baptism
represents a pledge by parents and the congregation and any adult who is being
baptized that the life of the person being baptized will be dedicated to living
in obedience to God.
2. Know that God affirmed
Jesus as his Son with the sign of his Holy Spirit.
3. Recognize that the purity,
peacefulness and simplicity of the dove, in contrast to all the temptations
offered to Jesus, show us what is important to God.
4. Children will create a dove decorated doorknob
hanger to remind them to live in obedience of God.
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions:
1. Welcome the children and introduce
yourself. Wear your nametag. Make sure
that everyone is in the right classroom!
Children will either already have name tags on, or will get a nametag
from their shepherd. Make sure that you know everyone’s name and greet the
students individually. Remember you are interacting with a different group of
students each week that may not know you.
2. Start the “lesson time” with
prayer. Perhaps: Dear Lord, may our lives be made pure by the presence of the
Holy Spirit and may we live as you would like us to. Amen.
Bible Lesson:
1. Today’s lesson is made up of two stories told
in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
The stories are opposites. One
tells us what pleases God, and the other tells us what is selfish and not God
centered. The story of Jesus’ baptism
tells us that when Jesus was a grown man, he went to be baptized by John. You probably know that John was a man who had
moved to the wilderness and wore clothes made from camel’s hair and ate only
the food that he could gather. He had
taken himself away from unnecessary things in order to be closer to God. John was a holy man who thought that Jesus
should be baptizing him. Jesus knew that
God had planned for John to baptize him and said, “For now this is how it
should be, because we must do all that God wants us to do.” Then John agreed and obediently baptized
Jesus. After Jesus was baptized, the sky
opened up, and Holy Spirit of God came down upon him in the form of a
dove. A voice from heaven said, “You are
my own dear Son, and I am pleased with you.”
2. The second story tells us about Jesus being
tempted. After Jesus’ baptism, the Holy
Spirit led him to the desert where he was tested and tempted to be sure that he
was ready to be God’s messenger. For
forty days Jesus fasted, eating very little.
As any man would be, he was hungry, lonely and suffering from living in
the desert heat and cold with wild animals about. If you think back to the Christmas story that
we studied last month, you will remember that before Jesus’ birth his parents
were told that the Lord God would make Jesus king as his ancestor David was.
After his birth, wise men worshipped Jesus and gave him gifts that were fit for
a king. Remembering these stories, Jesus
may have been tempted to have earthly riches like all the food and power he
wanted and all the wealth that a kingdom could offer.
3. This time in the desert was right before
Jesus began his work preaching God’s word, teaching us how to live and treat
other people. Because Jesus was God’s
son, he knew he had special powers to perform miracles. But, he did not choose to use them for his
own selfish purposes. Like the dove that
came at his baptism, he remained pure, peaceful and gentle and lived a simple
life. The temptations of turning stones
into food, flying through the air or having people worship him as a king were
selfish things and Jesus answered each challenge with verses that he had
memorized from the Bible. He knew that
he should only use God’s powers to preach, teach, heal and feed others. Creating extra food, fame and power for
himself were the wrong ways to act.
Jesus said, “Don’t try to test the Lord your God.” By being loyal and obedient to God, Jesus
proved that he was prepared to serve God as minister to the world.
Application:
1. Create!
READ the Bible story (1-3 above) with expression.
2. Show the samples. Doorknob hangers will be decorated with a dove
and words or other decorations symbolic of Jesus’ life. They are to remind us as we leave our rooms
that we are to live as God’s children. The dove, a bird that is pure, simple,
peaceful and gentle will be used the represent the Holy Spirit. Show the sample (these are not to be used as
patterns) drawings
of doves and point out that there are many ways to show a dove – no particular
way is better than another.
3. Pass out scraps of colored sheet foam,
pencils and scissors. Each child should
select a colored doorknob hanger. They
should draw a dove of their choosing on a scrap of white foam. Other shapes and/or words should be drawn on
contrasting scraps and all should be cut out with scissors and arranged as
desired.
4. Steps:
Collect scissors, pencils and scraps and distribute tacky glue. Tell the children to spread a small amount of
glue on the back of each cut out shape and press it down before going on to the
next shape.
5. Clean up!
Involve everyone in cleaning up so that you will have time to share
together in the closing. You may want to have a prearranged signal for clean up
and tell them at beginning of art project what that will be - perhaps giving
them a 5 minute warning and then the final clean up notice to allow those who
need a bit more warning that they need to complete whatever they are working
on.
7. Turn out lights and lock the classroom door
when leaving. At the end of the
rotation, return samples to the Faith Quest file.
Reflection Time:
1. Ask the shepherds to pass out Journals and
pencils/markers. The children should
spend a few minutes reflecting upon the morning's lesson – What did the dove
represent at Jesus’ baptism? What tests
did Jesus struggle with? What helped him
to resist temptation? Do you think that
the temptations Jesus faced make him able to understand your problems when you
pray to him? What are some temptations
that you have?
2. At 10:40 ask the kids to close their journals
and prepare for the closing prayer.
Closing:
1. Encourage them to remember that when tempted,
we can pray to God and read our Bibles to learn how to live.
2. Tell them that their Pennies will be
given to Hospice of Wake County.
3. Say the Key Memory Verse together (see
above). You may want to have this verse printed on a banner and hung in the
room, write it on the white board in the room, or have it on slips of paper
that each child can take home.
4. Pray! Ask the children if they have any
prayer requests. Ask God to teach us through Scripture and guide and strengthen
us through prayer so that we may make the right choices in our lives. Help us to avoid temptation and obey as Jesus
did.
Teacher preparation in advance:
1. Read the scripture passage
and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Workshop.
2. Practice reading the Bible story (above) with
expression.
3. Prepare an opening prayer in case nobody
volunteers to pray.
4. Check the art room and the supply closet to
see what supplies exist.
5. Experiment with what the children will be
doing.
6. Prepare all the materials you will need for
the creation process. Have the materials
ready to go. There will be limited time
for the creation process, so do everything you can to conserve time.
7. Decide how you want to close the lesson. Prepare a prayer or ask for suggestions.
Materials:
Doorknob hangers (assorted
colors – but not white)
White Foam scraps
Pencils
Scissors
Tacky glue
