Is Jesus the Messiah?: Week Six

We started off last week by putting on our yarmulkes and reading Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. These two verses pointed at the prophet right before Jesus that would come to share the good news. We focused on the words 'desert' and 'prepare'. We talked about how God had been silent for 400 years (aka, no prophets) right before John the Baptist showed up. John's whole purpose was to prepare everyone for Jesus.

John was this crazy guy who probably had long hair and ate locusts and wild honey and he was just a little bit "different" than everybody else. We talked about how this showed John's purpose was fulfilled ( re Luke 1:17). We also read Matthew 3:1-6 and talked about how John looked a bit like a freak, but God still used him. And what's more, his appearance played a huge part. People tend to focus on others who look "different", and John certainly did!

The big kids learned about the story of John's birth (Elizabeth getting pregnant, Zechariah's mouth being shut, etc, etc. Then we talked about John's death, and how his death might have helped to prepare the way for Jesus. We discussed that perhaps if John hadn't have died, Jesus wouldn't have had the followers he needed. Even John's death was preparation for Christ! Then we talked about the importance of being obedient to God--> God knows what he's doing, and he gave us all a purpose and we need to fulfill it.

And of course, we talked about baptism.