Family Worship is a devotional plan which equips your family to build upon the gospel truths your child learns Sunday in children’s church.
We include scripture, questions, and a prayer for you and your child to engage with throughout the week. It is our goal to give you tools to help model a personal worship practice for your children.
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Unit 20: Session 1
Big Picture Unit Question:
Is Jesus God or a human? Jesus is fully God and fully human.
Christ Connection:
No pilot would just jump in a plane and take off. Before they fly a plane, pilots have a special checklist—a list of important things to check to make sure the plane is safe and ready for the flight. Pilots check the engines, the fuel, the controls, and more. Every step is necessary to make sure they are prepared to fly.
John the Baptist wore simple clothes and ate simple food, but his message was very powerful. He told people to “repent,” which means to turn away from doing wrong and turn toward God. John’s message was like a checklist for our hearts. He helped people prepare and make sure their hearts were ready for Jesus—checking for anything that might get in the way of recognizing Him as the promised Messiah.
John’s message reminds us to get our hearts ready for Jesus. But no one can prepare perfectly on their own—because we all sin and do things that separate us from God. That’s why Jesus came! He died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins and rose again to give us new life if we repent and believe in Him.
John prepared the way for Jesus by calling people to repent of their sins. If we turn away from our sins and trust in Jesus, we will be saved.
Questions:
1) What did John mean when he said Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire?
When people believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of them. This is what John meant when he said Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Christians have different views on what John meant by saying Jesus would baptize by fire. Some Christians think this fire represents God’s judgment on people who keep rejecting Jesus; others believe this fire represents the Holy Spirit who appeared as flames of fire later in the New Testament. Either way, John was saying that Jesus is the most important person and that people should worship Him as their King. (John 3:36.)
2) Does baptism save us from our sins?
John said he baptized the people as a sign that they wanted to turn away from their sins. Baptism does not save us. Baptism is the outward expression of how Jesus changes our heart when we repent of our sin and follow Him. (Titus 3:5.)
3) What should our lives look like when we turn away from sin?
When we follow Jesus, there should not only be a change in our hearts, but our actions should also be different as a result. Share that our actions cannot save us, yet when God changes our hearts, He changes our desires. (1 John 2:6.)
Pray:
Dear God, thank You for sending John to help people get ready for Jesus. Help us turn away from sin and follow You with all our hearts. Amen.
Worship Video
The Apostle’s Creed
We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
