Adventurers with Jesus: July- September 2020

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

Adventurers with Jesus (Ages 9-11) is an age-appropriate Christian quarterly lesson guide. Lesson presentations are easily taught and understood and show students how to find salvation through Jesus Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781681677347

Book preview

Lesson #1:

July 5, 2020

Proof Positive

Lesson Passage:

Matthew 11:7–19

NRSV

AS they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?

8 What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.

9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

10 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came;

14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

15 Let anyone with ears listen!

16 "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’;

19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

Today’s Lesson Story

Today, we will study a special prophet whose name was John the Baptist. We will learn that, although John looked and acted differently, he was chosen by God to tell the world about Jesus. John was not named ‘the Baptist’ because he belonged to a Baptist group but because he baptized people. We know him in the Bible as the one that would later baptize Jesus!

Today’s Bible passage begins in the region of Galilee with Jesus describing John the Baptist to a crowd of people. John’s behavior was weird. He lived by himself in the wilderness, wore clothing made of fuzzy camel hair, and often fasted (did not eat). When he did eat, he ate only locusts (crunchy bugs) and wild honey. He also screamed a lot, saying, Prepare the way for the Lord! Jesus told the people that, despite John’s behavior, he was very important to His ministry. He was anointed by God to tell the people that if they did not repent (or ask for forgiveness), they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Pharisees (religious leaders) doubted the calling of John the Baptist, so Jesus asked them who they expected to see when they went into the wilderness: a reed swayed by the wind or a man dressed in fine clothes? John the Baptist was neither of these. In the region where John preached, which was near the Jordan River, there were reeds (tall, skinny cane plants) sticking up and out of the water. The reeds were not very strong, so when the wind blew, they swayed back and forth. If John had preached like a reed in the wind, he would have been a prophet the people could not have trusted. However, John was not swayed by what the crowd wanted to hear; his message remained true. It was a message about repentance, and it never changed. John was a good man with an important mission from God.

When he taught, John the Baptist made sure his audiences knew Jesus was greater than him and he was just a messenger. His message was two-fold: (1) He was to warn the people of their sin and their need for a Savior and (2) tell his own followers to take their focus off of him and put it on Jesus, the promised Messiah for whom they had been waiting. Malachi 3:1 says God would send a messenger (John) ahead of Jesus, who would prepare His way before Jesus. The older prophets died before Jesus came to earth, but John the Baptist was blessed to walk and talk with Him. Jesus said that although John was great, all people (including us) are equally important in God’s