One day John was standing on the rocky ground next to the Jordan River. Gathered around him were all sorts of men and women, some rich, some poor.  Many loved John and thought that God had sent him. They had left their homes and now lived with him in this hard wilderness. They pray and fast day after day, spend their time only talking and praying. John said often that the end of the world is coming soon, that God will destroy all the sinful cities and judge everyone. So every body should repent and start doing good deeds right now.

Many people taught he was the Messiah but John answered them “No, I am not the Messiah, but I promise you that there is one coming after me who is much stronger than I am. I will baptize you with water, but the one who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

One by one they came to John the Baptist. They confessed their sins to God and promised to change and John grabbed them and dunked them into the water. During that time John continued shouting to the crowd: “Repent, repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

But suddenly John stopped shouting. He saw a man coming towards him who was not like the others. He recognized him as Jesus. And John said very quietly, “Why have you come to me to be baptized? It is you who should baptize me.”

But Jesus answered him, saying, “For today it is best that I am baptized by you.” So John baptize him in the Jordan River. And all this time the followers of John watched. And the old Pharisee watched, too. They had never seen John so quiet. They wondered who the other man in the water might be.

When Jesus came up out of the water, it looked as though the heavens opened up. A white dove came down from the shy to where Jesus stood. Then a voice from the heavens say, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

John’s followers came to him and asked, “Who is that man?” And John said, “He is the Lamb of God.” From that day many John’s followers began to follow Jesus instead.

Conclusion:

The New Year is a great opportunity for people to have a new beginning. Many people make resolution like losing weight, change jobs, study something new etc.

Jesus experienced times of new beginnings in his life too. One of those times was when he was baptized. There were a couple of very important things that happened when Jesus was baptized. First of all, the Bible tells us that the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove and landed upon him. The second thing was that God spoke and said, "You are my Son. I love you and I am well-pleased with you." It was an official anointement from God made publicly.

This event marked the beginning of Jesus' ministry here on earth. Up until that time, he had not performed any miracles, and had not spoken publicly. From this new beginning, many people began to understand that Jesus was the Son of God and they began to follow him. But John the Baptist keep baptizing, gather by some of his followers, creating future confusion amoung Jesus future disciples.

Activities:

Coloring picture of John baptizes Jesus

Cross words of John baptizes Jesus / The baptism of Jesus

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