Leader Guide

Teaching

For each of the four Signposts, select a different child to come up and pull the correct craft stick in sequential order, 1–4, out of the water. He/she will then read aloud the text on the craft stick and hand it to you. Discuss each Signpost, using the information below. Additional material is included for Grades 4–6 to look up and discuss.

John’s assignment from God was to prepare the way for Jesus, the coming Messiah, as we saw in our Signposts video today. Let’s discuss these events together.

Hold the cup low enough so children can see the sticks inside. Can you see what is drawn at the top of the sticks? Faces, numbers.

Does anyone have an idea why the sticks with faces are in the water? If a hint is needed, ask: What did John the Baptist do?

The sticks with faces represent how John baptized others, including Jesus, in the Jordan River.

Signpost 1   The King is coming!

John quoted the Old Testament book of Isaiah about a messenger who would clear the way for the Lord. John knew he was that messenger! In the video, we learned that workers were sent ahead of a king to clear the road for his journey. John prepared others to receive Jesus, the king, by calling people to repent of their sins and to be baptized in water. This helped prepare the way for people to follow Jesus and obey His teaching. John understood that he was only the messenger, and that the coming King is far greater than he was.

OPTIONAL VERSES FOR GRADES 4–6 FOR DISCUSSION 

Isaiah 40:3–5

³ Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! ⁴ Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. ⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!”

Luke 3:16

John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I'm not even worthy to be His slave and untie the straps of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Signpost 2   The King is here!

The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned; we have all fallen short of God’s standard—which is to be perfect! And the punishment for sin is death! So God sent His Son—who was perfect and sinless—to take the punishment for our sins.

After John baptized Jesus, God spoke from heaven saying Jesus is His beloved Son. John’s disciples asked Jesus if He was the Messiah they were waiting for. Jesus sent them back to John to tell him that Jesus indeed was and had done many miracles to set people free.

OPTIONAL VERSES FOR GRADES 4–6 FOR DISCUSSION  

Isaiah 40:1–2a

¹ “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. ² “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned.”

Matthew 3:16–17

¹⁶ After His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on Him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy.”

Matthew 11:2–6

² John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, ³ “Are You the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” ⁴ Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen — ⁵ the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. ⁶  And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do not turn away because of Me.’”

Signpost 3   Both deaths foretold!

In the very last two verses of the Old Testament, the Prophet Micah predicted that another prophet, like Elijah in the Old Testament, would come. Jesus said that John the Baptist was that prophet! Jesus said that the people did not recognize John as that prophet, and that John would be mistreated and killed. Jesus also predicted His own death, too.

John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. When Jesus went under the water, it represented His death. When He was raised up from the water, it represented His resurrection from the dead—coming out of the grave and back to life. Because Jesus came back to life, He conquered sin and death for all of us!   

OPTIONAL VERSES FOR GRADES 4–6 FOR DISCUSSION  

Malachi 4:5–6

⁵ “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. ⁶ His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

Matthew 17:10–13

¹⁰ Then His disciples asked Him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?” ¹¹ Jesus replied, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. ¹² But I tell you, Elijah has already come, but he wasn’t recognized, and they chose to abuse him. And in the same way they will also make the Son of Man suffer.” ¹³ Then the disciples realized He was talking about John the Baptist.

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Signpost 4   Believe and prepare others.

John lived a life of truth and called people to repent of their sins because the Kingdom of God was near. He had a very important job to prepare the way for Jesus, the Messiah.

We have a great opportunity to believe in Jesus, and to ask Him to forgive us and to be our Lord and Savior. We want to live a life of truth that will point others to Christ and prepare the way for them to follow Him. And right now, Jesus is preparing a place for all of us to live with Him forever in heaven!

OPTIONAL VERSES FOR GRADES 4–6 FOR DISCUSSION   

Matthew 3:1–2

¹ In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, ² “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."

John 14:1–3

¹ “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. ² There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? ³ When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”

Matthew 5:16

“In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

Hold up the sticks with faces toward the children. John’s entire life pointed to Jesus. He baptized people in water to prepare them for the coming of Jesus, the Savior of the world.   

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Our goal as followers of Christ is to become more like Him—that is how we can become great in God’s Kingdom! When we have more of Christ in our lives, we can do greater things for God. We want others not to see us but to see more of Jesus. God gives each of us His Holy Spirit so that He can produce God’s characteristics or fruit in our lives. Galatians 5:22–23 lists nine fruit of the Spirit.

Who can name the first six fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness.

Last time, we talked about patience, kindness and goodness. Did any of you pray about being patient, kind and good in the past few days? What happened when you did? Give children a chance to share their experiences.

Your Discipleship Challenge for the coming week is to think and pray about the last three fruit—faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.    

Faithfulness means that you can be counted on and trusted to do the right thing. What is the opposite of faithfulness? I’ll slide the scale of the Fruit of the Spirit craft to see. Slide to unfaithfulness. This is when someone can’t be trusted or counted on.

The next fruit is gentleness, which is to be humble and meek. It doesn’t mean being weak, but rather being strong in Christ and showing His love toward others. What’s the opposite of gentleness? Slide scale to rudeness. Rudeness is the opposite of gentleness. Rudeness is being offensive and pushy. Being rude is acting selfishly and not caring about the feelings of others. This is certainly not how we should act when we are called to be like Jesus and serve others!  

The last fruit is self-control. This means keeping ourselves under control—our emotions, actions and reactions. It is putting careful thought into what we do and say. When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, we will live our lives in the right way. What is the opposite of self-control? Slide to carelessness. Carelessness means to not be careful in what we say and do—it is not thinking about the consequences of our actions. Careless is being reckless and thoughtless with our choices.

So in the coming days, continue to pray for God to fill you more and more with His Holy Spirit so His fruit will grow in your lives. Before we speak or act in hurtful ways, we should ask the Holy Spirit to work in us and to display His fruit.

Hand out a Fruit of the Spirit Pattern to any child not present for the previous lessons, and explain how to make it at home.