Leader Guide

Video Leader Guide

Welcome (1 minute)

Hello everyone! Today is the second lesson of our Superbook story, “John the Baptist.” John the Baptist was actually a cousin of Jesus! God chose John to prepare the way for Jesus by calling people to repent of their sin. Does anyone remember what it means to repent? Turn away from sin and turn toward God. Let’s spend some time now in praise and thankfulness to God for His many blessings as we sing and do the motions to 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.

Play Video 11: (Song) 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (3 minutes)

Be sure to preview the song so you can sing along and do the motions with the children. They may clap and do freestyle movements during the animation sections.

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

SuperTruth and Discussion (1 minute)

Our SuperTruth today says: “I want more of Jesus and less of me.” Let’s say our SuperTruth together. Children say the SuperTruth. This means that we choose to have less of our own sinful nature and more of God’s spiritual nature. As we allow God’s Spirit to have more control of our lives, we become more and more like Jesus.     

Introduce Condensed Bible Story (1 minute)

If all children watched the Bible story video in the previous lesson, you may skip it here and go straight to the Bible Background Video.

In our previous lesson, does anyone remember the big decision that Chris faced? He was tempted to use some video games that his game partner, Sam, had illegally downloaded.

For the children who haven’t seen our Bible story yet, we are going to watch a short version to see how John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry here on Earth. For those of us who have seen the full video, let’s try to think of areas in our lives where we need Jesus to increase.  

Play Video 4: Condensed Bible Story (10 minutes)

Condensed Bible Story

Superbook takes Chris, Joy and Gizmo to meet John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. John preaches a message of repentance to the crowds, and fearlessly confronts King Herod about his sin. The wicked queen plots revenge by having her daughter dance to entice the king then ask for John’s head as her reward. John faithfully chooses to follow God, and the children learn they can point others to Christ.

Discussion (1 minute)

Do you believe that all people, no matter their ages, need to have more of Jesus in their lives?

How do you think it would feel to be John the Baptist and have Jesus come to you to be baptized?

Introduce Bible Background Video (1 minute)

Sometimes John the Baptist is called John the Baptizer. To learn more about the time and place he lived, let’s watch our Bible Background Video. When Gizmo asks a question in the video, wait for him to suggest some answers, then call out the one you think is right!

Play Video 5: Bible Background (8 minutes)

Bible Background

Play Video 10B: SuperVerse Graphic 2

Graphic loops 2.5 minutes without audio; turn off or freeze video after children repeat verse.

SuperVerse Graphic 2

SuperVerse (1 minute)

Let’s say our SuperVerse together. John 3:30:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John the Baptist was a very powerful preacher and had many followers. Even so, John recognized that Jesus was much more important. Jesus is the Messiah, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world! Usually people hope to become more and more important—but John understood that the opposite needed to happen. As Jesus’ ministry grew, John’s ministry would decrease. Instead of being jealous of Jesus, John understood and accepted the fact that he would become less important.  

Children will have more time to learn the SuperVerse in Small Group.

Prayer and Send-Off (1 minute)

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank You for sending John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. We pray that You will increase more and more in our lives, while our own sinful nature becomes smaller and smaller as we follow You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Let’s go to our Small Group where you will play a game called “Less of Me.” Are you ready to see what the game is about? Go have some fun!

Teachers take children to Small Group classes for Grades 1–3 and 4–6. If the combined group is small, all children may stay together for Small Group time.

Game

Optional: You may make additional bags with the names of the fruit of the Spirit, and put them in between the other bags to make the game more difficult.

Who can tell me our SuperTruth for today? I want more of Jesus and less of me.”

Great! Now what does that mean, less of me?

We want to become more like Jesus and less like the sinful nature that we are born with.

Read Galatians 5:16–17a:

Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.

Jesus was full of God’s Spirit, and He lived a perfect life on Earth. Jesus chose spiritual things, or the ways of God, over sinful ways of the human nature or flesh. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, the more we will choose God’s ways over our own sinful desires. We become spiritually stronger as we overcome our sinful nature.

Today, we are going to play a fun game about getting rid of our sinful and evil ways. Read aloud the word on each bag and make sure all children understand its meaning.

The sock ball represents each time that we choose the Spirit over our sinful self. Let’s work together to knock down and get rid of all the sinful things on this table! We will play more than one round to try for the fastest time.  

This is a group game. Have all children stand single-file behind the starting line or mark. One child at a time gets two throws to try and knock bags off the table. Each bag cannot just be knocked over; they must be knocked completely off the table. You or an assistant can quickly roll the extra sock balls back to the next player so the game keeps moving. Stop the time when all the bags are knocked off the table. Record the time. Play additional rounds to try for a faster time. If a round ends before a child has thrown, start the next round with that child.    

Conclusion: Good job knocking out those evil ways! Now, let’s list the Fruit of the Spirit that we want produced in our lives to replace those sinful things. What are they? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Give hints as necessary to list all of the Fruit of the Spirit.

God has given each of us His Holy Spirit to produce fruit and help us make wise choices. When we choose to listen to Him and obey His Word, we make more room for Jesus and His good fruit in our lives!

Teaching

Introduction Skit

The general idea of this skit is for you to introduce a “special guest” but keep all the attention on yourself, and never allow the guest to perform. You may improvise in fun and creative ways, such as singing a very short song or reciting a poem to monopolize the class’s attention. Suggestions are listed below, but modify as desired. As you do the monologue, have the “guest” come up front and stand next to you, acting as if he/she is starting to perform, but never allowed to do so.    

Today, we are privileged to have a special guest, _______. You may not know this, but _______ is an amazingly good singer, juggler, dancer, etc.! 

Turn the light on and briefly shine it on the guest, then immediately shine it on yourself as you continue. 

I don’t sing very much, but I can hum really well. Begin to hum a song children would be familiar with. Yes, I like to hum. It is hard to find other people who have a passion for humming like I do! Anyway, back to our special guest—

Briefly shine the light on the guest, then immediately shine it on yourself again.

You know, that reminds me, along with my love of humming, I like to recite the alphabet! Begin to recite it.

I also can do it backward! Begin to recite backwards—z, y, x, w, v, u, t, s, r, q, p, o, n, m, l.

I am sorry, I forgot about our guest who is a great singer, juggler, dancer, etc.! Put light on guest, and take it away.

Oh well, time is up! We need to move on to our next activity! 

End skit; child volunteer can sit down.

What did you think of our special performer? Did you like what he/she performed?

No, I never gave him/her the chance, did I! Have you ever gone to a concert or an event where someone stands up and introduces the special guest who will perform or speak? 

When the person was finished making the introduction, did he or she keep standing in the middle of the stage or in the spotlight?

No, when people make an introduction, they move out of the way so everyone can focus on the special guest. You just saw what it would be like if the person who did the introduction continued to stand there and speak while the guest was trying to perform. That would take all the attention away from the special guest!

How is that different from what John the Baptist did? Instead of wanting people to pay attention to him, he helped people focus on Christ.

Point to the “John the Baptist” tower on the table. Let’s say this tower represents John the Baptist.

Read Matthew 3:4–6:

John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

Add six more blocks as you speak. John’s popularity was growing, and many other people began following him. Yet John knew people should eventually follow Someone greater—and that person is Jesus. Now, remove blocks one at a time from the front tower and place them on the back tower to build it taller.

John said,

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He knew that Jesus’ ministry would grow while his own would get smaller. Even though this must have been very difficult, John was ready to put the spotlight on Jesus. He did not want to interfere with Jesus’ work!

When all blocks are removed from the front pile, place John the Baptist’s card face-down, and lean Jesus’ card against the back tower so it can be read. When we speak and do things for God, we should do it with humility and not call attention to ourselves. Our prayer should be, “Less of me, Lord, and more of You!”

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Our goal as followers of Christ is to become more like Him. As Christ becomes more visible in our lives through our words and actions, people will see less of us and more of Him! God gives each of us His Holy Spirit to produce God’s characteristics or fruit in our lives. 

Last time, we made a craft listing the nine fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22–23. What are the first three fruit? Love, joy, peace.

Did anyone have an opportunity to show God’s love, joy or peace this week? Allow time for children to share their experiences.

Your Discipleship Challenge this time is to learn about the next three fruit—patience, kindness and goodness. Discuss the meaning of these three words. Use the Fruit of the Spirit craft to illustrate how the more patience, kindness and goodness we have in our lives, the less room there is for our own impatience, unkindness and wickedness.

In the coming days, pray that these fruit of the Spirit will grow in your lives. When you are tempted to be impatient, unkind or bad, ask God to give you His fruit of patience, kindness and goodness. The next time we meet, I will give you a chance to name the first six fruit and share your experiences with the class.

Hand out a Fruit of the Spirit Pattern to any child not present for Lesson 1, and explain how to make it at home. 

SuperVerse

Our SuperVerse, John 3:30 (nkjv), says:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

I think we can say it by memory already: let’s try! Children say verse.

John wanted to prepare the way for Jesus. As Jesus’ ministry grew, John’s own ministry and influence would shrink. Yet he was not jealous; instead, John told his followers,

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Let’s do an activity that represents the verse.      

Stand in a large circle, with everyone holding hands. Everyone should take two steps forward as they raise their hands and say, “He must increase”; then everyone should take two steps backward as they lower their hands and say, “but I must decrease. John 3:30” Repeat, going faster each time.   

Conclusion: The goal of every follower of Jesus is to become more like Him in our thinking, in our words, and in our actions. The more we become like Jesus, the more we can lead others to Christ.

Prayer

We know that John the Baptist thought prayer was important, because he taught his disciples how to pray.

Read Luke 11:1:

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As He finished, one of His disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Prayer is not just talking to God; prayer is talking with God. What is the difference?

Prayer is not just talking, it is listening, too!

When we listen to God, He will speak to our hearts. Let’s take a few moments and ask God how we can become more like Jesus. Let’s especially pray that we will allow more room for the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  

Allow time for children to pray silently, then lead a group prayer to close.        

Dear God, John was humbly willing to decrease while Jesus increased. We want You to become greater and greater in our lives. Please fill us each day with the fruit of the Spirit —pause briefly after each one so children can think and pray: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Jesus’ name, Amen.   

Stacking Game

The goal for every follower of Jesus is to become more like Him as we grow in God’s Word and do what Jesus did! John the Baptist humbly pointed his followers to Jesus. He did not want to get in the way of Jesus’ ministry. We are going to play a game where we decrease and Jesus increases. Let’s get started!

Divide the children into two equal teams, and have the teams form two separate lines behind the line/mark. Each team will build a tower using a relay-style race. The first player from each team will quickly walk to the table and take a domino/block from their team’s “Me” tower and begin building a single tower over the Jesus card. The player quickly walks back to the line and the next player takes a turn. Continue until all players have taken a domino/block from their team’s “Me” tower and built the “Jesus” tower as high as possible. If the “Jesus” tower collapses during the game, the two players at the table must work together to rebuild it as quickly as possible. The sixth grade helpers or other team members may assist, if needed.  

Conclusion: You are very good builders! Was it difficult to keep your hands steady so you didn’t knock over the tower?

As we grow in our faith and become more like Jesus, people will see less of us and more of Him! This is how we can point others to Jesus! Let’s say our SuperVerse together by memory. John 3:30:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Prayer Activity

Have children look up Galatians 5:22–25. Have four children each read one verse aloud:

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! ²⁴  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. ²⁵ Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

What is our SuperTruth is today? “I want more of Jesus and less of me.”

Jesus was filled with God’s Spirit and always displayed love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. After He died, rose again, and went up to heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help His followers. The Holy Spirit produces good fruit in us and gives us power to become more like Jesus!

The passage we just read talks about how those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed their sinful desires to the cross. The power to be set free from our sinful desires is at the cross! Jesus sets us free to live for Him! Isn’t that wonderful?

Give a nail pattern and a piece of tape to each child. Have them think and pray about things they struggle with, then tape their nail to the cross.

Close in prayer. God, we thank You for the power of the cross, which destroys our sinful desires and sets us free to live by Your Spirit. We pray that You will fill us with Your power to live for You each day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Matching Game

Let’s say our SuperTruth together: “I want more of Jesus and less of me.”

As we become more like Jesus and less like our old, sinful nature, the more people can see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. For instance, we will show more of God’s love and be slow to anger. We will show more patience and less impatience.

We are going to play a matching game together as a group to reveal something at the end of our game. There are nine different words that are not godly characteristics. They are sinful—the opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit that we have been learning as part of our Discipleship Challenge. Each word has two cards which you will try to match. Once they are matched, we will remove them from the board.

Children each take two guesses, one card at a time, by saying the numbers on the cards they choose. Flip over each card as it is guessed to show the children, and read it aloud to help any nonreaders. If the cards do not match, return both to the board, number side out. As each match is revealed, remove the cards from the poster and ask what Fruit of the Spirit is the opposite of that word. See chart below for reference. As more cards are removed, the children will begin to see more and more of Jesus until His name is completely visible!

Reference chart for discussion:

Love—anger
Joy—jealousy
Peace—fear
Patience—impatience
Kindness—unkindness      
Goodness—wickedness
Faithfulness—unfaithfulness
Gentleness—rudeness
Self-control—carelessness

Conclusion: Good job, everyone. As we took away each of the bad characteristics, more of Jesus was revealed. That is the same in each of our lives—the less of us, the more that Jesus will be revealed to others in our words and actions!     

Bible Study

John spoke the truth about sin. He did not care who he was speaking to. John challenged the powerful religious leaders of his day and even wicked King Herod! John knew what God had called him to do, and no cost was too high for him to complete his mission.

In our video last time, Chris struggled with a decision. What was it? He was tempted to use some video games that his game partner, Sam, had illegally downloaded, which is stealing.

Is it only wrong to steal if you get caught? Why or why not?

Even if no one else finds out, God knows if we disobey Him! It is not something to take lightly!

So, if we are in a troubling situation like Chris, what do we do?

How do we know what is right and what is wrong?

Do you know what God’s Word says?

Could you share the truth with a friend who says that we are crazy or that everybody else is doing it, so what’s the big deal?

Let’s take a look at a few common situations we might encounter. John the Baptist never backed off or softened the truth, and we must live our lives according to the truth, too.

Select a volunteer to pop one of the balloons by squeezing, stepping, or sitting on it; and have the child read the slip of paper. OR, You may have older children look up the scripture reference in their Bibles and read it aloud. Then discuss the Bible verse and how it applies to the main word found on the balloon. Ask the children to think up possible “sticky” situations where this scripture would be valuable to know and apply. Do this for the remaining five balloons.

When we live truthfully, we live as Jesus lived. He increases in our lives as we decrease!