It’s Day 4 and we’re going to stay with the part of the memory verse that we have so far. We’ll add more tomorrow!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…”
Today’s verses:
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 1:15-18, NIV
Yup, still in the Gospel of John and learning more about Jesus through John the ministry of John the Baptist.
What should you teach them?
Here is what I say:
- John the Baptist had been telling his followers about a man who would come after himself. He said that even though this man would come after him, he would be even greater, because he actually came before.
- The man that John the Baptist was telling his followers about was Jesus.
- What did John the Baptist mean when he said that Jesus came after him, but also before him? Why was Jesus greater than John?
- Even before Jesus came to live on earth as a human, we had received grace. However, when Jesus came and His plan was completed, we received grace that is so complete and amazing that it takes the place of the old grace!
- The first grace that we received was through Moses. God gave Moses the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments helped the people understand their relationship with God and what His expectations are of us. This is a wonderful kind of grace. Without it we would have been completely lost in darkness! Without God’s law we wouldn’t know how God wants us to live.
- There is a problem. The problem is not with God’s law. The problem is with people. We are not very good at following God’s law. In fact, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
- We have already talked about how the punishment for sin is death. So, if every single one of us has broken God’s commandments at some point in our lives, what can we do?
- The second grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. This is complete and sufficient to cover all of our sins. Remember how we said that Jesus is light and life?
- No one has ever seen God the Father except for Jesus. We can’t know God by seeing him because only Jesus is able to see him. However, we can have a relationship with God by having a relationship with Jesus.
- This is because not only has Jesus seen God the Father, but Jesus shares a very close relationship with God the Father. How close is Jesus to God? Sometimes we call Jesus the Son of God. We also are told that Jesus is God.
- It’s time for that prayer! Today only the 6-year-old wanted to lead us in prayer. Her prayers included the hope that we would only lose our baby teeth and none of our adult teeth. I guess that’s not a bad thing for a 6-year-old to ask for.