Stories of Jesus - God Announces His Son

​BIBLE Bits & Bites ​
Devotions for Families

Season 1: Stories of Jesus
Episode 6: “God Announces His Son”
Today’s Bible Bite: Luke 1:5-25; 57-80; Luke 3:1-23

Video Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VMNO2MAmwA (Saddleback Kids)

“When all the people were being baptized by John, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:21-22).

Before Jesus was born, another special baby was born whose name was John. He just happened to be one of Jesus’ cousins. God gave John a special job–he was to prepare people for Jesus’ coming as the Messiah! So when John grew up, he began telling people that they needed to prepare their hearts for God’s Rescuer. As people believed John’s message, they said they were sorry for the bad stuff they did and were baptized to show that they wanted to live differently...they wanted to live for God. That’s why John became known as John the Baptist.

When Jesus was thirty years old, it was finally time for Him to begin His work as the Messiah. So the first thing He did was to go to the Jordan River where John was baptizing people. John recognized who Jesus was, not just his cousin, but who He really was and thought that he should be baptized by Jesus not the other way around. But Jesus assured John, that this was the right thing to do, and as soon as Jesus came up out of the water, a dove landed on Jesus (it was the Holy Spirit) and God the Father said from heaven for everyone to hear, “You are my Son. I love you and I am very proud of you.” Wow! God let Jesus know that He was ready to begin His work as the Messiah.

Think about it...

• How old was Jesus when He began His ministry as the Messiah? Jesus knew even as a teenager who He was, so why did it take so long for Him to begin telling others?
• What was the special job that John was born to do?
• John obeyed God, but some people didn’t like his message. What was his message? Why did some people not like John’s message?
• Sometimes we do bad things, too. Do we like it when people point it out? What might you have thought about John’s message if you were in the crowd?
• Now that God has announced that Jesus is ready, what do you think will happen?

Prayer: Thank you, God, that you love us and even though we mess up and do bad things you will forgive us when we say we’re sorry. Help us to be like John...ready to obey you and to tell others about your good plan. Thank you, Jesus for coming. Thank you that I can be God’s friend.