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of the Persons of the T rin ity in con nection w ith the command to baptize, one should remember th a t the F ath e r and the S pirit were both manifested to Him a t H is baptism . A new h ea rt is w rought by the Holy Spirit and recon ciliation w ith th e F a th e r is w rought on th e basis of the work of th e Son.— Int. Bible Ency. Je su s B aptized by John . Mark 1:1-11. Memory Verse: “Thou a rt my be loved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Mark. 1:11. Approach: We always love to h ear th e story of how Jesus came to earth as a little baby, how He played and went to school ju st like o th er boys, and tried to help in PRIMARY AND every way He could. BEGINNERS The people did not Mabel L. Merrill, know th a t He was the Son of God, so when Jesus grew up to be a man and was ready to begin H is work which God H is F a th e r had sent Him to do in th e world, God had some one to go out first and tell the people about Jesus and who He was, and th e name of this man whom God sent to tell the people who Jesus was, was John th e Baptist. Now we are going to bow our heads and th a n k Jesus for coming down h ere on earth to live, and ask Him to be w ith us as we listen to th e lovely story for th is morning. Besson Story: John th e B aptist w ent out among th e people and told them about Jesus and who He was, so th a t the people would be ready to re ceive Jesus as th e ir Saviour. He told them they m ust rep en t of th eir sins and be baptized. Repent of our sins means to be sorry for our sins, and if we are tru ly sorry for our sins we will npt keep doing the wrong things. John th e Bap tis t w ent to a place n ear th e river Jo r dan, and g reat crowds of people came to hear him preach as he told them
th a t th e Saviour who had been prom ised was soon coming among them . My, how eagerly these people listened to John th e Baptist, for they had read in the Bible how God had prom ised to send Jesus as a Saviour, and now John th e B ap tist tells them th a t very soon they are to see and h ear Jesus for themselves. We ju s t know some of them m ust have clapped th e ir hands for joy when they h eard th is good news. John the B ap tist told th e people th a t Jesu s would forgive and save all th a t would love and obey Him, bu t all the wicked people who would not love and obey Jesu s would be lost. He also told them they could not be saved ju st be cause they had p aren ts th a t loved Jesus, bu t th a t they m ust each one love and obey Jesus for themselves. A g rea t many of these people who heard John the B aptist were so rry for th e ir sins, and were baptized by him in the riv er Jordan. Now baptism means th a t our sins have been forgiven, washed away; it does no t mean th a t they are washed away by the w ater on our bodies, b u t by God’s Holy Spirit th a t comes into our h earts when we come to Jesus and ask Him to forgive our sins, for Jesu s has th e power to send His Holy Spirit into our h earts, and He can wash away our sins. The baptizing w ith w ater ju st showed th a t the people were so rry for th eir sins and had asked Jesus to for give them , and th a t they were going to live for Jesus and obey Him. One day while John the B aptist was down by the river Jordan, Jesu s came to him and asked to be baptized, b u t John th e Bap tis t felt th a t he needed to have Jesus baptize him ; b u t when Jesus told him th a t it was rig h t th a t he (John the B aptist) should baptize Him, he did ju st as Jesus asked him to do. Jesus had no sins to be forgiven and washed away, bu t He was baptized because He came on ea rth to obey all of God’s com mandments, and show us th a t we too must obey them . A fter John th e Bap tis t had baptized Jesus, and while Jesus
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