Point to Christ
Objectives
• Participants will learn that God has equipped us to point to Christ.
Anchor
Review of last week’s study “What is Repentance?”
10-minute discussion
o Share your favourite verses that mention “repent” or “repentance”.
o How would you explain repentance to a non-believer?
Set-up for today’s study
5-minute discussion
o Remember Mark 1:2-3. What does Mark tell us about John the Baptist in vv2-3?
Add
Mark 1:4-8
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Note: Baptism was nothing new for the Jews. It was the custom to baptise Gentile converts to Judaism, and the Old Testament ceremonial law included ‘baptisms’ or ritual cleansings.
Weekly Learning Task
5-minute discussion
Do we see any of the “5 Mark Themes” from Bible Study 1 in this passage?
- Jesus’ power.
- Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God to people.
- His disciples struggle to understand who he is.
- The religious leaders are corrupt and hypocritical and are united in their hatred for Jesus.
- There is a surprising cast of characters who do get who Jesus is and come to him in faith.
Learning Task 1
10-minute discussion
Let’s dive into the text:
• Why did people come to see John?
• How is he preparing people to receive Christ’s ministry?
• What is different about John?
The ‘wilderness’ was almost 150 miles east of Jerusalem
• Why did God choose this location for John?
Apply — Learning Task 2
15-minute discussion
• How are we like, or unlike, John the Baptist?
• Think of how God prepared you to receive the Gospel.
• Think of how you got here. What people in your life helped point you to the Gospel?
• How and when could, and do, we point to Christ?
• What do we need to tell others the Gospel?
o Who provides these things?
Away
• Read and make note of prophecies in scripture that points to Jesus.
For example: Genesis 3:15, Psalm 22:1-18, Isaiah 53.
• Share what you’ve learnt about prophetic scripture with someone (believer or unbeliever) this week.