VERSES: Acts 19:1-7
MEMORY VERSE: Acts 19:5 "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Hebrews. Write "Hebrews" on small slips of paper and hand out to the students at the end of class, so they might take them home and memorize one more New Testament book.
PRAYER: Pray that we will always do everything according to God's Will, never our own. God knows what is best for us.
SPECIAL SONG: The Wise Man Built His House On The Rock (see March 2014 - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog. Click on orange circle to hear tune.)
VISUAL AID: Bible map, Activity (see below)
LESSON POINTS:
- While Apollos, the well-spoken preacher who we learned about last time, was in Corinth, Paul had traveled on through the upper coasts and finally came to the city Ephesus. Paul found some disciples who were worshiping in Ephesus. Paul asked the twelve disciples who were there, "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed in Jesus?" The disciples answered, "We have not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit!" Paul was concerned and asked them, "Unto what then were you baptized?" They all said, "John's baptism."
- We remember John, the baptizer, was Jesus' cousin. He was six months older than Jesus and his purpose was to prepare the way for Jesus. John baptized people for the remission of their sins, but the Holy Spirit was not promised to the ones who were baptized unto John's baptism as the Spirit was promised to the ones who were baptized into the name of Jesus on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38).
- Paul told those disciples in Ephesus that John baptized with the baptism of repentance and preached to the people that they should believe on the One who would come after John--and that was Jesus Christ. When the disciples heard Paul's words, they were not angry or upset, they simply were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus which made them Christians.
- When Paul placed His hands on the disciples, they were able to perform miracles, such as speaking in different languages that they had never learned before, and they could prophesy or tell what was going to happen in the future.
"Older Student" Tips:
- Read Acts 2:38. Was the gift of the Holy Spirit promised to the believers on the day of Pentecost? (Yes.) This was the difference in John and Jesus' baptism.
- Someone who is taught wrong cannot be baptized right as this example of the twelve disciples in Ephesus teaches. When the men learned the truth, they were baptized in the name of Jesus.
- God spoke to people in different ways than He speaks to us today. He only speaks through the Bible today (Hebrews 1:1, 2), but during the times of the early church, they did not have Bibles, so God decided that the way everyone could tell who were God's disciples would be that they would be able to perform miracles. Their ability to perform miracles and truly prophesy proved that they were from God. Today we know who speaks Truth and who does not by reading the Bible for ourselves.
Materials needed: 9" x 12" yellow construction paper, 8.5" x 11" white bond paper, 4" x 12" brown construction paper, scraps of many colors including tan, glue, marker, crayons, scissors.
- Hand out yellow paper. This is the background.
- Hand out the brown paper.
- Cut or tear one of the long edges to look like a road or dirt.
- Glue brown paper to the bottom of the yellow paper.
- Hand out scraps of paper.
- Cut out thirteen small rectangles. These are the men's robes.
- Cut out 13 small circles. These are the men's heads.
- Glue one rectangle all by itself on the left side of the yellow and brown paper. This is Paul.
- Glue twelve colorful rectangles on the right side of the paper. These are the Ephesian men.
- Glue heads on the robes.
- Color hair, eyes, mouths, arms, feet.
- Write, "Taught Wrong = Baptized Right." at the top of the yellow paper.
- Draw a red circle around the equals sign ( = ) and draw line through the circle to represent the "NO" sign. Meaning: Taught Wrong Does NOT Equal Baptized Right.
- Hand out white paper.
- Cur out two larger speech bubbles and one smaller speech bubble.
- One the smaller speech bubble, write "John said...believe on...Jesus Christ."
- Glue small speech bubble pointing to Paul.
- Write, "John's baptism" on one of the larger speech bubbles and glue close to the twelve men.
- On the last speech bubble, write "Unto what then were you baptized?"
- Fold top edge of last speech bubble.
- Glue top edge only.
- Place this last speech bubble on top of smallest speech bubble that says, "John said...believe on...Jesus Christ." Remember to only glue the small top edge of the bubble or it won't flip open, showing Paul's last words. This is a good way to have a character speak twice.
- Write, "And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" and "Acts 19:1-7." at the bottom of the paper.
- Idea of this project: Students will be able to tell the story to someone else after this class.
