(upbeat music)
So part of God's story is about a man we call John the Baptist,
and it begins like this.
Hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born,
a man named Isaiah wrote that somebody would come
to prepare people for Jesus' arrival.
He was talking about a guy named John the Baptist.
Well, actually his name was John.
We call him the Baptist because he baptized a lot of people.
Anyway, before John was even born,
an angel appeared to his dad and said,
"Do not be afraid, Zechariah.
"Your wife, Elizabeth, will have a child.
"It will be a boy, and you must name him, John.
"He will be important in the Lord's eyes."
John was important because he would get people ready
for Jesus who was coming to rescue us.
Did we mention that John was Jesus' cousin?
Pretty crazy, huh?
Well, right from the beginning, John was bit unusual.
For starters, he spent the first part of his life in the wilderness.
Maybe he slept on the ground and used rocks for pillows.
Maybe he brushed his teeth with sticks.
Maybe he used leaves as toilet paper.
We don't know.
All the bible tells us is that he stayed in the desert
until he started telling people about Jesus.
Then, when he came back into civilization,
he still seemed strange.
He wore clothes made out of camel's hair and a leather belt.
Imagine how itchy, hairy clothes must have been.
And for food, he ate locusts dipped in honey,
just like he had eaten in the desert.
You know what a locust is?
It's a grasshopper, but don't worry.
You don't have to eat bugs to follow Jesus.
Anyway, John didn't come back from the desert
to live like everybody else.
He came back to teach people about Jesus.
So he started telling everybody that God loves us so much
He's sending his own Son to rescue us.
This made a lot of people wanna follow God and His Son Jesus.
So John began baptizing them.
That's how he got his nickname.
Kids, baptism is what we do when we decide
to tell everybody that we're following Jesus.
While John was baptizing and teaching,
some people thought he might be the rescuer.
He seemed really smart, and he knew a lot about God,
but John knew he needed Jesus to rescue him
just like everybody else.
So he said, "Someone who is more
"powerful than I am will come.
"I'm not good enough to untie the straps of His sandals."
John was making a point by talking about Jesus' feet.
See, back then everyone's feet were almost always dirty
because they wore sandals, stepped in dust and camel poop, and didn't have showers.
So when John said he wasn't good enough to untie Jesus' sandals,
he was basically saying that he would feel lucky
if he could help Jesus with His dirty feet.
That's how much John loved Jesus.
Well, even though John told everybody about Jesus,
he was actually waiting for the rescue too.
Then one day, he was baptizing people in the Jordan river.
Jesus came to the shore and asked John to baptize Him.
Kids, remember how John thought he'd be luck
to help Jesus clean His feet?
John didn't think he was good enough to baptize Jesus,
but Jesus told John to do it,
and when John baptized Jesus,
something really special happened.
The Holy Spirit came down from heaven like a dove,
and God actually said out loud,
"This is my Son whom I love.
"With Him I am well-pleased."
The bible says that heaven opened up,
and John got to be a part of that with Jesus
all because he had given his whole life to follow him,
and that's the story of John the Baptist.
So in case you missed it, here's the quick version.
John was an important part of God's story.
He was Jesus' cousin.
He lived in the desert.
He ate bugs.
He told people Jesus was coming.
He baptized people who wanted to follow God.
He got to baptize Jesus.
John followed Jesus his whole life.
And that's a part of God's story.
(upbeat music)