Lesson 7. Baptism and Communion
I. INTRODUCTION. Please put the correct answers in the blanks.
Baptism __ __ __ __ Communion (Lord’s Supper)__ __ __ __ __ __ __
| A. Once in a lifetime | B. Repeated throughout life | C. sacrament1 |
| D. Commanded by God | E. Uses wine | F. Uses water |
| G. Called Eucharist2 | H. Called “breaking bread” | I. Uses bread |
1) A ceremony commanded by God in which God provides his grace to us in a way we can touch and taste.
2) from the Greek word for thanks, the translation of the first word of the prayer Jesus said at the meal when he said “this is my body.” The Chinese version in this blank means “thanksgiving at the holy meal”
II. BAPTISM
A.WHY BAPTISM?
1. Baptism is God’s gift to you. Read the mission Jesus gave in Matthew 28:19. The phrase “in the name of ” means that through baptism you “belong to” the three-in-one God: Father, Son, and (1)____ _______.
2. The early Christians practiced baptism. Read what Peter said to the crowd in Acts 2:37-38. What two promises can you be sure you have because of baptism? (2)_________ and (3)_________.
B. BENEFITS OF BAPTISM.
1. Read Mark 16:16. Because you believe and are baptized, you know you are (4)__________.
2. Read Acts 22:16. Because of Baptism, you know your (5)_______ have been washed away.
3. Read Titus 3:4-5. This verse calls baptism a washing of (6)_______________. This means you have new life. Your “old” life is from your parents. They gave you special qualities, like the color of your eyes, and the length of your life. Your new life is from God. He gives you special qualities, qualities that are like Jesus. For example, your new life finds it natural to love and forgive. Your “new” life has no time limit: after you die, you will be with (7)__________ forever.
4. Read Galatians 3:26-27. You can know you are united to Jesus because of two things:(8)______ and (9)_____. Since your good or bad behavior cannot change the reality of your relationship with God, therefore, when you sin, do not doubt that God will forgive. You need not delay in coming to Him.
5. Read 1 John 3:1. We become God’s children because of the father’s (10)_______. Jesus is God’s Son, so because we are united to Jesus, we know for sure that we are children of (11)______, members of God’s family. In your human family, no matter whether you forget to think about your parents, or even argue with them, you can never change the fact that you are still their child. In the same way, through faith and Baptism you know that your relationship with (12)_______ will never change, even if you sometimes don’t think about God or sometimes don’t obey Him.
C. LIFE AFTER BAPTISM.
Even after we are baptized, we may sometimes doubt whether God loves us. We may sometimes wonder whether our faith is strong enough. We may sometimes think that we have lost our relationship to God because of something bad we’ve done. At these times, we can look to Jesus. God proved His love by sending Jesus. Jesus died and rose to bring us to God. The Holy Spirit brought us into this relationship with God. He did this as Jesus’ love came to us personally in the words of the Gospel and the action of Baptism. We can depend on Jesus and His promises. The promises to us that believe and are baptized are as sure as the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. These promises do not change just because our feelings go up and down. These promises do not depend on how strong our faith is, but on how dependable Jesus is. If we do something wrong and then confess and repent, we know that God will forgive our sin, because He has already accepted us as members of His family. When our old life makes us want to sin, we can draw on God’s power to live our new life each day. We never say, “Because I believed and was baptized in the past, therefore I have no need to rely on God today”. Rather, our Baptism shows its effect on us each day through our trusting and relying on Jesus.
III. HOLY COMMUNION
A.WHY HOLY COMMUNION?
1.Holy Communion is God’s gift for you. Read Matthew 26:26-28. Jesus tells us to remember Him by eating (13)_______ and drinking (14)_______. The bread is Jesus'(15)_______, and the wine is Jesus’ (16)_________.
2.The early Christians practiced Communion. Read Acts 2:42.
Here, Communion is called (17)__________ ___________.
B. BENEFITS OF COMMUNION. Read 1 Corinthians 10:16-18.
1. When we eat and drink, we share in the body and blood of (18)__________. We are united with (19)___________.
2. Just like many grains of flour make one loaf of (20)_________, in the same way, many Christians make up one (21)____________, for we eat the same (22)___________. Therefore we are sure that we are united with all other Christians.
Just like in the Old Testament, when the people of God ate the sacrifice and therefore received its benefits, we share the benefits of His Jesus’ sacrifice when we eat the (23)_________ and drink the (24)__________.
C. HOW TO PREPARE FOR COMMUNION. Read 1 Corinthians 11:27-31. This verse tell us to (25)_________ ourselves. To do this, we can ask: “Am I willing to confess my (26)______?” “Am I willing to restore relationship with people who are in conflict with me?
ANSWERS: Baptism is: ACDF; Communion is BCDEGHI (1) Holy Spirit
(2) Forgiveness (3) Holy Spirit (4) saved (5) sins
(6) regeneration (new birth) (7) God (8) faith (9) baptism (10) love
(11) God (12) God (13) bread (14) wine (15) body (16) blood
(17) breaking bread (18) Christ (19) Christ (20) bread (21) body
(22) bread (23) bread (24) wine (25) examine (26) sins
rreturn to eight lessons menu …. go on to lesson 8