HOME GROUP DISCUSSION

- How are John the Baptist and the Old Testament prophet Elijah related?

- What is meant by a "baptism of repentance?"

- How would the Pharisees of Jesus' time have described themselves? How did John the Baptist describe them? How would you describe them? How important is our own religious background and our religious credentials to God? What is it that God wants to see in our lives?

- Why does Jesus want to be baptized? Why does Jesus need to be baptized? What happened when he was baptized, and why was that important?

- How was Jesus' time in the wilderness similar to the Children of Israel's time in the wilderness? (see Deuteronomy 8) How was it different? How does that difference make all the difference for us?