Week 23: Plant seeds - John the Baptist
Pardon the Mess with Scarlet Hiltibidal - Christian Motherhood, Biblical Parenting, Raising Christian Kids
Scarlet Hiltibidal and Christian Parenting
4.9 • 849 Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” (Acts 19:4)
Do you love the Olympics and watching teams compete? It can be so inspiring to watch a team of swimmers work together in a relay or a track and field star pass his baton to the next runner. Each team member is important. It’s a powerful reminder to do our part with excellence.
In the life of John the Baptist, we see a devoted follower of Jesus do his part with great faithfulness. He didn’t even know what his effort and work would mean in the end, but he obeyed and trusted. John spread the good news of the coming Messiah so that people were ready for him; his entire ministry was planting seeds in the hearts of the people. Some even asked if he was the Messiah, but he always pointed people back to Christ (John 1:19–28).
It’s fun to imagine that somehow our own stories of faith are a part of one giant race with batons passing through generations. When we teach our kids about Jesus, we are planting seeds in their hearts. We don’t know what those seeds will grow into, but we can trust that they will take the baton we pass to them and continue to pass it to others.
Let’s pray that our kids trust their calling over their lives and realize their greater impact in God’s big story.
Jesus, thank you that we get to be part of your greater story. Lead __________ to hear your call on their life. Help them to worry less about earthly things and more about trusting you. Give them opportunities to plant seeds in the hearts of people around them and be obedient in joyfully sharing your good news! Amen.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Christian Parenting. |
| 0:03.0 | Christian Parenting. |
| 0:05.0 | Hey friends, welcome back to Pardon the Mess. |
| 0:16.0 | I'm your host, Courtney Defeo, and we are on week 23. |
| 0:19.0 | Can you believe that? |
| 0:20.0 | We are amazing. We have been praying |
| 0:22.2 | all school year long, 23 weeks in a row for our kids. And if you're just joining us, we would love to have you join us the rest of the year. We simply pray for a specific lesson that we learn from the Bible and then pray for that thing for our kids. So this week we're praying about John the Baptist, what we learn from him in the Bible, what we learn about God through his story. |
| 0:39.6 | And then the topic is planting seeds. How can we pray for our kids to have seeds of faith? How can we do that as parents and pray that they will do that in their lifetime and their history on this earth? And so I want to read for us, Mark 1 through 11, but first I'll just get us tuned |
| 0:55.3 | in as John the Baptist, if you'll remember, he's a relative of Jesus. He's the one who actually |
| 0:59.3 | baptized Jesus. He was mentioned in all four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as I'm flipping |
| 1:05.0 | to find Mark. He was devoted and surrendered to God. He was a lone voice in the wilderness. |
| 1:11.5 | He would proclaim the coming of Jesus, kind of like a modern day evangelist. |
| 1:15.8 | The seed he planted was talked about in Isaiah 40. |
| 1:18.4 | This is really cool. |
| 1:19.3 | So in Isaiah 40, as it will talk about in this verse, the mention of who John the Baptist is and was, is talked about way back then. |
| 1:26.9 | Like it's literally all connected. It's one big story. John the Baptist is and was, is talked about way back then. Like, it's literally all connected. |
| 1:28.6 | It's one big story. John the Baptist is the prophet talked about in Isaiah 40, that he would be |
| 1:33.9 | coming to prepare the way for Jesus. Mark I says, the beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, |
| 1:39.6 | the son of God. It is written in Isaiah, the prophet. I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way, |
| 1:46.6 | a voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. |
| 1:52.2 | And so, John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the |
| 1:58.1 | forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of |
... |
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