Children’s Sermon / Lesson idea: Show some familiar items (eg: socks and shoes / putting on toothpaste then brushing, batteries and a flashlight) to the children and ask them “what comes first?” Stress the importance of putting things in the right order. Discuss God and Money and explain how Jesus said it was important to put God first in life.

 

Object lesson items: Shoes and socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, flashlight and some batteries, etc. (Use your imagination) Finally bring in some money and something to represent God (Perhaps a cross, a bible, etc.) 

 

Good morning children! I brought some things in this morning that you may have seen before. Look at this. I’ve got a sock and a shoe. What would you say if I put the shoe on first and then tried to put the sock on after? That’s right. That’s a silly thing to do. It doesn’t work. You have to get the order right. You need to know what comes first. Here is something else I brought with me this morning. I’ve got a toothbrush and some toothpaste. Do you brush your teeth in the morning? Good. That’s important to do. What if you brushed your teeth and then put on the tooth paste? Would that be a good idea? Of course not. It’s important to put the toothpaste on before you brush you teeth. You have to know what comes first. I have two other things with me this morning. I’ve got a flashlight and some batteries. If it was dark and I was in a hurry to get some light would it work to take the flashlight and leave the batteries behind? No, of course not. You have to put the batteries in the flashlight or else it won’t shine the light. The batteries have to go inside first. You have to get things in the right order and know what comes first. Now, I brought in two other things this morning. I’ve have a Cross that reminds us of God / Jesus and I’ve got this pot of money (Give it a jingle so they hear the money). Jesus said that it was very important to get these in the right order if life is going to work right. If we put money first in life we end up in all kinds of trouble. Jesus said that it was important to put God first and not worry too much about money. He wanted us to make sure we put things in the right order!

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, help us to always put you ahead of money or anything else in life. Thank you that life will work when we put you first. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

 

 

Object Lesson items: A silver dollar or other expensive looking coin. A small plush toy sheep.

 

Full Children’s Story: Good Morning Children! How many of you have ever lost something? Wow – most of you. What do you do when you loose something? Right! When something is lost you always go and look for it. Many years ago people wondered why Jesus was always heading off to look for people who were far away and had lost God. To explain why he was always looking for lost people he told a story about a person who had lost a very expensive coin and how that person looked very hard to find it because it was so valuable. Now this morning I lost a coin around the front of the church here. Would you please help me find it? (Have the children search for the lost coin and give them some hints if necessary.) When someone finds the lost coin give a big cheer and celebrate. (If you have the time, do the same with the toy sheep.) Jesus was saying that lost people were very valuable and that it was important to look for them when they were far away from God and lost. A person who had lost a valuable coin would look for it and be very happy when they found it. A shepherd who had lost a sheep would look for it and rejoice when it was found. And Jesus would always look for people who were lost a far away from God. He also said that when the person was found and came back to God there was great cheering and rejoicing in heaven.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you that Jesus was always looking for lost people. We need Jesus and lost people need him just as much. – In Jesus’ name – Amen!

Copyright 2010 Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this story on Sunday Morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking this web page to you church web site. Blessings, A.H.

 

 “Everyone who exalts himself with be humbled.” Luke 14:1, 7-14 – spontaneous drama

 

Children’s sermon / drama idea: Act out this teaching of Jesus. Have several chairs up front including one that is very big and fancy. Before the service ask 3 or 4 teens / adults to help you out by squabbling over who should to be in the best chair. (Alternately, use one adult “plant” and have the children fill the rest of the chairs) Note: The idea of “humbling” and “exalting” is probably a difficult concept for children to grasp. I’ll give it my best shot by staying with the drama / parable that Jesus actually used.

 

Object lesson / drama props: a number of regular chairs and one that is bigger and fancier than the rest.

 

Children’s Church skit: Good morning children! Our bible lesson today is from the Gospel of Luke. In this bible passage we hear about how Jesus was invited to eat at the house of an important religious person. We are going to do a little drama to show you what happened. Now, I’ve ask Judith, Jonathan, Carol and Mr. Jones to help me out this morning. Will you come up front here please and take a seat.

(Then stand back and watch with the children; it will be fun for your chosen actors to argue why they should have the most important place.) “Jonathan, I think you should let me take the best place. I’ve been at this church longer than you and besides those smaller chairs don’t match my colour coordinated suit… No Mr. Jones, I think you should let me be in this place because my great grandmother donated a stained glass window this church… ” (They’ll get idea. When they are seated in the chairs explain to the children how this is a little like what happened that day at the Pharisee’s house) that was a bit of a silly argument wasn’t it children. But that is what happened that day when Jesus visited the house of the religious leader. They people were so concerned to pick the most important places at the dinner table. Jesus then told them a little story called a parable. I’ll show you what Jesus said to them. (Go over to the person who managed get the most important chair). Mr. Jones, I just realized that there is someone else that should have this chair. Would you please go and sit there on the floor. (Escort them out of the big chair and sit them down on the floor. Approach one of the children sitting on the floor.) Betty, you are new to this church I think you should come and sit up here in the place of honour!

On that day at the Pharisee’s house Jesus taught the people not to worry about being in the most important place. If we always try to take the best place we will probably end up being embarrassed because we might be sent to a lower place. However, if we don’t worry about trying to look important we may be honoured by being asked to move up higher. Jesus said that if we tried to make ourselves look important we will end up being in the least important place. If we try to honour others and don’t worry about looking better than others we will some day end up in the better place.

 

Children’s prayer: Dear God, help us not to worry about looking like the most important person. Thank you that all of us are important to you. Help us to do what pleases you and not worry about trying to impress others. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2010 Sundaychildrensfocus.com   Andrew Hewlett - Feel free to use this drama on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider placing a link on your church web site. Blessings, A.H.

 

 

Children’s message idea: Bring up individuals serving as missionaries (or have served as missionaries) up in front with the children. Discuss the country in which they served and explain the missionaries help bring the good news of the Jesus Christ to those who don’t him. Pray for them. Then explain that the kids are like missionaries to their schools and school friends that don’t know about Jesus. Pray for and commission the children to be sent out as missionaries as they prepare to go back to school.

 

Object lesson items: Some individuals that are serving or have served as missionaries.

Alternate: Bring up a mission info board that has pictures of missionaries. (If you do this you could take the children’s picture and add it to the mission board under “missionaries to schools.”

 

Full Children’s Sermon: Good morning children! Today I want to introduce to you some very special people. This is Lori and Joke’ who serve as missionaries in the Philippines and Uganda with Precious Jewels Ministry. Missionaries are people who are sent out to bring the love of Jesus Christ to people in far away places. These two people serve as missionaries to very poor children who don’t have anyone to care for them. (|Consider interacting with the missionaries and let the children ask some questions. Have the children pray for them and the people with whom they serve.)

Now kids, you may not be going off to a far away country like these missionaries but did you know you are like a missionary too? Most of us here are getting ready to go back to school. We may discover that many of the kids there don’t know about Jesus and his love. I want you to think of yourselves as missionaries to your school. Your school is not in a far away land like the Philippines but the people in your class need to learn about Jesus and his love. Think of yourselves as being sent by God to help others know about the good news of Jesus and God’s wonderful love. Even if we are home schooled or go to a Christian school God will still send us to people who don’t know about God’s love made known in Jesus. A few minutes ago we prayed for these missionaries here. Now it’s time for us to pray for you young missionaries as you get ready to go back to school. (Have your missionaries and some other members of the congregation come forward to pray with you.)

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you for missionaries that take the love of Jesus to far away places. As these children get ready to go back to school, send them out in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the love of Jesus to all those who don’t know him. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2010 sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this on Sunday Morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking your church web page to this site. Thank you. A.H.

 

Children’s Sermon / Sunday school lesson idea: Bring in a wall calendar and discuss with the children the various chores you do on each day of the week. Include a day of rest. Explain that even though you like to keep to your schedule, any day (even the Sabbath) would be a good day for helping someone who was really in need. Tell the children how Jesus upset some people because he healed a crippled woman on the day of rest.

 

Object lesson items: A wall calendar or day timer.

 

Good morning Children. Do you know what I have here this morning? Yes. It’s a calendar. See, it has the days of the week written across the top here. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…Each day of the week has a little square. You might be able to see some of my writing inside some of these little boxes. On the various days of the week I’ve written in the special chores that I need to do for that day. On Monday, I’ve written in the words, “do the laundry today.” On Tuesday it says “take the dog for a walk.” (Continue to discuss the various days of the week.) Now this day here is Sunday – that’s today! It says “Go to church” and it also say “Rest and relax today.”

You might think that there should be a special day for helping people in need. What days of the week should be set aside for helping a person in need or in trouble? (Interact with the children.) Hmmm. The problem with setting aside special days for helping someone in trouble is that we don’t know when that might happen. What if someone needed to be taken to the hospital and we said, “Sorry, this is not my helping day?” That wouldn’t be very kind. Even if someone needed help on my day of rest I think it would be good to help the person.

 

In our bible reading today from the gospel of Luke there is a story about how Jesus healed a crippled woman on a special day of rest called the Sabbath. Some people were upset at Jesus doing this on the day of rest. But Jesus knew that everyday was a good day for helping people in trouble. Like us, Jesus needed to take time to rest, but he was always ready to help people in need or trouble.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, help us to be ready to support people in trouble no matter what day of the week it is. Thank you that you are always there for us. In Jesus name – Amen!

Copyright - 2010 Sundaychildrensfocus.com - Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking your web page to this site. Thank you!  A.H.

 

Children’s sermon idea: (This public domain story / anecdote has been around for a long time but I do think it works.) Tell the children how you can catch a monkey with jar and a penny. Put a penny in a small mouth jar and attach it (the jar) to a post with a rope. Explain how the monkey will reach inside grabbing the penny with his fist. Because he is holding the penny in his fist he can’t get his hand out without letting go. He gets caught because he is too greedy to let go of the penny. Explain how Jesus warned about greed.

 

Object lesson items: A small mouth jar or vase, A Penny, A rope or piece of string to tie onto the jar.   

 

Full Children’s Story: Good morning children. This morning I want to explain to you how to catch a monkey. We don’t have a monkey here this morning so you’ll have to use your imagination. Do you see this jar? I’m going to take this jar and put a penny inside it like this. I’ll put the jar down here on the floor. Then I’m going to tie this rope to the jar. Good. That’s nice and tight. Then I’m going to hang on to the other end of the rope and behind this chair. I’ll explain how this works. If a monkey comes along and sees the penny inside he’ll say to himself. Hmm. I want to have that penny all to myself. So he reaches in and grabs the penny. (Show them with your hand.) He makes sure he is holding it very tightly in his hand. But when he tries to take his hand out he can’t remove it because he is making a fist holding on to the penny. He can’t get his hand out as long as he holds on to the penny. He could get away very easily if he just let go of the penny but he loves the money so much he just can’t let go. Then you just need to pull on this rope and you have caught a monkey with his hand in the jar. In our bible reading this morning form Luke chapter 12 Jesus warned about greed. Greed means hanging onto money very tightly so that you don’t seem to care about anything else. Like the monkey that gets caught by hanging on to money, we can also get trapped by money. We can be so concerned about hanging on to our money that we forget about other people in need and we can even forget about God. Jesus said that happiness is not found in having lots of money and lots of “things.”

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God. Thank you that all of us here this morning have enough food to eat and we have nice homes to live in too. Help us not to be greedy. Help us to be people who share what we have with others and put you first. Thank you that real happiness comes from following Jesus and knowing his love. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

A.H. Sundaychildrensfocus.com

 

Kids Sermon idea: (or Introduction to a Sunday School lesson) Lead the children around to various members of your congregation and ask them to teach you how to do some task. Point out individuals (You need to know their trade or vocation.) suggesting that they could teach us what they know. Who would be the best person to teach about prayer? Explain how the disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Pray the Lord’s Prayer together and tell them that Jesus can help teach us to pray.

 

Preparation: Be aware of members of the congregation you can visit or point out. Pick individuals / vocations that will be understandable to children. (I.e. Cook, painter, carpenter, etc.) It’s also very helpful to use a roving microphone.

 

Children’s sermon: Good morning children! When you are growing up we need people to teach us how to do things. I can remember asking my mother, “Mom, please teach me how to tie my shoe laces.” Then she took the time to teach me how to do that.  (Go into the congregation with a wireless microphone.) If we wanted to learn how to bake a cake we might go over here (lead the children) to Mrs. Graham who works at a bakery. We could say, “Mrs. Graham, please teach us how to bake a cake.” If we wanted to know how to paint a house we could go over here to Mr. Jacobs and say, “please teach us how to paint.” Or, we could chat with Mrs. Grace and ask if she would teach us how to speak Spanish. What if we wanted to learn how to pray? Who would we ask to teach us how to pray? Well yes, there are a lot of people here this morning that might be able to teach us to pray. But I think it would also be to learn from Jesus. In our bible reading today we are told that the disciples wanted to learn how to pray. They went to Jesus and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus then taught them a simple prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a prayer that includes important things like giving thanks, asking forgiveness, and asking God our Father to help us live the way He wants us to live. Let’s pray that prayer together now. (Lead the children in praying the Lord’s Prayer.)

We can pray that same Lord’s Prayer but we can also ask Jesus to teach us to pray. If we ask him I’m sure he will help us.

 

Children’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, we know that your son Jesus taught the disciples how to pray. We pray that you, your son Jesus and the Holy Spirit will help teach us to pray too. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2010 Andrew Hewlett Sundaychildrensfocus.com   Feel free to use this story during a Sunday morning service but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider placing a link to this site. A.H.

Children’s sermon idea: Place a chair up front and ask the children to imagine that Jesus came in person to visit. Lead the children off to the side and explain all the wonderful things you could cook and prepare for Jesus. (Have kitchen items there: egg beaters, mixing bowls, etc.) Then explain that it might be even more important to just sit and be with Jesus. Lead the children back to the chair and all sit down at the feet of Jesus. Tell them the biblical account of Mary and Martha and then lead the children in prayer.

 

Object lesson items: A chair, some cooking implements,

(Optional: Have “robe” that you can place on one of the children in order to be Jesus.)

 

Good morning children. This morning I want you to imagine what we would do if Jesus actually came and sat right down in this chair. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! Think of all the things we could do for him. Follow me over here to the side to this little table. Look at these cooking tools. We could make Jesus and wonderful cake. We could mix up the eggs with this egg beater…(continue to interact with the children.) Well, this is a lot of fun but I think something is wrong. We would have left Jesus all alone in that chair. Let’s go back and sit down around this chair. (Lead the children back to the chair and sit down “at the feet of Jesus.” There, I think that’s better. It’s wonderful to do things for Jesus but I think it is even more important to just spend time with him. There is a story in Luke’s gospel about two women named Mary and Martha. Jesus came to visit and Mary sat at Jesus’ feet talking to him. Her sister Martha spent time running around preparing things for dinner. She was so busy she hardly had time to talk to Jesus. Jesus said that it was Mary who was doing the most important thing at that moment. Mary wanted to just spend time with Jesus and Jesus wanted to spend time with Mary. It was certainly nice that Martha was doing all that work preparing dinner but Jesus wanted to spend time with her too. It’s good for us do things for Jesus but sometimes it’s more important to just sit quietly and remember that he is with us and loves us. We can’t see Jesus but he promised us that he is with us wherever we go. When we read the bible it’s a bit like spending time with Jesus because the bible is God’s word or message. Praying is also like spending time with Jesus. When we pray, God the Father and his son Jesus really do listen to us. They really do love us and care for us. They can also speak to us through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray:

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God. We really do want to do many things for you. But help us not to get so busy we forget to spend time with you and forget to enjoy the wonderful love you have for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

 

Copyright 2010 Sundaychildrensfocus.com Feel free to use this on Sunday Morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site. A.H.

Idea for Children’s sermon: Show the children a flashlight and demonstrate how important it is to have batteries inside. The flashlight needs the power from the batteries to make the light shine and do its job. In the same way, the Holy Spirit in us gives us power to shine the light of Jesus Christ and do what God wants us to do.

 

Object lesson items: A flashlight and batteries.

 

Complete children’s talk:  Good Morning Children. Do you know what special day it is this Sunday? This is Pentecost Sunday. It’s the time when were remember that Jesus / the Father sent the Holy Spirit to live inside believers. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come into the lives of those who followed him. Many years ago followers of Jesus gathered together on a special day called Pentecost. Then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit of God came upon the people and they received new life and power to shine the light of Jesus in the world. That same Holy Spirit can give us power today to live for Jesus. This morning I want to show you how important the Holy Spirit is. Do you see this flashlight? How many of you have flashlights at home? What do you think will happen if I turn on this small switch? OK. Let’s try. Hmmm. Nothing is happening. Can you make it work? (Give the flashlight to the children.) What do you think is wrong? (Someone will mention that there are no batteries.) Open up the flashlight and look inside. You’re right. It’s empty inside. Do you think it is important for a flashlight to have batteries inside? Right. The batteries give power to the flashlight to make it shine. Without that power inside the flashlight just doesn’t work. Even though batteries are not a living person like the Holy Spirit, batteries still remind me of the power of the Holy Spirit. In the same way a battery gives power to make a flashlight shine, the Holy Spirit gives power to believers to shine the light of Jesus. The bible says that by ourselves we can’t love people very well and we can’t live the life that God has for us. By ourselves we are like this empty flashlight that has no power. But Jesus said he would send us the Holy Spirit who would give us power to live for God and to shine the light of Christ.

Let’s see what happens when I put these batteries inside the flashlight. Yeah! It works! We want our lives to shine like this flashlight so let’s ask God to fill us with his Holy Spirit.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you that you have sent us the power of the Holy Spirit. Please fill us up each day with the Holy Spirit that we would have the power to live for Jesus and let his light shine in our lives.

Copyright 2010 sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this on Sunday morning but please give credit to SundayChildrensFocus.com and please consider linking to this site.  -- A.H.

Mother's Day Object Lesson: 

Childrens Sermon idea: Demonstrate how difficult being a mother is. Have one of the children pretend to be a mother. Get several other children to hold on to the “mother” yelling, crying and asking for help all at the same time. This kids sermon is a fun drama today.

 

Objects lesson items: None. You just need some kids as volunteer actors.   

 

Children’s sermon: Good morning Children! Today is a very special day. Do you know what special day that is? Right! Its mother’s day today. Many people don’t know how hard it is to be a mother. I thought it would be a good idea to do a little acting to show you what it is like to be a mother. In order to do this I need someone to pretend to be a mother. Yes, Carol. Thank you for helping out. Now, I need someone to pretend to they are very hungry little boy. Thank you Jeff. I want you to knell down here at the “mother’s” knee tugging at her leg. I want you so say, “I’m hungry” over and over again. Act that out for me. (Encourage the child to be loud and repetitive) Wow. That was great. Now I need someone to come over here and tug on the other leg saying, “he took my toy, he took my toy.” (Have them demonstrate. Add other children to the picture:

--One child pulling mother’s left arm out to the side saying, “I don’t want to go to bed.”

--One child pulling at the other arm saying, “I want some candy, I want some candy.”

--One child pulling at mom’s waist from behind, “There’s nothing to do, there’s nothing to do.”

Now, I think we are all ready to put it all together. Are you ready to go? When I say go lets all complain at once. Go! (It makes quite a noise.) If you have a microphone ask the “mother” what it feels like. (If you don’t have a microphone you will have to ask the children to stop.) Ask her what it would be like if it went on all day.

Thank the children and give them a round of applause for being such good actors.

That was fun. What I do want you to understand is that mothers have a very hard job. They often cook meals, help crying children, break up fights, etc. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s important that we remember how hard it is and do what we can to help out mothers. What are some things we can do to help our mothers? (Let them respond) Those are good ideas. We can help out around the house and we can say please and thank you. We can also pray for them and show them we are grateful for who they are and what they do.
 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you for mothers or those special people who look after us. We know they work hard and show us lots of love. Help us to show our love and care to them and be thankful. In Jesus’ name – Amen

 

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