frontpagewwords

Lectionary

Short Fun Chidrens sermon - A Crippled Woman is healed on the Sabbath   Luke 13:10-17 

 
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.
 
Full Kids Sermon:
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.

Greed The Parable of the Rich Fool   Luke 12: 13-21  balloons picture   How to catch a Monkey with a penny and a jar. 

 
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.   monkey
 
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

 

Children’s sermon: the Lord’s Prayer    Luke 11:1-13 Lord, teach us to pray.

    

 
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.

Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42)– Spending time with Jesus

Kids talk Mary and Martha

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.)
 
Full Children’s Lesson.
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.


Sunday school / Children's Chapel idea for the Day of Pentecost

The power of the Holy Spirit        

 Holy Spirit Flashlight

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.


Holy Spirit Dove

 

Children’s sermon / Sunday School lesson for Mother’s Day

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.
 Penguin mothers day
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.
Debrief:
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
 
SundayChildrensFocus  - Please "like" this, link to this page or share this around. Thank you - A.H.

 

Kids sermon “No one can snatch them out of my hand”        John 10:22-30

 

Safe in God’s hands       

 
Kid’s sermon idea: Show the children a silver dollar or a Gold coin that is valuable to you. Put the object in your hand holding it tight in your fist. Let the young children see if they can get it out of your hand. They won’t be able to. Explain how we are precious to God and that Jesus said “no one can take us out of his hand.” (John 10:22-30)
 
Objects needed: Some small valuable object such as a ring, a coin, or precious stone. If you have a locket with a picture of your children that would be even better.
 
Children’s Sermon: Good Morning children. I want to show you something that is very valuable to me. This is gold coin that my grandmother gave me. It’s worth a lot of money and it also has special value to me because it was a gift from my dear grandmother Gertrude. I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to take it from me. Who here thinks they are pretty strong? (A number of the children will put up their hands.) Do you want to see if you can get this out of my hand? O.K. Here you go. Try your best! Hmmm. You couldn’t do it. Is there someone else that would like to try? Fine. Here you go. (Note: Make sure they don’t have extra help. When I did this one of the older children took out a sharp pencil to help.) Well, it looks like you tried pretty hard but you still couldn’t do it. In our bible reading today from the Gospel of John Jesus said that he would keep his followers safe in his hand and that no one could take them from him. (Hold up your clenched hand with the object inside.) You couldn’t take the coin out of my hand because I’m much older and stronger than you. But think of how Jesus is much more powerful that all of us. He has all the power of God and the bible says that no one can take us away from him. That is very good news. No one has the power to take us out of the love and care of Jesus Christ.
 
Children’s Prayer: Dear God, as your children we are so thankful that you and your son Jesus have us safe in your care and love. Help us to remember that even when we are going through hard times we are always held safe and secure in your love. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

Copyright sundaychildrensfocus.com   Andrew Hewlett  2010     Feel free to use this children's story on Sunday morning or at Children's church but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site.  A.H.

 

Kids object lesson: Feed my Sheep Take care of my sheep      John 21:1-19    Easter 3  

 
Children’s Sermon idea: Explain to the children a time when you went away and entrusted a pet animal to someone else to look after. Describe your love for the animal and how you asked them to feed your pet and look after it. Tell the children how Jesus asked Peter to “feed my sheep” and “take care of my sheep.” As Jesus’ sheep, encourage the children to think of ways they can “feed” and “take care” of one another.
 
Object lesson Props: Items for taking cared of a household pet. (Bowl, brush, leash, treats, medicine, etc)
 
Children’s Sermon: Feed my Sheep – Take care of my Sheep
Good morning children. How many of you have a pet? Did you know that we once had a dog named “Deacon?” He was a very special dog and we loved him a lot. Here are some of the things we used to take care of him. Here is the brush we used to brush his hair. We would feed him by putting his food in this dog bowl. Here is the soap we would use when we would give him a bath. He was very special to us so we made sure we showed our love by taking good care of him. One day we had to go away on a trip and we had our neighbour look after Deacon. As we were preparing to go away we brought Deacon to our neighbour’s house along with all these things. We showed them how to feed Deacon. We showed them how to brush his hair. We gave our neighbour the leash and showed where Deacon enjoyed going for a walk. We wanted to make sure that our neighbour took care of our very special dog!
In our bible reading today from John’s gospel, Jesus said to Peter, “feed my sheep” and take care of them. Jesus wasn’t talking about the kind of sheep that have wool and go bah bah bah. Who do you think these sheep were that he wanted Peter to look after? Right! He was talking about his followers. When Jesus was talking about “my sheep” he was thinking about the people who followed him and loved him. They were people like you and me. If we are followers of Jesus we part of that flock of sheep. Jesus was going to go back to his heavenly father and he wanted to make sure Peter would feed and care for that flock of people who loved and followed Jesus. Jesus wanted to know that they were going to be fed and looked after by leaders like Peter. Our Pastor is a leader like Peter and his/her job is to look after us, feed us, and lead us in the right direction. In fact, all of us need to do what we can to care for one another. If we are Jesus’ sheep how can we care for one another? (Let the children respond) Those are some good ideas. Let’s always do what we can to take care of one another. That’s something Jesus would want us to do.
 
Children’s Prayer: Dear God, help us to feed and take care of our pets and animals. As your sheep, help us to “feed” and take care of one another just like Jesus asked Peter to do. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking to this site. - Blessings, A.H.
 
 
 

Palm Sunday Children’s sermon      Luke 19:28-40   Sunday of the Passion 

 For Sunday School or Children's Church -

Lectionary

Palm Sunday Kids
Children’s Sermon Idea: Talk about the excitement around the recent Olympic Games land show how many people waved flags in the air when the athletes entered the stadium. Explain how Jesus came down into Jerusalem and all the people waved Palm branches in celebration. (You could also use the idea of players entering as stadium at the superbowl or an NHL hockey game playoff) 
 (PS - Don't forget to check out the home page for other ideas or go here -> a list of Palm Sunday ideas.)
Objects lesson props: 1. Some flags or banners you can wave. (Use an Olympic flag if you have one or make one out of paper.) 2. A palm branch or some facsimile.
 
Children’s Sermon for Palm Sunday: Good morning children. How many of you watched the Olympic Games on T.V.? Great. Our whole family watched them on T.V. What was your favourite event? (Interact with the children) Do you know what my favourite part was? It was the opening ceremonies when the athletes entered into the stadium with all the people cheering. Many of the people waved flags as they cheered the athletes. (Give a demonstration or ask some of the children to help you out.)
It was a great celebration. The people were so excited that the athletes were getting reading to compete in all the events. There was so much excitement.
In our bible reading today we are remembering a very special event in the life of Jesus. Today is called Palm Sunday and we remember the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people were so excited that King Jesus was coming to the city. They didn’t have flags but they cut down palm branches and waved them in the air. They shouted out “Hosanna in the highest” as Jesus rode into the city. It was so exciting. Today (Palm Sunday) we remember that special when all the people celebrated and cheered on Jesus with Palm branches in the air.
 
(Consider placing a robe on one of the children (as Jesus) and have the other children wave palm branches as you process down the church isle. At our church we also sing the song “Hosanna in the highest” as we process.)
 
Children’s Prayer: Dear God, as we celebrate on this Palm Sunday help us to remember that day when all the adults and children waved palm branches and cheered as Jesus entered Jerusalem as King. We know Jesus rose from the dead and is alive. Help us to remember that he is our wonderful King and that we can praise him everyday! In Jesus’ name – Amen.

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


 

Kids object lesson - Give your best to Jesus. / Show you love to Jesus


Children’s message for Sunday School or Children’s church  - John 12:1-8  
Jesus anointed at Bethany
 
Children’s sermon idea: Explain to the children how Mary and Martha at Bethany showed their love to Jesus by serving him and offering their best. For visual aids have a plate with a meal (representing Martha’s gift to Jesus) and a fancy bottle of perfume (representing Mary’s gift to Jesus). Discuss with the children the fact that each child can show their love for Jesus in their own unique way.
 
Object lesson items: A fancy looking bottle of perfume; a tray with a dinner plate and food. (Idea: You could bake a cake and then serve it during coffee hour.)
 
Full Kids Sermon:
Good morning children! I want to show you some things I brought in this morning that remind us of our bible reading. First of all, look at this cake. It looks pretty tasty doesn’t it? How many of you like chocolate cake? I do too. Well, in our bible reading form John chapter 12 it says that there was a special dinner held in honour of Jesus. The passage says that Martha served the meal. It may of may not have been a cake like this but I’m sure that she was a good cook and wanted to give her very best to Jesus. This story in the bible says that Mary showed her love for Jesus with some very expensive perfume. Look at this beautiful bottle here. It has some wonderful smelling perfume. I’ll take the lid of and let you have a smell. That’s pretty nice isn’t it? The bible says Mary poured this very expensive perfume all over Jesus’ feet and the beautiful fragrance filled the whole room. Some people thought it was a waste of expensive perfume but Jesus new it was Mary’s way of showing how much she loved him. I like that story in the bible because it shows that there are different ways of showing our love for Jesus. Martha showed her love to Jesus by serving a wonderful meal in his honour. Mary showed her love by giving Jesus some very expensive perfume. I want you to think about how you could show your love for Jesus. (Sunday school lesson idea: You might want to discuss the children’s unique gifts, abilities and talents and how they might be used to serve and show love for Jesus.)
- Perhaps you could use your voice to sing a song in church.
- Perhaps you could make some beautiful drawing to honour Jesus.
- You can also show your love for Jesus by helping out others in need.
- Or, you can simply pray to Jesus and his Father and tell them how thankful you are for the great love that they have for you.
There are many different ways of showing our love for Jesus!
 
Children’s Prayer: Dear God, it’s wonderful to read about how Martha and Mary showed their love to Jesus. Help us to remember that we can give thanks to you and to Jesus in our own special way. In Jesus’ name – Amen!
 
Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site. A.H.

Page 8 of 12