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

 

SundayChildrensFocus  - Please "like" this, link to this page or share this around. Thank you - A.H.

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

 

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.


 

– Children’s message for Sunday School or Children’s church  - John 12:1-8  

 

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.

 

Basic Children’s Sermon idea: Show the children two pictures of God. Have one person stand up front holding a robe and some slippers. They should be looking into the distance with longing eyes. Have another person stand in front of the children with an angry look and holding a big stick. Explain the story of the prodigal son and discuss which of these two individuals is more like God the Father.

 

Object Lesson items: A robe (a bath robe will do), some slippers, a big stick. Get two volunteers from the congregation.

 

Children’s Sermon / Sunday School lesson introduction
 

Read out a simple paraphrase of the Prodigal Son:   Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

 Good morning children. This morning’s bible reading is from the Gospel of Luke in the bible and it is called the story (or parable) of the Prodigal Son. Many people think it’s best to call this story “The Loving Father.” Jesus told this story because many people didn’t understand what God was like. It’s actually the same today. There are many people who just don’t understand what God is like. I’ll show you what I mean. Mr. Jones, would you be willing to come up and help me act something out? Thank you. (Hand Mr. Jones the big stick) I’d like you to hold this big stick and make a face like you are very angry. Wow! That’s scary. Please hold that pose. Now, I need one more person to help me out. Yes. Mr. Smith. Please come up front here. I would like you to hold this robe in your hands and also these slippers. I would also like you to look longingly and lovingly into the distance. You might pretend you are looking for a lost child. Great. That looks just right. Children, Jesus knew that many people believed that God was like this angry person over here. If you knew that you were not living the way God wanted you to live would you want to come home to a God like this? No. You would be afraid that all he wanted to do was to hurt you with this big stick. If you were not living the way God wanted you to live would it be better to come home to someone like this person here? Of course it would. Look, he has love in his eyes and is holding a nice warm robe – ready to wrap it around you. He also has some nice warm slippers to keep feet warm. Jesus told a story to say that this person here is really most like God. He wanted them to know that if they ever did things very wrong and got into big trouble that God wanted to reach out in love to them more than he wanted to punish them. Jesus also wanted the people to know that it was important for him to be with “sinners” (the very bad people) because God loved them. He didn’t want to hurt them he wanted to save them from all the trouble and danger they were in. Jesus was telling us that God is like a very loving father.

 

Children’s Prayer: God, we are so thankful that you are like a very loving father. We are so glad that Jesus showed his love to all kinds of people even those who didn’t know about God at all. Help us always to stay close to you and your wonderful love. In Jesus, Amen!

 

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

 

Basic Children's sermon idea: Tell the children about the importance of saying NO to sin. Make up YES and a NO signs on cardboard. Present some situations to the children and ask them to respond (Yes or No) in unison. Highlight the importance of firmly saying “NO!” to what we know to be wrong.

 

Objects needed: A piece of cardboard with the word “YES.” And a piece of cardboard with the word “NO!”

 

Full children’s sermon:

Good morning children. Today our bible reading is about the time when Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Jesus knew it was important to say YES to God the Father’s truth in the bible but that he needed to say NO to Satan. As followers of Jesus it is important for us to say YES to God and NO to what is not of God. I’ll show you what I mean. I brought two signs with me today. What does this sign say? (Hold up the YES sign) That’s right, it says yes. I’m going to hold the sign up again and let’s say it all together loudly – YES! Good. Now, let’s use our imagination:

 

-If you’re parents asked you to help them bring in the groceries from the car it would be good to say…(Hold up the YES sign) YES! …That’s right. Say it loudly.

-If you felt God was asking you to help encourage your friend who was sad, it would be good to say….YES.

(Give some more situations)

 

Now I want to tell you about using another word. (Hold us the NO! sign) It’s the word “No.” Sometimes we are tempted to do things that are wrong. At those times it’s important to use the word NO. Let’s practice saying this word all together like we really mean it. (Hold up the sign…) NO! – That’s great.

 

-What if you were in a candy store and someone said to steal a candy off the shelf. What should we say? (Hold up the NO sign) NO! – Good! That’s the right thing to say.

- What if you were walking home from school and a stranger said “come into my care I have a special gift for you.” What would you say…NO! (I agree, that is the smart thing to say)

- What if someone said, “Let’s go over there and make fun of that person over there?” What are you going to say? (Hold up the NO! sign). Well done. That’s the right word to use when we are being tempted to do something we shouldn’t do.

 

(Get the congregation to give them a cheer for giving such wise answers)

 

Children. I want you to know that those two words; YES and NO, are very important words. When God leading us in the way he wants us to go we always want to say YES. However, when we are tempted to do something that’s wrong we want to say NO! That word can help us stay out of trouble and can help us follow Jesus.

 

Children’s prayer: Thank you God that Jesus always said NO to Satan and his ways, and YES to you and your ways in times of temptation. Help us to always say yes to you and to have the courage to say NO! to Satan and his ways that so often lead us into danger. 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. Thank you -- A.H.





Sorry - couldn't resist inserting this picture: Lead us not into temptation!

 

Children’s sermon / Sunday School lesson intro:   
 

This story focuses on the father’s words: “This is my son…Listen to Him.” Give a short overview of the transfiguration. Have everyone in the congregation call out at the same time and give some “advise” to the children sitting up front. It’s confusing and chaotic. Explain to the children that it’s most important that we “Listen to Jesus” in the study of the bible (that contain the life and teachings of Jesus) and in prayer.

 

Objects needed: None.

 

Full Children’s Sermon: Good morning children. Today’s bible reading from Luke chapter 9 is called the Transfiguration. It is about a special day when Peter, James and John went up on a mountain with Jesus to pray. When they were there two other great leaders, Elijah and Moses, miraculously appeared beside Jesus. All three of them glowed like dazzling while lights and they began to speak to the disciples. It was quite an experience! Peter didn’t know what to do. He started running around in a fluster not knowing what to do or say. Then a voice from heaven said “This is my Son, whom I have chosen, Listen to Him.” God the Father was saying that Peter needed to slow down and listen to Jesus. I think that is also pretty good advice for us today. There are many people telling us what to do and how to live our lives. I think it is so important that we Listen to Jesus. If we try to listen to everyone we will just get confused. I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s think of a question we can ask the congregation. Here’s a question. Let’s ask the congregation how we should live and what we should do with our lives. Members of the congregation when I count to three I want you to call out together how you think these children should live and what they should do with their lives. Ready? Listen closely children. 1, 2, 3 Go. (Let the children listen to the chaos for a few seconds and then give a “time out” gesture to the congregation.) Well children. Was that helpful? No? Why not? You’re right. It was a very confusing trying to listen to everybody. It was crazy!. I think this teaches us something important. Sometimes it can get very confusing trying to listen to everyone’s advice. Sometimes everyone we talk to has a different idea of what we should do or not do. We need to remember what our Heavenly Father said to Peter up on the mountain of transfiguration when he was confused. He said to Peter, “This is my Son whom I have chosen, Listen to Him!” Listening to God’s Son Jesus is so very important. Getting ideas and suggestions from other people is important but it is most important that we listen to Jesus. We can listen to Jesus by reading about the life of Jesus in the bible. We can read what he said and taught and we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand too.

 

Children’s Prayer; Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding Peter to listen to your son Jesus. Help us to listen to Jesus as well. Life can get pretty confusing trying to listen to everybody’s advice. Through your Holy Spirit help us to hear and know your son Jesus more and more each day. Amen!

Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Andrew Hewlett  - Feel free to use this lesson on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider putting a link to this web site. A.H.

 

Sunday school talk / Sermon idea: Luke 5:1-11   Fishers of Men

Show the children a large fishing net or use a blanket as a pretend fish net. Explain how they used to fish with nets and how Jesus said his disciples were to be “fishers of men” or “fishers of people.”

Have the children take a corner of the “net” and move about “catching” some people and bringing them in to your group. (Alternative: Consider making a “net” by having some of the kid’s link arms together.”)

 

  

Objects needed: a large piece of netting or a blanket that you can use as a pretend fishing net.

 

Complete children’s sermon / Sunday school lesson introduction: Evangelism

 

Good morning children! The bible reading that we have for today is about Jesus telling his disciples that he is going to make them “fishers of people.” One day Jesus met some fishermen named Peter, James and John. After doing a wonderful miracle of catching many fish, Jesus called them to follow him. He said that he would change their jobs from being fishers of fish to being fisher on men /people! Instead of catching fish Jesus wanted them to start catching people! He wanted them to tell others about Jesus and bring them along as followers. Instead of bringing fish into the boat he wanted them to bring people into the church and into the Kingdom of God. I want to show you what I mean. I need a few of you to come over here. (Have some of the children stand a little ways away from the group.) Let’s pretend that you don’t know anything about Jesus and his love. OK. Now let’s have some more of you stand over here. (Have another little group stand off to the other side) Let’s pretend they don’t know about Jesus and his love either. Now the rest of us here will be the “fishers of men.” Some of you can take the corners of this blanket. Perfect! Now let’s go and do some fishing. Follow me. Hey! Look over here. These people look a little lost. I think we need to bring them into the Kingdom of God. Let’s come around them and bring them into the church. (Scoop them up and bring them front and center.) Great. However, there are still some more people over there that look like they are on the outside. Let’s go and fish for those people. (“Net” these people and bring them in so you are all together as a big group.) You did a good job being fishers of people.

Although we don’t use a real net to bring people to Jesus he does want us to go out and “catch” people and bring them in the Kingdom. There are many things we can do to be good fishers of people. We can show love and care to other people. We can tell them about Jesus and his wonderful love. We can pray for them. And we can invite them here to church where they can experience some of the love and joy of the family of God. With the Holy Spirit’s help they just might decide to be followers of Jesus, just like the rest of us fish!

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, as followers of Jesus help us to be good fishers of men. Help us show your love by our words and by our actions so that many people would be brought into your Kingdom. Help us to be good fishers of men like Peter, James and John. Amen!

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