Children’s sermon idea: Sunday School or Children's Church:  Demonstrate how Jesus was able to calm the storm. Get the congregation to violently wave their hands, making the sound of wind. Ask the children to imagine being in a boat at sea. In a loud voice call out “PEACE – BE STILL” showing how Jesus had power over the wind and the waves.

 

Object lesson props: None   

 

Full Kids Sermon: Good morning children! In our bible reading today the disciples learned that Jesus had power over the wind and the waves. The disciples were out on the sea when a huge storm came up. There were terrified when they saw the big waves and heard the sound of the wind. Then they woke up Jesus. He told the wind and the waves to calm down and right away, the storm stopped. They were amazed at his power – the power of God!

 

Let’s act this out to see what it was like. You can pretend you are the disciples sitting in the boat. The people out there in the congregation will be the wind and the waves. Let’s practice a bit. Members of the congregation, please make the sound of a violent wind. That’s great. Now let’s add some waves to that. We will do it again but wave your hands in the air like waves in a storm. Wow, that looks like a scary storm. Now kids, when you see the wind and the waves pretend to be very scared. I will pretend to be Jesus commanding the storm to be still. OK, we are about to start. Kids, pretend you are rowing a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Great! Now let’s have the storm start. Good. Louder still. Bigger waves. (Egg them on a bit). When the disciples saw the waves they were terrified. (Gesture to the children to look terrified.) Now just when the disciples thought they might drown they woke up Jesus. He stood up and said, “Peace, be still!” (The congregation will understand they are to stop.) As soon as Jesus said those words, the storm stopped and the disciples were relieved (whew!) They were so amazed that Jesus could command the wind and the waves. They were learning the Jesus was no ordinary person; he had the power of God!

 

Children’s prayer: Dear God, it’s wonderful that Jesus had all the power in the world. Help us to trust Jesus and follow him so we can know his amazing power and his amazing love. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2012 Sundaychildrensfocus.com   Andrew Hewlett Feel free to use this story on Sunday but please give credit to SundayChildrensFocus and consider linking to this site. Thank you – A.H.

 

Youth Group Skit idea: Have two volunteers come up front. With various articles of clothing, dress up a “big shot.” (Big hat, sun glasses, cigar, fancy coat, etc. You can have fun with this. ) Ask him to puff out his chest and look very important. Choose a smaller person to be a servant with a towel and serving tray. With this visual aid, discuss what it is to be truly great. Explain how Jesus said the greatest is the one who is the servant of all.

 

Object lesson items: Two bags or boxes: 1. (Rich / Important person) Big hat, sunglasses, cigar, wallet with lots of money, foot rest, etc. Consider adding huge bible or other religious items. 2. (Servant) Towel, platter / tray.

 

Good morning! Today I need two volunteers. (Pick a big strong person.) Bill, would you come up here? You are an important person. However, this morning I’m going to make you really important. Please put on this hat. That looks great. Now, try these sunglasses on and take this cigar. Do you feel pretty powerful and important? Perhaps you should also stand on this box to make you a bit higher than everyone else. Now, I want you to wait there for a minute. You can think about money, power, and how wonderful it is to be so great!

 

I need a second person now. (Someone small.) Yes, Betsy. Please come up and help me out here. I know he is a little scary but I’d like you to stand next to Bill here. I’m going to dress you up like a servant who helps people. Here is a towel you can hold. That’s for washing peoples feet, washing dishes, drying someone’s tears etc. You can hold this plate in the other hand. You could use it for carrying food to someone who is hungry or carry glasses of water for those who are thirsty.

 

(To the congregation / group) Here is my question for today. Which of these two people is the greatest? Bill or Betsy? Most people think Bill is the greatest. However, Jesus said it is the servant (Betsy) who is the greatest of all. (If Bill is on the ball, he will be shocked and horrified.) In our bible reading from Matthew chapter 23 Jesus said that it was the one who served others who was the greatest. God sees things much differently than most people. In God’s eyes, the servant who shows love to others is truly the greatest.

 

Prayer: Dear God, help us to know true greatness by learning to serve and love others. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2011 sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking to this site. Thanks. A.H.

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Idea for Youth group talk or Children’s sermon:   

Show the children a “Guinness book of world records.” Ask them is they know what is the greatest

(fill in the blank) in the world. Test them on some fun facts about greatness. Explain how the religious teachers tested Jesus by asking him what was the greatest commandment of all. Discuss with the children how Jesus said the greatest command of all was to love God and to love others.

 

Object lesson items: A Guinness book of world records. (Ask families who have children. This is a popular book. You can also find it at the library.)

 

Children’s sermon / Sunday school lesson introduction:

Good morning children! I’m going to show you a very interesting book I have here this morning. It’s called the “Guinness book of world records.” Have you heard of this book? It is full of world record holders. It lists the greatest athlete in the world, the greatest hamburger, the greatest painter, and the greatest roller skater. (Show some pictures to the children and have some fun. Then ask them some “test” questions about greatness.) Who do you think is the greatest singer of all time? What is the greatest rock and roll band of all time?

(You might even mention that the Bible is mentioned as the best selling book of all time.)

 

Today’s bible reading from the gospel of Matthew tells how the religious leaders asked a “test” question to Jesus. They asked him what was the greatest commandment of all. Of course, Jesus knew the answer! He said that the greatest commandment was to “love God and to love others.”  He said that the whole message of their bible (the Law and the Prophets) was about the importance of loving God and loving others. That is important for us to know too. It’s nice to know who is the greatest hockey player, what is the greatest country in the world and what is the greatest book in the world. Yet, it is most important that we know the greatest commandment is to love God and love others.  

 

Children’s prayer: Dear God, Jesus taught that the greatest command of all. With the help of your Holy Spirit help us to obey this command to truly love you and to love others. In Jesus’ name – Amen!


Copyright 2011 sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett  Feel free to use this Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking to the web site.  Thank you!  A.H.

 

Children’s Bible message – idea: Make a small tower out of building blocks or books. Explain the importance of the foundational “cornerstones” at the base of your structure. Discuss what might happen if blocks are removed. Ask them what would happen if one of your most important “cornerstones” were removed. Pull out one of these blocks making the structure fall. Explain how the bible says Jesus is like a “cornerstone.” Some people felt he was not needed but we know that he is the most important of all.

 

(Comment: Scholars are unsure whether this stone is a capstone at the top of an arch, a traditional cornerstone or the locking capstone at the top of intersecting walls. Whatever is the right interpretation the basic message is the same.)

 

Object lesson items: Building blocks, boxes or Hymns books. Place 3 or 4 key “stones” at the bottom of the structure so that your building will fall if one is removed.

 

Complete Children’s Sermon: Good morning children! Look what I have in this box this morning. Do you know what these are? Right! They are building blocks. When I was young, I used to love building things with blocks like these. Let’s make a building this morning. (Start by making the appropriate foundation and then ask the children to help you build the structure.) Please give me a hand. Thank you for helping. It’s looking like a nice building. Let’s make it nice and tall. Now, what would happen if I took one of these blocks of the very top? That’s right. I don’t think it would matter that much. Do you see these “stones” at the bottom? These are “cornerstones.” They are very important. What do you think will happen if I removed one of these cornerstones? Hmmm. Let’s find out. I’m going to take out this one and throw it away. (Let the building crash to the ground.) Wow! That was not a very good idea. It really came crashing to the ground. The cornerstone(s) is the most important stone of the whole building. Our bible reading today says that Jesus is like a cornerstone that the builders decided to throw away. However, that wasn’t very smart because Jesus was the most important “stone” of all. If we try, build our lives or a church without Jesus it will probably end up like this building here. So always remember to make Jesus the most important part of your life.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God. Thank you for sending Jesus to be like a strong cornerstone on which we can build our lives. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2011 SundayChildrensFocus.com Andrew Hewlett - Feel free to use this lesson at your Sunday service but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking your web page to this site. Thank you. A.H.

 

Children’s Sermon idea:

After welcoming the children / youth arrange to be interrupted by “Jesus.” (Someone who might look like Jesus and wear a long robe. In order to make it clear they could wear a sign, “JESUS.”) After Jesus asks to speak to the children explain that this is YOUR time for teaching and that he will have to find something else to do. Have fun with the interaction. Then debrief with the children and explain how crazy it would be to tell Jesus that he is not allowed to teach. It’s His Church and he is God the Son! Give a short explanation of the Matt 21:23-28 and remind that children that he is the most important person in the church and in our lives.

 

Object lesson items / props: This involves some dramatic preparation. Pick someone to be Jesus. They could wear a bathrobe with a sign that says “Jesus.”

 

Good morning children! This morning I would like to talk to you about our bible reading from Matthew chapter 21…(Make this the cue for JESUS to come up front and interrupt you by asking to speak to the children. ) “Excuse me, I’m Jesus and I would like to speak to the children this morning.” (Look startled and perplexed.) Wow. It’s great to have you hear Jesus but it is actually my job to speak to the children on Sunday mornings. “But I have something important to say to the children…” Well, you need to understand that I was hired to be the pastor (or youth group teacher) of this church so I don’t think you should be doing my job. “But I just want to tell my children about my love…” Hey! I think you should go now before you put me out of a job…(User Jesus off to the side.)

 

(Let’s give Mr____ a big hand for helping me out with this little drama.)

 

Children, that was just a fun little drama to remind us of how foolish it would be to tell Jesus that he couldn’t speak in our church. Of course we would want Jesus to speak to us. This is His church, He is our Saviour and we would always want to let him speak to us. Since He is the “Boss” it would be terrible if I didn’t let him speak in His church. However, that is what seemed to happen in our bible lesson today for Matthew chapter 21. The religious leaders got angry that Jesus was teaching the people. They said it was their job and not his. But we know that Jesus had been put in charge by God the Father. However, even though Jesus the most important person of all the leaders didn’t like him teaching the people.

 

Our little drama and the reading from the Bible should remind us that Jesus is the most important person the whole world. He is our boss or leader and the most important teacher of all. We should always read our Bible and learn more about Jesus the wonderful teacher. The good news is that he is still alive and guides us, leads us, and teaches us through the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Idea for Children’s sermon:   

 

(1) Consider acting out the parable. Pick out the key actors and ask them to act the story out as you give a paraphrased account of the story.

 

--Another option:

 

(2) Have a long time member of the congregation (or older believer) come up front. Hand them a big box and explain to the children that this represents (or shows us) that this faithful order Christian has received a “big box” of the wonderful life and love of Jesus Christ. Then bring up another younger person who has only been a Christian for a short period of time. Ask the children what size box of Jesus’ love and life they should have. Hand them the same size box and explain how even new believers get the same huge amount of God’s love and life in Jesus Christ.

 

Object lesson items needed: Two large boxes the same size. In big letters write on each box, “The Love and Life of Jesus Christ.”

 

Full Children’s Sermon:

 

Good Morning Children! This morning I’m going to ask Mr. Jones to come up in front of the church with us. (Ask Mr. Jones to come forward.) He is a very special person because he is 80 years old. He has always been a believer in Jesus Christ and he has been a member of our church longer than anyone else has. I wonder how much of the life and love of Jesus Christ has been given to him. I’m going to pretend the life and love of Jesus Christ is like this big box. (Hand the box to Mr. Jones.) He has been a believer for a very long time and I think he should have large amount of God’s live and love in Jesus Christ. Now, I’m going to ask another person to come forward. Debbie, will you please come forward? Debbie is only 16 years old and she has only been a believer in Jesus for one year! Some of you might remember when she was baptized. Since Debbie is a brand new Christian, how much of the life and love of Jesus Christ does she get? Should she perhaps get a little amount like this small box here? (Hold it up besides Mr. Jones’ box.) That would make sense wouldn’t it? She hasn’t been following Jesus nearly as much as Mr. Jones here. However, do you know what is amazing? The bible says that a new Christian believer like Debbie gets just as much of the life and love of Jesus as a long time believer like Mr. Jones. (Put the small box down and hand them a large box the same size as Mr. Jones’ to Debbie.) Isn’t that wonderful. God blesses us with a huge amount of the life and love of Jesus Christ even if we are a new Christian! Notice too the big smile on Mr. Jones’ face. He does not feel this is unfair. He’s happy that Debbie has this same wonderful gift of love and joy.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you for your life and love that is in Jesus Christ your Son. There is more than enough to go around. Thank you that like these big boxes here, you have a big amount of your love and life for each of us even if we are a new Christian. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

Copyright 2011 Sundaychildrensfocus.com   Andrew Hewlett  Feel free to use this on Sunday but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking to this web site.  Thanks  - A.H.

 

Basic bible story idea:

I’m going with the idea that there is actually a way that 1 plus 1 equals 3! Where there are two or more Christians gathered Jesus is there too. Show two pieces of coloured glass. Bring them together and show them how there is a third colour where they overlap. Show the children 4 small cut out triangle. Piece them together and show how pieced together the 4 triangles make a 5^th large triangle. (Like all analogies this is does not describe perfectly how Jesus is present in our midst.) Explain how when believers gather there is actually an extra person present – Jesus.

 

Complete Children’s sermon:

 

Good morning children!  I have a question for you. What does one plus one equal? Right. However, I’m going to show you a way that one plus one equals three! This morning I have two colourful pieces of glass with me. I have this pretty piece of blue glass (hold it up for them to see), and I have this piece of yellow glass. Therefore, you can see that I have two colours in total, blue and yellow. Watch carefully. I’m going to put there two colours together. Look what happens when I put the two colours together. What colour do you see here in between? Right. There is a third new colour, green! Two pieces of coloured glass and a third new colour. I’m going to show you something else. Look at these 4 small triangles. (It might be easiest to place these on a felt board or stick them one by one on cardboard. Show them how you can fit them together in the shape of one big triangle.) There, I have 4 small triangles here but look carefully. These 4 actually make another big triangle when they are all together. When they are all together, there are actually 5 triangles. That’s pretty amazing. This reminds me of something that Jesus taught his disciples. In Matthew 18 Jesus said that where two or more believers gathered that he was there too. Now, we know that Jesus is with us always, but in some special way Jesus is right here with us when we come together. We can’t see Jesus but he said he would be right here with us. Let’s count how many children are up here now. (Count together) Great! There are ten of us. However, we know that there are really 11 of us because Jesus is here too. Let’s pray.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, Thank you for this wonderful miracle that when we gather Jesus is right here with us too. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2011 Sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett Feel free to use this at your Sunday morning church service. Please consider placing a link to this site. A.H.

 

Sunday School Sermon idea: Have a bag filled with different types of weeds along with small flowers or plants. Making two piles, have the children decide which are the good plants and which are the weeds. After this hold up cut out pictures of people (from a magazine). Ask them if they can decide who are the good people and who are the bad people. After seeing the pictures and realizing it cannot be done, explain how it’s not really our job to go around separating good people from bad people. Our job is to show love and care to all people.

 

Object lesson items: Some weeds; some small flowers or plants; Pictures of people cut out from a magazine.

 

Complete kids sermon: Good morning children! Have any of you helped plant things in the garden or helped pull weeds? I haven’t done a lot of gardening and I find it hard to tell the difference between the weeds and the flowers. Look at this bag here. It’s full of weeds and its full of flowers. Let’s see if you can tell the difference. I’ll make two piles on this tray; one for the good plants and one for the weeds. OK. What about this one? Is it a weed or a flower? How about this one? (Some may be easy to recognize and some difficult. Have some fun with this.)

 

I think you did pretty well. However, sometimes it was hard to tell the difference, especially when the plants had not yet produced pretty flowers. Now I want you to look at these pictures here. They are pictures of people I cut out of a magazine. Why don’t we try to put them in different piles: We’ll have one pile for good people and one pile for bad people. (Hold up the pictures and ask the children to decide by looking at the people.) Hmmm. I don’t think this is working. I don’t think it’s really our job to put people into “good people” and “bad people” piles. In our bible reading today from Matthew chapter 13 Jesus makes it clear that it’s not really our job to try to decide who are the good people and who are the bad people in the world. God knows who are his friends and who are his enemies. Our job is to show the love of Jesus to everyone. 

 

Prayer for the Children: Dear God, help us not to worry too much about who is good and who is bad. Help us to show the love of Jesus to everyone. In Jesus’ name – Amen

 

Copyright 2011 Andrew Hewlett – Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Feel free to use this but consider linking to this site. Blessings, A.H.

Kids sermon idea: Explain how Jesus had the power to wake up even the dead. Demonstrate different ways of waking up people; alarm clock, clapping hands, singing, banging pots and pans, etc. We can wake up people when they are sound asleep but with the command of his voice Jesus can wake up the dead. (Explain this or act it out with a volunteer “Lazarus.”)

 

Object lesson props: Various noise makers: alarm clock, bell, rolled up paper megaphone, pots and pans etc.

 

Children’s sermon: Good morning children! Do you find it easy to wake up in the morning? Hmmm. Well, some people wake up easily and others find it hard to wake up. I have some different ways of waking people up. Many people use an alarm clock like this. Listen to the ring. That would wake up some people. Other people wake up when the birds sing outside. Can you make the sound of a bird chirping? That’s good. There are other people who sleep very soundly. They need to be woken up with something like this. (Bang the pots and pan lids.) We can wake up just about anyone if we make enough noise. However, no matter how much noise we make I don’t think we could wake up someone who had died. That would be impossible. But did you know there is someone who can even wake up the dead. His name is Jesus. In chapter 11 of John’s gospel we can read about how Jesus’ friend Lazarus died. By the time Jesus got to his house he had already been dead four days. Of course, no one else could bring him back to life. But Jesus called out, “Lazarus come out!” Let’s call that out loudly together, “Lazarus come out.” Immediately Lazarus came back to life from the dead. That’s amazing that Jesus has power to raise people from the dead.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God. Thank you the Jesus has the power to wake up people from the dead. Help us to follow him and trust that nothing can separate us from his love and power. In Jesus’ name – Amen.

 

Copyright 2020 Andrew Hewlett (Sunday Children's Focus) feel free to use this 5 minutes children's sermon but please "Like" this on facebook (see link top of main page) and link to this web site. Blessings, A.H.

 

Children’s Sermon / object lesson idea: Demonstrate the difference between building on sand and building on rock.

Get a cookie tray with high edges. Place a flat topped rock on one side and mound of damp sand on the other side. Place a small toy house on these two “foundations.” Pour water over each house. The house on sand will tip over and fall as the sand washes away. The house on the rock will stay upright.

(When I did this I actually covered (hid) the rock with a small layer of sand.)

 

 

Children’s sermon: Good Morning! Look what I brought in to church this morning. (Bring out your tray with the sand, the rock and the two toy houses.) Do you see these two houses? They both like nice sitting there. Wouldn’t if be fun if we could make ourselves very small and go inside…

Look what I have here. It is a pitcher of water. Let’s pretend there is a big flood of water from a storm. I’ll pour this water over the houses and see what happens. Uh oh! One of these houses fell over and washed away. But this house is still standing. Why didn’t if wash away? That’s right. The first house here was build on top of sand and it washed away. But the second house here is sitting on a rock. It’s very strong and the water won’t wash it away.

 

In our Bible lesson from Matthew chapter 7 Jesus said that some people listened to what he taught but never actually did it. They listened but didn’t live the way Jesus wanted them to life. Jesus said that those people were like this poor house here that was built on the sand. Jesus said that people who followed Jesus’ teaching would be like this house built on the rock. They would be strong and stand.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, with the Holy Spirit help us to learn about Jesus and also to do what he taught us to do. That way we can be strong like this house built on a rock. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

 

Copyright 2011 Sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett – Feel free to use this kid’s sermon on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site

 

(--Note: I’ll proof read this story tomorrow. It’s 11:45pm on Saturday and I’m falling asleep at my computer. A.H. )