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| Help yourself to these great children's sermons! We've written special sermons for the upcoming months, but you'll find many ideas that will work well on any given Sunday. Enjoy! |
October 5, 2003
It’s good to see you today! This morning we are thinking about how God gives us wisdom. Wisdom means being wise and making smart decisions and good choices.
Our Bible story is found in the Old Testament, in the book of First Kings. King David was ready to retire as king, and called his son Solomon to take his place. Solomon knew that being a king was a very hard job. He prayed and asked God to give him wisdom, to make good choices.
Do you think God was pleased when Solomon asked Him for help?
Yes, God is always pleased when we pray and when we make Him part of our lives. God was so pleased with Solomon that He made Solomon wiser than anyone. God also blessed Solomon in other ways.
God loves us and cares for us. He wants us to know how to live. God gives us His wisdom so we can live in a way that pleases Him; so we can make good choices.
James 1:5 says, “If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask Him, and He will gladly tell you.”
Let’s pray and ask God to help us to make good choices.
October 12, 2003
(You will need: A clear measuring cup of sand and a pie plate or small mixing bowl)
Hello, friends! Today we are continuing to think about making wise choices. Last week we heard about Solomon, David’s son. King Solomon asked God for wisdom to make good choices. God gave Solomon so much wisdom that people came to see him from all the world over.
How much wisdom did God give Solomon? Today I brought a cup of sand with me (show the cup of sand). Let’s spread it out a little so we can count how much we have. (Pour sand into plate or bowl – begin to count grains). This is going to take a long time. Do you think we can count it all?
What if we tried to count all the sand in our whole neighborhood? What about all the sand on all the beaches in the whole world? Could we ever count it all? The Bible says God gave Solomon so much wisdom it was like all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. That’s a lot of wisdom!
Solomon could have kept all the wisdom God gave him all to himself. But Solomon knew that all the gifts God gives us are meant to be shared. He shared his wisdom with people from all over the world, so they could make good choices, too.
Many of the wise things Solomon got from God were written down. They’ve been put together and are in our Bibles, in the book of Proverbs. God gave us this book to help us remember things we need to know to make good choices.
Aren’t you glad God helps us in so many ways?
Let’s pray.
October 19, 2003
(Optional: You will need a box of Cracker Jacks and a box of baking soda.)
Good morning! I’m so glad you have chosen to be here with me. This month we’re learning about choices. Some choices we make are good choices, like choosing to come to church. Some choices are bad choices, like choosing to disobey, or choosing to tell a lie, or to do something that hurts someone else.
Some choices are easy to make. (Hold up a box of Cracker Jacks in one hand, a box of baking soda in your other hand). If you could have a box of Cracker Jacks or a box of baking soda for a snack, which would you choose?
Some choices are hard. Should I go to the playground or go to the toy store? Should I ride on the pony or ride the ferris wheel?
God gives us lots of ways to choose. We have to make choices all the time. Why does God allow us so many choices? Have you ever seen a puppet? Puppets can only go where the puppeteer, or person controlling them, tells them to go. A puppet cannot think for itself, or choose where to go or what to do. God did not create us to be His puppets. He gives us free choice, so we can choose to follow Him. God will be with us every day, to help us make the right choices.
In Joshua 1:19, our Bible tells us to be strong and courageous, because God is with us wherever we go. When it’s time for you to make a choice, remember that God is with you. Remember to choose to do things that honor
God. Then He will be pleased with your choice.
Let’s pray.
October 26, 2003
This morning let’s talk about trusting God and choosing to let Him guide us.
We trust many people to take care of us and to give us all the things we need. We trust our parents or family to give us a place to stay and enough food to eat. We trust doctors to help us when we’re sick, and teachers to teach us the things we need to know. But sometimes people make mistakes. Sometimes even the people we trust let us down or disappoint us.
There is one person who we can trust who will never make a mistake, and will never let us down. Do you know who I mean? That’s right – Jesus. Because Jesus is God’s son, He never makes mistakes and never lets us down. Jesus always loves us, and we can always trust Him.
Here is a verse from the Bible that reminds us about trust:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
Jesus will never let us down. Let’s pray.
November Theme: Thankfulness and Giving
November 2, 2003
(Have enough pennies to give one per child)
Good morning, boys and girls! Today is the first Sunday in November. This month we will be learning about being thankful and about giving.
I brought something for you today. I have a penny for each of you. I’ll hand them out just before we go back to our seats.
What should you say when someone gives you a gift, even a very small one? (Pause) Yes, Thank You.
Do you always remember to say Thank You for things people give you? Do we thank the person who cooks our meals for us? Do we thank the person who buys our clothes?
It’s easy to forget to say thanks for these things. We usually only say Thank You for special gifts.
Do we remember to say Thank You to God? The gifts He gives us are certainly special. What are some things God gives us? (food, home, family, health, happiness, etc.)
Sometimes we give thanks to God for our food. Sometimes we thank God when we say our prayers at night. Let’s remember to thank God all through the day, for everything He gives us.
Ephesians 5:20 says, “And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Let’s pray.
November 9, 2003
(You will need: A bag or pouch filled with birdseed)
It’s good to see you, boys and girls! Today I brought enough food for a big crowd. It seems like we are always having company at my house. Guests fly in from all over the country, and they all stay to eat with us. I’m pretty sure they could eat us out of house and home, except for one thing: we never let them into our house! We feed them all in the back yard.
I know what you’re thinking. What kind of company do I feed in the back yard? Why don’t we look in my bag and find out? Who do you think would eat these seeds? (Pause) You’re right! This is birdseed. You should see all the birds that come to my back yard. I like to watch them. Sometimes I wonder if they realize that I’m the one who gives them this birdseed to eat. They never thank me.
You know, now that I think about it, sometimes I get busy and forget to fill up their bird feeder. And sometimes I go out of town – then they go hungry again. I don’t always remember the take care of my company, do I?
James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change.”
God never forgets to provide for us. He never stops loving us, and giving us what we need. We can always depend on God.
Aren’t you glad that God never forgets to care for us, even when we forget to thank him?
Let’s pray.
November 16, 2003
Good morning, friends. Do you remember that this month we are learning about thankfulness and giving?
I want to tell you about some funny creatures I met and watched one day. I have a friend who has an ant farm. It’s kind of like a fish tank, made with clear glass so you can watch the ants at work.
Sometimes it’s cool just to sit and watch them. One day, as they scurried around, I started to name the ants. There was Geraldine – she’s the busiest one in the whole ant farm. And Buzz – he’s the one that’s always trying to get out and escape. Lula Mae loves to climb up on the glass, and Oscar always looks sleepy. I wish you could see them right now.
I’ll tell you a little secret... (shhh...) Even though I’ve got all those different ant names, guess what? No matter how hard I try, I can’t tell any of the ants apart. They all look exactly the same to me! Geraldine, and Buzz, and Lula Mae and Oscar... I can’t tell which is which. In fact, there are so many ants in the ant farm that I could never even name them all, much less tell them apart.
Some people think that’s what we look like to God – a bunch of ants. There are so many people in the world and God is so busy, how could He know our name, or know anything about us?
But He does. The Bible tells us that God knows us better than we know ourselves – He knows our name, he knows everything about us, and he loves us.
I am so thankful God knows exactly who we are, how we feel and what we need. God knows you and loves you so much!
Let’s pray.
November 23, 2003
(You will need: a bag of cranberries or can of cranberry sauce, and a small pumpkin)
Good morning! Who can tell me what holiday happens this week? That’s right – Thanksgiving Day.
I’ve brought along some of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving to show you today.
First, I have cranberries (hold up cranberries or cranberry sauce). Now, these cranberries weren’t made in a factory, and they didn’t just magically appear in a store. Where do cranberries come from? They grow on cranberry bushes. Someone picks the cranberries and they are washed and packed and sent to the grocery store. But where do the cranberry bushes come from? God made them.
I also like pumpkin pie a lot. Where does pumpkin pie come from? (Hold up small pumpkin). It comes from pumpkins. They grow on vines. Where do the pumpkin vines come from? They come from God.
Where does our turkey dinner come from? God created the turkeys. God also made the plants we get our vegetables from, the wheat used to bake our bread, and everything else in our Thanksgiving Dinner.
This year, as you sit down at the table on Thanksgiving Day, I want you to try something for me. Look at all the different foods on the table. Ask your parents where each different kind of food came from. Then thank God for that food.
Remember to give thanks to God for all the things He has given you – because everything we have comes from Him.
Let’s pray.
November 30, 2003
(You will need: a basketball)
We have been learning about being thankful for all that God gives us. Today let’s think about giving back part of what God has given us.
(Hold or bounce basketball)
It’s fun to play basketball. I like to watch basketball games, but it’s even more fun to play myself. Sometimes I play basketball with a group. Sometimes it’s fun to play all alone. The good thing about a basketball is that when you throw it against a wall, or bounce it on the floor, it comes right back to you.
That’s a really good way to remember what the Bible teaches us about giving. In Luke 6:38, in the New Testament, Jesus says, “If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving – large or small – it will be used to measure what is given back to you.”
When we do nice things for others, we will get good things back. Sometimes the things we get back cannot be held in your hand – sometimes the good feeling we get is better than an actual gift.
Giving is like this basketball. It always comes back to you. God promises to bless us as we have given.
Let’s pray.
December 7, 2003
Good morning, boys & girls. Christmas is less than 3 weeks away. It’s the time of year we begin thinking about the holiday, and decorating, and buying gifts. We decorate to get our houses ready for Christmas.
It’s even more important to get our hearts ready for Christmas. To do this, we begin to think about the true meaning of Christmas and what we celebrate. We think about how wonderful it is that God sent us the baby Jesus, for us to love and worship. When we remember this, it becomes very exciting to prepare for such a special event.
Christmas is a wonderful time to think of others more than we think of ourselves. It’s a time for sharing, and remembering, and helping others. It’s a time for getting our hearts ready by thinking about all the things God has done for us, and how we can do something for each other.
No one is too small or too young to do something to help another. Ask parents to help you to know how to share with a family in need, or how to help someone who is needing your help. This season we can all be a part of sharing God’s love with others around us.
That is a very good way to prepare your heart for Christmas.
Let’s pray.
December 14, 2003
(You will need: A few Christmas cards)
Look at all the Christmas cards! Is your family getting Christmas cards in the mail? Most of these come from family and friends who just want to say hello at Christmas time. Actually, most people say more than just hello on their cards. Sometimes they add a note or a whole letter with the card. They always pick a card with a nice printed message inside. It’s fun to read them. Let’s look at a few of them... (open a few cards and read the messages, then tell who the card is from) How many of you have received a Christmas card with a message in it?
Let’s pretend for a moment that you received a Christmas card from God. You open the card. You can hardly wait to see the message. What do you think it would say? Would it say Merry Christmas – Happy New Year? Would it say Santa Claus is Coming to Town? I don’t think so. I think God would send a better Christmas message than those. Maybe it would say “I Love You” or “Here’s My Son, Jesus” or even “Peace on Earth to Men of Goodwill”.
Let’s open our pretend card from God. Listen to the message:
“I love you so much that I have given Jesus, my one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
What an awesome Christmas card.
These other cards are fine. It’s nice to hear from our loved ones. But our real loved one is God. As your Christmas cards arrive the next few days, have your parents read them to you. Listen to the message and think about the person who wrote it. Then think about your Christmas card from God, and the gift He sent us.
Let’s pray.
December 21, 2003
(You will need: a handful of tinsel)
Good morning! Who can tell me what this is? (Hold up tinsel). It’s called tinsel. What do we do with it? It goes on Christmas trees. I think it looks pretty cool, don’t you? It reflects the lights and glitters. It kind of looks like silver jewelry on the tree, doesn’t it?
Is it real silver? Is tinsel really a precious thing? No. Actually, it’s pretty cheap. It’s made from strips of aluminum foil.
Tinsel doesn’t last very long. We use it on the tree and then we just throw it away. It looks really pretty and it gets your attention, but it’s not really worth very much.
Tinsel is like some other things we see at Christmas time. Sometimes we think we won’t be able to survive if we don’t get all the new toys advertised on TV. They look so good – we’ve got to have them.
I’m here to tell you that they just won’t last. Toys and games are only temporary – the Bible calls them earthly treasures. Jesus talks about earthly treasures like toys, and like clothes and money and possessions. He says we should not store up those kinds of treasures here on earth. We should store up heavenly treasure, like kindness and love for others. We should think about God and about heaven – things that last forever. Our real treasure at Christmas is the baby Jesus.
It’s wonderful to enjoy our gifts at Christmas. But it’s even more important that we remember our heavenly treasures and spend time thinking about God and showing kindness by sharing with others.
Lets pray.
December 28, 2003
(You will need: a folded roadmap and a small star – cardboard or foil)
Today I’ve brought something to show you. (Hold up map) What is it? That’s right, it’s a map. People use maps when they go on a trip, don’t they? Maps show us the way to something or somewhere.
I have something else. (Hold up star) What is it? It’s a star. Not a real star, a pretend one. Why do I have a map and a star?
In Matthew chapter 2, God tells us about the time when a star was a map.
The magi, or wise men, studied the stars at night. They were hoping to find answers to questions about things they didn’t understand.
- Why are we here on earth?
- Who made us?
- What does the future hold?
One night as they studied the stars they saw a new star – one so bright it could only be a message from God! They knew a king must have been born – a king greater than any other. They were right. Who was the new King?
The baby Jesus had been born. In their hearts, the wise men felt a strange desire to go and see this new King. How would they find him?
They did not have a map to follow. But God provided a star that only these wise men could see. The star was like a map, leading them to Jesus. They packed their bags and set off to follow to star.
Imagine being with the wise men. We would travel for many weeks and months. We would be carrying gifts for the baby Jesus – gold and expensive perfumes. We would know which way to go – just follow the special star God placed before us.
Now we’re in Jerusalem. It was a long trip. We go to King Herod. He will know where baby Jesus is. Oh, but King Herod gets jealous. He wants us to pay attention to him, not to go find Jesus. We leave him behind.
Not much further now. We follow the star to the house where Jesus and Joseph and Mary live. Jesus isn’t a baby any more. But the wise men recognize him right away, and fall on their knees and worship him. So do we. The wise men give Jesus the special gifts they have carried so far.
You and I don’t have to travel so far to find Jesus. He is as close to us as our own hearts. All we have to do to be with him is let him into our lives. We don’t have expensive gifts of gold or perfumes to give him. But there is something Jesus wants, something precious, something that only you can give him – no one else. You can give him the love of your heart.
Let’s pray.
Hutch Hutcheson of Paducah First Baptist Church. |
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