| 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! |
January 5 - Welcome to worship! Thank you for joining us up front today. I have brought something to show you today. (Show new blank 2003 calendar) Ask the children if they notice anything about this new calendar. They may notice many things. Tell them that you have not written anything on it yet. You have no plans! The Bible tells us that God made us and knows us by name. Psalm 139:16 (Use your Bible) says that God knew all about our days before we were ever born. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God knows the plans He has for us. Pray thanking God for His plans for us. Ask God to help us to remember to live for Him every day.
January 12, 2003—Good morning. I am so glad that you came to worship today. I hope that your new year has started well. I hope that you are remembering that God has plans for you. (Please hold your Bible open to II Chronicles 34.) The Bible tells us in II Chronicles chapter 34 about a little boy who was king of Judah. Josiah was eight years old when he became king. Verse 2 says that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. When Josiah grew up he wanted the temple to be repaired. As the workers were repairing the temple, the Book of the Law was found. King Josiah asked his secretary to read the Book of the Law to him. When the king heard the words he knew that the people were not doing what God wanted them to do. The king promised God that he and the people would follow what God wanted them to do. Everyone promised to follow God. As long as King Josiah lived, he and the people followed God. Pray asking God to help us to follow Him each day.
January 19, 2003—Hello! Thank you for coming to worship today. Last week we talked about a little boy who was king. King Josiah always followed God. Today we are going to talk about another little boy who followed God. His name was Samuel. (Please hold your Bible open to I Samuel 1.) The Bible tells us in I Samuel chapter 1 that Samuel’s mother prayed that she would have a child and that when he was born that he would serve the Lord. When Samuel was old enough, his mother, Hannah took him to the temple and let him stay at the temple to help Eli. Samuel did everything that he could to help Eli. He always tried to do what was right. One night when Samuel was asleep he heard someone call his name. Samuel got up and went to Eli to ask him what he wanted. Eli told him that he did not call him and Samuel went back to bed. Again Samuel heard someone call him. Samuel went to Eli, but Eli had not called him. Samuel went back to bed. Samuel heard his name called a third time. When Samuel went to Eli, Eli knew that it was God who was calling him. Eli told Samuel that if the Lord called again he should ask God to talk to Him and he would listen. The Lord did call him again. Samuel answered and always followed God. God had special plans for him. Pray thanking God for His special plans for Samuel and for His special plans for each of us.
January 26, 2003—I am so glad that you are here today. I hope you had a good week and that you remembered to try to follow God and to do what was right. Last week we talked about Samuel who always followed God. When Samuel grew up he was a prophet. God spoke to him and he would tell the people. (Please hold your Bible open to I Samuel 16.) The Bible tells us that God told Samuel that Saul should be the people’s first king. After Saul was king, it was time for a second king. God told Samuel that He would show him the new king. God told Samuel to go to Bethlehem and worship Him with a man named Jesse. God told Samuel that one of Jesse’s sons would be the new king. Samuel looked at Jesse’s sons and asked if he had any more sons. Jesse told him that his youngest son was taking care of the sheep. Samuel asked Jesse to send for him. When Samuel saw Jesse’s youngest son, David, God told him that David would be the new king. The Bible says that that day the Lord was with David. David loved God and tried to follow Him. Pray thanking God for His special plans for David and for each of us.
February 2, 2003--Good morning! I am so glad to be with you today in worship. Today is the first Sunday in February. It is always exciting to begin a new month. This month during our time together I will be talking about kindness. The Bible has many stories about kindness so God must really want us to learn how to be kind.
Today’s story comes from the Old Testament book of 1 Kings. (Open your Bible to 1 Kings 17:10). In this book we read the story about a man named Elijah. Elijah loved God very much and spent all of his time telling people about God. One day Elijah met a woman. He asked her to make him some bread because he was very hungry. The woman told Elijah that she had very little food since she was very poor. She would use the last of her supplies to make bread for Elijah.
The woman was showing kindness to Elijah. God was glad that she showed kindness. In fact God made sure that the woman was not hungry by performing a miracle. The woman’s food supply would not run out. Whenever she needed food she had enough grain and oil to make bread. God met her needs because she was kind. I am glad the woman was kind to Elijah.
Pray thanking God for wonderful stories of kindness found in the Bible.
Suggested Song: “Come, All Christians, Be Committed”
February 9, 2003--Welcome! It is great to see your smiling faces this morning. Today we will continue to spend time on our theme of kindness. This coming Friday is a very special day. Can anyone tell me what holiday we will celebrate? (Allow the children to respond. Give hints if necessary). That’s right – Valentine’s Day is this Friday. We will spend time on Valentine’s Day showing kindness to others. What are some of the things we may do on Friday to show love and kindness? (Let the children respond. Some answers may be: give candy, give Valentine cards, and tell someone you love them).
The Bible reminds us to be kind every day. Valentine’s Day is special but we should treat everyone with kindness every day. Ephesians 4:32 tell us to be kind to one another. Let me read the verse to you. . (Have your Bible opened to Ephesians and read the verse). This is a good verse for all of us to memorize. Whenever we are grouchy or angry we should say this verse. Whenever we don’t feel like sharing our toys we should say this verse. I believe that the world will be a better place if we can remember this important verse.
Pray thanking God for the Bible and how it helps us know how to live.
Suggested Song: “More Like Jesus”
February 16, 2003--Good Morning! This month we have been talking about kindness. How many of you know a kind person? (Let the children raise their hands). I want you to stop and think for a minute. What are some of the things that let you know that someone is kind. (Let the children give their responses). Many times someone is known as a kind person because of the deeds they do. Today’s story is about a kind person. Her name was Lydia. Her story is found in the book of Acts. (Open your Bible to Acts 16:11-15). It is so amazing that we can read about her kind deeds thousands of years after they happened!
Lydia had heard a man named Paul preach. She believed all he said about Jesus and became a Christian. After she became a Christian she wanted to be kind and help Paul tell others about Jesus. She decided to open her home so Christians would have a place to meet and worship. History tells us that her house was one of the first churches. That is totally awesome! Great things can happen through kindness.
Pray thanking God for kind people such as Lydia.
Suggested Song: “The Church’s One Foundation”
February 23, 2003--Welcome! Today is our last Sunday talking about kindness. It has been great to think about all the different ways we can be kind. Sometimes being kind means doing something that you wouldn’t think of doing because it may not be fun. Jesus was a wonderful example for us to follow. He did a kind deed that most of us would not volunteer to do. He washed his friends feet! (Open your Bible to John 13:1-17).
Jesus wanted to show His love for his friends. Doing kind deeds is one of the greatest ways to show love. Jesus took a bowl and poured water into it. He began to wash his friends feet. He then dried their feet with a towel. This doesn’t sound like a glamorous thing to do. Washing peoples dirty feet isn’t something I think about doing. It doesn’t seem like a fun task to do. Jesus didn’t care about stinky, dirty feet. He wanted to show kindness to his friends. He sure set a great example for us to follow. Let’s all try to find some kind deeds to do this week. We will be more like Jesus if we do.
Pray thanking God for the example Jesus set for us. Pray for opportunities for acts
of kindness.
Suggested Song: “Living for Jesus”
March 2, 2003--Welcome to worship! We have started another month. Many people say that “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.” That seems like such a funny saying. It means that March is usually a very windy at the beginning of the month and calm near the end of the month. There is a book in the Bible that had hundreds of sayings similar to the one I just said. It is called the book of Proverbs. (Open your Bible to Proverbs). It is a book in the Old Testament and we will be spending each Sunday this month learning about some sayings found in Proverbs. These proverbs will make us stop and think. Let’s listen to a proverb
Proverb 6:6 “Go to the ant.. consider her ways and be wise.
Isn’t it amazing that the writer of Proverbs told people to watch ants? Have any of you see ants? (Let the children raise their hands). Ants are amazing. They are always working hard. They have jobs to do such as getting food and preparing their house. Ants are certainly not lazy.
We are reminded to be like ants. We need to work hard at the tasks we have to do. If we have chores we should do them and not be lazy. If we have homework we should always finish it without our parents reminding us. If there are things that need to be done at church we need to do them. We will be better people if we take the advice of this proverb and work hard at whatever we do..
Pray asking God to help us all do the things that need to be done.
Suggested Song: “Take My Life and Let it Be”
March 9,2003--Good Morning! I am glad we have this time together. This morning we will continue to learn from the book of Proverbs. Today our verse comes from Proverbs 8:7 (Open your Bible to the passage and read the verse).
The writer is telling us that he only tells the truth. He does not lie or tell falsehoods. That is such a wonderful thing to be able to say! There are not many people who can say that all they say is the truth. Many times as children we are in situations where it is hard to tell the truth. When we are asked if we spilled the milk or broke the lamp it is easy to not to tell the truth. Sometimes we may want to blame it on someone else but we must tell the truth.
This is a very important lesson for us to learn. We should try as hard as we can to never say anything that is not true. Whatever words we say should be true and honest. The world would be a much better place if everyone listened to this proverb. Let’s see if we can follow the instructions from the proverb this week. All of us, grownups and children, need to try our best to speak truthfully.
Pray asking God to help us be people, who speak only the truth.
Suggested Song: “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”
March 16, 2003--Welcome! It is so good to see you. I am looking forward to sharing another proverb with you this morning. Today’s proverb comes from Proverbs 15:1. (Open your Bible to the verse and read). Listen as I read the verse to you.
“ A kind answer soothes angry feelings but harsh words stir them up.”
(Contemporary English Version)
This proverb is a great one for boys and girls to learn. It teaches us that a kind word can help make the world a better place. Kind words can help people not to be angry. Most of you have already learned this lesson. Yelling or screaming “No, it’s mine” or “I’m not your friend anymore” causes people to become upset or angry. Saying things like “Yes, you can have a turn” or “You go first” doesn’t cause people to become angry. These types of words help people be kind. I hope that this week you will choose the words that don’t cause anger. May our words cause peace and kindness in others.
Pray asking God to help us choose our words carefully.
Suggested Song: “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”.
March 23, 2003--Good morning! Who can tell me what book of the Bible we have been learning from this month? That’s right. We have been learning from the book of Proverbs. (If the children can’t remember the name of the book simply remind them). This morning our proverb is about money! Many of us like to have money. We use money to go to the movies, buy candy, and buy toys. Our proverb tells us that there is something much better than money. Listen as I read Proverbs 16:16. (Have your Bible open to the passage).
“It’s much better to be wise and sensible than to be rich.”
(Contemporary English Version)
Many of us could learn form this proverb. Having lots of money is not what is important in life. Being wise is better than having tons of money. One of the best ways to become wise is to do what you are doing right now. Come to church! Learning from the pastor or your Sunday School teacher can make you wise. Learning about God and the Bible can also make you wise. It is much better to be wise than to have all the money in the world.
Pray asking God to help make us wise.
Suggested Song: “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”
March 30, 2003--Hello! Today is our last Sunday learning from Proverbs. I think we have learned a lot over these past few weeks. It has been great hearing about the ways we should live. Today’s proverb is about friends. Friends are one of the greatest things to have. I want to read you a verse about friends. It is found in Proverbs 17:17. (Open your Bible to Proverbs).
“A friend loves at all times…” (New King James Version)
Another way to say this verse is:
“A friend is always a friend” (Contemporary English Version)
I want you to think about a friend. Aren’t you glad that your friend is always your friend? There is no rule that says that they can only be your friend on Tuesdays or that they only can be your friend on the days you wear purple. There are no friendship rules like that!
There is one friendship rule – Always be a friend! Friends make life so much more fun. Let’s pray and thank God for friends.
Pray thanking God for friends in our lives.
Suggested Song: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” |