Children’s Sermons

Materials Needed: small ball (little sins), large ball (large sins), several plastic cups, small box to put the cups into (represents God surrounding us with protection)

In this fun, active children’s lesson, the students will learn that with God’s help they will not be “bowled over” by sin.

First, set-up several plastic cups in the bowling triangle. Then ask the kids what will happen to the cups if they rolled a small ball or a large ball at the cups (They will fall over). Roll both balls at the cups to show that the kids were right.

Then ask the class what will happen if they placed the cups inside of a box. (Students might say that they will still fall.) Then try this method and see what happens. The cups are still standing.

This story can be related to David and Goliath. Without God’s help David would have fallen to the enemy. Then tell the class that with God’s help they will not be bowled over by the world of sin and temptation, but that they can stand strong in His protection.

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Before your group comes together, sprinkle some powdered juice mix on the bottom of a clear glass. It should be enough to be able to change the color of water, but not so much where the children can notice it. Set up two glasses in front of the children. This should be a few feet in front of them and at eye-level. A school desk is good. Have two unopened water bottles also set up. Read the scripture where Jesus turns the water into wine. While discussing the miracle, also talk about the power that Jesus has to transform things. For example, an ugly heart into a beautiful one, a nasty mouth into a clean one, etc. While talking, pour water into the “unsprinkled” glass. Continue to emphasize the phrase “Jesus has the Power to transform things” so that what seems ordinary, isn’t always. At this point, pour the second water bottle into the “sprinkled” glass. Listen to all the Oh’s and Ahh’s as the regular water turns into “wine”. The little ones especially loved this. I walked around with the water bottle in my hand, and this kept them guessing as to what I was going to do with it. 2 Corinthians 5:17 was the verse I used to help them understand and apply Jesus’ transforming power in our lives!

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Good for little kids too.

Bible verses

1 Peter 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

John 8:12 When Jesus spoke to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Usually write the verses on a bit of paper, put them in an envelope or roll them up like a scroll, hide the verses outside and get the kids to hunt for it to get them pumped for the message then bring them in.

PROP – TORCH (Flashlight)
What is this?
What does it do?
What happens if you don’t have one?
(and so forth)

If you have a torch, you can walk around in the dark and not trip over. You wont get lost either because you can see where you are going.

If you have a torch you wont fall into a ditch, or into the path of a train, or into a lion, because you will be able to see it coming and get out of the way.

If you’ve got a torch you can also show people who don’t have a torch around so you can help them out too.

Jesus is like a torch. Jesus is the light that shows us which way to go. If we walk with Jesus we wont get lost and we wont trip over.

If we walk with Jesus as our torch we can see when the lions are coming towards us and we can go somewhere safe.

Jesus teaches us which way to walk. He teaches us to love God and to love each other.

Sometimes torch batteries can go flat. Its really important that we walk with other people who know Jesus so that when our torch batteries go flat we can still see which way to go.

God can give us torches and make our batteries fuller and more powerful. All we have to do is get to know Him and follow Jesus.

PRAYER

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Here’s an object lesson used for elementary aged kids, but it could easily be adapted to older students. It does very well at getting and holding their attention. I’m sorry I don’t have any pics or video of it. Maybe if anyone finds it on here and uses it, you could send me some. Especially video. (hint, hint) Allow yourself plenty of preparation time for this one.

You’ll need to select one of your students ahead of time to assist you in this lesson, and rehearse it well. I used a boy, but a girl could do it also. Make sure the child doesn’t have claustrophobia, for reasons which will become apparent.

When starting the lesson, ask the kids if they would like to have a magic show today. They’ll say yes. Have your helpers bring out a trunk big enough to hold a kid, and set it up front where everyone can see it. Say, “Would you like to see someone escape from this trunk?” You’ll really have their attention now. Ask your selected student to come forward. Then say, “I’m going to put “Billy” in this trunk and lock it. Then he will attempt to escape.” Open the trunk and tilt it forward to show that it is a regular trunk with no trap doors or escape hatches. Then ask Billy, “Are you nervous?” He should say something like, “A little, but I’ve seen this on TV before. It looks easy.” Then say, “OK, then, let’s get you inside.” Billy steps into the trunk and lays or crouches down. You then close the lid over him, and lock it with a padlock. Then say, “OK, in just a few moments, Billy will escape.” The child should then move around inside the trunk, making sounds like he is trying to get out. After a few seconds, ask, “Billy, aren’t you going to escape.” He keeps moving around and says, “I’m trying.” Wait a few more seconds and say, “Come on, Billy, we’re all waiting out here.” Billy should then stop struggling and say, “I thought I could get out by myself, but I can’t. I need help.” At this point, say, “Kids, this is exactly what the devil does to us. He makes sin look like so much fun, and that we can get out just as easily as we got in. Billy got into the trunk very easily, but now he’s locked in and can’t get out. That’s what sin is like. It’s so easy to get into, but we can’t get ourselves out of it.” Then read John 3:16 to the class. Say, “God knew that we were going to be trapped in sin, just like Billy is trapped in this trunk. He also knew that we would need someone to release us from sin’s hold. That’s why He sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to provide us with a way of escape. All we have to do is ask Jesus to release us from sin, and come to live in our heart.” Then turn to the trunk and say, “Billy, would you like to be set free?” He should say yes. Reach into your pocket and pull out a key attached to a large keyring that says “Jesus”. Hold it up for the kids to see and say, “Jesus is the key that sets us free.” Then unlock the padlock, open the trunk and let the child out. Ask the class to applaud him for asking Jesus to set him free.

[Ed. Note: Okay, I may be stating the obvious, but use your best judgment here. We don’t want to be locking youth in boxes that A.) have no holes from breathing and B.) we’ve lost the key to. The “trap” concept is good, but if you can, find a better “trap” than a trunk. My suggestion would be a child’s playpen that you can turn upside and sit on top of or something similar.] Read more

Materials: magic marker, balloon, paper clip, some tape and a paper bag.

First you need to blow up the balloon and write a name on it. Then put a few pieces of tape on the back so the children can not see it. Then unfold the paper clip and ask the children to say a few nice things to the person. After each nice word poke the tape. After they have said a few nice words get them to say a mean word and when they say something mean do not poke the tape poke the balloon so it pops. Then tell the children how saying mean things to other people is making them feel bad and sad.
Then read Luke 6:27-31.
When I did this in my church even the adults liked it and thought it was a very good message.

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Visual Aids: One or two optical illusion posters — particularly the 3-D posters that you have to unfocus your eyes in order to see it correctly. Try to find one where the 3-D images is either Jesus or the Bible. For children especially, since they will not likely be able to see the 3-D picture, it is helpful to start off with a simpler optical illusion.

Good morning boys and girls. How are you today? It’s great to see you here. You know, I bet when you were coming to church this morning, you probably saw some things outside as you drove along in the car. Can you tell me some of the things that you saw? [Allow responses]. You know, all of you had to look through the window of your car in order to see those things, didn’t you? That’s right. You don’t look at windows, do you? Of course not, you look past the window to see other things.

[Pull out the 3-D puzzle, or the simpler puzzle] Now, boys and girls, what I have here is kind of like a car window. When you look at this picture, all you see are a bunch of squiggly lines. But you’re not supposed to look at this picture. You’ve got to look through it, or past it in order to see the picture of [the Bible, Jesus, or whatever the 3-D image is]. Does anybody see the image? [Use your discretion in allowing time and responses to this question].

Boys and girls, this is a picture of [the Bible, Jesus, etc.]. But you cannot see it unless you look past it, and that’s difficult to do. Your eyes play tricks on you and keep you from seeing the real image. You know what? Faith is the ability to see past what’s in front of your eyes and to see God and His image. The book of Hebrews says that, “Faith is substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

What does that mean for us? Boys and girls, that means that if you have faith, you don’t look at the things you can see on this earth, like money and problems and things like that. You look past those things until you see the image of God and how He is working behind the scenes to help you and love you and take care of you. God loves you. So, remember, the next time you are afraid, or mad, or sick, or out of money, or in trouble, look past what you see with your eyes and focus on God. He loves you and He will take care of you. Just have faith in Him.

[Close in prayer.] Read more