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Overview
Children’s Sermons Just in Time! offers preachers and worship leaders a ready resource for children’s sermons with stories and object lessons. These children’s sermons are geared to spark interest and attention and teach children about the Christian faith.
• 54 easy-to- understand messages with Scripture references including:
Let Everything that Breathes Praise the Lord
God Created Everything: And God Saw It Was Good
God is Read
Where is God?
Specially Made by God
When Sad Things Happen
Jesus is the Bread of Life
Jesus Call Us to Come (and Go)
Why We Read the Bible
Holy Cummunion
We are God's Family
Bethlehem Bakery
Baptism: A Gift from God
Talking to God
• Themed sermons for all seasons including:
Valentine's Day
WOW for Moms
Living What We Learn
Blessing for Father's Day
What God Wants
A Cloud of Witnesses
Doxology for Thanksgiving
Build up the Body of Christ for Easter
A Highway for God for Advent
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426720147 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 187 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Children's Sermons
By Anne E. Streaty Wimberly
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2010 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-2014-7
CHAPTER 1
Let Everything That Breathes Praise the Lord (Part One)
Scripture: Psalm 150
Season/Sunday: Any. Note that this is the first in a three-part series, but it is not necessary that the three parts be done on successive Sundays.
Focus: Anybody can praise God. We can praise God anytime we want. We can praise God with anybody we want. We can praise God anywhere we want. We can praise God in any way we want. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.
Experience: The children will learn the different ways we can praise God. In this sermon, they will use musical instruments.
Arrangements: You will need an assortment of musical instruments, such as tambourines, triangles, and drumsticks. Even whistles, pots and pans, and other types of noisemakers will do. Make sure you have enough for each child. A narrator or reader to say the verses from Psalm 150 will keep you free to direct the "orchestra."
Leader: Hello! Wow, what a beautiful day to praise the Lord! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise, praise, praise. I love praising the Lord. Children, what do you think it means to praise the Lord?
Children: Worship. Praise. Praying. Singing.
Leader: Those are all great answers! Praising God is how we thank God for all that God has done for us. It is a way for us to say something good about God like, "Wow, God. You are so good and powerful." But let me ask you a question: When is it okay to praise the Lord?
Children: In the morning? Anytime?
Leader: Yes, we can praise God in the morning, at night, even in our dreams! And who can praise the Lord?
Children: People. Kids. Parents.
Leader: Those are all great answers—and not only people, but the Bible says the animals, the plants, everything that has breath should praise the Lord! Okay, where can we praise the Lord?
Children: In church. At home.
Leader: That's right! We can praise God here in this sanctuary. We can praise the Lord in our homes. We can praise in the park, or at the dinner table, or even at school. God invites us to praise anywhere and everywhere! Okay, last question: How do we praise the Lord? What are some things we do here at church and at home to praise the Lord?
Children: Sing. Pray. Preaching.
Leader: Yes! There are many ways we can praise the Lord! But there is one way you didn't mention—by playing instruments! (Bring out your bag of instruments.) I just happen to have a bag here full of things that will help us praise God. Let's see what we have in here. (Take out instruments and begin to distribute. It's probably not helpful to try to keep everyone quiet as they receive their instrument, and in fact not really necessary!) Let's praise God with these instruments. Does everyone have one? All right, let's have a concert of praising God. When I give you this signal, start playing (show them the signal you will use); and when I give you this signal (show signal), stop. Is everyone ready? Let's practice (do a few starts and stops). Wow, you are fast learners! I bet God can't wait to hear us praise God with our music. Okay, here we go.
Narrator: "Praise [God] with trumpet sound."
Leader: (Signal children to play a few moments, then stop.)
Narrator: "Praise [God] with lute and harp!"
Leader: (Signal start and stop.)
Narrator: "Praise [God] with tambourine and dance."
Leader: (Signal start and stop.)
Narrator: And "praise him with strings and pipe!"
Leader: (Signal start and stop.)
Narrator: "Praise [God] with clanging cymbals; ... with loud clashing cymbals!"
Leader: (Signal start and let the "music" continue for a bit longer this time, then signal to stop.) This was really great! Let's have a prayer and give thanks that God received all of that and all our praise, and that we can give praise in so many ways. (Prayer)
Joyce S. Fong
CHAPTER 2Let Everything That Breathes Praise The Lord (Part Two)
Scripture: Psalm 150
Season/Sunday: Any. Note that this is the second in a three-part series, but it is not necessary that the three parts be done on successive Sundays.
Focus: Anybody can praise God. We can praise God anytime we want. We can praise God with anybody we want. We can praise God anywhere we want. We can praise God in any way we want. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.
Experience: The children will learn the different ways we can praise God. In this sermon they will use their bodies.
Arrangements: None are needed, but be sure you are familiar with the hand motions you will use.
Leader: Good morning! Today we're going to continue to look at the different ways we can praise God. Do you remember when we can praise God, who can praise God, where we can praise God, and how we can praise God?
Children: Anytime, anyone, everywhere, and with noisy instruments!
Leader: Those are all the right answers! The Bible tells us that everyone, everywhere, can praise God at any time in just about every way! Today we're going to learn another way we can praise God: through the movements of our bodies. Psalm 150:4 says, "Praise [God] with ... dance." Everybody stand up, and let's start our dance by reaching for God (start with your hands open and down beside your body, then raise your hands up high, like you're reaching for the sky).
Children: (Follow motion.)
Leader: Now let's show with our bodies how to receive God's blessing. (Bring your hands down to your shoulder level, stretched outward like a cross.)
Children: (Follow motion.)
Leader: Now let's bring God's blessing into our hearts. (Swoop hands together and clasp out in front of yourself, then bring the hands to the heart.)
Children: (Follow motion.)
Leader: Now let's thank God for God's blessing. (Bring your hands away from your heart to a position of prayer. You may want to kneel down.)
Children: (Follow motion.)
Leader: Last, let's share this blessing with everyone. (Swoop hands back out from the prayer position and spread outward from the body toward the congregation or one another.)
Children: (Follow motion.)
Leader: Wow, that was great! That was beautiful praising. Let's invite the congregation to be involved too. (Invite congregation to stand, and, together with children, repeat motions. Since they won't be able to kneel, you might suggest they sit instead.)
All: (Follow motion with leader's verbal instruction.)
Leader: That was wonderful! Let's do that one more time, this time in silence, and have that be our closing prayer. (Repeat sequence in silence.)
Joyce S. Fong
CHAPTER 3Let Everything That Breathes Praise the Lord (Part Three)
Scripture: Psalm 150
Season/Sunday: Any. Note that this is the third in a three-part series, but it is not necessary that the three parts be done on successive Sundays.
Focus: Anybody can praise God. We can praise God anytime we want. We can praise God with anybody we want. We can praise God anywhere we want. We can praise God in any way we want. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.
Experience: The children will learn the different ways we can praise God. In this sermon they will use their voices. The sermon below also incorporates the use of instruments and bodies from the previous sermons of the series.
Arrangements: You will need to supply the instruments as you did in part 1, and it would again be helpful to have a narrator to do the reading.
Leader: Good morning, and what a great day for everything that has breath to praise the Lord! We've been learning some of the ways to praise God—what have been your favorites so far?
Children: Making noise!
Leader: Well, I thought so! But did you know that even if you don't have anything to make noise with, and even if you can't use your body, there is something else you can use? Do you know what it is?
Children: Our hands? Our selves? Our voices?
Leader: That's right, our voices are another way to praise God! Let's try that; everyone repeat after me, "Let everything that breathes ..."
Children: "Let everything that breathes ..."
Leader: "Praise the Lord!"
Children: "Praise the Lord!"
Leader: "Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!"
Children: "Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!"
Leader: Awesome! Well, today we get to put together all the ways we've learned to praise God. So first of all, here are the instruments again—everyone take one (distribute), and remember that this is the signal to start (show signal from part 1), and this is the signal to stop (show signal). Okay, to start this we don't need our instruments, so let's put those all down and be ready to use our bodies.
Narrator: "Praise the Lord!"
L & C: (Bring hands up to the sky.)
Narrator: "Praise God in [the] sanctuary."
L & C: (Bring hands to the side like a cross.)
Narrator: "Praise [the Lord] in [the] mighty firmament!"
L & C: (Bring hands to the heart.)
Narrator: "Praise [God] for his mighty deeds."
L & C: (Bring hands to prayer position and kneel down.)
Narrator: "Praise [the Lord] according to his surpassing greatness!"
L & C: (Bring hands outward to share blessings with everyone.)
Narrator: Now repeat after me: "Let everything that breathes ..."
L & C: "Let everything that breathes ..."
Narrator: "Praise the Lord!"
L & C: "Praise the Lord!"
Narrator: "Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!"
L & C: "Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!"
Narrator: "Praise the Lord!"
L & C: "Praise the Lord!"
Narrator: "Praise [God] with trumpet sound; ... with lute and harp!"
Leader: (Signal children to pick up instruments and play a few moments, then stop.)
Narrator: "Praise [God] with tambourine and dance ... with strings and pipe!"
Leader: (Signal start and stop.)
Narrator: "Praise [God] with clanging cymbals ... with loud clashing cymbals!"
Leader: (Signal start and let the "music" continue for a bit longer this time, then signal to stop.) Let's do that again, and have that be our prayer of praise to God today. (Signal music to start again, and let continue for as long as you can stand it!) Amen!
Joyce S. Fong
CHAPTER 4God Created Everything: And God Saw That It Was Good!
Scripture: Excerpts from Genesis 1:1–2:3
Season/Sunday: Any, although the sermon would be particularly appropriate for an Earth Day celebration.
Focus: The sermon will help children identify that God is all around us, revealed in creation.
Experience: The children will appreciate and experience the Creation story by using all their senses to act out the story.
Arrangements: You will need a Bible, a narrator, a copy of the script below, and the awareness of the wonderful creation around you! Be sure the narrator and the leader practice the script together at least once or twice. The timing is important. The leader will guide the children in doing all the hand motions. You may choose to modify them; do whatever is natural to the leader and the children. Be "creative"!
Leader: Hello, everybody! This is the day that God has made, and God sees that it is good! Today I have a glorious story to share with you. It is the very first story from the Bible, from the book of Genesis (hold the Bible up for all the children to see and open to Genesis). It is a story about God's creation.
Narrator: "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters."
Leader: Let's wave our arms back and forth and blow like the wind. (Leader and children do the motions.)
Narrator: "Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness."
Leader: Ooh, that light is bright; let's put on our sunglasses. (Leader and children pretend to put on their sunglasses.)
Narrator: "God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."
Leader: (Hold up one finger for the first day. For each "evening" and "morning" throughout, leader and children act as if going to sleep and then waking up.)
Narrator: "And God said, 'Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.' So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky."
Leader: Let's stretch out our hands and reach for the skies. (Leader and children do the motions.)
Narrator: "And there was evening and there was morning, the second day."
Leader: (Hold up two fingers for the second day; do sleep and wake-up motions.)
Narrator: "And God said, 'Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.' And it was so. God called the dry land Earth ..."
Leader: (Leader and children flatten hands and spread them as if flattening land.)
Narrator: "And the waters that were gathered together he called Seas."
Leader: (Wave hands up and down.)
All: "And God saw that it was good." (From here on, say, "And God saw that it was good," with the narrator.)
Narrator: "Then God said, 'Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.' And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it."
Leader: Mmmm ... let's grab some broccoli, carrots, and spinach. Let's pick some apples and oranges from these trees. (Leader and children pretend to pick the vegetables and fruit.)
All: "And God saw that it was good. "
Narrator: "And there was evening and there was morning, the third day."
Leader: (Hold up three fingers for the third day. Sleep/wake motions.)
Narrator: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. "
Leader: Who can show me the sun shining brightly? Good thing we have our sunglasses on!
All: "And God saw that it was good. "
Narrator: "And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day."
Leader: (Hold up four fingers for day four. Sleep/wake motions.)
Narrator: "And God said, 'Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.'"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Children's Sermons by Anne E. Streaty Wimberly. Copyright © 2010 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,Part One: The Center of Our Faith,
Let Everything That Breathes Praise the Lord (Part One),
Let Everything That Breathes Praise the Lord (Part Two),
Let Everything That Breathes Praise the Lord (Part Three),
God Created Everything: And God Saw That It Was Good!,
God Is Real,
Where Is God?,
Specially Made by God,
God's Love Is Forever,
Manna from Heaven,
When Sad Things Happen,
Jesus Loves Children,
Jesus Is the Bread of Life,
Jesus Calls Us to Come (and Go),
The Name above Every Name,
Why We Read the Bible,
The Bible Shows the Way,
Planting Seeds/Growing God's Word in Us,
Part Two: Pathways to Our Faith,
We Are the Children of God,
The Body of Christ,
The Church Puzzle,
Holy Communion: Sensing the Word of God,
We Are God's Family,
Baptism: A Gift to Celebrate,
Symbols of Our Faith,