Childrens Sermon Service

But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. (v. 4)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. (v. 37b)

Good morning, boys and girls! Look what I've brought with me! Do you know what it is? (show the rake; allow answers) How many of you have ever used a rake? (allow answers) What did you use it for? (allow answers) When did you use it? (allow answers)

Our Bible verse today is from the gospel lesson: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Basically, we should love God in everything we do and think! Today, we're going to learn how to love God with a rake.

SHARING THIS WEEK'S GOSPEL THEME AT SUNDAY SCHOOL AND AT HOME

Materials:
Construction paper (pink, white)
Scissors
Markers, pencils, crayons, colored pencils
Heart templates to pass around

Directions:

1. Give each of the children a heart template and have him or her cut a big heart out of his or her construction paper (heart should be nearly the size of the paper itself).

2. Each of the children should fill his or her heart with pictures of ways that they can serve God.

3. Hang the hearts around the Sunday school room or have the children take them home and hang them up there.

So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. (v. 8)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about baseball. How many of you know how to play baseball? (allow answers) If you don't know how to play baseball, what other sports or games do you know how to play? (allow answers)

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (v. 40)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about laws. How many of you know the Bible story about Moses and the Ten Commandments? (allow answers) Moses was a great leader of God's people thousands of years ago. Moses led God's people out of Egypt, where they had been slaves to the king. One of the most important things Moses did was talk to God and receive a list of God's commandments -- God's laws. Do you know any of the Ten Commandments? (allow answers) There are a lot to remember! God's commandments say things like: "Do not kill." "Respect your parents." "Do not steal." "Do not worship anything except God."

SHARING THIS WEEK'S GOSPEL THEME
AT SUNDAY SCHOOL AND AT HOME


Directions:

The Point: God has given us rules on how to live our life.

The Lesson: Good morning, children. Thank you for coming forward to share this time together.

This morning I have brought with me the rules for how to play the board game Candy Land. Have you played Candy Land? (get responses) The rules explain what the game is all about. With the rules in hand we know what we can do and can't do. Rules guide us in playing the game so that everyone will have a chance to win. In fact, if we didn't have the rules everyone would do what they wanted and then there would only be chaos, and the game would be no fun. Rules are important to playing a game. If everyone plays by the rules, the game is fun and everyone can enjoy it.

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

Good morning girls and boys,

Did you know that you make me happy whenever you join me here? (children answer) When I get to share a children's message with you I'm especially happy to see you. I hope you are happy too, to be here. Now let's listen to a message from God.

I have here a photo of a beautiful bird in flight. Anybody know what this bird is? (children answer) You're right. It's an eagle. In just a moment we'll talk about this majestic, beautiful bird – but first a big, big question from the Bible.

One day, the Pharisees who did not like Jesus, tested him with a large question.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (vv. 34-36)

Hi everyone! Today’s story is another one about Jesus and the Pharisees. Do you remember the Pharisees? (Let them answer.) They were the people who tried to trick Jesus about paying taxes because they wanted to make him look bad. Well, they are trying to do it again!

Object: A Bible.

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!

Good morning! How many of you know some of the Ten Commandments? (Let them answer.) Let's see what the Ten Commandments are. (Read from the Ten Commandment list you have.)

One day a man tried to trick Jesus by asking him which commandment was the most important commandment. I'm curious -- which one of the commandments do you think is most important? (Let them answer.)

Do you know how Jesus answered? He said this: "The greatest and first commandment is that 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' " That's funny -- I don't remember reading that as one of the Ten Commandments. Do you? (Read through the commandments again.) It's not here.

Teachers or Parents: Love is the fulfilling of the law says the Lord Jesus Christ. Keeping the commandments means nothing apart from the love of God. Some of the most hateful people can do an excellent job of keeping the Ten Commandments. Does that rule out the usefulness of the Commandments? Of course not!

*Teach the children the Ten Commandments. Memorize them. While teaching them the commands, relate each command to love. For example, we do not worship other gods because we love God first and foremost. We honor our parents and others in authority because of our love for others. We do not kill or speak ill of others because of our love for them.

Good morning, boys and girls. This morning I brought with me a scary Halloween mask. I brought it because it reminds me of this morning's Bible story. The story is about being brave. This mask may or may not frighten some people. I'd like to ask you what things you are afraid of.

Is anyone here afraid of the dark? (Let them answer on each of the following questions.) Is anyone here afraid to cross a busy street? Is anyone here afraid of telling the truth, even if it means admitting that you did something wrong? Even adults are at times afraid of some of these things.

Good morning! I brought this deck of cards so I could show
you a card trick. Somebody pick one of the cards out of this deck
and look at it. Be sure that I don't see it. Now put it back in
the deck, and I will shuffle the deck. Do you think I can pick
that card out of the deck now that it's been shuffled? (Let them
answer.) Well, actually I can. (Go through the deck and show them
the card that was picked.*) How do you think I was able to do
that? Do you think I have supernatural power? (Let them answer.)
No, of course I don't. Here is how the trick is done. (Show them
how it is done.*)

Now some people have always thought that all the miracles in

Good morning! Jesus talked a lot about how we should all
love our neighbors and help them out when they need help. People
in his time, however, and people today are not always sure who
their neighbor is. I thought we would play a little game this
morning to help us see who our neighbors are. I brought these
envelopes and inside each envelope there is a colored card. I'm
going to give each one of you an envelope, and I want you to look
at your card and try to find someone else who has the same color.
Let's see how many of you can find a neighbor who has the same
color card. (Let them open the envelopes and match up with
another child who has the same color. Since all the cards are the

Teachers or Parents: Our world is getting smaller and
smaller. Journeys that used to take months now take only a few
hours in a fast airplane. We are having more and more contact
with people around the world who speak different languages, have
different customs, and look different than the people we are used
to seeing on a daily basis. By the time our children are grown,
this contact with other peoples and cultures will be even more
pronounced. Now is the time to instill in our children the
understanding that all the world's peoples are our neighbors.

* Ask the children to separate themselves into groups that
all have the same first name. There may not be even two who have

I have a gift with me this morning. It could be a birthday gift, although it isn't my birthday. Maybe it's a Christmas present? But Christmas is a long way off. Perhaps it is a gift to celebrate something, but I have no idea what that might be. We don't normally give Halloween gifts. Have you any ideas? (Let them answer.) I really don't know what the gift could be for.

I guess it really doesn't matter what the occasion is. What really matters is what is inside. Do you have any ideas just what could be inside this present? (Let them answer.) Your guess is as good as mine. What do you think I should do? (Let them answer.) You think I should open the present?

Good morning, boys and girls. I want to tell you about a brother and sister about your age. This story has a mysterious ending. I want to see if you can solve it for me. The brother and sister went to a church very much like ours. In fact, they had a time for children just like we do each Sunday. On this Sunday their Bible story was about loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. They listened to the story. They knew how to love God. But they weren't certain how to love their neighbor. Their neighbors were older people.

Teachers: Jesus tells a lawyer that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. Talk with your class about the things that God has done for them. Make a list of things that class members are thankful for. Your list might include: God's love, family, home, church, pets, friends, schools, teachers and similar things.

Suggest that your students write a letter to God. In the letter have them list things that they are thankful for. You could start the letter for younger students. Suggest that they draw pictures of things that they are thankful for.

Materials
12-inch red pipe cleaners, one for each child
30 red tri-beads for each child
Wire cutters

Instructions
1. The greatest commandments that God wants us always to remember involve love. People sometimes use a heart to show love. Let's make one to help us remember always to love God and our neighbors.

2. Cut the pipe cleaner in half.

3. Bend one end of the pipe cleaner stem into an "L" (about one-quarter inch) to keep the beads from falling off when the child puts them on the pipe cleaner stem.

4. Add all the beads onto the pipe cleaner.

5. Bend the other end of the pipe cleaner into an "L" shape.

6. Twist the two "L" shapes together.

Good morning! Are you ready for Halloween? Do you have a costume picked out? (let them answer) Are you keeping it a secret or do you want to tell me what costume you are going to wear? (let them answer) Sometimes it is fun to pretend to be someone else and to dress like that person. If you do a really good job, it is hard to figure out who you are when you are in a costume.

Good morning! Today we have two special guests. How many of you know them? (let them answer) That's right, this is Karen Smith and her baby Sarah. Now, I asked Karen to be with us so we could ask her a few questions. I will ask a couple and then if you have a question you can ask Karen.

Karen, how do you like being a mother? (let her answer each question) Is it a hard job? Does it take a lot of time? Do you have time to hold her and love her? And does it take a lot of time to feed her and dress her? Can Sarah do anything for herself? Sounds like a big job to me.