Childrens Sermon Service

The stone that builders rejected has become the cornerstone. (v. 42b)

Good morning, boys and girls! Do you know what this is? (point to tower; allow answers) It's a game called Jenga. The point of this game is to take turns removing blocks from the tower until it falls down, like this. If it falls down on your turn, you're out! (while speaking, begin remove blocks until you make the tower fall down) How many of you have played this before? (allow answers) Did you think it was hard or easy to play? (allow answers) It can be pretty tricky! Some of the blocks are easy to pull out, but some of them are holding the weight of the blocks above them. If you pull one of those out, the whole tower goes down!

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

Materials:
Medium- to large-sized rocks, clean
Markers
Ribbon, buttons, glitter (any decorating material)
Glue
Stickers with Bible verse written on them: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."

Directions:

1. Have each of the children decorate his or her rock (paperweight) with church-related symbols.

2. Help each of the children place one scripture sticker on his or her rock.

3. Discuss the importance of a cornerstone.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. (v. 7)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have ever seen your parents or other adults in your life use one of these? (show calculator) Who can tell me what this is? (allow answers) What does a calculator do? (allow answers) That's right: it does math. You type your math problem into the calculator and it comes up with your answer.

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. (v. 43)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have gone to the grocery store before? (allow answers) What is your favorite section of the grocery store? (allow answers)

My favorite section of the grocery store is the produce section. Do any of you know what "produce" is? (allow answers) "Produce" is the word we use to describe the fresh fruits and vegetables we buy at the grocery store. Have any of you helped pick out fresh produce before? (allow answers)

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


Materials:
Good and bad produce (tomatoes, onions, green beans, apples, bananas, strawberries, and so on)


Directions:
Show the children each kind of fruit and vegetables and ask them to choose which are good and which are bad. If desired, divide the class into smaller groups and assign each group a pair of good/bad produce. Ask the children to show which is good and which is bad and tell why they think so. Talk about what makes produce good (firmness, good color, no bruises) and what makes produce bad (bruises, mold, discoloration, wrong consistency). Talk about how we should produce good fruit for God by doing the right thing and showing his love every day.

The Point: As children of God we are to tell others about Jesus' love and salvation.

The Lesson: Good morning, children. Thank you for joining me for this special time of sharing God's word.

This morning I brought my Baptismal (Dedication, Membership) Certificate with me. (show document) When I was baptized I became a part of God's family. The certificate announces that fact. Sometimes people think that is all the responsibility they have in God's family... to join... to become a member. They are wrong. Joining isn't the end -- it is really the beginning.

“The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most
important of all.” (v. 42b)

Good morning boys and girls,

I'm so happy to see you here this morning. I have something very important to show you. Who has put together a puzzle before?  (children answer) Puzzles are fun. Puzzles are good for the mind and the eye. Puzzles help make us think and make us feel successful when we complete them.

I have a puzzle here to show you. (shows puzzle) It's a very simple puzzle. See I have put it all together. (children notice that one piece is missing and comment on it)

Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. (vv. 33-34)

Hello everyone! I have a question for you. Can anyone tell me what a vineyard is? (Let them answer.) A vineyard is something like a farm, but for grapevines instead of corn, or beans, or something like that. Has anyone ever been to a vineyard? (Let them answer.) Some vineyards have a lot of vines growing and are pretty big, aren’t they? (Let them answer.)

Object: A key to give each child. I use key blanks from a hardware store. Other options would be to make cutouts of keys from posterboard, or just use some old keys that aren’t good anymore. I like the key blanks because they are durable, and have holes so the children might hang them on a book bag or something similar.

* * *

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

But, before we hear the story, I have a question for you. Can anyone tell us who the Pharisees were? (Let them respond.)

Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you like to eat grapes? (Let them answer.) Do any of you have grape vines growing at your home? (Let them answer.) If you have grape vines at home, have you gone to them and picked grapes right off the vine and eaten them? (Let them answer.) This morning's Bible story is a story about a vineyard. That is a farm with many grape vines. It is a story that Jesus told. Jesus and God are characters in this story. As I tell it, see if you can decide which character is Jesus and which is God.

Teachers: Paul writes about "pressing on toward the goal." He presses on so that he may win the prize, which God has for him. The prize is the "heavenly call of God in Jesus."

Explain that Paul says that none of us is perfect. None of us have learned all that we should. However, as Christians, we work at living a "Christ-like" life.

Materials
Fun foam
Pinking shears (decorative-edge scissors)
Craft paint
Small paintbrushes
Plastic bottle caps from soda bottles
Markers
Safety pins
Glue
Hot glue gun, for instructor to use

Instructions
1. Jesus likes it when we choose to be disciples for him; it makes him happy. Wear this pin to remind you to be a good disciple for Jesus.

2. Cut circles out of fun foam using decorative-edge scissors.

3. Paint plastic tops from soda bottles the color you desire.

4. Glue bottle cap onto fun foam backing.

5. Draw a happy face with permanent marker on the bottle cap.

Good morning! I want to show you a trophy today. (Show the
trophy.) This trophy was given to __________________ because
they/he/she won __________________________.

Do any of you play on a team of some kind -- soccer,
baseball -- any kind of team? (Let them answer.) Let me ask you
a question. If you are playing any kind of game, either on a team
or competing against another person by yourself, what is the
object of the game? What do you want to do? (Let them answer.) Of
course, the object of any game is to win. In any game, the object
is always to win. If you don't care whether you win or lose, you
will surely lose and not win.

There is a trophy that all of us can win from God, too. It's

Good morning! What do I have here? (Show the apple and let
them answer.) Yes, this is an apple and it came from an apple
orchard. Now, let's pretend that you want to go into business
raising apples, but you don't own an orchard, and you don't own
any land on which to plant apple trees. How are you going to get
into the apple business? (Let them try to answer. They probably
won't have any idea.)
One way you could do it is to be a
sharecropper. You would agree to take care of somebody else's
orchard and do all the work in raising the apples in that
orchard. Then, when the apples were harvested, you would give the
owner a share of the apples and sell the rest. Do you think that

Teachers or Parents: Jesus told the parable of the wicked
tenants to Jewish people who knew exactly what the parable meant.
They knew the wicked tenants were the people of Israel who had
failed to honor their obligations to God and had rejected the
prophets He sent to them. Now they would kill the son. The lesson
for our children is that they must honor their obligations to God
and honor those He sends to teach them, such as their pastors and
Sunday school teachers.

* Set up a Monopoly game with each person already owning
some houses and hotels. Play a few rounds and let each pay what
is due when they land on an opponent's property. After playing a

What do you suppose I should do with this trash can? (Let them answer.) Usually the contents of my trash can go right to my garbage bin. I no longer have any use for what is in the trash can. It is "trash." Sometimes we get so many things that they just get in the way. That's why I like a neat room. All the useless things are already thrown away.

I wonder, have any of you cleaned your room lately? (Let them answer.) Did you throw things away? (Let them answer.) I'll bet you did! That's what usually happens when I clean my room or my house. The useless things get thrown away because they are just in the way otherwise.

Nearly 500 years ago the famous sculptor named Michelangelo created a beautiful sculpture of the famous Old Testament king named David. The artist wanted to carve a sculpture of David as a young man. The story about this beautiful, large piece of sculpture is that the artist looked high and low for the perfect piece of stone to carve his statue. He found one -- it was a stone that had been rejected by others. Sculptors had rejected it for their statues. Builders rejected it for use as a building material. Most people thought the stone was a worthless stone. But Michelangelo chose it and made it one of the most famous stones in existence! Here is a picture of that sculpture. (Show them the picture of the sculpture.)

Teachers or Parents: Rejection stings, but Jesus understands our rejection because he was rejected himself.

*Many churches will observe "World Communion Sunday" today and emphasize the fact that we are all accepted by God and share one world and one communion. This is a nice counterbalance to the rejection everyone has felt at one time or another.

*On this date in 1536, William Tyndale, translator of the English Bible, was executed for the crime of translating the Bible! People reject others for strange reasons. Even though Tyndale was rejected at the time, he is now considered a hero of the church and a martyr. Look up Tyndale's story and tell it on a child's level.

Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you can read? (Let them raise their hands.) How many of you want to learn to read? (Let them raise their hands.) When there is something that you want to do but can't yet, like learn to read, that means you have a goal. Your goal is to learn to read. (Hold up the book.) If your goal is to learn to read, you must be taught how to read. You can't just wake up one morning and start reading. To learn to read takes a desire to learn and recognize letters and words.

Different people have different goals. Some of your goals may be to learn to ride a bike, learn to swim, learn to roller skate, learn to blow bubbles, or learn to play the piano.

Good morning! I need some help. I started to write a note this morning, and I picked up this pencil, and guess what? (let them answer) That's right; the lead is broken, and I can't use it. Then I went to go to another room and I couldn't get in because I didn't have the right key. I have all of these keys but none of them would open the door. I went to find a key that would fit, but when I turned the switch, there was a bright flash and then just darkness. Guess what happened to the light bulb? (let them answer) That's right; it burned out. So I have keys that don't fit, a pencil that doesn't write, and a light bulb that's burned out. Sounds like a bad day, doesn't it?

Good morning! I brought along some things this morning that I worked or played very hard to get. (show your trophies and tell a little about each one, such as: This is a golf trophy I received when I won a tournament. Here is a plaque that I received for being the president of Rotary. This is a first prize ribbon for the best photograph in a photography contest. This is a special prize. I received this beautiful vase for the most beautiful rose grown in my hometown.)

I have more trophies and so do others in this church. You receive these kinds of prizes for being special, for being the best or the second best or even for third place. When you get a prize like this you know that you are good.