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(Children's Sermon Service...Plus)

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. (v. 7b)


Good morning, boys and girls. Is there anyone here who likes rainy days? (let them answer) Why don't you like rainy days? (let them answer) I understand; you can't go out on rainy days and play. Do you ever go out in a raincoat and boots and walk through the puddles? (let them answer) Do you ever just turn your face up to the heavens and taste the water drops that are falling to earth? Sometimes the rain is good, and while it gets in our way sometimes, it is very important.

Materials:
Craft sticks -- around fifty per child
Thick glue
Colored paper
Markers
Ribbon


Directions:
1. Have each of the children lay two craft sticks parallel to each other, about three inches apart.
2. Instruct the children to glue ten sticks across these. Start at one end and lay each stick touching the previous one. This makes the base.
3. Repeat to make lid.
4. Set lid aside.
5. Using the base with the two cross sticks up, have the children glue one stick across each end to make a square. Then build on each side continuing to glue sticks on opposite sides to resemble a log house until the box is of the desired height.
6.

As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. (v. 10)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have heard of a "role model"? (allow answers) Does anyone know what a role model is? (allow answers) A role model is someone who you look up to. Maybe your role model is a big brother or sister. Maybe your role model is your mom or dad. Maybe it's your babysitter. Do any of you have a role model? (allow answers) Who is your role model? (allow answers)

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


Materials:
Winter gloves*
Fabric paint
Fabric markers


Directions:
Have each child select a pair of gloves and decorate the gloves with fabric paint and markers. They should decorate the gloves with ways to show God's love in their lives.

*Dollar stores will have gloves for a lesser price.

John the Baptist asked Jesus, through his own followers, if he really was the “expected one.” Jesus’ reply was to tell John about what he had been up to. Jesus was healing people left and right of all kinds of irreversible ailments. Even raising people back to life! To top it all off, the poor were hearing the good news. Then Jesus said “if that makes you happy then I’m your guy.”

It seems pretty straightforward that this stuff would make people happy, except this stuff made a lot of people angry. So angry that Jesus had to be very careful not to make the wrong person mad. We know that he eventually did get on the wrong person’s nerves. For now, if you like what Jesus is doing then he is your guy.

Object: A video camera. One on your phone is just fine.

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story? (Let them respond.) Awesome! Let’s go!

We have talked about a guy before whose name was John the Baptist. Who remembers and can tell me who John the Baptist was? (Let them respond.) He was the man God chose to tell everyone about Jesus coming to help them, wasn’t he? (Let them respond.) Well, one day, John the Baptist had a big problem.

John had been going around telling people that Jesus was the one that God sent to help them, but then John heard about some other people who were saying they were the ones that God had sent.

Today I have rolled out the red carpet for you.  We are not famous people, movie stars or royalty, so maybe you have not had this kind of fancy treatment. But often for very important people, red carpet is actually put down for them to walk on.

You would think Jesus, the Son of God, would have had the red carpet prepare the way before Him. Do you know what He had instead? He had a man named John the Baptist. It says in Mathew 11:19,

I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you.

But what did that look like?  Not red carpet!  John was wearing camel hair, eating insects called locust, and was living in the desert.  It is amazing that people listened to him!?  But this is what Jesus said about him in Matthew 11:11,

Good morning, boys and girls. What am I holding? (Let them answer.) That's right, a loaf of bread. Did any of you eat toast for breakfast this morning? Or did any of you have wheat cereal? (Let them answer.) Bread and (name a wheat cereal) are made from wheat.

Let me ask you another question. Are any of you anxious to see what might be in some of your Christmas presents under your tree? (Let them answer.) You must have great patience to wait until Christmas when you may open them.

That's why I brought this loaf of bread this morning. I want to talk to you about waiting. You know that during Advent we must learn to wait to the coming of Jesus' birth. Our Bible story today is also about waiting. It tells us that we must be patient,

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" (vv. 2-3)


Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have a favorite room in your house? (let them answer) Which one is it? (let them answer) Some of you like your bedroom, some like the kitchen, and others like the family room. What makes these rooms special to you? (let them answer)

Good morning, boys and girls. Do you know what this is? (Show question mark and let them answer.) It's a question mark. Does anyone know when you use it? (Let them answer.) You use it when you aren't certain about something. That happens often, doesn't it? There can be many things that we aren't certain about. The only way to find the answer is to ask someone who you trust.

Our Bible lesson today is about a question. Remember John the Baptist, who we talked about last week? (Let them answer.) He was the man who ate insects and wild honey! He also was the man who told us to be good people and not just to pretend to be good.

Well, John the Baptist was put in jail because someone didn't like him. He began to have questions. He had a very important

Good morning! This morning I have a copy of what is called a masterpiece. I know this is a reproduction because I purchased it for just a few dollars. If this were the real painting, it would be worth many tens of millions of dollars! Wouldn't it be something to actually own the real painting?

Why do you think the original painting is so important and valuable? (Let them answer.) There may be many reasons, but one of the reasons surely is because it is a "one of a kind." There are no more paintings exactly like this by the same artist. If there were several, it might not be nearly so valuable, but since this is the only one like it, it becomes extremely valuable.

Today we read about a very important "one of a kind" human

A bean is a seed. Seeds grow into plants. Plants produce more seeds. I have here a bean that I could plant and it would grow into a bean plant. Then, if I carefully watered it and took care of it, what would happen? (Let them answer.) That's right -- it would grow into a plant. Have any of you ever planted a seed? (Let them answer.) What kind of plant did it become? (Let them answer.)

I had a friend once who told me about a time when he was very young and his mother had planted a whole garden of seeds. He had helped her and he was so excited about the seeds and the plants she had told him would come that he went out every day to look at the ground. But nothing seemed to be happening, so he uncovered the seeds to see what they were doing.

Good morning! Does anybody know who this is? (Show the
picture and let them answer.) This is the man we call John the
Baptist. Of course, this is only a painting of what somebody
thinks he may have looked like. There were no cameras in those
days to take his picture. Do any of you know anything about John?
(Let them answer to see if they have heard of him.)

The Bible tells us his parents were Zacharias and Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus, so we know
that John was related to Jesus, perhaps his cousin. We know John
was born about six months before Jesus, but we don't know
anything about how he grew up. Both of his parents were old, so

Good morning! What do I have here? (Show the present and let
them answer.) Yes, this is a Christmas present. Do you have any
of these around your house? (Let them answer.) Well, are you
beginning to wonder what might be in those packages, especially
the ones with your names on them? (Let them answer.) Yes, I'm
sure you're curious and you would like to open the presents right
now, but we have to wait for Christmas. We have to be patient.

Being patient is not always easy, especially if we are
waiting for something really good or exciting, but we all have to
learn to be patient because some things just take time. We can't
rush them even though we would like to. Wouldn't it be nice if

(Show your nativity scene) See what I have with me today? What is this? (answers) This is a set of figures that help us see what it might have looked like in the stable where Jesus was born. Somewhere in this scene is a great, powerful and mighty king. Can anyone show him to me? (see if they can figure out whom you mean) Yes, there are the three Wise Men. Sometimes we call them kings. They were probably very wealthy and special people, but none of them are the king I mean.

How many of you have a Christmas tree? (show of hands) Did you decorate it? What do your trees look like? (listen for a moment) Do you have presents under the tree? (hold up your gift) We put presents like this under our tree. They are so pretty to look at, and they're all different. They are big, small and different colors. Some are heavy and some are light. Sometimes when I look at all the presents I just can't stand to wait so long for Christmas!

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


Materials:
Glass jar (one per child)
Sand (to fill one-third of each jar)
Tea light candle (one per child)
Lunch sacks (one per child)
Colored tissue paper
Scissors
Glue

Directions:

Give the children each a lunch sack and have them cut a few holes in each side of the sack. Cut pieces of tissue paper to glue to the inside of the bags, to cover the holes.

Give each child a jar, some sand, and a small candle. Have each one fill their jar about one-third full of sand, then place the candle down into the sand.

Teachers: John the Baptist was the "messenger" God sent to prepare the way for Jesus. This week's lesson is about messengers and messages.

John, who was in prison, sent his messengers to Jesus. His messengers asked if Jesus really was "the one who is to come?" Jesus answered John's messengers by telling them to report to John that the blind see and the deaf hear.

The theme of messages and Advent is a good time to have your students create Christmas cards. In this project your students will be messengers of God, like John. The cards could use any Christmas theme.

Read Matthew 11:10 to your students. It is about sending a message. Let them know that a Christmas card is a message from

Teachers or Parents: Certainly a primary message Jesus gave the world was the importance of each human being. He elevated the rejected ones of his time and sought out the outcasts. His message was always the same: each human being is important!

*Take pictures of each child with an instant camera. As the pictures develop, note to each child how we are all similar and yet so very different. Get some firm white paper or posterboard and post each picture on the paper or posterboard. Below each picture on the poster, paste or print fingerprints of the child. Note the unique features of each set of fingerprints. "God has made each of us to look different and be different. We are each a 'one of a kind' masterpiece. Each of us is more important than

Teachers or Parents: This week's Gospel tells us about John
the Baptist. Our children should be familiar with John and what
God planned for him to do. John was the last of the prophets to
foretell the coming of the Messiah before Jesus actually began
his ministry.

*Bring a baptismal certificate to show the children. Discuss
your own church's baptismal practices and relate them to the
baptism that John was doing.

*Show the children a picture of John and ask them to draw a
picture of John in prison. Explain to them why Herod put him in
prison, and talk about modern martyrs who are still being
persecuted for being Christians in many parts of the world. Have

Do your children have a favorite superhero? Maybe they love a superhero they've seen in a movie or a comic book. Maybe they have a superhero they've made up in their imaginations. Most children have no problem imagining what the perfect superhero can do, and it's very easy for them to decide what qualities, talents and special powers the perfect superhero should have.

Have them draw you a picture of their superhero and tell you about him or her. What do they like best? What kinds of things can their hero do?