Childrens Sermon Service

Object: A wipe-off marker board, markers, and eraser. The board can be of any size you can find.

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Our story today is about one of the people who traveled around with Jesus. His name was Peter, and the main thing we remember about Peter is that he really messed up! Peter made some mistakes and did some things he shouldn’t have done. Have you ever made mistakes? (Let them respond.) I think we all have, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we make little mistakes or make mistakes by accident when we aren’t paying attention. But sometimes, we make really big mistakes, don’t we? Our story tells about how Peter made some pretty big mistakes.

But before I tell you the story, who can tell me what I have here? (Show the board.) It is a marker board, isn’t it? We use these to write things on, don’t we? (Let them respond.) I thought we might use the board to help us tell the story about Peter and his mistakes. Sometimes, it almost feels like our brain has a little marker board inside where it makes a list of all of the mistakes we make so we remember them and they keep bothering us, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) I brought my board and a marker to help us tell the story about Peter and the mistakes he made.

One day, Jesus was getting ready to have dinner with Peter and the other disciples. The disciples started talking about where they were going to sit, and which one of them got to sit next to Jesus. They all started arguing back and forth bragging about it until Peter finally said, “I am the greatest disciple, so I should get the best seat!” Jesus looked at them and said, “Stop arguing! You should take care of each other and not fight with each other.” That was one of Peter’s mistakes, wasn’t it? (Let them respond as you write “fighting” on the board.)

And then Jesus said,“And stop bragging. If you want to follow me, you shouldn’t brag and act like you are better than other people, but you should always treat each other like you are equal.” That was another mistake Peter made, wasn’t it? (Let them respond as you write “bragging” on the board.)

Then after dinner, some people came to take Jesus away and Peter jumped up and hit someone with a sword. Jesus said, “Stop that! If you want to follow me, you should not do anything that will hurt other people.” That was another mistake Peter made, wasn’t it? (Let them respond as you write “hurting” on the board.)

Peter made quite a few mistakes, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) But then he made some really big ones. When the people took Jesus away, Peter followed them to see where they were going. While they were walking, someone looked at Peter and said, “Hey, aren’t you one of his disciples?” Do you know what Peter said? (Let them respond.) He shook his head and said, “Nope, not me.” Instead of trying to help Jesus, he got scared and said he wasn’t with him. (Let them respond as you write “lying” on the board.) He lied. A few minutes later another person said, “Hey, I know you. Aren’t you one of Jesus’ disciples?” And do you know what Peter did? He said, “Nope. I’m not with him.” (Let them respond as you write “lying” on the board again.) He lied again. And then, another person looked at him and said, “I know you! I saw you earlier today. You are one of Jesus' disciples, aren’t you? And do you know what Peter did this time? He said, “Hey! I don’t even know the guy!” (Let them respond as you write “lying” on the board a third time.) He lied again, and then he ran away.

Peter made some pretty big mistakes, didn’t he? (Show the board and let them respond.) Just like we make them sometimes. And how does it feel when we think about mistakes we have made? (Let them respond.) It feels bad, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) The story says that when Peter ran away and thought about what he had done, he felt sorry about the things he had done and he cried really hard. He had really messed up, hadn’t he? (Show the board.)

Later, when Peter heard that Jesus had come back to see them, I’ll bet he was nervous, don’t you? (Let them respond.) I bet he thought Jesus was really mad at him for making all of those mistakes and running away like he did, don’t you? (Let them respond.) Jesus would probably never want to ever even see him again, would he? (Let them respond.) But do you know what happened when Jesus saw him again? (Let them respond.)

This is what happened. (Use your eraser and slowly remove all of the words from the marker board, one at a time.) Jesus told Peter to stop worrying about the mistakes he made and go tell everyone that God loves them. And how do you think that made Peter feel? (Let them respond.)

Instead of worrying about his mistakes, Peter started going around telling people about Jesus and helped them start a bunch of churches in towns all around the world. And, he wrote some of the stories we read in our Bible today, so he is still telling people about Jesus and how much God loves them.

We all make mistakes. (Show the board and write “Mistakes” on it.) But Jesus wants us to remember that God loves us and forgives us when we make them. (Erase the word “Mistakes”.) Instead of sitting and worrying about our mistakes, Jesus wants us to take care of other people and forgive them when they make mistakes, the same way that God forgives us.

Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.

Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us, and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created, and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.