Filled with God's love
Children's sermon
Object:
a large, un-inflated balloon
Welcome back! I'm glad to see you again. (hold up the balloon) I'm going to use this balloon to help us understand the New Testament reading for today. It's a complicated reading, and I think this balloon can help. (try to bounce the balloon) When it's like this, the balloon doesn't bounce. I can't throw it or play with it because it has no air. It's still a perfectly good balloon, but it isn't really alive. Without air, it cannot do all the things it was created to do.
In today's lesson, the Apostle Paul says that people choose to live according to the laws of the flesh or according to the laws of the Spirit. Basically that means that people can choose either to live their own way or God's way. God's way is best, and until we follow him we aren't living as fully as we can. Without the love of God inside us we are kind of empty, just like our balloon is empty. (blow up the balloon and begin to bounce it) Look at the balloon again. See how bouncy it is now that it has air? Now it's doing what it was created to do. It has life inside it. It's just like us when God's Spirit comes to live in us.
An empty balloon isn't a bad balloon. It's just empty. It's not free to do what it was created to do. Without air it can't fly and bounce. It falls short of what it was meant to be. It needs the air to fill it and make it complete. You and I need the Spirit of God to fill us and makes us complete. Unless we have the love of God inside us we are like empty balloons. We aren't bad, but we're empty. We can't live as fully as we can when God lives in us. We can try to be fulfilled by living our own way, but our ways will never be as satisfying as God's ways.
Prayer: God, fill us with your love and help us make your ways become our ways. Amen.
In today's lesson, the Apostle Paul says that people choose to live according to the laws of the flesh or according to the laws of the Spirit. Basically that means that people can choose either to live their own way or God's way. God's way is best, and until we follow him we aren't living as fully as we can. Without the love of God inside us we are kind of empty, just like our balloon is empty. (blow up the balloon and begin to bounce it) Look at the balloon again. See how bouncy it is now that it has air? Now it's doing what it was created to do. It has life inside it. It's just like us when God's Spirit comes to live in us.
An empty balloon isn't a bad balloon. It's just empty. It's not free to do what it was created to do. Without air it can't fly and bounce. It falls short of what it was meant to be. It needs the air to fill it and make it complete. You and I need the Spirit of God to fill us and makes us complete. Unless we have the love of God inside us we are like empty balloons. We aren't bad, but we're empty. We can't live as fully as we can when God lives in us. We can try to be fulfilled by living our own way, but our ways will never be as satisfying as God's ways.
Prayer: God, fill us with your love and help us make your ways become our ways. Amen.
