Follow Me!
Children's sermon
Object:
We need things that will symbolize people like nurses, doctors, firemen, power-line workers, and other people who help us. If you can get actual hats or helmets it would be cool, but just using photos of those people will work just fine.
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me... (v. 34)
Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a question for you. Have you ever been doing something, or thinking about something, and all of a sudden your brain says, “Hey! I’ve got an idea!” and you start thinking about something completely different? (Let them respond.) Maybe you are in school, or in church, and someone is talking about something. And all of a sudden your brain says, “Hey, wouldn’t it be interesting if a giant dinosaur came in the door and started running around the room and yelling?” Has something like that ever happened to you? (Let them respond.)
Well, that’s what happened to me as I was thinking about the story the Bible tells us about Jesus today. The story says that Jesus was talking with a bunch of people one day and they were having a really tough time. They were people who were trying to follow Jesus and do the things he wanted them to do, but it was hard because there were other people who didn’t want them to follow Jesus. Those other people made fun of them, and picked on them, and did some really mean things to them. The people with Jesus were getting really scared and some of them thought it might be better if they stopped trying to be like Jesus so those other people would quit picking on them.
Jesus knew they were scared and wanted to quit. He looked at them and told them that he knew they were scared, he knew it was hard for them to follow him, but it was important that they tried to stop worrying about themselves and keep following him. He said it was okay to be scared, but that should not make them stop helping him take care of other people.
And that’s when my mind said, “Hey, that’s kind of like the nurses, and the doctors, and the firemen, and the linemen, and…”, and it just kept going like that. I was a little confused because I wasn’t sure how what Jesus said had to do with nurses and firemen. Do you have an idea what my brain meant? (Let them respond.) Well, I finally figured it out, so let me tell you what I think my brain was thinking.
We’ve had a lot of problems in the past few months haven’t we? We’ve had the Covid virus problems and they are really big problems. And we just had a really big winter storm that caused big problem for a lot of people, didn’t we? (Let them respond.) So, there are a lot of people who are really tired and scared and a lot of them feel like they would like to go someplace where they can be safe and just hide and not worry about everyone else for a while. Maybe you’ve felt like that too. (Let them respond.)
Well, that’s when my brain thought about those very special people who may be scared too, but they just picked-up their fears and kept working to help take care of people who needed help. (Hold up the photos of these groups as you mention them.) My brain reminded me of the nurses, doctors, firemen, policemen, linemen, truck drivers, teachers, farmers and lots of others. They might still be scared, but they pick up their fear and try to keep helping everyone else.
Can you think of other people who have kept going out and working to help take care of us like that? (Let them respond.) They do things to try and stay safe but they think the most important thing is that they keep trying to help other people. Even though it is really tough and scary, they are still trying to follow Jesus.
Let’s say a prayer to say thank you for these special brave people and ask God to help us remember how important it is that we keep trying to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember how important it is that we keep following you so we can let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a question for you. Have you ever been doing something, or thinking about something, and all of a sudden your brain says, “Hey! I’ve got an idea!” and you start thinking about something completely different? (Let them respond.) Maybe you are in school, or in church, and someone is talking about something. And all of a sudden your brain says, “Hey, wouldn’t it be interesting if a giant dinosaur came in the door and started running around the room and yelling?” Has something like that ever happened to you? (Let them respond.)
Well, that’s what happened to me as I was thinking about the story the Bible tells us about Jesus today. The story says that Jesus was talking with a bunch of people one day and they were having a really tough time. They were people who were trying to follow Jesus and do the things he wanted them to do, but it was hard because there were other people who didn’t want them to follow Jesus. Those other people made fun of them, and picked on them, and did some really mean things to them. The people with Jesus were getting really scared and some of them thought it might be better if they stopped trying to be like Jesus so those other people would quit picking on them.
Jesus knew they were scared and wanted to quit. He looked at them and told them that he knew they were scared, he knew it was hard for them to follow him, but it was important that they tried to stop worrying about themselves and keep following him. He said it was okay to be scared, but that should not make them stop helping him take care of other people.
And that’s when my mind said, “Hey, that’s kind of like the nurses, and the doctors, and the firemen, and the linemen, and…”, and it just kept going like that. I was a little confused because I wasn’t sure how what Jesus said had to do with nurses and firemen. Do you have an idea what my brain meant? (Let them respond.) Well, I finally figured it out, so let me tell you what I think my brain was thinking.
We’ve had a lot of problems in the past few months haven’t we? We’ve had the Covid virus problems and they are really big problems. And we just had a really big winter storm that caused big problem for a lot of people, didn’t we? (Let them respond.) So, there are a lot of people who are really tired and scared and a lot of them feel like they would like to go someplace where they can be safe and just hide and not worry about everyone else for a while. Maybe you’ve felt like that too. (Let them respond.)
Well, that’s when my brain thought about those very special people who may be scared too, but they just picked-up their fears and kept working to help take care of people who needed help. (Hold up the photos of these groups as you mention them.) My brain reminded me of the nurses, doctors, firemen, policemen, linemen, truck drivers, teachers, farmers and lots of others. They might still be scared, but they pick up their fear and try to keep helping everyone else.
Can you think of other people who have kept going out and working to help take care of us like that? (Let them respond.) They do things to try and stay safe but they think the most important thing is that they keep trying to help other people. Even though it is really tough and scary, they are still trying to follow Jesus.
Let’s say a prayer to say thank you for these special brave people and ask God to help us remember how important it is that we keep trying to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember how important it is that we keep following you so we can let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
