A healthy church
Children's sermon
Object:
a box of Wheaties, a bottle of vitamins, and a bottle of Gatorade
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (vv. 11-12)
Good morning, boys and girls. Today, we are going to talk about things that are important to our bodies. How many of you like cereal for breakfast? (let them answer) Does anyone here eat Wheaties? (let them answer) When I was growing up, this is what they called the breakfast of champions and a champion was pictured on every box.
How many of you take vitamins? (let them answer) Good, vitamins also help make you strong. Vitamins build strong bones and good blood. How many of you run a lot? (let them answer) When you do this, it makes you use up parts of your body that you need to replace. Some people use a drink like Gatorade to help replace what was all used up.
This is how we take care of our bodies. Did you know that the church is the body of Christ? The church is the people who believe in Jesus. All over the world, men and women, boys and girls, believe that Jesus died for their sins and promised them life forever with God. How do we take care of Christ's body? We can't feed it Wheaties, vitamins, or Gatorade. How does the church grow and become strong all over the world? The Bible tells us how. The Bible talks about growing the church into a very healthy body of Jesus by asking many of the members to do special jobs. The Bible tells us that to get things started there needed to be apostles. Do you remember the name of an apostle? (let them answer) That's right, Peter, James, and John and several others. They had a big job of working with the Spirit and starting the church.
The church also needs prophets who listen to God and warn us of going in the wrong direction. There have been a lot of prophets. The Bible tells us about other leaders called evangelists that teach about Jesus Christ where they have never even given Jesus a thought. They speak to the unbaptized and unchurched and bring Jesus to their attention. Billy Graham is perhaps our best-known evangelist. The Bible also says we need pastors. Pastors are very important to the church. They baptize, confirm, marry, and bury people in their congregation. They lead worship, preach, visit the sick and shut-ins, and share the love of God with all of the members. We need some of the boys and girls here today to think about being pastors.
Finally, to have a very healthy church, the Spirit of God tells us that we need the best teachers. We need people to study their Bibles and share what they have learned with the members. Healthy bodies are happy bodies. Healthy churches with good leaders are great churches. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls. Today, we are going to talk about things that are important to our bodies. How many of you like cereal for breakfast? (let them answer) Does anyone here eat Wheaties? (let them answer) When I was growing up, this is what they called the breakfast of champions and a champion was pictured on every box.
How many of you take vitamins? (let them answer) Good, vitamins also help make you strong. Vitamins build strong bones and good blood. How many of you run a lot? (let them answer) When you do this, it makes you use up parts of your body that you need to replace. Some people use a drink like Gatorade to help replace what was all used up.
This is how we take care of our bodies. Did you know that the church is the body of Christ? The church is the people who believe in Jesus. All over the world, men and women, boys and girls, believe that Jesus died for their sins and promised them life forever with God. How do we take care of Christ's body? We can't feed it Wheaties, vitamins, or Gatorade. How does the church grow and become strong all over the world? The Bible tells us how. The Bible talks about growing the church into a very healthy body of Jesus by asking many of the members to do special jobs. The Bible tells us that to get things started there needed to be apostles. Do you remember the name of an apostle? (let them answer) That's right, Peter, James, and John and several others. They had a big job of working with the Spirit and starting the church.
The church also needs prophets who listen to God and warn us of going in the wrong direction. There have been a lot of prophets. The Bible tells us about other leaders called evangelists that teach about Jesus Christ where they have never even given Jesus a thought. They speak to the unbaptized and unchurched and bring Jesus to their attention. Billy Graham is perhaps our best-known evangelist. The Bible also says we need pastors. Pastors are very important to the church. They baptize, confirm, marry, and bury people in their congregation. They lead worship, preach, visit the sick and shut-ins, and share the love of God with all of the members. We need some of the boys and girls here today to think about being pastors.
Finally, to have a very healthy church, the Spirit of God tells us that we need the best teachers. We need people to study their Bibles and share what they have learned with the members. Healthy bodies are happy bodies. Healthy churches with good leaders are great churches. Amen.
