Heavenly Jerusalem
Children's sermon
Object:
a sign announcing "Heavenly Jerusalem"
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering ... (v. 22)
Good morning, boys and girls. Do you notice when things change? Maybe you come home and when you walk in there is new carpet. Suppose you go to visit your friend and they have taken down their fence. You look around and suddenly there are flowers in that spot that has been kind of dead. These are wonderful things that happen to us everyday and sometimes we hardly notice them. Do you like things to change for the better? (let them answer) I remember when I was small and I could not shoot the basketball through the basket. Then one day, I picked up the basketball and what I could not do the day before, I could do. It was wonderful.
Paul was talking to many Christians when he wrote about something that was going to happen to all of the believers in Jesus. He asked them how they felt before they knew Jesus. Always before, they had to worry about breaking this law or that law and what could happen to them. God seemed like a big judge that had very hard rules. When you broke a rule you had to be really worried. But since they were following Jesus, they learned that God was not a judge but instead a loving Father. And things were only beginning to change for people that believed in Jesus. Paul asked them if they remembered visiting the city of Jerusalem. It was a special place with a big temple. Paul said the temple was still the place where the poor gathered on the steps. It was still a place for the sick and the beggars. People were still not kind that walked about the temple in fine robes dropping breadcrumbs on the ground for the very hungry to race each other for a little bit of food.
Paul wanted to tell us about a new heavenly Jerusalem. A place where you shall see angels and live with God. You will recognize the people who first believed in God and how they have become perfect people. Most of all you will see Jesus who brought all of the changes to us when he was alive on the earth. "Heavenly Jerusalem" is what the sign will read. There will be no poor beggars scrambling for a penny, no hungry people fighting over a breadcrumb. You will not see sick or lame people but you will know that you are in God's holy city. You will not miss the change, that is for sure.
The next time someone mentions Jerusalem and tells you about the temple and the big walls that surround it, you can say, "I am waiting for the time when I see the heavenly city of the new Jerusalem, and where I will meet Jesus and all of his angels and the people who first believed in him." Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls. Do you notice when things change? Maybe you come home and when you walk in there is new carpet. Suppose you go to visit your friend and they have taken down their fence. You look around and suddenly there are flowers in that spot that has been kind of dead. These are wonderful things that happen to us everyday and sometimes we hardly notice them. Do you like things to change for the better? (let them answer) I remember when I was small and I could not shoot the basketball through the basket. Then one day, I picked up the basketball and what I could not do the day before, I could do. It was wonderful.
Paul was talking to many Christians when he wrote about something that was going to happen to all of the believers in Jesus. He asked them how they felt before they knew Jesus. Always before, they had to worry about breaking this law or that law and what could happen to them. God seemed like a big judge that had very hard rules. When you broke a rule you had to be really worried. But since they were following Jesus, they learned that God was not a judge but instead a loving Father. And things were only beginning to change for people that believed in Jesus. Paul asked them if they remembered visiting the city of Jerusalem. It was a special place with a big temple. Paul said the temple was still the place where the poor gathered on the steps. It was still a place for the sick and the beggars. People were still not kind that walked about the temple in fine robes dropping breadcrumbs on the ground for the very hungry to race each other for a little bit of food.
Paul wanted to tell us about a new heavenly Jerusalem. A place where you shall see angels and live with God. You will recognize the people who first believed in God and how they have become perfect people. Most of all you will see Jesus who brought all of the changes to us when he was alive on the earth. "Heavenly Jerusalem" is what the sign will read. There will be no poor beggars scrambling for a penny, no hungry people fighting over a breadcrumb. You will not see sick or lame people but you will know that you are in God's holy city. You will not miss the change, that is for sure.
The next time someone mentions Jerusalem and tells you about the temple and the big walls that surround it, you can say, "I am waiting for the time when I see the heavenly city of the new Jerusalem, and where I will meet Jesus and all of his angels and the people who first believed in him." Amen.
