Sowing Seeds
Children's sermon
Object: A packet of seeds, a rock, a boot, a weed, a vegetable from the garden. For extra effect, have a small basket of those vegetables to show what can come from one seed. I used tomato seeds and had a basket of tomatoes to show.
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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) One day, some people were with Jesus, and they asked him what they needed to do if they wanted to follow him. Jesus knew they all knew how to grow a garden, so he told them that it was just like planting seeds in their gardens at home. They looked at him and said, “Huh?”. They didn’t understand how following God was like growing a garden. So, Jesus explained it like this.
He said, “What is the first thing you need if you are going to plant a garden of tomatoes?” So, what do you think the correct answer is? What is the first thing we need if we want to plant a garden of tomatoes? (Let them respond.) We need seeds! (Show the seeds.) And we need the right seeds, don’t we? If we want to plant tomatoes, we don’t want to get the seeds for corn, do we? (Let them respond.) And if we want to follow God, we need to know the right things that God wants us to do. I’ll bet you remember the story about the man that asked Jesus what he had to do if he wanted to follow Jesus. Does anyone remember what Jesus said we needed to do to follow him? (Let them respond.) He said we needed to love God, didn’t he? And those are the seeds we need for our garden. We need to love God.
And Jesus said the next thing they needed to do was to understand what they needed to do to help their seeds grow after we planted them in the ground. If there are a lot of rocks in the ground (Show the rock.), some of our seeds might fall on a rock and not grow, and other seeds might fall under a rock and not grow, or maybe a bird will see the seed on the rock and take it away. So, we need to know how we can help our seeds, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And if we want to love God, we need to understand how to help that grow, too, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And Jesus said the best way for us to love God is to do our very best to love each other because that’s what God wants us to do.
But after we plant our seeds, we have to be careful that we don’t step on one of them, don’t we? (Show the boot and let them respond.) Sometimes we might not see one of them and accidentally step on it. Or maybe somebody doesn’t like tomatoes, and they go into our garden and step on our seeds. That would be mean, wouldn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, Jesus said that sometimes, some people might not think they know more about God than we do and tell us that we don’t need to take care of each other the way Jesus told us to. It’s like they are stepping on our seed, isn’t it? (Let them respond.)
And sometimes, things happen to us that make it hard to take care of our garden. we just get really busy and forget to take care of it. Sometimes other things happen that look like more fun than our garden. And when we stop taking care of our garden, what happens? (Show the weeds and let them respond.) Weeds start to grow, don’t they? Other plants start crowding out our tomatoes and take all of the water, so our tomatoes can’t get enough, don’t they? (Let them respond.)
But if we take care of our seeds and our garden, what can happen? (Show the basket of tomatoes and let them respond.) Our seeds can grow and grow, and our plants can get really strong and grow a lot of tomatoes, can’t they? (Let them respond.) Jesus told the people that one little seed might end up growing sixty, or one hundred, or even more tomatoes! If we take care of it.
So, Jesus told them if they wanted to follow him, they needed to do the same thing. The seed they were planting was that they loved God. To take care of that seed, they needed to love and take care of each other. And no matter what anyone said or what happened, they needed to keep doing that and take care of their little seed of faith. And if they took care of it, what could happen? (Let them respond.) Their little seed could grow big and strong and would make sure they were with God.
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.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) One day, some people were with Jesus, and they asked him what they needed to do if they wanted to follow him. Jesus knew they all knew how to grow a garden, so he told them that it was just like planting seeds in their gardens at home. They looked at him and said, “Huh?”. They didn’t understand how following God was like growing a garden. So, Jesus explained it like this.
He said, “What is the first thing you need if you are going to plant a garden of tomatoes?” So, what do you think the correct answer is? What is the first thing we need if we want to plant a garden of tomatoes? (Let them respond.) We need seeds! (Show the seeds.) And we need the right seeds, don’t we? If we want to plant tomatoes, we don’t want to get the seeds for corn, do we? (Let them respond.) And if we want to follow God, we need to know the right things that God wants us to do. I’ll bet you remember the story about the man that asked Jesus what he had to do if he wanted to follow Jesus. Does anyone remember what Jesus said we needed to do to follow him? (Let them respond.) He said we needed to love God, didn’t he? And those are the seeds we need for our garden. We need to love God.
And Jesus said the next thing they needed to do was to understand what they needed to do to help their seeds grow after we planted them in the ground. If there are a lot of rocks in the ground (Show the rock.), some of our seeds might fall on a rock and not grow, and other seeds might fall under a rock and not grow, or maybe a bird will see the seed on the rock and take it away. So, we need to know how we can help our seeds, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And if we want to love God, we need to understand how to help that grow, too, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And Jesus said the best way for us to love God is to do our very best to love each other because that’s what God wants us to do.
But after we plant our seeds, we have to be careful that we don’t step on one of them, don’t we? (Show the boot and let them respond.) Sometimes we might not see one of them and accidentally step on it. Or maybe somebody doesn’t like tomatoes, and they go into our garden and step on our seeds. That would be mean, wouldn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, Jesus said that sometimes, some people might not think they know more about God than we do and tell us that we don’t need to take care of each other the way Jesus told us to. It’s like they are stepping on our seed, isn’t it? (Let them respond.)
And sometimes, things happen to us that make it hard to take care of our garden. we just get really busy and forget to take care of it. Sometimes other things happen that look like more fun than our garden. And when we stop taking care of our garden, what happens? (Show the weeds and let them respond.) Weeds start to grow, don’t they? Other plants start crowding out our tomatoes and take all of the water, so our tomatoes can’t get enough, don’t they? (Let them respond.)
But if we take care of our seeds and our garden, what can happen? (Show the basket of tomatoes and let them respond.) Our seeds can grow and grow, and our plants can get really strong and grow a lot of tomatoes, can’t they? (Let them respond.) Jesus told the people that one little seed might end up growing sixty, or one hundred, or even more tomatoes! If we take care of it.
So, Jesus told them if they wanted to follow him, they needed to do the same thing. The seed they were planting was that they loved God. To take care of that seed, they needed to love and take care of each other. And no matter what anyone said or what happened, they needed to keep doing that and take care of their little seed of faith. And if they took care of it, what could happen? (Let them respond.) Their little seed could grow big and strong and would make sure they were with God.
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.
