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Object: For the most fun and impact, use a weed-eater. (Leave the battery at home.) If you prefer, you could just use a hoe or any other tool used for weeding a garden.

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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) One day, Jesus’ friends were upset because some people were saying things about him, and telling everyone to do things Jesus said God did not want them to do. Everyone was getting really confused and weren’t sure what God really wanted them to do. Jesus’ friends wanted to know what they should do about those people to make them stop saying and doing those things.

So, Jesus told them a story about planting seeds.

He said a man planted a field with seeds for the plants he wanted to grow. One night, someone snuck into the garden and planted a bunch of other seeds for weeds. When the seeds started growing, the man saw there were a bunch of other things growing in his field, making it hard to tell his plants from the weeds.

Now, if you plant a field with watermelon seeds, what do you want to grow? (Let them respond.) Watermelon. If you plant a field with seeds for carrots, what do you want to grow? (Let them respond.) Carrots, yes.

When Jesus went around talking to people about God, it was almost like Jesus was planting seeds, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.) He was telling everyone what God wants them to do so they could all grow closer to God. Then these other people started coming around and telling everyone that God wants them to do other things. They were making it really hard for everyone to know what God really wants and what they should believe and do. Those people are like the weed planters, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) They were just making things really confusing for everyone.

Jesus’ friends wanted to go find those people and make them stop saying the things they were saying. They wanted to go find them and MOW them down just like weeds. (Show the weed eater and wave it around like you are cutting down big weeds.) They wanted to go find the weed people and make them stop doing the things they were doing.

Jesus said, “No!” Don’t do that.” He told them to leave those other people alone. He said that you can’t always tell which plants are good and which plants are weeds and they might accidentally get the wrong people. But he said that, just like the seeds in the field, when the plants grow and start producing watermelons and carrots, it will be easy for God to see which plants are weeds, and then God will take care of them.

Jesus wanted them to just ignore the weeds and keep doing what God had told them to do. Who can remember what God told Jesus’ friends they were supposed to do if they wanted to follow him? (Let them respond.) God said they were supposed to love God and love and take care of each other. That’s what we need to do. God doesn’t want us to get distracted and worry about anything else.

God wants us to put away the weed eater. (Put away the weed-eater.) God doesn’t want us to run around worrying about what other people are saying and doing and try to pull weeds out of the garden. Got will take care of the weeds. God wants us to spend our time showing other people that we care about them.

Our job is to spend our time seeing how we can help take care of each other. Being a friend to someone who is lonely. Helping someone who is afraid. Feeding someone who has nothing to eat. Taking care of someone who is sick. Taking care of someone who has no home or place to live.

That is our job. Taking care of each other. God will take care of the weeds.

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.