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What It's Like

Children's sermon
The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons
Matthew To Revelation
Object: a fluffy bed pillow


Good morning, boys and girls. We need to talk about something that people do not like to talk about. It is a very big part of living. It is a big experience, but people do not like to talk about it. Do you know what I want to share with you this morning? (let them answer) That's right; I want to talk to you about dying and death. People don't like to talk about it, because they don't like to think about it. Dying means that they will not share the things they are doing now with other people. Death means being separated or gone. You don't live in the same place, eat at the same table, ride in the same car, or work in the same place. Death happens to everyone, usually when we are old, but not always. You can die in a lot of ways. You can get sick, have a bad accident, or just wear out. We watch other things die - flowers, trees, our pets - and it makes us sad, but we know it is going to happen. Now I want to talk about people dying. That, we never expect. We never expect that we will die. Even if other people do, we think it will not happen to us. But it will. It happens to all of us.

What is dying like, or what it is like to be dead? I don't know. It has never happened to me, but I have some good ideas about it because the Bible talks about it. One of the ways the Bible talks about death is to tell us that it is like going to sleep. Our verse from the Bible refers to people who "have died," but another translation of this verse says they "are asleep."

I brought my big fluffy pillow with me to show you this morning that the Bible tells us that when we die, it is like being in bed asleep with our moms and dads downstairs, only instead of mom and dad, it is like having Jesus downstairs. We would be pretty scared if we had to go to bed in our house and there was no one downstairs. But when we go to sleep at night we know that we are safe because our mom and dad are there and keeping us safe. We just put our heads down on our fluffy pillows, shut our eyes, and have wonderful dreams about what we are going to do the next day.

The same thing is true when we die. We can close our eyes, we know that Jesus is there to keep us safe, and we can dream about the new adventures in the world to come.

So the next time you think about dying, don't worry or be afraid, but imagine putting your head down on a fluffy pillow with Jesus downstairs and plan a wonderful dream. That helps a lot, doesn't it? I know that it helps me.
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