Palm Sunday
Children's sermon
Sunflowers, Sparrows, and Salt
52 Sermons and Activities for Children
Object:
Activity sheets and a stone, a special kind, if possible
Let us praise Jesus, our Savior.
Scripture: Luke 19:36-40
Visual Aids: A stone, a special kind, if possible
Handouts: Activity sheets
Advance Preparations: Copy enough activity pages for each child to have one.
The Sermon:
This is a special day. It is the day we remember when Jesus rode a donkey into the city of Jerusalem. He was on the way to this city knowing that there were many people who hated him and would soon put him to death.
On this day, though, there were people who loved him and came to see him. They had seen some of the wonderful things he had done. They wanted him to be their king, so they were shouting, waving palm branches, and throwing their cloaks on the road in front of him. They were shouting about the wonderful things they had seen Jesus do and were praising God. Luke 19:36-40 says:
As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."
There were some there who hated Jesus. They hated to see the crowds so excited and they told Jesus to tell the people to stop shouting praises. Jesus said that if they stopped, the stones would shout instead.
Have you ever seen a *stone shout and praise God? No? But Jesus could have made this happen if he wanted to. He had done so many other miracles. Aren't you glad the people did greet him this way? He soon had to die for them and for us all. Let's think about *stones for a minute. We haven't heard one shout, but in another way they do praise God. They tell us that our God is a wonderful Creator.
The *rocks and stones have been made in a wonderful way and only God could create them. There are many kinds of rocks. Some were made from hot liquid beneath our earth which have cooled, or like lava coming from volcanoes. Some are made from pieces of sand and mud cemented together with materials in the bottom of lakes or seas that once covered land that is dry now. Often, these rocks have fossils in them. Fossils are the remains, traces, or prints of plants and animals that lived there many, many years ago. There is another rock called petrified wood. These rocks are made from trees that lived millions of years ago. A tree fell and laid in water. The water had minerals in it that gradually replaced the wood. Some petrified wood is very beautiful and some stones are so beautiful they are polished and made into jewelry.
Our God is a wonderful God. He has made so many things on this earth for us to enjoy. But, the most wonderful of all was his love when Jesus, his Son, came into our world to die for us. Let us thank and praise him, too, as those people did more than 2,000 years ago. And how can we praise Jesus today? With our voices, we praise him with prayers of thanks and the songs we sing. We praise him by telling others about him and by coming to Sunday school and church to hear stories about him. We praise him, too, by doing and living the way that pleases him.
*Use visual aids
Scripture: Luke 19:36-40
Visual Aids: A stone, a special kind, if possible
Handouts: Activity sheets
Advance Preparations: Copy enough activity pages for each child to have one.
The Sermon:
This is a special day. It is the day we remember when Jesus rode a donkey into the city of Jerusalem. He was on the way to this city knowing that there were many people who hated him and would soon put him to death.
On this day, though, there were people who loved him and came to see him. They had seen some of the wonderful things he had done. They wanted him to be their king, so they were shouting, waving palm branches, and throwing their cloaks on the road in front of him. They were shouting about the wonderful things they had seen Jesus do and were praising God. Luke 19:36-40 says:
As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."
There were some there who hated Jesus. They hated to see the crowds so excited and they told Jesus to tell the people to stop shouting praises. Jesus said that if they stopped, the stones would shout instead.
Have you ever seen a *stone shout and praise God? No? But Jesus could have made this happen if he wanted to. He had done so many other miracles. Aren't you glad the people did greet him this way? He soon had to die for them and for us all. Let's think about *stones for a minute. We haven't heard one shout, but in another way they do praise God. They tell us that our God is a wonderful Creator.
The *rocks and stones have been made in a wonderful way and only God could create them. There are many kinds of rocks. Some were made from hot liquid beneath our earth which have cooled, or like lava coming from volcanoes. Some are made from pieces of sand and mud cemented together with materials in the bottom of lakes or seas that once covered land that is dry now. Often, these rocks have fossils in them. Fossils are the remains, traces, or prints of plants and animals that lived there many, many years ago. There is another rock called petrified wood. These rocks are made from trees that lived millions of years ago. A tree fell and laid in water. The water had minerals in it that gradually replaced the wood. Some petrified wood is very beautiful and some stones are so beautiful they are polished and made into jewelry.
Our God is a wonderful God. He has made so many things on this earth for us to enjoy. But, the most wonderful of all was his love when Jesus, his Son, came into our world to die for us. Let us thank and praise him, too, as those people did more than 2,000 years ago. And how can we praise Jesus today? With our voices, we praise him with prayers of thanks and the songs we sing. We praise him by telling others about him and by coming to Sunday school and church to hear stories about him. We praise him, too, by doing and living the way that pleases him.
*Use visual aids
