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Choose from the following children's sermons:

• God's Rules Are Good For Us Exodus 20:1-17
  by Frank Schaefer      (see below)
• Under Construction but not Completed, John 2:31-22
  by Rev. Randy L. Quinn    (see below)
• What Jesus Wants to Find in Church! John 2:13-22
  by Rev. Frank Schaefer    (see below)

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God's Rules Are Good For Us
Exodus 20:1-17
by Frank Schaefer

Greetings, my little friends.

Today, we want to talk about the 10 commandments. I'm sure you've heard of them. Most of them start with the words" You shall NOT... I don't expect you to know all of them, but can you tell me which of these following are part of the 10 commandments?

 

You shall not steal.  Hands up if this is one of them.  Yes, very good

You shall not lie    Yes, very good

You shall not swim for half hour after eating   (no, that's a good rule to follow, but that's not one of the ten commandments

You shall honor your parents  yes, believe it or not, this is actually one of the 10

 

You know some people are afraid of the 10 commandments  because they think they are hard to follow, and I think it is hard to keep all of them all the time.

But I really think that God wants us to think of the commandments in a positive light. They are good guidelines that keep us out of trouble when we follow them. God wants us to live good lives and be happy.

Let's say I got caught stealing something. That'd be bad for me, right? I would be in a heap of trouble and feel really badly. That's why God said: don't steal.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for giving us your 10 commandments; thank you for caring for us and for trying to keep us out of trouble. And please help us to keep your rules and be a good person. In Jesus name...Amen.

 

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Under Construction but not Completed
a children's sermon based on John 2:31-22
by Rev. Randy L. Quinn

Do you know what this is? (I have a stone church that I use as a bookend in my office.) Right, it’s a church.

Well, that’s sort of right.

A church isn’t a building, you know. A church is the people who gather to worship. We don’t need a building to have a church, and a building without any people in it really isn’t a church, either.

But we call our building a church, so that’s good enough for now.

What happens in a church building? (Allow them to answer . . . worship, prayer, Sunday School, etc.)

Right. Sometimes we think of a church building as God’s house because this is where we come together to meet with God.

So are there things we DON’T do in this building? (Allow them to answer again, though this time it may be more difficult to answer.) Do you think God would want you to run here? What about getting into a fight? What about taking a whip and cracking it around people?

Probably not.

Did you know that Jesus used a whip in a church once? Our scripture today is going to tell the story. It’s because people forgot what they were coming to do. They forgot that they were coming to worship God.

I hope you never forget why we come here. I hope I never forget, either. I don’t want someone taking a whip to me – or to you!

Let’s pray.

God, help us remember that you are here today. Help us remember that we have come here to meet you. Help us to remember that we are here to enjoy your company and to share your love with others we meet here today. Amen.