A clean slate
Children's sermon
Object:
a small wipe-off board or some paper on an easel with a marker
In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. (v.
19)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have received a star on a paper from your teacher? (let them answer) I used to be very proud when my teacher would give back my spelling test and I would receive a star. This meant that I had done very well in school. It isn't easy getting stars. You have to work hard to get a star.
How many of you have ever gotten a bad grade? There was not a star on your paper, but instead a big zero or a note from the teacher that said you needed to try harder. Every once in a while some of us get back those kind of papers.
I wonder how God would grade us? God has lots of stars to hand out, but I have never received a star. I have never asked God for a star, but then he has never suggested that he would give me one.
In the lesson for today, God was talking with Paul about some kind of mistakes that everyone was making. The Bible says that people were committing trespasses. Do you know what your trespasses are? (let them answer) How many trespasses do you do in one day? (let them answer) A trespass is a sin. Trespassing is living in sin.
I brought along something that allows me to write down my trespasses every day. Do you think you have trespassed today? (let them answer) Some of you remember when you trespass. I wrote down most of my friend's trespasses. I was keeping count and it seemed like my friend was going for a record. My friend wasn't the only one. Some of my other friends were also trespassing. I wondered if I could keep score and write down all of their trespasses. (show them the wipe-off board or the paper with the names and a lot of marks) Wow! My friends have been very busy people.
But guess what? The reason Jesus came into our world was to teach us a lot of new things about God and one of the things that he taught us was how these black marks go away. When Jesus died for our trespasses, he brought us back to be very close with God. Jesus died to get rid of our trespasses. This means that we only need to thank Jesus for his love and believe that he has the power to do it and guess what? (wipe off the marks or crumple up the paper and throw it away) The trespasses are gone. You have a clean slate, a clean, white sheet of paper. That is good, that is real good. Thank you, Jesus, for taking away our trespasses. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have received a star on a paper from your teacher? (let them answer) I used to be very proud when my teacher would give back my spelling test and I would receive a star. This meant that I had done very well in school. It isn't easy getting stars. You have to work hard to get a star.
How many of you have ever gotten a bad grade? There was not a star on your paper, but instead a big zero or a note from the teacher that said you needed to try harder. Every once in a while some of us get back those kind of papers.
I wonder how God would grade us? God has lots of stars to hand out, but I have never received a star. I have never asked God for a star, but then he has never suggested that he would give me one.
In the lesson for today, God was talking with Paul about some kind of mistakes that everyone was making. The Bible says that people were committing trespasses. Do you know what your trespasses are? (let them answer) How many trespasses do you do in one day? (let them answer) A trespass is a sin. Trespassing is living in sin.
I brought along something that allows me to write down my trespasses every day. Do you think you have trespassed today? (let them answer) Some of you remember when you trespass. I wrote down most of my friend's trespasses. I was keeping count and it seemed like my friend was going for a record. My friend wasn't the only one. Some of my other friends were also trespassing. I wondered if I could keep score and write down all of their trespasses. (show them the wipe-off board or the paper with the names and a lot of marks) Wow! My friends have been very busy people.
But guess what? The reason Jesus came into our world was to teach us a lot of new things about God and one of the things that he taught us was how these black marks go away. When Jesus died for our trespasses, he brought us back to be very close with God. Jesus died to get rid of our trespasses. This means that we only need to thank Jesus for his love and believe that he has the power to do it and guess what? (wipe off the marks or crumple up the paper and throw it away) The trespasses are gone. You have a clean slate, a clean, white sheet of paper. That is good, that is real good. Thank you, Jesus, for taking away our trespasses. Amen.
