Taming your tongue
Children's sermon
Object:
cup your hand and make it move like a mouth
Good morning, boys and girls. (Form two talking mouths with
both your hands as you greet the children.) How many of you have
ever made talking mouths with your hands like I'm doing? It's fun
to pretend to talk with your hands. Let me ask you another
question. Have any of you ever said anything -- or told anyone
something -- that you wish you had never said? (Let them answer.)
I want to tell you the story about a little boy your age who
often said things that he wished he had never said. You could say
that this boy's tongue got him in a lot of trouble.
Once when the boy was playing with his friends the friends started to play a game. The boy said, "I know how to play this game better than anyone. I always win when I play." Another time he was coloring some pictures with his friends. He told them, "I am the best artist in this group." Another time he and his friends were swimming. He told his friends, "I can swim better than most kids my age." As you can see, this boy was always bragging. His tongue was always getting him to say things that he really didn't mean. Soon his friends realized that whenever they played with him, he was always going to say that he could do something better than anyone else. If it wasn't that, he would say something else that just wasn't true. As you can imagine, his friends became tired of the boy.
My story makes me think of this morning's lesson. In the lesson we are told that if we aren't careful, what we say will get us into trouble with others. This is what happened to the boy in our story, isn't it? Here's what I want you to remember this week. This is good for children and adults. The Bible lesson tells us that one of the greatest things we all need to learn is how to use our tongues. That means to learn to say the right things. We need to learn when not to say anything. We need to learn to say good things. We need to learn to have a good heart. That means to try to do what is right. This week try to say the right things.
Once when the boy was playing with his friends the friends started to play a game. The boy said, "I know how to play this game better than anyone. I always win when I play." Another time he was coloring some pictures with his friends. He told them, "I am the best artist in this group." Another time he and his friends were swimming. He told his friends, "I can swim better than most kids my age." As you can see, this boy was always bragging. His tongue was always getting him to say things that he really didn't mean. Soon his friends realized that whenever they played with him, he was always going to say that he could do something better than anyone else. If it wasn't that, he would say something else that just wasn't true. As you can imagine, his friends became tired of the boy.
My story makes me think of this morning's lesson. In the lesson we are told that if we aren't careful, what we say will get us into trouble with others. This is what happened to the boy in our story, isn't it? Here's what I want you to remember this week. This is good for children and adults. The Bible lesson tells us that one of the greatest things we all need to learn is how to use our tongues. That means to learn to say the right things. We need to learn when not to say anything. We need to learn to say good things. We need to learn to have a good heart. That means to try to do what is right. This week try to say the right things.
