A warning
Children's sermon
Object:
a smoke detector
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have a smoke detector in
your house? (Wait for show of hands.) What are smoke detectors for? (Let
them respond.) They can tell when there is smoke in the air and they make
a beeping sound to warn you that there is smoke. Does your smoke detector
beep any other time than when there is a fire? (Let them respond.) Some
smoke detectors give a special beep when the batteries need replacing.
Some smoke detectors go off when the toaster gets the toast brown
enough to create even a little tiny bit of smoke. Some smoke detectors are
too close to the kitchen so when your mom or dad are baking cookies, the
heat from the oven will set it off. Have you ever had this happen? (Let
them respond.) Sometimes a smoke detector is too close to the bathroom.
When you finish your shower and the bathroom is steamy, you open the
door and BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! The smoke detector thinks there's a fire from
the steamy bathroom. When a smoke detector is not too close to the
kitchen, the bathroom or a toaster, it is a very good warning to get out of
the house.
Our lesson today is about a man who wished he had heard a warning. He was very rich, but he did not share with anyone. He was not kind to people. When he died, he didn't go to live with God. There was another man and he was very, very poor. He never had enough to eat and he was very sick. He died and went to live with God and Abraham who was also with God. The rich man called up to Abraham, ``Please let the poor man come down and bring me some water. I'm so thirsty!'' But the poor man couldn't come to help the rich man. So the rich man asked if Abraham would please send a warning to the rich man's brothers. He wanted his brothers to stop being mean like he was and to be kind to people. But Abraham said he couldn't do that either. Abraham said that his brothers had the same warnings to listen to as the rich man had. If the rich man didn't listen to the warnings before, they wouldn't even listen and change if the poor man came back from the dead to warn them. It's kind of like a smoke detector that goes off for showers, toasters and ovens. It's hard to know when there's really a fire! We learn to listen to the warnings in the Bible when we come to church and hear all the stories from the Bible. The Bible is full of stories that tell us how to live and how to love.
Our lesson today is about a man who wished he had heard a warning. He was very rich, but he did not share with anyone. He was not kind to people. When he died, he didn't go to live with God. There was another man and he was very, very poor. He never had enough to eat and he was very sick. He died and went to live with God and Abraham who was also with God. The rich man called up to Abraham, ``Please let the poor man come down and bring me some water. I'm so thirsty!'' But the poor man couldn't come to help the rich man. So the rich man asked if Abraham would please send a warning to the rich man's brothers. He wanted his brothers to stop being mean like he was and to be kind to people. But Abraham said he couldn't do that either. Abraham said that his brothers had the same warnings to listen to as the rich man had. If the rich man didn't listen to the warnings before, they wouldn't even listen and change if the poor man came back from the dead to warn them. It's kind of like a smoke detector that goes off for showers, toasters and ovens. It's hard to know when there's really a fire! We learn to listen to the warnings in the Bible when we come to church and hear all the stories from the Bible. The Bible is full of stories that tell us how to live and how to love.
