Login / Signup

Free Access

It's That Simple!

Children's sermon
Object: A job description. I have attached a sample you can use if you wish. I have highlighted a few of the items that might be good to use as examples during the message, but feel free to pick the ones you want to use.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started! And to get started, I want to ask you a question. One of these days when you get older, I’ll bet you are going to want to find a job somewhere, don’t you? (Let them respond.) Have you ever thought about what kind of a job you might want to have when you get older? (Let them respond.) If you aren’t sure yet, don’t worry about it. You have plenty of time to decide. But let’s pretend for a minute that we really like to build things, okay? (Let them respond.) So, let’s pretend we want to find a job that will let you build lots and lots of different things. If that is the kind of job we want, how can we find out if a job will let us do that? (Let them respond.) This is one thing that will help us find out. (Show the paper.) This is called a job description. Can anyone guess what it does? (Let them respond.) It is something that describes or tells me things about a job. (Hold up the paper to read.) It tells me what the job is about and what kinds of things I would have to do if I had that job. So, if I want to build things, I’ll want to make sure the job description says this job will let me build things, won’t I? (Let them respond.)

(Hold up the paper.) For example, this is a part of a real job description for a job to be a school teacher. It tells us some of the things we will need to do if we take this job to be a teacher. It says things like, if we take this job, we will have to prepare lessons and things to teach our students. It says we will have to prepare tests and then grade them. And it says we will have to be at work on time every day, and that we will have to keep our classroom clean and wipe up any messes so we keep it safe.

It sounds like a job description can be a pretty important thing, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, our story today is about the day that Jesus told his friends that God had a new job for them and he gave them the job description. (Let them respond.) Well, he didn’t really give them a piece of paper like this one, but he talked to them and told them what the job was going to be. He told them, “God wants you all to follow me and obey all of my commandments.” That was kind of a short job description, wasn’t it? (Hold up the paper.) It doesn’t tell us a lot about the job, like this one did, does it? Let’s see if we can work together to figure out what the new job is really about.

Jesus’ job description says that we must obey his commandments. So just what is a commandment? (Let them respond.) A command is like something that someone tells us we are supposed to do, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) So, I guess Jesus’ job description says that, if we take this new job God wants us to take, we have to do the things that Jesus tells us to do, right? (Let them respond.) Okay, so let’s see if we can figure out just what that means. We have heard stories about Jesus before, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) So, we have seen the kinds of things that Jesus did, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) What kinds of things do you think Jesus might want us to do if we are following him today? (Let them respond.) Maybe he would command us to do things like be nice, or don’t steal, or don’t fight, or go to church every Sunday, or not say bad words. There are a lot of things Jesus might tell us to do, aren’t there? (Let them respond.) And some people tell us we are supposed to do things that we aren’t sure Jesus really wants us to do, don’t they? (Let them respond.) It can be really confusing sometimes. What is the real job description? (Hold up the paper and let them respond.) How do we know what Jesus really wants us to do in our new job?

Somebody asked him that question one day. They said, “Jesus, we really want to follow you and do what you want us to do. But wow! There are so many different commands people are telling us to follow. Please tell us what you really want us to do. What is the real job description? Jesus smiled and said, “There are only two things I want you to do. I want you to love God, and I want you to love each other.” Let’s see if that helps us figure out what our job is.

If we love each other, would we ever do anything to be a bully to someone? (Let them respond.) No, we wouldn’t. And if we love each other, will we fight with someone? (Let them respond.) Would we steal from someone? (Let them respond.) Would we treat someone badly just because they didn’t look like us? (Let them respond.) Would we ever refuse to help someone we saw who needed help? (Let them respond.) Would we ever threaten to hurt someone to make them do something we wanted them to do? (Let them respond.) Would we ever not care about someone just because they didn’t have very much money? (Let them respond.) If we really cared about each other, we wouldn’t do any of those things, would we? (Let them respond.)

(Hold up the paper.) This job description has almost three whole pages of things that we will need to do if we take this job as a teacher. That’s a lot to remember, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But we don’t have to remember a lot of rules if we take the job to follow Jesus. That job only has two things we need to remember, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) If something shows that we love God and love each other, we do it. If something shows that we don’t love God or don’t love each other, we don’t do it.

That is our job.

It’s that simple.

I hope our story will help us remember the job God wants us to do. (Let them respond.) Jesus said that more than anything else, God wants us to take care of each other, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)

Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.

Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 20 | OT 25 | Pentecost 15
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 21 | OT 26 | Pentecost 16
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 22 | OT 27 | Pentecost 17
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Mary Austin
Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
George Reed
Katy Stenta
Nazish Naseem
For October 5, 2025:

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
What kind of poetry is written in the midst of war? Gentle poetry. Brutal poetry. Shocking poetry. Haunting poetry.

It was expected on all sides that the First World War would end quickly — but it slogged on for four long years. How many died? You’ll get as many answers as the number of sources you check, but let’s say twenty million for the sake of a number. Each one of those was a human being, each life cut short was irreplaceable, each one a cherished child of God.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Kalas
Not all suffering is equal.

We know, of course, that some pain is worse than other pain and some suffering is more difficult to endure. I have discovered, for example, that I classify some troubles as “headaches” while other troubles are “heartaches.” The “headache” type of suffering is a nuisance, no doubt, but it is not nearly so painful to me as the “heartache” type of suffering. Troubles at work are headaches; troubles at home are heartaches.
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Mark Ellingsen
Lamentations 1:1-6; Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: The object of this lesson is a phrase for everyone to remember. If you want to add a bit of interest, you could print that phrase on a card or ribbon to give to each child. For the most impact, create one for every member of the congregation and have the children hand them out after the message.

* * *

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:

His friends and followers said to Jesus, "Increase our faith!" In our worship today let us explore faith and ask that he might increase our faith too.



Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, sometimes I feel anxious and worried.

Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, sometimes I find it hard to believe that you will always care for me.

Christ, have mercy.

Jesus, sometimes I envy other people because of their great faith.

Lord, have mercy.

SermonStudio

Carlos Wilton
The little-known book of Lamentations was likely composed in the ashes of Jerusalem, following the Babylonian invasion which carried the leaders of the Jewish community off into exile. It speaks to the concerns of the Jerusalem community for their long-term survival under occupation by a foreign power. While the book's title sounds grim, and its setting is dark, the book is fundamentally life-affirming. It is a testimony to the steadfast love of God that may be discovered through renewed faith, even in troubled times.

Lee Ann Dunlap
Some records are made to be broken -- like Olympic speed skating; Cal Ripkin, Jr.'s, most consecutive baseball game appearances; and North Dakota's longest cow chip toss. Other records we'd prefer to let stand -- the world's deadliest disaster, or the most active hurricane season, for instance. Years 2004 and 2005 will probably make the books as among the most dramatic in weather history. Hurricanes pounded the southern coast of the USA. Floods and blizzards battered the midwest. Earthquakes devastated parts of central Asia.
Rick McCracken-Bennett
Ever since the sign went up on our property that our church was coming I've gotten phone calls from people asking when we'll have a church. I can be a smart aleck as some of you will attest and so I'm often quick to respond that we already have a church, we just don't have a building. "Well," they usually say, "give me a call when you get the building done; I'm not going to worship in a high school cafeteria." Before I can give my canned speech about the difference between a church and the building I realize I'm talking to a dead phone.
R. Kevin Mohr
It can be really depressing to listen to the news anymore. It doesn't matter which network you watch, everywhere you turn it's the same old bad news: natural and manmade disasters, the continuing conflicts in the Middle East and in Iraq and Afghanistan, medical miscues, entertainers gone wild and self-destructive, sports heroes disappointing us. Then there's a federal government that often seems to be, at best, incompetent or, at worst, corrupt. What makes it even more depressing is that at least 51% of us voted those currently in the White House and on Capitol Hill into office!
Gary L. Carver
You may have noticed that I read earlier from the King James Version of the Bible and not the New International Version from which I usually read. I read from a Bible that was given to me by my father which was passed on to him by his father. I read earlier from my Grandfather Carver's pulpit Bible from which he began preaching over ninety years ago and used for over forty years. Needless to say, when I accepted this Bible from my father I received it as a sacred trust.

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL