Login / Signup

Free Access

Me! Me! Me!

Children's sermon
Object: One piece of clear glass and one mirror. I found a piece of clear Plexiglas and a plastic mirror at a local box store. Both pieces were one square foot, which is a good size to use in this message.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! I have a question for you. Have you ever heard someone say something that you didn’t understand and thought it was really strange? (Let them respond.) Jesus did that sometimes, didn’t he? One day, he said something that a lot of people think sounds really strange. He was talking with his friends and said, “If you want to save your life, you will lose it. But if you lose your life for me, you will save it.” Now, I think that sounds pretty confusing, don’t you? (Let them respond.) If you want to save your life you will lose it, but if you lose your life for me, you will save it. Does anyone have an idea what Jesus meant when he said that? (Let them respond.) Well, let’s put on our detective hats and see if we can figure it out, okay? (Let them respond.) Great!

The day Jesus said that he was with his friends in a place called Caesarea Philippi, which was a long way from where they lived. Back home, they went there because a lot of the religious leaders had gotten really angry with Jesus because of what he had been doing. One day, over five thousand people had come to see Jesus, and when they got hungry, he fed all five thousand of them lunch with just two fish and five loaves of bread. The religious leaders didn’t want Jesus doing miracles like that because they couldn’t do it and it made them look bad, so, they decided they needed to figure out how to stop him.

Jesus took his friends and went where it was safe so he could teach them things and help them get ready in case the religious leaders came after them. Jesus looked at them and said, “I am going to suffer many things, and they are going to kill me. But don’t worry because I will come back after three days.”

When Jesus’ friends heard that, Peter jumped up and shouted, “Hey! You need to stop doing things to make those people so mad at you. You need to just take care of yourself!” Peter sounded worried about Jesus, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)

Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Get away from me!” And that’s when Jesus said, “If you want to save your life, you will lose it. But if you lose your life for me, you will save it.”

Now, let’s see if we can figure out what Jesus meant. (Show the two pieces of glass.) Who can tell me what I have here? (Let them respond.) I have two pieces of glass, don’t I? (Let them respond.) But what is different about them? (Let them respond.) Let’s see.

First, let’s all take a look through this piece and tell me what you see. (Hold up the piece of clear glass and invite everyone to take a look through it and respond.) We can see right through it, can’t we? (Let them respond.) We can see each other, and everyone else here, can’t we? (Let them respond.) Now, let’s all take a look through this piece, and tell me what you see. (Hold up the piece of mirrored glass and invite everyone to take a look through it and respond.) What do we see? (Let them respond.) We don’t see anything but ourselves, do we? (Let them respond.) If we look through this glass (hold up the clear glass) we see everyone around us. But if we look through this piece, (hold up the mirrored glass) all we see is ourselves.

I think that’s what Jesus was telling Peter. (Hold up the mirrored glass again.) If we spend our time just worrying about ourselves and doing things just for ourselves and not caring about other people, we are not living our lives the way God wants us to. (Hold up the clear glass.) But, if we spend our time caring about other people and doing things to help them, we are living our lives the way God wants us to.

That’s what I think Jesus meant when he said that strange thing. (Show the mirrored glass.) We can just think about ourselves and waste our lives. (Show the clear glass.) Or we can care about others and really live our lives.

We have a choice. We can spend our time thinking about “Me! Me! Me!” Or we can spend our time thinking about “Us! Us! Us!”

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 7 | OT 12 | Pentecost 2
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 8 | OT 13 | Pentecost 3
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 9 | OT 14 | Pentecost 4
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

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity.

Note: You will need to select six children to play roles in this activity. If you have a smaller group, you might ask some older youth or even adults to play the parts of the two attackers and the man being attacked. I will give suggestions for how they can play their roles, but feel free to help your children make the story as fun and memorable as you can. I have used boys and girls in the various roles, but you can change those however you want to change them.

* * *

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
For July 13, 2025:
  • Samaritans Among Us by Dean Feldmeyer based on Acts 2:1-21. Samaritans were despised and dismissed by the original audience who first heard Jesus tell this parable. Who are the Samaritans in our lives and how does this parable apply today?

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
I say, “You are gods,
    children of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
    and fall like any prince….”
(vv. 6-7)

There have been any number of brother-sister acts that achieved a measure of fame. Take the Carpenters, famed for their singing, musicianship, and songwriting skills. Also worthy of mention are John and Joan Cusack who have acted together in over sixteen films.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
An ancient legend tells of a remote mountain village where people used to send their senior citizens out into the woods to die. The villagers had an eye to the future; they felt that those beyond a certain age would only slow down progress or use up valuable resources to no economically profitable end. Those who reached a certain age weren’t “put out to pasture” or “put out of their misery”; they were simply put out of other people’s way.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Mabel hummed a familiar hymn tune as she made her way to church. She always enjoyed her Sunday morning walk. It was one of the few times she felt safe to walk alone through the inner city, for she knew nobody would be up at 7.45 in the morning. Today was a particularly beautiful morning, with blue sky, warm sunshine, and the song of a few intrepid blackbirds who still inhabited the city.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Often, a distinction is made between the pastoral or priestly work of the church and the prophetic work. Pastoral care has to do with the care of souls, the offering of comfort in times of loss. The priestly character of pastoral work seeks to mediate the presence of God to those who are hurting.

Schuyler Rhodes
Trusting is never easy. Even in the best of relationships, people step into trust slowly. There is wariness -- questioning -- worry. What happens if trust is betrayed? What if this doesn't work? Sometimes it's like a dance. We step in and out of trust, moving to the rhythms of fear. For many, the routine is achingly familiar. Indeed, it's not easy to trust.
John Jamison
It was back in the days when the railroad was the most common mode of transportation. There were automobiles, and some airplanes, but the steam locomotive was the way most folks traveled and the way that most of the goods were distributed around the country. After dinner, people sat in the drawing room and listened to the radio programs, fading in and out from some faraway location, over the magical broadcasting signal.
Robert Leslie Holmes
Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It's the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline for your car and purchased it at a certain price per gallon.
David O. Bales
I have the two best jobs in the world. I teach social studies at Leon Griffith Junior High School (a fairly small junior high) and I am Sunday School Superintendent at Calvary Presbyterian Church (an enormous church school). Each job is my vocation. I tell people that at school they'll find my room where the halls cross. At church they can look but probably won't find me. I'll be in someone's classroom. At each job I practice what I most deeply believe: it's how you see the world that determines how you respond to it. I'll give you an example, actually, two examples.
Erskine White
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine)

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL