Login / Signup

Free Access

Risking It All

Children's sermon
Cows In Church
80 Biblically Based Children's Sermons
Object: 
A picture of a large crowd.
"What does it mean to take a risk?" I ask the assembled children. As the seconds of their silence lengthen I wonder if today's topic is going to be too ephemeral for their concrete way of thinking. Just as I am about to answer my own question, I hear a soft voice inquire, "Does it mean to do something dangerous?"

"Yes!" I reply. "Taking a risk is often dangerous because taking a risk means that you might lose something that is important to you. But sometimes it is necessary to take a risk in order to gain something that is even more important than what we stand to lose.

"The Bible is full of stories about people who take risks, one of whom was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had been to all sorts of doctors looking for a cure. In fact, she had spent all her money paying them to treat her. But nothing helped.

"Then she heard about Jesus, and she knew that if she could get near enough to him just to touch his robe she would finally be well. But there was a BIG problem.

"You see, the condition from which she suffered made her an outcast in the society in which she lived, because a person who was bleeding was thought to be 'unclean.' That meant she was not allowed to touch any other person -- and no one else could touch her.

"Can you imagine what that would have been like? For twelve long years not even her own family had so much as given her a hug. It was as if she didn't exist. It must have been just awful. Why, twelve years is longer than any of you have been alive!"

By now the children are wide-eyed with attention. They know they would not like to have to do without hugs.

"Still, the woman knew she at least had to touch Jesus' robe if she was going to get well. But there was another problem. Jesus had gotten pretty famous and wherever he went, there was usually a big crowd. It may have looked something like this crowd." I hold up an aerial photograph of 8,000 people gathered for the Boston Marathon.

"Now, just imagine that Jesus is right in the middle of all these people. Would it be easy to get to him?"

"Noooo!" the children answer.

"Would it be possible to get to him without touching anyone else?"

"Probably not," several children reply.

"No, probably not," I agree. "So, you see what a big risk this woman was taking. She wasn't supposed to touch ANYONE, and yet she was going to worm her way through a huge crowd of people and try to get close enough to Jesus at least to touch his robe. Why, if anyone realized who she was and what she was doing she might have been killed! She was taking a really big risk!

"But the risk was worth it, because for her life wasn't worth continuing the way it was. So, she went out to the countryside where Jesus was walking down the road in the middle of all these people. And she managed finally to get close enough just to touch the hem of his robe. Instantly, she felt his power flow through her, and she knew she had been healed.

"However ... Jesus felt the power flow out of him! He knew someone had touched him. In fact, he turned to the disciples and asked, 'Who touched me?'

"Well, they almost laughed at him for asking such a thing. 'Hey!' they said to him. 'Look around yourself. You're in the middle of a huge bunch of people. How are we supposed to figure out who touched you? It could have been anyone.'

"But the woman had heard Jesus' question too. So then, even though she knew people would probably recognize her as the 'unclean' one and she might get in all sorts of trouble, she told Jesus she was the one who had touched his robe.

"And do you know what Jesus did?" The children just shake their heads, waiting expectantly for me to continue. "Jesus wasn't at all angry. He said to her, gently, 'Daughter, your faith has made you whole. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.'

"You know, sometimes our faith requires us to take a risk too. And when it does, it helps to remember that even God takes risks. God takes an enormous risk by giving us the freedom to choose what we will do, how we will act, whom we will love. God wants our love, but God will not force us to give it. If God did, then it wouldn't be of any value to God. So God takes a risk on us, giving us life and the freedom to choose how we will live it. But God finds the risk worth taking -- because the possibility that we will risk returning God's love is worth it. God risks everything on us in the hope that we will risk everything on God."
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 10 | OT 15 | Pentecost 5
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 11 | OT 16 | Pentecost 6
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 12 | OT 17 | Pentecost 7
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?
  • Second Thoughts: The Helpers by Katy Stenta based on Amos 7:7-17.

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