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Choose from the following children's sermons:

• God's Big, Big House, 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
  by Rev. Frank Schaefer
   

• Sheep without a Shepherd, Mark 6:30
  by Rev. Frank Schaefer

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God's Big, Big House, 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

Good morning my little friends, in one of today's lessons, the one from 2nd Samuel, God is talking about his house. You see, king David wanted to build a house for God--a temple. But God wanted David to understand something.

God spoke through the prophet Nathan and basically said to David: I don't really live in houses that people build; the whole world is my house; I am everywhere you go; in fact, whereever you go in the world, you are in my house.

God's house is so much bigger than any building we can build for him. What do we call the houses we build for God today? What is this building called we're in right now? That's right, its a church. Do you think that God really lives in this building that we built for him?  No, you're right, God lives everywhere, including the world and, even in heaven.

A church building is practical because then we can all worship together as a local church, but it doesn't mean that we can't worship God anywhere else.

Sometimes we think that we can only worship God in a church building, but that's not true; we can worship God anywhere in the world; at home, in school, on the ball field, and in nature.

God is the creator of the universe and that's his house. Now that's a big house, and we all have room in God's house and we're all welcome in God's house. And if we ask Jesus into our hearts and follow him, then we will also live in God's new house that he is building for all of his faithful children--it's going to be a huge mansion where we will live with our God and all our loved ones forever and ever.

Let us pray: Dear awesome and almighty God, we worship you this morning in this house we call a church building. We want to thank you for the privilege to meet in freedom and to worship in this great space we built. But we also want to thank you that we can live in your universe-which is the house you built. Thanks, dear God, that we can worship you anywhere, that you are always with us and that you invite us to live in your new house too, which we sometimes call heaven.  In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

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Sheep without a Shepherd
a children's sermon based on Mark 6:30
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
props: none

"...Jesus saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd."

Good morning boys and girls. Today, I didn't bring anything to show you because you can all help me with this children's sermon. I need you to pretend to be sheep. Now, who knows anything about sheep? What do they sound like? What do they do? What do they eat? Are they by themselves or in a group with other sheep? Who makes sure that all the sheep stay together? (the shepherd).

In today's Bible reading we heard that Jesus felt sorry for the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd

I need you to be sheep this morning. Can you walk on all fours and go "baaaaaaaaaaah?" Ok. Here is what I need you to do: walk on all fours in a perfect circle--one walking after the other going round in a big circle. (Unless you have very organized kids, they will have difficulty following this direction).

After letting them try for a few moments, step in and explain: I think that a shepherd is needed to help form a circle. (Help them get into line and have them move for a few moments, then have them sit down again).

Do you think we are a little like sheep? Do we need help? Do we need a Shepherd to help us? Who is our Shepherd? That's right it's Jesus/God. And God has promised us to take care of us, to keep us going on the right path and to teach us what we need to know. He is the Good Shepherd.