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Choose from the following Children's Sermons:

• Squeaky Clean, 1 Peter 3:13-22, by Rev. Randy Quinn (see below)
   

• Promises, John 14:15-21, by Rev. Frank Schaefer (please scroll down)

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Squeaky Clean
a children's sermon based on 1 Peter 3:13-22
by Rev. Randy Quinn

props: have a few items in a bag to show the kids: shampoo, bath soap, toothpaste, and Windex. As I take each one out of the bag, I’ll ask “what is this?” and “what do you use this for?”)

Well, we know what all of these are for, but what do they have in common? (They are all things we use to clean something.) What other things do we use to clean things?

Can I use any of them to clean anything? I mean, can I use this toothpaste to wash my hair? Or can I use this Windex to clean my face? (Of course not! Each is meant to clean a particular thing.)

I guess you could use these things to wash things that are already clean, or that haven’t gotten dirty, but we don’t normally do that, either, do we?

Sometimes our hearts get dirty. It gets dirty when we do things wrong or when we have bad thoughts about someone else. Sometimes we want something that someone else has or sometimes we get mad at someone for something they’ve done or said and we look for ways to “get even.” Those things make our hearts dirty.

If you had a dirty heart, which of these things would you use to clean it? (None! These aren’t for cleaning hearts!)

What can we use to clean our hearts? (This may be a tough one for some of the kids – especially the younger ones at the second service.)

The truth is we can’t clean our hearts. Only God can do that. And the good news is that God has already cleaned them by forgiving us. God has erased all of those bad things in our lives and given us a chance to start over again.

Jesus came so that we could have clean hearts. And for that, I’m glad.

Let’s pray:

God, we’re sorry for the things we have done that make our hearts dirty. Thank you for forgiving us and making our hearts clean again. Help us to make decisions that will help us not get them dirty again. Amen.

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Promises
a children's sermon based on John 14:15-21
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

Props: a ring or wedding band

Good morning boys and girls.  Today I brought something that most of you are probably familiar with.  That's right, it's a ring--also called a wedding band.  When a man gives a woman an engagement ring that means that he also makes a promise.  When he gives her a ring, and the woman accepts it, then he promises to marry her.   So, the ring stands for a promise; a promise to be faithful to someone and love them.

In today’s lesson, Jesus makes a promise, too.  He said: “even though I have to return to heaven, you will not be alone.  I will send you a helper, the Holy Spirit.”

Has anybody ever promised you something?  Who?  What did they promise?  Did they do what they promised?  If not, how did that feel?  Do you think that sometimes people want to fulfill their promise and cannot do it?

Did you ever make a promise to someone?  What did you promise?  Do you always keep your promises?  Why not?  Do you feel bad if you’re not able to keep your promise?

Allow the kids to share.

Sounds like a lot of people make promises.   And it sounds like not all promises that people make are kept.

Do you think that God keeps all his promises?  Did Jesus keep his promise to send a helper, the Holy Spirit to be with us?  Yes, and the day when he fulfilled his promise and sent the Holy Spirit arrived is called Pentecost.   We believe that, since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of all Christians.  The holy Spirit is that little voice inside of us that helps us tell right from wrong.

I'd like to say a little prayer of thanks to Jesus for sending us the Holy Spirit.  Would you pray with me?