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Choose from the following children's sermons:

• Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth? (please scroll down)
• Spiritual Gifts for You and Me, 1 Cor. 12:6 by Frank Schaefer (please scroll down)

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Excellent Martin Luther King Day kids sermon from the DPS archive:

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
by Janet in MD

I have a Bible story for you today, about a guy who made a mistake. There was a man named Philip, who met Jesus and decided to follow him. Philip talked to Nathanael, and told him "I have met the one that Moses and the prophets told about! He is Jesus, from Nazareth." Well, Nathanael didn't know Jesus, but he knew Nazareth -- it was just a sleepy little town, nothing much exciting there. Nathanael just laughed and said "Hah! Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Can you guess what Nathanael's mistake was? (let them guess). See, he thought that he knew all about Jesus just by knowing where he was from. And since he thought Nazareth wasn't very good, he thought Jesus couldn't be very good! What a huge mistake!

But then he met Jesus, and talked to him, and very quickly realized that Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel. Something really good had come out of Nazareth!

It is easy for us to make Nathanael's mistake. A lot of times we think we know about people because we know where they live, or what kind of car they drive, or what school they go to, or the shape of their bodies, or the color of their skin, or the language they speak. But none of those things tell us what a person is really like inside; none of those things help us see people the way God sees them.

Do you know what tomorrow is? Tomorrow is the day we remember Martin Luther King Jr. He was a strong Christian and a great leader who helped change some very bad laws we used to have in this country -- laws that separated people because of their skin color. You know what? I am sure that there were people in Martin Luther King's time who looked at him and said "Hah! Can anything good come out of Montgomery, Alabama? Can anything good come out of the mouth of a black man?" They didn't stop to listen to what he had to say, or get to know him. They made Nathanael's mistake.

Nathanael fixed his mistake by getting to know Jesus. We need to make sure that we take the time to get to know people too -- not just judge them by where they live or their skin color or their clothes. Because God can make something good come out of anybody, from anywhere, at anytime.

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Spiritual Gifts for You and Me
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

Scripture passage: "God's gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all come from God." 1 Corinthians 12:6

Objects: none

  Good morning boys and girls, it's good to see you all.  You know how I like to bring some object to show you all?  Well, today I didn't bring anything, you brought the objects.  Today's lesson is all about talents.  For everybody has been given a spiritual gift from God--that's what the bible tells us.

   So, today I want to find out what kind of talents God has given you. Our bible text lists up several ones.  So I am going to read them to you twice and the second time around you raise your hand for the talent that you think you have been given.  O.K. here goes:

- smarts / ability to figure things out (Wisdom / Knowledge)
- understanding the bible, people (Understanding)
- trust God for making things good (Faith)
- taking care of ill people or pets (Healing illness)
- acting differently than people expect-e.g. staying calm when people think you should be angry...(Miraculous acts)
- being able to tell if something is good or bad (Distinguishing between spirits)
- sharing with others about what is right and wrong (Proclamation)
- being able to speak to different people in a way that they understand it   (Glossolalia and its interpretation)

You know, our bible verse tells us that all of these gifts and talents all come from the same source-they were given to us by God.  God wants us to help each other with the gifts we have been given.  These talents make us very special, but there is one thing we need to do.  We need to use our gifts.

So, if you know your gift you should use it.  If your gift is to work miracles--you know, act differently from what people expect--you should just do it.   For example, if you feel sorry for a lonely person, then you should talk to them and be their friend-especially if they don't have any other friends.  If your gift is to trust God to make things better then you should pray for people that have problems or that are sick--for God hears the prayers of a person of strong faith.

So, this week I want you to think of the gift that God has given you and then I would like to ask you to use it for God.  Can you do that for God?

O.K. let's pray:  Dear God, thank you for the gifts you have given to (name some kid's names...) and to all of us.  Help us to use our gift so that your church will become stronger and stronger as people help each other.  Amen.