The Children's Sermon.com

Have you ever made a really big mess?

When I was young I would sometimes make such a mess with my toys that I didn't quite know how to begin cleaning them up. (Sometimes I still make big messes.)

Then my mom taught me an important trick. She told me to start with just one little thing at a time. Maybe pick up all of the blocks first. Then pick some other group and work on it. And before I knew it - by doing one little thing at a time - things would start to get better.

I still use that trick. Sometimes a job can seem so big that it just doesn't seem like it will ever get done. So I pick one thing at a time.

Trying to be like Jesus can be that way. In the Bible we learn of all of the incredible things Jesus did to help others. Some of the things he did - his miracles - aren't things we'll ever be able to do.  So when the Bible says we should lead our lives like Jesus, that can sound like a very big job, can't it? How could we ever be like someone so great? Sometimes it makes me wonder if I can.

But in today's Gospel, Jesus teaches us an important lesson - sort of like the one my mother taught me. He tells us about how important it can be to do even things that seem very small - like giving a cup of cold water to someone who is thirsty.

Hey, I can do that! I may not be able to do some things, but I can look for someone who needs a little help and lend a hand, right? And so can you!

So this week, I want you to try to remember to be like Jesus in little ways. Give someone a drink of water, help to hold a door open for someone whose hands are full, tell someone how much you love them...there are lots and lots of little ways. Can you do that? Good.

Will you pray with me?

Dear God,

Sometimes living up to your example can seem like a huge job - but we know that little things can make a very big difference. Help us to remember all of the little ways that we can show our love and kindness every day.

Amen.

Copyright 2008 - The Children's Sermon.Com

Genesis 22:1-18 

After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ²He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”
 

³So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. ⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. ⁵Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” ⁶Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. ⁷Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. ⁹When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
 

¹¹But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹²He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
 

¹⁵The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, ¹⁸and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”
 

Psalm 13

¹How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

²How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

³Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

⁴and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

⁵But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

⁶I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

 

Romans 6:12-23

¹²Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. ¹³No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. ¹⁵What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. ²⁰When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. ²²But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Matthew 10:40-42

⁴⁰“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; ⁴²and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”