Advent Children's Sermon Collection
Advent and Jesus’ Return
We don’t know when Jesus will come again, but we’re looking forward to
it, just like the people before were looking forward to Him coming the first
time.
Scripture: Matthew 24:36
Needed: Calendar or datebook (could be digital), Advent Calendar
Children’s Sermon: Show your regular calendar and ask kids, Why do people use calendars?
One reason people use calendars is so they can
look forward to something and know how many days it will be until it's time for
something. Have you ever counted down the days until your birthday, or counted
down the days until Christmas?
We use calendars to keep track and to know
when a special day will be. But speaking of Christmas, there's another kind of
calendar that we can use to count down the days until Christmas. It's called an
Advent Calendar. (Show children how your particular one works.)
Does anyone know what the word
"advent" means?
Advent means "come." Just like we're
really excited for Christmas to come, people a long time ago were really
excited for Jesus to come and be born. They didn't know exactly when it would
be, but they were excited for it.
And that's kind of like how it is for us. We
know that Jesus has already come once
when He was born as a little baby, but the Bible tells us that Jesus is also
going to come again. He won't come as a baby again. He'll come as a man, coming
down out of Heaven.
We don't know when Jesus will come again.
(Read Matthew 24:36.)
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not
even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
We can't have a calendar to tell us when Jesus
will come back, but we are excited for it, just like people were excited for
Jesus to come the first time. Jesus loves us so much, and it will be so nice for us to finally get to see Him and be with
Him when He comes.
Closing Prayer: Jesus, we thank You for coming the first time at Christmas. You were
born as a little baby and, when You grew up, You taught us how to follow God.
You died on the cross so that we could all be forgiven for our sins. Jesus, we
love you so much for that and are looking forward to the time when You will
come again so that we can see You and be with You forever. Amen.
Mary’s Christmas Song
Use this Advent/Christmas children’s sermon to teach kids what we can
praise God for.
Scripture: Luke 1:46-55
Needed: Christmas
music - hymnals, lyric sheets, or stereo to sing along to
Children’s Sermon: Ask students, What is your favorite Christmas song?
(Listen to the kids' answers and then sing a
few of the songs. You might even have one of your musicians assist you by
playing the piano or guitar.)
Did you know that Mary, Jesus' mother, wrote a
Christmas song? When she heard that she was going to be pregnant with Jesus,
she wrote this song.
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has been mindful
of the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me
blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great
things for me—
holy is His name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their
inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as He promised our ancestors.”
Why do you think Mary wrote that song?
Mary wrote her Christmas song to thank God for
all the good things He had done for her. Can you think of some of the good things God has done for you?
God has made us. He gave us life. He gave us
our parents and a nice world to live in. He sent Jesus to teach us and to die
on the cross for us so that we could be forgiven for our sins. He loves us and
listens to us when we pray to Him. Those are all good things God has done for
us.
That's why Mary sang her Christmas song, and
that's why we sing our Christmas songs. We sing to thank God for all the good
things He has done.
Closing Prayer: Father God, we thank You for loving us and for always doing good
things for us. This Christmas, we especially thank You for sending Jesus to us.
In His name we pray. Amen.
The Advent Wreath
Use this Advent children’s sermon to teach children about the coming
resurrection God has promised us.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Needed: wedding
ring, Advent wreath
Children’s Sermon: Ask students, Have any of you ever made a promise to someone?
Has anyone ever made a promise to you?
(Show a wedding ring.) Does anyone know what
this is?
It's a wedding ring. Why do you think a man
and a woman give each other wedding rings when they get married?
The wedding ring shows that they are promising
to love each other forever and ever. Do you see how the wedding ring goes
around forever and ever? So, they're promising to love each other forever and
ever.
In the church, when it's almost Christmas
time, we use something that looks like a big ring. Can anyone think of what it
is?
(Show students the Advent wreath.) This is our
Advent wreath. It looks like a big wedding ring, and it goes around forever and forever just like a wedding ring
because the Advent wreath reminds us that God has made promises to us, just
like a man and a woman make promises to each other when they get married.
Can anyone think of some promises God has made
to us?
During Advent, the time before Christmas, we
remember that God promised in the Bible to send Jesus to die for our sins on
the cross and to save us. God fulfilled that promise when Jesus was born, lived
His life, and then died on the cross.
During Advent, we also remember that God
promised to send Jesus again one day. Jesus will come down from Heaven and
bring everyone who believes in Him back to life.
(Read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.)
For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise
first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be
with the Lord forever.”
We’ll also get our new bodies so that we’ll
never die but live with Jesus forever. That’s what God promised us.
And we know that God will keep that promise
because God is perfect and keeps all of His promises.
Closing Prayer: Father God, we thank You for sending Jesus to save us, and we thank
You for promising to send Jesus back to earth one day so that we can come back to life just like He did. We know that
You will keep Your promise because You are a good and perfect God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Advent and the Signs of Jesus’ Return
Use this Advent children’s sermon to teach kids about the second coming
of Christ.
Scripture: Matthew 24:27-31
Needed: nothing
Children’s Sermon: Ask kids, What holiday is coming up? (Christmas)
How do you know? How can you tell Christmas is
coming?
It's on the calendar, people are decorating for Christmas, Christmas music is playing
on the radio, people are buying Christmas presents, etc.
Those are all ways we know Christmas is
coming. How do you think people knew when Jesus was going to come on that first
Christmas?
Did they have it marked on the calendar when
the Messiah was going to come?
God had told people in the Bible, through the
prophets, that He was going to send a Messiah to them, but they didn't know
exactly when it would happen. It was a surprise to almost everyone.
But Jesus said that we can know when He is going to come again.
(Read Matthew 24:27-31.)
“For as lightning that comes from the east is
visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever
there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
“Immediately after the distress of those days,
‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will
fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in
heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son
of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He will
send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from
the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
We can't know ahead of time exactly when Jesus
is going to come back, but it will be very obvious when He does. Jesus said
that He would come down out of the sky and the sun and the moon wouldn't shine,
and the stars would fall out of the sky so that everyone would know He's coming
back.
Some people will be very sad when they see Him
coming back because they didn't believe in Him.
But we will be very happy because we do
believe in Him. Jesus said that He will
send the angels flying out all over the earth to pick us up and carry us up
into the sky to meet Jesus when He comes down. Can you imagine that?
So, just like people look forward to
Christmas, and just like people were looking forward to the time when Jesus came
the first time as a little baby, we can look forward to the time when Jesus
will come back.
Closing Prayer: Jesus, we are so happy that You came to earth as a little baby at
Christmas. You came to be our Messiah and die for our sins. And Jesus, we are
looking forward to the time when You will come back to earth so that we can see
You and be with You forever. Amen.
Being Ready for
Jesus’ Return
Use this Advent children’s sermon to teach kids how they can be ready for
Jesus’ second coming.
Scripture: Matthew 24:36 and 42
Needed: An analog or
digital clock
Children’s Sermon: Show students your clock, set to a certain time. Ask, Can anyone tell
me what time my clock says?
Do any of you ever use clocks? What for?
Do you ever use a clock to know what time you
have to leave for school or for church?
Let's pretend that you're getting ready for
church in the morning. What time do you have to leave your house to get here in
time?
Okay. So when the clock says _, you know you
have to be ready. What are the things you have to do to get ready?
That's a lot of stuff you have to do by _ to
be ready to leave.
There's also something else that we need to
get ready for. It's Jesus' return. Did you know that Jesus is going to come
back to earth one day? And we need to be ready for Him when He comes.
The problem (unplug your clock or turn it
around) is that we don't know what time He'll be here. We don't even know what
day or year He's coming back.
(Read Matthew 24:36 and 42. You could also
read the entirety of Matthew 24:36-44.)
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not
even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father… Therefore keep
watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
Jesus says that He will come at a time when we
don't expect Him. It will be a surprise. But we're supposed to be ready for Him
whenever He comes. How can we ready for Jesus to come back if we don't know
when He's coming?
We can be ready for Jesus by doing the things
Jesus wants us to do. If we believe in Him and do the right things, then, when
Jesus comes back, He'll see that we are doing what He asked us to do and He
will be happy with us.
So, we don't have to know when Jesus will come
back to be ready for Him. All we have to do to be ready is to keep believing in
Him and doing the right things that He asked us to do.
Closing Prayer: Jesus, we are looking forward to the time when You will come back
again so that we can see You and be with You. We pray that You will help us to
do the right things that You want us to do so that we will be ready for You
whenever You come. Amen.
Advent Recommended Extras
The Advent Storybook – an illustrated storybook with 25 stories; choose four
each year to explain why the people were waiting for a Savior
The Hope of Advent – a free lesson that teaches kids what it means to wait by placing a
wrapped gift in front of them and making them practice patience
Teaching through the Nativity – a free lesson to serve as an introduction to your Nativity
Christmas
Lights – a free children’s sermon that shows kids how Jesus is the light
of the world
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All of these children's sermons are included in my book, Holy Days: Children's Sermons for the Holidays.
Kindle $4.99, Print $7.99 |
Find more short devotionals on my Free Children's Sermons page!
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