Sitting in church and listening to a sermon is hard for kids. It’s even harder for them to sit at home and listen to a live-streamed sermon. This lockdown has been hard on kids in so many ways.

I therefore started an occasional kids sermon series on the Tabernacle, the world’s largest visual aid (object lesson) to try and engage them (and save their parents’ sanity!).  The kids have responded so well. I was delighted to hear that some of them got tabernacle kits and are making them also!

Here are my latest sermon notes on God’s Fire Pit. And here’s the first sermon in the series, entitled God’s Tent.

Introduce kids to the Savior of sinners. This is a series of audio podcasts for kids who want to meet with Jesus by using Meeting with Jesus: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids (RHB). Listen to previous episodes here.

When I was a young boy, I wasn’t a good student. I wasn’t a good person.

I began to grow in wisdom and in favor with God and others when I became a Christian in my early twenties. I started reading my Bible and praying in a way I hadn’t done before.

Jesus had saved me from my sins and so I wanted to find out more and more about him and I wanted to be more and more like him.

It was then I began to grow in wisdom and in favor with God and others.

Please don’t wait as long as I did. Ask Jesus to save you from your sins today, and begin to find out more and more about him, and be more and more like him.

Then you’ll grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and others.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.

Introduce kids to the Savior of sinners. This is a series of audio podcasts for kids who want to meet with Jesus by using Meeting with Jesus: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids (RHB). Listen to previous episodes here.

We all want to grow big and tall

• Jesus grew in wisdom
• Jesus grew in favor with God
• Jesus grew in favor with people

Aim higher than physical growth, by aiming for spiritual growth.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.

Introduce kids to the Savior of sinners. This is a series of audio podcasts for kids who want to meet with Jesus by using Meeting with Jesus: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids (RHB). Listen to previous episodes here.

I once went missing when I was on vacation. I was probably about 10 years old. I told my parents I was going to watch people fishing on a pier. My parents were fine with that because it was quite close. They said not to be away for more than 30 mins.

I watched the fishing for about 15 minutes and then began to walk back. On the way back I passed an arcade and I decided to take a quick look inside. I started watching someone play a video game and got so focused on it that I forgot the time. I was probably there for about forty minutes when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there was my Dad. He wasn’t happy, and said, “I knew you’d be here.”

How did he know? He knew me. He knew what I was like. He knew I had a fatal attraction to arcades. It was the first place he looked.

Yesterday we saw Jesus go missing in Luke 2:41-46. Today, in Luke 2:47-50, Mary and Joseph find him in the last place they thought of looking–the Temple. Maybe not the first place any parent would think to look for a 12-year-old boy! What does this tell us about Jesus and about ourselves?

We have limited understanding of Jesus

• His parents searched for three days (46)
• His parents searched in great distress (48)
• His parents searched everywhere but God’s house (49)
• His parents searched without understanding (49-50)

Jesus has perfect understanding of himself

• He understood his Bible better than his teachers (46)
• He understood his mission better than his parents (49-50)

Jesus knows and understand far more than we do. So let’s bring all our questions, puzzles, and lack of understanding to him who has perfect understanding of all things.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.

Introduce kids to the Savior of sinners. This is a series of audio podcasts for kids who want to meet with Jesus by using Meeting with Jesus: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids (RHB). Listen to previous episodes here.

Imagine you went camping with a lot of other families from your town. After a week or so, everyone packs up to return to your town. The kids are all mixed up: some are in their parents’ cars, some are in their friends’ cars, but they’re all heading to the same home town and everyone figures they’ll sort it out when they get back home.

But, when your family gets home, you’re not in anyone’s car. Your parents realize that you’re still at the campground many miles away. Understandably your parents are really worried and rush back to the campground and spend three days looking for you there. Imagine how they would feel for these three days. Probably by the end of it they would be sure you were dead or someone had taken you.

And what were you doing all this time? Probably swimming, playing volleyball, visiting the arcade, doing mini-golf, and so on. Eventually they find you playing spikeball with some new friends.

Something similar happened to Jesus. In Luke 2:41-46, we find him with a whole bunch of families that went up to Jerusalem for a religious holiday. They celebrated the Passover and then everyone got together to head home to Nazareth. But after three days of traveling, Joseph and Mary realized that Jesus wasn’t with them. He wasn’t with anyone. They rushed back to Jerusalem and after three days, they found him in in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (Luke 2:46). What a relief for his parents. And what an unusual 12 year-old boy!

What does this tell us about Jesus?

JESUS LOVED THE CHURCH

• Eight days of Passover
• Three days in the Temple

JESUS LOVED PASTORS

• He wasn’t with his peers
• He sat among them

JESUS LOVED LEARNING

• He listened
• He questioned

JESUS LOVED HIS MISSION

• He hadn’t come to play with friends
• He came to save sinners

Let’s worship this 12-year-old boy and thank him for being so wonderfully unusual. And let’s be unusual kids too. Nothing wrong with playing, of course, but let’s remember it’s far more important to love the church, love our pastors, love learning, and love the mission God has given to us.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.

Introduce kids to the Savior of sinners. This is a series of audio podcasts for kids who want to meet with Jesus by using Meeting with Jesus: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids (RHB). Listen to previous episodes here.

We live in a dangerous world. There are natural dangers like hurricanes, and viruses. There are supernatural dangers like the devil and his angels. Sometimes it gets really scary, doesn’t it? We don’t feel safe do we? We feel weak and we feel helpless, don’t we?

But we can find great safety, strength, and confidence in Matthew 2:19-23.

JOSEPH PROTECTED HIS SON

• Protected in Egypt (13-15)
• Protected in Israel (19-21)
• Protected in Nazareth (22-23)

GOD PROTECTED HIS SON

• With an angel in a dream (13)
• With an angel in a dream (19)
• With a dream (22)

GOD PROTECTED HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS

• We needed Jesus to live for the present
• We needed Jesus to die in the future

Ask and trust God to protect you in this dangerous world.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.