Sermons 4 Kids
Sermon of the Week
Proper 14 (19) Year A 
August 10, 2014
Sermon of the Week

Title: Keeping Your Eyes On Jesus

Theme: If we are to follow Jesus, we need to keep our eyes on him.  Proper 14 (19) Yr. A

Object: A ball (Perhaps enough for all children to toss a ball back and forth.)

Scripture: But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Matthew 14:30 (NIV)

How many games can you think of that use a ball? (See how many games the children can name. If they don't respond, you can begin naming some.)  Let's see-there's soccer, basketball, baseball, dodge ball, volleyball, cricket, rugby, golf, tennis, table tennis (ping pong), and stick ball to name a few.  You can even just play a game of catch by throwing the ball back and forth with a play mate.  Do you know what is the most important thing is very important thing to remember when playing any game that uses a ball? You have to keep your eye on the ball.  If you don't keep your eye on the ball, you will spend all of your time chasing it, or worse, you might wind up with a black eye!

In our Bible lesson today, Simon Peter, one of Jesus' disciples, learned a lesson about the importance of keeping his eye on the ball.  Well, actually, he learned about the importance of keeping his eyes upon Jesus!

Jesus and his disciples had had a long, hard day.  Jesus had been teaching a huge crowd of people and healing the sick. His disciples had just finished passing out food to a crowd of more than 5,000 men, women, and children.  They were very tired. Jesus told the disciples to get in their boat and go to the other side of Lake Galilee.  He sent the crowds away and went to a quiet place to be alone and pray.

Later in the night, the boat was quite a distance from the shore when the wind came up and the water became rough with waves. Jesus went out toward the boat walking on the water.  When the disciples saw him they were afraid.

"It's a ghost," they cried.

Jesus answered, "Don't be afraid, take courage, it's me!"

Peter called out to him, "Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," said Jesus.

So, Peter climbed out of the boat and started walking on the water toward Jesus.  But when he started looking around and saw the waves being blown about by the wind.  He was afraid and he began to sink. "Lord, save me!" he cried.

Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter.  "Why did you doubt?" Jesus asked.

Why do you think Peter began to sink?  That's right, he began to look around at the mess he was in and took his eyes off of Jesus. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was fine, but when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. You and I may encounter some pretty rough times in our life. As long as we keep our eyes upon Jesus and put our trust in him, we will be okay. But when we take our eyes off of Jesus and put our confidence in our own ability, we will surely sink!

Dear Lord Jesus, when the storms of life come against us, help us to remember to keep our eyes on you and keep our faith and trust in you.  In your name we pray.  Amen.

Coloring Pages and Activities

  

GROUP ACTIVITIES PAGE   

 

COLORING PAGE 

 

CROSSWORD PUZZLE (PDF) (HTML)

           

DECODER PUZZLE (PDF) (HTML)

 

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (PPT

 

WORD SEARCH PUZZLE (PDF) (HTML)

  

WORSHIP BULLETIN  (DOC) (PDF)

 

Save the bulletin to your computer and personalize it with your church's name.  Print side one then reinsert it into the printer and print side two.  

 

"Sermon Links

 

PRINTER-FRIENDLY AND ALTERNATIVE SERMONS  

 

A PRINT-FRIENDLY VERSION OF THIS SERMON:   "Keep Your Eyes on Jesus" 

 

ANOTHER SERMON BASED ON ON MATTHEW 14:22-33: "Walking on the Water"

 

AN ALTERNATE LESSON BASED ON GENESIS 37:1-4, 12-28: "Joseph & His Brothers" 

 

Financial Support for Sermons 4 Kids

Sermons4Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by voluntary donations. During the summer months, donations tend to fall off significantly.  Sermons4Kids continues to provide the same level of service throughout the year and our expenses remain at the same level.  If you are able, please consider making a donation to help us sustain our ministry.

To make an online donation using PayPal, click the button below.

Make a Donation

If you wish to send a donation by mail, send your check or money
order to:

Sermons4Kids, Inc.
3273 Falcon Drive
Abilene, TX 79606-3312

Tools to Help Your Children's Ministry

  

CURRICULUM: A complete curriculum for a year. There is a lesson for each Sunday of the year which includes group activities, song suggestions, a coloring page, and several puzzles. All is on one CD in PDF format! We created this especially for those who may not have Internet access and because many of you asked for it for advanced planning.  We hope you will not regard this as a replacement for your Sermon of the Week emails. Sermons4Kids is a work in progress and you will always see our latest efforts in the weekly emails!

  

YEAR A CURRICULUM CD  

YEAR B CURRICULUM CD

� YEAR C CURRICULUM CD

  

� SERMONS IN PRINT: Three years of sermons are available on 8 1/2 x 11 paper.  These are sermons only -- there are no coloring pages or other activities. Since these sermons are available on the CD below, there is no need to order both items.  You may print the sermons as needed from the CD.

� KID CONNECTION CD ROM:
 This CD contains three years of sermons, a large collection of coloring pages, more than 300 Bible puzzles, and thirteen PowerPoint presentations featuring the art of Henry Martin plus the eight new presentations by Stacy Hagler. A great resource for enriching your lessons.   

   

Click here to complete an order form.  If you have the latest version of Adobe Reader, you can type directly on the form and then print it out for mailing. Even though there is no charge for our products or services, it is only through your voluntary donations that we are able to fund this ministry.

 

Copyright � Sermons4Kids, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

Make a Donation

Find us on FacebookFollow us on Twitter

Join Our Mailing List