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Children’s Sermon

Acts 4:5-12

Filled With The Holy Spirit

April 21, 2024

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Year B

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ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)

Good morning!
I have a question for you. [Hold up the two spray bottles] Do these look the same to you? (Yes! {No!})
Very good! {So let’s pretend that these two bottles look the same} What might be different about them even though they look the same? Here’s a hint: Let’s say I would want to use one of these in a water fight – which one would you want and why? (One of them has water inside of it!)
That’s right! Even though {we are pretending} these two spray bottles look the same, the thing that {still} makes them different is what is inside of them. One only has air in it and the other one has water in it.
Because of the difference of what is inside, which spray bottle would work more like it is supposed to work, right this minute? (the one with water in it!)

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

In today's scripture story, Peter and John are being asked to explain how they were able to heal a man who couldn't walk.
The story says it’s because Peter and John are filled with God's Holy spirit.
In other words, it's sort of like this spray bottle [hold up the air-filled/empty spray bottle] asking this other spray bottle [hold up the bottle with water in it], "How is it that you can spray water all over the place like that and I can’t?"
The answer, of course, is that the one spray bottle has water inside of it and the other one only has air.
This is the same thing that was happening for Peter and John.
They could heal others because of what was inside of them: God's Holy Spirit

SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)

Similar to this water bottle, we are meant to share what is in us.
Which is why Jesus invited the disciples to follow him – so that he could teach them how to be filled up with the Holy Spirit, just like he was.
And, in today’s story, we see that the thing that Jesus was teaching the disciples actually worked for Peter and John.
Peter and John were doing the things that Jesus had taught, which led them to being filled with God’s Holy Spirit which then made it possible for them to heal others, just like Jesus healed others.
And, the same thing is true for us.
Just like the disciples learned from Jesus how to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit, we too can learn from Jesus how to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
And, when we are filled with God’s Holy spirit, we then have God’s Holy Spirit to share with others – which is a really good thing to share.[Optional: pour some of the water from the one bottle into the other bottle]
Optional: Sometimes, even in a playful and refreshing way…like this! [lightly spray a forearm of your volunteer]
And that is the good news for today. Let’s pray.

CLOSING Prayer

This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,

Thank you for Peter and John…

...who remind us…

...who remind us...

...that we can learn from Jesus…

...how to be filled…

…with your goodness and spirit.

Thank you and Amen

Originally posted April 19, 2015

Updated on March 24, 2024

Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia

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This material is the copyrighted property of rfour.org and Nathanael Vissia. It is also free. Please use, improve and share this material. But you may not sell it or require any personal information for it.

Supplies: 2 spray bottles (from the dollar store) or water bottles. One should be filled with water and the other one should be empty. It is preferable that the two items look the same, but if they don’t, I’ve inserted comments in brackets like this { example comment } to include in the message if the two items do not look the same. Simply ignore the words in the brackets if the water bottles do look alike. OPTIONAL: Ask permission from one of the students ahead of time to spray them with water near the end of the message.

Related message(s): A children’s sermon related to John 10:11-18