Children’s Sermon

Luke 5:1-11

God’s Unexpected Blessings

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Objects suggested: Fishing pole and/or other items of fishing gear.

Pictures of ocean fish
Pictures of ocean fish to color

Have any of you ever gone fishing? Did you catch anything? Catching fish is not an easy thing to do. Even though there are thousands of different types of fish in the oceans and many more in lakes and streams, you must have patience to catch fish.

Let’s see what we can learn from today’s lesson which is a story about fishing. A huge crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear him speak. It was so crowded that Jesus got into a nearby boat which belonged to Simon, a fisherman. He pushed off from the shore, sat in the boat and spoke to the people, telling them about God’s love.

When he had finished speaking he asked Simon to take the boat out into deep water and let down the nets to catch fish.

Simon said, “Master, we worked all night, and took nothing…” (5:5). But Simon did what Jesus asked him to do and they caught so many fish that the nets began to break.

There were so many fish that Simon called to his partners and asked them to bring over another boat. They also filled that boat with fish.

I think this story teaches us about God’s blessings and generosity. We never know when God will send extra blessings to us. We might be in a place where we don’t expect anything exciting to happen and then we see and are filled with God’s love in a new way.

Maybe it is seeing a sunrise and the colors are so beautiful you hardly know what to do. The sight is more than you could have imagined. Maybe you hear raindrops falling on the roof and the sound makes you feel contented and happy.

You may see and feel God’s love and blessings in a hug you get from your mother, or in the love your dog gives you, or from the taste of a crisp, fresh apple.

Has that happened to you? God’s love is generous and more than we could ever imagine.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2010, Richard Niell Donovan