Children’s Sermon

John 15:1-8

Being Connected

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John 15:1-8

Being Connected

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Objects suggested: A basket of grapes. A box of raisins, a jar of grape jelly, and or grape juice. If the season is right and you have access to grape plants, the lesson would be enhanced by having a branch, with grapes dangling from it, for the kids to see first hand.

Grapes are a fun food to eat, aren’t they? They come in beautiful colors – red, green, and purple. Just pop one into your mouth and enjoy a sweet, juicy treat.

Fresh grapes are a delicious, healthy food. They are also used to make grape jelly, squeezed into grape juice, and dried to become raisins.

If you’ve ever seen grapes growing, you know that they develop on a vine that sends out branches and the clusters of grapes hang from the branches. The vine can grow up to fifty feet long. (Provide an example by referencing the distance to something that is within sight.) A vine and its branches can produce up to forty clusters of grapes and each cluster will hold about seventy-five grapes. That’s a lot of grapes from just one vine!

Jesus tells us that we are like the branches on a grape vine. He says,“I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit…”
(15:5).

This story teaches us that when we make Jesus a part of our lives we grow like branches on a beautiful vine and bear sweet fruit. We do this by accepting God’s love, studying the Bible to learn more about Jesus, and also by praying for guidance.

We learn to love, be gentle, be cheerful, be patient, and to help those who need our assistance. These are the fruits we produce to give to others and the fruits that make us healthy and strong.

Let’s continue to grow in love and friendship by staying connected to Jesus like a branch is connected to a grape vine. We can produce a lot of fruit – do a lot of good things, by growing with Jesus, The Vine.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2009, Richard Niell Donovan