One Sunday last month, I taught the children’s sermon. In our church, the children are with the adults for the first half of the Sunday morning worship. Then they come to the front for a blessing and/or children’s sermon before being dismissed for a separate teaching time during the adult sermon. I have found that the “children’s” sermon is really for everyone, we just pretend that it’s for the kids. I know full well that this is a vicarious way to communicate with the adults as well – because are all kids at heart anyway.
On this particular Sunday, the message was about Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 1. If you read it, it is a spectacular display of wind, storms, wheels, eyes, creatures, and a throne. There are even “wheels within wheels,” like they’re straight out of a Leonardo da Vinci drawing (or maybe he was just Biblical in his imagination 🙂
Here is the text of the sermon if you’re interested:
Eternity Church
Oct 6, 2024, Children’s Sermon, Jesse Joyner
“Whoa!”
Hello children! I’m so glad you’re here this morning. I have a question for you: Have any of you ever seen or experienced something that made you go, “WHOA!”?
This past summer, my family and I went to Pennsylvania. When we were driving home, there was some rain, but then it cleared up and the sun came out. Does anyone know what happens sometimes when the sun peeks through the clouds right after a good rain?
(Rainbow!)
That’s right, we saw a rainbow! But this was no ordinary rainbow. You see, our drive took us through open farmland in Pennsylvania, which is where we found ourselves when the rainbow appeared. There were very few trees or hills to obstruct our view of the horizon. So we looked out of our car window and we saw the most spectacular rainbow I can ever remember seeing – we could see the entire bow like a painter’s brush stroke go from one end of the horizon to the other. All I could say or think was, “WHOA!” And if you looked close enough, you could see the faint twin of a DOUBLE rainbow in its mist (get it? :).
Today’s Bible story is about a man named Ezekiel. He saw something even more amazing than a rainbow in the sky. He saw something called a VISION from God. That’s when God shows people things in their mind or heart. It’s kinda like God showing up on the playground of your imagination and then showing you something there that just blows your mind!
God showed Ezekiel…..
- A windstorm with fire and lightning!
- Four winged creatures
- ….that were part human/part animal, each with four faces all around their head – a human face, a lion’s face, an ox’s face, and an eagle’s face!
- And each creature had a big shiny wheel – that was actually a wheel within a wheel! and where the creatures went, the wheels went
- Then Ezekiel saw a huge sapphire throne with a glowing man sitting on it – and he heard the thundering voice of God!
- WHOA!
And then the Scripture says this: “Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him” (Ez 1:28). So Ezekiel saw something like a rainbow too. Only I think his vision was even better than the rainbow I saw. Both make you go, “Whoa!”
Ezekiel then fell to the ground, and God spoke to him.
Today, I want us to just sit in awe of the awesome “Whoa!” of God. We don’t even have to understand what this whole vision means. God got Ezekiel’s attention with his awesomeness, and sometimes, that is all we can handle because He is such a great big God. Let’s pray…..
