Children’s Message – Plans

God’s Plan

Scripture: Proverbs 14:22, Proverbs 16:9, Psalm 33:11

Props: Small blueprint or To Do list for project

Who can tell me what plans are?  So, if you want to do something this afternoon, like have a picnic lunch, and you do things to get ready for it,  then you are planning to do that?  What if you and I planned a trip to the zoo for this afternoon, but your parents had already planned to go visit your grandparents?  Sometimes other people change our plans for us don’t they.  If we planned something silly like playing outside in the sprinkler when it was snowing our parents would probably decide that wasn’t best for us, wouldn’t they?  We also need to think about others when we make our plans.  We need to be concerned about how our plans affect others.

You know God had a plan for us.  In Genesis in the Bible it tells about a wonderful place with no sickness, no fighting and where no one was to go hungry.  It was called the Garden of Eden – God planned it just for people to enjoy.   He told them they could do anything they wanted, except for one thing.  And they chose to do wrong.   [Read Proverbs 14:22]  Because of that bad choice and other bad choices people have made since then, we have a world with fighting, war and hunger.

All through the Old Testament we read stories about good things that God had planned for His people and about how those people made plans to do something else instead, something that was wrong.  And we learn from those stories that because they made those choices the people of Israel had all kinds of bad things happen to them.  They were made slaves to other countries and they wandered around in the desert without enough food or water.  They were beaten in wars and had sicknesses.  But God didn’t turn His back on them. [Read Proverbs 16:9]

God sent people called prophets to warn Israel about the bad things they were doing and what would happen if they kept it up.  But the people didn’t listen.  So God sent a very special person, His own Son Jesus, to show His people how they needed to live.  Because of Jesus’ birth we have an example to follow as we plan our life.  And when Jesus came it gave us the chance to become children of God.  That’s why we pray “Our Father in Heaven”,  because God is our heavenly father.

But he still gave us the freedom to choose and people still choose to do bad things.  Sometimes we plan to do good, but we make mistakes. When we disobey our parents, we usually get punished, don’t we.  Well, God has said that death is the punishment for sinning.  But God loves us enough that He had Jesus take our punishment for us.  Jesus died on the cross so we could live with God in Heaven forever.

[Read Psalm 33:11] See, God had a plan and He still does.  God has always wanted His people to enjoy only good things and to be close to Him.  When we do things wrong, when we sin, then we move away from God.  But because of Jesus all we have to do is to tell God we are sorry for the bad we have done, ask Him to forgive us and ask Him to come into our hearts to guide us and help us plan our lives.  When we live our life by God’s plan then we will enjoy all the good things He has for us.

Prayer