Use this children’s sermon about Hannah and the birth of Samuel to teach kids how to give to God.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 1
Needed: an offering plate
Children’s Sermon
Greet children and show them an offering plate. Say, We do some strange things as Christians. One thing we do is collect an offering. Every week, we give some of our money back to God. Why do you think we do that? (Answers could include to help people, to pay for the church, to pay the staff, to send to missionaries, etc.)
One reason we give part of our money back to God is that we believe it all belongs to Him anyway. God made the world, so everything in the world belongs to Him. Our money belongs to God. We’re just borrowing it and using it for a little while.
People go to work to earn money, but God gave us the ability to go to work. He made us smart enough and hard-working enough to go earn money. So, the money still belongs to God. We give it back to Him as our way of thanking Him for letting us use it and to show that we know that it’s still His.
In the Bible, a woman thanked God by giving something back to Him. This woman’s name was Hannah. Unfortunately, Hannah couldn’t have children. She was very sad that she couldn’t have children, so she prayed to God and promised that if God would give her a child, she would give that child back to God.
The next year, God gave Hannah a son! She named him Samuel. But Hannah didn’t forget the promise she made to God. When Samuel was old enough, she gave him back to God. She took him to the priest and said…
(Read 1 Samuel 1:27-28.)
“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”
Hannah left Samuel at the Tabernacle with the priest. She visited Samuel, but she left him at the Tabernacle so that he could serve God.
Now, if Hannah could give her son back to God to thank Him, what can you give back to God?
One idea is that if you don’t have money, you can give some of your time back to God. God gives you all the time you have, so to thank Him, you can use some of that time to read your Bible or pray or do nice things to serve other people.
Closing Prayer
Lord, You made everything and everything we have comes from You. Help us to think of ways to thank You by giving You back part of what You give us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
You can also find this children’s sermon for Kindle or in print in my book, Children’s Sermons about Samuel and David.