Use this children’s sermon about the witch of Endor and Samuel’s spirit coming back from the grave to teach kids about what happens when we die.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 28
Needed: a picture of a ghost, a picture of a magic scroll or spellbook
Children’s Sermon
Ask children, What happens when a person dies?
(Show your picture of a ghost.) Do people ever come back as ghosts?
(Show your picture of a magic scroll.) Can somebody make a person come back from the dead – maybe with a magic spell?
As Christians, we don’t believe that people can do real magic. People can do fun tricks to make it look like they’re doing magic, but they can’t do real magic. They can’t use magical powers.
Do you know who does have powers like that? The only Person who has powers like that is God. God can do miracles, but regular people can’t. The Devil and his demons are spirits. so they can do some things that humans can’t, but they still don’t have as much power as God. The angels don’t have as much power as God. Only God has the power to do real miracles.
And one time, God did do a miracle of letting someone’s spirit come back from the dead like a ghost. It happened in the days of King Saul.
King Saul was worried about the Philistines who were coming to attack the kingdom of Israel. He wanted to know what he should do, but the prophet Samuel had already died. So, what could he do to talk to Samuel again?
Saul went to see a witch. Now, remember that witches don’t have any real power. They’re either tricking people or the Devil, and his demons are doing things that make the witch look like she’s doing magic even though she’s not.
But Saul went to see this witch, and he asked her to bring Samuel’s spirit back from the grave so that he could talk to him.
And, sure enough, Samuel’s spirit came back! But it wasn’t because the witch made Samuel’s spirit come back. It was because God made Samuel’s spirit come back. And do you know that Samuel didn’t tell Saul what do about the Philistines?
He simply said that because Saul wasn’t doing what was right that God wasn’t going to help him. In fact, he said that God was going to use the Philistines to defeat him because he wasn’t doing what God wanted.
Now, remember, as Christians, we believe that when a person dies, their spirit goes to Heaven or it goes to Hell. It goes to Heaven to be with God if they believe in Jesus and it goes to Hell – away from God – if they don’t believe in Jesus.
And no one has the power to bring that person’s spirit back except for God. Ghosts don’t come back on their own, and people can’t use magic to bring people back. Only God can do that.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, You are the God of life and the God of death. You have the power over all of our spirits. Help us not to be tricked by people who say they can do magic or by the Devil and demons who try to make themselves look more powerful than they are. 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.