This Christmas children’s sermon will help you teach about the Birth of Jesus from Matthew 1:18-25. Download the printable sermon below and then watch the demonstration video as you prepare your object lesson and sermons about Christmas.
Christmas Children’s Sermon (Matthew 1:18-25)
Good News for Everyone: Object Lesson Message on the Birth of Jesus
Main Objective: Christmas is full of excitement, and can be overwhelming. At this time of parties, presents, and programs, it’s important to highlight and emphasize the beauty of the Gospel. This message aims to remind children of the Good News sent for us, and to invite them to proclaim that joy to others with eager enthusiasm as the day of Christmas approaches.
Like all our free children’s sermons, we encourage you to adopt this message for your audience. This message for kids would work well in any Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service at your church. We’ve even heard from readers using it as a family Bible study devotion on Christmas morning before they open their gits – to remind children that Jesus is the greatest gift and the reason for Christmas.
Note: this lectionary scripture is admittedly a little tricky…it seems to focus on Joseph’s reluctance to take Mary as his wife in her pregnant state, and highlights the angel’s reminder that the “virgin conceiving” prophecy was being fulfilled. Most young children cannot (and perhaps should not) understand this element of the “birds and the bees”, so we are opting to aim the emphasis on the angel’s message of hope and joy. Alternatively, you could highlight the element of Jesus’s name of Immanuel, “God with us.” This is one option, browse the sermons linked below for more ideas.
Bonus Ideas on Christmas Children’s Sermons
- Watch this Christmas Children’s Sermon on YouTube
- Browse Matthew 1:18-25 for Kids Sunday School and our Devotional on the Birth of Jesus
- Don’t miss all our Christmas Bible Lesson for Kids and Christmas coloring pages
- If you are able, consider showing one of these Story of Christmas Video clips during your sermon time
- Compare the Christmas Children’s sermon from Sermons 4 Kids
- Compare the Joy of Christmas from Sermons 4 Kids
- Don’t miss our Candy Cane Children’s Sermon for Christmas
Law/Gospel Themes for this Message
Jesus was born as the fulfillment of God’s promises to us. This Messiah was sent to live and die so that we may be restored in relationship to the Father. Just as the angels announced His coming and His birth, we should be excited to announce who Jesus was and what He did for us.
Object Lesson Props Optional Materials:
- Announcements (newspapers, ads, magazines, etc.); jingle bells, megaphones, or other noisemakers. Baby Jesus nativity scene. Nativity Scene coloring pages
Sermon Bible Passage: Matthew 1:18-25
Fourth Sunday of Advent December 22, 2019 – lectionary sermons
Christmas Children’s Message (Jesus is Born) Matthew 1:2-11 Object Lesson
Greet the children, eagerly shaking noisemaker or jingle bells, and waving newspaper announcement.
Hello, children of God! Guess what? I have some great news!!! A fantastic announcement! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to tell you! But… I’m going to wait just a minute…So you might notice I have some items with me here… now all of these actually have something in common. They help to announce important things. What do you think you would do if you had some special news and you wanted to tell someone? (Allow for student responses.)
Yes…maybe you got a good grade, or something special happened in an event or sport you were doing. You would want to share that news! Well, people have been sharing important announcements for a long time—pretty much forever, really. People used to go shout things out really loudly and roam around the street yelling announcements. Or sometimes they would take a big piece of paper and nail things to a sort of bulletin board announcement wall.
These days, you see things written in newspapers or brochures to spread the word about things. Television and radio shows are also a method of sharing news and making things known. Actually, in recent years you see announcements even more commonly on the internet or on social media platforms. People are eager to share things in the fastest and most efficient way possible, it seems.
Well, how do you think God made announcements?? He speaks to us through His word, the Bible, and in the Bible we see examples of Him announcing important and exciting (and sometimes not so wonderful) things to people. Sometimes He did this through prophets who spoke His words. A lot of times He did it through dreams, and through angels.
As we are approaching Christmas, we hear sermons about the coming of Jesus, and we actually see angels a few times connected to this story. One of them came to Joseph, who was to act as the earthly father of Jesus. This messenger angel announced to Joseph that Mary was going to have the world’s most special and important baby ever. Joseph was a little nervous (people often were around angels), but I’ll bet the angel was excited to get to share that great news with him! He told Joseph that the baby would have a special name, and that He would save people from sins. That’s a lot of big news to share! So Joseph followed through and helped bring up God’s son as his own.
Do you know what is awesome? We get to share in receiving that good news, and it gets even better. Not only do we hear the angel’s promise and know it came true, we have the rest of the story. So my exciting news is that Jesus was born—but that’s not all! He was born for all of us, and He is with us now. He died for us, and He rose again, and someday He will come back and take us to Heaven with Him. We can rejoice in that knowledge and understanding!
But if we have such great news, we can’t just keep it to ourselves, can we? God wants us to spread that Gospel message. When you hear about something exciting, it should make you eager to tell others as well. So we get to be messengers of God’s good news. We should live in a way that makes others know we have something special. We can share the Gospel with our words, but we should also share it by demonstrating love and care for one another. When people notice that, they’ll want to know more about God’s love, and they’ll be delighted to hear our announcement, too!
So I have something to pass along to you today. This is a jingle bell. You know, these were once used as a sort of announcement, too. People put them on the harnesses of horses to announce that someone was coming. I’m going to give you a jingle bell as a reminder to share the good news of Jesus with everyone. It’s good news for you, but something you want to share, too! Why don’t we thank God for that right now, shall we?
Children’s Prayer Moment
(Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for coming to Earth for us
Thank you for living and dying for our sins
Please help us live in the joy of that understanding
And help us to share the good news with others
We love you, God!
Thank you for Jesus
In His name, Amen!
Scripture lectionary reference for this children’s sermon:
Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV) Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25 New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.