Scripture: Psalms 24:1, Genesis 1:1 (optional)
Objects: Any items from my childhood that I played with in the yard or any items that kids that use in playing outside.
Have you noticed all kinds of decorations around the building for VBS that can be found outdoors? Have you seen flowers, butterflies, ladybugs and more? These things remind me of how much I loved to play outside when I was a kid.
Don’t you just love going over to a friend’s house to play in his yard? Maybe he lives next door, across the street, or down the street. You and other kids in the neighborhood love going to play there because he might have a special tree that’s good for climbing or even a tree house. Or may he has a yard with lots of room for playing baseball or football or soccer, and you don’t have to worry about running out in the street or breaking a window. It could be this friend has a nice paved driveway with no cracks for skating or riding you bike
As I played in other kid’s yards, there was one thing that I always remembered: this is someone else’s yard and I must play by the rules of their yard. If we were playing tag football, the kid whose yard it was got to set the touch down goals and the out of bounds. There may have been certain places around the yard or house that the parents said that no playing was allowed. Maybe there was a tree we were not allowed to climb. After all, it was their yard.
Sometimes we forget that this world we live in is “God’s Yard.” I mean, He was here first. In fact, He has always been here and always will be. Psalm 24:1 says this: “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.”
(God created the earth and all the universe out of nothing. How many of you can create something out of nothing? Since God is invisible, how do we know He is real? Let me demonstrate how something can be invisible but very real. Fan with streamers.)
Since this is God’s yard, we must play by His rules. He tells us what to do and what not to do. God says what goes and what doesn’t. He sets the boundaries. He tells us what is off limits.
There are many today that have no idea they are living in God’s world. They think it is their world, and they make up the rules and says what is right and wrong. They think the universe revolves around them and not God.
How can we know God’s rules or moral guidelines for His earth that we live on? They are found in the Ten Commandments and other places in the Bible.
As we live on God’s earth, there are certain physical laws like gravity. If we violate the law of gravity, there are consequences. If you jump out of an airplane without a parachute, what is going to happen?
If we violate God’s rules for His yard or moral laws like the 10 Commandments, there will be consequences. Breaking God’s moral law is called sin (I John 3:4).
Yes, there are consequences for breaking God’s moral laws, but the good news is that God loved us so much that he provided a way so that our sins could be forgiven? God sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ to live on the earth, teaching people about God and how God wanted them to live. Around the age of thirty, Jesus was crucified on a cross and then three days later he came back to life. He took the punishment for the sin we all deserved.
For a person to have his sins forgiven, he must ask Jesus to forgive his sins and then to take control of his life. Instead of the world revolving around us, our life now revolves around God.
If you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can do so today.