I gave a brief children's talk at our church yesterday. It went something like this...
What is this a photo of? (A rubbish dump.) Would you like to go there later? (No. Or yes!) Why not? (It smells. Seagulls are like dogs and they will eat you alive.)
Near where we live there used to be a rubbish dump. But now it looks like this:
It's a nature reserve with a play area. Would you like to go there? (Yes.) Why? (Fun, nature.)
Here's a verse from the end of the Bible:
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5, NIV)
One day Jesus will come back to the world, and through him God will make everything new. Just like that rubbish dump that is now a nature reserve, it will be like that with the whole world when Jesus comes back!
(Produce a globe with PostIt notes on.)
What is this? (The world.) What's wrong with this world? (It's got stickers on!)
(Ask volunteers to take stickers off and read what is written on the back: "death", "sickness", "famines", "wars", "selfishness", "sadness", "pain".)
For each sticker: In the world now ... But when Jesus comes back to the earth and when God makes everything new, there won't be any more X.
(Produce a separate sticker, "you and me".)
What about you and me? Sometimes we are selfish, we fight with other people, we hurt other people, and we make the world a bad place. We need someone to make us new if we will live here when God makes everything new.
There's good news in our second verse:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV-2011)
If Jesus takes away all the bad things we've done, and makes us new, then when he comes back we'll be here for ever with him, when God makes everything new. (Put sticker on the world.)
Sing a version of the Lord's Prayer by Ian Smale: when we sing "may your kingdom come, may your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven" we are asking God to make make everything new.