Children’s Sermon

John 12:20-33

At Just the Right Time

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John 12:20-33

At Just the Right Time

Objects suggested: An outdoor thermometer, a seed.

Picture of flowers growing at Death Valley available at:
http://www.backroadswest.com/images/WildFlwrs/DSCN0906.jpg

A desert in California, in the southwestern part of the United States, is the hottest, driest place in North America and perhaps in the world. (Death Valley) The hottest temperature recorded there was 134 degrees Fahrenheit – 56.7 degrees Celsius. (Use the thermometer to show the children what the temperature is at the time of the lesson and make the comparison for them.)

It is a barren place – dry and brown. It is difficult for plants to live or grow in this desert because it hardly ever rains and when the rain does come it is a small amount.

This past year, 2005, more rain came to the desert than had happened in over fifty years. Many times more than the usual rainfall fell upon the desert and when that happened seeds that had been resting (lain dormant) in the desert for all those years began to sprout and grow. Conditions were just right. There was enough water, sun, and fair temperatures to cause the seeds, which had developed thick coverings, to bloom. Soon there were huge meadows of wildflowers growing there – beautiful fields of yellow, pink, blue, and purple flowers. It was a once in a lifetime occurrence.

This idea of timing – being just the right time, is talked about in the Bible. Jesus told his disciples,“The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). He was telling them that everything God had planned for his life had happened, the time was just right, and soon events would happen that would glorify God.

Jesus said to his disciples, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (12:32). We could think of what happens with a seed that, when the time is right, blooms.

We can see, all these years later, that what Jesus did by dying and then being raised up to be with God, was a once in a lifetime thing that gives each one of us the opportunity to be a child of God. The time is right for us to accept God’s wonderful love.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible