These are my sermon notes from last Sunday night, this is the first part and there will be more to come.
journey
1. a traveling from one place to another, often taking a rather long time
2. passage or progress from one stage to another
The journey is basically what happens between leaving somewhere … and arriving somewhere. We take journeys all the time – ferry rides, flights, train trips, bus rides, even walking. Not all journeys are alike. Some of our journeys are interesting, some not so interesting … some short, some long … some exciting, and some exhausting.
In my travels in Thailand and Asia, I’ve had some very interesting journeys. Probably the craziest of them all was in a tuk-tuk. Those things can be scary at the best of times, but this one was exceptionally nuts, as our tuk-tuk driver was drunk, and he decided it would be quicker and easier to weave between the oncoming traffic on the main streets of Bangkok. It was good though, I definitely had a better understanding of God’s protection because of it. There were some fun journeys too, like riding on an elephant… well until the pain set in that is. Oh and there was another journey where I was so sick along the way that I lost control of my bowel movements (but I don’t think I’ll tell you about that one)
As different as all journeys can be, there is something that binds them together, a thread of commonality that runs through them all.
FIRST - All journeys have a purpose, whether it is to have a holiday, or to experience something new. Maybe the purpose of the journey is simply to get somewhere. All journeys have a purpose. If there was no purpose then what would be the point in taking a journey in the first place? It just doesn’t seem worth it, a waste of time, a waste of energy, a waste of fuel, a waste of money.
SECOND - Just as all journeys have a purpose, they also have a starting point and a destination. The destination may not always be what we expected. There might even be times where we get really lost and end up back where we started, but still there was a starting point and a destination.
THIRD - It might seem obvious, but it is important that in order to reach the destination, a journey must be taken. Unless we attempt the journey we have no chance of getting there. We can’t blink and just arrive, besides we would be missing out on the journey then. I love travelling because often the journey is really interesting, especially the people that you meet along the way. Eliminating the journey would mean missing out on something. Many have even said that the “journey is more important than the destination”.
OUR LIFE
Our life is often referred to as a journey. We call it our Christian walk, and the author of Hebrews even calls it a race. I love the term journey, it really fits. Our life has up and downs, bends and pit holes, jet streams and tubulation … it’s got it all!
The three points that are true of all journeys are also true of our lives
1) It has a purpose
2) It has a starting point and a destination
3) We can only get arrive at the destination via the journey
PART TWO to come: BIBLICAL JOURNEYS
