Sermon: “Adventures with Jesus”    

Job 38:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:14-21; Mark 4:35-41

 

Mark records, “That day when evening came, [Jesus] said to His disciples; “Let us go over to the other side.”  Leaving the crowd behind, they took [Jesus] along, just as He was, in the boat.  There were also other boats with Him.”

 

“Cross over to the other side!” Jesus calls out to us today.  “Come on!  Cross over!”  He invites us to come with Him on new adventures... facing unknown risks... defying evil and unforeseen challenges.

 

It’s the same Jesus speaking to us today... the One who spoke back then with the twelve... the One who does not give all the answers... perplexing... gutsy... calling us to come with Him on new adventures.

 

It is the same One... for as the writer of Hebrews proclaims of Him: “He is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

 

Note that Mark speaks of “other boats.”  We are not alone in our adventure with Jesus.  There are others with us today, perhaps sitting at your side, equally moved by the Holy Spirit to follow this mysterious, perplexing, gutsy teacher.

 

Jesus calls His disciples to come over to the “other side.”  We are the called ones.  We travel not the path of the world, but blaze the trail with Jesus.  And since we travel the adventure with Jesus, all should go smoothly, right?  We should have no troubles as we enjoy smooth sailing, day, after day, after day...

 

But look what happens to the twelve as they follow Jesus to the other side: The are caught in a terrible, terrible storm!  The waves were so big that the were coming over the sides of the boat.  The disciples saw the potential for their boat to be swamped as they would likely die in the angry waters.

 

The Bible makes it clear that our adventure with Jesus is not always on smooth

waters.  Christian life can get rough.  When that happens we can be tempted to think that God is asleep and things are out of control.

 

What do we make of Jesus asleep in the stern on that cushion... at best better called a pillow?

 

Because the boats used by the disciples did not have keel to keep it steady in the water, fishermen used bags weighted with heavy fill and positioned them on the

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