The Apostle John's Journey With God Series

We continue in our series Dare to be Different and this month our theme is Different Footpath.

In our lives, there are many different types of journey we can choose to take.

We can go on a journey to visit family, to go to work,

to go on holiday, to go shopping, to go to church.

We can journey to different places and different countries.

There are as many kinds of journeys as there are reasons for taking journeys but most journeys have two things in common: they have a purpose and they have a destination.

Tonight I want us to think about Our Journey With God.

Some of the greatest spiritual accomplishments have involved taking a journey with God.

Abraham took a journey with God that lasted a hundred years and it began when he was 75 years old (Genesis 12:4) and continued until his death at the age of 175 (Genesis 25:7).

Moses took a journey with God that lasted for 40 years. Moses journey began when he returned to Egypt to become Israel’s leader when he was 80 years old, and it continued until he died at the age of 120 (Genesis 34:7).

For both Abraham and Moses, from the time God called them, they spent the rest of their lives on a journey with God.

You and I are on a journey with God, our journey began the moment we accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour and it will continue until God calls us home.

Our journey does not have an earthly destination.

As Christians, we will reach our journey’s destination after we die.

If we are in Christ, if we have repented from our sins and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour then our destination is certain and secure, we will spend eternity in Heaven with God.

The journey we make with God as disciples of Jesus has less to do with where we live or where we physically travel.

Our spiritual journey as followers of Christ has everything to do with who He is and who we are in Him.

Our journey involves our body, our mind, our heart, and our obedience and commitment.

As we get older, the condition of our body may change, but the journey of our mind and heart and our devotion to God’s plans and purpose should always continue.

We are to persevere in our journey, even when things in our lives might change, we should always seek to grow closer to God, always seek to develop our relationship with Him.

To illustrate our journey I want us to consider John, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples.

John, before he began his journey with Jesus, was a fisherman.

Matthew 4:18-20 tells us that John fished in the Sea of Galilee and sold fish in the surrounding towns and villages.

Luke 5:7 indicates that James and John were in partnership with Peter and Andrew.

Matthew 4:21 tells us that James and John’s father, Zebedee, also worked with them.

Mark 1:19-20 states that James and John also had hired servants who worked for them.

All of this is evidence their fishing business was quite successful because in those days there were not many Jewish families who could afford hired servants.

So John, a successful and prosperous fisherman, left it all behind to follow Jesus.

Luke 5:1-11 gives us the most information about when Jesus called John to follow Him.

One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.