Going Places With Jesus Vbs

Going Places With Jesus LK 8

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While this sermon was written for me to use in conjunction with our 2005 VBS, none of the content or material including powerpoint slides are copyrighted or in any way Lifeway material.

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Our Vacation Bible School Theme is The Ramblin Road Trip

It takes us to interesting places such as Washington DC

Chicago, Lebanon Kansas, Yellowstone National Park,

and Knotts Berry Farm in California.

Those places are sort of different than the places Jesus went as He walked this earth.

But we can be certain as we look throughout the New Testament that Jesus was not a stay at home sort of person. He was not a homebody content to relax in one dwelling place.

Jesus traveled to places like

Nazareth, Samaria, Capernaum, Gennesaret , Sychar , Cana, just to name a few.

Jesus was on the move, He was going places.

Here’s what I want you to understand by the time you leave this place today.

With Jesus in your life YOU will be going places.

With Jesus in your life you can find an Exciting Place, an Inviting Place and a Deciding place.

Now those places we just saw in the film clip are a lot different from the places Jesus traveled Luke’s Gospel, chapter 8 in it’s introductory verses is just one of those many passages that gives insight into the fact Jesus was going places.

1After this, Jesus traveled from one city and village to another, preaching and spreading the good news about God’s kingdom. The twelve were with him,

2 as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and illnesses: Mary, also called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;

3 Joanna, the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza; Susanna; and many others. These women continued to support them out of their personal resources.

Jesus was going places!

He traveled verse one says…” from one city and village to another.”

He went to exciting places where exciting things were happening. The people who were there with Him experienced the excitement.

Think with me, about the traveling you have done in your lifetime.

If you travel to an exciting place usually you have a story about exciting things that happened at that place or places you traveled to.

You don’t just say

“ I went to Yellowstone National Park, It was exciting.”

No instead you say

“I went to Yellowstone’ and I saw Old Faithful that exciting geyser shoot 184 feet up into the air.

I saw.Yellowstone Falls,

I saw the great prismatic spring with its beautiful rainbow like colors.

When you go to an exciting place there is always an exciting story to tell of an exciting experience you had at that exciting place.

The things you saw... The things you did…The things you witnessed happening there at that exciting place.

As you walk through life trusting Jesus and as you get to know Him more and more in a personal sort of way. Your knowing Him, and experiencing Him at work in your life brings real excitement to the places you go.

Knowing Him personally in your life… takes you to places of excitement spiritually in your life.

It gives you experiences to share that are thrilling.

I remember the first time my wife and I set out to go on an overnight mission trip. We had done mission projects before but never anything overnight or more than a couple hours from where we lived.

We went there because we sensed Jesus was leading us to go there.

There was a sense of excitement before we even left.

We went to a place that was unfamiliar to us… and that added excitement to our lives.

We were doing a daily Bible Club with children from a group of Hispanic migrant workers.

My wife and I had never really been on a trip like this before.

This was a new place for us,… a new experience and it was filled with excitement.

I remember saying to her that night as we got ready to lie down on our air mattress and go to sleep…

I said to my wife…

”Dear did you ever imagine 10 years ago that you would be doing something like this?”

It was exciting!

Here’s what you need to understand…When you know Jesus and He is your guide, He takes you to places that are exciting and interesting. Places and experiences you’ve not encountered before.

If your here today and your thinking

“There’s just not a whole lot of excitement in my life”

I would ask you to answer this question,…

IS JESUS YOUR GUIDE?…is Jesus your guide?…

is He taking you places in your life?

Is He the author of your experiences?… or are you sort of just following the map of your own plans and your own day to day life?