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Sunday we kicked off our new series The Lost Adventure of Following Jesus.

We are now recording our talks, so you can listen here

Intro

Who comes to your mind as an adventurous person?

When we think of following Jesus, do we expect an adventure? We should!

Adventure - from the latin adventurus meaning “about to happen”

God is active and alive and in His presence something is always happening.

He wants to take us on:

Internal Adventures (change us - in us):

* Revolution of the Soul
* 2 Peter 1:5-9 - grow in grace and knowledge
* 2 Corinthians 3:18 - being transformed

External Adventures (use us - through us):

* Numbers 33:1-49
* Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We are built with an internal God-given desire for something greater, but over the years we stifle it. As children we seek out and create wild adventures, but as we age (”mature”) we convince ourselves that what we “really” need is comfort, stability, safety, predicatibility.

What if?

But, what if we were to see being a disciple of Jesus as an adventure and re-discover the excitement of living life with Him?

What if we exchanged predictability for spontaneity; comfort for sacrifice; safety for risk; the mundane for the exciting?

How might our life change?

Jesus is anything but comfortable, predictable, safe. And He wants us to follow Him!

Following Jesus Today

Unfortunately for many today, the adventure of following Jesus has been lost. Replaced with a stagnant and often lackluster existence where we often struggle to experience the Christian life that we hear others talk about or that we read in books. Too often the excitement of life with God has been traded for a subtle disappointment or satisfaction with the mundane.

Was C.S. Lewis right when he stated that “we are far too easily pleased.”?

What has happened to this adventurous life of following Jesus? Have we replaced the Jesus of the New Testament with what one person has called the “Jesus of Suburbia”?

Perhaps we should ask the question some have asked: are we truly following Jesus or have we simply asked Jesus to follow us?

Do you want to rediscover and reignite the excitement, the passion, the adventure of following Jesus?

1 John 2 “This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

Jesus the Adventurer

What image do you have when you think of Jesus?

Jesus lived an adventurous life.

* His baptism -”the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit‚Äîit looked like a dove‚Äîdescending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”
* Spiritual warfare - he was led into the middle of the desert; engaging in a spiritual battle for his life.
* Upset the religious and amazed everyone else.
* He gave most of his attention to the lowly, sinners, and outcasts.
* He wasn’t afraid to get dirty, and he wasn’t afraid to offend people with his radical love and demanding message.¬†
* He was spontaneous and his friends never knew what to expect next - feeding huge crowds with little food, healing sick people, walking on water, rescuing prostitutes, breaking social and cultural norms, changing the weather, loving with most tender heart and rebuking with authority.
* He was a nomad going from town to town, with no place to lay his head, teaching truth and touching lives
* In just 3 short years of public ministry he did so much that it was said that all the books in the world could not contain them

Jesus wasn’t a lone ranger either.

Rather than choosing the best of the best to be his closest companions, he invited the rough and untrained to follow him.

Classified ad for Jesus’ disciples:
“Wanted: 12 men willing to give up careers and homes to spread an important message. Requires dangerous travel. No pay, no pension, no power or prestige attached to the job. Must cope well with rejection. Death by execution probable. Message extremely worthwhile.”

These were men who were simply living a daily existence (not unlike many of us today), striving for some level of success, or perhaps just trying to make ends meet. Then here comes a Man inviting them on the adventure of a lifetime. He didn’t tell them much about what was ahead, he just said “follow me” and something inside of them caused them to leap to their feet and go! The same men we now refer to as the apostles, were once a group of average men with jobs, families, and friends, wondering if there was more to life.

Jesus took them…
From catching fish to fishing for people
From day in day out to not knowing what the next day would hold
From living for themselves to living for someone else
From status quo to changing the world

“Come, follow me” he said.

and…

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Where we go is determined by who we follow.

Why?

Can’t I just be a Christian and live a comfortable, safe, normal life? What’s so wrong with that? Why should I get all risky and dangerous?

God desires for us to have and experience real life to the full, more and better than we ever dreamed of (John 10:10). Simply put, we cannot settle for anything less than what God has; and what God has is not limited to our ideas of comfortable, predictable, safe living!

God is passionate - we see His passion most fully displayed in the Cross - and He has made us to be passionate and to experience full life - not just to settle for mediocrity!

It is kind of like what happened in the Garden of Eden - we have a whole garden to explore, but yet we find ourselves hanging around one tree that just so happens to be the very tree that will bring about our death.

If we follow Jesus as He calls us to (to live like Him) then we will no doubt be led into an adventure. Adventures are risky, but…

“What better risk than to partner with a loving God who has unimaginably good plans for us.” - Connie Willems

God wants to do amazing things in us and through us. But, we have to say yes to his invitation to living an adventurous life of following Him.

Small Group discussion:

How do we prepare for an adventure?

* consider the risks
* count the cost
* let go of things that may hold you back
* take the plunge (willingness)

What are some characteristics of an adventure?

* risk
* uncertainty / unpredictable
* cost
* uncomfortable conditions
* action
* challenge

Adventure with God:

* risk - losing the things that we hold onto
* uncertainty / unpredictable - certain of our future, but not of the paths God may lead us on
* cost - costs us our lives Acts 20:24, 21:13
* uncomfortable - Jesus didn’t come to make life easy, he came to make people great
* action - the spirit is always moving, never stagnant
* challenge - we can always go deeper

Discussion Questions:

1. What are some characteristics of an adventure?
2. Do you think of following Jesus as an adventure?
3. What are the ways that following Jesus can seem “boring”?
4. In what ways do you think we have lost the adventure of following Jesus?
5. What fears do you have that may hold you back from fully jumping in?
6. What are some difficulties that we may encounter along the way if we say yes to following Jesus?

Adventure Challenge:

“An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered” - G.K. Chesterton

Start each day with a prayer to God in which you say yes to the adventure He has for you for that day.

Throughout the day, consider each “inconvenience” as an opportunity for adventure with God.

Recommended Reading:

Seizing Your Divine Moment: Dare to Live a Life of Adventure

The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

Music at the end of the talk: Enter the Worship Circle