"Journeys"

Evangelistic Talk

I've only been in Herne Bay for a year and I still don't know the geography of Kent very well yet. Now a few months ago I had to drive to a place near Coventry where I was to speak at a meeting. That was easy enough – up to the M25, round London then head north west. I'd got maps for finding the venue when I got near the end of the journey – everything looked fine.

I began to grow nervous before I reached the M25. The car radio gave out some traffic info there was a problem ahead – an accident had recently occurred causing long delays between a couple of junctions. When this was confirmed by those warning signs on the motorway I knew what I had to do.

Last summer I had experienced the joys of 6 hours in a traffic jam on the M26 + M25 and had no desire to repeat the experience. I was then on the M20 and decided that I'd leave that motorway at the next junction.

It was when I got to the roundabout that my lack of knowledge of Kent geography began to take on a new significance, all the more so as our Road Atlas was sitting quietly at home!!

I decided to follow signs for Tunbridge Wells – well I had heard of that town! But you'll know that I was now heading SW and I hadn't got round London yet.

Optimist that I am I reasoned with myself that all I needed to do was to cut across country and pick up the road I wanted a bit later on. There was a problem though – I couldn't locate any of the places that were indicated on the signposts!

Happily sense prevailed (it doesn't always does it?!) A newsagent was already open – well it was 7.30am on a Saturday morning – so I stopped and a few moments later with a shiny new Road Atlas in hand I'd worked out where I was and where I needed to go.

Why am I am telling you all this?

Well it seems to me that life for all of us resembles somewhat what happened to me that Saturday morning.

Life is a journey that we're all on and life is a journey on which we've all taken a number of wrong turnings.

I wonder if you are aware of that? Sometimes we can go on a long time completely ignorant of having gone wrong. The scenery is pleasant and there are plenty of others taking the same road – but we won't get to our destination because we've taken a wrong turning.

Have you ever been in a traffic jam and then you've noticed that a number of cars are turning off and taking a side road. They all seem to know what they're doing, you reason with yourself, and you're tempted to follow. You know, it is so easy to follow others even when you haven't a clue where they're really going.

In life we go on and on getting further and further from God and from His purpose for our lives.

On my journey to Coventry I needed a Road Atlas and in our journey through life we too stand in need of a reliable guide and just such a guide exists in the Word of God, the Bible. Listen to just three verses:

Ps 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Is.42:16 "And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them."

Ps 73:24 "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory."

However as all analogies this one breaks down if we push it too hard. In my case I could get back on the right road by my own efforts once I had got my new Atlas. And sadly many people think that the same is true for the Christian faith – all we need to do is to heed the Bible's instructions and unaided we'll get back on the right track.

I want to tell you that our journey through life has gone much more seriously wrong that my trip to Coventry.

The kind of mess we're in is analogous to this:

We haven't serviced our "car" properly: tyre pressure has never been checked, the oil has not been changed as it should have been, and changing filters was an expensive luxury we thought we could do without. It was always easier to turn up the volume on the radio than to have those odd noises proceeding from under the bonnet investigated!

And there we are not only lost but out of petrol and our engine has seized up.

In such a state we've no hope of making the destination. We know we're not where we should be but we're powerless to do anything about it.

Now if the Bible were just like a Road Atlas we'd be in a right mess we need more than a set of instructions we need help.

And the Bible speaks of just such a help! The Bible really does contain good news. It doesn't mock us with a set of impossible instructions but it tells us of what God has done to help us out of the mess we've got ourselves into.

There is a sort of heavenly AA service offer free of charge. But the car isn't just repaired we're taken to our destination. All of this help focuses upon what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

Our church teaches this message – a message of hope because it concerns what God has done for us, a message of love.

Jn.14:6 "Jesus said to (Thomas), “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."