In the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth, it depicts the Jules Verne science fiction novel and brings to light his impression of what might happen. The story involves German professor Otto Lidenbrock who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descend into the Icelandic volcano Sanaefellsjokull, and encounter many adventures in the unknown. In the story it tells of them encountering prehistoric animals and many other natural hazards of "below the surface" exploring. The whole story is science fiction, but it brings to light many different approaches in exploration that were never thought of before. In other words, they were exploring new territory with new techniques.
In Acts 13: 1-3 the gospel is being shared everywhere and the explosion of Holy Spirit filled individuals giving their lives for the message of Christ is being felt in many areas. A group of those early believers, some who were prophets and some who were teachers, including Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius and Manaen were worshipping the Lord and fasting. While they were doing this the Holy Spirit told them to set aside some men for the work of taking the gospel to areas never before reached. So they set apart Saul and Barnabas for the work to which God had called them. After praying and fasting, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. This was to be their Journey to the Center of the Earth!! Oh, they stayed on the surface, but they were going to be taking a fresh new message of hope to a world they had not seen before and could only imagine. In their imagination their thoughts of what they might experience started out as fiction, but soon became reality when they began moving one foot in front of the other. In the next few blogs I will attempt to chronicle what scripture says about their travels and hopefully you will get on board with a realization of what kind of faith these men had in God.
Which brings to mind where we are today in our walk with the Lord. Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit compelling you to do something you have never done before or attempt something you have never attempted before? What is your Journey to the Center of the Earth and are you willing to step out and do something and go somewhere you haver never gone? I love adventure and exploring new things, new people, and new cultures. Years ago I went on a trip to Holland to lead worship at a camp just outside of Amsterdam and it opened my eyes to the realization that there is more to this earth than what I am seeing. That trip set me on fire to see more and more and I am always looking for a chance to go to other countries and experience those people and share the gospel. Not everyone in my family have that same desire, but we all have our Journey to the Center of the Earth thoughts and those thoughts don't have to be accompanied with world travel. It may be a stretching of our lives to the point of sharing the gospel in a different area of town we aren't familiar with. It could be getting involved in a local ministry that impacts a whole different group of people that we don't know much about. Whatever it is, be open enough to allow the Holy Spirit to instruct you in what to do and allow the fiction to become the reality and your adventures await you. Another word for those adventures is the Christian Walk!!
In the upcoming days you will see the adventures of Saul and Barnabas and it will hopefully get your spirit of adventure perking. Now is the time for each of us to step out to a whole new way of thinking and get involved in the Journey. Not the Journey to the Center of the Earth, but the Journey to the Center of God's Will. You will find your adventure located right there and ready for you to take flight.
The Pilgrimage continues...
David Warren
No comments:
Post a Comment