2026.06.07 Sermon Notes: Made For Adventure

Westside Family Church

Made For Adventure

Pastor Jonathan Hanson

Notes: 

Ernest Shackleton (1914)
https://heartstonejourney.com/men-wanted-for-hazardous-journey/

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.

We do not want the safest option - we want the meaningful option.

Men are not primarily created for safety. Created for battle for the world.  That desire for adventure, not a character flaw - we should cultivate

"Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue." - John Eldredge

STAND FIRM Part 4: Made for Adventure

Genesis 12 & 22  |  Matthew 25:14–30

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.

John Eldredge says, “Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.”

Notes: 

PART 1: Casual Adventure

What Nourishes the Soul?

 A man without adventure doesn't become safe. He becomes bored.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree. 

Matthew 13:31-32

There is no situation so ordinary, so small, so unglamorous that the kingdom of God cannot begin to grow there. But you have to begin to look for it.

Notes:

PART 2: Crucial Adventure 

What Forms the Man?

They expose us! Marriage is an adventure!  Marriage reveals who you really are.  

When you start a new job, we all start as fools, as amateurs, as we step into the unknown.

That's where we learn to make our way forward.

Sometimes we are afraid of the risk.  Trust him (Jesus)!

Servant, buried the opportunity that God entrusted in Him.  God has entrusted us with talents, gifts.

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

Matthew 25:14-15

I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground.

Matthew 25:25

The opposite of faith is not doubt. It's burying what God entrusted to you.

Eldredge states, “The amount of risk you're willing to live with is a direct indication of what you believe about God.”

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Hebrews 11:8

Notes: 

PART 3: Critical Adventure

What Transforms the Man. Before God expands your territory, he almost always teaches you to steward the territory you already have.

The question God is asking you is not, “How much do you have? But, “What are you doing with what I gave you?” What are you going to do with this one life you have? 

The greatest wilderness you'll ever enter is your own soul.

The question is never whether the cliff is safe. The question is whether the Father is good.

“Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” ~CS Lewis

Freedom begins where excuses end.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:32

Notes: