Outside The Comfort Zone
Nehemiah 1:1-11
Intro: Larry Walters always wanted to be a pilot but eyesight only allowed him to be a mechanic in the Air Force. After retirement, he got an idea one day. At the Army Surplus store he bought a tank of helium and forty-five weather balloons. He strapped the balloons to his lawn chair which he had staked to the ground. Larry expected to drift slowly up for a few minutes. When he cut the rope holding him to the ground his chair shot up rapidly, finally leveling off at eleven thousand feet. Eventually a Coast Guard helicopter got a line to him and towed him to the ground and safety. When asked why he did it he said, “A man can’t just sit around all his life.”
. Sometimes he has to get out of his comfort zone.
. We all live in our own comfort zone don’t we?
. I do. I love my wife being out of school for the summer. I love it when my children come home from college to visit. I love having them around.
. I can’t wait for all of them to be back doing what they usually do.
. You see I am a creature of habit and I live within my comfort zone and when they are around too much, they take me out of this routine and out of my comfort zone.
. The bible is full of people who God asked to get out of their comfort zone and do something that would honor and glorify Him.
. It has been said by someone in this church that the bible is all about change. I agree.
. We are all called to change who we are in submission to Jesus.
. When we do that, we are called to step out of our comfort zone.
. This morning we start a series in Nehemiah and we see that the first thing God had to do in order to get someone to do what He wanted them to do, He had to get them out of their comfort zone.
. He had to get Nehemiah out of his comfort zone.
. As we open Nehemiah we will see that he is in the winter palace of King Artaxerxes the King of Persia.
. Let me give you a quick history lesson on how one of the great champions of God managed to be in the home of the King of Persia.
. All the way back to Abraham. God called Abraham out and promised him that He would make a great nation of his descendents if they would follow Him. Abraham did follow God and the Hebrew nation was born.
. We know about how they became enslaved by the Egyptians and how God through Moses brought them out of Egypt through the parting of the Red Sea and how God gave them the ten commandments.
. All God ever wanted was a relationship with His chosen people.
. All we see is rebellion by the Hebrew people. There would be times when they would follow God but there were more times when they would not. This went on for generation after generation.
. Finally God had seen enough and gave them over to defeat and slavery to the Babylonian empire.
. Jerusalem fell and the people were taken into captivity.
. The Persians came along and defeated the Babylonians and then they were the new slave masters of the Hebrew people.
. God was in control though.
. Cyrus became king of Persia and he started sending many of the Jewish people back to their homeland.
. He sent almost 50,000 Jews back and they attempted to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
. They went back and for 15 years or so they struggled
. Meanwhile Cyrus died and Artaxerxes became king.
. The Temple was rebuilt and Ezra was sent to be the governor of the area.
. The temple was built but there was no safety in the town of Jerusalem. The walls and gates were in shambles.
. That brings us up to date to our scripture this morning.
Nehemiah 1:1-11; In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa.2Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.
3They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”
4When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I amourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.5Then I said,
“O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands,6listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I bconfess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!7We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
8“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations.9But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
10“The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants.11O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”
In those days I was the king’s cup-bearer.
. I want to start with the last sentence here in chapter 1.
. Nehemiah says: In those days I was the king’s cup-bearer.
. Doesn’t sound like much does it. Guess what though; Nehemiah was in his comfort zone.
. He had a great job and he knew it. It could have well been the best job in the kingdom short of being the king. The Jewish people had been brought to this land as slaves. Over time they had been given some freedoms and they were assimilating into the Persian Empire. Most though had menial jobs. They couldn’t get the best jobs because they were Jews and people looked down on them. Most of Nehemiah’s friends were probably laborers or field workers.
. Nehemiah was the exception. He was a success story. I can hear his momma talking to the ladies at the market. My boy Nehemiah is the king’s cup bearer. Did you know that. I can imagine all the women rolling their eyes saying not again. I have heard about her son a million times.
. Nehemiah was the ultimate success story. He carried the king’s cup to make sure no one poisoned the king. He was important. He had access to the king and was in the king’s court all the time.
. He had a great job and was very comfortable in it.
. God had just called him from his comfort zone.
. Many of us are happy in our comfort zones. We don’t like it when we are asked or feel compelled to get out of those zones.
. This morning as we look at how God called Nehemiah out of his comfort zone, realize that He calls you the same way.
The first thing we see here is that God gave Nehemiah a Concern for the people.
. Look at verse 2-4; 2Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.
3They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”
4When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I amourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
. Nehemiah was concerned for his people.
. Concerned about the Jewish community.
. He inquired about the people back home and when he was told about their problems, he sat down and wept.
. His community was in trouble
. He knew that something must be done and it had to start with him.
, He was concerned.
.The story is told about a guy who was Stopped by a policeman for driving without a taillight, the driver became quite distressed. "Don’t take it so hard," consoled the officer, "it’s a minor offense." "That’s not the point," replied the troubled driver. "What worries me is what’s happened to my wife and my trailer?"
. There are thing s we need to be concerned about aren’t they.
. We need to be concerned about our community.
. The hungry the homeless and most of all we need to be concerned about the lost.
. Folks we can’t just sit in our comfort zone and pretend to care .
. In the wed. night and young adult bible study we are studying the book of James.
. James has much to say about how our concern for other people and writes this in 2:15&16
. 15Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,16and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
. Folks we have to have genuine concern for people that leads us to get out of our comfort zone and do something.
. We must be concerned about our communities and our churches.
. We must get out of our comfort zones.
. It’s easy for a church to get comfortable. The offerings are stable, everybody is pretty much used to the preacher and his faults and have learned to accept him as one of the family. There is no mortgage to worry about and everything just going along just fine. Why should they rock the boat now. Lets just wait a little while and see how things go.
. Folks that is a church in a rut.
. Let me share the definition of a rut with you.
. A rut is a grave with both ends kicked out.
. A rut is the ultimate comfort zone. You get in it and you stay there until you die or you decide to get out.
. We must get out of our comfort zone as individuals and as a church.
. Next we see that once Nehemiah was concerned, he moved to Confession
. He realized that he had gotten comfortable where he was and asked God to forgive him for it.
. He had not done what he was supposed to do and asked god for His forgiveness and empowerment.
. Look at verses 5-9 again: 5Then I said,
“O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands,6listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I bconfess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!7We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
8“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations.9But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
. Nehemiah confessed his sins and asked God for empowerment.
. He knew that he would need God’s power and protection in order to step out and do what God was calling him to do.
. In order for us to get out of our comfort zone we need to talk to God folks. Confess any sin in our lives and ask for His guidance and power.
. We need to confess our sin of complacency and get up and start doing something.
. The story is told of a Canadian goose who was flying across the farms of Kansas. He got separated from the rest of the flock. He spied another flock of geese on a pond. They looked much like he did so he flew down and joined them. What he didn’t know was that these were Toulouse geese and they don’t fly. Well he flew down and settled in and was accepted by the flock. Well these geese were fed daily by the farmer’s wife. The Canadian goose soon got used to being fed every day and soon started getting bigger. The following year a flock of Canadian goose came overhead and the goose thought about flying up to join them. He started flapping his wings and realized that it was very difficult to fly with this extra weight so he decided that he was happy just the way it was.
. He had gotten used to this life and he was now in his comfort zone. Life was good and he had settled into a life of comfort and complacency.
. Folks we can’t be like the goose.
. We must confess the sin of complacency and seek God’s guidance and power to get out of our comfort zone.
. After Nehemiah’s confession, we see his Conviction.
. Look at the last part of verse 11: Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”
. Nehemiah was convicted that he must do something.
. In the coming sermons in Nehemiah we will see what he did but it all started with this conviction that something must be done.
. This is what ultimately got him out of his comfort zone.
. He had a call to action.
. Folks, God is calling us to action.
. We see what needs to be done, we are concerned.
. We confess that we have been complacent and ask God for power and leadership.
. We are convicted to act, just like Nehemiah was.
. This is a call to action. We must get out of our comfort zone and get to work for the Kingdom of God.
. There is another conviction I want to talk about as we close.
. Is the Holy Spirit speaking to you today?
. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord?
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
ACall From Outside The Comfort Zone, Tim George, (sermon central)
Nehemiah, Vision And Action, Denn Guptill, (sermon central)
