Will you step out of your comfort zone?
This month as part of our Fresh Fire Series we have been considering the teachings of Jesus on the Holy Spirit.
And this evening I want us to start with some verses from John 14. John 14:6-17
6Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him!”
8Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
9Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show Him to you? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.
12“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
15“If you love me, obey my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you.
Tonight, as most sermons, I want to begin by asking you a question.
That question is...
What is your comfort zone?
Comfort zones
Those invisible barriers that make us feel safe and secure.
All of us have our comfort zones.
Some of us surround ourselves with them.
Some of us live in them.
Some of us visit them.
And some of us have learnt to ignore them.
When we get used to something, or when we have done something in a particular way for a while, or when we just don’t want something to change, those are times when we find ourselves in a comfort zone.
When Comfort zones develop they can make us feel so secure, we never want to change the way we do things!
And so often we can become scared of what might happen if we move out of our comfort zone.
Someone once said that the only people who like change are babies with dirty nappies! (Maybe changing a nappy would take you outside your comfort zone! or maybe changing a nappy is inside your comfort zone!)
...
If we are honest with ourselves, many times it’s easier for us to keep doing the same things - over and over and over again - than it is for us to allow change in our lives!
Even when it is God’s will that change should happen in our lives -
or when it is God’s will that change should happen in the life of our church,
we choose the comfortable option,
the safe option.
Have you ever done that?
Have you ever chosen the “safe” option?
The option that says,
I know God is bigger than this,
I know God has said that all things are possible to those who believe,
I know God is a God of miracles,
but ....
just in case this situation is bigger than God,
just in case I don’t have enough faith,
just in case God has stopped working miracles,
I am going to stay in my comfort zone and take the option that seems to be the safest.
Do you ever find yourself settling for second best?
Do you ever find yourself choosing the easy option?
What is it that stops you living and serving as God want you to live?
So often we settle for something easy and routine instead of striving for the best of what God wants to give us.
We have been called to trust God,
we have been called to follow Him,
we have been told that He has promised in whatever circumstance we find ourselves that He will never leave us or forsake us...
yet we find ourselves fenced in by our own boundaries...
we hide ourselves, we trap ourselves,
we convince ourselves that we feel safe in our comfort zone....
And in our comfort zone, we can choose to ignore God, we can hide ourselves so deep we ignore His voice,
or worse we get to the point where we believe that we are trapped in our comfort zone and that there is no escape from a prison we have created.
Have you put walls around your comfort zone?
Have you put a fence around the wall,
so even if you try to escape your comfort zone there are additional barriers which prevent you from heading in the direction God is calling you to take?
Has your comfort zone become a prison?
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During the war a spy was captured and sentenced to death by a general in the Japanese Army.
Before carrying out the sentence the general gave the spy a strange choice.
He told him he could choose between a firing squad or a big black door.
The spy thought about the choice and chose the firing squad and within a few moments he was dead
The general turned to his assistant and said, “They always prefer the known way to the unknown.”
The assistant then asked the general, “What’s behind the black door?”
“Freedom!” Replied the general. “Behind the big black door is a passageway that leads outside, but only a few have been brave enough to see what was behind the door!”
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What is the Big Black Door in your life?
Is it the fear of the unknown that keeps us trapped inside our comfort zones!
To be free from what has imprisoned us,
we only need to open the door!
Then we can get out of our comfort zone and step into the destiny that God has planned for us.
We can be a part of the great adventure that God has planned for us.
When we step out of our comfort zone,
when we leave the prison we have created,
when we leave behind the things that bind us and cage us - then we are in a place where we allow the Holy Spirit to fully work in us and through us.
We need to leave behind the prisons of fear, failure, responsibility, routine, assumptions and guilt.
We need to leave our comfort zones and step into the life that God has called us to live.
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Where is your comfort zone?
Where are you this evening?
Tonight I want you to really look at your own spiritual life and where you are in your spiritual walk…
Are you stuck in your comfort zone or are you stepping out in faith?
Are you missing out on the blessings and the abundant life that Jesus promised because you refuse to leave your comfort zone?
Throughout history God has taken people out of their comfort zones.
God has proven time after time that He is able and that He is willing.
God has guided people on the paths He has made for them.
God has guided and enabled people to do what He has called them to do.
All it has taken is a step of faith.
A step of faith that has led to blessing.
A step of faith that has led to changed lives.
A step of faith that has made the impossible possible.
A step of faith that has brought glory to God.
A step of faith that leaves the comfort zone behind.
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Do you ever take things for granted?
So often we can take things for granted...
Tonight you came in, sat down.
You probably took for granted that the chairs would be here.
You probably never think about who puts the chairs out - you just take for granted that it will happen.
When you stood up to sing, you took for granted that your voice would work.
When you sat down - you probably took for granted that your chair was still there.
We take things for granted.
Things like the earth orbiting the sun.
God placed our planet in just the right position so that life can continue, we do not freeze and we do not burn.
And every second of the day God keeps the orbit of our planet JUST right!
We take it for granted.
How often do we even think about it?
Or Gravity.
Do you ever go to bed at night worried that gravity will stop working?
Do you strap yourself into bed just incase when you wake up your ceiling has become the floor?
Of course not, we take it for granted each and every day....... So let me ask this question,
“Why is it that that we can trust God to take care of these HUGE things in our universe, but we cannot seem to trust God in the little things within our lives?
So often we take for granted the wonderful and exciting things in our lives.
God is at work - yet we ignore the fact that God is at work.
God is operating right in front of our faces!
God is doing things are vital to our lives.
God is at work in us, in our families, in our church, in our community.
Friends, some of us are so busy in our comfort zones, we do not see what He is doing.
Some of us are so happy in our comfort zones,
we do not want to see what He is doing -
Why?
Because we know He wants us to be part of what He is doing but we do not want to be interrupted in our comfort zones.
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When are you going to leave your comfort zone?
Is God calling you to step out of your comfort zone?
Is God asking you to do greater things for Him?
Are you allowing the Holy Spirit room to work in your life?
Are you hiding and complaining that you aren’t qualified or that you are NOT the man or woman for the job?
What reason or excuse have you come up with in the hope that God will give up and leave you in your comfort zone?
Let me read you a theological definition of a spiritual comfort zone....
A spiritual comfort zone is a state of spiritual behavior within which a believer seeks to live out their Christian life without the presence of any spiritual anxiety or conflict.
They adopt a spiritually neutral condition by limiting their spiritual behavior to deliver a nondescript level of performance, usually without any sense of spiritual adventure!
A sad description isn’t it.
A sad description - true of many Christians and many churches in the twenty-first century.
Comfort Zone Christianity.
Spiritual mediocrity that wallows in self.
Going through the motions of serving God without any risk or sense of adventure!
‘Comfort zone’ Christians never experience the abundant life that Christ has promised.
‘Comfort zone’ Christians never fulfill what Jesus promised in John 14 - the promise of doing great things as believers!.
12“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
15“If you love me, obey my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
Far too often we overlook these verses and don’t take it to heart.
Jesus is saying what is expected of believers that follow Him…
Maybe you have read this part of the Bible many times, maybe you have asked yourself the question “How can I do greater things than Jesus?”
The simple answer is - you need to get out of your comfort zone.
Does doing ‘greater’ things than Jesus sound dangerous?
Does it sound scary?
Does it sound like something you are willing to do?
Jesus cleared the temple.
Jesus held the religious leaders of His day accountable for their actions.
Jesus looked beyond boundaries and reached out to those who society rejected.
Jesus was willing to touch and be touched by those with terrible diseases.
Jesus reached out to all that society had said were unworthy of God’s love.
When all hope was gone Jesus worked miracles.
Jesus had courage in the face of adversity.
Jesus was able to influence those around Him.
Are you willing to have a “Jesus Like” influence on the world around you?
Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone so that through Him,
through the empowerment of the Spirit,
you are able to do great things for His kingdom?
Jesus knew that those who would trust Him,
would spread the Gospel further into the world.
That there would be others who would be used to speak the words of truth and life around the whole world.
In Jesus own words, Jesus says to those who trust Him, to those who follow Him, to those who obey God, to those who allow the Advocate, the comforter, the Holy Spirit, to work in them and through them, great things are going to happen!
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Will you step out of your comfort zone?
Do you believe you Christian life is about stepping out in faith and serving an almighty, all powerful, all knowing God whose boundaries are LIMITLESS?” OR Is your Christian life limited by your comfort zone?
When Jesus told His disciples that He was leaving but He was sending the Comforter to replace Him He did not mean that it was so that they would be comfortable in their service to Him!
Will you step out of your comfort zone?
Are you willing to allow the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in your life to help you live by faith?
Will you step out of your comfort zone and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in the will of God?
Will you submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in your life?
We are called by God out of darkness… into the light and life of His salvation for a purpose, that purpose is to seek and do the will of God.
Will you step out of your comfort zone?
Don’t try to figure it all out before you start living it. Learn to walk by faith and NOT by sight
Take a step of faith.
Step out of your Comfort Zone and Let God be God.
AMEN.
