Out of Comfort Zone...Into the Blessing Zone

Out of the Comfort Zone, Into the Blessing Zone
1 John 3:18 "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Colossians 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
I want to encourage us today. We are into something that is actually rare among churches today. We are doing something around Christian-time that is very odd.
That rare something is actually ministering to people outside the walls of our church building.
That odd thing about Christmas is that we are making Christmas about Jesus.
Remember the term "Comfort Zone?" We used to talk about staying out of Comfort Zones, because it was a place of operating below God's best and outside our highest purpose. The best way I know to get out of a Comfort Zone, and into the middle of God's will, is to pray then go serve and help people through love.
In the Bible, we see Jesus operating outside of Comfort Zones, praying and ministering to people in all kinds of places. As a matter of fact, if Jesus had stayed in His Comfort Zone, we could never have been saved! If someone did not leave their Comfort Zone to talk to me about Christ, I would not be saved and serving God in ministry for 30+ years!
Don’t underestimate the impact of popular culture and religious mindsets. Even Jesus dealt with it.
Mark 7:1, Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” 6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men —the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” 9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
The Pharisees were the standard bearers of the religious culture of their day. The started out defending the Word of God, but in time began to substitute their traditions for the Word of God.
Today, we’ve substituted church service for serving God. Listen, this is NOT service. This is a church meeting. This is our time to gather for worship, celebration, community, learning, fellowship, and blessing. What we call the “church service,” but this is not where we fully serve God.
However, today in church culture, the church service is where nearly everything happens, especially on Sunday morning. We’ve trained people to totally focus all their preparation, efforts, training, rehearsals, prayers, and serving on the Sunday church service, because that is the pinnacle of our service to God. The problem is, this is not something we find in the Bible. It is not something we see in the ministry of Jesus Christ, or in Books of Acts, or something taught in the epistles.
We think that every problem can be solved by an anointed sermon and laying of hands...at church.
While in Africa, I spoke with the pastor who operates the orphanage that we visited. This brother runs an excellent ministry for children who have been abandoned by or have lost their parents. We met a brother and sister they had recently taken in, who saw the father kill their mother and then kill himself. I asked about how he organizes if orphanage and gets sponsorship for children. He works with people around the world, including the USA. I asked how many sponsors are African American. He said, “none.” There has never been a black person or church to sponsor one of his children.
I thought to myself, “I understand that.” In our culture, we don’t do outreach. We don’t do missions. We don’t sponsor orphans. The only we do, by in large, is have church. We too busy trying to add blessing to our blessing.
We can easily think of many examples of how moving out of a Comfort Zone positively impacted our lives, or the lives of others.
2 Corinthians 4:5 (NLT) You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.
Serving advances God’s Kingdom

5 Life-Altering Benefits of Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks is the container that allows us to hold blessings, benefits and responsibilities
If a store gave you the gift of a 30 minute shopping spree, you don’t want use a little shopping basket. Get the biggest shopping cart they have.
Eph. 5:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [Giving Thanks] 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.[c]

Let Your Seasons Sing | Patricia Hudson

Isaiah 55:12 For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Go Join Yourself to The Chariot

Acts 8: 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

From Emptiness to Fullness: "Let Down Your Nets"

Jesus: The Turnaround Specialist
Part, 4 - Turning Emptiness into Fulness
Luke 5:1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
There is a greater purpose for us in the plan of God than we have realized. The unfolding of this purpose awaits a Challenge of Faith to awaken it. We need a rhema word from God to issue that challenge. In the midst of the challenge, we need to look for the larger purpose of God. Once it is found, we must give ourselves completely to it _ since it will become our destiny.
PDF of notes: http://www.newcovenant.org/mp3/Emptiness_to_Fullness.pdf

Jesus' Fullness, Grace for Grace | Wednesday Bible Study 10-16-13

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:14-17)

Principles for Rebuilding Walls in Your Life

Principles for rebuilding Walls in Your Life
Nehemiah 1:1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan[a] the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Jesus is all about building and rebuilding. He came to give life, and life more abundantly. He healed people everywhere He went such as the women with the flow of blood Mark 5:25-34.
In addition to the miracles and healings, God wants to rebuild entire lives. Walls represent many good things such as protection, strength, and stability. Broken walls represent the opposite.
The story of Ezra and Nehemiah is a parable for building and rebuilding lives and spiritual foundations. Ezra and Nehemiah are one book in the Hebrew Bible. In fact, the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther all come out of the same general period of Israel's history. In chronological order in which they took place, Esther actually happened before Ezra and Nehemiah. God used her to set up what happened in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. God raised Esther, a young Jewish maiden, to the throne of Persia as queen as the wife of King Ahasuerus of Persia, who is called Artaxerxes or (or Xerxes) at the beginning of Nehemiah. Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes are titles, not names. Artaxerxes means "the great king" and Ahasuerus means "the venerable father."
Jesus rebuilds lives, Just as Nehemiah was the one who restored the walls of Jerusalem and the morals of his people, so the Lord Jesus Christ will be the One who restores the nation of Israel. This promise of the Lord is sure: ''And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts'' (Haggai 2:7)
Principle One
After getting the report, Nehemiah was concerned because he understood God’s intended state for Israel. He prayed to a covenant-keeping God.
Neh. 1: 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven
You will never build the walls of your life until you have first become concerned about the ruins. Have you ever taken a good look at the ruins in your own life? Ruins are evidence a structure, now broken. Jesus said, “Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Nothing can break what Jesus is building, so if it does not look right, that’s because we have let something slip. Like Jesus, Nehemiah saw the true, intended state of Jerusalem and the Jewish people. We must always endeavor to restore and keep God’s intended state for our lives and His church before us. Like Moses of old, all we need to do is build according to pattern.

Developing The Faith Habit

Jesus the Turnaround Specialist
Developing the Faith Habit
Jesus came to turnaround everything that Adam and sin had broken. God created mankind and the whole earth to serve Him. Adam and Eve where created to have fellowship with God and to order their environment for His glory and for their family blessing.
Jesus wants to turnaround New Covenant Church, which is us. Today, I will show you how He will do it. Here’s a spoiler, it won’t happen without you. The body edifies itself in love.
Everything that we’ve done well was a collective act of faith. Getting things done does not require every member to have faith, but it always requires a majority. We are always like a row boat where some are rowing and some or not. The row boat can move with some people rowing, but it won’t go fast when a majority of people are content to sit in the boat, but not row.
Sin brought a curse and got Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden. Mankind has been expelled from blessing until Jesus, the Last Adam, came. Since Jesus came, we have been in a made of “restoration” and turnaround.
Matt 17:14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief;[d] for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Jesus wants to use us to turnaround sickness, disease, and bad conditions in the lives of people and circumstances, but it takes faith to get things done. We need consistent faith. We need faith with corresponding action (works), to get things done. Faith without works is dead, being alone
James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?[make a difference] 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things [do nothing] which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
The devil believes in God, but he is not in the habit of obeying and following God.
Faith is not a mysterious force. Faith is habit. Faith is believing and acting on God’s word all the time. Faith speaks and believes, but it also provides what is needed.
The habit of faith requires singular focus:
Romans 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.
We cannot operate in corporate faith without agreement. We cannot have agreement with divided focus. We must “magnify” the ministry we are serving. We don’t magnify people. We honor people and magnify the ministry.

Jesus the Turnaround Specialist

Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Men To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Higher Thoughts Higher Ways

Higher Thoughts. Higher Ways.
Part 1, Pleasing God and Maximizing Your Life
Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
As people of faith, we must often do things that are "counter-intuitive," meaning that we don't think, respond, act as we feel, or do what is usual (2 Corinthians 5:7). We should become comfortable with doing opposite of “conventional" or worldly wisdom. Like pilots who must learn the necessity of flying by instruments, rather than by their physical senses and emotions.
Counter-intuitive acts of faith include:
• Become exalted by humbling oneself
• Give away, gain more
• Being still to know what to do
• In everything giving thanks
• Love those who hate you
• Do good for those who do not treat you well
• Serve people who have less than yourself
• Rejoice when persecuted
and more.....
Aviation is a good illustration of living by faith. The act of something heavier than air flying is counterintuitive. When man first attempted to fly, they tried to build machines that acted like birds or built hot air balloons. Pilots have to train themselves to do things that are counterintuitive, yet they have to be practical, realistic, fact and reality based. They (and we) rely on scientific laws or principles such as gravity and lift.
Example of person flying upside down:
Example for airplane crash of JFK Jr.: On July 16, 1999, however, with about 300 hours of flying experience, Kennedy took off from Essex County airport in New Jersey and flew his single-engine plane into a hazy, moonless night. He had turned down an offer by one of his flight instructors to accompany him, saying he "wanted to do it alone." To reach his destination of Martha's Vineyard, he would have to fly 200 miles--the final phase over a dark, hazy ocean--and inexperienced pilots can lose sight of the horizon under such conditions. Unable to see shore lights or other landmarks, Kennedy would have to depend on his instruments, but he had not qualified for a license to fly with instruments only. In their final report released in 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash was caused by an inexperienced pilot who became disoriented in the dark and lost control.
Like pilots, people of faith must learn the necessity of flying by instruments (by the Word), rather than by their physical senses and emotions.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
We must learn to operate, or fly, in various conditions. Walking by faith is the only way to do David did it.