Going Beyond Our Comfort Zone
I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart. ---Ps 119:32
A ship in a harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are for. ---John A Shedd
A comfort zone is a self-imposed boundary where a person will refuse to push past. Doing so often fills him or her with nervousness and anxiety.
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I. The Dangers Of Staying
A. Sin Knocks at the Door of Your Heart
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. ---2 Samuel 11:1-3
Those who regard worthless idols forsake their mercy. But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. ---Jonah 2:8-10
B. Familiarity Takes Precedence
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
- "The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them." - The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
- "If you know someone very well or experience something a lot, you stop respecting them." - The Free Dictionary
- "The more you know something or someone, the more you start to find faults and dislike things about it or them." – UsingEnglish.com
Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him. 4 But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." 5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marvelled because of their unbelief. ---Mark 6:1-6
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ---Deuteronomy 10:12
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II. The Blessings Of Going Out
A. Step Into Faith
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. ---2 Timothy 1:7