We are going through Luke chapter by chapter. Weve been doing a mini-series the last few weeks called From the Comfort Zone to the War Zone. The comfort zone is that which is familiar. My comfort zone is sitting behind that table and that chair. This is unfamiliar territory to me. The comfort zone is that which is safe, that which we know and are comfortable with. Its the path of least resistance; its the path thats easiest for us. Its where you and I really gravitate towards. We gravitate toward the comfort zone. We gravitate toward what we know. The war zone is when you go [into an uncomfortable setting]. The war zone is when you encounter opposition. Now that opposition might be the devil; that opposition might be your own flesh. That opposition might be the apathy of others or other obstacles that are in your way. To enter the war zone, thats where opposition takes place. Its risk. Its faith. It is a place of dependency upon God. But thats what God has called us to. In this particular point of the ministry of Jesus, He is calling Disciples to go from having listened to Him, watched what He did, to actually preaching what He preached and doing what He did. So, they are having to leave their comfort zones, and they are having to go enter into ministry at a whole other level of experience. Jesus is still calling His followers to that. Lets read the passage in Luke 10:1 (page 1027 of pew Bibles), After this the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was about to go. He told them, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone on the road. We spoke on those four verses last week. Now, this is all new territory for us-Verse 5 and on. When you enter a house, first say Peace to this house. If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. What Jesus is saying here is when you go in the house, you are on a peace mission. You pronounce a blessing on that house. If he does not receive your blessing-if he does not receive your peace, it comes back to you. Youre blessed for having blessed him. God is going to bless you for having spoken in His Word. Its not going to be wasted; its going to come right back to you. Then Hes going to give some protocol about staying in the house, not going from house to house, eat what is given to you, and some other protocol on their journey. Verse 9, Heal the sick who are there and tell them, The kingdom of God is near you. Jesus said a similar thing in Luke 9 when He sent out the 12. He said, Tell them the kingdom of God is at hand. That is what we call shorthand. Dont take that literal in the sense that theyre just going to go from town to town, person to person, just repeating this one sentence over and over again. Hi, were the Disciples. Were followers of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is near you. Have a nice day, and then you move on. That was shorthand for saying, Youre going to tell them everything Ive told you about the kingdom. When the Apostles say earnestly contend for the faith once and for all delivered for the saints, the word faith is shorthand for everything the faith signifies and is. When Paul says, We preach the Gospel, that word Gospel is short for everything the Gospel represents. There is a lot of content there, so He says, Go and preach the kingdom of God that is near you, that is everything that Jesus taught them is what they are to do. They are to pray as He prayed; theyre to deliver; theyre to heal; and theyre to bring the message to the kingdom as He presented it to them. [Luke 10:10, page 1028), When you enter a town and you are not welcome, go into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near. Notice they say this to cities, not to people. They go out in the streets… Its a Hebrew-idiom; its a way of saying-I guess the closest in our vernacular would be to say, [when] somebody gets hurt or stumbles, and youd say, Hey, shake it off. Shake it off! Get up! Get going! Dont let it stop you! Thats what Hes saying. We have a mission to do. Were going to keep going. Shake it off. [Picking up at Verse 12], I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Now, Hes going to talk about some towns that He ministered to in the region of Galilee. He says, Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. He who listens to you listens to Me; he who rejects you rejects Me; but he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me. So there is a lot at stake. To reject Jesus was to reject the Father. Were going to talk about that passage a little bit because some of it is a bit harder to understand than other parts are. Were going to attack this text in the idea of Myth Busters. There is a show on television called Myth Busters, if youve ever seen it, where they either confirm myths or prove certain myths are untrue. Were going to talk about some myths. Were going to talk about some myths that are untrue. Theyre regardless true within some circles of Christianity or regardless true within the world, but they are not true according to Scriptures. The first myth we are going to talk about is this whole understanding of a philosophy-way of thinking that Jesus came to give you a comfortable, easy, care-free life. Thats a myth. There is a lot of popular preaching going on, a lot of best-selling books talking about how life… Now, God loves you and wants to bless you, but anybody who thinks that God is here to give you a comfortable life, a care-free, problem-free life isnt reading their Bible very well. Id like to know what Bible they have because its not this one. In fact, what I have found, and what Scriptures attest to, is that when life gets too comfortable for Christians, it actually has a negative impact in their lives and ministries. Would you say the Apostles and the followers of Christ in the first century church had an easy life? Not at all. Did Jesus have an easy life? Not at all. It was a hard life. In fact, there is one church that had it pretty easy. There is one church that had it pretty nice. They had everything the world could offer. They were success in the eyes of the world. Remember the Book of Revelations written to seven churches in Asia Minor? Those were real churches, and these letters of John were really circulated there. There was a Sunday when the elder, or the pastor of the church in these various cities, would have stood up and read a letter from Jesus to the congregation. So the congregation in Thyatira received a letter; one in Pergamum received a letter; Philadelphia; Laodicea; Sardis; Smyrna; Ephesus; all these cities received a letter from Jesus. Imagine how nervous you are that Sunday. Nobody was falling asleep that Sunday. Okay, Im about to read a letter from Jesus to our congregation. Wow! Wed be listening intently. A couple of churches did really well. They had straight As. A couple churches got what Id call Bs or a couple Cs. There was one church that just flunked. It didnt have anything good said about it; a church called Smyrna went through tremendous persecution, and they were very poor. So here they are, humble in spirit, broken and they get this letter from Jesus. Boy, I hope we dont get in trouble from Jesus. Were just struggling here, but were trying to fight the fight. We know we dont have any money. We know were being persecuted, but were not going to give up, and its straight As. Jesus says, I know your persecution, and I know your poverty, but youre rich. They say, We are? Youre rich! Youre rich in what counts. Youre rich spiritually. Youre in the game! Youre fighting. Youre taking the risks. Youre defending My name. Now the other church that did not do so well is a church called Laodicea. They were so blessed to be right on a very prosperous trade route, so commercially they prospered and they had everything they wanted. Jesus says, You say I am wealthy, and I have need of nothing, but you are poor, blind, miserable and naked. Buy from Me gold that is refined with fire. He says, Youre just living the life of ease and comfort. There was nothing in there about them standing up for the Lord, standing up to opposition or taking risk. They simply existed. The Lord was not really happy with them. We find in history when the church became comfortable, the church became corrupt. We know about the persecutions of Nero, the emperor. We know of the persecutions when Revelation was written from Emperor Domitian. They were terrible. We know they continued on and off in different regions and in different intensity. It reached its apex right after the year 300. There was a man by the name of Diocletian who was emperor of Rome. Things were not going well. They said, Why are things going badly? Their theory was that it was the Christians. They werent worshipping the Roman gods, so they had to get rid of the Christians. If they got rid of the Christians, [they believed] that would placate the gods, and everything would go well for them again. So a time of intense persecution broke out against the church, and it lasted for eight years. They did things to Christians that Nero couldnt even think of. His purpose was not to punish the church. His purpose was to eradicate the church. Did it eradicate the church? Not at all. The church grew. The church showed that it was a supernatural entity. It was not the work of man. It continued to grow; it continued to thrive under the reign. He said, Christians, we were seen as atheists because we didnt believe in the Roman gods. We didnt follow the Pagan rituals, so we were atheists in the eyes of Rome. Finally, Diocletian gives up. Finally he says, Ah, you know. There is nothing I can do. So he stops. Then another emperor named Constantine comes to power. He passes whats called the Edict of Milan that says, Well, you Christians can be Christians, and you can move around freely. You can practice your faith. In fact, Constantine became a Christian too. Christians lived in peace and harmony. Then something happened in 380; another emperor by the name of Theodosius came to power. Remember him by just saying, supercalifragilisticexptheodosius. Theodosius came to power, and he said, Im going to make a rule that you can only be a Christian in Rome. If youre anything other than a Christian, youre in hot water. Isnt that interesting that in the span of 70 years, Christians went from being the persecuted ones to the persecutors. They went from being the lowest in society to in complete and utter power, and the church became corrupt. They lived in comfort; they called the shots; and they became corrupt. You can cite examples of that all the way through history. I can cite examples in my own life of what the comfort zone can do. When I started my education after high school, I was pretty young. I was 17 years old. I wanted to stay close to home, so I went to a local community college for a couple years. At that community college, my faith was challenged. It was challenged by professors. I had some science teachers who were saying some things about creation. I had some philosophy teachers who were saying things about theology. I had some English teachers who were attacking the Bible and attacking Christianity. Do you know what I would do? Id stand up for myself. Id stand up for my faith. I stood up to students who opposed the Gospel. Id raise my hand. Id respectfully disagree. I would debate. I would exchange, and my faith would be challenged. Id go to the Word, and Id study. Id go to my pastors, and Id ask, Hey, what about this? Id talk to friends, and then Id come back for round two and round three. I found my faith growing. I found my faith sharp. I found I was making an influence in our campus. I found that this little group of Christians would assemble for inner-varsity fellowship every Friday morning at 7 oclock. Wed ban together, and wed talk about what we were going through. Wed talk about the war, and wed pray for each other. Wed go back out determined to make a difference in our campus for Christ. Wed hold functions, have activities and invite the campus, trying to be alike for Christ, and my faith grew for those two years. I always envisioned, You know when I get to Trinity, and I really start preparing for the ministry, boy, lifes going to be good because were going to all be Christians. Were going to all love Jesus, and all of my professors are going to be Christians. Everything is going to be wonderful! All those things were true. All of my professors loved Jesus. All of my classmates were Christians, and guess what happened? I became very, very comfortable. There was a time when I started saying, I dont need to go to church this weekend. I dont need to serve right now. I was kind of apathetic. I was getting lazy and spoiled and getting very comfortable because nobody was challenging me. I found that I became very susceptible. I became very vulnerable. I began to not wane in my faith. I still believed in Jesus, but my life could not be described as being cutting edge in any way, shape or form. I was simply learning stuff. It wasnt until one of our courses challenged us to go to Northwestern every weekend and begin debating theology with the students at Northwestern. It wasnt until a professor got smart, and he would bring guest speakers into our class that would challenge our faith that I began to grow. I found that I grew out of the comfort zone, not in the comfort zone. Jesus is the One who says, Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Jesus did that. Jesus is the center. So this myth that He called us to live a comfortable, safe life is not in the Bible. Growth is in the warzone. Growth is when we go; growth is when we take risks and meet challenges; its when we serve Him with our whole heart. The second myth I want to address is in this passage, and you have your Bibles [to reference to]. Its a lot easier for me to just talk right now than try to hold it, look and turn pages. You can look and be my eyes. We dont have any power point we can show you. When you look in your text, do you notice that He says to those cities… Remember these are cities-regions-that He ministered to in Galilee? these are places Hed been. Theyd heard Him talk. Theyd seen the miracles. He compares them to some of these well-known rebellious cities like Tyre, Sidon and Sodom. He said, Its going to be worse for them in judgment because of what theyve seen and heard. The second myth I want to address is this myth that says, All sins are the same in Gods eyes. All sins are the same: have you ever heard that? All sins are the same to God; all sins are alike. Thats a myth. Thats not true. Thats not true from a common sense point of view, and its not true from a Biblical point of view. Just from a common sense point of view, Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, If you lust after a woman, you say dont commit adultery. I say if you lust, youve committed adultery in your heart. Now is lusting the same severity as actually committing the physical act of adultery? I understand that lusting is where it begins. If were going to equate that and say lust is the same degree of severity and the same sin as adultery… Im not going to ask for a raise of hand for how many men in this congregation have ever lusted, but Im going to guess that most women now would have Biblical grounds for divorce if those are the same thing. Jesus is trying to get them to understand that its not the letter of the law, that this is sin too. This lust is sin too. You say, Dont commit murder; I say to you, If you hate your brother, youve committed murder in your heart. Now is hating somebody the same severity as actually physically murdering them? Lets get real here. Lets think about what were saying. Those are not even close to being the same thing. Thats where it begins, with hate, but actually following through and taking a life, of course, would be a greater sin. Jesus says they have the greater sin for two reasons. Number one, because of what theyve seen. Theyve seen the miracles; theyve heard the teaching. To then reject that, Jesus says, is a greater sin. Remember in John 19, when Jesus is before Pilate. Pilate is a little worked up about whats happening and feeling a little bit funny about the decisions that hes making. Jesus says to Pilate, Those who turn Me over to you have the what? Greater sin. They have the greater sin. They knew better. They were the chief priests, teachers of law. They have the greater sin. There is more accountability. To whom much is given, much is required. There was a sin that was so great that Jesus says, If you blast through the Holy Spirit, you will not be forgiven. Its called the unpartable sin. To sin means to miss the mark. Thats what it literally means: hamartia, to miss the mark. You can miss the mark by a little, or you can miss the mark by a lot. The end result is the same: youve missed the mark. Sin separates me from God. All sin does that, but all sin is not the same. If Im playing basketball, and I miss a shot and hit the back iron, and it bounces out-which has happened once or twice-thats missing. But if I miss everything, thats called an air ball. If you do that in your opponents gym, theyll let you know it. Theyll say, Air ball! Air ball! Air ball! Air ball! Theyll remind you of that for awhile. They are saying, You really missed. You blew it. If Jesus is the target, if Jesus is the goal, to reject Jesus-thats the greatest sin. So what Hes saying to you [is], Listen, you cities of Galilee, your sin is worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah because the greatest sin you can possibly do is to reject the truth. Its to reject the love and grace of Jesus Christ. That is the greatest sin. If you reject Jesus, you have totally and completely missed the mark. What Jesus is saying is there is nothing left for Me to do for you. If you reject My love, if you reject My grace, theres nothing left I can offer. You have committed the most egregious sin. You have missed the mark completely. Thats the greatest sin, to reject Jesus. Thats why He says they have a greater judgment-because they have rejected the truth. Thats what is going to lead to the next warning here, this next declaration. Jesus knows their fate is sealed if they reject Him, so He says (Verse 13, page 1028), Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Woe to you Capernaum! When He says woe, at first we might interpret that and think Hes saying like a spiritual-trash talk kind of thing. Hes saying, Youre going to get it now. Youre busted! Youre in trouble. You rejected Me; Im going to have the last word. You might read through that and think thats what Jesus is saying. Thats myth number three. Myth number three is that God is vindictive, that God is a god who is out to get you. God wants revenge if you reject Him. Thats a misunderstanding of this Word. In fact, remember in Luke 9 when the Disciples realize they have the power. Theyve seen the miracles so they know in Jesus, they have the power. When the Samaritans reject Jesus, James and John say what? Do you want us to call down fire from Heaven and destroy them? Jesus probably wanted to slap them upside the head and go, What are you thinking? You dont know what spirit you are of. The Son of Man did not come to destroy mens lives, but to save mens lives. The word woe in the Greek is the word alas. Have you ever had somebody that you love and care about, and you see them going down a wrong path-you know the wrong path is going to lead to destruction, and you tell them it is, but they go down it anyway? Have you seen that happen? You see it happen, and it just breaks your heart. The closest thing we have to this word in our form of communication is not a word at all. The closest word we have to what Jesus said would probably be a sigh. You see them going down that wrong path; they ignore your counsel and advice. You see whats going to happen to their life if they dont turn around. You think, Hoohh. Thats what Jesus is doing here. He is mourning over these cities where He has invested, where Hes ministered, where He knows people. He says, If you reject My message, woe to you. There is nothing I can do for you. Many years ago when I was a pastor in Rockford, and I do mean many years ago, there was a lady who came to our church, and she had been beaten by her husband. She had bruises and cuts; she was crying, and she explained to me what happened. I remember being very angry. I just wanted to see this guy thrown in the slammer. I said, You know this has to stop. If you dont have him arrested and put in jail, hes going to continue to do this to you. Do you understand that? She said, I know. I said, Can I call the police? We should call the police? She said, Yeah, lets call the police. The police came out. We filled out a long report. He was in my office over an hour. We finally get to the end of the report, and he says, Okay, maam, can I press charges? She puts her head down, and she says, No. You see, her comfort zone was a dark place. He was all she knew. She didnt want to take the risk. Whats going to happen to me if he leaves? How will I live? How will I support myself? How will I support my children? So she was going to stay in that comfort zone even though that comfort zone was an awful place to be. She said, I dont want to fight that battle. The policeman said, You understand that unless you file charges, there is nothing I can do. She said, I know. I said, Maam, you understand if you go back to this home, the same thing is going to happen and only worse. He has to learn a lesson. I know, but I cant, she said, crying. I let out a sign when she left because I knew she was going to go back to that which was familiar, and I knew what was going to happen. A couple of years later, I received another call from a lady. I went to the house to go see how I could help, pray with her. Guess who it was? It was the same lady in the same situation. Sometimes people learn the hard way. Sometimes people want to stay in the comfort zone because its familiar, even if its destructive. So even though it was destructive, the people in Capernaum and these other towns wanted to stay there because it was all they knew. It was an easy path for them. We brought in a friend of Janet Bales, who is becoming a friend of mine, Jay Bellard and his wife Theresa from Beloit. He is going to share right now a short testimony of his life and what Christ did for him while he was in that comfort zone, when he was in that path of having a stubborn, unrepentant heart and how Christ brought him back into the way of the truth. Is this like the light FM crowd or this is the rocker crowd? Youre a little later, so the easy listening was the service before this. Welcome to Faith Community Church unplugged. Thank God for change. Id be thanking God for a pastor who wants to make changes. You dont want the same hairdo all the time. I cant change my hairdo. Its kind of the same, but its either that or the comb-over. My days with a comb are over, so thats why I dont do that. Anyway, Im here to just tell some things about what happened in my life and what my life was all about. I was born and raised in Beloit, the evil empire south of here that you all think it is. I basically had a non-resident father and a mother who was very liberal, so I pretty much raised myself. You start getting into things. You get into your teen years, and you start to see some things and do some things. When I was 13, I began smoking dope for the first time. When I was 13, I began drinking alcohol for the first time. I had sex for the first time when I was 13 years old. A lot of you are gasping right now. I thought they only did that now. Nothing is new. A lot of times when I was doing stuff, I was doing stuff with people you probably knew. Going through life, I was tearing it up. I went through my teen years, and I was just living the life that I knew, the life that I loved, the life that I wanted to do and be. Through a set of circumstances when God ordained circumstances by the time I was 18-19, I started wondering what was going on in the world, who was in charge, maybe there was some beings; maybe there were aliens; you just start to wonder where all this comes from. Whats happening? Through a set of circumstances, my wife and I were born-again and gave our lives to Christ. Okay, halleluiah, great! Whats the big deal? I was 19; she was 18, and we got married. That wasnt smart. It wasnt a good idea that young, but we thought we had it all figured out because we were born again; we knew what was going on. What happened was over time, my mind was not renewed with the Word of God. I was not changing my mind [set]. I was repentant, but I didnt change my mind. After awhile, my mind started to drag me down. I wanted my old life back, and just like it says in the Bible, my house was clean and swept, but I wanted my old life back, and it came back times seven. I was actually probably seven times worse than I was before. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy everybodys lives. He wants to rip you away from God. He knows that youre Gods anointed being, Gods creation, and he wants to ruin you because misery loves company. I began my decent on this slippery slope downward. Basically I was trying to destroy my own life with self-destructive behavior. I was drinking, smoking weed, riding my Harley. That was my life, but now I had a wife and pretty soon, two kids. Well, I didnt want anything to do with that. I couldnt be responsible for myself, let alone family. So, what did I do? I did what my dad wanted to do. I wanted to abandon. I left my wife; I left my kids. For two and a half years, I lived with another woman. My wife now says, Hey, I need to hear from God. She was praying, and God said to her, Your husband will come back. Otherwise, she would have been gone. She would have moved on. So I did go back to my family after two and a half years, but I was still a mess. I was not repentant. I wasnt saved, but hey, I was tearing it up. I was living the good life, or so I thought. Twelve and a half years goes by, and I was living that way. Twelve and a half years! Thats a long time for you; it seemed like 40 [to me]. Shes praying. Shes a woman of God. Shes praying and interceding for me all the time. Things in my life began to change. God began changing my heart. Circumstances began to turn and change in my life. My friends who I got high with a lot, partied with and did things with, things began to happen there. One of my best friends came over, and he and my wife began talking about church and what was going on at church. I was like, Shut up! Youre giving me a headache! Dont ruin my friend! So then he went to church the next day. This was on a Saturday night. He went to church the next day. He was saved! He was born again, and he gave his life to God. My wife has to be sitting there thinking, No, God! This one, over here is my husband! God doesnt know what Hes doing! Arent you glad that God is in charge? God operates in our lives without permission. How do you like that? Isnt that annoying sometimes? He began to change things in my life, and I didnt want Him to change things in my life, but my wife was praying. God was honoring that. As these things began changing, and my friend was born again, he was gone and out of my life. He still came to visit, but I wasnt impressed with that anymore. I just wanted to live a bad life. There were a lot of people out there who are happy that Im saved. Theyre happy Im saved. Even people who arent saved are happy Im saved. Thats where I was at. The devil was like, I cant hang with you no more. Youre giving me a bad reputation. Youre messing up my life. I used to sell dope. I had just sold him dope one day, and the very next day he was arrested for possession. He was out of my life. There was a falling out between my brother and me, and he was out of my life. Then, I was alone. God worked all of this out. It was all happening by the hand of God. God began to change my heart. Every day, every day, every day from the first day that I walked away from Him, God was still speaking to my heart-every single day, I love you, son. You matter to Me. You matter to me. Everybody is important to God. Every person, all of the people you know-even the people you dont like. That neighbor that acts like I used to, Oh, look at him. He needs to go to church. Well, get him to church. Be his friend! Its getting quiet (referring to the congregation). Anyway, I always said, If they had a first service at that church, Id go because, man, you guys get home late. I want to get in and get out, do my thing! As if God were interested in my thing. Anyway, my friend came over because he knew I always said that. He said, Hey, Pastor announced were starting a first service next week. I was just like, Oh, man. This is it. I had heard things this man of God said because my wife would come home and say, This is what Pastor said. I said, You know what? I know this is a man of God by the things he said because I knew other men of God. I knew them. I was like, No, I couldnt follow them guys because I actually knew them. I had to have somebody who was strong, that was a strong man of God. You have a strong man of God here. Thank God for him. So, I would hear things. I said, Man, I know this is the man of God that I will serve under. I knew it. Being a man of my word, such integrity, I said, Hey, I have to go. I have to go to church. I have to go to first service. So I did go to the first service, and I sat right in the front row just like many of you arent. Nothing changes, does it? Some things never change. There is plenty of room for people like me. Anyway, I sat right in the front row because I wanted it all. I wanted it right in my face. When altar-time came, I was like, Man, do I do it? Im done messing around! Im done! Im sick of my life! Im done messing around! I lifted my hand; I gave my heart to God, and my whole life changed that day. This was 14 years ago, and God has just blessed my life day by day by day. Your life is guided by your decisions, so if you make Godly decisions, your life will have a better outcome. God has blessed my life so much. My wife and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary yesterday, so we have been married 28 years now. Give God glory! Thats God! God did that! A week ago, I was ordained as a pastor in our church. So God has blessed my life so much. Just remember that. Every person counts. Every person is important to God. Every person God loves so much the same way He loved you when you were a mess or whatever you were. He loves every one of us as His children, just as you love your children. You might kick them out of the house, but you dont want to condemn them. You want them to serve God. Just remember that everybody is reachable. Everybody is teachable, and pray for them. Ask God to intervene in their lives the same way He did with mine. Thank you. (Pastor Jeff speaking) So for Jay, Theresa was a type of Christ, showing him unconditional love and praying for him. That is what God has called you to do for the people in your life, these people you see and that you know and love who are going down the wrong road. Sometimes our comfort zone is a place of destruction as well. We may or may not be blinded to, but its all we know. So, I pray that youll give your life to Christ, that youll choose His path. Lets stand together for prayer, and then were going to sing a couple more songs before we go. Id like you to pray with me. Father, first of all, I pray for Christians who are here this morning who are apathetic. Weve been living in a place in our lives where we no longer take risks. We no longer respond to challenges. We stay with whats familiar and known. Lord, as You spoke to believers and said, Go. I send you out as sheep among wolves, You are still giving that same command. Youve called us to go into our world to make a difference. We reach out to our community and invite people to come to our 12-step ministry. We reach out through our divorce recovery ministry and invite people to come. Were doing Your work. When we go outside our four walls, when we go to Monterey this afternoon and minister there, were leaving the comfort zone. When we go into nursing homes and reach the elderly, we are doing Your work. We reach out to children through Angel Tree. When we reach out to our community through camp, we are doing Your will. We are going where You want us to go. When we sit across a table over a cup of coffee or when were watching our children play sports and talk a parent about the things of God, we are leaving the comfort zone. So, I pray that Youd push us out of that nest. I also want to pray for us that we will have faithfulness to pray for those who are in harms way, that well not give up. Theresa did not give up on Jay. [I pray] that well not give up on family members and friends we care about. Lord, we pray, too, for those who are in a comfort zone thats destructive, but its all they know. Its like the children of Israel who wanted to go back into slavery in Egypt because at least there they knew they were going to have a meal and a place to stay. They wanted to go back. It was their comfort zone. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would personalize this message to each and every heart and life-that we might follow Your will. In Jesus name we pray, Amen