Adventure Land

Ephesians 2:10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

10 (God's Part) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so (Our part) that we would walk in them.

Adventure is hazardous activity.

It is a threat to a purposeless life.  

All of us like to be comfortable. 

Comfort zones and callings don't go hand in hand.  

If we want to be where God wants us to be, we've got a challenge. 

It may be a major life change. 

It may be attacking our current life with more purpose.  

God is calling us to a level of significance.

God rarely gives us a victory without a battle.  

I pray that God will help us to know what He wants us to do.  

We must leave our comfort zones to go into the great unknown.  

We must press on to the high calling of Christ Jesus.  (Hebrews 3:1)

We can't get to point B. until we leave point A. 

Define your comfort zone. 

What is it that's keeping you from where you are going?

You can dream about a vacation, but unless you chose a day of departure. 

You're not going anywhere. 

If you don't put in a point of departure, the map will never show you a way to go. 

What will you do, and where are you going?

Hebrews 12:1 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

12 A huge cloud of witnesses is all around us. 

So let us throw off everything that stands in our way. 

Let us throw off any sin that holds on to us so tightly. 

And let us keep on running the race marked out for us. 

Sin is not the only thing that distracts us. 

You can be tripped up by a T.V. show or tweeter.

It may be time management.  

Go to bed earlier, so you can get up and talk to Jesus. 

We become distracted by something in our past which will rob us from our future.  

We give the enemy credit for things that he cannot do.  

God has put you in charge of your destination.  

If Satan can't stop you, he will delay you.

We must learn to walk away from all our distractions.   

We fast eating to push back distractions. 

We need surgery to cut off ungodly friends.  

People will influence us to go the wrong way. 

If breaking up was easy, there wouldn't be so many break up songs. 

It's not easy to walk away, but if you want to walk into your future. 

You've got to walk away. 

You must walk away from the attitudes that are destroying your marriage.

The world doesn't classify anything as sin.

Jesus didn't say take up your couch and follow me. 

It's not about doing your will, but God's will. 

God calls people with average ordinary lives to be extraordinary. 

Elisha was plowing in a field. 

Elijah was a prophet of God. 

When Elijah prayed, a drought happened for 3 years.  

Fire came down from heaven.

All the while, Elisha was staring at a back end of an ox.  

1 Kings 19:19-21 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

19 Elijah left Mount Horeb. 

He saw Elisha, the son of Shaphat. 

Elisha was plowing in a field. 

He was driving the last of 12 pairs of oxen.

 Elijah went up to him. 

He threw his coat around him. 

20 Then Elisha left his oxen. 

He ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said. 

“Then I’ll come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. 

“What have I done to you?”

21 So Elisha left him and went back.

He got his two oxen and killed them. 

He burned the plow to cook the meat. 

He gave it to the people, and they ate it.

Then he started to follow Elijah.

He became Elijah’s servant.

Elijah called Elisha from his ordinary life into something greater. 

Many of us get excited about the purpose of God.  

Then, we go back to our lives, and forget about Jesus.  

Elisha burned his past to keep himself from going back. 

He sent a signal to himself. 

I will never return to my past.  

We have to do the same.  

Some of us have a relationship with God like a roller coaster. 

We chase after God. 

Then, we chase after ourselves. 

We ought to stop dating our destiny. 

We have to leave where we've been. 

How many of us have been staying in our comfort zone which is keeping us from our destiny?  

Some of us are blind to our destiny.

We've got to tear that bad stuff out of our lives. 

Psalm 139:23-24 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

23 God, see what is in my heart.

    Know what is there.

Test me.

    Know what I’m thinking.

24 See if there’s anything in my life you don’t like.

    Help me live in the way that is always right.

When was the last time, that you invited God into your soul, your heart, and your comfort zone.  

Please God lead us out of our old way of living.  

There is a way that seems right to a man, but leads to death. (Proverbs 14:12)  

What is your plow?  

Is it your job?

Is it your passionless way that you approach your job?  

How about your employees?  

Your kids?  

How are you influencing them? 

Do you drag up your spouse's past, and throw it up into their face?

Surrender is not easy.  

What you don't surrender. 

You must maintain.  

If you yield your life to God, He takes care of it.  

James 4:7 begins by submitting ourselves to God. 

Before you fight the devil. 

You must fight from your knees. 

When you surrender your hopes and dreams to God, it unlocks deity. 

We love control.  

We aren't in control.

We tell God that we're all in, but drag our feet when God directs us.  

True freedom comes from a surrendered will. 

What is your comfort zone?  

Define it, so you can walk away from it.

Mark 10:17, 21 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him. 

He fell on his knees before Jesus. 

“Good teacher,” he said, “what must I do to receive eternal life?” 

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. 

“You are missing one thing,” he said. 

“Go and sell everything you have. 

Give the money to those who are poor. 

You will have treasure in heaven. 

Then come and follow me.”

This man would not leave his comfort zone. 

Something about this guy pulled at the heart of Jesus. 

He said come follow me.  

He only said this to his disciples.  

History forgets his name. 

What about you?  

Will history forget about you?  

Will you leave your comfort zone?  

It's not by accident that you're reading these words.  

God is calling us out of our comfort zones, but we get to decide. 

Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah's spirit. 

Elisha did twice the miracles of Elijah.

Only one man outperformed Elisha.  

His name was Jesus.  

Maybe the challenge for you is to give your life to Jesus.  

If today's your day, will you give your heart to Jesus?  

Tell Him...

Dear Jesus, I'm so sick of my comfort zone.

Please forgive me of my sins.   

I give my life to you to be my Lord and Savior.           

 Notes taken from Jeremy Foster, Hope City Church

https://hopecity.com/sermons/awaken-adventure-part-2/   

comfort zones, Hope City Church, Jeremy Foster, purpose, surrender,