IN THE COMFORT ZONE Pt. II | Shaun Nepstad

well grab your seats everybody welcome to fellowship church thank you van thank you team uh and yes happy birthday to my wife diana nepstad and uh this last week we got to go to magnolia farms anybody like the fixer-upper well diana married one and i love you for it you you've made me a better man she's laughing a lot over here it's true i was a little rough when we got married but she saw potential hey my name is sean epstead and my wife and i have the great privilege of honor of pastoring this great group of people called fellowship church and you know two words god gave us a long time ago if you know them shout them out with me everybody come on hope and healing hope for tomorrow and healing from our where is that found come on where's it found we have all looked in different places and we have all come to terms with it's found in jesus and i just want to let you know no matter what you're facing no matter what you're going through today jesus is the answer to every equation last week we started a brand new series and y'all helped me preach real good last weekend and i'm expecting you guys to be vocal and engaged and taking some good notes today because we are in part two of this incredible series and i want to first of all draw your attention to a couple things that's happening on the calendar okay here's what you need to know first of all growth track is today you say what's growth track it's the front door of church so you can join the church today and really even if you're just like i want to kick the tires of the church let me hear about the vision let me hear about the structure that's all found in step one that happens today the first weekend of every month and it's happening on the other side of that wall every service so you can go to church and then go to growth track or go to growth track and go to church or you can come and visit growth track and do growth track online at 10 a.m pacific standard time all right so by the way that is that is the way that you get involved anywhere in the church am i clear y'all got it okay and then first wednesday is this wednesday night you don't want to miss that it's gonna be a lot of fun we have pastor nicole crank coming all the way from saint louis and she is a fire preacher it's gonna be amazing uh get here early because you want to get a good seat and then the intern preview night is happening may the 16th we have our intern graduation we have our college graduation coming up we have a lot going on in may and you don't want to miss a sunday because i feel like this is going to help you and your progression of growing anybody grateful that you don't have to stay stagnant aren't you glad you can grow and that's what i love about our church no matter where you are on this spiritual journey whether you haven't begun yet you're just kind of checking this whole thing out you're welcome here whether you just started whether you've been growing for years we can always grow more and you just have to be in the right environment and have the right nutrients in order to grow and that is the word of god and that's a life-giving church and if every everybody can just clap your hands and welcome everybody watching online wherever you're watching around the globe we love you make sure you get plugged into a life-giving church in your local area and i believe it's going to change your life are you ready for this let's go back to our theme verse you could take pictures of this you could take notes from this this is a verse found in matthew chapter 16 where jesus is talking to the people who want to follow him so if anybody here is like man i want to follow jesus here's what he said he's like hey to his followers whoever wants to be my disciple my intern my follower here's what you do you deny yourself take up your cross and follow me say those three things out loud deny yourself take up your cross and follow me now this is important to note that on instagram you can follow somebody and then unfollow you can follow somebody when you like them and then when you don't want to follow them anymore you just click unfollow okay that's not the type of following jesus is requesting he's saying if you really want to be a disciple of mine it's not about just church it's not about just saying i believe in god or i'm spiritual come on california it goes much deeper than that it's we die to ourself and this is not about comfort this is a this is hard okay especially in america because i know some people have thought that christianity is all about comfort like god just wants me comfortable he just wants me he gives me a pillow and tells me to lie down in green pastures and not what the word of god says listen following jesus christ we take up a cross we deny ourselves it no longer is about us we die to us and we are now living for him and his purposes come on clap your hands say good amen and welcome to part two of our series that really is for us to understand that whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me jesus says you'll find it like if you're trying to save your life and trying to keep in the comfort zone you you're not going to find out what true life is about it's laying it down for jesus he'll help you find it all right here's the sermon title everybody it's in the zone in the zone somebody shot in the zone and and you you all see the word that's crossed out correct shout out the word shout out the word oh we love comfort oh we love comfortable shoes comfortable environments comfortable clothes comfortable beds and we feel like maybe some preacher has promised us that we'll be comfortable for the rest of our life and it's a sad day when we value comfort over our calling and the great commission we have to take up our cross follow jesus now he does bless you along the way don't make a mistake about that he is the father that loves you unconditionally but comfort is just not our top priority we're going to make a difference in the world and and understand that one day when we get to heaven that will be eternal comfort but just like my friend joel cave says what if your discomfort leads to somebody else's eternal comfort are we willing to be made uncomfortable now for eternity to help other people get comfortable i feel like this this series the lord gave me i feel like the lord has impressed about my heart that perhaps unknowingly we have made comfort our god where we've elevated comfort above everything else and if it's uncomfortable we're not going to step in it but here's the here's a whole thesis for the series you ready for this the whole thesis for the series and may i remind you for those that were here last week and those that are new we're always told to step out of our comfort zone like get out of your comfort zone get out of your comfort zone try new things but what if your uncomfortable zone became your new comfort zone you got to get in the zone and so every single person who's ever been used by god has had to step out of their comfort zone but your entire life has been made up of you widening your comfort zone we went through this last week but your mama's tummy was your first comfort zone and you got out and then first grade and kindergarten and in sixth grade and ninth grade and twelfth grade and college and a new job and a new church all of this was outside of your comfort zone but you widened your comfort zone you expanded your comfort zone to now to the point where your new comfort zone was your uncomfortable zone but you made it your new one okay listen listen to me everybody comfort will keep you from the will of god if this is if comfort is your main goal in life and just real life you can do that if you want to just realize you probably won't live in the will of god you can live there if you want to but if that's your main priority he gives rest he gives grace there are seasons of great grace where god pours out of your life i'm not saying that but but but if this is your goal then just be comfortable living outside of the will of god is this okay for our service okay listen um i want to encourage you that your life will make a difference the moment you surrender to god and you step out of your comfort zone and honestly the idol of our generation has become comfort and that's prohibited so many people from stepping into their true purpose and true calling so what we're doing over the last last week and the next few weeks is we're doing a case study on people in the bible who stepped out of their comfort zone into an uncomfortable zone but made the uncomfortable zone their new comfort zone you ready today come on we ready to get to work okay last week we talked about moses today we're talking about a little guy in the bible named gideon oh i love gideon he's found it all through the bible but he's found in hebrews chapter 11. hebrews chapter 11 is called the faith chapter kind of like you heard of the hall of fame this is the hall of faith it has all these men and women in the bible who had to step out of their comfort zone and they were used to do extraordinary things first time i preached this i was 13 years old preached my first sermon guys when i was 13 years old check this out in a turquoise silk suit my eighth grade graduation silk suit baby i was like what should i wear i'm wearing a silk suit because that's what you do when you preach your first sermon came up preaching like i had like 35 pages of notes and they introduced me here shaun depp said everybody and it was quiet and all you heard was my pants walked up to the pulpit preached fumbled over the words fumbled over names in the bible it was so awkward but you got to get that out of your system the one thing that i walked away knowing and remembering from that very awkward first sermon was that god takes ordinary people who put their faith in him who are willing to step out of their comfort zone and he uses them to make history he uses them to change the world first time i heard this sermon was dino rizzo several years ago impacted me so much and uh i want i want to remind you today that as we're taking notes start by saying and writing this down that judges chapter 6 chapter 7 and chapter 8 is where you find the story of gideon here's what's taking place last week we talked about the people of god they're in israel or they're in egypt and they are the people of god but they're in slavery it's interesting they're the people of god but they're in slavery they cry out to god and god sends a deliverer named moses who sets his people free 40 years later that you know the story they go into the promised land okay fast forward the tape now getting is here it's been several years living in the promised land watch us and now because of their disobedience and their unbelief in god they're not living in the promised land anymore they have allowed all of the outside influences to dictate their belief system so these people of god who were so gung-ho about god all of a sudden have opened themselves up to the world and now they have invited all these other false gods in and they're worshiping crazy stuff they're worshiping rocks and poles and the earth and all these other things that they have allowed and then all of a sudden they have this this area in their life that they've not surrendered to god and pretty soon what took place is that these people who were delivered from slavery into the promised land are no longer even living in the promised land they have moved into the caves of the hills because there's an enemy called the midianites say midianites they're the sworn enemies of god's people and two or three times a year they just come on down and steal everything steal the food they steal their wives they steal their kids and all of this and they have forgotten god it's crazy because in moments of hard times we cry out to god in moments of ease we forget him god's like have you lost your mind i i i i i'm the one that brought you out of egypt have you forgotten what i've done for you you know when god does something to answer the prayer it's so fresh we're so grateful and then six months later we have forgotten him israel's commitment to god was up and down up and down it was a roller coaster of emotion and they removed themselves from god's covering they they removed himself god didn't just take him out and kick him out they removed himself from god's covering and because of that they were given over to the enemy the midi knights two or three times a year taken everything that they had it got so bad that they're living in caves and to the point where when how many know when it gets real bad you turn back to god like some people it takes rock bottom to actually realize i cannot do this by myself let me turn back to god to deliver me isn't it crazy how many are grateful though that when we come back to god he's the god of second chances he's a god of another chance come on clap your hands and thank god for his grace as we turn to him he hears you no matter how far you've run no matter how far you've gone no matter what you've done you have a god that when you whisper his name i don't care if it's on a bar stool at three o'clock in the morning when you come to your senses and realize i can't do this by myself god will run to you again that's what he did for them he sent a prophet he sent an angel and he talks to the people he's like okay guys you're worshiping crazy stuff if you repent if you come back to me if you if you be authentic if you're if you're true to god i will then establish you to be the people i've called you to be again and it's just like us again on bad days we cry out to god oh jesus help me out he comes through and pretty soon we're like i got this god i'm good i'll see you later lord like a lot later like easter later here's the text god comes to gideon he does not find a man that would look like a world changer he finds a man gathering scraps just trying to get a little food for his family and this angel steps up and says gideon you mighty mighty warrior any guys like excuse me just i'm on the backside of a mcdonald's trying to get a little happy meal try feed my fam you mighty warrior you war-ready person and he does not understand the weight of the calling that god is about to call him on matter of fact what's sad is this is where a lot of us find ourselves gideon was actually comfortable with being outside of the will of god we're talking about comfort zone a lot of our comfort zone we get comfortable living outside of the will of god it's uncomfortable but it's familiar it's uncomfortable but it's our normal it's like we're we got we have become comfortable and accustomed to living without the blessing of god and here he is not comprehending what what the lord is saying get in you mighty warrior you you mighty man of valor he's like excuse are you talking to me don't you hate it when you're not sure if somebody's talking to you like way back in the day when cell phones first came out i had a little nokia cell phone you know the one you could play snake on i told an old school phone and my daughter called me i was out in public my daughter called me i answered the phone saw the number and i was like hey baby and at that precise time there was an elderly woman who walked in front of me and she turned and smiled and i was like oh uh i wouldn't talk to you i was it's my daughter on the phone my daughter that's gideon you mighty man of god you mighty warrior he's like who are you talking to me and then the excuses start flowing like moses he's like i'm i i don't think you i you must have butt-dolled me like you you don't have the right guy if you knew me you would know i'm like the least in my family and our family is the least of all the tribes you don't have the right god how many know god never calls anybody on accident he knows your number and when he calls you he calls you because he wants you has a specific role for you to play in the kingdom and like a piece of a puzzle you won't fit anywhere else he's making excuses and then he's like god could you could you could you show me a sign god shows them some signs but let me tell you this when you're not walking in a confident trust relationship with god it's hard to decipher his voice you start asking for confirmations everywhere could you show me a sign well he shows him a sign and then he gives him a new name but the lord said to him peace some of you need to get grab ahold of this verse peace listen listen don't be afraid you're not going to die so gideon built an altar to the lord there and he called him jehovah shalom the lord is my don't you love that and for whatever situation you're walking through right now peace don't be afraid god's got you god's got you [Applause] he inspires him he's like you got to get all the junk out of your life stop worshiping these false gods these idols get all the stuff out wrong stuff so gideon he does something that's a little it's a little crazy he goes through the whole city and just starts knocking down idols like all the idols that the people of god has set up are false deities he's like pushing him over he's like and when the people wake up he did it at night because he was scared when the people woke up they were angry it was like being tipped but worse you come out of your house like what in the world people are all mad like what happened who did this somebody's like i think gideon did this and they're like we're gonna punch gideon in the mouth and then gideon's dad steps up and says no no no gus listen hold on wait a second this is not right like if baal that was one of the false gods if baal was god he could handle himself and apparently he can't and that's when gideon steps up and preaches a little bit he's like guys come on we need to return to god here we are the people of god who god delivered out of slavery into this promised land we're not even living in the promised land we're out here living in caves because of our disobedience let's repent let's turn back to god come on everybody and he rallies they're clapping and then all of a sudden guess who shows up the midianites with like 135 000 people that's a lot and gideon's like that so what that's enough enough is enough you know he's so pumped up i know no more you ain't taking my food no more how many no you don't mess with a man's food taking their kid he's just like i've had enough can i let's rally can i get a whoo put your hands in everybody enough is enough on three one two three enough is enough he turns the guy he's like god can i talk to you for a second so that's a lot of people that just rolled in they're rolling deep their chariots got hydraulics i'm just a little nervous i don't know what he says um are you sure you called me like um how can i know that i know it was you you know like can we do a little and he does something called a fleece now for those of you that aren't familiar with the bible that's not an old navy fleece okay this is a lambskin fleece he says okay god just so i know it's you can you do me a favor could you make when i wake up in the morning i'm gonna sleep when i wake up in the morning i would like the lambskin the fleece the fur to be wet but the ground all around to be dry can you do that he goes asleep wakes up sure enough fleece's wet ground's dry he's like oh great we're going to war i don't like the idea of being gouched he says okay uh that was cool uh let's do one more okay let's run it back but this time let's switch it up uh last time we did fleece wet ground dry let's do fleece dry ground wet this time because that that i mean if i if you do that then i'll know that it's you you know if we're not again walking in a trust relationship with god we can begin to ask god to do circus tricks to prove himself we're so unfamiliar with his voice that when he speaks we don't even know if it's him we start questioning the voice of god then we're like i need confirmation here okay if you if you made the alarm go off right now i'll know it's you make the tea kettle go off i'll know it if the tv cuts on i'll know it's you god does it and he realizes it's going down this guy i mean he was asking for the two factor authentication fleece drive ground with graduates and chapter seven opens up early in the morning jared bale that is gideon the culture has so impacted the people of god they're naming their sons after false gods gideon's name baal was one of the gods that they served gideon and all his men they camped at the spring of herod the camp of midian was north of them so they're approaching 135 000 people it's a lot of people in the valley near the hill of mora the lord said to get in you have too many men okay time out well that doesn't even make sense god you have too many men what you playing with me that's not funny right now because he he was able to gather 32 000 men 32 000 versus 135 000 that doesn't make sense to say we have too many men are you with me here's what you're to do um i can't deliver million into the hands or your hands or israel because here's what you would do i know you you would turn around and boast and brag and act like it you did it god says i know how this works gideon i've seen it before i get you out of a situation you turn around and forget me over and over and over you cry out to me i show up i restore and rescue and you turn around and forget me like if i let you go down there right now there's a small chance you might pull off a win and then you would high-five everybody and act like you did it we're not doing it that way you have too many men here's what i want you to do i want you to make an announcement okay here church announcement everybody church announcement um anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave so 22 000 people left and only 10 000 can you imagine anybody or frank yeah we're all afraid we got 32 000 against 135 000. he's walking around like anybody you look scared you look scared you your olympus quivering you just wet your pants y'all can go home if you and and they're like 22 000 said cool i'm good listen i got a little something to do with the house you know i wasn't even mad at the meeting nights i don't mind living in caves i mean it's a cool breeze up there don't even need ac 22 000 people leave he's can you see gideon trying to keep the 10 000 like the morale up like it's okay we got 10 000. so we didn't need them anyway if they're going to leave we don't need their doubt anyway and let's go what time is it it's game time what time is it and then and then the lord says there's still too many what does that even mean we got 10 000 people they have 135 000. what do you mean we have too many people take them down to the water and i will thin them out for you there we don't need a whole lot of thinning god you know if i say this one shall go with you he shall go but if i say this one shall not go he shall not go so gideon took them in down to the water and the lord told them separate those who lap the water with their tongues as like a dog and then and you know versus those who kneel down okay so he's he's got this he's got the system he didn't tell the guys 300 of them drank cupped hands laughing like dog all the rest while there needs a drink so what happens is the lord said to get in with the 300 men that lapped i'll save you and give the midi nights into your hands let all the others go home he had 32 000 22 000 bounced because they were afraid and then 9 700. can you imagine walking hey guys what's going on well 9700 are going home how come cause they they drank wrong like what does that even mean they drank it's a water break why does it matter how we drink the water we got 300 men 300 people 300 people against 135 000 people 135 000 verses 300 men you ever wonder and question what god is doing sometimes that's a lot of people like i've been working out a little bit i could probably take about four or five of you right now if you rush if this whole row rush of stage i could probably take these four nico might be able to take one but listen listen listen this is one to every 450 guys 300 men each of them would have to defeat 450 are you seeing this this does not make any sense 450. i mean this is this is too much 22 000 said i'm not comfortable with the situation i'm gonna go back to my comfort zone by the way when you refuse to step out of your comfort zone you also miss out on the miracle just save that here's what happened they come to the camp and the lord says gideon sent the rest of the israelites home but kept the 300 men who took over the provisions and the trumpets of the others so now they got two trumpets or three trumpets what you gonna do with so many trumpets now the campaign laid below him in the valley during the night the lord said to get in get up some of you all need to get up you've been laying down in your comfort zone for too long the lord's saying get up go down against the camp because i'm going to give it into your hands watch this now getting if you're afraid i love how compassion the lord is if you're afraid uh yeah i am go down to the camp with your servant pearl here's what would happen gideon would go down and they'd sneak down to the camp and then they heard two guards in the midian army that were talking it's in the middle of the night and what happens was one guard's like man i couldn't sleep last night i took melatonin it didn't work i had this crazy dream i had a dream that this big old cafeteria road just kind of ran through our tent in our camp and killed everybody and the other guy was like oh that's gideon's army the bible says when gideon heard that he started to worship he's in the bushes oh hallelujah runs back up to the 300 men he's like oh it's on now it's all i just got a third confirmation it's going down come on everybody let's go and take them out right now but before he does that he separates everybody he's got 300 300 men we're going to separate into three groups okay line up line up count them off one two three one two three one no you're no i know you guys are friends you're a two he's a three separate three groups and he gave everybody four things they gave him a trumpet a jar a sword and a torch a trumpet jar sword torch you ever carried a bunch of stuff and you're like what's up this is too difficult like you're going to the beach you got your towel you got your mom-in-law's chair you got a cooler and a baby stroll it's just too much stuff this is how they felt verse 17. watch this watch me watch me watch me watch me he told him follow my lead that's what good leaders do leaders lead when i get to the edge of the camp do exactly what i say it's serious 300 men against 135 000 when i and all you who are with me blow the trumpets then from all around the camp blow yours and then shout why do you do this stuff that's faith it's out of their comfort zone and now god can work and say for the lord and for gideon and then the three companies blew their trumpets and smashed the jars grasping the torches in their left hand and holding their right hands in the trunk with the trumpets there they were to blow the trumpets they shouted a sword for gideon and the lord can you imagine what's going on this is a huge wake-up call to the midianites i mean here they are they sneak up there's there's they're surrounding the camp all sudden they just start smashing jar and blowing chumps and they're screaming ah have you ever been awakened in the middle of the night with a loud noise that disoriented like you're disoriented happening one time i was 11th grade and um it was sacramento lived in sacramento for a little bit and uh woke up in the night my mom's chrysler horn is going off in the garage there's no reason nobody's pushing it's a malfunction just it's and it's not like a honda horn eat a chrysler i wake up i'm disoriented i don't know what to do i'm running it i run into the garage and it's even louder just echoes the congo i start crying i'm just you know you wake up you're half asleep this loud no i start crying huh i don't know what it is i think it's a rapture i'm just i'm crying i come back in my mom's like what is it we gotta call the police i call 9-1-1 i'm like my mom's horn's going off i don't even know what it is like you got to come send the brigade send swat help me ladies like you know this is 9-1-1 it's emergency i know it's an emergency you need to help me just i don't she's like have you tried disconnecting the battery no that's a really good idea though i go back in disconnected just i was so disoriented from a dead sleep that's how these people felt they wake up and they start turning on each other god caused confusion to come into the enemy's camp listen to me great strategy god we have basically a marching band with torches up against a war machine and the war machine turns around and they're disoriented and they just start taking out each other comes out the tent starts stabbing like this guy stabbing his cousin billy like they take out everybody and gideon's armies not even in the camp they think gideon's army hasn't infected the camp and infiltrated the camp they're not they're on the outskirts of the army just watching this whole thing torches trumpets and they're screaming and they're pl this is all that's happening and the army takes out themselves don't you love it how god can confuse the enemy now obviously this is a picture of our spiritual battle right now with the devil the devil has tried to come and destroy your life but you have a god who can confuse the plans of the devil gideon's army they come down there's only a few people left they take care of them and there's two princes one's name or horeb and one's name uh uh uh uh let me go back to the names i forgot the names got two names oh yeah oreb and zebe which one means raven and one means wolf and they take them out they send a message back to midianites and they say don't you ever come in our land again we're god's people this is god's land don't mess with us we're we're dedicated to god how many know how many know that when god moves the power of god mixed with the obedience of man is powerful and and for years they had been so intimidated by the enemy they weren't even living in what god had them living in because they were comfortable living outside of the promises of god but in this moment they stepped out of their comfort zone back into their new uncomfortable zone and made that new uncomfortable zone their comfort zone okay listen gideon never would have saved the day had he not been willing to take a step comfort zone let me give you a couple points number one this is important we're dependent on god this is not a philosophy this is not a pop psychology this is not positive thinking we are dependent on god we cannot do this by ourself we need the lord and when we are dependent on god when we when we are not following pray to the sin of self-sufficiency and self-dependence but we're dependent on god i'll tell you this god can do more through us dependent on him even in times of lack gideon didn't have squat and god showed up watch this watch this sometimes god subtracts before he multiplies [Music] i said sometimes god subtracts before he multiplies let me give you this equation i feel like the lord gave me this illustration to help you 100 minus 50 times a thousand is 50 000. let me say it again 100 at first glance it looks like subtraction 100 minus 50 times a thousand equals 50 000. can i suggest to somebody don't stop halfway through god's equation i know there's been some subtraction in your life it's not over because you have a god who sometimes will subtract before he multiplies stay faithful in the equation stay faithful in the problem because you have a god who still knows how to multiply [Applause] you look at all through the bible god worked through subtraction david and goliath dave was like i got to subtract this army he took off the very thing that everybody else had confidence in and he beat the goliath 5 000 people need food god fed them with less a little boy's long john silver lunch he could have rained down wonder bread from the sky he didn't do that he worked with less i said he worked with less don't stop halfway through the equation are you all getting this like let's not forget and let's not replace god with any idol with any ideal with any philosophy with any blog with anything else there is no other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved the name of jesus christ it's not god and someone else or god and another fly or god and a psychic or god and the stars listen why would i contact somebody to tell me what the stars are saying when i could just talk to the god who created the stars number three god's not afraid of the numbers the numbers don't scare god we only got 300. god was like and 300 and me is always the majority god's like listen he's never intimidated by the odds 300 we are better off with 300 and god than 100 or 32 000 and self-sufficiency this may look like less but god always delivers more when we're submitted to him and the facts listen somebody like but the facts but the facts some of you are drowning in the facts the facts always look bad but god's not limited to the facts he steps into the facts steps over the facts matter of fact the facts actually make for a great story now um number four i gotta hurry i got so much god can still use you when you're submitted to him and when you step out of your comfort zone the 22 000 that left remember remember 22 000 that left how do you think they felt when the 300 came back saying look what the lord has done you should have been there but y'all left i hope i remember some of these statements for next service cause this is good i'm giving y'all stuff that's not even in my notes it's just [Applause] it would be nice to schedule spiritual battles wouldn't it okay the devil's like hey i'm attack you at wednesday at 3 30. doesn't really work for me how about uh thursday at seven i'm gonna be with my small group and then bring it on devil got my prayer team i don't know the fast that day sometimes it's out of the blue that's why you need a small group that's why you need to be ready in season and out of season some of you though are walking around because you are so consumed with the facts you're defeated and the battle hasn't even started yet you're giving up on the marriage you're giving up on life you're giving up on your job and the dream and the calling because you're only focused on the facts instead of focusing on who god is so allow me just to shift the focus today and just like those 9 700 people they're drinking candy's like well you guys are cut why we're not at a water park guys it's a battle any moment the enemy can come on i need i need some people to just keep your head up some of you are walking around so defeated so overwhelmed thinking it's drowning the whole ship's going down the ship of my marriage ship of my my my family the ship is going down listen you need to get your head up look above the circumstances we have a god but you lord are a shield about me you're my glory and you are the one that lifts my head oh i wish i had a couple people in here that are grateful to god that you don't have to walk around hanging your head low in defeat we're not fighting for victory we're fighting from a place of victory in your life your marriage your family you serving god who is still greater [Music] grab your seats grab it i feel that there are more gideons [Music] in this room and watching that are going to rise up god's going to use you to save the day and when we're done we're not going to look at any human being and say it was because of them it was because of god he gets the glory but he's waiting for people who don't look like much to simply put their faith back in god and are willing to get out of their comfort zone take a step take a step [Music] i know god's dividing the sermon into a whole bit bunch of different ways but why don't you just ask god what are you saying to me right now with your head's bow and your eyes closed [Music] i know all of us are going through different things integrate though we have we have one god who is the answer to all that we need [Music] now for some of us we might have been going to other places to try and find answers if that's you this is the time just like gideon to repent turn back to god [Music] others of you you might say man i've never given my life to jesus i've never surrendered the controls of my life to the lord what do i do i want to lead you in a commitment prayer you can pray right where you are you don't have to stand you don't have to come to the front but if this is you in just a moment i'm going to ask you to raise your hand and just say count me in that prayer sean when you pray [Music] but before i do that just ask again what's god saying to me for some of you he's telling you take a step get in the growth track like today like next service take a step join the team don't be one who's on the outskirts watching everybody step out of their comfort zone and god use them to work miracles and then we are left out [Music] god's building an army not to fight anybody physically but there's a spiritual battle that's going on and for some of you just need to re-enlist into the army of the lord and just tell them god i'm in i'm in i'm yours and i'm stepping out of my comfort zone i want to get in the zone to make the biggest difference of my life all right let's pray first of all god i thank you for your grace and thank you for your word thank you for these average human beings in the bible who you used to do crazy stuff i don't understand it but it gives me hope because i feel average i know a lot of us feel average feel like regular people we can't do this on our own so lord we just come to you we ask you would you use us [Music] use us in your miracle story we want to save some people's lives i'm going to rescue some hurting i'm going to stand up for people could you use me could you could you use us and lord we'll be faithful to give you all the praise all the glory this is you you say sean i need to give my life to jesus or i need to rededicate my life to the lord i've strayed a little bit i want to give my life back to him on the count of three raise your hand watching online right here in this room come on one two three just lift it up and leave it up wherever you are this is me yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes great job i know many online too all right pray this out with me just say lord jesus thank you for loving me first today i give you my life forgive me from my sin wash me clean i repent and i turn to you now fill my life with your grace and love use me to make the biggest difference i can i'm stepping out of my comfort zone and i'm getting in the zone in jesus name amen and amen

Channel: Fellowship Church

Views: 1,812

Rating: 4.7272725 out of 5

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Id: 3m75OMBS3Qo

Length: 48min 10sec (2890 seconds)

Published: Sun May 02 2021