Stepping Out

[00:00:00] I want to greet you this morning in Jesus' name. How many of the children got your papers from out back? They're blank papers this morning, so they didn't look like they should be picked up. But if I can have one of the ushers pass out the papers from out back there. They're blank, but you're going to get an assignment to fill those out. So if you want to raise your hand, Larry is going to come through, Levi is going to come through and pass out some papers to you. [00:00:37] This morning I want to share just a little bit about courage. I guess I want to tell you where this message comes from. Here, not too long ago, I shared with the rest of the ministry team, I said, I have a fear of failure. So I've been looking at that for a little while here. And the advice that I was given is that's nothing to fear. If we have failure, we can let it get us down or else we can step ahead and use it as something that we've learned. [00:01:10] We're going to move ahead now. We're not going to get stuck in the failure, but we're going to keep moving ahead. I want to tell you a story this morning about Roger. Roger grew up in a home just like most of us. He had parents, good parents. Roger had a lot of opportunities in life. When he came into high school, his teacher told him, he said, you could graduate early if you wanted to. [00:01:46] You've got what it takes. Roger thought about it. You know, he said, I think maybe I'll do that. But as time went on, he said, you know, if I strive for this and I miss, I've failed. I'm not going to graduate early. I'm going to graduate with the rest of the class. So he gave it up. He didn't graduate early. He graduated with the rest of them. After school, after high school, he had an opportunity to go to college. [00:02:20] And he thought about it, you know, he said, I would love to go get a degree in engineering. I think I'm going to do that. But before he signed up, before he got everything ready, he got to thinking, you know, what if I get halfway through and I change my mind? I failed. I just don't think I'm going to do college. So he didn't. He started looking at some ideas for small business startups. [00:02:50] He had some very good ideas. And I thought maybe he'd step out in that. But soon he started thinking about the risk. You know, the money that I've earned, I could lose it all. I'm not going to. I'm just going to keep working. I'm not going to try to step out and do something a little extra with my life. So he didn't. He just kept his job. Kept on working. Sorry, I get a dry mouth. Soon after this, he got a call from the local school. [00:03:28] He said, Roger, you've got some abilities. Would you come coach the school? We've got some kids that need a coach. Boy, that would be fun. He thought about it for a while. And he said, you know, what if I teach one of these kids something wrong? I could ruin their life. The kids might end up not liking me. I just don't think I will. So he told them, no, he's not going to. The pastor talked to him. [00:03:59] And he said, Roger, we could really use you. Haiti had a big earthquake. Would you consider going? It's only a two-month term, but there's people that need you there. He thought about it. The rest of his age group, they were going. Actually, financially, he was well-said. He could have easily done it. But when he found out about all the diseases that were going on, I don't think I can go. What if I get a disease? [00:04:29] I could die. So Roger stayed at home. Roger is now 50. He's comfortable. He's got a little cash. He's got his own little house. He's actually got it made. Roger never failed at anything. Or did he? Roger failed a lot of times, didn't he? Am I like Roger? What are some of the opportunities he's missed? And I want you to answer this question for me. [00:05:02] What are some of the opportunities that Roger has missed? Impact the life of a child. Some more. Going to college, learning something. Going to Haiti to help, be a servant. Okay, it would be a good example for the younger ones. [00:05:37] Who is he really serving? Himself. Fear. To be honest with you, I get a little fearful when I'm up here. I'm working on that one. Fear. Fear of failure. Fear of failure. What if I say something that's wrong? What if I do something in my everyday life that's going to scare somebody away from the kingdom? Fear of failure. What is fear? Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat. In other words, it's acting on something that we really don't know, but we're scared of it. So we act out of fear. [00:06:23] There are different kinds of fear. But the fear I'm focusing on here for just a little bit is not a good fear. It's actually formed by worry. I've never worried, have I? I have. And I've let it turn to fear. Thank you for being here. [00:07:13] And you know where to take your papers to afterwards. So that's what I want you to do this morning. When we get there, I want you to draw either the queen or the uncle. Turn to 1 John 4, verse 18. This is not our scripture we want to really look at this morning. We just want to draw something out of here. 1 John 4, verse 18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. [00:07:47] He that feareth is not made perfect in love. What I want to see here is that fear hath torment. Can we have fear and not have some kind of a worry there that's hindering us? Fear hath torment. I'm not sure what you get out of that word there, but to me it looks like something that does not give us peace. And we want peace. 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. [00:08:27] The fear that he's talking about a little bit here is the fear that the people had when Moses went to Mount Sinai and he got the law, the people were close but yet they had a certain distance they had to stay away. There was a fear there. There was a godly fear there I believe but there was also a fear of what if I get close? I could be struck, I could be killed. Looking at it in that kind of fear. But I want you to see the three different phrases he has after that. But a power. This power here, I think he's talking about if God gives us something to do, the power is there to do it. [00:09:04] We don't have to fear if he leads us to that. The love is a love, it's a choosing love. We can choose to love instead of fear. And the sound mind is a disciplined mind. A healthy mind. A mind that doesn't go one direction or the other direction, but a healthy mind that focuses on Christ. Courage doesn't mean that we have no fears, because we do have fears. But courage means that we're going to step out in spite of our fears and follow God. [00:09:36] I guess that's something I would like for you to focus on this morning, just the idea that we don't always do without fear. But we can step out, even in our fear, we can step out and have courage and walk the way the Lord wants us to walk. Turn to the book of Esther, that's a little bit more of what I want to focus on this morning. And I know Tom had talked about Esther here not too long ago, and I didn't realize that until after I had done a lot of studying, so I'm going to try not to stomp in your stomping grounds there, Tom. [00:10:09] But if I do repeat something here that Tom said, I guess it'll be all right. We know the story of Esther. We know the story of how Mordecai, her uncle, which we call it, helped her out, took her in. She was an orphan. We know how Vashti was taken out. Esther was put in as the queen. And then something happens. Haman steps in here and he wants to kill all the Jews. Mordecai and Esther are both Jews. [00:10:42] And they're in line to be killed according to the decree that was made here. Turn to chapter 4. We're going to go to verse 11. All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces do know that whosoever, whether man or woman, who shall come into the king, into the inner court, who is not called. Let me back up a little bit here. I had asked her to go to the king and beg to have this removed. We don't want to be killed. See if you can change that. There was a law given. Laws could not be turned. When this law was put down and the ring was taken and stamped, that law could not be turned. The only thing that could happen is that there could be another law put on top of it. [00:11:29] So they're asking Esther, would you please go in and beg the king to change this, to put another law in place? Back to the verse. There is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live. But I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. Esther hadn't been with her husband here for thirty days already. I guess thinking of where Esther was at, can I go in to see the king? I'm not called. [00:12:02] If I step into that inner court and he doesn't hold out his scepter to me, it's death. I'm dead. It's gone. I think I would have hesitated too. I would have had some fear. So they took these words to Mordecai and he looked at it and he sent something back to Esther. He said in verse 13, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then there shall enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. [00:12:41] But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And then the last phrase here I want to really think about. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? God called Esther, I believe, for this time. I'm not sure what you get out of that, but I believe God called Esther for this time. To fulfill her part. And we'll talk about that, I guess, a little bit later on here. [00:13:14] Where are we at today? What is God calling us to right here? God's timing is perfect. We can't change that. His timing is perfect. Are we going to fit into His timing that He has put out there for us? Let's go on down to verse 16. Same chapter there. Esther gave the answer to Mordecai as she said, Go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. [00:13:53] I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. That's commitment. Esther had a love for her God. Mordecai is the one that taught Esther. Mordecai shows here in these verses that he believed God was going to deliver according to verse 14. God's going to deliver whether you're going to step in there or not. Do you want to be a part of this? Esther chose to be a part of it because she could see in Mordecai what God was doing for him and she was taught, [00:14:32] if I perish, I perish, and we know the rest of the story. Esther went in and talked to the king about it and the king accepted it. Haman ended up being hung Mordecai, I got to come in and take care of the house where Esther was at Esther stepped out of her comfort zone You know, we all have this little thing about us We call it our personal space If I'm talking to one of you [00:15:02] You have your own little personal space If I get too close to that, you start wanting to back up a little bit Some of us have a two foot personal space, some have three, some have maybe a one foot. But there's a personal space there that we would rather somebody probably not enter into that because it makes us uncomfortable. We also have our own comfort zones. What did this man have, this Roger that we talked about earlier? He had a comfort zone, didn't he? [00:15:35] He would rather not step out of his comfort zone. He wanted to stay in his comfort zone. Look what he missed. All these different things that we had talked about. We have our comfort zone. I'm not going to say there's anything wrong with the comfort zone. But I think sometimes our comfort zone needs to be broken. We need to step outside. Actually, if we have a comfort zone long enough, we start building walls around it. And it ends up being a prison to us. [00:16:08] I think it's good for us sometimes to step outside I see this thing with these DVDs that we've been talking about that are being handed out I just love to see that I see some of you stepping out and giving those DVDs It's uncomfortable, but it's okay I just encourage you in that To continue to step out and hand those out And speak when you have opportunity Speak to the people, let them know about God's love Doctors have actually, this is something I read, doctors have actually proven that stepping out of our comfort zones can sharpen our brain function. [00:16:48] You want to be smart? Step out of your comfort zone a little bit. Wake up a few cells. God has placed a calling on each one of us here today. Today, I'm not talking about a calling two weeks from now. I'm talking about a calling today, tomorrow, this week. As long as we stay connected with God. You guys remember when Steve Stitzman was here, he preached about staying connected. I can still see him going out across here talking about that connection we need to keep open. [00:17:22] If we can stay connected, if we stay in the Word, if we stay focused on God, then we can understand what He wants of us. We're not going to catch it if we don't keep walking with the Lord. If we want to know what He's calling us to, stay connected to Him. Don't miss that calling. The calling I'm talking about for this week, God's got somebody out there this week that you need to make contact with. Maybe somebody is going to make contact with you. [00:17:55] But there's a possibility. There's going to be some open doors. I don't doubt this. God doesn't let his children sit here and do nothing. He wants his children to reach out. We need courage to reach out. We need courage to love those that are out there that don't experience love. Did you see the guys up here? Yes, you did, on the screen. They don't get a whole lot of love, do they? But handing out these cookies shows love. Somebody went out of their comfort zone to go into the prison there to hand out those cookies. [00:18:32] We can be on God's side. He's won already anyhow. So I guess that's my encouragement for this morning. To find that comfort zone broken. Step out. Be willing to give courage to those that need courage I want to read a story in closing here I'm sorry this is a lengthy story I'll try to keep moving through this This story is called The Day I Met Daniel And by the way this is a true story [00:19:06] It was an unusually cold day for the month of May Spring had arrived and everything was alive with color But a cold front from the north had brought winter's chill back to Indiana. I sat with two friends in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town square. The food and the company were both especially good that day. As we talked, my attention was drawn outside across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. [00:19:38] He was carrying a well-worn sign that read, I will work for food. My heart sank. I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief. We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat half-heartedly for the strange visitor. [00:20:08] I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call for some response. I drove through the town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back into my car. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me. Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven around the square one more time. And so, with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. See what's happening here? They're starting to step out of their comfort zone. [00:20:40] Let's see what happens here. And so with some hesitancy I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the stone front church going through his sack. I stopped and looked, feeling both compelled to speak to him yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space in the corner seemed to be a sign from God, an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out, and approached the town's newest visitor. [00:21:11] Looking for the pastor, I asked. Not really, he replied, just resting. Have you eaten today? Oh, I ate something early this morning. Would you like to have lunch with me? Do you have some work I could do for you? No, I replied. I commute here to work from the city, but I would like you to take lunch. Sure, he replied with a smile. As he began to gather his things, I asked him surface questions. Where are you headed? St. Louis. Where are you from? Oh, all over, mostly Florida. How long have you been walking? Fourteen years, came the reply. [00:21:48] I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left only minutes earlier. His hair was long and straight, and he had a neatly trimmed beard, dark beard. His skin was deeply tanned, and his face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red t-shirt that said, Jesus is the never-ending story. Then Daniel's story began to unfold. [00:22:22] He had seen rough times early in life. He had made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought. He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert, but revival services. And in those services, he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God. Nothing's been the same since, he said. [00:22:55] I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking. And so I did, some 14 years now. Ever think of stopping, I ask? Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me. But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads. I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment, and I asked, [00:23:28] What's it like? What? To walk into town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign Oh, it was humiliating at first People would stare and make comments Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me My concept was changing too We finished our dessert and gathered his things. [00:24:01] Just outside the door he paused. He turned to me and said, Come ye blessed of my father and inherit the kingdom I have prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food. When I was thirsty you gave me drink. A stranger and you took me in. I felt as if we were on holy ground. Could you use another Bible, I asked. He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. I've read through it 14 times, he said. I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see. I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well and he seemed very grateful. Where are you headed from here, I asked. Well, I found this little map in the back of this amusement park coupon. Are you hoping to hire on there for a while? [00:24:54] No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under the star, right there, needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next. He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove back to the town square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things. Would you sign my autograph book, he said. I like to keep messages from folks I meet. I wrote in this little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong and I left him with a verse of scripture Jeremiah 29 11. I know the plans I have for you declare the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a future and a hope. Thanks man he said I know we just met and we're really just strangers but I love you. I know I said I love you too. The Lord is good. Yes he is. How long has it been since someone hugged you I asked. [00:25:50] A long time, he replied. And so on the busy street corner of the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile, and said, See you in the new Jerusalem. I'll be there, was my reply. He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, [00:26:21] When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me? You bet I shout it back, God bless. And that was the last I saw of him. Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried out to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them. A pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered of his hands that stay warm that night without them. I remember his words. If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me? [00:26:59] Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. See you in the new Jerusalem, he has said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will. A story that really spoke to me. To reach out, regardless of who it is, what they look like, reach out and touch someone. I want to leave you with a verse this morning that's in Psalms 31 verse 24 that says, [00:27:31] Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Let's stand for prayer. Lord, again, we thank you for what you've done in our lives. We thank you, Lord, for your Holy Spirit. We thank you, Lord, for dying on the cross for us. Just thank you that you saw us long, Father, before we saw you. And we just pray that you would help us, Father, as we leave today to look for those things that you're calling us to. We want to bless your name this week. [00:28:02] Go with us now in your name we pray. Amen.