Living Outloud: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

We walk through Acts 5 through 10 and track how God repeatedly pushes believers beyond what feels safe, from public pressure to private forgiveness. We name the comfort zones we cling to and ask what it looks like to take the first step while trusting the Holy Spirit to carry the rest. 

• boldness under pressure and fear of consequences 
• choosing obedience first and trusting the Holy Spirit for words and impact 
• letting go of control through delegation and shared leadership 
• Stephen’s witness and the fear of loss or death 
• Philip’s unexpected appointment and crossing cultural difference 
• missed moments and the honest cost of staying comfortable 
• forgiving someone who harmed you and trusting God’s work 
• Peter learning salvation is for Gentiles and God works outside our boxes 
• making room to say “wow” at how big God is 

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If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

Acts And The Comfort Zone

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Mike and Kelsey here with another episode of Living Out Loud, part of the Out Loud Bible podcast, where we take a look at what we read this week and talk about what do we actually do about it? How can we not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word? And uh to you know, like do what it says. Yeah. I figured, hey, why don't we do that?

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Yeah, great idea.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Sounds like a good place to start. This week in the podcast, we covered uh a really interesting chunk of Acts, Acts chapters five through ten. And now, sometime on the podcast, we will like drill down on like, ooh, so there's this one thing that was said. Let's talk more about that, because we didn't have enough time to really get into it in the that particular episode. And other times we kind of take a look at the whole what was covered over the weekend, if there's maybe like a theme or or some something, then we'll kind of flesh that out a little bit more. And and this is one of those weeks where taking a look at Acts chapter 5, which started with the apostles uh facing some some scrutiny, some persecution from the the Sanhedrin High Council saying, Hey, don't don't talk about Jesus anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Okay, well as if that was gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Okay, thanks. And uh going all the way to uh Peter recognizing that the Holy Spirit is available for Gentiles as well. And crazy. And we see through this chunk, Acts 5 through 10, there's a lot of people that God is uh nudging out of their comfort zones. Uh and you you can't be a Christian I was gonna say for long, I think more accurately, you can't be a Christian at all without stepping out of your comfort zone. Like even first deciding to follow Jesus is a huge step out of your comfort zone, and it does not get more comfortable from there. Like it doesn't get easier uh because uh stepping out of your comfort zone. I've heard some people call it your brave zone or your growth zone to uh the outside of your comfort zone.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Even that though is just trying to make getting out of your comfort zone feel more comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

It's like take the discomfort out of stepping out of your comfort zone. Let's call stepping into your growth zone. Like, okay. But uh but this is a repeated part of our our Christian faith and our our walk with Jesus as we follow him, because it's it is where growth happens. And we know that when we when we just kind of do what's comfortable, then we get comfortable, and there's no need to change, there's no need to do anything new or scary, because we just get it. And uh and so following Jesus means we're gonna go, I don't know, wherever he wants, and it's not always where we want. Um so as we take a look at some of the examples here in this section of Acts let's be thinking, okay, what areas would be really more scary for me to step out of? Like that, ooh, that's a yeah, that's not what I'm comfortable with. I've I think all of them are things we're not gonna be completely comfortable with. But uh let's just begin to think like, all right, let's uh what what strikes me as ooh, maybe that I would need to I would need God to help me with that one because that's what I think.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

I feel like I feel like the whole book of Acts is just a out of your comfort zone story. Like it's called that it's called Acts, but the longer title name of the book that was come up with is the Acts of the Apostles. It could be the uncomfortable acts of the apostles. Yeah. Um, the entire book as as Christ ascended to heaven and as he established his church here on earth, establishing that salvation is for the Gentiles and not the Jews alone, it's the Holy Spirit coming. It's just the entire thing is flipping everything everybody knew up until that point up on its head and pushing people out of their comfort zone. And I and I believe that that is continuing to this day, that as Christ followers, as you've already established, we will be pushed out of our comfort zone to follow him more deeply. Um getting out of the boat and walking on the water is uncomfortable, right? And so we're we're we're constantly, if we're following Christ and trying to live our lives for him and be conformed more to his image and obey his word more and more, it's gonna draw us out of our fleshly human comfort that was that that wasn't born into being Christ-like. We have to continually put that to death, putting crucifying our flesh and following after Christ is not comfortable. It's going to continue to be uncomfortable. So so I'm excited to have uh a little bit of a dive into getting out of our comfort zones as as put on as example in this these chapters in Acts. So Mike, get into it.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Wait, let's do it. What's first? So Acts chapter five, we see the apostles like before the Sanhedrin, and they have to give a defense of why they keep talking about Jesus. And it's interesting that when

Fear Of Consequences And Boldness

SPEAKER_00 5:20

they speak, it's not just it's not defensive, it's it's offensive in both senses of the word. Uh, because their defense is, well, you're the ones who killed Jesus. And uh it just is flipping this the the power here, like the Sanhedrin thing, well, here I'm I'll I'll teach these kids what to what to do and not do, and they're like, hey, you know, w we can't help it, but just say what's true. And since I got you here, you're the ones who killed Jesus in the first place. And uh and but what it just because Peter is bold, and just because we have seen, yes, the Holy Spirit uh is promised to help us with knowing what to say, that doesn't necessarily make it easy. It doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit's just gonna take over and take away every fearful need of a step, you know, into the into a outside of your comfort zone.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

He doesn't make you a meat puppet for himself. You have to take and step out of those comfort zones and be willing to open your mouth, be willing to stand, be willing to speak, and he can give you the words so that you don't have to worry about what you're saying um or be afraid of what you're saying, but you do have to take the step and put yourself out there.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

There's always a boundary between wherever you are comfortable and where you need to step outside of your comfort zone. And so there's always that boundary. If you can identify what that boundary is, you may be able to name it, maybe not, but then then that gives you something to pray about, and that gives you something to anchor into scripture about. In this case, there's a fear of consequences. There's a fear of, well, I mean, these Sanhedrin people, they they have power, they have the ability to make our life very difficult, not more powerful than Jesus has, not more powerful than the Holy Spirit, but there's there there will be consequences. And when and when you reach that point where it's like, oh boy, the next thing out of my mouth is gonna is gonna have consequences. It's like, okay, well, how weighty how weighty are those consequences compared to the consequences of not saying what you need to say or not doing what you need to do. Kind of reminds me of uh the need to trust the Holy Spirit and the how the Holy Spirit doesn't just, you know, make you do what he wants you to do. You have to at least take that first step of boldness. Reminds me of that. I think we may have talked about it before in the movie Moana, where where Moana has to go chase after uh what's his name?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Maui. Maui, I think. Maui. She's found him on the on the deserted island where he's been.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

This is the object of her whole quest to go find him.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

And he traps her in a cave and he steals her boat and he's leaving, and she is either gonna be stuck on the island or jump in the water. Like she has a decision to make. She chooses to jump in the water, and once she jumps in, the ocean, the character, carries her and places her on the boat where she's supposed to be. But the ocean wasn't gonna reach up on the cliff and pick her up and put her on the ocean.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

It started with her choice.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

She needed to jump in the water first, and then the ocean carried her. If you haven't watched Moana thinking of the ocean as a character of the Holy Spirit, then you just just do yourself a favor and watch it and bring some tissues with you because it's powerful.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Yeah, great ex great example. It's an example, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

He's willing and ready to carry you where you need to go, but he's not going to drag you there. He's he's he he's he is so ready and so willing to give you everything you need once you take the step.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

To go further than you could have yourself.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Do things that you weren't capable of doing on your own.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Like in like with Moana, she was not gonna catch up to that boat.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

There was no way she was gonna swim faster than a boat with a sail. But she took the step and the ocean carried her. In the same way, there is no way that we are going to convince everyone anyone of the gospel. There's no way that we in and of ourselves can save anyone. There's no way that we in and of ourselves will change anybody's minds to align with scripture, but the Holy Spirit can do that. The Holy Spirit can do more than we could on our own. But we still have to say the truth. We still have to show up. We still have to step into those conversations and step into those places, even when there are consequences on the line, so that the Holy Spirit can can take our momentum and go further than we could have on our own and go further in the lives of people around us than we can on our own. Uh, but we have to be the ones that open our mouths first.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

That's good. Yeah. So we see in Acts chapter five a boundary here of a fear of consequences. Now, Acts chapter six, we see in this case, I'm not going to read these, but by way of just memory here, uh, in this case, we saw the deacons in the church

Delegation And Letting Go Of Control

SPEAKER_00 10:23

arise to fill a need because there there were just cracks in the ministry. There were some widows who were being overlooked, and people were falling through the cracks, and this was a problem in this early church. And so what we saw was the apostles recognized this need and recognized that they weren't able to effectively address the needs in this ministry and also fulfill their role as teaching and praying and finding the direction of the church as led by the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

I'm gonna jump in and just say that this is a comfort zone I can super relate to. How so? And I know you haven't named the comfort zone yet, and that's why I jumped in before you named the comfort zone because I feel like this is a comfort zone that God is calling me out of right now as we have this conversation, as I'm living out my life and trying to be more submissive to Christ and his leading in my life. Um I I am a person who I was in leadership from a really young age. Uh when I was in high school, I was the youngest ever dance captain for our show choir. I was a leader in that community. I was uh in college, I was the youngest ever student director of a play. Um, I was the first girl to be hired in the shop. Like I have prided myself on being a first in a lot of places, on being a leader, on being a person that's in the driver's seat. I've always liked directing most when in my theater career because I get to be in charge and I get to do all the things. And yet God is calling me right now in my my current season of life, he's calling me to learn humility through submission to other people leading and for me to take a back seat. He's calling me and teaching me that I do not need to be in the driver's seat. And actually, by continuing to force myself into the driver's seat, by continuing to loan wolf a lot of projects, because I don't really trust other people to do things the way I would want them done, I'm actually I I've I've been holding back his goodness of learning to follow him because I'm not willing to follow the people that he's placed in my life around me. And so um, so I I just see these apostles doing everything. They they got the ordination from Jesus to lead the church and they're doing everything. And it comes to a point where it's like they can't do it all, they can't loan wolf it, they can't do it all on their own. They have to start delegating, delegating to these deacons in order to take care of the people that God's entrusted that to them. And that that comfort zone of when when you can control it all, when you can be in charge of it all, when you can be the visionary and the executor of that vision, you have a lot more control. And and yet for me, God's calling me to release that control, to step into the passenger's seat, to step into a place of following others' leadership. And that's a really, I don't like it. I'm not gonna lie, but it's also really growing me and it's really challenging me. And and I see that in this this story for the the the comfort zone it that the apostles need to step out of is letting go of some control.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Yeah, that boundary there is it's that loss of control, which is scary, and being responsible for everything, which is both overwhelming and comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah. And oh yeah, it's super overwhelming to be responsible for everything, but it's also comfortable because it's well, at least I know what's at least I'll do it.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

At least I have control over myself and what I do. I can do that. I don't know, I can't control other people, and that's scary. And and note here also that stepping out of your comfort zone doesn't mean that you that you just give up the focus on the ministry that you do have. Like, it's like if there's something comes up, it's like, oh, that is uncomfortable. I I don't want to do that. Maybe I should just because oh, I gotta step out of the comfort zone. The the comfort zone here was not to go step into the ministry. Let's say that the apostles may have felt a little uncomfortable going into do, you know, organizing some ministry. Maybe that's outside of their comfort zone. Just because that problem existed didn't mean that their next best step was to go fix it.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

We don't have to we don't have to search for, oh, that's outside of my comfort zone, so therefore I must step into it. It's really the opposite of God will call you to step into things that are out of your comfort zone. But the comfort zone isn't the call. The call of the Holy Spirit to release something or to step out is the call.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Yes. Yeah. So in Acts chapter 7, then moving to the next chapter, uh, we see Stephen here. Here's one of those deacons who was called up. And uh Deacon Steve. Deacon Steve is his name tag.

Stephen And The Fear Of Death

SPEAKER_00 15:16

And uh and he spoke the truth boldly, very similar to the apostles, how they were, you know, they had a fear of consequences that they had to trust God to overcome. We see everything escalated with Stephen because Stephen had a fear of the loss of his life. That was that was the boundary of like not just consequences, but but deadly consequences. And many of us will not be in this situation, but we see that uh this was this was I think the first time we had seen someone actually killed in this new era of the church, right? Like this was like, oh wow, no, they're they're coming at us now. It's not just scaring us on trial. Because and and we had seen like even the Pharisees and stuff, they're like, Well, they didn't arrest them because they were afraid of the people who were, you know, who liked the apostles. This was like, you know what, they just stoned this guy, they killed him, and it's like, yikes, that just jumps everything up a level. Yeah, and we may not relate to uh uh of the the possible deadly consequences of us trusting God and not here in the West, but in other parts of the country, in many parts of the world, that's very common. Um, but let's not you know, let's not neglect the idea that that that sometimes consequences just get escalated. Whatever that looks like in your situation, you you recognize like, oh, this is worse than I thought, or this is worse than it used to be. And the same things we talked about with with the apostles about needing to take that first step and trusting that the Holy Spirit will will guide us the rest of the way has to be applied here. And what what's unique about the situation is that Jesus met any fear that Stephen had with his face, like Jesus himself appeared to Stephen. And Stephen in the moments of his of when he was presenting his defense and when stones were clocking him upside the head, like he saw Jesus just welcome welcoming home and and Stephen wasn't afraid because he saw oh well I'm just gonna take my next step to Jesus. Jesus like took away the fear of death. I don't know when that happened. I don't know if I don't know when Stephen maybe was afraid of the possibility of dying or rocks being thrown at him, but Jesus stepped in and welcomed him home with seeing something that that Stephen had not seen or sensed before. Um again, we may not be in this exact situation, but we serve the same Jesus who steps in when the rocks are being thrown, literally or figuratively.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

It um it it reminds me of Jesus' words of whoever um tries to save their life will lose it. Whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. And it just the preservation of our own health and life and safety is so ingrained in our um instincts as humans, as living beings. We want to preserve our own lives. Um, and yet the kingdom of God even flips that instinct upside down to say that whoever loses their life for me will find it. And so um the being willing again to step out of the comfort zone of just preserving our life, and that might be a physical, that might be like your actual between life and death life, like Steven. It might be some more social death or relational uh life or death situation. Um, but g being willing to risk the preservation of our life for the sake of the gospel is absolutely a boundary that the Holy Spirit will call us out of.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

That's good. In Acts chapter 8, we see Philip kind of jump to another apostle doing some other things. Holy Spirit's been busy, and Philip uh encounters this Ethiopian

Divine Appointments Across Difference

SPEAKER_00 19:24

official in his chariot. He runs up to him and says, Hey, what are you reading? And then through there, through that conversation, uh this Ethiopian official gets saved. And uh and what we see here is uh kind of on both ends, there's just cultural differences, right? It's it's uh Ethiopian. He was on there on mission from like his queen Candace, uh, and Philip is a Jew, and God just dumps him in places like, and you're gonna be here now. And um, and it reminds me of these just unexpected appointments that we end up having. Whereas like I I had a an idea of how my day was gonna go, and then I found like, oh man, this this person is taking up way more time in my day than I than I expected. Uh and and so we have to be obedient with these little appointments and be ready to give an answer to to someone who asks. Like I think Peter says. I can think of a couple appointments. Uh one I I knew I was faithful to, and and one I knew I was not. Um I'll start with the one that makes me look good and I'll end on the one that makes me look bad. But um I I just remember I was biking to the grocery store to just pick up a couple things. Obviously, I'm on a bike, so I'm I just had to go get a couple things real quick. And I'm leaving, and I see this uh he he's a homeless guy, and but he and he's muttering to himself outside the grocery store. Like, oh, well, and I keep driving or I keep biking through the parking lot, and I just felt like God was saying, So are you willing to stop and talk with him? And I'm like, but I I don't know. Kelsey's home and expecting these groceries, and I uh it's like, are you willing to go talk with him? I was like, Yes. Okay, so I turn, I turn around and I I go talk with him, and it was it was a very difficult conversation. There was some mental illness or d or some demonic influence that made it very difficult to have any conversation, but ended up buying him some lunch in the store, and and I said, I'll buy you some lunch in the store afterwards, can I pray with you? And so after coming out of the store, he got him some lunch. He's like, Alright, well thanks, have a good day. I'm like, no, hold on. The deal was I I I want to pray with you after this. Okay, so I prayed with him. What were the consequences of that conversation? I don't know. It was not as clear as this Ethiopian official that Philip talked to, but it was definitely one of those appointments that at the very least God was just like, Are you willing to or are you too busy? You know, you have something else better to do, or are you willing to go talk with someone that I bring to your attention? Uh I wish that, you know, always. Made me sensitive to all of those situations as they come up. But I mean, I can also think of another uh young woman on a plane that uh I was sitting next to, and she she wasn't feeling well, I'm not exactly sure what was going on, but she was younger, she seemed kind of scared or sick or something, and I was like, Well, she's sick, she probably wants to be left alone. I don't know. And I don't know, just we we don't have anything in common. I don't want to be creepy or bother her or anything. Um, and so I didn't say anything, the whole plane ride. Then we get to the layover, we're in LaGuardia, and I'm I'm in a waiting area, and she walks into the waiting area, sits down, and tries to kind of curl up and fall asleep again. And I was like, oh well, look, a second chance. Here it is. Did I take it? No. Uh uh, because that's that's a big tough one for me as far as the comfort zone goes, is talking to someone with a a cultural difference, or just or the appearance of like we have nothing in common, or I don't know, that I don't I don't want to interrupt them. But God wants to, and He's inviting me to do it, and then it's not an interruption, it's showing up for a scheduled appointment as far as God's concerned. But uh God doesn't make you do these things, He invites you, and you have the choice, and it's your blessing to miss, I suppose, at the very least. Well, Acts chapter 9, we see a comfort zone being stepped out of on behalf of Ananias, because God says, Hey, this guy who's been persecuting Christians,

Forgiveness Without Trusting First

SPEAKER_00 23:50

he's mine now. I want you to go pray for him. Like, I'm sorry, I've heard about him. I know how bad he is, he's killing everyone. And God's like, Yeah, I know, that's that's the point. Go pray with him. Uh and so what a what a bold move by Ananias to go forgive someone who's harmed you and to pray for them, to pray to God on their behalf. Uh who's hurt you? Like, who who has hurt you or those you love, and God's not letting you avoid them any longer? Do you have to forgive someone who's hurt you? I know with Ananias, I'm sure there was a uh something in his mind if he didn't say it out loud. Like, I just don't trust him. Like, how am I supposed to trust him? And what we see in the story is it's not about trusting them. And we may think that about the person who's hurt us. It's like, okay, maybe even if I do forgive them, I don't know if I can trust him again. Oh, I I understand, but but it's not about trusting them necessarily right now, but it is about trusting God. Do you trust that God is working in this relationship and changing that person? Do you trust God's ability to transform someone's heart and make them into a completely new person? It's about trusting God, and that is a scary thing. Who in your life are you having a hard time trusting again? Who do you need to forgive in the first place? Can you trust God to do what he does? Then that will enable you to walk into what seems like maybe a dangerous or compromising situation where you don't want to get hurt again. But if God leads you, then he will he will protect you and he'll show you what he's been doing.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Oof, Mike, that's actually having to live this faith thing out loud. What you're asking is too hard.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

You're right. I take it back. Yeah, no, this I'm this is it's just it's just real stuff. And I I can I'm thinking of people now, I'm not gonna list them on the podcast, but I think of people who've hurt me or hurt someone that I love, and do I want to run into them in the grocery store? No, I don't want to. And but that's when this Christian life is not really about what I'm comfortable with or what I want or don't want. Because it's it's disobedience, really, at worst, or and best case scenario, you're missing out on a blessing of seeing what God's doing and in someone's life, and and I don't really want to miss out on that either. So, well, here we are. I I get, you know, we trust God. Just be just be in communication with God. Like we don't have to figure this all out on our own. I don't know if I can trust Him again. Well, what's God saying? What's God teaching you? What's God showing you? Speaking through Scripture. Well, now that that should be enough for us to be able to take at least a bold step anyway and see what God's doing. Leads us to Acts chapter 10, where we see this boundary that Peter had to step over into a a whole zone outside of his comfort zone because Peter had been very

Peter Learns God Breaks Boxes

SPEAKER_00 27:08

comfortable in the traditions of Jewish customs and what he had understood already of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the Holy Spirit came upon us Jews because Jesus came to save us Jews, and we're we've been God's people for generations. And then all of a sudden, he gets invited to this situation to witness the Holy Spirit fall on Gentiles, and he has to come teach them the gospel and present them with with the the good news about Jesus that he thought was not for them. We we see and we talked a little bit about this when we read the episode, but God works outside these boxes that we build. We build boxes, and inside these boxes we put everything that we understand and that we expect and that we think we know. And God's like, I mean, that's cute, but I I don't I don't work in those boxes. Those are your boxes. Let me show you something. Put like step out of the box. And are you willing to follow me into what I've been doing? Like, you it's it's no greater example than what it says in Isaiah about God's ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are greater than our thoughts. It's like obviously we have our ways and we have our thoughts, and there's nothing wrong with that, but what's wrong is when God is trying to show us something greater that he's been thinking and working on, and we're just these well, it's what Jesus called old wineskins. This, I mean, I I would imagine that Peter came flooded with the memory of new wine being poured into what needs to be new wineskins to be able to expand with what God is doing new, and uh, and just to say, wow, like and what are the effects of that? It's that awe of wow, God is so much bigger than I thought. If we're not willing to expand our understanding of our expectations of God, then we're never gonna say, wow, look at God.

unknown 29:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

That's why it's so important to get out of the boxes that we keep our thoughts and expectations in. That's good. Because we can't say wow. And God's whole his whole thing is to show us stuff that makes us say, wow, that's glorifying God. That's that's worship, is just wow. Not just those CDs from the 90s of wow, worship. Uh, but I'm I think it's a great title for a worship CD because that's that is the heart of worship. It's just saying, wow, God, look at you. I want everyone, wow, look at hey guys, look at God. Like that's worship. And if we are so set on what we think church should be, or what we think Christian life should be, or what we think the Bible's saying here, or what I think I know the Bible is saying without even reading it, or what I expect of people and relationships, then alright, then I guess you worship some other God who's really small and looks a lot like you. Are we allowing ourselves to say wow to God? It requires stepping out of our comfort zone of what we expect and what we're familiar with. So, as I posed at the beginning of this episode, what comfort zone do you need to step out of? What boundary

What Boundary Do You Cross

SPEAKER_00 30:37

into the scary unknown do you need to step over and into? As you chew on that a bit, let me pray. And we'll wrap up this conversation. God, thank you so much for calling us out of our comfort zone. I don't want to say thank you for that, but I know I should because that's where you show yourself to be bigger than we ever thought, to be more powerful than our greatest fears, and to be good in a world that is putting on the pressure more and more. We thank you for it, and thank you for your word and for the uh just the time here today to be able to talk more practically about how your word can infiltrate our life and come out of us and and can see you change the world around us through through the little things that you teach us every day. Thank you so much for this, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

unknown 31:26

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Thanks for joining us here on the Out Loud Bible Podcast on this episode of Living Out Loud. Thanks, Kelsey, for joining me here as always. I enjoy talking with you, and we'll see you next time.