Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Outside the Comfort Zone

“Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them.” (Romans 15:18 nlt)

Saul of Tarsus, later the apostle Paul, came from a good Jewish home and was very devout. He also was a member of the Sanhedrin, which was somewhat like the Jewish Supreme Court of the day. And he was a former student of the legendary rabbi Gamaliel. He had everything going his way.

So you would think that when he came to believe in Jesus that God would call him to bring the gospel to his fellow Jews. Instead, the Lord changed his name from Saul to Paul and gave him his primary mission of taking the gospel to the Gentiles.

God took Paul out of his comfort zone, calling him to go to people that he probably didn’t want to go to. Yet Paul embraced his mission with abandon and great passion. And his greatest joy was that people believed.

Writing to the Christians in Rome, he said, “Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them” (Romans 15:18 nlt).

Paul easily could have boasted about a lot of things, saying, “Hey, I’m Paul, the greatest theologian in all of history.” Or, “I’ve been to Heaven and have come back to earth. I was caught up into the third Heaven and saw glorious things.” While these things are true, Paul never said anything to that effect.

Instead, the apostle boasted in the fact that God had allowed him to share the gospel and lead people to Jesus Christ. And he saw them completely changed by Jesus.

Paul understood that his calling was to tell people about Jesus, to seek to lead them to Christ, and to get them on their feet spiritually. And by the way, that is our calling as well.

Copyright © 2020 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.

Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.

is god real lee strobel greg laurie devo offerIn thanks for your gift, you can receive a copy of Is God Real? by Lee Strobel.

In a world that insists God is just a myth, there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary that demands our attention. Renowned author Lee Strobel takes the question of God’s existence head-on in an engaging new book titled Is God Real? Tackling the big questions of life, this fantastic resource is both easy to read and useful to share. We will mail you a copy in thanks for your support of Harvest Ministries this month. 

Click here to find out more!