Breakthrough - The First Step to Breakthrough, Part 1

What circumstance in your life is so big, so overwhelming, so difficult that it looks impossible to conquer? God wants you to know that you can experience His power like never before. That there is a breakthrough in situations as you learn to trust Him for hope and for healing.

Today, we begin a journey, how to unleash God's supernatural power into your impossible situation. Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Druey. As we begin this new series called Breakthrough, it might help if you take a second to identify something in your life you'd like to see change. You know, you're not listening to Living on the Edge today by accident. But if you're tired of the junk and hopelessness that bog you down, this series is going to provide the direction you've been looking for. Open your Bible, if you will, if you have one, to Mark chapter 1.

And let's join Chip now for his message, The First Step to Breakthrough. I was in a town in West Virginia where my wife grew up. And I won't mention the town in case they ever hear this.

Of course, they would know who it is. But it's a place that, you know, in its prime was maybe 300 people and maybe it's down to 50 people. And probably 90% of the people are unemployed. And there's house and shack. And it is just, it is the most depressing place I've ever been in my life.

There's so much junk and they've seen it so long they don't even notice it anymore. And so we're going to talk about breakthrough. God wants to unleash power into your impossible situation. There's five specific questions that I begin to ask and answer about how you understand breakthrough happens, where it begins, what's the first step. Question number one, you know, you're going to have to start with the basics is, so what is a breakthrough?

I mean, God is speaking to me and I'm thinking, I literally looked it up in the dictionary. I mean, what do you mean by the term? Three key definitions.

Number one, it's an offensive thrust that penetrates and carries beyond a defensive line in warfare. See, when I've thought about breakthrough, honestly, I often keep thinking, you know, I've read about it in church history and I've seen it in the Bible. Someday, someway, God, and we're going to see these amazing things happen and we're going to watch a breakthrough. And sort of it's like we wait for it to happen. Breakthroughs are not something you sit around and wait for. It's an offensive strike through enemy lines. God does it, but he's already commanded it.

He already wants it to happen. A breakthrough is when you take an offensive step and say, I'm going to act on what I believe is true, and then I'm going to trust God is supernaturally going to do the impossible. The second is it's an act or instance of breaking through a barrier. A breakthrough is that there's a barrier, you're stuck, and it could be a relationship, an addiction, a lie, a false belief. It could be what you've been through.

It could be an environment at work. But isn't it interesting that Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. What was he saying? He says the church is moving offensively and when it hit barriers, here's the promise. I will be with you always and all power is given to me. You believe, you trust, we'll break through.

So we know this is on God's heart. The third definition that was interesting, it's a sudden advance. There's a process and we'll walk through the process. And there's investment and there's prayer involved and there's people involved and there's thinking involved.

And there's some steps that you take. But as those things culminate, there's change, there's differences, failure in relationships and addictions. God moves in powerful ways and what people experience, boom, there's a breakthrough.

There's a sudden advance. It happens in individuals, relationships, organizations, in churches. And sometimes God does it in whole societies and cultures. I love the quote by George Mueller. He said, remember today that you can never bring about the supernatural through natural means.

Don't even try. And then Mueller who never made his needs known and supplied the needs of literally thousands and thousands of orphans daily wrote, faith doesn't operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which man can do. Faith begins where man's power ends.

And so part of what we're going to talk about is how does that happen? How do you unleash God's supernatural power in your life and in your home and in your relationships and in your neighborhood and in your work and what and how does God release that in a church? Well, that's what breakthrough is. Question number two, is there a biblical pattern for breakthrough?

In other words, these are kind of interesting ideas but I don't know about you. I'm sort of committed to scripture. There's a biblical pattern and so what I did, and by the way, I'll spare you.

I won't go through it. I found myself on a plane asking that question and I started about three hours earlier and I started writing from memory, from Genesis all the way through Revelation of breakthroughs that I saw, breakthroughs that I saw, breakthroughs that I saw. And I started even with, you know, God could have spoke one word and bam, we would have all creation.

He made it. He can do it any way he wants but even how God did creation gives us insight about his heart and what he wants to do because when we get creation in the beginning, he doesn't just tell us how it all happened. He creates and he says the earth is formless and void. Those are very interesting Hebrew words that mean lifeless, dead.

Later, they're used in places where there's chaos, lack of life and then what happened? He speaks and when he speaks, let there be light, it's good. Let there be plants, it's good. He speaks, he speaks, he speaks, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good and then he creates us, it's very good. He breaks through darkness.

There's a reason he tells us because that's the pattern. Everything in life, mark this, every single thing in life is either broken and deteriorating and moving toward chaos or it's moving toward health and restoration and healing, everything. And the eyes of the Lord are going to and fro throughout the whole earth that he could find a man or a woman or a student whose heart is fully his so that he could strongly support you just where you're at, right where you live with the IQ and the gifts and the background and the experiences both good and bad that you presently possess so that he could use you as an agent of breakthrough to stop the darkness and the chaos and the corruption and the wickedness and to bring light and healing and love.

That's the game plan. Well, I went through actually the whole Bible and I wrote for three hours. Here's what I can tell you just in terms of does God unleash supernatural power to overcome the impossible? Well, once you get beyond the amazing story of creation and then you see the drift, the idolatry, the evil, the wickedness, then one man finds favor named Noah and he's an agent of breakthrough and God protects, intervenes. And then he, after the human race begins to get rebuilt, he finds Abraham and the process of Abraham becoming the beginning of a nation that would be the jewel that God would demonstrate his power and his goodness and his plan is always I love people, I love people, I love people, I love people.

He wanted to be with us in the garden and walk with us in the garden. He forgave Adam and Eve and then over and over and over but the hearts of men, we just bend and drift away from God and we end up corrupt and greedy and selfish and hurting one another. Wars have always been with us and God keeps intervening and so with Abraham, he's a hundred years old living off a promise that he's going to have an heir one day and so his 90-year-old babe has a baby.

It's a breakthrough. Would you say that's unleashing God's power into the impossible? And then after Abraham, you find that there's desolation and famine and difficulty and so a Hebrew slave becomes the most powerful man in the world under Pharaoh.

To do what? Break through and deliver the people. Four hundred and thirty years later, now they're in bondage and slavery and there's an idol in every corner in Egypt and what happens? He brings Moses to do the impossible. Ten supernatural acts, each one declaring Yahweh, the God of Israel, more powerful than the gods of Egypt.

And then there's a breakthrough at the Red Sea and then there's a breakthrough with the man and then there's a breakthrough with water out of the rock and there's a breakthrough where his presence is with him. And then Joshua comes along and, this is the land, I've already given it to you, you possess it. I'm good, I love you, I want you to have vines that you didn't plant and wells that you didn't dig and houses that you don't have to build.

You're my people, I love you and I want to bless you and express that to you. But there's a lot of big guys over there and there's this big walled city and so, impossibility, the walls fall down. And we go all the way through scripture to these cycles. Here's the cycles that you see because it becomes very clear in Judges and all the way through the Old Testament, later through the New Testament and New Church history is there's great need and the great need is caused by great sin. So people are hurting, people are discouraged, people have problems. The great sin brings about bondage, people were in slavery and sometimes it's whole nations or sometimes it's individuals. They're slaves to their sin, slaves to corrupt government, slavery and bondage, the sex trade. I mean, you can go all through history this pattern and then this God who created us loves you and loves these people.

As far away as anyone has ever been from God, he still loves them and he's compassionate. And judgment occurs and by judgment what I mean, consequences come to help us understand, you know what, how we're living is not the way to live. It's in the great kindness and love of God that the velvet vice begins to come on nations at times in the past and it comes on people and this judgment of things don't work and then he raises up a deliverer who breaks through.

A deliverer who is like a Samson or a Gideon or a Deborah and then later a Samuel. And cycle after cycle, this cycle right here happens at least six times in the book of Judges. And I would tell you that it happens the rest of the Old Testament, New Testament and church history. But the impossible happens, walls fall down. Each time with Gideon the impossible happens, 300 men defeat a whole army.

And then the story goes on and what is it? It's the story of the supernatural power of God reminding you that the walls that you have can come down. The giants that you face, the unleashing of God's power like with David, they can fall just like they fell for him. And then you have a series of horrendous times where all these kings turn away from God and yet then Josiah pops up and Hezekiah pops up and Asa pops up and they start reforms and every time there's a reform there's a breakthrough and there's prosperity and there's love and there's fellowship and God has worshiped and then people drift away again and we get 400 years of silence. The greatest judgment in all the world is when you can't hear God's voice anymore. And then the ultimate breakthrough.

We're talking about the pattern, we're going to look at the pathway. And part of the pathway there are certain seasons where God prepares people and certain seasons where He prepares organizations and certain seasons where He prepares the entire world for major breakthroughs. And what we have in Jesus is the greatest breakthrough, God's supernatural power unleashed. Open your Bible if you will, Mark chapter 1 and what I encourage you to do is read.

I'm going to give you sort of mountain peaks, I'm going to walk through some mountain peaks because here's what I want you to see. So often we start reading and many of us have been Christians for a lot of years and this is Jesus and this is what He said and sometimes we miss the whole point. The very first verse of the book of Mark, this is the beginning of the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's about God's goodness.

It's about God's not down on people. The word good news, it wasn't a Bible term, it was borrowed from the day. When a king would go to battle and win a victory, they would make an announcement, good news. They would have a gospel announcement.

Our king defeated that other group and all the people would celebrate, we're free. The gospel was an announcement. Now here's what I want to do, I'm going to walk you through a little journey and I'm going to skip around a lot because what I really want you to see is how did Jesus, are you ready for this? How did Jesus teach His disciples to experience breakthrough? If you're taking notes, the first question was what is breakthrough? The second question was is there a biblical pattern of breakthrough and I think we've demonstrated that.

The third question, how did Jesus teach the disciples to experience and be agents of breakthrough? Now you'll notice I've already quoted the very first verse. This is the beginning of the gospel. It's written to the Romans, you need to understand the Roman mindset.

They're powerful, they're proud, they respect action and power. And so this gospel writer doesn't spend a lot of time in genealogies, not a lot of time of quoting Hebrew fulfillment. I mean he comes out of the gates, Jesus, the man of action. And so in a relatively few verses we have his introduction, his baptism and his temptation.

And then notice as you pick it up in verse 14, after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee. His ministry starts, notice what he does. This is what Jesus came to do. He did not come to get people to live moral lives. He did not come to give them a philosophy or worldview or to become a good religion on the salad bar of other religions. He came to proclaim the good news of God. He came to make an announcement. The God who made you loves you. He wants to bless you, he's for you.

He wants intimate fellowship and relationship. The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God is near and then there's a command. Two fold, repent and believe the good news. Repent, metanoia, it means with your mind. Have a change of mind. Think differently about God, think differently about yourself and start thinking about it the way God thinks about it. And believe the good news. Believe that God's for you.

Believe that he loves you and live out of the freedom and the reality. The gospel is not what can I do for God, how can I earn his favor. The gospel is good news. This is what God has already done for you.

Receive it, believe it, let it fill you up and then out of thanksgiving and love, express that same kind of love to others. Now with that said, how did he teach his disciples? I mean you think about it, the creator of all of life decides to inhabit a teenage girl supernaturally, lives a perfect life, begins his ministry and this is the message, this announcement.

So what does he do? And here's what I want you to see as I walk things through. He wanted to teach these good Jewish religious boys that he didn't come to change the culture, he came for people to move out of their stuck religion and the wickedness of the day and to have a relationship with the living God and so he announced what it was and then as you look at the book of Mark, what I want you to see, his goodness, his goodness, his kindness and he's kind and good to people in that day that religious people would say don't deserve anything. The religious system of Judaism and especially the Pharisees is we earn our favor, we're more righteous, in fact they were just self-righteous. So as you pick it up, notice, okay, he's going to announce the good news, skip down if you will to verse 21. Then he went to Capernaum and the Sabbath came and Jesus went into the synagogue and he began to teach and the people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of law and there was a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit.

What do you want to do with me? The first thing he does is eradicate evil. He's quote in the church of their day and there's a guy demon possessed, he casts out the demon.

So there's sort of some authentication, whoa, who is this guy? The next thing he does as you skim, look at verse 29, he goes over to Peter's mother-in-law's house and she's sick and people are wondering wow, who is this guy and he heals her and then if you skim down a little bit after that what you find is there's a real buzz here and he spends almost all night and the whole town comes out, he casts out demons and heals, casts out demons and heals, casts out demons and heals. I mean it is like a rock concert starts and he is like whoo and people are coming from everywhere and then he gets up real early the next morning to pray to stay focused and the disciples say, Jesus, last night you were a super hit, everyone's talking about you, this is going to be awesome, come on back. And he says no, no, no, no, I'm on mission, there's many other villages and places I need to go.

So he teaches the disciples it can't be about them, it can't be about us, it can't be about just now, it's fulfilling what God wants. You've been listening to part one of Chip's message, the first step to breakthrough from his series, Breakthrough, unleashing God's power into impossible situations. When you need a supernatural intervention, this series is a powerful resource that will help you find the direction you're looking for. From the first step to a new normal, Breakthrough is a life changing series not to be missed. Now to get all the messages and really dig in, there are both audio and video options for you, including online streaming with a study guide. For previews and ordering details, check out Breakthrough at LivingOnTheEdge.org, special offers on the Chip Ingram app, or give us a call at 888-333-6003.

That's 888-333-6003. Well now, here's Chip. I'll be right back in just a minute, but I want you to know that breakthroughs don't just happen. And there's a few tools that have been absolutely critical, at least in my own personal life and in the lives of people I know for breakthroughs. One of those for me is having a reference point, understanding what is God doing in my life, being able to look back and process things. It helps me abide in Christ.

It helps me to get thoughts that are confusing out of my head, and it gets them very clear. And this tool is called a journal. And I know for some people it's like, oh, a journal, I don't want to keep a diary or write my whole day.

No, no, no, no. A journal has many purposes, but what I want you to know is that it allows you to jot down just a few thoughts, this is where God spoke to me, or this is what I'm going to do, application, or writing a very specific prayer request, or writing down, this is what God is speaking to me about. And you don't want to forget that. As I've kept journals, what I want you to know is that when I get deeply discouraged, I go back and I read them and I see the hand of God and the work of God. And so at Living on the Edge, our creative team has put together a really beautiful journal, and they have a little portion there where I talk about how I do it.

And then there's lyrics and inspirational words from historic Christian figures and maybe a lyric from a hymn. And so it's done in such a way that keeps you moving along, and there's plenty of room for you to write. And then at the very end, it has a place for very specific prayer requests and prayer answers.

What I want you to know is that if you don't have some discipline where you can know this is where I'm at, this is what God is doing in my life, and this is where I'm headed, if there's not a place that you can document those things, you will lose perspective. We would love to help you, and Dave's going to tell you how you can get this beautiful 200-page journal to help you in your breakthrough. Well, it's easy to be excited about our new prayer journals because they're so well done.

They're beautifully bound in a couple of different colors with embossed gold or silver trimmings, and inside, it's even better. Chip's given you a few of his journaling tips. There's a dedication page if you want to send it as a gift, and there's tons of room for you to do your own personal journaling. For a limited time, our brand-new prayer journals are discounted, so I hope you'll check them out today. You'll find all the details at livingontheedge.org.

App listeners will find them when you tap Special Offers, and for more information, just give us a call at 888-333-6003. Well, now here's Chip with a final thought. As we close today's program, here's what I know. Everybody wants and needs a breakthrough in some area of their life, and so here's what I want you to do. I want you to just think in your mind and your heart, what do you long to see God do in your life? I mean, instead of the status quo, the way it's always been, certain things that you've accepted, they're just going to be the way they're going to be.

What one area, if God would choose to pour out supernatural, dynamic power that would literally change things, impossible things, what would that one thing be? And all I want you to do today is to identify it, and then I want you to sort of in your mind's eye bring it to God and say, Lord, maybe I don't even have enough faith to believe that you could act in this area, but I want to go on this journey and I'm going to ask you, would you increase my faith? And then let me encourage you, be with us for our next broadcast, and if you happen to miss, get online and stay with me this whole series.

I think God's going to do something special in your life. As we wrap up today's program, just a quick but important thought, Living on the Edge depends on listeners like you to help us continue programming right here in your area. Now, would you consider partnering with us on a monthly basis so people around you will continue to benefit from the ministry of CHIP and Living on the Edge? Now, to set up a recurring donation, call us at 888-333-6003, tap the donate button, or go to livingontheedge.org. And thanks in advance for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, be with us again next time when CHIP continues his series, Breakthrough. Until then, for everyone here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.