Breakthrough - Making Room for Breakthrough, Part 1

This is not all there is any, do you believe that you believe that what you're experiencing today is not all there is no if I told you right now God is orchestrating events and circumstances, people and relationships to bring about a breakthrough shift in the status quo of fresh awakening in your heart his spirit and that he wants you to get in on the action. The question is will you be ready find out yesterday. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Living on the Edge features the Bible to helping Christians live like Christians in a series called breakthrough publishing God's power into impossible situations. Chips already given us the first of this program shows us up that's common to all breakthroughs of the Bible and in church history like I'm glad you're with us for this one because it's going to shed a lot of light on your personal pathway to breakthrough.

Let's get going showing here's Chip with his message making room for breakthrough, Bible devotional called magnificent prayer about prayer that I read just about every morning, I came across the quote that literally can energize my whole view of breakthrough.

It's by a preacher of the 19th century. His name is Phillips Brooks and he said this praying the largest prayers you cannot think a prayer so large that God in answering it will not wish you had made it larger is that an amazing thought.

You cannot pray a prayer that no matter how large it was that after you have prayed it. God would wish you would've made it larger than I love the last nine he says pray not for crutches but for wings don't pray for little help to get through the situation. Pray to soar, and it just reminded me God is good God wants to bless you. He wants to intervene. He wants to take the most difficult situations.

The most difficult relationships the most amazing things that you couldn't fathom in your neighborhood and at your job with your relatives and with your past and with your struggles and he wants to blow his power into them and change. Can you imagine would you just cuddling back for second just let your mind imagine what it would be like.

Can you imagine what your neighbors knocking on the door and saying you know something we kind of known little bit that you're one of those Christians would you lead a Bible study in our neighborhood we would like to discover who Jesus is or can you imagine going to work one day and into the person. That's a jerk and the person that you wish would leave you coming in and saying excuse me, can we talk and you get over there because I was riding on the bus and some really weird looking person started talking to me.

I just wanting to go away and talked about Jesus in life and eternal life in payment for my sin and I have no idea why was listening. The I found myself at a park bench, later sitting down and I prayed to receive Christ in you, imagine that. Can you imagine one of your relatives that I mean just mean cantankerous you just think there's no hope for and having them calling you and saying you know what I just trusted Christ. God really loves everyone. God can do anything.

What would you wanting to do what would you want to do in your life and maybe it's not a neighbor or a boss. Maybe it's like you know you struggled that alcohol that porn addiction. The guilt from the past from a divorce or an abortion.

You just an issue inside were you know you just sensitive tried a number of times and for you. It's a spiritual issue. It's not even a weight issue is to keep eating food when you know you're not really hungry and keep hitting it hitting it hitting it in your down on you and you live in shame what would happen if the power of God was released in your life and through your life working to learn that he wants to do it but working learn also that we have to make room Isaiah 53 is the biggest breakthrough God talks about a Messiah is going to come and liberate and bring light messiahs can accomplish that is going to bring life and forgiveness. But in chapter 54 he says to Israel at a time when I mean their life is not going well and breakthrough doesn't even seem possible.

He says this to them.

Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings spare not, lengthen your cord strengthening your praise why you will spread abroad to the right into the left your descendents I mean their captivity. Your descendents are going to resettle cities and nations.

God is going to use you he saying you need to make room for the huge and amazing blessing beyond what you can imagine is coming and what I want you to new is that you and I have to do that in a private lives.

We gotta do it in our relational lives.

We need to make room. Even in the church to let God work. So what is a breakthrough. It's an offensive thrust that penetrates and carries beyond a defensive line in warfare were in a war that's a war for your soul. It's a war for the future but breakthrough isn't something we wait around. Hope God will do some day, some way some time. God has promised and wants to. It's something we do. Only she makes it happen.

But this initiative on our part. It's an act or instance of breaking through an obstacle, so breakthroughs have to do with there's resistance it's difficult. There's a barrier in breakthroughs always have a sudden advance change happens there's a difference we find in our personal lives or in a group or in a church or in a city or as we see globally. There's a great need in the great need is caused by great sin, instead of just missing the mark were not doing life God's way and sin always leads to great bondage.

People become slaves become slaves of food, slaves of money slaves as sex slaves of power breakthroughs come when people not realize there in pain and difficulty in their bad people and they don't measure up, and they God would never want them. Breakthroughs come when they understand the goodness in the kindness of God. It's the tolerance of God. It's the love of God. It's the patience of God. Romans chapter 2 tells us that leads us to repentance, to a change of mind I want you to know that whatever breakthrough you're struggling with whatever breakthrough you would long to see happen in your family. The breakthrough will come not when you're down on yourself and I can't measure up. I need to get with the program.

The breakthrough will come when you can begin to grasp that God is waiting with open arms and he loves you and he loves people that you don't think much of any cares about them and he literally wants you and me to be agents of kindness and love. It doesn't mean there are boundaries. It doesn't mean there is a truth. It means that you aren't there. Judge God is in the judgment of God by large just the consequences of people's behavior and then God over and over and over and over he does it. Individuals, he does in families. He does in small groups. Historically, his dozen churches. At times he doesn't whole cities and then there's times where we've even seen in the last 40 or 50 years.

He does it in nations where there is a revolution of breakthrough in the kindness and the goodness of God. God's deliverance comes through a clear, strong vision of what of God's goodness and mercy. Notice where does this clear, strong vision of God's goodness and mercy it's birthed in ordinary people that meet the great needs by unleashing God's power in impossible situations. What were talking about is not for special people that get in stained glass. Someday what were talking about is the God of the universe that wants to take the person that sitting in your seat and get you to believe and to trust that he so good and so kind and so willing is so powerful that he would use an ordinary person like you to receive that and then pass it on if what I just said is true and it's borne out in Scripture it's borne out in church history. How does breakthrough actually happen. How does it happen. This is, in theory, this isn't what authors should or maybe could happen someday, some way how does it happen Mansour is the pathway to breakthrough involves three things but I want you to know the pathway to breakthrough involves God's sovereign work in the world. First and foremost member. You see, it's his sovereign work in his people, and finally little bit later will see it's his sovereign work through his people. The second one at a time. First of all God's sovereign work in the world. When you look at how God has broken through, and seasons in the Old Testament in captivity in the coming of Christ in major things like the Reformation. When you see what happened in China or in Korea, and South America or in Africa in the last 90 or hundred years. The pattern is all the same. Number one, there's external pressure external pressure stuff starts happening, economies, politics shifts famine, plagues, difficulties.

There's external pressure in the world simultaneously. There's an internal deterioration.

This is a picture of the Roman Empire. God didn't just come at a certain time. Galatians 4 forces when the world was pregnant when it was ready when the world was right for a breakthrough. There was external pressure. There was ethnic divisions. There was problems with the economy.

There was Romans in Greek culture and conflict, and there was internal deterioration, infanticide, families, women being passed around being divorced, seven, eight, nine times, there was a global crisis and into that breakthrough. Jesus came and you see that pattern God sovereignly works really talk about our responsibility that John if you would in the corner. Job 42 to near the end of the book. If you know the story of Job. He's been through a lot and he didn't know what was going on behind the scenes, but as he is near to the end of the book and sees life for how it is.

This is what Job says I know all God that you can do anything and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. I will tell you this, no purpose of God will be thwarted in your life in this country in any nation or in all of history. God is sovereignly at work and he will take the air and the pain the disobedience the judgment the faithfulness of people and he aligns those things and he brings about the velvet vice of external pressure and then is the way people live began to deteriorate and they realize they have need. He creates windows of crisis in individuals lives. Windows of crisis in groups and in churches and in cities and in nations and when there's responsiveness we make room, and when we make room the spirit of God blows with power and he works in individuals and revolutions occur and we seen it happen over and over and over. Second, it's a sovereign work of God, not just in the world, but he always begins with his people. When happen to be a follower of Christ for a while after a while that we start doing as you know that you know the problem is Hollywood. Are they just put out a bunch of lousy stuff or what are you know what, it's the government. I mean, let's let's have coffee and just talk about the government or even what the educational sit right for others. Corporations courts all those lazy people.

What we tend to do is we find someone else. Somewhere where the problem is to blame and I will tell you this.

Here's God's perspective. Repentance always begins with the household of faith is the principal God must work deeply in you before he will work powerfully through you.

That's always his agenda. He worked in Paul he worked in Peter, you look at what happened in China. He worked in people external pressure. Persecution can kick the ministry missionaries out you look at Korea pagan nation you look at what's happened in South America you look at the last 90 or hundred years in Africa.

At the current rate. There will be more black Christians. The white Christians in the world because of the movement in the power of God, but he always starts in us.

He was puts his finger on what he wants to do in us and so individuals have a breakthrough like an apostle Paul in the group has a breakthrough like the church in the early church breakthrough is to realize you can imagine this. You mean God doesn't just love Jews.

I mean this was like hundreds of years of breakthrough he cares about them and after that breakthrough then you see communities impacted. As it rolled out of the New Testament you go from the Jews to than the Samaritans.

The mixed breed then by chapter 10 it's the Gentiles, and what you see is a spontaneous movement of God, and often centered around cities city movements are birthed and nations are transformed.

In 1857. It's interesting story and there's many more of these and 815 1857 morality in America was in the pits. If you know some of the research from 1857, about 1890 or close 1900. It went from about the average of seven kids to three kids because abortion was so widespread in America and thanks. Believe it or not, to the feminist and American medical Society.

They said how were treating women abortion was just basically birth control pushed on women in 1857 with the external pressures in the future. Internal deterioration a group of people thought something needs to happen and they started praying in New York City and metal prayer meeting they just begin. It took three request answers to request answers through question answers and all I can tell you is, they made room for God and I said you know we got a big problem in this country is going down the tubes and boy there's all kind of issues and its family issues and moral issues and economic issues and and pretty soon something happened and thousands of people were taking their lunch hour all over New York and praying and pretty soon it went to other major cities and literally statistically millions of people came to Christ and there was a re-shifting and rebalancing. Why is God worked in his people, but when God works in his people. The litmus test is not that they get together and go oh I love Jesus.

Now we need everything Christian.

I love being with Christian people. Let's read the Bible more and I want to be a church, not three times a week but seven times a week and in fact will have Christian bowling and will have Christian Denniston Christian doctors in Christian recording artist and and and Christian everything about I want Christian floss with a Christian toothbrush made by Christians make great toothpaste and what happens is the privatization and thinking that this movement of God is about our little world and there's the bad people out there and somehow that we are God's people totally misses everything God wants to do. That's not a breakthrough.

The litmus test of when the spirit of God supernaturally works is he's orchestrating things in the world sovereignly and then he begins to work in his people dynamically and then his people get it and they begin to deal with issues in their heart and their relationships and many works through them supernaturally. Notice God's sovereign work through his people.

Here's what happens.

There's life and since it comes not because I'm trying hard.

I'm going to church more and praying harder for God, please listen to me. It comes because we Christians realize the good in life isn't out there it's from God.

We start believing our own message is the constable he's merciful I'm a Christian. I love God and I have in the eating disorder. I'm a Christian.

I love God and I got one divorce my pants.

It looks like another one on the radar.

Soon I'm a Christian. I love God I have the secret happen on the Internet, Christian. I love God, I hurt my back in the game of those pain pills and now my back is better, but the pain pills are still with me, Christian love God but I'm working like 90 hours.

I am telling myself it and we feel shame. And so what most Christians do is try to project everything's okay and think it is down deep you don't believe God's good you don't believe these patient you believe is tolerant. Unlike the product you don't believe you have a father that's going, son, daughter, come home understand you're the take 10 you do in life your way instead of my weight down on you every day.

What did the father do.

What if's, today one is coming today and so Jesus what he says to the church so we can work through assist, come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, or stressed out and trapped with sin and shame and difficulty. I'm not down on you all the judgment that I have already placed on my son, you're forgiven. Come to me and he ready don't have some little emotional experience, to me, all of you that are laboring and stressed out and under pressure and I will give you rest. Take my yoke.

The picture of you know the oxen and Jesus says I'm on the side. I want you to get your life hooked up with mine and I want you to let me lead the power infected your side of it will be like my burden is light. It's not burdensome.

I want you to do marriage Highway and what you do, your finances, my wife how much you do, thinking my weight what you discover how much or how little or what to do with the media the way I would why someone to give you the best in all the mistakes and all the junk you have to hide from me. You have to be in shame. I want to forgive and restore, just like I did when you first trusted me and then I want to do life with you.

I don't want to empower you and we need to erase some of those old tapes and some of his lies and some of the stuff that is just absolutely messing you up because I'm good. I'm unmerciful what mercy is we do know what the word means means you don't get what you deserve. We don't believe God's merciful we think you know in a common he's got a big ruler you like this cosmic ruler.

Now when we come we gotta get honest and it changes but you gotta come in when you do, here's what happens to all those people around you is not just working in the world and is not just working in you, he starts working through you and your focus instead of all your energy on trying to find the good out there and hiding in shame from God's neighbors are known and loved coworkers observe excellence, integrity and concern communities in the deepest needs are met, the poor get said HIV patients get a drive to the doctor and you're not concerned about how they got it because you realize you know what God, mercy, and goodness is really as much for everyone else in the world as it's been for you. Paul would say I was a chief among sinners. Some of us are so uptight about people sliced our their behavior or where they're coming from, or the direction of this or that were not kingdom people anymore were our people don't mess up our little world and our country like it's ours. I got news for you, the kingdom of God is near in the kingdom is I want you to think about these people. The way I do their hurting lost. They have needs to have herds. The relationships are working there in bondage and I want to set them free from love that begins to produce some things listening to part message breakthrough series breakthrough publishing God's power into a possible 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 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@livingontheedge.org special offers on the shipping remap or give us a call at AAA 83336003 will trip. We know from recent experience that tough circumstances can slow businesses and create new ones in ways we never expected and the seams have been with us is a ministry we've eased off on certain things and on the other hand, new ways to minister of opened up and just taken off like a rocket got good you chose little bit about that one day that has me. We did some things in China in the Middle East, pre-coded, but some webinars begin to emerge. And we've been asked by networks literally of tens of thousands of pastors in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America and they'd ask us. We started monthly global seminars and we in this year as soon as we can.

Travel will be doing some light training in countries in whole networks around the world and it's created great opportunity in great demand, and one of the things we need is for people to partner with us now. Some can make a large gift now and then but we need a cadre winged team. We need a army of people that could give each and every month because when we think about the number of pastors and leaders around the world and here in the United States that we want to help. We need to have a steady financial base and that only comes knowing that each month X amount of dollars are going to come in and so were asking the listeners of Living on the Edge and whether that's here on the radio or on the Abril. However, they get Living on the Edge were asking them during this time, would you pray would you ask God, would you be willing to go from a a listener or a supporter to a monthly partner so that's my request. We want to walk through the doors that God is open but it's gonna take a new commitment on our part but also a whole new army of monthly partners like strip well if you're a regular listener, but you've never really thought about helping others benefit from the ministry of Living on the Edge.

There's never been a better time even in the midst of hardship and shutdowns God's opening avenues of ministry. We could never have anticipated door inviting you to join us by becoming a monthly partner to set up a recurring donation, call us at AAA 83336003. The donate button on the app or donate online@livingalltheedge.org. Together we can minister an amazing ways without her strip with his application. As we close today's program. I realize we have really covered a lot of material and as my wife often reminds me chip you talk so fast. So let me encourage you if you happen be in the car on the treadmill or maybe some kids in the back seat door you're on one of those Palatines and here you're grinding it out. I let me encourage you to go to Living on the Edge all one word.org and download the message notes when I taught this for the first time and I begin to share it in small groups. I have to tell you I watched God breakthrough. I watch God do things and people that they thought were impossible and what I want to remind you is, is that it doesn't happen just by listening and hearing and intellectually acknowledging what we learned in today's messages God sovereignly works in the world. So that means right now at this moment he's working he's working in your circumstances, the good and the bad. What you think is ugly and difficult keys. Orchestrating things is like that picture of the beautiful tapestry you look on the one side, it is really beautiful but if you look on the backside. I mean there are knots and strings in all kind of junk. And God is orchestrating things in your life to bring about good and many of those knots. Many of the strings. Many of the difficult things he's really preparing you he's creating a new level of dependence. As you lean in and as you seek him, he wants to bring about the best in your life, but often are you ready it gets harder or gets worse before it gets great all through Scripture member. The disciples was later 5000 people in a by the way you guys feed them, and they go. It's impossible. He's is what you have, God allows impossible situations to create dependency that make you and me lean in, in a way like never before. And then when we get to the end of ourselves and we trust him. There's breakthrough in our next program. I'm going to be sharing the personal pastor breakthrough.

Don't miss it Living on the Edge we want you to know about an easy way to listen to our extended teaching podcast here chip anytime on Amazon's Alexa echo and echo.just say Alexa open Living on the Edge and you'll hear that these extended teaching any time you want well for Chip and everyone here is really saying thanks for joining us for this edition of living will be a