Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
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. What impossible situation are you
facing right now? Maybe it's a broken relationship,
a health crisis, or a problem that seems too
big to solve. Well, today on Living on the Edge,
we begin our series, Experience Breakthrough,
learning how to stop feeling confined by life's
biggest barriers. Chip Ingram launches a new
series on unleashing God's power into impossible
situations. From the opening pages of Scripture
to the life of Jesus, we'll discover that God
specializes in doing the impossible. He hasn't
changed. The same God who parted the Red Sea
wants to work powerfully in your life today.
Chip titled today's 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. 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.
Now, 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. 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. Is there 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 happens? 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 the, 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 100 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. 430 years later, now they're in bondage
and slavery, and there's an idol on 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 are
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. You're listening to Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram. We'll hear more from Chip in
just a moment. If you've missed any part of this
message, or if you'd like to share it with a
friend, you can find it anytime online at Living
on the Edge. And while you're there, you'll also
discover a full library of Chip's teaching series,
small group resources, and practical tools to
help you grow in your faith. It's all waiting
for you at livingontheedge .org. Now let's get
back to today's message. 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
is worshipped 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,
you know, Hebrew fulfillment. I mean, he comes
out of the gates, Jesus, the man of action. And
so, 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. It's twofold.
Repent and believe the good news. Repent. 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. And so notice then he begins a preaching
tour. And in chapter two, what's he do? He heals
a paralytic. I mean, in that day, people thought,
you're paralyzed? You must have done something
wrong. It's the old bad karma. So he starts out
healing people, declaring war on demons. Then
he heals this paralytic. And then in the end
of two and the early part of three, he calls
the disciples, deals with some theological issues.
And then chapter three, notice, he went into
a synagogue again. And there's a man with a shriveled
hand. His popularity is mushrooming. And now
the Pharisees are jealous. And so here's someone
now. If you have a shriveled hand, you're unclean.
You don't measure up. And they wanted to see,
what's he going to do? And what's he do? He speaks,
doesn't even touch him. He speaks, and the man
is healed. Afterwards, the Pharisees, the religious
people, are plotting how to kill him. Then the
crowds followed Jesus. Skip down, if you will,
verse 9 of chapter 3. It says, because of the
crowds, he told the disciples to have a small
boat ready for him to keep the people from crowding
him, for he had healed many so that those with
diseases were pushing forward to touch him. What's
the message? It's a new preacher, and you say
to yourself, what's he doing? He just keeps healing
people and healing people and touching people
and touching people that no one thinks is worth
anything. It's good news. This isn't measuring
up. He just keeps loving people. And if you're
one of his early Jewish boys, disciples, you're
going, this is really different. And did you
notice? It's not about how many services they
have or how many buildings they're building.
What is it? It's his power. The world today doesn't
need to see more church buildings or more services
or our numbers increase for that sake. They need
to see the power of God in you and in me, in
our homes, in our work, in our neighborhood,
unleashing the power that does good. That's the
gospel. And that's what he wants to teach them.
This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Today, we heard how God has a proven pattern
throughout history of unleashing His power into
impossible situations. And friends, that pattern
hasn't stopped. We'll hear more from Chip in
just a moment, so stick around. As you think
about the breakthrough you need in your own life,
I want to tell you about a powerful resource
that can help you build spiritual strength for
the journey ahead. It's a free 10 -day devotional
series from Chip called Psalms of Hope. You'll
learn how to study these ancient songs of hope,
discovering spiritual truths that can sustain
you through life's darkest moments. Whether you're
feeling let down by God, shaken by circumstances,
or just need fresh assurance of His promises,
these psalms will meet you right where you are.
Psalms of Hope is completely free and available
right now at livingontheedge .org. Just look
for Psalms of Hope and start building that daily
habit of study. contemplation, and prayer. Resources
like Psalms of Hope are made possible by listeners
who believe in what God is doing through this
ministry. When you support Living on the Edge,
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-changing truths that are impacting you. Would
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on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other major
podcast platforms. Well, now here's Chip with
a final thought on today's topic. 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, in
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. How did Jesus teach his disciples
to experience breakthrough? I'm Dave Drewley,
inviting you to find out tomorrow on Living on
the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored
by Living on the Edge.