Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
God wants to do something impossible through
you. Not hard, not unlikely, not difficult, but
impossible. He wants you to experience his supernatural
power in ways that are literally unimaginable.
The question is, how does that work? What do
you need to do in order to experience that kind
of life -changing breakthrough? That's what we'll
cover today. Stay with me. How did Jesus prepare
his disciples for breakthrough? Today on Living
on the Edge, Chip Ingram takes us inside Jesus'
ministry training program. Watch how Jesus deliberately
teaches his followers to recognize his goodness,
power, and compassion. From healing the sick
to feeding thousands, every miracle had a purpose,
to show that God isn't just powerful, He's good.
It's all part of our series, Experience Breakthrough,
learning to stop feeling confined by life's biggest
barriers and spiritual futility. If you're ready
to see God work in ways you never imagined, this
message is for you. Let's join Chip Ingram with
the first step to breakthrough. 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? It's
twofold. 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 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?
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.
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 the 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. 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. 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. 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 2, what's he do? He heals a paralytic.
And then in the end of 2 and the early part of
3, he calls the disciples, deals with some theological
issues. And then chapter 3, 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 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 follow 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. Well, notice he appoints
the 12, and they come with him. And then chapter
4, he begins to do some teaching, which is always
very important. So he teaches them about the
kingdom. And then after he teaches them about
the kingdom, he wants them to understand that
they are agents to bring breakthrough in the
lives of people. And we don't have time to go.
into depth, but I encourage you to read it on
your own. Chapter four, he teaches about the
kingdom, about trusting God, about the soil,
it's responding to God's word. And he talks about
how it grows with the mustard seed and how if
we don't respond to the truth that we get, we
don't get more truth. And he talks about how
it's a supernatural thing that happens and in
and of itself, it will grow. It's the power of
God's word as the Holy Spirit uses it in the
hearts of people that are open and willing. And
then he says, let's go to the other side because
what he wants to do now He has helped them see
this is my message. It's good news. But now he
wants them to understand this is who I really
am. And I'm not only good, but I'm powerful enough
to handle anything that ever comes up anytime
with anyone. And so he says, let's go to the
other side. And these professional fishermen
get into an impossible storm. And what's he do?
You know the story? He's at peace. He's asleep.
They cry out. He speaks. And what happens? It's
a breakthrough. And they go, who is this guy?
And then they go to the other side. And there's
not just a guy with demons. If you read it later
today, very carefully, it's a demoniac that has
a legion of demons in him. And no one, in other
words, it's impossible. No one can control this
guy. Anybody have demons in your life? I don't
mean necessarily literal ones, but I mean, we
talk about, you know, the demons from our past,
our family of origin, my addiction. And there
may be some literal ones. And what's he do? He
speaks and he's healed. And he wants them to
know that it really happened. So the demons get
into pigs. So visually you can see this is reality.
And then they go back across, and as he's going,
he hears there's a little girl that's very, very
sick. And as he's walking, there's a woman who's
in an impossible situation. I mean, the author
makes it very clear. She's used up all her money.
She's sought all the doctors she can find. Nothing
works. But she believes there's goodness in this
man. She's heard. She's seen. If I could just
touch him, and she does. The goodness of God
is so great that... Jesus unaware when someone
draws near to the goodness of God by faith, supernatural
things happen. She's healed on the spot. And
did you notice what he said to her? Daughter,
you're what made you well? Your faith. But she
got to the point that George Mueller talked about.
I'm bankrupt. There's nothing I can do. If this
Jesus can't help me, if I don't get a breakthrough,
there's no hope. And then he's on the way to
help the little girl. The servants come. It's
too late. Don't bother him. She's dead. And this
might be worth putting your nose in. Mark chapter
5. Ignoring verse 36, what they said, Jesus told
the synagogue ruler, don't be afraid, just believe.
Are you starting to get the gospel? It's a declaration.
It's an announcement. How is he teaching these
disciples? What's he doing? He's demonstrating
the goodness and the love of God. And then if
you would care to skip over to chapter 6, the
beginning, because hearing about it and watching
it never makes it real in your life. So chapter
6, he says, boys, I'm going to send you on an
expedition, but I want you to depend on me and
I want you to experience what you've seen. So
no cloaks, no second bags, no money. No, walking
sticks. I want you to go to these villages. I'm
on a preaching tour and I want you to heal the
sick. I want you to cast out demons and I want
you to announce the kingdom. And they go do it
and God works through them. Whoa! And they come
back to him and they're exhausted and they're
excited. They're now agents of breakthrough.
Lord, the demons, they listened to us. People
were healed. He says, well, let's go get a break.
And they go to get a break and as they arrive,
oh, my lands. He makes Mick Jagger and every
rock star. in the entire world seem like nothing
because the crowds swell and swell and swell
and swell and swell. He has compassion on them.
And so in chapter 6, don't miss this. In chapter
6, the disciples, after he teaches them, by this
time, verse 35, it was late in the day, the disciples
came to him in this remote place. He said, it's
already very late. Send the people away so they
can go to the surrounding countryside and villages.
and buy for themselves something to eat. Notice
Jesus' response. But he answered them, You give
them something to eat. 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.
Now, I don't know about you, but I've, you know,
they've seen some miracles. God's used them to
perform some of the miracles. There's been some
breakthroughs. There's 5 ,000. The way they counted
in those days were 5 ,000 men, who knows how
many people. Okay, listen very carefully. This
is what we lost. Jesus expects you to do impossible
things. Period. God expects to do impossible
things in you and through you. And if you go
on and read the story, you will say, well, how
does it happen? What's he do? He said, well,
what do you got? I'm not asking you to do something
with what you don't have. What do you got? Bring
it to me. Trust me. And when you understand by
faith how good I am, and you're willing to obey
what I've already said, I will show up in ways
that declare and reveal my glory and my goodness
to people that have no idea that I love them.
That's what breakthrough's about. Now, when I
read things like that, I get very encouraged.
But I also begin to ask questions like, number
four, is there a historical precedent that breakthrough
can happen in our day? Right? In other words,
this is great. This is great stuff. It's Bible
stuff. But does God still do that? And I would
say, if we could do a quick run of church history,
of which we won't, what I'd say is you would
see that the book of Acts is a picture of breakthrough,
and there'll be many things that we'll learn
about what these very ordinary people did. Where
God, through a clear vision of people who believed
what he said, who were very ordinary, transformed
by about the next 300 years the entire world.
And during that time, you'll find guys like Athanasius
who stood his ground when all of Christianity
was moving in a way apart from the truth. And
there was a breakthrough. And you'll see times
where then corruption happens in the church and
they get connected in this, quote, Holy Roman
Empire. And everything that Jesus said and all
that he taught and who we were to be, little
by little by little, would begin to just be so
far away from what was happening in the life
of the church. And so he would raise up a St.
Francis over here and a group of monks over here
and a Teresa Avia here. And then a John Huss,
a Czech priest who said, wait a second, and it's
the Bible. And then a Luther, a Calvin, and a
Zwingli and a Reformation would be birthed. And
they did it imperfectly and they did some wonderful
things and then they did some really terrible
things in the midst of it because God doesn't
use perfect people who have it all together to
do breakthroughs. They have blind spots. And
then after that Reformation you have People like
Tyndale who said, you know something, we've got
this printing press. I'm going to start making
Bibles in English that people can get. And Huss
made a copy. You know, breakthroughs are expensive,
really expensive. They burned Huss at the stake
as a heretic. Probably the greatest breakthrough
that happened in the last 500 years was Martin
Luther. And in my journey here, it was led very
clearly by God to study Martin Luther. Because
the parallels of what was happening in 1512 through
about 1560 are very akin to what's happening
in our world today. Here's the historical context.
The Holy Roman Empire is now in cahoots with
the church. There's corruption. No Bible for
the common people. The only person who could
interpret the scripture was the Pope. Only priests
had access to God. The church and the church
laws was the authority, not the Bible. People
were paying at this point for their salvation
and indulgences, trying to pay their way out
of hell into heaven. And there was ignorance,
poverty, a functional caste system with the nobles,
hierarchy of the church, and most of the world,
illiterate peasants called the Dark Ages. After
Huss blazed the trail, literally, no pun intended,
Martin Luther shows up. He had a tortured childhood,
very strict, strict parents. That's putting it
mildly. He had a conscience that he could never
get right. And he found himself longing to please
God and he did get a good education, but in the
middle of his education in law school, he had
this horrendous experience, some sort of lightning
or thunderstorm along with the loss of a friend.
And he promised God, he prayed, according to
church history, he prayed to Saint Anne, if you
get me out of this, I'll be a monk. And he lived,
and so he went to be a monk, Wittenberg. He got
his doctorate, his master's, then his, became
a teacher at Wittenberg. And he had no peace
in his soul. I mean, it was a complete works
orientation. The justice of God, the justice
of God, what God demands, said Luther in his
own words, made me hate God. I hated God. And
he was like. obsessive compulsive over the top
I'll do whatever it takes he fasted he did all
kind of weird things to himself he went on pilgrimages
he prayed for long I mean he just anything that
can earn God's favor and he would always come
back realizing his own heart his own motives
and he just hated God and so his supervisor but
you're a monk it's hard to be a monk and hate
God I mean it's not a good job and so his supervisor
had him do his doctoral work in the original
languages where he taught the Psalms, Romans,
and Galatians. And after teaching those courses
for about three years on a certain day at a certain
time, For the first time ever, he read what the
Bible said, not the indoctrination of the heresy
that he'd heard, that the just shall live by
faith. Therefore, we have peace with God since
we've been justified by faith. And the lights
came on, and Luther had what he described as
an evangelical awakening, and he thought it was
no big deal. What he realized was, I've just
rescued the authentic gospel, and he began to
teach it, and things started happening in Wittenberg.
And he literally, the first was 97 theses, not
95. And people were excited and there was a movement.
And there was conflict with the Holy Roman Empire
and God and his sovereignty had this king, Frederick,
who really liked Luther and so the Pope didn't
want to mess with him. And then he did the 95
theses later and I mean all blank broke loose.
And one man stood very imperfectly and because
of that the Reformation And here's what happened
to you because of that breakthrough. All individuals,
you, normal people, can have a personal relationship
with Christ. Salvation is by faith. Salvation
is a gift of God's grace. You are a priest. You
can talk to him directly and God wants to use
you. Marriage was elevated. Peace and assurance.
A joyful life. Not living under the thumb of
this angry God. Scripture is the authority of
your life. No teacher, no church, no organization.
The word of God is your authority. The equality
of men and the basis of democracy are all rooted
in even peasants matter to God. You know what
the message was? God is good. God is good. God
is loving. God is great. God wants to bless people.
He doesn't think any more of kings than he does
of peasants. Germany went through this tumultuous
time and the king hid Luther and he translated
the Bible. into German for the common people.
And despite his horrendous views of Jews and
some of his anti -Semitic, they were terrible
early on, and then as he grew in Christ, he moderated
them, and then near the end of his life, he got
frustrated. He said some terrible things. I mean,
he was a very blunt. You would read some of his
stuff and go, are you kidding? And the only thing
I can tell you is, it's encouraging to me. Because
I don't know if the Lord will come back or...
maybe there'll be another 50 years, but if I'm
dead 50 years from now, I'm sure there's gonna
be some people that'll listen to or read a sermon
and say, you know, how could Ingram be just,
I mean, he seemed like he was really on about
this, but he was so off. I mean, that, because
we are a product of our culture and environment,
but we don't know it. And God can use ordinary
people where you are in your life now. So the
first question is, so what, What is this idea
of breakthrough? Is there a pattern in Scripture?
Yes. How did Jesus teach his disciples? Is there
historical precedent? And I mean, it's happening
through history. And after Luther, it goes on.
And I mean, we could talk about then the next
generation of them and what Cary did. And then
Wesley and Whitefield and Edwards in America.
And then the next generation of Moody and Spurgeon.
And then the end of the century, Amy McPherson
at the turn of the century and Billy Sunday.
And then all of a sudden a war and Dawson Trotman
and Billy Graham and Bill Bright. Regular, ordinary
people like you and me. Whom God becomes so real
and so good, they live out of what he's already
done for them and they believe it to the point
that they begin to look at other people as objects
of God's love and mercy and they begin to treat
and think and act that way and live with a joy
because they don't have to measure up. You already
measure up. That's the gospel. Final question.
Maybe the most important one. How do you experience
the first step of breakthrough? And I'm going
to tell you it is so easy to say and so hard
to experience. Are you ready? It's to believe
that God is good. Not intellectually, I mean
believe. It's to believe that he is willing.
It's to embrace. That God wants to do not something
hard or difficult, but the impossible in you
and through you. It's his will. If you were one
of his disciples, he would turn to you. He would
look you right in the eye and say, you feed him.
And you go, what? You reach your neighborhood.
What? You be the breakthrough at work. What?
You take the first step in the reconciliation
of this marriage. What? You break that addiction
and bring other people with you. What? It's what
he expects. And all the power is available to
do it. How? I don't want you to intellectually
be, oh yeah, when I was there, it seemed like
God really loved me and he cares about me and
I'm valued and I'm forgiven and his spirit lives
in me and I have gifts and he's got a plan for
my life. Yay, yay, yay, yay, yay. And then Monday
morning. I want you to read this over and I want
you to put your name in it. Because I want you
not to memorize this or say, God will love me
more if I get this down. This passage was not
written just to read at funerals. This is one
of the most graphic pictures of God's goodness
in all the Bible. And when you personalize it.
I mean, just in preparing for this, I just read,
the Lord is Chip's shepherd. Chip lacks nothing.
He makes Chip lie down in green pastures. He
leads Chip beside quiet waters. Wow. He refreshes
Chip's soul. He guides Chip along the right path
for his namesake. Even though Chip walks through
the darkest valley, Chip will fear no evil, for
you are with Chip. Your rod and your staff, they
comfort Chip. You prepare a table for Chip in
the presence of Chip's enemies. You anoint Chip's
head with oil. Chip's cup will overflow. Surely,
goodness and love will follow Chip, not somebody
somewhere sometime, me. All the days of Chip's
life and Chip, we'll talk about promise, will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I want
you this week to write your name in there, and
I want you just to read it over. And by the way,
as you're reading, if you slip in to start praising
God, it's okay. If problems about, oh, I mean,
God would really give me direction or help me
get through this, and you start thinking and
thoughts come to your mind that solve problems,
that's okay. If you renew your mind next seven
days, okay, at least a couple times a week, your
intellectual assent that God is good will move
from your head into your heart. And you will
begin to see differently. And you will begin
the first step for breakthrough. This is Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Did you catch what
Chip just taught us? Jesus didn't just perform
miracles to show off his power. He was teaching
his disciples and us that God is good and he
wants to work through us. Chip will be back with
one more thought, so please stay with us. As
we continue this series on Breakthrough, we want
to make sure you have tools to help you dig deeper.
That's why we're offering Chip's free 10 -day
devotional called Psalms of Hope. This isn't
your typical devotional. Here's the format. Each
day, Chip gives you 10 minutes of focused teaching
on Psalm 1, Psalm 15, or Psalm 23. Then you take
10 minutes alone with God to meditate, pray,
and let His Word sink deep into your soul. Just
20 minutes a day for 10 days. You'll discover
how these psalms address the very issues we're
talking about in this series. How to find strength
when life feels impossible. How to stay close
to God when everything's falling apart. And how
to experience His presence even in dark valleys.
Whether you're dealing with disappointment, fear,
or just need a fresh encounter with God's goodness,
Psalms of Hope will meet you exactly where you
are. It's completely free at livingontheedge
.org. Just search for Psalms of Hope and start
your journey today. Here's what makes all this
possible. Faithful friends who invest in this
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us to keep creating resources and delivering
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you listen. Subscribe today and share it with
someone who needs to hear this. Well, now here's
Chip with a final thought. As we close today's
program and you think about the breakthrough,
I mean, the impossible thing, and right now you
may not really be able to believe that it could
happen, but I want you to know that God is good,
that he is your shepherd, that he is for you,
that as the text says in Psalm 23, his goodness
is literally running after you. It's pursuing
you. It's amazing to think about that the God
of the universe, all powerful, that he knows
everything about you and cares about you. And
he wants to do good things, better things, even
that you could think or imagine. And so I have
a little exercise that will help you begin to
little by little start to get that from an intellectual
concept to something in your life and heart that
you could really believe. And so what I want
you to do is get Psalm 23 out right in front
of you, and then I want you to rewrite it. And
I want you to rewrite it where you put your name
wherever there is a personal pronoun. And it'll
feel a little funny at first. In other words,
the Lord is Chip's shepherd. He's going to lead
Chip in paths of righteousness. He restores Chip's
soul. I mean, that's how I've done it. And as
you go through that sort of meditatively, you'll
thank God. And, you know, four or five minutes
just before you go to bed pondering that. And
now you've planted that in your subconscious.
And the Holy Spirit is going to begin to help
you conceive and believe that you are precious
and valuable and protected and God loves you.
In fact, there's one verse that summarizes. Psalm
23 very well in the New Living Translation. It's
Psalm 86, 5. And I love the way he puts it. It
says, Oh, Lord, you are so good, so kind, so
ready to forgive to everyone who calls upon your
name. I just love that. So good, so kind, so
ready to forgive. And here's the condition to
all of those who call upon your name. Could you
believe today that the beginning of breakthrough
is believing that God is good and He wants to
be good to you? Ready to make room for God's
breakthrough in your life? I'm Dave Drewy, inviting
you to hear what that looks like tomorrow on
Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced
and sponsored by Living on the Edge.