Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Did you ever notice that good things come in
small packages? Interestingly enough, Jesus was
a big proponent of small. If you long for a breakthrough
in your life, here's what you need to know. Absolutely
small is the birthplace of breakthrough. Stay
with me and discover how to open it up. What
if the breakthrough you're seeking won't come
from doing something bigger? but from starting
something smaller. Today on Living on the Edge,
Chip Ingram reveals a pattern that runs throughout
scripture and history. God's most significant
movements always begin with absolutely small
groups of people. Three people in a car, 12 disciples
around a table, 120 believers in an upper room.
It's part of our series, Experience Breakthrough.
From Jesus reaching a Samaritan city to the explosion
of the early church, we'll discover why size
matters only in reverse. Here's Chip Ingram with
Absolutely Small, the birthplace of breakthrough.
Spent about an hour in a car with a good friend,
and out of the blue he turned to me and goes,
you know, this breakthrough stuff's messing with
me, man. You hit me right between the eyes. I
said, let's get this clear. I just talk. If you
get hit, it's God. He said, okay, well, God hit
me between the eyes. I said, well, what do you
mean? And for the next hour, he began to very
candidly and honestly talk about some issues
in his life that he knows this is right and this
is wrong and right now this is wrong and I know
what I need to do. And then he had that look
on his face like I was not many brain cells working.
Now, do you understand if I do what's right,
the implications? And he started going through
relationships, finances, reputation. And I just
said, man, you believe God is real or not? You
believe he can take care of you? You think this
is any different than when he said to the disciples,
feed the 5 ,000 or feed the 4 ,000? You just
got to believe. He goes, I know. I got it. I
got it. And I had to believe that he's probably
not the only one. Now, here's what I want you
to get. You're on the verge of breakthrough.
Absolutely small is the birthplace of breakthrough.
You can have catalysts. You can be moved. You
can step out. You can start. But the birthing
of breakthrough happens in what I call absolutely
small. Look on your notes. Size absolutely matters
only in reverse. To birth and sustain breakthrough.
A book I've been reading, great book. It's a
little heady in the first part, but it will be
an intellectual challenge, but super insightful.
It's by Andy Crouch. It's called Culture Making.
He studied how cultures develop and how things
happen in cultures and how they're shaped. He
writes, every cultural good, whether a new word,
a law, a recipe, a song, or a gadget, begins
with a small group of people. And not just a
relatively small group of people, but an absolutely
small group. No matter how many people it goes
out to or the mass effect, it always starts small.
And this means that no matter how complex or
extensive the cultural system you may consider,
the only way it will be changed is by an absolutely
small group of people who innovate and create
a new cultural good. In other words, rapid change,
significant change, Any change of any kind that
is major always starts with a very, very small
group. He goes on, the optimal size of this small
group I suggest is three. Sometimes it's four
or five or occasionally you can pull it off with
two. But three people can fit into a Mini Cooper
barely with room for luggage. Three people can
talk on a conference call and convene around
a table in a meeting or chat online without anyone
getting bored or distracted or feeling superfluous.
Three people can sit in a booth in a restaurant
and hatch an idea. But the surprising pattern
that emerges when you study the propagation of
new, dynamic, innovation, cultural goods is that
these three concentric circles are never very
large. They're almost always absolutely small.
The optimal size, as I've studied, is 3 and 12
and then 120. These circles are small enough
so that people can know one another's faces.
They can be intimately acquainted. They know
one another's talents and limitations, and they
know how much to trust and how to verify. And
then he goes on, and whether it's the movie industry
or the corporate world, or he even gets around
and realizes that, you know, Jesus had of the
12, he had three. And then there were the 12,
and at Pentecost there was 120. And he goes through
ideas, and whether it's the starting of MySpace
or Facebook or Google or CEO, CFO, CIO, he just
goes through and says it always starts small.
And I want you to know that whether you're on
the verge of potentiality and you're thinking
and praying and dreaming and God's put it on
your heart, what you need is an authentic, smaller
group of people to get on board with you, to
dream that dream, to pray with you and take some
risk and say, let's do this together. And if
you're on the other side and you are pregnant
but conflicted and you realize this would mean
I would need to move out and I'm presently living
with someone. This would mean I'd have to get
my finances in order. This would mean I'd have
to say I'm sorry and make restitution and forgive
someone that I hate their guts. This would mean,
oh, and you're just thinking, I just can't do
it. I know I should. I know I want to. I can't.
You need to be in a small group of safe, loving,
caring people. That say, regardless of the implications,
whatever happens will be there with you. And
what I want to tell you is that's the pattern
of Scripture. Everyone here believes that God
wants to change the city, right? I mean, all
through Scripture, isn't that what He does? I
mean, have you ever kind of done a little look
at this Bible and realized, like, the names of
these books? When God wanted to change the world,
He wrote a book to the Corinthians in the city
of... And the Ephesians in the city of? And the
Thessalonians in the city of? And to the Romans
in the city of? What are those? Those are the
most influential cities in the world. But it
always started what? Jesus, a small group of
people, the 12, the 120, and then that got multiplied
and birthed here, there, and everywhere. Well,
did you ever wonder how Jesus reached a city
and how he taught his disciples to reach a city?
Well, if you didn't, you should. And here's your
lucky days. That's what we're going to look at.
Open your notes, if you will, and let's look
very specifically at how Jesus reached a city.
And today he's doing it in London and Paris and
Hong Kong. John chapter 4. Very, very interesting.
I think the goal here is so the disciples learn
later when he leaves and gives them the mission,
how to pull this off. If you open your Bibles,
John chapter 4, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, it's
the gospel. The story opens as the Pharisees
hear that Jesus is gaining and baptizing more
disciples than John. And it's actually not Jesus
baptizing, but his disciples. And so he chooses
to leave Judea and he goes to Galilee. He's going
to go on the non -Jewish side of the lake. And
he says, verse 4, now we need to go through Samaria.
So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of ground that Jacob had given
to his son Joseph. And Joseph's well was there,
and Jesus was tired from the journey. And he
sat down by the well, and it was about the sixth
hour, or it's noon, and it's very, very hot.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus
said to her, will you give me a drink? Sidebar,
the disciples all had left to go get food in
town. And she's shocked because Samaritans are
a half breed. The cultural division, I mean,
is absolute. Jews hate Samaritans. Samaritans
hate Jews, A. B, men don't initiate conversations
with women. Women were subhuman in that day.
And so she's wondering, one, you're a Jew. I'm
a woman. It's an odd time of day. And the reason
she's out at this time of day is because there's
a little colorful past and she's rejected in
her community. And so when all the other women
go out and draw water, she doesn't want to be
there because she's not accepted. So she's out
here by herself. You, a Jew, ask me for a drink?
For Jews don't associate with Samaritans. Jesus'
response. If you knew the gift of God and who
it is that asks for a drink, you would have asked
him. And he would have given you living water.
Sir, the woman replied, you have nothing to draw
with and the well is very deep. where will you
get this living water? Are you greater than our
father Jacob who gave us this well and drank
from it himself and also his sons and his flocks
and his herd? And Jesus said, everyone who drinks
this physical water will be thirsty again. But
whoever drinks the water I give him will never
thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become
in him a spring of water welling up to eternal
life. Now, here's the woman's response. I love
this. Sir, give me this water so I won't get
thirsty and I have to keep coming back to draw
water. Boy, if you've got this, it sounds great.
And so he throws out a little test, like many
of you are in right now, like my friend is in
right now. He says, oh, you want water? You're
thirsty? You want me to meet your need? You want
to spring up in you eternal life? Why don't you
go get your husband? We'll talk about it further.
Her reply, I have no husband. Jesus said, you're
right. When you say you have no husband, the
fact is you've had five husbands and the man
you have now is not your husband. What you have
said is quite true. And contrary to how I think
most of us would read this text, I think he was
affirming her honesty and vulnerability, not
condemning her, as we will see. You're listening
to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll
continue our lesson in just a minute. If you've
missed any part of this series or want to dive
deeper into the principles we're learning about,
everything is available at livingontheedge .org.
You'll find the complete message library, small
group resources, and practical study tools, all
designed to help you experience the breakthrough
you're seeking. It's all there, waiting for you,
at livingontheedge .org. Well, now let's continue
with today's message. Sir, she said, I can see
that you're a prophet. Our fathers worshiped
on this mountain, but you Jews claim the place
we worship is in Jerusalem. So I guess, man,
anybody that knows this, you're reading my mail.
There's no way you could know this. You must
be a prophet. I guess we're going to talk religion.
Let's change the subject. You say this mountain,
you know. And Jesus says, it's way bigger than
what mountain or where. Jesus, verse 21 says,
believe me, woman, the time is coming. when you
will worship the Father neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what
you do not know, but we Jews worship what we
do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet,
new dispensation, new truth. A time is coming
and has now come when true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and in truth, for they're
the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God
is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him
in spirit and in truth. You might in your Bible
circle or highlight in your mobile device, seeks.
Literally, it's pursues. The father is pursuing
and seeking and running after people that don't
know him. That they might turn and worship him,
not in some external form, but in spirit and
in truth. The woman said, I know, okay, we're
getting down to patriarch. Well, I know that
the Messiah, the Christ is coming. And when he
comes, he'll explain everything. Now, this next
line is absolutely amazing because the Pharisees
can't figure out who he is. The disciples have
been foggy on who he is. And after he heals people,
he says, don't tell anyone because of all the
mushrooming of crowds. But here is an immoral
woman who's a half -breed, who's despised, who's
rejected, and she gets honest. And here's the
truth she gets. Then Jesus declared, I who speak
to you am he. I'm the Messiah. Just then his
disciples returned and were surprised finding
him talking to a woman. That is an understatement.
But no one asked, what do you want or why are
you talking with her? Then leaving her water
jar, here's her response. She leaves her jars
there. The woman went back into the town and
said to the people, come and see a man who told
me everything I ever did. Could he be the Christ?
And they came out of the town and they made their
way toward him. Meanwhile, the camera lens, as
the people were starting, hubbub, they're coming
out of the town. Camera lens goes back. It's
Jesus and the disciples. Meanwhile, the disciples
urged Jesus to get something to eat. By the way,
that's why we went to town. It was a to -go order.
We got it. We brought it back. You got to be
hungry. Rabbi. But he said, I have food to eat
that you know nothing of. Then his disciples
said to one another, could someone have brought
him food? Come on, guys. I mean, think about
where this is at. My food. Jesus said, is to
do the will of him who sent me and to finish
his work. Do you not say there are four months
and yet then comes the harvest? You think that
the work of God or when things are gonna really
happen and breakthrough and things like you've
never seen, you guys say it's in the future,
someday, someway when God intervenes. But I say
to you, lift up your eyes and I imagine there's
some people coming out of that town led by, an
immoral woman who was disrespected and despised,
who thought she was unworthy. See, the fields
are white for harvest. And then notice his explanation.
Even now, the reaper draws his wages. Even now,
the harvest crop for eternal life so that the
sower and the reaper may be glad together. One
sows and other reaps. It's true. I sent you to
reap where you haven't worked. Others have done
the hard work and you have reaped the benefits
for their labor. And in just a few moments, we're
going to learn that they come, they believe based
on her testimony and they're Samaritans and he's
a Jew and they say, do you think you could stick
around for another couple days? So he does a
two -day seminar and then they turn to the woman
and they say, we have come and believed based
on your word and your testimony, but after two
days of hearing his word, Look in your text.
What's it say? Now we believe and know that you
are the Savior of the world. Now, I want to have
you look at your notes, if you would, and I want
to show you something about how Jesus very intentionally
reached a city. And I'm going to suggest that
he didn't just reach a city, but he's wanting
to teach his disciples about how to reach cities.
And then we're going to learn from the disciples
how to reach a city. Where did the breakthrough
begin? Answer with Jesus. Jesus cared. Jesus
had compassion on that city, and he had very
specific compassion on that woman. Whom did Jesus
choose? This is always a stumper for us religious
people. He chose an immoral, socially rejected
woman in a culturally despised town. That's just
for all of us that think we're not qualified.
Third, how did she make room for breakthrough?
She recognized that she had thirst. A lot of
us do a lot of stuff. A lot of us eat, sex addictions,
shop, work. We have thirst for fulfillment and
meaning. She recognized she had thirst, and she
was open to realize maybe there's a different
way to quench your thirst. Second, when confronted
with the truth, she was just honest. I don't
have it all together. I have a checkered past.
But she had the guts enough to say, yep, that's
me. And then... She made room. When she heard
about the truth, she left her jar, step of faith,
and she said, I've got to share this with someone
else. It's a pattern. What courageous step did
she take? Can you imagine her reputation and
the fear of rejection of going to a whole town
that thinks you're like the most immoral person
in the whole town? And you say, I believe that
I may have just met the Messiah. You should come
and see. What do you think was going on in her
heart when she was walking from where her jar
and the well was to the town? No one's ever going
to believe me. No one's ever going to, I got
to tell them. No one's ever going to believe
me. I got to tell them. I got to tell them. Anybody
here in the labor pains of potentiality, but
your fear of being rejected is keeping you from
launching? What did Jesus want his disciples
to learn about himself? His love and compassion
is for all people regardless of where they've
been, what they look like, or what they've done,
or what they're presently doing. He wanted them
to understand that his personal satisfaction
is rooted not in what you can achieve, not in
how you look, not in what you own. My food is
to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish
his work. I saw in 60 minutes a brief Little
interview with a man in New York City. And his
name is Tudor Jones II. Paul Tudor Jones II.
He's a hedge fund guy. I have no idea his spiritual
background other than he mentioned his mom wanted
him to be a preacher. He started 80 charter schools
in New York City. And in the interview, this
one line captured me. He turned to the interview,
he says, Well, you need to understand that the
only real purpose and significance in life is
making sacrifices to meet the needs of other
people. That's what life's all about. The rest
of the world's trying to make a lot less than
$3 .6 billion, but someone with $3 .6 million
understands there's not enough steak, there's
not enough jets, there's not enough houses, there's
not enough vacations. What life is about is sacrificially
giving up time and energy and money to meet the
needs of other people. That's where fulfillment
is. I think he got that from somewhere. I wonder
if we do. And finally, what about breakthrough?
I think Jesus wanted them to learn that breakthroughs
start small. This is Living on the Edge with
Chip Ingram. What an incredible example. Jesus
chose one despised woman in one rejected town
to spark a citywide movement. That's how breakthrough
works. Chip has more to say in a moment. As you
consider what God might be calling you to start,
even if it feels too small to matter, I want
to point you toward a resource that can fuel
your faith. It's Chip's free 10 -day devotional
called Psalms of Hope. Each day follows a simple
pattern. Chip provides 10 minutes of teaching
from Psalm 1, Psalm 15, or Psalm 23. Then you
take 10 minutes to pray and meditate on what
you've learned. 20 minutes a day, 10 days total.
So don't wait. Get started today. It's completely
free at livingontheedge .org. Just search for
Psalms of Hope. This ministry reaches millions
because listeners like you provide the support
that makes it possible. If these messages are
helping you grow, would you help us reach others?
Visit livingontheedge .org to give or write to
Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
Georgia 30024. You can also call 888 -333 -6003.
And be sure to subscribe to the Living on the
Edge podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
and wherever you listen. Well, now here's Chip
with more on today's lesson. Just a final thought
as we close today's program. I love this part
of the series because we all get this. Big things
don't just happen. They're a culmination of a
lot of little things. And we can get our mind
around little things. You know, I think so often
when we think about breakthrough, we think of
these huge things that occur and people that
are smarter than us and holier than us and historic
characters are out of the pages of the Bible.
And sometimes we get lost thinking, I guess those
things are reserved for, you know, people that
are so far above us. And yet. The Bible goes
out of its way to remind us that the biggest
breakthroughs have come through the most ordinary
people. You think about Rahab, a breakthrough
that changes the course of a nation that is a
part of the lineage of the Messiah because there's
a little thing. She's heard some stories about
this God and she lowers a red rope down and she
trusts him in the midst of it. Or you think of
disciples who... I mean, the people that Jesus
chooses in Scripture, in church history, the
closer we get to them, we realize how regular,
how ordinary, how much they're just like us.
And in the teaching today, the important point
I want you to get is that supernatural breakthroughs
are not dependent on a future work of God, but
on a present work of one. And that's you. In
other words, there's not some big thing that
someone out there is going to do. Your breakthrough
is going to come. And it starts very, very small.
And as I wrap this up, I'll just share. There
was a season that I. found myself drifting in
my marriage. Just a little mindset was emerging
where I was very busy and I found myself being
critical of my wife. But inside my head, not
even in my words, but if you're critical of your
mate, you know, why doesn't she do this? And
why didn't she catch that? And what about this?
And what about that? And, you know, I have my
issues. She has her issues. And it formed a little
bit of a habit and I could feel emotional distance.
And I knew in my heart, God, I want a close marriage.
And I got concerned, like, boy, this is not a
good way to go. And I began to pray for a breakthrough,
pray for a breakthrough. And I need to try harder
and try harder. And nothing was working. And
kind of had this private world that I was living
in. Like, I'm a pastor and I love my wife and
I'm absolutely committed to her. But I didn't
realize I was feeding my mind. A lot of negative
thoughts about my wife that produce negative
emotions. And, you know, then I would get from
her like, hey, what's wrong? Or, you know, are
you okay? Or are we okay? And here was my breakthrough.
Talk about something very, very, very small.
The Holy Spirit whispered, Chip, I want you to
focus on what you do have in your wife, not what
you don't have. I want you to focus on how faithful
she is, what an amazing mother she is. I want
you to every single day start listing in your
mind all the things she does, all of her qualities,
all the positive things. And I began to do that.
And as I began to do that, guess what? The breakthrough
started to come and I was more and more attracted
to her. And all of a sudden, that 10 % of the
things that bothered me were just overwhelmed
by the 90 % of the things that I was renewing
my mind and thanking God for her. What do you
need to do? What small next step do you need
to take to get a breakthrough in a relationship
or with a supervisor or with yourself and how
you see yourself? It starts absolutely small.
So start small and do it today. Think your next
step is too small to matter? Well, think again.
I'm Dave Drewy. Join us tomorrow on Living on
the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored
by Living on the Edge.