Latest / Breakthrough Church Podcast / Tasting the Fruit and Stepping into Promise
Transcript
- Breakthrough Church: Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Breakthrough Church podcast. It's good to be back. It has been a while. Been a couple of weeks, three weeks since I've recorded a podcast and partly just life and busyness and I was out of town and one week and I didn't get it done, ⁓ but I'm back. And partly why, if I'm being completely honest with you, I haven't really known what to say. I didn't want to just get on and read a scripture and preach to you. There's a lot of content out there online, so I didn't necessarily want to do that. ⁓ And there haven't been as many testimonies ⁓ that have happened in the last several weeks. And that's not because I don't think God's moving. I mean, obviously God's always moving, always working, but the healing or the deliverance or the prophecy or this thing or... salvation or this grow, this, this way God's been speaking or whatever. I just haven't really seen much of it. And, and that's kind of the point of what, what I want to talk about today. I, ⁓ I think the reason why there haven't been as many testimonies is because we've, I, I, I won't say we, because I really just think it's me. mean, maybe others I have drifted from. really trying to claim the land I feel like God is giving to breakthrough. And I want to share with you ⁓ why I said it that way. Why am I referencing land? ⁓ If you've followed this podcast or talked with me at all during the church planting process, then you know that God has moved in mighty ways to make this happen. It's His grace, His mercy, it's His idea. But we've seen in spite a lot of times of me and us, we have seen God heal the sick, deliver from oppression and do pretty incredible things. And that's always been in our heart is we want to see breakthrough. We want to see God come, His kingdom come in fullness. And we want to help usher in the kingdom of heaven here on earth. And we've seen people get healed and it's been incredible. Well, in the midst of the process of planting a church and all the options of what we could be doing, I feel like I've lost sight of really what God has called breakthrough to be. And so I want to share this last weekend what happened. This last weekend, I was reading a book by Irenaeus, which is one of the church fathers. He was discipled by a guy who was discipled by John the beloved. So ⁓ third generation disciple of John the Baptist, or I second generation disciple of John, not John the Baptist, sorry, John the beloved, the one who wrote the Gospel of John, the one whom Jesus loved. ⁓ And this guy, Irenaeus, wrote this book called Apostolic Preaching, and he wrote it to a friend of his who was trying to grow in their faith, and he outlined for this friend of his what the apostles taught. After Jesus ascended to heaven, the apostles went around teaching. Well, what did they teach on? ⁓ Irenaeus writes it down in this book called Apostolic Preaching. It's really good stuff. And in it, he's recounting the whole story of the Bible in his own words and kind of retelling it from his perspective and maybe how the apostles were teaching it back in the days of Jesus after he ascended. And in this one chapter I read on Saturday afternoon, was reading ⁓ Irenaeus recount the story of Moses sending the 12 spies into the land, the promised land. If you don't know the story, God promises his people Israel. a ⁓ physical spot in the Middle East for them to go and inherit. They're going to inherit the land and recreate the garden of Eden on earth, really a place where God was going to dwell with his people and they were going to experience prosperity and blessing. ⁓ And they were delivered from Egypt, but now they were going to inherit. So there's a deliverance from slavery, but there's an inheritance to the promise. There's deliverance and inheritance. And Moses was the one who delivered Israel. Joshua was going to be the one that causes them to inherit what God was calling them to do. So there's two parts of that. You see, we're delivered from slavery, but we inherit promise. And sometimes those aren't the same thing right away. But anyways, so Moses sends 12 spies into the promised land ⁓ to scout it out and to spy it out. It is promised, they're going to inherit it. God promised them that. And yet Moses doesn't just mail it in and say, ⁓ we got this. God's got this. Let's just walk into the land and see what's there in wisdom and discernment. Moses sends 12 spies into the promised land to check it out. What are, what are the enemies like the people of the land? ⁓ are there cities fortified? What's the land like? Is it flowing with milk and honey? And these 12 were scouted out for 40 days and they came back. And one of the things they came back with, and this is what I read in the book, Apostolic Preaching, it quickened my spirit. It says, their reconnaissance mission, the 12 spies, concluded with them carrying back a cluster of grapes. That hit me. When I read that about the cluster of grapes, I was like, ⁓ my gosh, that's what God's trying to speak to me right now. I wasn't even looking for it, guys. God was just speaking and being so good to keep me clarified and clear and accurate on what God has called. us to be about at Breakthrough. so it struck me. They brought grapes back from the promised land to prove, to demonstrate that the fruit is good in the land and we need to go take it. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb said that. The other 10 were scared because there were enemies in the land and they were big and it says that they seemed like grasshoppers to them. So 10 were like, no, we can't do it. Two were like, we've got to go do it. Look at the fruit. Look, we've already tasted and seen of the fruit. Let's go claim the land where we can grow more of this fruit and experience it in fullness. And the 10 didn't want to. the 10 convinced the rest of the congregation of Israel that they were to be afraid and that they couldn't take the land. And the consequence was they had to wander in the wilderness one year for every day they were scouting. So 40 years in the wilderness. That generation that was gonna inherit this promised land died off and did not get to experience all God was trying to do in and through them on the earth. And it was like the Lord was saying, Josh, you have tasted and seen of the fruit of the promised land that I've given breakthrough church. And you can either lay hold of it and go and claim the land the fruit came from. Or I'll, I'll pass you by, you know, and the generation will go, we'll go by and the next generation will come up and do what I've, what I've been calling you to do. And it was like this exciting, but sobering moment with God. As I was getting ready to go to church on Saturday for service, and I was like, ⁓ my gosh, we've tasted the fruit. And I immediately started to think of testimonies. of what God has done through breakthrough, specifically related to healing. It was so clear. God was like, the fruit that you've tasted and seen, which comes from the promised land that I'm leading you to, is the fruit of healing. We have so many testimonies of God already healing people's bodies and hearts at breakthrough. And God's like, that's the fruit, that's the grapes. Those are the grapes. And there's more where that came from. There's a land that flows with healing and deliverance. And I want you to claim that land and to walk and move in this. And I was like, yes, Lord, like, yes. And it immediately brought so much clarity to what we're after. So much resolve, so much like nothing else, anything else we do. Okay, it's fine. Whatever we can do anything else. If there's one thing that we are called to walk in, I believe it's called to walk in healing and deliverance, not just physically, but emotionally in our hearts. And gosh, man, we've just seen testimony after testimony after testimony. And even when I talk to somebody, the lens through which I see them, if I'm meeting them for the first time, or if maybe I've known them for a while, it's like I'm always looking for how can they walk in greater freedom, greater healing, greater restoration in the Lord. ⁓ And the fear of the Lord is on that because If we don't go claim that promised land, then God's going to be like, okay, you're not going to trust me. That's called rebellion. And in fact, that's why God sends them into the wilderness in the book of numbers. They don't trust God. God calls that rebellion. And because of that, they wander in the wilderness and they die out and they don't get to experience what God wanted them to here on the earth. And guys, I want to experience everything God wants me and us to experience here on earth. We have been called and commissioned to usher in the kingdom of heaven. And every church does that differently. Let me say that. The reason I say I want to claim the land God has given breakthroughs, because we aren't trying to inherit somebody else's land. We want to inherit the land God's given to us. I've talked openly about how Upper Room Dallas has really ⁓ been such a meaningful church for us. And for me, I've been marked by so much of what happens in that church, in that house of prayer. Because of that, I so often want to recreate it. And I want to be a place where people encounter the presence of God who come alive in his presence and prayer and worship. And we have the breakouts on Tuesday morning, Wednesday evening, and we get after God and we see him come in the room and just minister to us in ways that are so sweet and beautiful. And we're going to always do that. No matter what, we are always going to have space where we pray because it's the foundation. the revelation of God, a house of prayer for all nations. That's the foundation of the church and every church should be founded upon the revelation of God through Jesus and prayer and a relationship with God. All of that is so true and we will always have that as a part of what we do as a church. But I don't think God has called us to be a 24 seven prayer house. And if he has, then he'll tell us and he'll be clear about that later. But if you just look at the cluster of grapes that we've already tasted of, and you make a list of what are those things, it is so clear that that cluster of grapes comes from a land where healing and deliverance flow like milk and honey. And because we've tasted of that and we've seen what God is wanting to do, I believe that's the land that we're called to conquer and to inherit. I think it's going to require spying and reconnaissance and wisdom and discernment. and really knowing our stuff. But I think the land that we're going to walk into and inherit every step we take is going to be ours. It's going to be a land of healing and deliverance where people come to us and they get set free, chains fall off of them and they experience breakthrough and walk in freedom. I believe that is what God has called Breakthrough Church to be about. How you get there, different conversation maybe, but I just, every church is given its own land to inherit. Here's why I think that's so important because a lot of us judge churches because they're different than the church that I like. Or why don't they focus on this? Like we focus on this, why don't they focus on this? And all of sudden we can get judgy and we can look down on other churches because God's given them a different land to inherit. We do have to define church. mean, church is a very specific group of people that believe in Jesus, that have sacraments and... preach the gospel and do the work of evangelism. Like there are some base level things that make up what a church is and we have to be clear on those. But if one church is focused on like 24 seven prayer, while another church is focused on more of like the multiplying disciple making movements where we're less so concerned about getting people in a prayer room, we're more concerned about getting people in a group where they can learn to follow Jesus and multiply quickly and we can plant more groups and start more groups. Like just because a church focuses on one of those over the other doesn't mean that they're bad. means they've given, they've been given different land to inherit by God. And, and hopefully prayerfully the leader is able to lead them there because they've seen the fruit of it. So here's the other thing. Here's why this is important. What fruit have you tasted of in your life? If you've tasted fruit and you notice like, wow, it seems like I just consistently see this happen in my life. That is fruit from the land God's calling you to inherit. And that's encouraging because when you're tasting a fruit, that's God leading you. He's leading you by giving you a grape. Taste this, taste this, taste this. He's showing you not just what God's doing right now, but what he wants to do through you later. And I'm just so encouraged by that. so, so here's, here's how this all played out. I just, all of this, God spoke to me in a matter of seconds, I knew exactly what God was saying. And I went and we had pre-service prayer. I shared this with them and there was excitement. There was like, yes, it was like we were fine. We were like, again, renewing the vision God's given us and walking in the anointing God's given us and not anyone else's anointing. I've heard people teach on this. I've heard people say, don't walk in someone else's anointing, walk in the anointing God's given you. And I knew it was our anointing because whenever I shared this, You could just see the excitement and anticipation and everybody in pre-service prayer, probably 12, 15 of us. Yeah, about 12 of us in there. And it was, it was incredible. And, and then I felt less pressure to try to be or do something. Like I knew God tonight, Saturday night. I was like, I know God wants to heal some people. And so after service, we invited people forward for prayer and, ⁓ ⁓ was somebody that I'd prayed for before and I'll just spare their name and her, her name and whatever. I don't want to, you know, always just be openly sharing people's stuff because I don't want people to think I do that with their stuff. But I feel like I can share this that she's had scoliosis since she was, since she was a kid and has struggled to do a lot of things because of that. I prayed for her a couple of weeks ago. four weeks ago maybe and nothing really seemed to happen. She said she felt something shift when we were praying but nothing big. Well, this Saturday I told her, was like, I want to pray for you again because I have faith. I believe God wants to heal people here at Breakthrough and we're going to go for it again. And she's like, great, we'd love to. She's very open and down for that. So she came forward and I began to pray for her and right away her pain went away. She was at a four out of 10 and went to a one. And then it went down to nothing. had also that day she had hurt her shoulder doing Pilates and her shoulder pain went away as we were praying. And over the course of prayer, feel like God gave me a word for her to kind of help emphasize the moment and it was powerful. And, and so after we were done praying, said, okay, do something that you couldn't have done before. Is there anything that if you would have done it, you wouldn't be able to. And she's like, yeah. So she tried a few things. One was sitting down on a chair to seeing if both sides of her back, shoulder blades would touch the back and they did. And they usually don't. And then she's bending backwards and she's like, I wouldn't, wasn't able to do that before. Cause I had a fusion in my spine after surgery and I haven't not been able to do that. So she bent back and was able to do that. And she's like, the real test will be whenever I get in my car to reverse and I look back behind me to see if there's anybody behind me when I'm reversing. That'll be the real test. And I said, well, how about we simulate that sit down on a chair and pretend like you're doing that. And she did that. And then immediately turned back around with big old eyes and she was like, I have not been able to do that. Her range of mobility was exponentially better after praying. So there was no pain, way more mobility while we were praying or while she was moving around, her back popped, which isn't totally abnormal, but she texted us later and she said, when I got in the car and I turned around to reverse, there was a huge pop in my spine. Having two pops like that, that quickly and them feeling great ⁓ is not normal. And then the next day I texted saying, Hey, how are how are you feeling? And she told us, she said she was able to lay down, I think on her stomach and sleep, which she's never able to do before has never really been able to do since she was a kid. And she's, she's like, I don't think I'm fully healed, but I feel great better than I have in a long time. I'm like, amen. Let's go. How good of God, right? We're gonna pray for her again on Saturday. But how good of God to say, hey, you've seen the grapes, you know the land that I've called you to inherit. It flows with healing and deliverance. And then immediately after that at service, someone who struggled with scoliosis has been diagnosed and has been suffering from it for years. Get significant improvement. the Lord. This is God and this is the land that he's given us to inherit. So in short, that's why we haven't seen any testimonies. ⁓ it's, largely in part due, due to the fact that I have, ⁓ stopped trying to. go there each week at Breakthrough. And I believe we will see testimonies every single week when we invite people for prayer, for healing. So I just want to encourage you that what is the fruit? You've tasted the fruit and maybe it's been a while, but allow the Holy Spirit to bring to mind fruit that you've tasted of the promised land and then just enjoy it and then ask God for more and ask him to lead you into all the promises that he has for you on your life. And maybe you're like, I don't know what he's me. Well, that's why you look at the fruit. What have you tasted and seen in your relationship with God and your ministry or in your just everyday life? What's the fruit that you've tasted and seen? And let that encourage you, stir your faith and then go for it. Be strong and courageous for God is with you. Just like Joshua go with you. I'll close with this thought. Moses sends out the 12 spies. One of them is Joshua. But did you know that before that moment, his name was Hoshe? Hoshe, don't know that's how you say it. H-O-S-H-E-A, Hoshe, means he saves. Before he sends them out, Moses changes his name to Joshua, which means Yahweh saves. Joshua is Yahoshua, which is Jesus, the same name that we get in the New Testament for the Son of God who came in the flesh to Jesus. Meaning Moses, before he sent the spies out, changed one of their names to Jesus. Yeshua, Yahoshua. The Lord saves. In all of this, there's no burden on us. There's no burden on us to produce outcomes. There's nothing that we can do to ⁓ to save people and to see happen what we want to see happen. It is all the Lord. He's the one who saves. He's the one who delivers. He's the one who heals. And our job is to trust Him. Even if we see good fruit in the land, but also all these enemies, giants, the Anakim and the Nephilim, if we see these big giants in the land that God is calling us to inherit, we do not have to be afraid because it is the Lord who saves. So be encouraged. It is the Lord who saves. And hopefully we'll be back next week with many, testimonies. But as always, please join us for prayer and worship on Wednesday evening at 6 30 at loft and then Saturday evening at 5 p.m. And we worship the Lord and we trust him to act and expect him to act in powerful ways. The kingdom is here guys. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let's repent. Let's turn from the ways we haven't trusted the Lord and let's turn to him and see him move and work in and through us. Love you guys. See ya.