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The First Step to Breakthrough, Part 1
January 5, 2026 · 25 min
What situation in your life looks insurmountable right now? Chip helps us discover how to unleash God’s power into our impossible situations.
Series Experience Breakthrough January 5, 2026 · 25 min · Experience Breakthrough
What situation in your life looks insurmountable right now? Chip helps us discover how to unleash God’s power into our impossible situations. ...more Show the full description Show less What situation in your life looks insurmountable right now? Chip helps us discover how to unleash God’s power into our impossible situations.
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Understanding Breakthrough: The Offensive Strike Against Impossibility 0:11 Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.0:14 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 a0:26 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.0:38 Stay with me.0:40 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 series0:52 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 the1:03 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 life1:15 today. Chip titled today's message, The First Step to Breakthrough.1:20 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, in1:32 its prime was maybe 300 people and maybe it's down to 50 people. And, probably 90 percent of the people are unemployed. And there's House and Shack. And it is1:44 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 so1:56 we're going to talk about breakthrough. God wants to unleash power into your impossible situation. There's 5 specific questions that I begin2:08 to ask and answer about how you understand breakthrough happens, where it begins, what's the first step. Now, question number 1, you know, you're going to have to start with the basics, is, so what is a breakthrough? I2:20 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? 3 key definitions. Number 1, it's an offensive thrust that penetrates and carries beyond a2:32 defensive line in warfare. See, when I've 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,2:44 someway, God, and we're gonna see these amazing things happen, and we're gonna watch a breakthrough. And sort of it's like we wait for it to happen. Breakthroughs2:56 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 to3:08 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.3:20 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.3:32 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 the3:44 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,3:55 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.4:08 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 you4:19 take. But as those things culminate, there's change, there's differences, failure in relationships and addictions. God moves in powerful ways and what people4:31 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 whole4:43 societies and cultures. I love the quote by George Muller. He said, Remember today that you can never bring about the supernatural through natural means. Don't even try. And then, Muller who4:55 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 no5:07 glory for God in that which man can do. Faith begins where man's power ends. And so, part of what we're gonna talk about is how does that5:18 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?5:30 And what and how does God release that in a church? Well, that's what breakthrough is. Question number 2, is there a biblical pattern for breakthrough? In other words, these areGod's Timeless Pattern of Breakthrough in Scripture 5:42 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 a5:54 plane asking that question, and I started, about 3 hours earlier, and I started writing from memory, from Genesis all the way through Revelation, of breakthroughs that I6:05 saw. Breakthroughs that I saw. Breakthroughs that I saw. And I started even with you know, God could have spoke 1 word and bam, we would have all creation, He made it. He can do it any way He wants. But6:17 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,6:29 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 happened?6:41 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, it's good, and then he6:52 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,7:04 every single thing in life is either broken and deteriorating and moving toward chaos, or it's moving toward health7:16 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 or7:28 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 gifts7:40 and the background and 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 wickedness7:52 and to bring light and healing and love. That's the game plan. Well, I, I went through the, actually the whole Bible and I wrote for 3 hours.8:04 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,8:16 the evil, the wickedness, Then 1 man finds favor, named Noah. And he's an agent of breakthrough. And God protects, intervenes.8:29 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 would8:41 be the jewel that God would demonstrate his 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 the8:51 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 1 another.9:04 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 1 day. And so his 90 year old9:16 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 and9:27 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're9:39 in bondage and slavery, and there's an idol on every corner in Egypt. And what happens? He brings Moses to do the impossible. 10 supernatural acts, each 1 declaring Yahweh, the God of9:51 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 a man, and then there's a breakthrough with water out of the rock, and there's a9:59 breakthrough where His presence is with Him. And then Joshua comes along and you're you're you're 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 that10:11 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's10:22 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 because10:34 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 great10:46 sin. So people are hurting, people are discouraged, people have problems. The great sin brings about bondage. People are in slavery, And10:58 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. And11:10 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 mean11:21 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 times11:33 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,11:45 or a Gideon, or a Deborah, and then later a Samuel. And cycle after cycle, this cycle right here happens at least 6 times in the book of Judges. And I would tell you that it happens the11:57 rest of the Old Testament, New Testament, and church history.12:02 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 online12:14 at living on the edge dot org. 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.12:26 It's all waiting for you at living on the edge dot org. Now let's get back to today's message.12:32 The impossible happens, walls fall down. And each time with Gideon, the impossible happens. 300 men defeat a whole army. And then the story goes on. And what is it? It's the story12:44 of the supernatural power of God reminding you that the walls that you have can come down. The giants that you face, the unleashing of12:56 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 and yet then Josiah13:08 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 worshiped, and13:18 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 ultimate13:30 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, and13:42 certain seasons where he prepares the entire world for major breakthroughs. And what we have in Jesus is the greatest breakthrough. God's supernatural13:54 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 want14:05 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 we miss the whole point. The very first verse of the book of Mark.Jesus' Model: Proclaiming and Demonstrating Kingdom Breakthrough 14:17 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 good14:29 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 defeated14:41 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,14:54 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're15:06 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:15:18 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 written15:30 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,15:42 you know, Hebrew fulfillment. I mean, he comes out of the gate Jesus, the man of action. And so in a relatively few verses we have his introduction, his baptism and his temptation.15:54 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 moral16:05 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 to16:17 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 God16:29 is near, and then there's a command. It's twofold. Repent and believe the good news. Repent, metanoia. It means with your mind. Have a change of mind.16:41 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.16:53 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 done17:05 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 teach17:17 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 ministry17:29 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't17:41 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 living17:53 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 and18:05 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, they18:17 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,18:27 and he began to teach. And the people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as 1 who had authority, not as the teachers of law. And there was a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit.18:39 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.18:51 So there's sort of some authentication. Woah, 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,19:03 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 casts19:15 out demons and heals, casts out demons and heals, cast 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 real19:27 early the next morning to 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'm19:38 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,19:50 he begins a preaching tour, and in chapter 2, 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 out20:03 healing people, declaring war on demons. Then he heals this paralytic. And then in the end of 2 and the early part of 3, he calls the disciples,20:16 deals with some theological issues. And then chapter 3, notice, he went into a synagogue again, and there was a man with a shriveled hand. His popularity is mushrooming. And now the Pharisees are jealous.20:28 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. He20:39 speaks and the man is healed. Afterwards, the Pharisees, 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,20:51 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. Do you what's the message?21:03 It's a new preacher and you have to say to yourself, what's he doing? He just keeps healing people and healing people and touching people and touching people that no 1 thinks is worth anything. It's good news. This isn't21:14 measuring up. He just keeps loving people. And if you're 1 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 how21:26 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 see21:38 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 he21:50 wants to teach him.21:53 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't22:05 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 wanna tell you about a powerful resource that can help you build spiritual strength22:16 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 can22:28 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.22:40 Psalms of Hope is completely free and available right now at living on the edge dot org. Just look for Psalms of Hope and start building that daily habit of study, contemplation, and22:52 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, you're helping others discover the same life changing23:04 truths that are impacting you. Would you join us today? Give online at living on the edge dot org or send your gift to Living on the Edge, PO Box 3007, Atlanta,23:16 Georgia 3 0 0 2 4. You can also call triple 8 3 3 3 6 0 0 3, and be sure to subscribe to the Living on the Edge podcast. It's available on Apple23:28 Podcasts, Spotify, and all other major podcast platforms. Well, now here's Chip with a final thought on today's topic.23:36 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 your23:48 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 to24:00 be the way they're going to be. What 1 area, if God would choose to pour out supernatural dynamic power that would literally change24:12 things, impossible things, what would that 1 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 god24:25 God and say, Lord, maybe I don't24:25 even have enough faith to believe that you could act in this area, but I wanna go on this journey, and I'm gonna ask you, would you increase my faith? And then let me encourage you. Be with us for our next broadcast. And24:37 if you happen to miss, get online and and stay with me this whole series. I think God's gonna do something special in your life.24:44 How did Jesus teach his disciples to experience breakthrough? I'm Dave Drumey, inviting you to find out tomorrow on Living on the Edge. Today's program is24:56 produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.In this video 0:00 Understanding Breakthrough: The Offensive Strike Against Impossibility5:33 God's Timeless Pattern of Breakthrough in Scripture14:14 Jesus' Model: Proclaiming and Demonstrating Kingdom Breakthrough618K followers
Chip Ingram is an American Christian pastor, author, and teacher. He is the founder, teaching pastor and CEO of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry.
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