Participant: Hey, welcome
back to another episode of the

Breakthrough Church Podcast.

Uh, it is so good to, uh, just be with you
again and share some stories, some updates

about, uh, our journey trying to plant
Breakthrough Church in Richardson, Texas.

Emphasize trying, highlight, trying.

I've never done this before,
uh, but the Lord has, and we're

trying to follow him, and he is.

So good.

I just received a text this morning
from somebody who stumbled across

our podcast and just kind of binge,
listened to four or five episodes and

was so inspired by the journey and
what God is doing through breakthrough

and uh, specifically with proclaiming
and demonstrating the Kingdom of God.

And, um, man, I just, there's stories
all the time of people receiving.

Uh, healing and, um, deliverance
through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, um, even just this last weekend,
I'll start here, just jump right

into some, up some updates and wins.

Uh, I, I was able to finally preach
at the branch the last two weekends,

and I've been really looking
forward to these two weekends.

Um, they've been on the calendar for
a long time and it was my opportunity

to stand in front of everybody and.

Cast the vision for breakthrough and
I preached the message on the presence

of God and the tabernacle and, and,
and how it all speaks of Jesus.

And, uh, got a lot of, well, I'll just
say in my spirit, I was so, so excited

to, because it's my church family.

It's Abby and i's church family.

We've been here for 10 years and
getting a chance to publicly with

the blessing of, excuse me, with the
blessing of the elders getting to.

Uh, share the vision that
we have for this place.

Man, what an honor.

It really is such an honor and, um.

Uh, last weekend I preached at
Vista Ridge or Carrollton Campus.

This week I preached at fb, um, and
across the board, um, was able to stand

in front of five different groups of
people Thursday night, Sunday morning,

twice, and then Sunday morning twice.

And, uh, just the Lord stirring hearts.

It's so encouraging.

Had people walk up and give me checks
and money and people receiving prayer.

Even yesterday at the Farmer's Branch
campus, was able to pray for a woman who

is self professing to have 10 out of 10.

Pain in her back all the way down her
legs, just barely made it to church.

And I was so inspired because
she said, I came because I

wanted y'all to pray for healing.

And it reminded me of the woman
with a discharge of blood and

how she went through all of these
doctors and nothing happened.

And, uh, she put in the
effort as an unclean woman in.

The, in Israel at the time
would've been ostracized.

And, hey, stay away from her
unclean would've made us unclean

if she touches us and all that.

And, and in her faith found Jesus
in the midst of a crowd, risked

it, uh, found him, touched the
garments that Jesus was wearing, and

Jesus felt power go out from him.

And, uh, and she was immediately healed.

And I, I even shared that with a
woman yesterday receiving prayer.

And it's funny, you know, I, I, I
start praying for her myself and,

uh, nothing's really happening.

I'm asking her if she's feeling
any better, and she's like, no.

Uh, she's like, still in a lot of
pain and she's tearing up and crying

because she's so desperate for relief.

And, uh, I see two of my
launch team members, Sal,

who you know, who by the way.

This was another update.

I was able to bring Sal on part-time
staff a couple weeks ago, and,

uh, I, I'm, I'm just imagining
a round of applause for Sal.

So excited he is, felt a call
to ministry for a while and just

being in the financial place
to be able to bring him on.

Part-time is a testament to
God's faithfulness and goodness.

Um, so, so grateful for Sal.

And so I, I looked over at Sal, another
guy on our team, Tom, and I said, guys,

I, I clearly am not cut out for this.

I need help.

I didn't say that in my mind.

I said that.

And, uh, and they, they walked
over and started to pray.

And it really wasn't until Tom
started praying for her that she kind

of bent over and just was weeping.

And she just, out of raw
desperation began to.

Pray to the Lord in Spanish.

Um, she's, uh, an Hispanic lady
and just began to pray for pray.

Pray to the Lord and I, I could
pick up some of the words because I,

I've, I grew up, I took some Spanish
classes and stuff, but I didn't

really know what she was saying.

But Sal is half Mexican and speaks
fluently in Spanish and was able

to pick up what she was saying
and just affirm her in Spanish.

It was really sweet to see
Sal move in that space.

Um, and so this woman was like, bent
over and was just receiving, receiving

from the Lord and just crying out to him.

And it was really, it was powerful
and sad, really sad at the same time.

And through the course of prayer and a lot
of tears, a lot of snot, she, uh, sat up

and said that her pain was out of five.

And if you've ever had 10 out
of 10 pain, then going to a five

feels like a new person, right?

She felt so much better, still had the
pain, though she was not to full, fully

healed, and we just encouraged her and,
and gave her words of encouragement

and, and instruction like, just rest in
the finished work of Jesus, rest in his

love for you, and so on and so forth.

She was able to stand up and walk
to her car on her own and, and

I texted her today and she says
The pain is much, much better.

Um, but there's some other
things she wants prayer for.

So anyways, um, that, that was so
encouraging 'cause I, I, I stand in

front of the, I stood in front of
the crowd at the, at the branch, the

church, and I preached the gospel.

I preached Jesus from the Old
Testament all the way to the new

and how everything is about him.

I.

And, uh, just the preaching of the gospel
is enough for an outpouring of the Holy

Spirit and for healings to break out.

And, um, and then I was able to pray
for her and she came specifically

for prayers for healing, and it was a
painstaking journey to get to church.

I'm just so.

Encouraged and inspired by that.

But, um, or, and I want to
see her completely healed.

I know she wants that too.

So, um, uh, then that, then, then, and
then last night we gathered with our,

our launch team and, um, had a few
people that were gonna show up back

out last minute for, for good reasons.

Not, nothing, nothing bad, but I
just was kind of discouraged by that.

If I'm being honest with you
guys, I'm still struggling.

With this metric of, I need people
in the room to make me feel good

about what we're doing, rather
than just living on obedience.

To Jesus.

Um, so I'm still struggling with that.

I'm still learning to deal with that.

So I was really discouraged,
thought there was gonna be hardly

anybody that showed up last night.

And I'm like, okay,
well what's this summer?

People travel a lot and there's this
other, this family that they had

a rough week, they can't make it.

And then this person's
going through this thing.

And so I just was kind of preparing
for maybe six, eight people and uh,

sure enough, just like the Lord I, he's
teaching me to trust him with people.

With the people that are
supposed to be there.

And sure enough, a couple show up
and then a couple more, and then

all of a sudden there's eight in the
room and we're just getting started.

We're all standing up talking
and having a good time.

Just getting.

To know each other and then more
come in and then more come in and we

sit down and we start talking about
testimonies and we're about to get into

worship and we're still adding people.

And we kept to add chairs and
we're like, scooting the chairs

back to make a bigger circle.

And I don't know how many there were.

I didn't, I didn't count.

Um, but it was the biggest group
we've had yet easily hands down.

And there were, and not just that, but
there were three or four brand new people

that were there that hadn't been there.

No, five.

There were five.

Yeah.

There were about five people I think
that, that were, that were new and,

uh, um, and so we just worshiped.

It was Rich could hear
the voices in the room.

It filled the, the entire room.

And I just was so encouraged.

And then I, I talked about the
proclamation and the demonstration

of the Kingdom of God, and, um, did
a little, little equipping with, with

prayers for healing and, and then.

Uh, we went for it and prayed for
one person and just a model for

everybody, what that looks like.

And then I get this text about this
person listening to the podcast this

morning about how inspired they are of
our journey of trying to proclaim and

demonstrate the gospel of the kingdom.

And I feel like the Lord is
just confirming that that's

what he wants us to do.

He wants us to preach the Lord
Jesus, preach the kingdom, and

then pray for people who need
ministry, who need breakthrough.

And that's why our name is our name.

Our name is Breakthrough because
there's people who are stuck,

whether it's in sickness or sin.

Um, the Lord has breakthrough for them.

He is the Lord of breakthrough.

And just leaning into that, not trying
to be anyone else except for just that.

And, uh, that's hard to
do if I'm being honest.

It's hard for me to do.

Um, so yeah, I wasn't
really encouraged by that.

We've seen a lot of growth from in the
launch team over the last week or two.

Uh, a family of five, listened to
our podcast, heard me preach two

weeks ago, and just felt stirred
by the spirit to reach out.

And they're so excited to be a part of it.

And, um, that's really,
really encouraging.

And, um, yeah, so there's
just, there's just growth.

There's momentum.

And the, the fight that I'm in right
now is staying encouraged because launch

launch day is coming and I get a little
bit nervous about, oh, we're gonna have

the people, we're gonna have the stuff.

And uh, and we will, and we will, and
it'll be the Lord is gonna provide and

we're gonna look back and six months
and say, Hey, remember when we were

worried about that and we're not anymore.

Um, I did wanna mention Sal, I, I
mentioned him already that we brought

him on part-time staff and Sal is
amazing and I'm so grateful for him.

And the ministry that he's already
been doing, and he just has a vision

for ministry, a vision for worship
that's so in line with what I want,

what we want here at Breakthrough.

And, and he's in large part, been a
contributor and a builder of that culture.

So to bring him on staff is such an honor.

And, uh, him and his family are
great, uh, great friends of ours.

So, uh, super excited about that.

And then the last, last thing I'll
share last week, you guys know this,

I, I walk UTDs campus every Tuesday
and I go to the same Starbucks.

I.

And I won't use names just to,
you know, be, be, be careful.

But, uh, there's the manager at
that Starbucks where I go to, I've

getting gotten to know her a little
bit over time and we've talked

about church and Jesus a little bit.

She's Christian and I know that.

And, uh, but seems by and large
disconnected from Jesus and the church.

So anyways, I on tu last Tuesday, I
walk into, I walked into Starbucks and.

Went to go get my coffee
and, and ordered it.

And I heard the spirit say, Hey, sit down.

Don't walk campus yet.

Uh, the manager's gonna come talk to you.

She's gonna come sit
by you and talk to you.

I said, okay.

Yeah, great.

So I sat down and waited.

Sure enough, five, 10 minutes later she
walks over and sits right next to me.

Well rather I guess one seat over from me.

But we get to talking and she eventually
is like, well, I'm just gonna move over.

So she moves over and we get to talking
about life, about church, about Jesus.

And I ask her, I said,
do you know the gospel?

And uh, she goes, well, I don't, I think
I'm still trying to figure that out.

I said, okay, well, do
you mind if I share?

You have a few minutes.

And she's like, uh, no.

Yeah, go for it.

And so I opened Mark chapter
one and Mark chapter eight.

And, um, for those of you that, um, are a
little fuzzy or unclear, like when I say

gospel, good news, what does that mean?

The gospel is the kingdom is here.

Jesus is the king.

He suffered and died, rose again.

And if you repent and believe and
follow him with your life, you

will be saved, not just when you
die, but today while you're alive.

Heaven can enter your spirit today
if you commit to following Jesus.

And, and so I basically outlined this,
this for her from Mark one and Mark eight.

And specifically in Mark eight,
something stuck out the Holy Spirit

is highlighting in this moment of
ministry that Jesus suffered and was

rejected by the religious leaders,
the Pharisees and Sadducees, and I.

I had, she had already shared a little
bit of her story and I, that resonated

with her and we leaned in on that and
just, I was able to talk with her about

Jesus and his love for her and, and how
he sees her and knows what it's like to

have gone through what she's gone through.

And he went through it before
her and she was encouraged.

And um, they live really far away.

So I'm not sure how involved
they'll be with breakthrough,

but that's not really the point.

The point is I'm still gonna go
there every Tuesday, and I told her.

When I come on Tuesday, I want us to sit
down for 10, 15 minutes during your break.

I wanna hear how you're doing
and then we're gonna pray.

And she said, that would be incredible.

I need that so badly.

And I said, all right, awesome.

Well we're gonna do that.

And she was encouraged and got her number.

Shared it with Abby, my wife,
and we're trying to find a time

to have her family over again.

They live so far away.

Logistics can be difficult,
especially with kids involved.

But uh uh, I just was so
encouraged because that's fruit.

The Lord is just.

Bringing about a harvest that
has been there, but I don't know.

You, you go to the same place at the same
time, and over time God just begins to

work and he's always working in that.

And then all of a sudden you see the
fruit and you're, I'm just so encouraged

because, um, to see the Holy Spirit
move in that moment in a Starbucks,

there's just nothing like it, man.

This is life.

This is what life should be like.

Now we have been cleansed from
Dead Works to serve the living God.

The book of Hebrews tells us and
the gospel, Jesus, the cross,

like crucifies our flesh so that
we can serve the living God.

Um, and being able to do that in
a, in a beyond the walls of the

church is so life-giving and it's
what we're all created to do.

This is what proclaiming and
demonstrating the kingdom is.

It's not just saying Jesus loves you,
but it's taking the time to sit down

with somebody and hear their story.

And then tell them that Jesus knows
you and he knows your journey and

loves you, and then praying for
them and that this is what it is.

So I'm, I'm, I'm very encouraged.

I ended up walking campus and
I, I saw this couple who are,

they're doing evangelism, street
evangelism, which, which is great.

Um, they have a different philosophy.

And that's okay.

Their philosophy is they want to
share and be, they wanna share

with as many people as possible.

So they don't really want to
overlap or see the same people.

That's why they mix up the days
that they go to campus and other,

they go to other campuses as well.

And I just thought, okay, I'm
sure like I just, God bless them

and let's let them go do that.

But I have, I was just on the
heels of seeing the fruit of,

of.

Going to the same place, seeing
the same people over time

and what God can do in that.

And I just believe the gospel
goes at the pace of relationships.

And so just let me end with this and to
encourage you that the people that you

have relationships with are the people
God wants you to share the gospel with.

It's really that simple.

Uh, the gospel goes at
the pace of relationships.

It's pro.

You're, I'm not the first one to say that.

My brother has said that to me a lot.

I've heard that in books and podcasts,
and I, I just think it's true.

I think that as we grow in
relationship with people, there's

an openness and a safety to then
talk about spiritual matters.

So I just wanna encourage you that,
uh, if there's somebody in your mind,

even ask the Holy Spirit right now.

To actually, you know
what, we're gonna do this.

I'm gonna pray for you right now,
and I want you to stop what you're

doing for the next two minutes.

Uh, if you're in the
car, don't stop driving.

Please keep driving.

Uh, keep your eyes opened.

Um, but I'm just gonna pray for you
and, uh, ask the Lord to move through

you and, and to the lives of others.

And so, father, we just come
into your presence, so grateful

that you have sent your son Jesus
to cleanse us from dead works.

That we might serve the living God.

We thank you Jesus, that
by your blood, we enter in.

We thank you that it's through
the veil of your flesh.

Veil of your flesh.

Lord, we bless you, father.

We bless you Jesus.

We bless you Spirit.

There is no God like you and God,
I'm mindful that in the Book of

Acts you say that you have placed
people in certain spots in history

with certain boundaries that they
might know you and seek you, God.

So I pray you would, um, right now, holy
Spirit, bring to mind people that you

are working in their hearts to save.

To reconcile and restore.

Bring those faces to mind,
those names to mind right now.

Holy Spirit

and I pray you'd give us
instructions, very clear

instructions on how to love them.

Maybe it's a text, phone call, a
letter, or the next time you see

them, just giving them a hug and
telling them Jesus loves them.

I don't know what it is, but Holy Spirit,
would you give us marching orders?

And Father, I pray you'd
fill us with power.

Fill us with boldness, holy Spirit,

that we might be the witnesses
to the kingdom, the risen Lord,

and to see people receive breakthrough.

Thank you, father.

We love you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

God share testimonies.

Uh, I would love to hear stories
of God at work in your lives.

I share here and it's kind of one
sided, if you know what I mean.

But please, I want to hear, email me
back with stories and testimonies of

God at work in your lives and, uh,
hope you guys have an awesome week.

Love you guys.

Bye.