Breakthrough Church (00:01.122)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Breakthrough Church podcast. Excited to be here and share some updates and some wins from last week. Wednesday, I got coffee with a guy that I met at the gym and I didn't really know his story and the truth is Monday morning I went to work out and.

I was canceling my membership at the Farmers Branch Rec Center so that I can go to the YMCA with my family. We just started our membership there. And so I was going to cancel the membership and I canceled it. And I told this guy there that I was canceling and I've gotten to know him a little bit, talk to him some as I would go in and work out. And he was really bummed and was like, man, don't tell me you guys are leaving. Like, it's fine. You guys are going to like the Y. We're going to miss you, whatever. And as I was leaving the rec, I thought, man, should I not have left? Like, I feel like maybe he was open.

to you Lord, do you want me to re-up? And then I thought, well, I don't need to work out there to get to know the guy. So I went, I just felt prompted. I went right back in to the rec and I got his number and he was excited to get coffee or lunch. And so I texted him, we ended up getting coffee on Wednesday morning, the seventh, we show up, excuse me. We show up at coffee on Wednesday and just start to get to know him, asking questions about his life.

And he is Catholic and told me a little bit about what that means to him. And I shared with him my encounter with Jesus in adoration and just the presence of Jesus and the face of Jesus on the host. And he had never been to adoration, didn't even know what it was. And I just shared my experience. Then I asked if he had ever encountered Jesus like that. And not just like that, but in a kind of a real supernatural way. And he said he hadn't,

that in Catholic mass, there's a red candle that signifies the presence of Christ in the meeting, in the gathering, but he's never really felt that before. He knows God loves him, but that's never really been real to him. And he said, you have any idea what that might be about? And I said, in my mind, I'm like, wow, like, what a tee up. Like the Lord put that ball right on the tee and all I have to do is swing, but it was like such a tee up that I wasn't ready for it.

Breakthrough Church (02:21.058)
So be ready for people when they ask very basic, simple questions like this. I was like, okay, here we go. What do I do? I paused. I said, let me just make sure I have the answer that God wants me to give you. And so I paused. And I was like, all right, hey man, let me just list off a few things that may be going on and whatever resonates, just let me know. And he was like, okay. I said, well, one thing that could be hindering your experience of God's presence and love is sin. Sin separates us from God. It's rebelling against him. It's looking for something.

that only God can provide outside of God and satisfaction outside of God. So it could be unforgiveness. Maybe there's some hurt that you have in your heart. You've not forgiven the person. That could be it. And then the third one came to me just in the moment. The Spirit put that on my heart to say, it also could mean, man, that you just haven't surrendered your life to Jesus. As soon as those words came out of my mouth, He said, that one, that's the one. And I was like, okay, let me talk about that. So I talked about dying to self. I talked about

you are being buried with Christ and raised to new life. This is not just you're getting a better life or your life is getting tweaked. You're getting a completely new life, new heart, new desire, new eyes. I talked about being born again and how when babies are born, they have new eyes and new heart. Everything is fresh in life and that's what this means when you surrender your life to Jesus. And he was like, yeah, I wanna do that. He was so ready. He was like, yeah, I wanna do that. I said, okay, let's do it.

So I asked if he had ever prayed out loud. He said, no, I've never prayed out loud. I said, okay, well, let me pray and then I'll ask you to repeat after me. And so he did it he gave his life to Jesus right there on the spot. Right there on the spot at Summer Moon Coffee in North Dallas. He gave his life to Jesus, surrendered it all. And afterwards I said, how do you feel? And he goes, I feel new. I feel whole. And he's like, I'm kind of tripping out. Like, is this real right now? And I was like, what do mean by that?

He's like, you're talking about new eyes. Like it feels like I have new eyes. Like I'm looking around and it feels like things are new. And I'm like, dude, that's the Lord. And what's really cool is that before that, I was talking to him about Jesus and who Jesus is. And I was going through these stories in the Old Testament and Genesis about how they point to Jesus, like Genesis 22, Abraham gonna kill Isaac, but he doesn't, the ram dies instead in his stead. it's this picture of Jesus dying in our place.

Breakthrough Church (04:45.58)
And as I'm sharing these things, he told me in the moment, he was like, feel better. I'm feeling happier. Like I'm feeling better as you're sharing this. I'm like, this is the Holy Spirit. And I was like, there's not an accident that we're meeting here. There's a reason God told me to go back into the rec center and get your number. He's after you, man. He's after you. he was encouraged. And then I got to the point where he surrendered his life to Jesus. And then I prayed, I talked to him a little bit about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit fills new Christians with power for ministry.

And that's not something you get later. You can get that now. And he was like, okay, yeah, sure. So I prayed for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I could see the Holy Spirit kind of moving on and blessing him. And I said, man, how are you feeling right now in this moment? He said, I'm feeling, what'd say? He said, I feel the presence of the Spirit. And without even thinking about it, I said, what does it make you wanna do? He said, shine. It makes me wanna shine and be a light.

And I said, amen. And I began to just prophetically speak words of encouragement and life over him. I feel like he's going to be an evangelist. He's so kind. Anytime he sees me in the gym or anybody, he's just so quick to talk to people and say hi and ask questions about them. And I just really, I leaned into that and prophesied over him that he'd be an evangelist and lead many to Christ, including his family and so on and so forth. So it was such a powerful moment and I was so jazzed and I saw him a few days later, I dropped off a book for him at the gym.

And his eyes still look different. And I told him this, said, bro, your eyes look new. Your countenance is different. Be encouraged. And he was, and it was a really sweet moment. We're gonna meet again on Wednesday. So don't neglect those little nudges the Lord gives you about people. They could lead to something like that and the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you. Another thing that happened on that Wednesday beforehand was I was at coffee with a former friend. He's a friend of mine. I used to work with him, but.

He's a friend of mine and we were just talking about life and ministry and stuff and I was encouraging him and gave him this word of encouragement. I felt like God put on my heart in the moment and you may not know this about me, but I kind of talk loud. So he left and after he left, I'm sitting there at the table and this girl next to me was like, that was a word you just gave him. I was like, no, like was I too loud? I'm so sorry. And she's like, no, no, no, no.

Breakthrough Church (07:11.446)
I was receiving that. That was a word, man. I'm so grateful for that. So we got to talking and turns out she's kind of looking for a church. Maybe goes to Shoreline City. I shared about Breakthrough and gave her a card. I told her we meet on Saturday nights and she was like, no way. Saturday nights? I'll be there. Come on. So she put it in her calendar, the address and the time. She's like, I got nothing going on Saturday nights. It's amazing. I'll be there.

which she ended up not coming and who knows what happened, maybe something came up. But that was so encouraging just to see that happen. And then that afternoon I met with a friend of mine, Chewy, who's helping me put on this thing we're calling Breakthrough Summit, which is Mark three, going up on the mountain to be with Jesus and to receive authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. And so we're gonna do just a quipping on prayer and the kingdom of God and also on how to really cast out demons and pray for the sick. So.

that's coming up January 31st to February 1st. And so I met with Chewy and we were just sharing testimonies. I just was so filled and so excited. And then that night we had our first Wednesday night prayer where we're calling it a breakout, Because on Saturdays we focus on the one who brings breakthrough and then we have these little breakouts outside of the main session on Saturdays where we seek the presence of the Lord and seek his face.

and to love him. And it was anointed. It was special, man. I just feel like the Holy Spirit was giving us a vision of Jesus. We were just pouring out worship and love and adoration at his feet. it was, man, it was really, really sweet. And the Lord was there. And we got to pray for somebody who was there and really ministered to her. And it was special. And I just, think back on that. And I think that was kind of the start of something, not new, because we've been doing it, but it was affirming of the Lord.

gathering with the saints to seek the face of Jesus, not just to do church, not just to put on church, but to seek the face of Jesus. That's what we're about. So it was really sweet, really special. And then Saturday came along and I have to be honest, I was really discouraged after service. And that doesn't mean that God didn't do anything and God wasn't present. But we talk a lot about being aware of the presence of God. Like he's here, right? But being aware of him is another thing I was not aware of.

Breakthrough Church (09:38.318)
presence of God on Saturday. And I have to look inward first, not to condemn myself, but to think, all right, have I really stayed in the Spirit? Have I been abiding in Jesus? And I don't think I really was. And then there were some other distractions and just some things that were happening. And I tried to like on the fly cast some vision about the one thing that's needed, which is the presence of Jesus and not just the presence of Jesus, but the cross and Christ.

crucified being totally centered on the cross the man who was slain, but I just feel like I bombed it I'm just being honest with you guys right now I feel like I was I was just bad, you know, and I even went up to somebody afterwards and I thought bro Like tell me that was really bad. Was it it and this person was like, yeah, yeah The first 20 minutes was pretty rough, but you know, it ended up ended ended well and I was like, gosh, you know and But I was trying to approach it like I would have

If I was still a college athlete and in football, if I had a bad game on Saturday, I would be upset for a little bit, but then I would realize there's another game coming up. I need to get up off my booty and get back to work because the Lord is at work and moving and there's another rep that I have to do. And there were some mornings we would show up after games on Saturday, we would show up on Sunday for film.

And there were legitimately some Sundays where our coach would sit down and say, listen, guys, there's not much we can learn from film. It was that bad. And it was that bad. We're not even going to learn from this. We're just going to move on. We got a game coming up. And I'm being a little dramatic because in God's economy and his kingdom, there's always something that's happening. But it just wasn't the anointed service. I felt like it was the week before and the week before that.

If there's anything I need to learn from it, I'm asking the Lord about that. Otherwise, I'm moving on. We got another rep. There's people that need Jesus, and we're trying to build a house in His presence, a house of prayer, and lots of opportunities this coming week. So I'm just being real with you that I know I share a lot of stories, a lot of testimonies of what God has been up to and the wins, but it does not come without its fair share of discouragement and distraction. And in those moments, I have to remember that those things do not disqualify me.

Breakthrough Church (12:01.016)
from entering God's presence, but that it's the blood of Jesus and the body of Jesus that gives me entrance. It's by His grace alone that I enter into the presence, not my performance, not my striving, but by His Spirit through the blood of Jesus that I enter in and do ministry. So I'm just encouraged by that. And I wanna just end our time by encouraging you. My scripture for the year is Zechariah 4-6. I mentioned this last week.

Zechariah 4.6 says, by might, not by strength, but by your spirit, or by my spirit, saith the Lord. And that's in the process of Zerubbabel trying to rebuild God's temple, which is the house for God's presence. And there's discouragement in the midst of that. People are coming against Zerubbabel and Joshua and the crew that's trying to rebuild. God sends them a prophet, Zechariah, to say, hey, don't do this on your own effort. You cannot do this just by...

Muscling it you must depend on the Holy Spirit and I really feel that today the dependence on the Holy Spirit and you can't do Anything in your life worth anything apart from the the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit He's not just this auxiliary thing we get when we get Jesus To go to whenever we need him. He is life. He is life the Anisian Creed says

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. The Holy Spirit is the Lord. 1 Corinthians, the Spirit is the Lord. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. Whenever we lose sight of the Spirit being Lord, that's when we begin to take control over our lives. When we try to become Lord, even in the midst of confessing Jesus is Lord, we try to become Lord because we failed.

to practically live the reality that the Spirit is Lord of my today. He's not just the Lord of my eternity, He's the Lord of my today. And when I give up control, then the Spirit takes over and then the thing we're after begins to happen because He's the one making it happen, not us. So here's my encouragement, don't ruin it. Just don't ruin it. I'm telling myself that. Josh, just don't ruin it. Don't mess it up. God's doing something special. Trust in the Holy Spirit. Let Him lead you.

Breakthrough Church (14:24.078)
move and power, let him do all the work and just be faithful to obey and say yes when he calls. And that's really as simple as it gets guys. So just want to encourage you when you hear or sense a nudge from the Holy Spirit today, say yes, say yes. And just watch what he'll do. That's all he's asking for, just your yes. So I hope you're encouraged. As always, come join us for service on Saturday at 5 p.m.

or for prayer on Wednesday at 6.30 p.m., same place, 1320 Holly Drive. Would love to see you there. God bless you. Love y'all, thanks for your support, and we'll see you next time.