Master The 4 Phases Of A Breakthrough Series

The Breakthrough Series:

Breaking The Status Quo Barrier

I Chronicles 14:8-17

Main Ideas:

• Breaking through the status quo barrier is a cyclical process not a one time event.

• This process consists of 4 distinct but necessary phases God takes us through on the road to the next level in our spiritual lives.

As we read I Chronicles 14:8-17 together, I want you to see if you can notice a pattern floating to the surface of the text.

Read I Chronicles 14:8-17.

THE PATTERN OF A BREAKTHROUGH

There is a pattern that emerges here.

It’s a pattern with 4 identifiable phases.

I call this the PATTERN OF A BREAKTHROUGH.

I want to walk you through these 4 phases.

PHASE #1: I GO THROUGH A CRISIS.

This is the first phase on the road to reaching the next level in your life.

God allows a crisis to come into your life that pushes up against your belief in God.

Something takes place in your life that puts your back up against a wall.

It’s called a crisis.

How many of you have ever experienced a crisis?

I want you to notice David’s crisis in verses 8-9.

V.8 – “Now the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went out against them.”

V.9 – “Then the Philistines went out and made a raid on the Valley of Rephaim.”

David was anointed king over Israel.

He’s promoted and things are going well when all of a sudden a crisis comes into his life.

David’s crisis had a name.

It was called the Philistines.

The Philistines are mentioned 286 times in the Old Testament and their land is mentioned 8 times.

What I’m saying is that God gives the Philistines a lot of air time in the Old Testament.

They’re mentioned a lot.

And when they are mentioned it is usually because they are opposing something God wants to do.

Here we see them opposing God’s leader David.

David’s crisis was a military crisis.

Just like a gigantic chess match, the Philistines in verse 8 came up to search for David to kill him.

David countered with his own move in verse 8 by coming out against the Philistine army.

The Philistines, in a strategic and defiant move, raided a valley in Jewish territory, a valley it turns out that was a direct route to the Capital city of Jerusalem, David’s stronghold.

David was stunned. David was scared. David was smack dab in the middle of a crisis.

Experiencing a CRISIS, that’s the first phase in experiencing a breakthrough in your life.

God allows you to face a challenge or daunting obstacle that pushes up against your belief and faith in God.

Everybody faces different kinds of crisis.

I made a list of crisis that people sometimes face and I want to read them to you and see if you’ve faced any of these in your life.

COMMON CRISIS PEOPLE OFTEN FACE

1. The loss of a valued relationship…such as breaking up with a boyfriend of girlfriend, or divorce. The dissolving of a longtime business partnership

2. Failing a class in school or failing an entire grade.

3. Losing one’s job

4. Bankruptcy

5. Declining health of you or someone you care about. Health issues usually send us into crisis mode.

6. The death of someone close to you

These are just a few but they are some of the more intense kinds of crisis we can face.

QUESTION!

Why does God allow us to go through a crisis in order to break through to the next level?

The reason is because life on the average daily tone is not enough to break us out of our status quo routines, our status quo ruts or our status quo mind-sets.

So God allows us to feel the heat.

THE CRISIS TAKES YOU OFF AUTO-PILOT.

IT WAKES YOU UP…SLAPS OUR SPIRITUAL SENSES BACK TO REALITY.

Sometimes we ask for these things by decisions we make and sometimes we don’t ask for them.

I like how one author describes this kind of experience.

He says:

“They are voluntary and involuntary. These proving moments come to us, ready or not. Sometimes we make decisions that invite them; and other times we are surprised by them. It is the difference between starving and fasting. One is voluntary, and the other is involuntary.”

David’s crisis was involuntary. He’d done nothing to bring this on himself.

It came into his life and David didn’t ask for it.

He didn’t want it, but one thing is for sure, he had to respond to it.

The most difficult crisis I’ve ever experienced came at around 12:00am midnight on March 31st, 2003.

Nicole was pregnant with our first child Ethan.