The Breakthrough Series:
Breaking The Status Quo Barrier
I Chronicles 14:8-17
INTRODUCTION
On October 1, 1947 Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier when he flew the Bell X-1 rocket plane to a speed of MACH 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet.
In aerodynamics, the sound barrier is the apparent physical boundary stopping large objects from becoming supersonic.
But in 1947 Chuck Yeager became the first human to break through that barrier to a new level of flying.
I want to start a brand new series of talks today I’m calling:
The Breakthrough Series:
Breaking The Status Quo Barrier
Just like Chuck Yeager discovered, I believe we all can learn to break through the barriers we face in our lives.
We all face barriers.
Walls that stand in the way of our making progress.
And if we’re going to keep moving forward in our lives, we’ve got to learn to break through those barriers and get to the next level of living in our lives.
A wise man has said it this way:
“Wherever people find themselves in life, they usually possess the natural desire to move up. They want greater recognition. They want to make more money. They want to live in a better home. They want to advance and improve.”
The problem is that set backs, failures and roadblocks often discourage us and test our commitment to progress and growth.
We’re going to look at a man today in the Bible who faced a daunting challenge.
Just like you and me he wanted to keeping moving forward but faced problems in doing so.
Will you turn with me to I Chronicles 14:8-17
READ I CHRONICLES 14:8-17.
What is a breakthrough?
David gives us the definition of a breakthrough in verse 11:
“…then David said, ‘God has broken through my enemies by my hand like a breakthrough of water’.”
Dr. Charles Ryrie says:
“The image is of flooding waters breaking through a dam, as David’s troops broke through the Philistine assault.”
I have a friend who is a surfer. He grew up at the beach in North Carolina and has surfed all his life.
He is a skilled surfer. He knows when the waves are good for surfing he knows what equipment he needs and how to properly use it.
He is a skilled surfer.
However, there is one thing my friend cannot do.
As long as he’s been surfing, he cannot make a wave; he can only ride one.
He cannot generate the waves he can only get ready to catch a good wave and then ride it into shore.
Well, breakthroughs are the same.
I can’t, you can’t generate a breakthrough.
You can only ride it when God sends one to you.
A breakthrough is when God generates a wave and sends it in your direction, and you ride that wave onto dry ground and a higher level of living in your life.
Like a breakthrough of water, God wants to send waves into your life.
Waves that will smash walls that have been built up in front of you.
A breakthrough creates momentum in your life in a new and fresh direction.
And the longer it is the bigger it gets.
Like a snowball that starts out the size of a tennis ball.
If you roll that tennis ball sized snow ball down a long snow covered hill, as that ball rolls it picks up more and more snow until it becomes a boulder sized snow ball capable of creating lots of change.
This is what God wants to do in your life.
He wants to set a new course and give you momentum to help you move in that direction.
I said a minute ago that you cannot create a breakthrough.
But you can prepare yourself for one and then pray for one to come.
How can I prepare myself for God to breakthrough into my life on my behalf?
There are 3 Steps to prepare yourself for a breakthrough.
STEP #1: Admit You Need A Breakthrough.
Admit it!
You and I will not experience the breakthrough we need until we first realize and admit that we need one.
One of the obvious questions you may be asking is:
HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED A BREAKTHROUGH?
There are 4 signs that you need a breakthrough in your life.
These are 4 ways of telling whether you are desperate enough for God to break through on your behalf.
I’m going to ask you 4 questions to help you determine if you need a breakthrough this morning.
1. Am I Experiencing RESISTANCE?
Notice with me in verse 8 that when something good happened to David he immediately faced resistance.
Verse 8 says:
“Now when 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.”
David has recently been anointed king over all Israel.
He’s been promoted and celebrated and crowned high ruler of Israel.
Things are going pretty well for David.
Enter resistance. Enter opposition. Enter the Philistines.
You remember them don’t you?
They were the ones that had watched David as a young shepherd boy defeat their champion warrior Goliath.
Do you think that still lingered in their memories?
Maybe.
They hated David and decided that when he became king they were going to dethrone him right away.
David was facing resistance.
Are you facing resistance today?
Do you have enemies that want you to fail?
We experience resistance in our lives in different areas and on different levels.
• For instance…As a parent you decide to implement some changes around the house you feel will help improve things but your spouse and kids resist following your lead, that’s resistance.
• You decide to lose some weight and when you do and you begin to feel better, your friends act less than enthusiastic for you, as if they don’t like the fact that you are making improvements in your life.
Resistance can come from people we love as well as from people who don’t love us.
When you face resistance of any kind that’s when you need a breakthrough.
Because anytime you stand up and say, “Hey, let’s go” somebody else is going to stand up and say, “Hey, let’s not.”
And you need God’s help.
Second question.
2. Am I experiencing RELUCTANCE?
I already read to you verse 8 where you saw that the Philistines, after they heard about David’s promotion, came out against him to destroy him.
And we saw in verse 8 that David went out against them.
David, the courageous king, says, “Hey, you’re trying to push me out. Well, I’m going to push back even harder.”
But something happens that stops David in his tracks.
Look with me at verse 9:
“Then the Philistines went and made a raid on the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God…”
Rephaim was the most direct route to the city of Jerusalem.
The Philistines in a confident and defiant display made a raid in Jewish territory.
And when David saw this I believe he lost his nerve.
He stopped.
Verse 8 says David went out against them.
But then when the Philistines made a raid, he stopped, backed up and began to pray.
I think David got scared.
I think he got nervous. He felt reluctance in his heart.
When he saw the bold move of the Philistines he wondered in his heart:
“Is their army too big for us? Am I going to be defeated? Do we have what it takes to win this battle?”
Whenever you and I begin to feel reluctance in our heart, that’s when we need a breakthrough.
When we begin to feel fear and we get paralyzed, we need God to breakthrough.
What do you feel reluctance about?
Let’s say you’ve been working at a job for awhile and you believe you deserve a raise.
But you’re afraid to ask for one.
Your fear is a wall that has been built up and is blocking your progress to the next level.
You need to breakthrough that fear.
One author has said:
“When you are afraid to do what you believe deep down you really ought to do, you are in need of a breakthrough.”
Third question.
3. Am I In Need of GUIDANCE?
David was at a major crossroads.
FIGHT OR FLIGHT.
Should he engage the enemy or retreat to live another day.
Well, David didn’t know what to do.
He had a big decision ahead of him.
Some of you are in the middle of trying to make some major decisions.
Some of you are at a crossroads.
God has you there for a reason.
You’ve got a decision to make and you need guidance.
What do you do when you have a decision to make but you’re not clear on the right direction?
YOU need God to breakthrough.
Now if after asking yourself these three questions you determine that “Yes, I need to have a breakthrough in my life”, then I want to share with you the very next step.
STEP #2: Determine Which Area(s) In Your Life Need A Breakthrough.
As we’ve talked this morning I’m sure your mind has drifted a time or two to think about a specific area of your life that you feel needs some attention.
An area that perhaps you’ve neglected or failed to make progress in.
Where do you need a win in your life?
Hold that thought.
I like how David approaches this whole issue.
Look with me at verse 10:
“And David inquired of God, saying, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?’”
David was crystal clear about 3 things.
1. Who could help him.
2. What the enemy was.
3. What result he wanted to see happen.
There was no question in David’s mind that what he needed was a military breakthrough.
David did not pray about a political breakthrough, nor a financial breakthrough, nor a relational breakthrough, he prayed about military breakthrough.
What’s the principle here?
The principle is that if you and I are going to experience the breakthrough we need in our lives then we need to get real clear about what that is.
Do you need a financial breakthrough today?
Then you have to identify that.
Do you need a relational breakthrough?
Then you’ve got to know that.
David was clear about what the problem was.
It was the Philistines.
They were standing in his way.
And David was clear about what result he wanted to see happen.
David wanted a total military delivery.
He wanted God to deliver them, hand them over completely into his disposal.
I once read a true story that was told by the Pastor of the largest Christian church in the world.
Do you know where the largest church in the world is?
It’s located in Seoul, Korea.
The Pastor’s name is Dr. David Yonggi Cho.
Listen to his story in his own words.
Relayed a story right here not on this manuscript.
STEP #3: Decide Who to Reach Out To For Help.
I think David discovered the answer to the question:
“Who can help me get a breakthrough?”
The first line of verse 10 reads:
“And David inquired of God…”
The beginning of your breakthrough will come when you reach the end of yourself.
Prayer is our way of saying:
“I can’t do it on my own. I need a power outside myself to breakthrough in my life.”
But there are so many people in this world who tell us they can help us have a breakthrough.
The self-help section of Barnes and Noble is filled with books written by self-proclaimed gurus and so called experts who tells us if we will only follow their formula then we will experience the growth and change we desire.
My own experience with the self-help section is that some of it is good and some of it is bad.
Some authors have good suggestions, while other authors have terrible ideas about how change and growth should happen.
The problem is that even if you read their book and take their suggestions, you don’t have the power within you to “pull it off”.
Telling me to just go for my dreams, visualize success, and plan my work and work my plan is all well and good, but if I don’t have the power within myself to make all that happen, then it only makes me more frustrated.
I think, “Why can’t I break this bad habit? So and so said if I would just visualize myself thinner, that I would lose weight.”
Telling someone to “JUST DO IT” is like telling a man falling off a 10 story building to stop falling.
He’d love to. But he doesn’t have the power to stop his downward momentum.
What that falling man needs is for God to catch him and carry him higher to a secure level of living.
David decided that God was the one who had the power to help him overcome his enemies.
As a matter of fact, after God broke through and defeated the Philistines, David gave that place a name.
Verse 11 tells us:
“…Therefore they called the name of that place Baal Perazim.”
Baal Perazim literally means:
LORD OF BREAKTHROUGHS
David learned something new about God that day.
David learned that God was “The Lord of Breakthroughs”
Do you know this side of God?
This side that loves to breakthrough and lift people to a higher level of living?
It comes through experience.
As you experience God breaking through into your life you come to know Him as “The Lord of Breakthroughs”.
You learn that there is only one God and His name is the Lord.
Verse 12 says:
“And when they (the Philistines) left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire.”
There is no other God like our God.
There is no other god like Jehovah.
He and He only can deliver you a breakthrough.
Will you come to Him today and ask Him to make a wave for you in your life.
A wave that will give you momentum in the right direction?
I want you to know that if you decide to reach out to God today that He will show Himself strong in your life.
