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*Spiritual Breakthrough *

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Mark 2:1-2:12 (NIV, NIRV, TNIV, KJV)

Keywords: (Suggest Keywords) \\ spiritual, healing, Victory, Breakthrough

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Intro: Show “Wall of Me” video.

\\ \\ Hopefully you noticed the verse that ended that video.

If you missed it, let me share it with you again.

It’s up on the overhead.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4: \\ \\ For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

\\ \\ If you have your Bibles with you, would you turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2, starting at beginning of the chapter.

\\ This morning, I want us to talk about breakthroughs.

But more importantly about having a spiritual breakthrough.

The video we just watched showed a young man facing the cross.

But as he talked, a barrier was forming.

A barrier of sin.

You may not have been able to make out what some of those bricks read: pride, lust, envy, addiction, arrogance, doubt, anger, hypocrisy.

Just to name a few.

\\ \\ This morning, we have been given the keys to a spiritual breakthrough.

We don’t have to, like that man, walk away.

We don’t have to stand and stare at the insurmountable barrier that separates us from God. \\ \\ We have been given a kind of spiritual sledgehammer; a spiritual wrecking ball that will smash through those barriers and bring us to the cross.

\\ \\ Look with me, will you, at Mark 2:1-12: \\ \\ In 2 Samuel 5:20, God is described as Baal-Perazim, or the God of Breakthroughs.

\\ \\ This morning, I believe that God is the God of breakthroughs.

In the passage we read, I believe, can serve as a metaphor for how we can have a spiritual breakthrough of our own.

It holds the keys that unlock the secret.

\\ \\ We don’t have to walk away from the wall.

We don’t have to leave in despair.

The men in this story knew there were obstacles standing between them and Jesus, but they were forced to overcome those obstacles.

\\ \\ We are faced with the same challenge.

We have obstacles, barriers between us and Christ.

They are very real.

But we don’t have to be defeated.

We can overcome those barriers.

God IS the God of breakthroughs.

He is Baal-Perazim.

He can give us victory.

He can give us the breakthrough!

\\ \\ This morning, I believe there are three keys that God has given us to achieve our spiritual breakthrough.

They all have a common, overall theme.

It is simply this: come to Jesus.

\\ \\ Throughout everything we talk about this morning, it is important that we do not get away from this central element: come to Jesus.

Everything else hinges on our willingness to come to Jesus.

Without this, we have no hope of a spiritual breakthrough.

\\ \\ The first key, this morning, is this: Come to Jesus Desperately.

Come to Jesus Desperately.

\\ \\ Have you ever been desperate?

For something or someone?

It wasn’t that long ago that I was a teenager.

Boy, those were some interesting days.

If there’s one thing I remember about being a teenager was that we were very good at overstating and overreacting.

You know what I’m talking about right?

I want to go to this movie became, “I’m desperate to go to this movie”!

Having a crush on this girl easily because, “I’m desperate for her!” \\ \\ Desperation is an interesting thing because as the world sees it, it is a state to be avoided at all costs.

Simply put being desperate is saying that on your own, you have no hope.

On your own, you have no way of fulfilling your needs.

On your own, we are helpless.

\\ \\ And to the world, desperation is something that we never want to experience.

We think of desperate and we think of third world Africa.

We think of desperate and we think of victims of hurricanes and tornados.

\\ \\ Desperate is a horrible, terrible thing to the world.

\\ \\ But Jesus sees things differently than the world… thank God!

You see, from His perspective, each and every one of us are desperate…at least we should be.

\\ \\ On our own, we have no hope of being able to overcome the gap that separates us from God.

On our own, we cannot possibly be like Jesus.

On our own, we cannot possibly break through our spiritual barriers.

\\ \\ A couple of weeks ago, I took the teens to a lock-in in Woodstock.

It was overall a fun night: we went swimming, had pizza, attended a rally, watched Star Wars movies and had a dodgeball tournament, among other things.

\\ \\ Now, I decided to do something I hadn’t done in a long time that Friday night.

At the Woodstock Civic Center, they have one of those diving boards that are like 20 feet or so tall.

I decided, “Why not?

I’m going to jump off that tower”.

\\ \\ So I climbed the ladder, walked to the edge of the board, and did what every man of my…uh…stature would do: a cannonball.

Oh yea, it was HUGE!

But see, it had been so long since I had jumped from a diving board like that that I forgot an important thing: I forgot to take a huge breath.

Oh yea.

So from that great height, I sank like a rock for a few seconds before realizing: “Gee… I could really use some oxygen right about now”.

\\ \\ So frantically, I struggled to get to the surface, desperate to get some oxygen.

Of course, I did…and I shook it off; acting far too cool for my own benefit because at the time, I didn’t want anybody to know how stupid I was.

Well, since it made for a good illustration, I’ll lampoon myself for your benefit.

\\ \\ You see, my desperation for oxygen as I struggled in that water is the kind of desperation that Jesus wants us to have for him.

It’s the kind of, “if I don’t have you, I cannot possibly go on” mentality.

It’s not just a feeling, but it’s the reality.

\\ \\ This story shows a man desperate.

He is paralyzed, completely unable to do anything on his own: the very definition of desperation.

\\ Helped by his friends, he comes to Jesus because he knows that Jesus is the only person that could heal him.

Without Jesus, he is doomed to lay in that bed forever.

Without Jesus, he is an overlooked sidenote of society.

Without Jesus, we wouldn’t be talking about him today.

\\ \\ This man was desperate.

This man understood what we, too, need to understand; that Jesus was His only hope.

For this man, there was nobody else he could turn to.

There were no healers, no doctors, no magicians that could help him.

He knew that the only person that could help them was Jesus.

Jesus alone had the power to heal him.

He was desperate.

\\ And what did Jesus do?

It’s amazing; Jesus rewarded His desperation.