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Summary
In this episode of the Breakthrough Church Podcast, the speaker shares powerful testimonies of faith, healing, and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. Emphasizing the goodness of God, the speaker encourages listeners to build their faith and expectation in God's generosity. The conversation explores the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit, breaking free from a spirit of religion, and the significance of speaking in tongues. Through personal stories and community experiences, the speaker illustrates how faith can lead to miraculous encounters and a deeper relationship with God.
Chapters
00:00 The Goodness of God and Building Faith
03:09 Experiencing the Holy Spirit's Power
06:00 Breaking Free from Religion
09:18 The Importance of Tongues in Spiritual Growth
12:09 Testimonies of Healing and Transformation
15:01 The Role of Community in Spiritual Encounters
18:13 Embracing the Light Burden of Christ
21:06 Receiving the Fullness of the Holy Spirit
24:22 Higher To The Sky (Instrumental).mp3
In this episode of the Breakthrough Church Podcast, the speaker shares powerful testimonies of faith, healing, and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. Emphasizing the goodness of God, the speaker encourages listeners to build their faith and expectation in God's generosity. The conversation explores the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit, breaking free from a spirit of religion, and the significance of speaking in tongues. Through personal stories and community experiences, the speaker illustrates how faith can lead to miraculous encounters and a deeper relationship with God.
Chapters
00:00 The Goodness of God and Building Faith
03:09 Experiencing the Holy Spirit's Power
06:00 Breaking Free from Religion
09:18 The Importance of Tongues in Spiritual Growth
12:09 Testimonies of Healing and Transformation
15:01 The Role of Community in Spiritual Encounters
18:13 Embracing the Light Burden of Christ
21:06 Receiving the Fullness of the Holy Spirit
24:22 Higher To The Sky (Instrumental).mp3
Creators and Guests
What is Breakthrough Church Podcast?
Josh and his family are planting Breakthrough Church in Richardson, TX. Their prayer is that Jesus would use them to advance His Kingdom and to see many receive healing and deliverance in His name. Josh is married to Abby and has three kids, two boys and one girl.
Breakthrough Church (00:01.422)
Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Breakthrough Church Podcast. I have a lot of testimonies to share. I'm very excited. Just the Lord is moving. And last week was one of those weeks, specifically Wednesday and Thursday, and then Saturday service, where I just was like blown away at all the Lord is wanting to do and how eager he is to do things for us that we just don't think he's that good. So I'm gonna dive right in. And I want this to build your faith.
and expectation that God is as good as advertised. The like original sin stemmed from, I'm talking about Adam and Eve, stemmed from their lack of faith in the goodness of God. The enemy tried to convince them that, God knows that you're not actually gonna die, but that if you eat of the tree, you'll be like him, and he doesn't want you to be like him. The undertone.
And if you read in between the lines in that scripture, what the enemy is trying to do is convince Adam and Eve that God's holding out on you. And if you really want to get what you want, you've got to go get it independently of your relationship with God. That's sin. That is like the original sin. And what I've seen specifically in Christian culture, and this was my own story, is that I don't believe God is as good as he says he is in his word.
And because of that, I don't walk in the confidence, which is really just dependence, in the goodness of God, that in the kingdom of God, everything I need is already on the table because he's generously provided it for me. And I get to reach onto that table and I get to grab it and I get to consume. I get to dish it out and give to people in need. This is the kingdom. He's an abundant, rich, generous father. But when I begin to doubt that,
chaos ensues and I begin to experience death because I begin to focus on self. What can I get out of this? How can I get out of it? What do I need and what's in it for me? when I start thinking about that, it leads to death. But when I think about the goodness of God, His abundance, His generosity, when I meditate on that, the goodness of the Father, then I realize that there's a table that's been set for me that has everything I need. Here's why I'm saying this because there were testimonies this last week.
Breakthrough Church (02:29.576)
of people getting baptized in the Holy Spirit. one of the, man, wow. I'm just, I've thought about this and just even thinking about it again makes me, what do I feel? Like grief, also just this, the longing of God is what I feel. It's like his zeal to consume us. He wants to consume us out of goodness and love. And there were a few instances this last week.
two of the three I'm gonna share with you, where the significant blockage to them receiving the fullness of the Spirit was that they felt like God had been holding out on them and hadn't been providing for them in ways they thought they needed. okay, so let's jump into it. Okay, so we had summit last Saturday, two Saturdays ago, which was our all church retreat. And during that time, we did a lot and God moved in a really powerful way.
But one of the things we did was a baptism of the Holy Spirit slash impartation night where we lingered in the presence of God. I taught on the baptism of the Holy Spirit from scripture and then we waited and lingered and worshiped and just people were feeling the touch of God in their bodies and their hearts and their minds. It was really special. So leaving that time, I just remember being really grateful, but I also remember thinking there's more meat on that bone, you know?
And I've done some impartations one-on-one before with people where I've sat down with them and talked through some of the baggage and issues that they have related to the Holy Spirit or really just related to life and their perspective of God and who he is. And I've been able to help people really welcome in the fullness of the Spirit. But this last week, it happened three times.
And I think it was still fruit from the summit because the teaching I think really paved a way not like my teaching, but the scriptures teaching really paved a way for, sorry, I'm talking a little bit too loud. I'm gonna tone it down.
Breakthrough Church (04:42.208)
it paved the way for people to receive. So the first instance was on...
Wednesday Let's think yeah, I'm thinking about my week. Yeah, there were two on Wednesday and one on Thursday I'm not gonna share names and I'm not gonna go into great detail because it's very personal stuff for a lot of them from for all of them but the first one was a guy I met with I'm discipling him and As soon as we sat down to me I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to walk him through the baptism of the Holy Spirit He was at summit, but he had to miss the Saturday night teaching and impartation So just felt the Lord like tell me hey do it catch up
catch him up. And was like, okay, let's go. And so long, long story short, I walked him through it. And before I invited the Holy Spirit to really start moving on and in him, I asked if he needed to confess any sin and he told me some things. And I think this is really important when you're doing a baptism of the Holy Spirit, because there can be things that block you from really receiving the fullness of the Spirit. And so he confessed some sin, some unforgiveness and
And then we said, come Holy Spirit. And which by the way, come Holy Spirit doesn't mean Holy Spirit's not here. So we've got to invite him. It's really an invitation and is declaring an openness to the Holy Spirit's power and movement in that moment. So it's not just like, God, you need to be here, come. It's we know you're here. We believe that you're here. Would you been begin to manifest and reveal and move and work? So
I said, come Holy Spirit, and I prayed into it. And very quickly he started to feel the power of God on his body. He was shaking. He got really hot. And then I began to pray that he would have and release the gift of tongues. Why is that important? Because in scripture, so there's a biblical reason and an experiential reason, which I think are both the same. Well, I think the experience backs the Bible.
Breakthrough Church (06:48.962)
There are many moments in scripture about half of the time in the New Testament in the Book of Acts when somebody is baptized within the Holy Spirit, they speak in tongues and prophesy and then the other half they don't speak in tongues. So it's not like you have to speak in tongues to know that you've been baptized. But I do think it happens often because of the importance of the gift. And let me speak a little experientially.
Excuse me. In North Dallas, in the Bible Belt, I think that a lot of people fall in pray to a spirit of religion, which means I must perform, check the box, do the thing. And Christianity is a cultural thing where we just do it to do it because we're supposed to and everyone else is. And behind the scenes for many people, there's a spirit of religion at play which says I must perform or God won't love me.
God won't give me all that I need unless I measure up to the standard that he has set. Which is anti-gospel because there is a standard we can't meet. Jesus met it for us, gives us his life and his blood, his body and his blood, gives it freely that we might enter into his wounds through his suffering, into the fullness of life. And we do that by faith. So it's anti-gospel, but you know, so here's my point.
Do you wanna know something that if you pray into it will expose a spirit of religion immediately is tongues. There is something about the gift of tongues where you have to release any spirit of religion and you have to renounce it because when you're praying in tongues, the Bible says, 1 Corinthians 14, your spirit prays but your mind is unfruitful, which means I in that moment of praying in tongues,
I'm not focusing on what I'm thinking about. In fact, I encourage people to turn their mind off, not because I think logic and reason gets in the way of the spirit, but in that moment, the gift of tongues is for your spirit to engage with the spirit in prayer. And you might not know what you're saying, but your body's being built up. Your inner man is being strengthened like a house. It's talking about like first Corinthians 14, it's like building a house and giving it structure and support.
Breakthrough Church (09:09.058)
That's what's happening when you're praying in the spirit or praying in tongues. Your inner man is being strengthened and built up. It's not about your mind. It's about your spirit and intimacy with the Lord. And if there's anything that a spirit of religion kills, it's intimacy. And if there's one thing that the gift of tongues emphasizes and releases in your life is intimacy. You can't have them both. You can't have a spirit of religion and pray in the spirit. I hope this is making some sense.
This is why culturally, when I go to talk about baptism of the Holy Spirit, I know there's a spirit of religion at play that says God's not as good as he says he is, therefore I must work for his favor, work for his blessing. But when you do baptism of the Spirit, you can't work or strive your way into it. You must simply receive based on the goodness and generosity of the Father who has promised his very own Spirit through the work of Jesus, who paved the way, made us a holy dwelling place.
and the spirit comes in us, but he also comes upon us. so, spirit of religion has to go when you begin to pray into the spirit, pray into tongues and ask people to release that gift. That's why I go there a lot. Not because I think you have to, but because it exposes a spirit of religion immediately. so, I began to, with this guy that I'm discipling, I began to pray into that. And right away,
he was in his head. He began thinking about it. It wasn't necessarily a spirit of religion for him, but for him it was, he just overthinks everything. He's constantly thinking. And he started to feel a bubbling up in his spirit, like in his guts and kind of bubbling up into his throat. But he didn't receive a word. A lot of the times when someone receives a gift of tongues, they'll receive a word in their mind that they don't know what that word is. And in faith, they're just called to speak it. And this didn't happen with him right away.
This was just a bubbling up. I told him, I think the Lord's just dealing with your overthinking. Just let it bubble up from your heart, bro. Don't think your way into it. Just receive your way into it. Just let the Holy Spirit work and move inside of you. And he did. And long story short, he eventually got over his fear, over his overthinking, and he spoke a word and began to speak in tongues and was released in that gift. And he was like in awe of the power of God on his body. He was shaking.
Breakthrough Church (11:30.882)
but also the love of the Father to release that gift and bless him in that way. So cool guys. was so such an honor to have been a part of that moment and pastor him into that. And I'm going to, my gosh, I am so fired up. I don't know if you can tell. my heart just leapt within me because this same guy on Saturday, no, no, no, no, no. Right after that, right after that, I told him he was going to go serve in the youth ministry at another church. I said, Hey, when you go, I want you to not
I want you to practice this language. Do not stop praying in this language. Like just keep going and practice. It's like any other gift." And he's like, okay. And I said, don't let this day end without you praying for someone to be healed. And he was like, okay. And the reason I said that was because when you're baptized in the spirit, the goal is power to be witnesses to the risen Christ. And so I said, go lay hands. The only way we'll know if something happened to you today, which obviously there was evidence with the shaking and the speaking in tongues.
But the best way to know if something happened was you will lay hands and you will see the sick healed because power has come upon you and now will flow through you. And he was like, okay, I found out later he prayed for a kid's leg and it was healed. His kids said it hurt. And then after they prayed, he said it did not hurt anymore. Saw him later in the night and it did not hurt anymore. And I was like, dude, good job. Cause I saw him the next day as well with another guy I'm mentoring. And this is another story I'll tell you. Buckle up guys, I got testimonies. This should build your faith. God is so eager and hungry.
to just fill us with the Spirit, to overwhelm us with His goodness and love. This is not a one-time deal. Sometimes there's a first time, but it should be an ongoing thing where we're encountering the Holy Spirit and being filled with the goodness of the Father. This is so good, guys. And so I'll also say about this guy, on Saturday, I called him up to be kind of on the prayer team, because I'm like, yo, if he got baptized and he's got power and he needs to pray for people, well, he prayed for someone.
and they had a bad head, a headache, and he went up and prayed and her headache went away. But he started to feel the headache. And so later he came up to me and was like, yo, can you pray for me? My head hurts now. I'm like, okay, that's weird. Maybe it was demonic, so let's pray into that. He's like, okay. And so I prayed any unclean spirit to leave right now in the name of Jesus, gone. And he said, when I said that, his headache went away immediately. And so as I'm thinking this, I'm like, I'm not sure that would have happened to this guy a week ago before he was baptized in the spirit.
Breakthrough Church (13:52.258)
He's operating in the gifts of the Spirit now because they've been released through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the whole point, guys. This is like, he was living the book of Acts. He had believed in Jesus, but hadn't received the baptism of the Spirit. He received the baptism of the Spirit, immediately began to move in power through tongues, healing, and discernment of spirits by getting a headache when he prayed for someone who, I guess, at this point, I can say, had an unclean spirit. And maybe still does, I don't know.
So that's amazing. This should build your faith guys. I have so much faith. This is the point. You get filled, baptized, overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit and there's fruit. If there's not fruit, I question the encounter, but there was fruit immediately with tongues, healing, discernment of spirits. Wow, I am getting so, I'm getting so fired up just sharing this with you guys. Okay.
That's just the first one. Another one. I'm gonna go quickly because whatever. Anyways, that night we had prayer. We have a breakout every Wednesday night at 6.30 and we begin to pray. And I'm gonna skip a lot of details, but needless to say, there was a woman that was really highlighted to me the whole time. And I just, I can't share these details publicly. I wish I could, because it makes it so much more powerful. But we spent, me and a group of us there, we spent an hour
45 minutes to an hour ministering to her about some really deeply personal things. It was mixed company too. I really am careful about that. It wasn't just me or just a bunch of guys in her. It was mixed company, thankfully. But we spent a long time. She got released from a spirit of religion and this pressure she's had on herself and she began to in tongues. And it was small, it was a small seed, but she began to speak in tongues. And there was...
weeping, crying, and just like the whole thing, guys. Imagine someone getting touched by a loving God, somebody who's been thinking God's not as good as he says he is. And then when that goodness comes in fullness and you're like, my gosh, he really is that good, it undoes you. It makes you come undone. And that's what happened to her. The goodness of the Father just banished any pressure, any expectations she's put on herself. Just they were gone and she just received the goodness of the Father.
Breakthrough Church (16:16.238)
And there's a moment where we were praying over her and I was praying in the spirit over her while Sal was reading scripture and she just broke again. And I asked later what she was feeling. She said, that was just love. I just felt the love of God again. And there's just waves just hitting her that night. so powerful. But there was fruit there too. Cause the next day I was praying, God, would you give her more, give her more. And I didn't, I hadn't seen her, didn't talk to her, but I just said, give her more, give her more. And she texted me and Sal later and said, Hey, my striving is gone.
There's no more spirit of religion. I'm free from that. And I have more words in my prayer language now. And it just feels like the kingdom is just pouring on me. And I was like, my gosh, let's go. She's texted us a few times since saying, I never knew God had this much depth to him. And the power and intensity of the encounters I'm having right now, I don't even know what to do with. Come on, dude. Sorry, I just like punched my hand. That's what that smacking was. I'm getting so amped. This is so good.
She got touched powerfully and she was there on Saturday just worshiping the Lord and kneeling before him and just continuing to soak in his presence and his love. Amazing stuff. The next day, I meet with the guy that I met with before where he got baptized and we were going through a book and it's a really good book, Doing What Jesus Did, How to Minister in the Power of the Spirit by John and Sonia Decker.
But this time at the end, the other guy, the other guy mentoring, he said, can you guys pray for me? And then he opened up about some really personal things that I won't go to or talk about. But the crux of the matter is he didn't believe God was as good as he says he is. And I pointed out that was Genesis three, that's the same lie. And we're gonna get rid of that and we got rid of it. And we prayed into the righteousness of Christ that we are righteous because he has made us righteous. He imparted that to us.
He imputed His righteousness to us, meaning we are righteous and blameless. There's nothing wrong with us. We don't have to strive. We just, we are, we just are loved by God and we're His beloved. And I prayed into that and my other friend did as well that I had been mentoring that he was baptized on Tuesday. It's hard to say this without mentioning names, but he was powerfully touched. This other guy was shaking. He did not speak in tongues and I wasn't too worried. We went there, we tried to go for it, but he didn't. And I told him not to worry. It's not a big deal.
Breakthrough Church (18:34.254)
But he was shaking, he got hot and was just like receiving. Well on Saturday, there was fruit there too, because during our communion moment at the end of service, was not, no one was praying for him, this is the same guy, no one was praying for him, but as I was talking about the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus, he was shaking, I saw him, his body was shaking again. And he was so eager to eat the bread and drink the juice because he wanted to partake in his savior, his.
his crucified and risen savior. wanted to receive him and commune with him. So that leads me to Saturday. And it was just, there's so much there, but during worship, I began to feel the power of God move. And what I mean by that is I just felt my arms started to shake. I know it sounds a little weird, but gosh, five years ago, Josh would have been like, you're a crazy person. Sometimes when I say these things, I'm like, who am I now? Gosh.
But my right arm began to shake and when that happens, that's the power of God for me. I'm like, okay, here we go. Let's go. And so I worshiped, kind of like, we were almost to the end of worship anyways, but I cut it off and I said, okay, hey guys, we're gonna pray for healing and here's what are we gonna do? And I just thought through it, equipped it in a moment and I called out a few conditions and a few people in the room had that condition. Went up to pray, for them and a few them got well. There was a back that, he testified in the moment that his back was better.
And he stood up and usually when he sits down and stands up is when it hurts and it did not hurt. He stood, he sat down and stood up, sat down, stood up and there was no pain. There was a woman with a headache and her head got healed. earlier in the week, guys, I forgot to say this. I texted somebody that came to mind and asked if they had stomach pain and he, and he was like, no, but blah, blah, blah. Eventually got to the point where he has a hernia and it's there's pain in his stomach from that. And over text, I prayed and said in the name of Jesus, I bless you with full healing.
He texted back saying, I got full chills on my body when I read that. And I was like, I believe God is gonna heal you of this if he hasn't already. Well, on Saturday, this man came up to me and said, I have not had any issues and no pain since you prayed for me over text. Guys, this is text message. That same guy told me that his neck was really stiff when we started worship. By the end of worship, his neck was completely loosed and no more pain. People are getting healed and we're not even praying for him. I'm texting a guy, blessing him.
Breakthrough Church (20:56.726)
And he gets healed potentially. told him to go to the doctor to verify it because there's a real, you could really verify that medically. And I encouraged him to. So I'm hesitant to say he was healed, but his pain was gone. And he said he had a much better week. And then we just began to pray or began to worship. I preached on Mark eight and the vision of Jesus is the most important and it can't be Jesus. Can you help me achieve my vision and my dreams? It's like Jesus, we are abandoning everything for you and coming after you.
And then I began to pray and the ministry time was powerful because I sensed the Lord wanting to release people from any pressure or expectations that they have over themselves. That's causing them to be burdened. And when you just lay down your life, deny yourself and follow Jesus. Yeah, it's picking up a cross, but you're releasing every other burden and he comes up underneath the cross with you and carries it. So in reality, when you give up your life for Jesus,
you're taking up a light burden and an easy yoke, Matthew 11. So I prayed into that and I encouraged people and guys, the room lit up. You could feel it. I felt so much faith. I was like, my gosh, receive this. No more pressure, no more expectations. And people were spontaneously standing and raising hands and there was tears. There was worship, it was kneeling. It was so beautiful. When Jesus begins to give us his light burden and easy yoke, we prayed for some more people and we had dinner together as a church.
It was just so powerful guys. And here is the point. I'm 22 minutes in and I'm gonna land here. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that you would believe in the goodness of the Father to bless you, to not hold back from you. The Bible says that he who did not spare his own son will he not also with him graciously give us all things. If God is for us, who can be against us? God is for you.
I know that because he did not stop people from killing his son, but he offered him up as an offering for your guilt. If he can save your eternity, he can save your now. If he can heal your heart forever, he can heal your body now. His goodness is not just something we're waiting for, it's here today. So I bless you with that. Receive the Holy Spirit in fullness.
Breakthrough Church (23:23.348)
Ask the Lord if you have a spirit of religion. Ask the Lord if there's any blockage. And then honestly guys, turn on worship. Turn on worship and receive. Just say come Holy Spirit and wait on Him. And trust in the goodness of the Father that He's not waiting for you to do anything X, Y, or Z. You don't need to strive. You don't need to work. Just receive from His goodness all the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven. Receive them, walk in them, and then bless others with them with the authority that you get.
Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. This is amazing stuff. God is so good. I invite you to come pray with us. Wednesdays at 6.30 at 1320 Holly Drive and come worship with us on Saturdays at 5 p.m. God's on the move. He's doing something special and we'd love for you to be a part. So love you guys. Have a good week.