Being About the Father’s Business

In this episode of the Breakthrough Church podcast, Josh Brake reflects on the complexities of Christmas, emphasizing that it is a time of both joy and sorrow. He discusses the significance of Christmas as a beginning rather than an end, highlighting the story of Jesus and the hope it brings. The conversation shifts to the importance of seeking Jesus amidst family gatherings and holiday festivities. As the New Year approaches, Josh encourages listeners to consider their resolutions in light of being about the Father's business and emphasizes the transformative power of prayer in deepening one's relationship with God.

Chapters

00:00 The Aftermath of Christmas: Reflections and Realities
02:48 The Story of Hope: Christmas as a Beginning
06:02 Searching for Jesus: Amidst Family and Festivities
08:52 Being About the Father's Business: New Year Resolutions
12:10 The Power of Prayer: Transforming Lives and Ministries

Creators and Guests

Host

Josh Brake

Lead Pastor at Breakthrough Church

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.

Josh Brake (00:01.1)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Breakthrough Church podcast and Merry Christmas. I know it's the day after Christmas, but I'm gonna keep saying it, Merry Christmas. I thought about releasing a podcast the day after Christmas because if you're anything like me, one of the most depressing times is the day after Christmas. And I know we still got New Year's and all that stuff, but...

There's always so much buildup to Christmas Day. There's always so much that we should be thinking about with, okay, Christmas decorations and Christmas cookies and presents and family time and the family you don't wanna see versus the family you don't wanna see. And there's always so much buildup and tension and.

And on some level it's good, right? Because I have young kids and they just love Christmas, everything about it. And it's so fun to watch them enjoy it and to see things through their eyes. But the reality is there's just so much to do and to plan and to get ready for. So much excitement for a lot of us. And then you get to the end of the day on Christmas and you're like, well, back to normal life. Like I could ignore life.

For a little bit and now I have to get back to it and that's just that's at least how how I feel now some of us on the other hand You're so excited that Christmas is over You've been dreading it for all the reasons Maybe it is time with family. Maybe you have bad memories associated to Christmas Maybe you've lost a loved one around the holidays. And so it's just a reminder of that time and I think

that you are probably on one of those sides, if not somewhere in the middle. Like Christmas is just a complicated time for us. And so I wanted to release a podcast on the day after Christmas, because if you're a Christian and you follow Jesus, then the story of Christmas is a story of hope, and it's actually a story of beginnings, of small beginnings and humble beginnings. Humble beginnings are holy beginnings.

Josh Brake (02:23.402)
The Lord started a complete world revolution through this man named Jesus and he started as a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger because there was no place for him in the end. Like this is how God chose to start a world revolution, was to send his own son, God, in the flesh and it started.

in a no man's land, unremarkable town called Bethlehem. And he started a world revolution through it. And the reality is that Christmas is actually the beginning of the story, even though we celebrate it at the end of our year. And for a lot of us, it feels like the end of this culmination of buildup and anticipation and excitement. Or

anxiety and fear and it's just this buildup and it culminates on this day and then it's like all done and we can move on. But the reality is that Christmas is the story of a beginning. The beginning of this world revolution, the beginning of this life of this man who would save us from our sins. I thought about just looking at a story really quick, just briefly, a story we see in the book of Luke, Luke chapter two, right after the birth of Jesus.

He grows a little bit and every year his parents would go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. So let's read it. Now this is Luke 2 verse 41. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. So this is 12 years after the birth of Jesus. And right before this, it shows that after...

His parents had done everything according to the law of the Lord. They returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth and the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him. And so you see Jesus, a snapshot of him growing in favor and wisdom and strength and God has favor on him. And then you see them go to the temple according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.

Josh Brake (04:36.172)
His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. I'll just stop right there. I I think a lot of us feel that way. We're searching for Jesus among our relatives and acquaintances. Like so much of Christmas time is spent with relatives and acquaintances. And we're like, man, where is Jesus in all of this? Like, I don't know, man. Like there's a lot of hype, a lot of decorations, a lot of food.

I thought we were supposed to be celebrating Jesus. Where's Jesus in all of this? Anyways, that's just a short little insight. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him. After three days, imagine this, you don't know where your son is for three days. They can't find him and they finally found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so? Imagine like, I'm sure that Mary's got some angst and some anger in her voice at this time. Like, why have you treated us so? We were looking for you forever. Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. She's angry, she's upset at Jesus because they were afraid that he was lost.

despite all the prophecies made about Jesus around his birth, about him being the source of the rise and fall of many in Israel, and this is news of great joy that a savior is born unto thee, Christ the Lord. Like all these amazing prophecies and these amazing words spoken over this birth, they're still freaking out when they can't find him for three days, which is actually prophetic of the time where they wouldn't be able to find him for three more days back at the end of his life, or look forward to the end of his life.

when he would die and go to the grave and he'd be there for three days and they would not be able to find him for three days until finally he would resurrect. This is prophetic. They couldn't find him for three days. And he said, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house or be about my father's business? And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

Josh Brake (06:59.19)
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. It's such a cool story. Jesus, he assumes they would know, hey, don't you know I have to be about my father's business? And this is actually where I wanna kind of land the plane and camp out for a couple minutes. Because a lot of us, Christmas Day is the culmination of either a lot of grief and a lot of fear and anxiety, or it's the culmination of a lot of excitement and anticipation. And on the other side of Christmas,

What I feel as Christians, we are called to do is be about the Father's business. Even during the holidays, in and among relatives and acquaintances, we ought to be looking for Jesus. Where is he? And how can I join him in being about the Father's business? Because they were looking for him among the relatives and acquaintances, but he was in his Father's house being about his Father's business.

in the middle of Christmas festivities and all of the stuff, we ought to as Christians be looking about, looking for Jesus so that we can join him to be about the Father's business, even in the midst of all the festivities and the Christmas season and the New Year's. And the result of this is this, it says, Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. When I jumped on to record this podcast, I felt that, I was like, man, the call, the post.

Christmas call of God on Christians is to increase in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man so many of us we're gonna make New Year's resolutions and we're gonna be excited about the New Year and I think that's good I think that's good, but I just want to pose for you or suggest a couple of questions that you can ask yourself post Christmas To be about the Father's business and as you come up with New Year's resolutions or goals for the New Year

Here's my couple of questions. Number one, are your resolutions or your commitments, are they helping you be about the Father's business? And number two, are they gonna help you increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man? Because a lot of us will just come up with some random stuff, like, well, I want to run a marathon by the end of the year. That's great. I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. I'm saying somehow connect it to those two questions. How will running a marathon,

Josh Brake (09:22.018)
connect you to being about the Father's business and how will it connect you to increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man? In your pursuit of running a marathon or losing weight, let's use the marathon example. In your pursuit of learning to run a marathon, how will it help you be about the Father's business? Well, what is the Father's business? That's what we have to ask, right? And then you have to know the answer to that.

What is the Father about? Well, he sent Jesus to save us from our sins, to seek and save the lost, to make disciples who then go and make disciples. So, a disciple is someone who's been saved from their sin and helps others discover the one who can save them from their sins. So in your marathon pursuit, how are you helping those you're running with or running against? How are you helping them discover the one who can save them from their sins?

How are you using the pursuit of a marathon to grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man? There is so much to learn in physical training that relates to our spiritual training. And so I'm posing these questions for you so that you, as you think about the new year, can think, how can I be about my father's business? And not my own business, but my father's business. Jesus as a 12 year old boy.

knew that he was to be about his father's business. How are we supposed to be about the father's business in the new year? And how are we to grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with men? I'll land the plane here. In 2019, I believe it was, it may have been 2018, we were approaching the end of the year and I wanted to...

I wanted to do this. I wanted to somehow be about my father's business. I wanted to increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. And so instead of coming up with a bunch of goals, I just decided that my year was going to be the year of prayer. I was going to really commit to being a man of prayer. Not just I'm going to pray some, but be a man who prays, right? There's a difference there. And so in order to do that, I said, okay, I'm going to pray for 30 minutes a day, which was a leap for me.

Josh Brake (11:41.554)
That this, was, this was not like an easy jump, right? This was a commitment that I was making in the same way. You might make a commitment and saying, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm going to run 30 minutes a day or I'm going to run four miles a day or whatever it might be. said, I'm going to pray 30 minutes a day. So I did. I woke up early in the morning before I had to go anywhere or do anything. And I set my alarm on my clock, my timer for 30 minutes and I clicked start and I sat down in my spot and I did not move from that spot for 30 minutes and I was done praying.

in five minutes each time. I thought I knew what prayer was and I did not know what prayer was until I committed to being a man of prayer. I was done in five minutes and then I would learn, okay, prayer has to be more than just asking God to do things and for praying for people in my life. I would come into these times of prayer, I would come to them with lists of people and their needs and I would pray through them and literally be done in five minutes.

10 minutes tops, which left me 20 to 25 minutes of prayer. And I began to ask the question like, Lord, what do I do? What do I say? Teach me how to pray, Lord. And it was a lot of silence, a lot of sitting there waiting on the Lord. I didn't know I was waiting on the Lord. I was really just not knowing what I was doing, but the Bible would call that waiting on the Lord.

And for three months or so, I didn't feel a thing. I was like, okay, nothing's changing. Nothing's shifting. I don't sense the Lord. I didn't even know what I wanted to get out of it. I just knew that the people I looked up to that seemed to have fruit in their ministry and were doing great things for God, I know they had a vibrant prayer life. So I'm gonna do that, right? So I don't know what I expected, but I didn't expect nothing. And I was getting nothing.

right? But then about three months in, just imagine like God's presence is water from a faucet, and he turned the faucet on just a little bit, just a drop. And I was like, I began to sense his nearness. It was also a really challenging year for me ministry-wise with some conflict in relationships, and so I began to

Josh Brake (14:10.572)
when I sensed the presence of God, He would become my refuge and my fortress, a place I would run and hide in. And I was like, in that time of prayer, I knew at least that I was safe in this time.

And it drew me in and then that faucet kept dripping. I began to encounter the presence of God, feel his nearness, feel his peace, which is a physical manifestation, by the way. Peace is a physical thing you feel from God. I began to sense that and, I was hooked. And then it led me, and I did that. I committed to that actually beyond that year.

and I continued to be a man of prayer. Now there were seasons, were like a couple weeks in there where I would be inconsistent, but generally the commitment was true. And I began to learn what it really meant to be about the Father's business.

He would begin to speak to me in ways that he never spoke to me before. The relationship with my Father in heaven became so much more real than it ever had. And it led up into this encounter with the Holy Spirit in 2021, where I just, it was like unlike anything I'd ever experienced.

And I was lost in the best of ways. I was lost in His presence and I was ruined. I was broken in the best of ways. just felt like, it was almost like, it was so profound of an encounter that it felt like I wasn't a Christian before it.

Josh Brake (15:43.692)
And it completely changed my outlook on life, my outlook on ministry. I began to lay hands and pray for people to get healed. I got words of knowledge, prophetic stuff, eventually got a prayer language and pray in tongues and all of this. was just so, it was so powerful of a decision to become a man of prayer. And I have learned more than ever what it means to be about the Father's business, on what it means to look for Jesus, even in the holiday season.

anywhere I might be, looking for Jesus. Where is he at work? How is he doing? What is he doing and how is he doing it right now? And how can I join him and be about the Father's business right now in this moment? there's just this level of expectation that the kingdom's gonna break in at any moment. And I can't take any credit for this. This was the Holy Spirit. He's done all this work in me. And it came from a commitment I made in my heart to just become a man of prayer. And it came at the end of a year where I asked the Lord, what do want my next year to look like? And he put prayer on my heart.

And I said, yes, I'm telling you guys, if you commit to being a person of prayer, your life will be flipped upside down in the best of ways. You'll encounter the Lord like you never had before. His love will be more real to you. And you'll see ministry in a whole new light. You'll see your life in a whole new light. You'll begin to look for ministry opportunities everywhere you go. It will change your life committing to be a person of prayer. So if you're over here thinking, man, what am I going to spend my time doing in 2026?

What goals am I gonna have? What career goals? Do I have physical goals, family goals, whatever? I don't know, whatever it is, I'm telling you, if there's one decision you can make that'll affect all of those things, it's become a person of prayer. Just commit to it in your heart right now. Become a person of prayer and just watch the Lord work in 2026. It will be insane. Make the commitment, change your schedule, do whatever you need to do. It's worth it because the...

Jesus came to save us from our sins and forgiveness wasn't the goal. Fellowship was the goal. He wanted communion with his people. And you can have as much of Jesus as you want. And that comes through prayer. Prayer is communion with Jesus. And he is the King of glory and the lover of your soul. And he has everything you need for life and for salvation, not just later, but today. And so go to him, go in prayer, commit to being a person of prayer. I'm excited to hear testimonies. Let me know as you guys commit to this.

Josh Brake (18:06.51)
I'm praying that the Lord would, in the best of ways, rock your world, rock your socks off as you commit to being a person of prayer in 2026. All right, well, hey, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2026. See ya.