The ALL-OR-NOTHING Journey Jesus Invites You To Take | Into The Breach | Pastor Josh Howerton

Every week, release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon, it's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free, an episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now, enjoy this Bible teaching. - Amen, amen, amen. Okay, man, I'm pretty excited about this. Hey, we got your Bible sent over to Isaiah chapter 58, Lake Point family, we are today starting what is, this is the biggest thing that God has ever called our church to do by a long shot. Like not even close, my eyes are gonna start a leak and just talking about it. Let me put this in perspective. I need you to get this down deep in your soul. If we do, what God is calling us to do, there will be children that are born that otherwise would not have been born. There will be 1.2 people incarcerated in prisons around the United States who have access to Bible teaching so they can have liberty, proclaim to the captives

and they can see God change their lives. There will be buildings that would have been mosques that become Christian churches. There will be, listen, unreached people groups in India that right now nobody knows the name of Jesus Christ and they will have a New Testament translated in their heart language for the first time in human history. There will be churches planted in cities that do not have churches. There will be families fed and clothed that struggle to be fed and clothed. There will be people who right now, they are slaves to condemnation because they believe to lie to the enemy, that their life is defined by what they have done and they will understand the good news of Jesus Christ, that they are not defined by what they've done, but by what he did for them on the cross, they'll be set free from that condemnation. There will be, listen, there will be college students who would have spent four years building a testimony. They'd have to spend 20 years digging themselves out of, they'll be reached, redeemed and deployed for the purposes of God. There will be marriages restored, prodigal children will come home, chains of addiction will start to break and eternity's changed because of what we do if we run faithfully into the breach in Jesus name, amen. Come on man, let's go.

I'm excited about it, hey, to listen. There's so much going on here, so here's what we got, man. We got this, I want to go over what is happening right now, so I need you to have one of these. All of our campuses, we've got a discipleship journal for you for this series. So right now, this is gonna be people passing those out, don't get freaked out by the people walking around, they're passing out discipleship journals, not cool, if you know what I mean, this is what we're good. So this is what it is, these are discipleship journals for this series. So at all your campuses, grab one of these and let me go over, there's way, way, way more that you can never remember this going on right here. So let me go over, you're gonna need this for the next five weeks of the end of the breach series. So as you grab these, let me go over what's gonna be inside this thing, okay. Number one, when you open this guy, you're gonna see this picture of me and Jana from about a year ago and 10 pounds ago for me, that's right there, turn past that. And then what you're gonna see, is you're gonna see right here on this page an overview of all the projects that are part of this series because there is way, way, way more than you'll ever be able to remember. So all the projects are right there and the dollar amounts that are attached to each of them.

Now, let me explain. So this is where you're gonna go through this deal and this is where you're gonna see all the stuff. So this is like where you're gonna read about the Bible translation. I literally, I'm just totally geeked out about it. A translation for the Brajbashav people, 1.2 million unreached people in India. We are personally quarterbacking a translation of the Bible into their heart language for the first time in human history. All that's in here, it's gonna be awesome. This is where you're gonna read about, you'll see all this stuff, us getting, I'm gonna talk about this later in the sermon, us getting Lake Point Bible teaching into every correctional facility in America so that incarcerated people can hear the good news, Jesus Christ, this guy's excited about, I'm in. This is where you're gonna read, you'll see all this stuff about the five campuses, five. Let me just let that sit in your spirit. The next five campuses. Right now, let me just shoot you straight, man. We are in a season in our church's life where we can't create enough seats for the number of people they got as drawing to himself in our midst, but we're gonna do everything that we can to reach one more for Jesus Christ.

So this is where you're gonna read about the upcoming a college campus, the war, by the way, the worst kept secret in Facebook history, the Greenville campus, let me just say that. I was supposed to announce that today, everybody knew about that, okay? If you're from Greenville, we are buying the majestic theater, which, by the way, it's not very majestic, we learn that. And that's gonna be a Greenville campus. Shout out the official announcement of our future McKinney. McKinney, and then Lucas, we got to Lucas campus. I didn't know Lucas, I didn't look up Lucas on a map. I never even heard of Lucas. I thought, okay, this guy's Lucas. Well, I heard Lucas, I was like, Lucas, I played emeralds with him in college. They literally, so they reached out to us, the Lucas campus did, future Lucas campus. They reached out to us, somebody told me, hey Josh, Lucas reached out. I was like, I haven't seen him since junior year. Who's Lucas? So I do want to say this, this is insane. We have right now, we have not even announced the Lucas campus, this is my first announcement of the Lucas campus, we already have over 550 people committed to be a part of that launch team, okay? It's insane, it's ridiculous. So if you would like to be a part of the launch team

of the McKinney or the Lucas campus, Texas were launched to the number two, zero, four, one. So you can read about all about that stuff right here, all that's awesome. The special needs ministries, we're scale, like, listen I'll just, you can read, I can't go through all of it. So you can read, that's why we gave you this, so I don't got to talk about it all the time. But I do want to say this, both here at the Rockwall campus and then we're launching and building a brand new state of the art special needs ministry at our East Dallas campus. And here at listen, here's why we're doing this, we're running into some breaches. I'm going to say this in a very straightforward way. All the people that people told their parents they should have aborted that kid, I want this church to be the church that plants their feet and says with their chest, nope, you are fearfully and wonderfully made and you should know that full well. That before a word was formed on your lips, your father knew you. And so man, we're going into that breach, all that stuff. So all that stuff is right here and you can read about it when you get home, so I don't got to talk about it now. When you get towards the end of this deal, you're going to see some important dates towards the end of it.

So you'll see that, all leads up to November 4th, that's our encounter night, that's our prayer and worship night, there's 20, now before this, you're going to see 21 days of prayer, the devotional guides that go with this series are all in here, 21 days of prayer. So what we've got is we have devotional, me, my wife, Janna and our elders, we have written 21 days of devotionals to correspond with 21 days of prayer. We're going to devote as a church, set ourselves aside to 21 days of seeking God. Some of you guys go all in with me and you fast for those days. And the Bible word for that is consecrating yourself. It's setting yourself apart from the ways, wonders and things of this world and go, man, I'm a man or a woman marked and set apart for God. And so those 21 days of prayer guides are all in here, that starts next week and then leads up to November 4th encounter, that's our prayer, worship night, it's one of the two most important nights of the year. So all that's in here. And then last, when you get to the end, it's like page 112 or somewhere around there. I think let me look at it, it's page 112, I think. Yeah, page 112 is where it starts. You're gonna see sermon notes, sermon notes right here for each week of the series. So you can go ahead and bookmark that.

I'm coming back to that in a second. Sermon notes right there. And then at the very end, you're gonna see this guy. You can go and grab this. This is a commitment card. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to put this someplace prominent in your home. I used to what me and Janna are doing. I'm sticking it on my bathroom mirror so that every time I brush my teeth, it's right next to my one more card. And I want you to be praying about how God would use you and lead your family to be a part of what he's doing in the kingdom and in this world. So you can grab that and do that. I also wanna say this. This is not just for the people who are in our rooms. We have, there's about on average right now, there's about 160,000 people who you're joining in with us online. And we want you to be a part of this with us too to take this discipleship journey. So what you can do is you can either go to our website or you can text the word breach to the number 2041 and you can get this disciple guide too. We want you joining in with us. So all that's going on now. Let me just shoot you straight and tell you what I'm asking. Okay, I'm gonna ask some things. Number one, number one.

I'm gonna ask you to attend church for all five of the next five weeks of this series. I know that's insane, absolutely insane. Attend church five weeks in a row. Some of you are like, man, I faithfully attend 1.4 times a month. Okay, I'm gonna ask you to attend all five weeks of the series. And here's why I say this. Man, you can probably tell by the way I'm talking. These are, I already know what I'm preaching for the next five weeks. It's like I'm ready. These are the best five sermons that I can give you. They may not be the best five sermons you ever heard. They're the best five I can give you. And why I'm saying that is, it's just I feel it in my bones. It's like my little spiritual spotty sense. God has been building something in our church that he's gonna rip the lid off of and he's gonna use this discipleship journey to do it. So I'm asking you to be here for the next five weeks. Number two, I'm asking you to pray. Listen, a lot of you guys, you're brand new to Team Jesus. You've never done it before. I'm asking you to set aside That's why we got those 21 days of prayer guides to help you. If you've never done that before, just pray. And I'm gonna lead you through this.

Just begin asking God, God, what do you want to do in my life and through my life to run into the breach in my life and in the world? I'm gonna explain what that means, just pray. And then last thing I'm gonna ask you, okay, number three. I'm asking you to like tune in. Tune in and actually listen when you pray. Now here's why I say that because there's, if you're new to Team Jesus, let me explain something. There's this crazy thing that happens crazy when you ask God to speak to you. What's crazy is he does. He does, it's crazy, okay? And so I'm gonna ask you just to tune in and go, okay God, what do you got for me? And then let me give away my cards. And then whenever he speaks to you, just do whatever he tells you to do. That's it, that's all I'm asking, okay? Are we in? Does that sound good? Okay, great, that's awesome. Now let's do this. You got your Bible said to Isaiah 58 12. Let me explain why we're calling this, the into the breach, discipleship of journey, okay? This is Isaiah 58 12. I was on a plane, it was about two and a half years ago. When a buddy, by the way, turned to page 112, and you can take some notes.

There's gonna be some things, page 112. I was on a plane two and a half years ago, and I had a buddy that he texted me, and he was watching what God is doing in Lake Point Church right now. Like, by the way, Lake Point, I just wanna encourage you, and this should humble you. Do you guys understand, in some ways, the whole country is watching what God's doing in you right now? Like, I just need you to understand that. The whole country is paying attention what's happening at Lake Point right now. And it's God texted me, and he was like, hey man, I think that God, it was like a prophetic word, but I'm real into Bible stuff, and so he texted me in Bible verse. And he said, I think this is what God is raising up your church to be in this generation. And then he texted me, Isaiah 58 12, he said this. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt, and you shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of the streets to dwell in. Now, let me explain what's going on here, because let me do a little Bible teaching. When the prophet Isaiah, who's arguably the most major of the major prophets of the Bible, major doesn't mean more important, which just means longer.

When Isaiah prophesies Isaiah 58, what he's doing, it's called a, just go with me here, it's called a census plenier prophecy. That's what theologians call it, a census plenier prophecy. Now, what that means is that there's some prophecies who they have what's called a dual fulfillment. They have what's called a near fulfillment in a historical event that happened in the Old Testament, and then they have a far fulfillment that's ultimately fulfilled in the personal work of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. So here's, I'm a dumb rural Kentucky kid. So here's the best way I can explain it. When you're sighting in a rifle and you got to iron sights, the far sight on the end of the rifle barrel, you're looking at something that's near when you're aiming, you're looking at something that's near, but you're also looking past the thing that's near to the target this far. You're looking in what, it's one line of sight, but it has, quote, two fulfillments of your line of sight. The iron sight at the end of your rifle barrel and the target that you're aiming at. In the same way, Isaiah 5812, it had a near fulfillment in the Old Testament. Let me explain. What happened in the nation of Israel is man, there had been a time when they were there in their nation, in their culture among their people. There had been a time when they loved the Lord

with all their hearts and they repented of sin and they worshiped the Father. And they went after him as their white, hot first love. But then there came generation after generation of spiritual decline and they compromised and they wandered away from God and from their first love. And so by the time Isaiah prophesies Isaiah 5812, the people of God that had once been thriving are now committing a generational apostasy. Instead of repenting of sin, they began to tolerate sin. Instead of being distinct from the world, they assimilated into the world. Instead of tearing down idols, they began to worship idols. And it like functioned like a spiritual cancer. They just started rotting them out from the inside, rotting them out spiritually and culturally and in their nation, all these things just rotted them out. And Isaiah is prophesying actually about 200 years before the fulfillment of this prophecy because he was prophesying that there would come a day when the civilization of Babylon, they would come and in the weakened state of Israel, they would find, watch real close. They would find a weak spot in the defenses of Israel. They would reach, and then the enemy would steal, kill, and destroy everything that God had blessed them with. And then he would take them away to exile in Babylon. They'd be there for 70 years, slaves to these pagan people,

and they would assimilate into their godless culture, all these things as judgment for what they'd done. But Isaiah 15, chapter 12 is a prophecy of hope looking past that. And what he said is, after the 70 years of exile, Isaiah was saying, there will come a day when God will bring you out of that, and there will be a generation that arises that's full of the Spirit of God and set apart for the purposes of God. And he said that that generation would be the generation, watch, that would repair the ancient ruins that they had once lived in, that they would raise up the foundations of many generations, and that generation would be the generation that, quote, repaired the breach and restored the streets, watch. That generation, for many generations, that generation would do something in their day that would reach and bless their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren. Now, in the New Testament, what God is saying, I don't have time to do this, we talk about it on the podcast, it's very interesting. Even though the civilization of Babylon no longer exists in the New Covenant, twice in the New Testament it refers to, quote, unquote, Babylon is very mysterious. First Peter 5, 14, Peter says to Christians, you who are at Babylon, even though they're in Rome,

he says they're in Babylon. That's interesting, I wonder why that is. Then you go to Revelation, I think it's 14, 8, and Jesus is there, there's a big old angel. And what the angel says is, it says, watch, fallen, fallen, listen to the language, is Babylon the Great, who made all nations drink the wine of its immorality. Now just put your tin full hat on with me for a second and let's like be actual Christians who believe in the spiritual realm. What the Bible's saying is that in the Old Testament, there was the nation of Babylon. But now we're in the New Testament and there's still a demonic spirit called Babylon that's at work among all the nations to lead those nations away from Jesus Christ. And it's our job in every generation when the enemy breaks through and breaches the spiritual walls and spiritual defenses of a nation, of a culture, of you, of your family. It's our job to step forward and to power the spirit and be the repairs of that breach and to restore the streets that our children and our grandchildren might dwell in. Amen, does that make sense? This is what he's saying right here. Now, if this is not making any sense, let me just give you an example of this. So when I'm using the word breach a lot,

I'm gonna do the whole series. So let me just explain this. That's a military term and if you're not, so this is, I sleep terrible. So I wake up every night between like two and four a.m. and I just read military history 'til I fall back to sleep. It's a weird little thing I do. So here's what a breach is. A breach is like if your team has defenses, wherever the enemy penetrates your defenses, that's whether it's a wall or it's an artillery, you know, lie, whatever it is, that place where they penetrate the defenses, that's called a breach. So I like to make things visual for you to try to help. So me and my daughter Felicity, we were playing around with Grock Imagine on our couch one day, that's AI image generation. And this is the image that we came up with to show you what a breach is, guys, a little intense. We were going for intensity as we were going for. Well, I like to do this, okay. Now, that was a little too much for Felicity. So Felicity, she wanted to play with it and Felicity turned it into this. I just wanna point this out. She didn't make it, needed to be a little more chill for Felicity, but go back to the other one. And that's a breach, okay.

It's the spot where an enemy, watch breaks through the defenses, not come back to me. Now, can I just point something out really quick? Hey, guys, we have an enemy and that enemy is very real. You are not, the Bible uses war language constantly. The Bible's not saying, oh, that's just an analogy or that spiritual, but it's not actual. The Bible's saying, no, you are actually in a war and you actually have an enemy. The birthmark of a believer is a bull's eye. I'm gonna talk about that here in a second. We have an enemy and the enemy has a scheme and watch his scheme is to find the weak spot in defenses and breach that spot so he can get in and wreck shop and watch, he does this both in cultures and he does it in people and family. So let me do this. If you got two eyes, a soul and four brain cells, you're probably looking around right now at the world and you're going, man, the enemy has breached some walls. Y'all see that with me? God, I'll give you some examples of this. Now, I'm a stats guy, so I'm gonna give you some stats. If you're a stats person with me, these stats may depress you for a second, I'm gonna bring you back down here, then I'm gonna bring you all the way back up here. Some stats for you. Until the last two years, every year,

1 million young people walk away from the church, 1 million. There is, right now, a level of division in our nation that we have probably not seen since the Civil War. I feel this next one, like every day, I just feel it. I experience it. I see it online. There is a rising tide of godlessness and opposition in the gospel that is frankly very new. I have not seen it in my lifetime. Right now, the generation that's rising is the most depressed, anxious, loneliest, most suicidal generation in the history of history. Let me give you some stats. It's the loneliest generation. 73% of the rising generation reports experiencing crippling loneliness. 42% of that generation has a watch, a diagnosed mental health condition. 57% of the rising generation are currently taking medication for one or more mental health issues. Until two years ago, or at least up until two years ago, 30% of that generation identified as LGBT. Suicide rates are the highest since World War II. They have risen 62% since 2007, which, oh, by the way, was the year of the creation of the iPhone. I will just point that out. Suicide is now the third leading cause of death in that generation. 71% of them are addicted to pornography with the average age of first exposure being 12.

40% of Gen Z is born out of wedlock. 34% live in single-parent homes. More than 1/3 are religious nuns and only 8% until very recently reported reading the Bible daily. Now, sad I was going to bring you down? Let me bring you back up. But I believe we stand on the edge of a knife and that we have a chance right now to be used by God to see the turning of the tide. There is just in the last 18 months there's these little signs, little tremors, little things that if you know your old testament, you're going to know what I'm talking about, that I'm praying are the size of a cloud, the size of a man's hand that are precipitating the coming downpour of an outpouring of God's spirit. Now, so let me give you some other stats just to bring you back up. So just, this is like in the last 18 months. Bible sales are up 41.6% since 2022. Religious app downloads are up 79.5% since 2019. Song streams of contemporary Christian music are up 50% since 2019. And church attendance is increasing among young people for the first time in a generation. Go team, Jesus, go, let's go. Now, let me just encourage you like my family. Like you just need to know this, but I don't think you realize what God is using you to do. This was like two weeks ago, our church was named one

of the three most influential churches in America being a part of seeing that shift in this generation. God is using you. So listen, man, put me in coach. Man, if I want to be somewhere that I want to be. So let me just like, let me synthesize both of those sets of data and just say something for you. We stand on the edge of a knife at an inflection point in our culture. And if the first set of data that was true up until about 18 months ago, if the first set of data continued, then 42 million people would leave the church by the year 2050. But if the second set of data that's more true because it's more recent, if it continues, 22 million young people would flood into the church and know Jesus Christ in the coming years. We, what I mean is, come on, man, come on. We are either facing the greatest apostasy in church history, or we are facing the greatest revival in church history. And part of that depends on what we do running forward by faith in Jesus Christ. Now, let me just say this, this whole discipleship journey that we're going on right now, yes, it's about running into the breaches in the world, but I'll be honest, what I'm probably maybe even a little more passionate about is running into the breaches in your life. So let me just say this,

it's not just about the breach in the world. Hey, what the enemy does is he wants to get a breach in your life and in your family, and that's the one you probably feel a lot more. There is some, there is some area in your life where here's what happened, let me tell you what happens, where the enemy got in and he gets a little foothold, and then you look at your life and the foothold became a stronghold and the stronghold became a chokehold and it's killing you. That's the thing that I'm praying redeem and move into in your life and I'm asking you to begin asking the question here's the question I want you asked what is that thing what's the one spot in your life where you can most look at it and go the enemy got a foot hold them came a stronghold that became a chokehold and it's killing me I need you to know what that is now I need you know how he's gonna I'm gonna help you identify it so let me help you identify it we know how he's gonna do it we got it in John 10 10 check this out this is what the Bible says it says the thief comes only when we point out that word only he doesn't do anything except this the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy I have come to they may have life and have it in the full so listen here's the only thing the enemy does steal kill destroy kill the enemy wants to literally kill you literally and because he doesn't have permission to do it he wants to drive you to a place where you'll do it to yourself he literally wants to kill you he wants to kill your children he wants you dead he wants your children dead he wants your lineage dead he wants your legacy dead he wants to kill you steal you know what steel means it just means take something that doesn't belong to him do you know what doesn't belong to the enemy you you Jesus Christ purchased you by his own blood at the cross you don't belong to him and what he wants to do is he wants to get up in there and he wants to steal you steal your faith steal your

inheritance from the father destroying any let me say this some people you'll get into spots where you look at bad things your life where destruction has come and you'll blame God hey that didn't come from God that came from the enemy any destruction it came from the enemy he wants to destroy you your life your purpose your hope all these things that's all he does but what Jesus says is he does the opposite he said I came today may have life and have it at the full so life always comes from Jesus it's the only thing now let me ask you this question because we get this confusing America what when Jesus says he came that we might have life and have the full what's that mean is it a cash in prizes is that may box of mansions you know what what is that okay no in fact let me just give away the cars and explain it no no Jesus is life Jesus is life and what I watch what the enemy will do I'm a let me tell you what he's gonna do what he'll do to steal kill and destroy is he'll dangle right in front of you the ways wonders and wealth of this world and get you to go man if you'll just take chase these things they'll give you life but you're gonna end up chasing them and find out they don't do that they just end up in steel kill destroy okay now I'll give you an example this so years ago back when Tom Brady only had three Super Bowl rings or getting a Tom machine and remember when he only had three Tom Brady was 27 years old and and he did a now-famous interview with 60 minutes and Tom Brady in the middle of this interview he said something that kind of like it kind of shook her but it was listening he said this he got a little emotional and he said there's times when I'm not the person that I want to be now wait let me just but let me set this up make sure this lands on you like it's supposed to write this part down it's really important Tom Brady is more successful than you did you write that down okay right that's really it's really important heads up and I mean this in a completely heterosexual way Tom Brady's better looking than you he is he is he is I know listen I think he's had a little work done I'm jawed I don't know man you will get his rookie picture real different I'm just saying but he's better looking than you Tom Brady's supermodel wife he and he's looked at a

supermodel well one was a wife and one was just a thing he's looking at twice that's I'm not going into that there's a different sermon he's looked at that twice and been like I don't know twice so I look more successful than you better looking than you all the things and this is what Tom Brady said there's times when I'm not the person that I want to be why do I have three Super Bowl rings now seven again and still think there's something greater out there for me I mean maybe a lot of people will say hey man this is what it is I reached my goal my dream my life me I think God it's got to be more than this I mean this can't be all that it's cracked up to be I mean I've done it I'm 27 what else is there for me and then the interviewer leans in and she says what's the answer and Brady sort of whispers I wish I knew I wish I knew now I wanted to like bust through the TV and say I know I know what the answer is put me in coach I know what it is because Jesus said I've come today my have life Now listen dude, here's what he's saying. I just, again, Tom Brady, more successful, better looking, write this part down too. He's richer than you. Listen, all the things, there's an entire generation of the great quarterbacks. They're gonna grow up watching Tom Brady game film and they're gonna be like, that dude inspired me to, can I just say this? Nobody's gonna do that about you, nobody. There is no kid that 30 years from now is gonna be going mad back in 2026. I saw stand from accounting, dude, that spreadsheet. And I knew nobody's gonna do that for you. Tom Brady's got all this stuff. And what he's going is, it didn't give me what it promised it would give me.

And do you know what, can Jesus? Because the book of John says in him was life and that life was the light of man. And the only thing, watch, anytime you're in face-to-face relationship with him. And anytime you watch this, anytime you do what he asks you to do, even if it looks like a sacrifice, even if it looks like a loss, anything he asks you to do will always and only lead to life. This is what it's saying right here, man. So you gotta know this. Now this leads me to a fundamental question. I need you to be asking for the next five weeks. Here's the fundamental question. Where is the place in my life? So I'm not even talking about it at the world. Where's the place in your life that the enemy's broken in? Where's the one spot? It might be a relationship with your daughter. Might be that addiction, just like a socially acceptable addiction, you kinda keep it under. Might be your finances, might be depression. Where's the one spot in your life is that you're like, man, the enemy got in and he's wrecking shop and it's such a big mess. I don't even wanna think about it because I don't know what to do about it.

I need you to know what that is and I wanna take you on a journey to see God start to put his finger on that thing. And here's what I wanna tell you. If you'll take this journey with me, with Jesus, the giver of life, then I wanna say something to you from this verse. You shall be called the repairer of the breach. Jesus working through you and in you will result in something that is passage promises. Now, if it doesn't, I wanna just help you understand what this means. Note the word repairer. Can I just, it doesn't say thinker about the breach. It doesn't say warrior about the breach. It doesn't say critic of people who are trying to fill the breach. It says you, I'ma use you to do something about the breach. So let me give you this visual. Now, you gotta give me this. I used this illustration three years ago, but this is like an anchor illustration in my life. If you know anything around Lake Point, you know this. I got like three favorite movies. There are one of them that I watch every year and I watch this movie every year on July 3rd, every single year. It's one of the best movies ever made, in my opinion. I watch the Patriot on July 3rd, every single year with my kids.

I make my kids watch. Okay, we can hang out, we're friends. We just became friends. That's the meme. We just become friends back then. Okay, it's the Patriot. If you've never seen the Patriot, there's tons of other churches in Dallas. You can go to those. That's a joke. That's a joke. That's a joke. That's a joke. If you've never seen the Patriot, it tells a story about a guy named Benjamin Martin, which by the way was like a conglomeration of three people who were actually real people and they smushed him into one story, who fought in the Revolutionary War and it tells the story of part of the Revolutionary War era in our nation's history. Now, there's a scene at the end of the movie and just kind of go with me. I'm gonna have it playing right behind me. I want you to see this. There's a scene and then go ahead and do it. There's this scene at the end of the movie. Now, try to focus on me while that's going. There's a scene at the end of the movie that's like the whole reason I watch the movie

every single year, I wait for this one scene. At the end of the movie, it depicts a battle that was actually a real battle. It was called the Battle of Calpens. So Benjamin Martin's in this battle, Battle of Calpens. And there comes a spot where the bad guys, the British, the Redcoats, were the bad guys, they watch this, they breach the defenses of the Revolutionary forces of the Clonials. That's the good guys, that's us. They breach their forces and when they breach the defenses, they start putting everybody to flight. Everybody gets scared and all the good guys start running away and it looks like the battles over and they're about to be routed. What you're seeing right here is the pivotal moment in that scene where Benjamin Martin sees all the good guys running away. And then he realizes if we, if we abdicate, if we surrender this battle, the whole war's lost. And so what he does is while everybody else is running away with courage and conviction, he turns around, grabs a flag injected into my veins. And then he starts running right at the breach in the defenses, screaming, hold the line, hold the line, hold the line, and because of the courage turns around, begins to run into the breach, and the battle is won, injected into my veins. Okay, now listen. You shall be called the repairer of the breach.

You're gonna have to run at some stuff. Can I say that? There's a, there's part of a speech. I didn't mean to go like super USA in this sermon, it's just all the illustrations just ended up being that. There's a, okay. All right. There's a, there's part of a speech from our 26th president, his name is Teddy Roosevelt. It's called The Man in the Arena. It hangs in my little home garage gym. I wanna read this to you. He said, "It is not the critic who counts. It is not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of great deeds could have done him better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who airs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds? Who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions? Who spends himself in a worthy cause? Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement? And who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly? So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat

the man in the arena. You know another way to say that? Another way to say that? Is the type of person who runs into the breach and becomes a repair of the breach and the restore of the streets to dwell in. When this passage says this, listen, it's saying to you as a Christian, when you see places the enemy has broken through the world, listen, listen, listen. We're not called to talk about the breach. We're not called to worry about the breach. We're not called to criticize other people who are trying to fill the breaches. We are called to run into the breach in your life, in your family's life, and in the world. So that leads me to a fundamental question. Number two, I'm asking you to ask for the next five weeks. I need you to ask in prayer this question. What am I doing to repair the breach, not just for me and my family, this word's important, but for generations to come? What am I doing to repair the breach, not just for me and my family, but for generations to come? Now why do I say generations? Because the passage says generations. I'm gonna read it to you. You shall raise up the foundations of many, you say of many generations, okay?

Here's what that means. Let me put the cookies in the bottom shelf. In the words of the great theologian from 2001, the gladiator, what this means is that what you do in life, it will echo in eternity. That you can do things in your day that have implications for reaching, watch this, implications for reaching your great grandchildren and their generation. So let me give an example of this. Let me rapid fire this. So this is, let me introduce you to this guy. Oh yeah, yeah, actually thank you. You just helped me remember something really important. This is a, Jesus told us one way we could do this. So in Luke 16, nine, Jesus told us one way that we can repair breaches. And it's a verse people don't like talk about 'cause nobody tends to know what it means. He said, I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself. What's that mean? So that when it's gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Now a lot of people read that verse and like, wait, is Jesus like endorsing bribery? Like heavy handshakes?

No, no, that's not what's going on. Here's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying, use your worldly wealth while you have a chance to change people's eternal destinations because there is coming a day when we will step into glory. And if you do that, then when you step into glory, I know you don't understand this yet. This is what Jesus is saying. He's saying when you step into glory, there will be people meeting you at the door who approach you and your family and say, hey, you've never met me before? Thank you. Hey, thank you. Because of your generosity, you paved the way for me and my family to bend our need of Jesus Christ. And we're here because of you. Thank you, that's what that means. Now if it's like, I don't know what that means. So here's the example I wanna give. Let me introduce you to this guy. So this guy's name, first of all, this is Greg Bradford, shout out Roy City Campus. This right here is a guy named Randy and I have his permission to tell this story. He's a little sensitive, you'll see, Randy.

So I mentioned earlier, one of the things late-point Bible teaching into every correctional for every prison in America. Now, let me just kind of give away my cards. We just went ahead and did it. Just ahead and we just went ahead and did it ahead of time for reasons that become obvious in a second. And we're just trusting you're gonna pay for it. It's gonna be great, okay? So it's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be right. (clears throat) So heads up, that's already been gone for about two months. And heads up, Lake Point Bible Teaching has already had 1.3 million views and downloads in correctional facilities in America. And, Liz Wade, don't clap yet. And over 580 men and women incarcerated men and women have been there in need of Jesus Christ as a result already. God, that's it, it's amazing. It's awesome, man. Let's check this out. Check this out. So Randy walks up to our Roy City campus and he goes to the first time guest tent and they're like, hey, how'd you find out about Lake Point? And he said something weird. And they were like, we've never heard that before. So they go grab Greg.

And Randy goes on to explain, Randy's explaining that his daughter is serving a life sentence in a correctional facility right now. She's 18 years in. And she started watching Lake Point Bible Teaching online. And by the way, if you're that daughter, we love you and we are for you, sister. (audience applauds) And so he starts explaining this. And then, so she starts telling her dad how God's changing her life through Lake Point Bible Teaching. So he comes to the Roy City campus cold, walks up and says, and so I'm here to worship with my daughter for the first time in my life. Now listen, bro. (audience applauds) You should raise up the foundations of many generations. Let me do one last one. This time I'm gonna finish. So let me show you an old picture. Some of you about to do "Where's Waldo?" Because I'm about to put a picture of you on the screen and you didn't know I was gonna do it, okay? So this is a picture of the entire membership of Lake Point Church in 1995. Now some of you're like, you're looking for your hair. You're like, where am I? This is, now if the picture's faded, this is our entire church in 1995.

This was the church. Our church used to meet over on Dalrock Road. That way, not that way, yeah. Over on Dalrock, somewhere. Dalrock Road and Rowlette. That was the whole church. Now, the next year was the year. This is the group of people that did what it took to move into this building. They ran into a breach and did what it took to move into this building that we now, it's our broadcast campus now. Now, can I do something real quick? If you were a part of Lake Point Church in 1995, would you raise your hand real quick at all of our campuses? Would you do that? Get 'em up real high. Would you get 'em real high? I want people to see who you are. Get 'em real high. How about look around, look around. That's awesome, that's awesome. Okay. Thank you, okay. Can I say something to you? Keep those people who just had their hands raised in your mind. Since that day, when that generation did what it took to get in here, think about this.

We have baptized 30,215 people. One, no, don't clap yet. 102 churches have been planted. 13,000 people have been sent out on mission trips and $65.4 million have been given to missions. Ever since those people did what it took, do you know why all that happened? Because the people who just raised their hand, they decided to run into the breach in 1995 and do what it took to see all this happen. Now's your moment to thank 'em. That's when we say thank you, everything. All of it happened because of what they did. You haven't what they did. Now, let me finish and make it more personal. Let me make it just a little more personal. If you or your children have met Jesus or been baptized at Lake Point, would you raise your hand? Should you raise your hand? Keep 'em up. I'm gonna do three questions, but I want you to keep your hand up. If you had a season where you ran away from the Lord and came back to Christ at Lake Point, would you raise your hand? Okay, everybody, keep your hands up. If you've had a spiritually significant moment that changed your family's life at Lake Point, now would you raise your hand at all of our campuses? Now listen, let me just say something,

keep your hand up. You are the recipient of somebody else's generosity. You can put your hand down. You are. And there will come a day when they will step in a glory and you will be telling them, thank you. Thank you for doing what running into a breach. Thank you, okay. So there's all I do. I want you to take this five-week, this discipleship journey with me. And really what I want you to focus on is what God wants to do in the breach in your life and in your family's life. And I want to ask you week one to make a commitment with me. And I'm asking you to stand here in a second as a form of that commitment. If you're simply willing to just be open to whatever God tells you to do, If you're simply willing to go, okay, God, whatever you ask me to do, I'm gonna do it, because I know you always lead to life. Would you just stand right now? It's like a sign of that commitment, okay, I'm in. Okay, yep, whatever I gotta do, go ahead and all of our campuses, man, that's amazing. Whatever I gotta do, whatever I gotta do, I'm in. Okay, me too, me too. So right now, let me pray for us.

Suddenly, Father, right now, I pray that what you're seeing from heaven this weekend at Lake Point is 30,000 living sacrifices. That all of us are just saying, God, whatever, whenever, wherever, no matter the cost, I'm yours. Father, I pray that you would, in our lives, that right now, there'll be areas of our life that we have kept hidden from you, that we've kept far from you, that we have not let you in, that by the end of these five weeks, and over the next two years, that we would say with truth, you, Jesus Christ, are before all things, and in you, all things in my life, hold together. That we would be a living testimony, that in him was life, and that life is the light of men, and he's become the light of my life, and the light of my family's life, and the light of the world. And so, Father, I pray for grace and blessing on these families, and I pray that you would do it in Jesus crucified and risen name, and all God's people said, amen. - Amen. - Well, hey, thanks so much for listening. Lake Point Church is a movement for all peoples in no Christ, live free, and change the world for God's glory. If you're already a member of a local church, we want you giving there, but if you'd like to make a donation to help this message go further, faster, it genuinely helps us boost getting out to more people.

If you'd like to make a donation, you can text the word "give" to the number 20411, and then just choose "church online" from that drop-down menu. To find out more about Lake Point, you can visit lakepoint.church.