“BREAKTHROUGH TWENTY-TEN:
THE POWER OF THE PUSH”
Joshua 1:6-9; Psalm 118:24-27a;
Ephesians 5:15-17 (KJV)
In football, there is a term that is used now in referring to the final, 20-yard zone that leads the offensive team into the end zone. That zone is called the “Red Zone.” It is that area where advances against the defensive are more difficult, you run up against greater resistance, the playing field has shortened so you have less options in your playbook, the defense puts in bigger players to thwart your efforts. The “Red Zone” is the critical, game-changing area where a final, powerful, and often creative PUSH is necessary in order successfully cross the goal line.
Many victories are never won or goals obtained because people run out of gas in the “Red Zone’s” of life. Destructive habits are not defeated, sins are not overcome, forgiveness is not given, anger is not released, relationships crumble, values are lost, churches fold, and success evaporates often times for one, critical reason - people fail to know about and therefore fail to implement the “Power of the PUSH” when they hit the “Red Zone’s” of life.
In Joshua 1, we find the Israelites in the “Red Zone.” They have wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses has died. The mantel of leadership has been passed to Joshua. They are standing on the eastern banks of the
God tells Joshua in verse 7 and again in verse 8, that His divine will for His people is for them to be “successful.” This is God’s will for us…success, victory, and the Promised Land.
To successfully breakthrough from the “Red Zone” into the “End Zone” where the rewards of grace, peace, and blessings await us as we saw last Sunday, God reveals to His people that they need the “Power of the PUSH.” And that power comes in two forms.
Joshua 1:6-9; Ephesians 5:15-17
The power of the final PUSH that makes Christians successful comes as we wisely choose to look at the situation, circumstance, or battle we are in from every angle possible. Promptly seeking wise counsel from other Christians is absolutely essential for that final PUSH to victory and success.
A young lady auditioned before a famous concert pianist, who had consented to listen to hear her play. After the audition, she asked for counsel: “So, what do you think I should do now?” The master pianist shook his head and advised her, “Try getting married.”
Good and timely advice and counsel are vital. They can save us from a lot of embarrassment, trouble, heartache, and sin. Wise counsel is essential for successfully breaking through the “Red Zone’ and getting into the “End Zone.”
We know this to be true because of the Hebrew word that is translated as “successful” in Joshua 1:7 and again in 1:8. It is the word sakal and it literally means “circumspect < intelligent, having good success.”
Circumspect comes from the Latin conjunction of circum: around and specere: to look. This word gives the picture of walking around something carefully and looking at it from as many angles you can before you act. When you look at a situation, circumstance, or battle from as many angles and options as possible, then you can push forward with the wisest game plan available. It’s like a golfer walking around his golf ball and looking at it the lay of the green for all kinds of angles before stepping up to swing his putter.
In his letter to the Ephesian Christians who strove to successfully breakthrough all the forces resisting them in the “Red Zone” (otherwise known as the pagan Roman empire), Paul told believers to be wise and to “walk circumspectly.” In the New King James version Study Bible, the footnote says that this is a Greek word that means to step carefully and cautiously around something as if you are stepping through a thorny area. This is not only wise, but it is the best use of your time, which is the thought behind Paul’s use of the phrase: “redeeming the time.”
The “Power of the PUSH” that helps us successfully breakthrough the “Red Zone” into the “End Zone” is the power of humbly seeking advice, counsel, and wisdom from the Word of God, from the Holy Spirit, and from godly people. Victory in the “Red Zones” of life is often determined by taking the time to consider all angles and allowing ourselves to accept the counsel we don’t necessarily want to hear…like being a wife instead of a concert pianist.
Many Christians, in their walk with Christ, don’t walk “circumspectly,” and therefore they fail to have the “Power of the PUSH” that’s vital in breaking us through from the “Red Zone” into the ‘End Zone.” In other words, some of you still aren’t experiencing the victory of peace, grace, and blessing from God we talked about last Sunday because you’re still stubbornly refusing the wise counsel that will make you successful. You’re still rejecting, ignoring, or simply unaware of some “angle” that is really your saving grace.
If we don’t take the time to walk circumspectly and get wise counsel, we can end up going in through the wrong door and ending up in something other than the “End Zone.”
This is what happened to Coach Bob Zuppke and the
Walking circumspectly, said God to Joshua and Paul to the Ephesians, gives believers the “Power of the PUSH.” In wisely and prayerfully looking at a situation, a circumstance, or a battle from as many angles as possible, walking carefully through the brier patch, will give you power to successfully breakthrough from the “Red Zone” into the “End Zone.”
If you keep coming up wet, if you are not experiencing breakthrough and victory, perhaps it’s because you’re rejecting counsel, either from the Word of God or from godly people. So repent.
Joshua 1:8; Psalm 118:24-27a
The power of the final PUSH that makes Christians successful comes as we choose to beseech the Lord and other Christians. From these two great resources, we are able to PUSH on to victory and success because from them we receive blessing and light.
Have you ever noticed that football players often kneel down and bow their heads in thanks, I guess to God, or point to the sky when they victoriously make a touchdown? Have you ever noticed them doing the same thing when they fumble the ball, fail to make a fourth-down conversion, or miss a field-goal? Why is that?
I don’t know if they are indicating that their power to push into the “End Zone” from the “Red Zone” came because they beseeched the power of the Lord or not. But that’s what is needed in the Christian life if we are to have the breakthroughs that God wants to us experience.
What caught my attention last week when we featured Psalm 118:25 in our Call to Worship is that the Israelites “beseeched” the Lord for the power to succeed. They called on God to put the “P” in their “PUSH” – divine, supernatural POWER.
Now this is interesting. The word for “success” in Psalm 118:25 and again as the word “prosper” in Joshua 1:8, are the same Hebrew word - tsalach. Translated into English, tsalach means, “to push forward, break out, come mightily, go over, advance.”
Prosperity and success come as we beseech the Lord God to interceded and give us spiritual power for the push from the “Red Zone” into the “End Zone.” Similar power comes as we beseech power from other people as intercessors for us.
The importance of other people as intercessors in assisting us with spiritual, emotional, and even the physical power to push from the “Red Zone” to the “End Zone” is found in Psalm 118:26: “We bless you from the house of the Lord.”
This is talking about believers from the “house of the Lord” uniting in both their prayers and in their presence to “bless” people down on the playing field with power and strength, perseverance and faith.
In specific terms, we bless people from the house of the Lord and thereby give them the “Power of the PUSH” as we visit the sick, encourage those struggling to break habits, stand in prayer with those caught in sin, confronting those who are being disobedient, comforting the sorrowful, reaching out to the needy, and just cheering on someone who is struggling with family issues, relationships, jobs, and whatever they’re battling.
Now listen carefully. We often do not breakthrough successfully from the “Red Zone” to the “End Zone” because we do not beseech the help of the Lord who blesses us and who, as it says in Psalm 118:27, gives us “light.”
Additionally, we often do not breakthrough successfully from the “Red Zone” to the “End Zone” because we do not beseech the help of others from the house of the Lord who also bless us with “light” through their prayers, support, and presence. It’s OK to ask for help. It’s biblical!
Some of you still think that you have to be a Christian “Lone Ranger” and going it alone.
Don’t you remember that even the mighty Lone Ranger had an “intercessor” – Tonto?
Being a Lone Ranger is one of the surest ways to stay stuck in the “Red Zone.” Satan is going to throw everything at you to keep you out of the “End Zone.” You need the help of others. No running back carrying the ball is going to get across the goal line without the help of others blocking for him, and neither can we.
Look around you right now. This is your team. This is your family. You even have a Prayer Chain in this house of the Lord who would love to bless you by praying for you. Do not be afraid to beseech the Lord for success and don’t be hesitant to beseech someone in
Some of you were here several years ago when I told this story and some of you were not. In any case, it bears repeating as it illustrates how God gives to those who beseech Him.
A man died, went to heaven, and was getting a welcome tour by one of the angels. At one point, he saw this huge building. When the man asked the angel what was in that building, the angel said that he really didn’t want to see in that building. It would make him too sad. But the man insisted, and so the angel opened the door. Inside were wrapped gifts in all shapes and sizes, stacked floor to ceiling. When the man asked the angel what all these gifts were for, the angel sadly said, “These are gifts God wants to give but people don’t ask for.”
“Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!” God’s will and desire truly is our victory, successfully breaking through from the “Red Zones” of life to the “End Zone” where we experience His grace, peace, blessings, and joy as in no other way. But you need the “Power of the PUSH” to get there, and you will have that power to successfully break through as you practice these two key, biblical principals: 1.) walking circumspectly and receiving counsel from the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and godly believers, and 2.) beseeching spiritual power, strength, and support from God and from intercessors who bless us from the house of the Lord.
His gift for you is wrapped and ready for delivery. The question is, do you really want it?
