Growth In Godliness
Breakthrough: The Movie Illlustrasted Great Faith Found In The Gospel
If you watched the movie Breakthrough, you know that by all accounts a boy who was dead for over an hour got a heartbeat after his mother prayed. Conservative Christians leery of charismatic frauds are more inclined to dispute miracles. A miracle is defined as God intervening in world affairs and causing something to take place that otherwise could not happen.
In Matthew 15, what made the gentile woman's faith, in Jesus' words, great? It was her humility. Jesus told her that it was not good to take the children's bread, that is Israelite's bread, and throw it to dogs. Jesus Called her a dog. Her reply was yes. She said I am a dog. This scene does not depict God doing good for people who deserve good done to them. It is precisely the opposite. A similar incident occurred in Luke 7 by a Roman Centurian, who told Jesus that he was not worthy to have Him come under his roof. Jesus replied, "Not even in Israel have I found such great faith." Only in these two cases does Jesus call their faith great. In each case, the shared characteristic was humility.
Breakthrough: The Movie Illustrated Great Faith
How did the movie Breakthrough illustrate great faith? It was not the desperate woman crying and pleading over the dead body of her son but the controlling, guilty sinner who owned up to her abortion and needed to control her husband, son, and the present situation. In her humility and calling for prayer from her community, despite the depraved condition of her heart, God honored His inbirthed spiritual faith.
Proud people make faith their own. Proud people decide to receive Jesus Christ on their own. Proud people, before they are born again, or so they think, choose Jesus on their own. Denominations, professional scholars, and pastors divide brothers by making people proud.
Breakthrough: The Movie Illustrated Faith's Humility
Prayer is the great leveler. Jesus emptied the temple on two accounts. The temple worship was more about money for the leaders than the worship of the one true God. Jesus clarified that His Father's house should not be a place of business but be called and be a house of prayer, Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46; and John 2:16. Does your church pray more than it does anything else?
The True Life Account of Breakthrough was one of the ongoing needs stated by the medical community and sent out by the church to the city of St. Charles, Missouri. Prayer became the channel through which God worked just as little children ask their parents for everything, having no pride to get in the way; even so, this family, church, and Christian school became swept up with beseeching God for the life of John Smith. Breakthrough: The Movie was a true to life account of a present-day miracle.
Breakthrough: The Movie is a true-to-life story of a present-day miracle. We need not react in opposition to the story of a boy's life being saved miraculously because of many past frauds. Let us remember that when Christ was present in Israel, healing went on daily and multiplied the healing observed in the movie BREAKTHROUGH many tens of thousands of times. People were ready for the healing, but in the end, they had Christ nailed to a cross.
God could be speaking to our nation that He can do whatever He wants and whenever He wants to do it. Much of America no longer has faith even in the existence of God, and for this reason, there is no need to receive forgiveness from someone who doesn't exist in their minds. Authentic believers experience forgiveness, grace, and love so that the cares of this life fade. We look not for the gifts God gives but for the gift bearer.
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