I Decrease, He Increases: Purpose Through Breaking

May 10, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Unseen Companion on the Road

Two disciples trudged toward Emmaus, shoulders slumped under the weight of shattered hopes. Jesus joined them incognito, asking questions as dust swirled around their sandals. They recounted the crucifixion with hollow voices: “We had hoped he was the Messiah.” Their eyes remained veiled even as the resurrected King walked beside them. [55:23]

Jesus meets us in disappointment but often wears disguises we don’t expect—a stranger’s voice, an inconvenient interruption, a mundane moment. He walks closest when our vision blurs with tears. The disciples’ blindness didn’t repel Him; it drew Him nearer.

How often do you mistake Christ’s presence for life’s background noise? Pause today when frustration rises. Whisper, “Jesus, are You here?” What if His nearness haunts your heaviest moments?

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
(Luke 24:27, NIV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to open your eyes to His hidden companionship in today’s disappointments.
Challenge: Write down one current struggle, then circle it and write “He walks here.”

Day 2: When Hearts Burn and Don’t Know Why

Cleopas’ chest tightened as the Stranger unpacked Scripture. Every prophecy about Messiah’s suffering suddenly made sense. His heart blazed like a furnace, yet he still didn’t recognize the Voice setting him aflame. Only later would he grasp why Torah’s threads burned so hot that day. [01:00:06]

Jesus uses Scripture to recalibrate our spiritual senses. The disciples’ hearts burned not from emotional manipulation but from truth colliding with their trauma. God’s Word remains the kindling for divine encounters, even when our minds lag behind.

Open your Bible today not for information but anticipation. Let familiar passages interrogate your assumptions. Where has your heart burned lately without understanding?

“They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road?’”
(Luke 24:32, NIV)

Prayer: Confess areas where you’ve treated Scripture as a textbook rather than a love letter.
Challenge: Read Psalm 22 aloud—the chapter Jesus quoted on the cross—and note one verse that surprises you.

Day 3: Recognition in the Breaking

Bread crunched between the Stranger’s hands. The disciples froze—this gesture mirrored their Last Supper memories. Suddenly, scars flashed as He distributed pieces. Their eyes snapped open. Jesus vanished, but Emmaus’ walls couldn’t contain their sprint back to Jerusalem. [01:02:21]

God often reveals Himself through repetition—patterns that seem coincidental until hindsight. The broken bread echoed Christ’s sacrifice and their shared history with Him. Our breakthrough moments usually revisit earlier acts of obedience.

Watch for recurring themes in your walk with God. What familiar “rituals” (prayer habits, service rhythms) might He use to shock you awake?

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”
(Luke 24:30-31, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for the brokenness (yours and His) that leads to revelation.
Challenge: Share a meal with someone today, and pause to thank God audibly before eating.

Day 4: The System of Taken-Blessed-Broken

Joseph’s brothers hurled him into a pit. Potiphar’s wife lied. Prison doors clanged. Yet each taking, blessing, and breaking prepared him to save nations. Jesus followed the same pattern: taken from heaven, blessed with ministry, broken on the cross, given to the world. [01:15:23]

God’s system isn’t linear but cyclical. Seasons of loss and abundance all serve His purpose. Your current “taking” might feel like abandonment, but it’s apprenticeship. Your breaking isn’t punishment—it’s preparation for greater giving.

What stage dominates your life now? How might today’s pain be positioning you for tomorrow’s purpose?

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done.”
(Genesis 50:20, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to show you His purpose in your present season—taking, blessing, breaking, or giving.
Challenge: Text one person who’s in a different “stage” than you with encouragement.

Day 5: Decrease Until He Appears

John the Baptist’s disciples bristled as crowds abandoned him for Jesus. “He must become greater; I must become less,” John insisted. The Emmaus road disciples finally recognized Christ not when He lectured them, but when He disappeared from their sight. [51:36]

Surrender isn’t self-erasure but making space for Christ’s magnification. Our purpose peaks not in personal success but in how clearly others see Jesus through our cracks.

Where are you still blocking His spotlight? What ambition, pain, or doubt needs shrinking today?

“He must become greater; I must become less.”
(John 3:30, NIV)

Prayer: Name one area where you’re resisting decrease, and ask for grace to release it.
Challenge: Delete a social media post (or refrain from posting) that centers you instead of Christ.

Sermon Summary

We are in a season called to love God fully and then to move outward and love our neighbors. We trace purpose not to clever plans or personal success but to a pattern God uses again and again: he takes us from the familiar, blesses us to reveal provision, allows a breaking so dependence deepens, and then gives us back for kingdom use. We hold to the hard truth that our chief posture must be decrease so Christ increases. Purpose often forms in pain because the breaking strips our self-reliance and forces us to see how faithful God really is. The Emmaus road shows that presence can walk with us and remain unseen until bread is broken and eyes open. Communion becomes more than ritual; it models how God reveals himself in humble, ordinary acts when our hearts finally reckon with Scripture and suffering together. The system proves not to be random harm but a refining architecture: God does not break us to abandon us but to make us usable for his mission. Scripture supplies steady examples: Abraham moved from homeland to promise through loss and waiting, Moses learned leadership in exile after palace life, Joseph emerged from pit and prison into preservation work, and Jesus himself moved from throne to cross to resurrection for our salvation. When we stop asking primarily what success looks like and instead ask what stage of the process we are in, we gain clarity about present suffering and future calling. The gospel remains plain: we confess our need, receive Jesus, and allow this divine system to shape us for kingdom service. If we respond now by surrendering, the same road that brought sorrow will bring recognition, restoration, and a mission renewed.

Key Takeaways

1. Purpose often forms in pain Suffering does not signal divine absence but becomes the soil where dependence grows and identity shifts from self to Christ. Pain exposes where we have trusted alternatives and compels us to see God’s sustaining presence. When we refuse to shortcut the refining, the scars teach us gospel truths we could not have learned otherwise. [50:39]
2. God works in a fourfold system The pattern of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving repeats across Scripture and life to shape us for service rather than to punish. Each stage serves a function: taking detaches, blessing sustains, breaking refocuses, and giving deploys. Recognizing the system steadies us when seasons shift and prevents despair or entitlement. [62:59]
3. Breaking seasons reveal Jesus Clarity about Christ often arrives in moments of fracture when ordinary practices open our eyes to his presence. The Emmaus story shows recognition coming not through spectacle but in the humble act of broken bread and Scripture explained. We should expect revelation to feel small and intimate rather than sensational. [61:17]
4. We must decrease so Christ increases True purpose centers on surrendering prominence so God can display himself through us. When we embrace loss of status, comfort, or control, God reshapes our motives and grants durable fruit. Our calling grows clear as humility replaces self-promotion. [51:36]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[45:07] - Mother’s Day and Series Intro
[45:39] - Loving God, Loving Neighbor
[48:21] - Questioning Purpose and Priorities
[51:36] - I Decrease, He Increases
[52:00] - Luke 24: The Emmaus Road
[61:17] - Eyes Opened in the Breaking
[62:59] - The Taking Blessing Breaking Giving System
[73:24] - Biblical Examples of the System
[76:49] - Invitation to Surrender

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Luke 24:13-35 (ESV)
[Read the full passage about Jesus appearing to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, including their conversation, the breaking of bread, and their recognition of Him.]

Observation Questions

In Luke 24:16, why didn’t the disciples recognize Jesus even as He walked and talked with them? How does the sermon connect this to moments in our own lives? [55:37]
What specific action caused the disciples’ eyes to finally open and recognize Jesus (Luke 24:30-31)? How does the sermon describe the significance of this moment? [01:01:17]
According to the sermon, what are the four stages of God’s “system” for shaping us, and how do they mirror Jesus’ actions with the bread? [01:02:59]

Interpretation Questions

The disciples said, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). How does unfulfilled hope or disappointment often blind us to God’s presence or purpose? [57:34]
Why might God allow seasons of “breaking” (like loss, failure, or suffering) to be the catalyst for recognizing His faithfulness? How does this align with examples like Joseph or Moses? [01:10:12]
The sermon states, “Our chief posture must be decrease so Christ increases.” How does humility create space for God’s mission to advance in our lives? [51:36]

Application Questions

Reflect on a time when you felt God “taking” you from something familiar (a relationship, job, or comfort). How did that season prepare you for what came next? [01:04:31]
The sermon says, “Purpose often forms in pain.” What current hardship or “breaking” might God be using to deepen your dependence on Him? How can you lean into this instead of resisting it? [50:39]
In what areas of your life (career, relationships, self-image) do you need to actively “decrease” so that Christ’s character and priorities can increase? What practical step will you take this week? [51:36]
The Emmaus story shows Jesus revealing Himself through Scripture and broken bread. How could incorporating simple, ordinary practices (like prayer, communion, or Bible reading) help you recognize God’s presence in daily struggles? [01:01:17]
The sermon asks, “What stage of the process are you in?” Are you in a season of taking, blessing, breaking, or giving? How does naming your current stage change your perspective on God’s work in your life? [01:16:18]

Sermon Clips

49s

#PurposeInTheProcess

“That he took Jesus from his rightful throne in heaven, gave him, birthed him, blessed him, actually took him, placed him in Mary, blessed him with miracles, signs, and wonders. Look here. Broke him on a cross because of your sin and mine. This is the gospel. But then gave him to be the savior of the world. In our lives, this is how God works. Maybe instead of asking God, what's my purpose? Maybe a better question is what spot am I in with this system, and what is it that God's trying to do in my life in this moment?”

37s

#CommunionRevealsJesus

“And it got me thinking about the idea that maybe, just maybe, just maybe that the reason why these people recognized Jesus in that moment was because they saw not just how God handles bread, but how God has handled every single life that he ever uses, that he put a system in place. If you were to go back just a little bit further in Luke, you would see where Jesus sits down with the disciples, and you know what he does? He gives them communion. And it says that he took the bread, he blessed the bread, he broke the bread, look, and he gave it to them.”

48s

#FaithProvedInBreaking

“And he knows that we will never truly know how faithful of a God we serve until we go through some breaking. And just so we're clear just so we're clear that you don't just go through this season one time in your life. Right. Any time God is advancing your life, you will go through this system. I would have never known that I'm more than a conqueror through Jesus if it wasn't for the breaking. I would have never known that he stood by his promise of I will never leave you or forsake you if I didn't go through the breaking.”

39s

#GodIsASystem

“And that most people run from pain wondering where their purpose is at, and they continue to bounce from one thing to another because they're not willing to go through the process that God has put back and and put in place years ago of any life that he's ever used and ever will use. That God is a system God. And just as he's put a system in place of how we breathe in and we breathe out, and we're good. Like, we can make it as long as we're able to breathe in. Get you know, breathe in and and exhale, we're good. But if we were ever in a place where we were not able to do that, how many know we broke the system and we're in real trouble?”

47s

#PurposeFoundInPain

“And I think a lot of people, whether we wanna admit it or not, we hook up with god sometimes because we don't really know, you know, where we're going in life, and it sounds good. And and, you know, maybe god can get us that new position or whatever. As as silly as that sounds, I think we look at our relationship with God sometimes like that. Like, God, what can I get out of this? I'm just not sure that's ever the gospel. I mean, I think it's it's not that god wants us to suffer, you know, but it's it's also the fact that I've realized, I guess, the simplicity of what I would wanna say to all of us today is that I've discovered that a lot of times my purpose is found in pain.”

50s

#ChooseToSurrender

“Maybe what God's wanting to do in your life with this system system is to take you from your own way of doing things. Let me ask you a question. How's that working for you? Maybe today, the greatest decision you can make is to surrender your life for the saviors. If you're in this room or watching online, you've never received him, or maybe today you have, but you have just not been walking with God the way that you know you should be. And I'm not talking about you just missed the market. No. No. No. I'm talking about where you're just willfully walking as these guys were in a different direction.”

28s

#MeetYouOnThePath

“Can I tell you that the good news is that Jesus wants to do the same thing for you that he did for these guys two thousand years ago? He wants to meet you on your path. He wants you to get you back in the right direction. If you find yourself in any one of those places, any of the two, I'm gonna ask you to slip up your hand here in about two seconds. I'm not gonna embarrass you. I'm not gonna call you out, but I want you to take a step of faith. I want you to take a step of courage.”

36s

#SimpleActsRevealJesus

“There has to be something more happening with this than just Jesus sitting down sharing a meal with these people. There has to be something more that's taking place because, again, up until this point, they have not recognized him at all until Jesus does something so simple as taking a piece of bread and breaking it. And scripture is super clear. We just read it together that as the moment he did that, the bible says that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”

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