If you're a parent, you're very concerned about
the world your child is growing up in. It's hostile.
It's dangerous. How can you set them up to make
wise choices, make good friends, and avoid the
addictions and the problems that are so prevalent
all around us? That's today. You don't want to
miss it, parents. Welcome to this edition of
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission
of this daily program is to intentionally disciple
Christians through the insightful Bible teaching
of Chip Ingram. Well, does it feel like the deck
has been unfairly stacked against Christian parents?
Like no matter how hard you work to keep your
kids on the right path, there are always new
obstacles and issues to wrestle with? Well, today,
guest teacher John Dickerson offers some much
-needed encouragement to moms and dads as he
continues our series, Dealing with Doubts. But
before he dives in, if this is your first time
listening to Living on the Edge, or you want
to learn more about what we do, go to livingontheedge
.org. You'll find resources on tons of topics
and countless programs to enjoy. Or if you prefer,
the Chip Ingram app is also a great way to get
plugged in with our ministry. Okay, if you have
your Bible and notes ready, here's John with
his talk, Jesus and Freedom for the People You
Love. First big investigations I had to do was
on heroin addiction in Phoenix. And I profiled
this young 19 -year -old girl named Mickey who
was down to about 90 pounds. She was so addicted
to heroin, it was destroying her body. And as
I looked into Mickey's story, one of the unique
things about it is that she wasn't born in the
slums or in poverty. Her parents were attorneys.
She went to Disneyland as a kid. She had the
perfect little girl bedroom with stuffed animals
all around. And when we think about this question,
what can you do to set the people you love up
for a life that they live free from addiction,
free, hopefully from divorce, free from as much
pain and suffering as possible? It's important
that they have a good education. Yes. Playing
youth sports. That can be good. Yes. Mickey did
all those things. And at one high school party,
when she decided to smoke a little marijuana,
it led to her then trying cocaine and then trying
meth and then trying heroin and ending up living
in a drug house at age 19. How do you prevent
that kind of thing? In a world where there's
so many things that our kids are exposed to,
division and hatred and so many things that are
designed to addict them, how do we set them up
for freedom? We can't control their choices,
but how can we set them up to make good choices?
Well, Jesus speaks about this in John chapter
eight. He speaks about freedom. And as we've
learned in this series, when Jesus speaks, he's
not speaking as a guru or a self -help coach
or even a great spiritual teacher. He claims
to be almighty God. And so in this series, we've
documented. Yes, he lived. Yes, we know what
he said. It's recorded in the gospel accounts.
Yes, his birthday is the zero of our calendar,
and he's impacted humanity. He has more followers
than anyone else ever in the history of the world.
But the real power of Jesus is in his words.
And within these claims to be God. We each have
to look at these and say, was this guy actually
God on earth as he claimed? Or is he some weird
lunatic? Because just good people who are helpful
moral examples don't claim that they're God.
They don't claim that they're going to return
and judge every single person for how they live
their life. But Jesus made these audacious claims.
And it's within that context that Jesus said
things like this in John chapter 8. He said,
If you hold to my teaching, then you're really
my disciples. So your salvation begins when you
believe that he died on the cross for you. But
being a disciple means you're continually reading
the teachings of Jesus. And you're continually
looking at your life and saying, am I doing what
Jesus said? Now, none of us do this perfectly,
but it's about trajectory. Is there an effort
to simply obey the words of Jesus in your life?
If so, then he gives this promise. He says, then
you will know the truth, not a truth, not one
of many ways, but the truth, God's truth. And
then this well -known phrase that even if this
is your first time in church, you've heard this
phrase before, and the truth will set you free.
The truth setting you free is dependent on the
first part. Do you hold to Jesus' teachings?
Are you striving to do what he says in your life?
In other words, Jesus is making this radical
claim. He claims to give unrivaled freedom to
those who follow his teaching. Most of the other
freedoms in our lives, we're kind of recipients
of. Born into a country where we have a lot of
freedom. Most of us didn't personally achieve
that. But the kind of freedom Jesus talks about
is freedom from death. That you have eternal
life. Freedom from sin. From any kind of addiction
or habit or pattern. That makes your life smaller.
Freedom in family systems. When there are things
like alcoholism or abuse. or codependence or
insecurity that get passed down from generation
to generation. Jesus claims he can break that
in your family. He can change that. This is a
radical claim. And in our series, we've been
seeing that followers of Jesus in history have
been at the leading edge of setting other people
free. Those who gave their lives to turn the
conscience. of countries against slavery, we
saw from their writings, they were followers
of Jesus. And all that is documented. It's not
opinion. But I want to show you today, while
we'll look at a little bit of history, I want
to show you what this looks like right now, right
here. We're a bunch of people who've taken Jesus
up on this promise that if we do what he says,
he'll set us free. And we've found it to be true.
Zach and Lindsay are two of those. I want you
to go ahead and see their story. When we first
met each other, it was just like a friendship.
It was about getting high. It was about having
sex. It was about using one another. I had gone
through a DCS case. My house caught on fire.
I ended up signing over custody to my parents.
for my two oldest children, and at that point,
I started using meth. I went to prison a few
times, and then every time I got out, I would
try to be good, do good. But I became homeless
after my mom got diagnosed with cancer, and she
ended up having to leave the house that I was
raised in. So after that, I didn't have nowhere
to go, and then I ended up in a homeless shelter.
I would keep going out, trying to just say I
was going to use one or two, three times, and
then eventually it led down to... bad roads.
Then we got married. We got married high at the
courthouse in our hometown. And my parents encouraged
us to go get help at a detox center in our hometown.
It didn't help us any at all. When I picked her
up from the rehab, I had heroin on me and basically
threw it in her face again. We ended up getting
out and going to live with the man that we met
in the detox center where he would let us spend
his money. drink and get high there. But when
we got kicked out of that house, you know, we
didn't have nowhere to go. So we went and sat
at the Walmart. So with the heroin and the meth,
you know, I finally got to the point to where
I realized that it was going to lead me to prison
again for the rest of my life or dead. At the
time, I wish I was trying to find drugs, you
know, just to be able to end my life and not
wanting to live. And I just feel like I felt
like giving up. I tried to get on Facebook and
just try to call and try to reach out to anybody
that I could. We were sitting there on our phone,
and Zach just looked at me, and we didn't know
what to do. He's like, what are we going to do,
Lindsay? Nobody that we were messaging was able
to help us. It was like God was letting us know,
these aren't the people that I want you to go
and get help from. I sent a message to a guy
I know that was in my childhood. And he reached
out to me and he said he would come pick us up.
And then I mentioned Trinity Life Ministries
and he knew about that. So I went to the Trinity
office there and I had an interview with him.
And then he asked me when I wanted to enter the
program. And I told him the same day. I actually
had to wait a month before I could get into Through
the Gate. So our Christian friends allowed me
to live there a month. Also, while I was able
to visit with my children and they were able
to come spend the night with me, just all these
open doors that God opened for us. My mentor,
Tim Moser was his name, and he was there through
everything. Just knowing that my husband has
this really good relationship with a godly man
is wonderful. It's great. I support it all the
way. When Tim was mentoring me, he invited me
to a service, and so I came to the first service.
And then after that, I made that commitment that
this was going to be my home church. I really
like this church, and I've come to love this
church now. I have come to love the fact that
my husband stood. and stood firm into wanting
this to be our home church. And I love it now.
I love committing every Sunday coming here. Because
of everything that we've been through, I just
felt like I was being led to commit and to make
the decision to basically share some PDA for
Jesus. And it was just so great to be able to
have this good, good memory of my husband baptizing
me because of everything that Jesus has done.
It just really is a home here. Being a part of
this church and all the people that we've met
along the way since we decided to start living
for Christ, it's so amazing. My life has changed
tremendously from being homeless to being a drug
addict to now being able to be there for my kids
and my family and be a godly man and lead my
family and my wife. I would say that our lives
completely took a 180 turn. We're being reconciled
with family members. We're able to be examples
to others. who could be out there right now using
and then seeing our story. And, you know, we're
doing it all for the glory of God. And the only
reason that we're able to keep moving forward
is because of Jesus. Our oldest children come
visit us, you know, every other weekend. We're
able to show them what Jesus has done in our
lives because our oldest children saw us in our
darkness. And now they see us. in the light because
of Jesus. He just baptized his son, and now his
son's mother and her husband want to get baptized,
and it's great. There are so many open doors
here, and now we're finding, just like Tim and
Lisa have been able to lead us in different ways
to Jesus, now we're seeing fruit by some people
from our past. that are now being led to Jesus
because we brought them, we were able to bring
them here to Connection Point. It's never too
late to surrender your life to the Lord. There
is no hopeless cause. It's all in a matter of,
you know, desiring to do good, desiring a better
life, and the answer is Jesus. God, the glory
for that transformation. Those the son sets free
are free indeed. You're listening to Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram. Before we hear the
rest of our guest teacher, John Dickerson's message,
let me remind you that we are a listener -supported
ministry. Your financial gifts help us create
programs like this one, develop new resources,
and encourage pastors globally. Prayerfully consider
supporting us today. Then go to livingontheedge
.org to give a gift. Thanks so much for your
help. With that, here again is John. There were
things I saw as a journalist that I thought people
could never get free from that kind of addiction.
And now as a pastor, I see Jesus doing it. I
see him setting people free, not only from addiction,
but also from insecurity, from never feeling
like they could do enough to be accepted, from
never feeling like they're good enough, set free
from shame, set free from greed, set free from
guilt. Set free from brokenness. Those the sun
sets free are free indeed. And you're just sitting
in a room full of people who are broken and imperfect,
but who have found in Jesus that when we hold
to his teaching, not perfectly, but consistently,
then we come to know the truth and it does set
us free. It changes our emotions. It changes
what we see when we look in the mirror. It changes
how we treat the people around us. Those sunsets
are free indeed. I tried to make it through that
video without crying because I know exactly where
Zach and Lindsay sit. And I'm sitting there watching
them through the video. How are they now? They're
here every weekend. The point of this is Jesus.
All we are is a place that connects people to
the source of life, to the one who not only creates,
but also redeems and restores and recreates.
You see, God's truth obeyed sets people free.
God's truth is always available to set you free
in your life, but whether it will or not depends
on will you obey it. And I hope you've heard
from me. You don't have to obey it perfectly.
You just have to obey it willfully, intentionally,
with some consistency. We all still stumble and
fall down. We're a group of imperfect people.
But what we have in common is when we fall down,
we've got people around us who pick us up and
dust us off and say, keep following Jesus. He's
the path to freedom. Now, this is true for individuals.
This is true for families. So many families in
this church and in Jesus movement over the last
2000 years, where for generations. Greed or alcoholism
or physical abuse or emotional abuse or some
other thing was just passed down from generation
to generation. And that pattern could never be
broken until there was a generation that believed
in Jesus and held to his teaching. And then they
knew the truth and it set them free. And what
we see when we look back over the last 2000 years
is if you get enough people together who are
experiencing that. then they start to help other
people experience that. And the movement grows,
and it starts to actually change the society
in which they live. And this might sound like
an impossible claim, depending on your education
background, but we looked at primary evidence.
What did Harriet Tubman say about Jesus? What
did Frederick Douglass say about Jesus? And we
found out. that the leaders of the movement to
end open and legalized slavery, not only here
in the US, but around the world, were dedicated
followers of Jesus and were motivated by Jesus'
teachings. That's according to their writings.
That's not me putting that in their mouths. We
saw the same with the top 10 hospitals. We saw
that the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts
General, those three of the top five. are symbolic
of the top 200, which have spread health care
around the world, and that each of them had followers
of Jesus at their founding, that they were started
to care for the poor and to obey Jesus' words
where he says, whatever you do for the least
of these, you've done unto me. And again, all
of that was documented. Now, very briefly, I
want to give you a thesis. And the thesis is
this, that we live at a time where, yes, society
is imperfect, but we've inherited some fruits
of freedom, prosperity, even longevity of our
lifespan that are unusual in history. So the
average lifespan in human history has been 45
years. Now in the US, it's about 80 years. That's
changed in the last 200 years because of specific
advances in health care. Where did those come
from? Most people throughout history either were
slaves or they lived in a society that had slaves.
In the last 200 years, that has changed. Who
are the people who changed that? Where were they
educated? How did they do it? These are all fruits
that we inherit. Even what we assume are our
property rights and our human rights and that
we can go to a court and hopefully have at least
an effort at a just and fair trial. That's unique
in history. Where did all of this come from?
And if you think of these as fruit on a tree,
the reality is that there were seeds that were
planted. And we can trace these through history.
We looked at the Reverend Samuel Wright, an African
-American gentleman who was born into freedom
because of the Quaker Christians long before
the Civil War. He gave his life to help end slavery.
It was very rare that he knew how to read and
write as an African -American before the Civil
War. Why did he know how to read and write? Well,
it was because of the Quaker Christians. It was
them and the Puritan Christians who pretty much
instituted what we now call public education
that every boy and girl gets taught how to read.
Now, over the generations, that's been handed
on, and it's obviously not overtly Christian
anymore, but that's where it started. And if
you were to look at each of these advances, one
of the things they all have in common is the
university as we know it today. Could you imagine
if there were no universities today? One. How
terrible would it be to not be able to watch
college football? So thank you, Christians, for
founding the university system so we can watch
our favorite team get pounded or win. But so
much more than that. Just imagine if right now
there were no universities in the United States,
the roads that you drove on today to get here
wouldn't be like that because there wouldn't
be engineers trained to grade and design the
road like that. The vehicle you have wouldn't
exist. The electricity you had that you can turn
on the lights, it wouldn't be there. Without
the university, you remove that one thing from
the last 1 ,000 years, and we're back in the
dark ages. So where did the university system
come from? This is Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram. And you've been listening to the first
part of our guest teacher, John Dickerson's message,
Jesus, You, and Freedom for the People You Love,
from our series, Dealing with Doubts. John and
Chip will join us shortly to share some additional
thoughts on what we've heard. If someone were
to ask you, how do you know Jesus actually lived?
Or can we really trust the Bible? What would
you say? Join pastor and award -winning journalist
John Dickerson as he explores these complex topics.
Drawing on evidence from various credible sources
and the impact Christians have had throughout
history, John builds a credible case for believing
in Jesus. Our hope is that as you listen, you'll
be able to confidently say, Jesus is real, the
Bible is true, and I can prove it. In fact, we
have some valuable tools to back you up. Anytime
John or Chip mention a book, podcast, or article
in this series, you can easily find it on our
resources page at livingontheedge .org. We want
to equip you with practical Bible -centered materials
to use personally or share with others. So check
out the resources page at livingontheedge .org
today. Well, Chip's back with me in studio now.
And Chip, people don't have to listen to your
messages very long to discover you love basketball.
You played in high school, I know, and in college,
then around the world. Take a minute and explain
for us the key lesson you learned through these
experiences and how it applies to the work Living
on the Edge is doing. Well, Dave, you're right.
I'm a basketball junkie. My kids love basketball.
The greatest experiences, apart from Jesus, I've
ever had in my life is being on a team. And,
you know, I was a point guard, so, you know,
getting the ball to the big guys or, you know,
just filling your role. And when it all fits
together... It's almost like ballet. It's so
beautiful. Big people do what big people do,
and small people like me do what we can do, and
there's camaraderie. And then you produce something
that's so much bigger and better than all of
you. And, of course, that's what the Bible teaches
in Romans 12, is that we are one body and individually
members of one another. And people probably don't
know that of the millions of people that listen
and benefit from Living on the Edge, I think
I did the math, about 1 .5 % actually financially
support the ministry. Think of that, 1 .5 % of
all those people. And so we know we're ministering
to and benefiting many. And of course, there's
some people that can't afford to. But what I'd
like to say is if we've ministered to you, if
you listen to a podcast, a stream, a small group,
a daily discipleship, Would you partner with
us? And it doesn't have to be a lot, just whatever
God leads you. But if thousands upon thousands
of people would give a little, man, could we
do a lot more. Bring honor to God, make disciples,
see marriages restored, kids grow up in good
homes, and Christians live like Christians. Would
you pray? And then go to our website, livingontheedge
.org, and give whatever God directs you to give.
And let me say in advance, thanks for joining
the team. Well, with that, Here are Chip and
John to share a few final thoughts. Thanks, Dave.
Well, John, I want you to know that today's message
really resonated with me. These messages are
really impactful, and I appreciate you sharing
them with us. I wanted you, if you could, to
elaborate on a point that you made in today's
talk. You said, Jesus' offer of true freedom
is unrivaled in human history. Could you tease
that out for us a little bit? Why is the freedom
that Jesus offers so much better than what we
can find anywhere else? Yeah, it's a great question,
Chip. I think of a few reasons. The first is
it actually is free. Most of the other things
that say they're free require a great cost, a
great price in the case of what Jesus offers.
that cost has been paid by him on the cross.
That price has been paid. So every other religion,
every other self -help system is exactly that.
We're looking for freedom, but then the weight
is on us to deliver. What Jesus offers, the weight
is on him. All we have to do is be humble enough
to receive it. Another reason that I'd say that
Jesus' freedom is better than the so -called
freedom you could find anywhere else. is it's
transformative. That is, Jesus offers you a heart
transplant. He offers you transformation from
the inside out that changes you from the inside
out. Every other form of freedom is something
that we try to get from the outside in, but Jesus
offers us a freedom when we'll humble ourselves
before him and receive him as our Lord and our
Savior, a freedom that then comes from the inside
out. Chip, I'm actually thinking now of a third
reason that Jesus' freedom is so kind of undeniably
better, and it's this. Jesus started the largest
movement in all of human history, and here's
what I mean by that. If you're looking for a
product that works, you look at the online reviews.
How many five -star reviews are there? Is there
100? Man, there are 14 ,000 reviews. Jesus has
more than two. billion followers today in the
world. That's one out of three people in the
world says, I've found something in Jesus that
I couldn't find anywhere else. It's more than
any other movement or anything else. And so that
was part of my journey as a skeptic is realizing,
oh my goodness, there must be something here
because more people follow this guy. than anyone
else and the last reason i'm thinking of here
chip you know it's free it's transformative it
clearly works because two billion people say
it does but the most important one is eternal
life and forgiveness of sins the freedom that
jesus offers you is freedom from the fear of
death, and freedom from the slavery of sin. We
all have bad habits or things we do that hurt
us and the people around us. Jesus can truly
set you free from that. You don't have to pay
money for it or do good deeds. You simply receive
by believing. And the same is true of eternal
life. that you don't have to live in fear of
death. If you receive Jesus as your Savior, and
you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven,
then you know that when you breathe your last
breath on earth, you'll awake in the very presence
of God. That's pretty great freedom. It really
is, John. Thanks. And if you just prayed to receive
Christ, we have a free resource we'd like to
put in your hands that was uniquely created for
new believers. This tool will help you understand
what it means to trust in Jesus and what to do
next. Request this free resource by calling 888
-333 -6003 or by visiting livingontheedge .org,
then clicking on the New Believers button. That's
livingontheedge .org or call 888. 333 -6003.
Let us help you get started in your faith journey.
And as Chip always says, welcome to the family.
We'll listen in next time as our guest teacher,
John Dickerson, picks up in our series, Dealing
with Doubts. Until then, this is Dave Drewy saying
thanks for joining us for this edition of Living
on the Edge.