When you look at life and circumstances, do you
tend to look at the positive, the upside, or
do you tend to look at the negative side? You
may not think it makes much difference, but after
today's broadcast, you might learn it makes all
the difference in the world. Stay with me. 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, in just a minute, we'll begin his series,
I Choose Joy, based in Philippians chapter one.
In the coming programs, Chip will explain how
to develop a healthier perspective toward our
circumstances and have supernatural joy no matter
what. And if you've looked around our world recently,
we could all use more joy, right? So if you're
ready, grab your Bible and settle in for Chip's
message, Understanding the Power of Focus. You
know, it's pretty easy to choose joy when things
are going well, but it is pretty tough to choose
joy when circumstances are very, very difficult.
And what we're going to learn in this series
is that it really is a choice, that God will
give us everything that we need regardless of
how devastating the circumstances. Tell you what,
when it's really, really hard, it's just easy
to look inward, to fall into self -pity. and
to just watch your life spiral down. And what
we're going to learn, it doesn't have to be that
way, but we're going to talk about the power
of focus. I brought a little pitcher of water,
and if we took a little contest, and if I said,
is the pitcher half full, or is the pitcher half
empty? The answer is yes. Right? Some people
will spend their entire life, no matter what's
happening, focused on what they don't have, what's
wrong, what they wish were better, on and on
and on with what they don't have, what God hasn't
provided, and what they think would bring joy
and happiness. Other people have learned to focus
on what they do have, and they recognize that
everybody's life has some emptiness. Everybody
has struggles. Everyone's going to suffer. Everyone
has some problem relationships. Everyone eventually
will have some health issues. Everyone has struggles
at work. They either define you or... You learn
how to focus and to think and to trust God in
such a way in order to choose joy. Pull out your
notes, if you will, and I've got to tell you
a true story that at times I can hardly believe
it's true. He was a neighbor. He was a friend.
We got pretty close, got to talk about a lot
of things. In private conversation at this point,
he wouldn't care that I share this. He was a
backslidden Christian. I mean, he knew God. He
used to go to church regularly. He used to serve
in a church. And he kind of had slidden away
from all of that. And poor guy got, you know,
his new neighbor was a pastor, me. And so we
get to know one another. And he's a great guy,
very gregarious. He just lived right across the
street from Teresa and myself. And so he was
out in the yard. We got to know each other well.
And I'll never forget the day that he got a phone
call, walked out in the yard, and he had found
out that someone had, he was a cabinet maker.
And I mean, top of the line cabinet maker and
put in these, I mean, super expensive cabinets
into these super luxury homes. And he had hundreds
of thousands of dollars of his cabinets that
he'd already made that he was going to be putting
in these homes along with his material. And someone
arsoned his warehouse. He lost everything and
had no insurance. And I saw him out in his front
yard and he looked like someone literally had
just died. And he went into clinical depression.
He ended up having to go to the doctor. I remember
I would take walks around the block and he had
a big bay window. And if you've ever seen someone
like sit in a chair like this, I mean, life was
over. He had, I mean, it was everything he had
was gone. Fast forward three and a half years,
he's a pretty resilient guy, quite the entrepreneur.
And so he built his business up again and got
another big contract, made a bunch of money again.
And, you know, there's people that kind of have
this gift. And so he's got, you know, 12 or 14
master craftsmen. And he's got another big set
of super luxury homes. And he has a big warehouse
again. Are you ready? You guys, anybody feeling
what's coming here? So one of his employees,
you know, they really love him. He's great to
get along with. So he goes in to help out. And
so he sweeps up all the salt. dust, and then
there was one of those things that you torch,
whatever you call it, when you weld things, and
he was cleaning some stuff out, and so he lit
that to empty something, and it sparked, it hit
the sawdust, and within minutes, everything he
had again was gone. His wife, I still remember
the morning, I think it was a Sunday because
it was pulling out, and she comes out, you know,
and this is what's happened, and he had a tiny
bit of insurance. He didn't get clinically depressed
this time. He said, I heard the news. I've been
through this before. My whole life was about
things before, and I realized they couldn't satisfy.
And he says, everything in me just wanted to
break down, and I just decided. I told my wife,
stay right here. I'm going to walk around the
block. He said, I started to walk around the
block, and I don't know why, but this came into
my mind. Naked I come into the world, and naked
I will return. The Lord gives. The Lord takes
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And he
said, for 30 minutes, I kept walking. I started,
thank you. I have a wife that's loyal, that cares
with me. Thank you for my son. Thank you for
my grandson. He said, I just started choosing.
And all I did was for 30 or 40 minutes, I just
focused on what I actually did have. Before his.
Other workers were, everyone was discouraged.
Everyone was out of work. Within 48 hours, he
had found jobs with his competitors for all 12
of his craftsmen. I'll never forget out in the
front yard less than a week later when before
he was in a kinetotic state of just depression.
And he was out in the front yard playing with
his little grandson who was about three or four
at the time. And I said, Gary, how are you doing?
He goes, you know, it's hard. And then he looked
at me and he looked down at that little boy and
he said, But I got a lot. I got a lot. What's
the difference? Fire number one, his focus is
inward. Fire number two, it's upward, and then
it's outward. Question, where's your focus? How
do you deal with the tough circumstances in your
life? Notice on the front, there's a little divine
equation. The divine equation is C plus P equals
E. I mean, I want you to get that. Some of you
might, you know, write that somewhere, put it
on a card, put it in lipstick on a mirror. C
plus P equals E. Circumstance plus perspective
equals your experience. Living above my circumstances
occurs when my perspective interprets my circumstances
rather than my circumstances determining my perspective.
It's true, isn't it? Either I look at life Through
the lens of, this is my circumstances. When they're
kind of good, I'm kind of happy. When they're
kind of bad, I'm kind of sad. Or I look at my
circumstances through the perspective of the
lens of God's promises, God's power, the lens
of a sovereign God, a good God, who's going to
take even the worst and most difficult things,
and he's going to use them for my good. The fundamental
question is, How can we develop the kind of perspective
that transcends our circumstances? How do you
do that? I'm going to suggest that it's going
to be C plus P equals E. And we're going to learn
from a man who models this for us like nobody's
business. Key number one, jot the word in, focus.
The question is, where is your focus? Now, I
want you on the left side of your notes, I want
you to put a little box and I want you to imagine
that's a whiteboard in your mind. And I want
you to write one or two words. And if you're
next to someone that happens to be the problem
that goes into that box, I would maybe not do
that right now. But what I want you to do is
actually think of what's the most difficult,
challenging circumstance or relationship that
you have right now. I mean, what is it that gets
you down that if you could say, God, either fix
it or take it away, what would be in that box?
Have you got it? You're listening to Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram, and he'll be right
back to continue our series. But quickly, if
you're eager to do a deeper study of Philippians
chapter one, check out Chip's newest book, I
Choose Joy. And right now we have a special deal
exclusively for you, our faithful listeners.
So stick around after the teaching to learn more.
With that, here's Chip to finish this insightful
message. Now we're going to look at Philippians
chapter one. But before we read it, I want you
to get the circumstances of the author. It's
A .D. 62 -63. He's in a Roman prison. He's a
little past midlife. He has already been beaten
three times. He's been overnight in the sea.
He's been stoned and left for dead once. He got
some revelation in Arabia. He is taking the gospel
and his mission, his plan, his circumstances
are God has called me to take this message to
the whole Gentile world. And instead of going
to the whole Gentile world, he's stuck in a cell.
Which what we know is he ends up writing a lot
of letters that reach the whole world, but he
doesn't know that. All he knows is God told me
to do this. I wanted to do that. Every time I
try and do it, people beat me up or they stick
me in prison. And you would think Paul would
be discouraged. And he would be if he looked
through the lens of circumstance. But his perspective
is not that. Follow along Paul's circumstance.
Paul and Timothy bond servants of Christ Jesus
to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in
Philippi, including the overseers and the deacons,
grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is a church that
he has a real heart connection with. And they've
heard you're in prison and they're concerned
about him. And so they sent a financial gift
through one of their members, Epaphroditus. And
this is really a thank you letter. And they want
to know, well, how are you doing? And so Paul's
going to explain his circumstances here. He says
in verse three, I thank my God and all my remembrance
of you, always offering prayer with joy in my
every prayer for you all. Well, why? In view
of your participation in the gospel from the
first day until now. For I'm confident of this
very thing, that he who began a good work in
you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
I'd like you to circle the word thank. I'd like
you to circle the word remembrance. I'd like
you to circle the word prayer with joy. I guess
that's a phrase. Circle the phrase prayer for
you all, and then circle the word confident.
This is Paul's upward focus. He's in jail. His
circumstances. Where's his heart? Where's his
mind? He says, I pray. Did you notice how? I
pray with joy. I'm remembering what it was like
with Lydia. I remember when the little church
was birthed. I remember that night when that
jailer was ready to kill himself. Stop, don't
do it. Stop, don't do it. We're all here. And
we went into his house and he cleaned me up and
his whole house was baptized. And we don't know
all the story, but it's a church where God did
a great thing. And he says, I pray with joy in
all my remembrance of you. And it wasn't just
what he did. He says, in view of your participation
in the gospel, we were in it together. We saw
God work in that Roman colony in Philippi. And
his just focus is, God, thank you for them. And
then his focus is still about them. I'm confident
of this. You know, God's in control. Where's
his concern? His concern isn't, well, it's really
tough. There's a lot of rats. I'm chained to
this guy. It wasn't really fair. I'm completely
innocent. There's no blaming. He doesn't blame
God. He doesn't blame people. His concern is,
I'm confident of this very thing that he, Jesus,
who began a good work in you, he's going to perfect
it until he comes back. Where's his focus? It's
upward and it's outward. Notice his focus continues.
Paul's outward focus. He says, for it is only
right for me to feel this way about you all.
Why? Because I have you in my heart. Since in
both my imprisonment and the defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace
with me. For God is my witness how I long for
you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Gonna
ask you to do Bible study one more time here.
Circle the word feel. Then circle the word heart.
Circle the word partakers. It's a Greek word
that means people are connected to one another.
Circle the word long. And then circle the word
affection. And what I want you to get is, can
you imagine someone, maybe in our day, in bondage,
in a hellacious prison, maybe in another country,
who's discovered they have cancer, and you write
to ask how they're doing, and you get this letter
back, oh, every time I think of you, I'm praying
for you. I remember when we spent this time together.
And then to say, I long for you all with the
affection of Christ Jesus. I memorized this passage
many, many, many years ago, and I remember praying.
Lord, I don't know that I could ever say that
to anyone, but I would love to be able to say
that somehow, someday. To love someone, to long
and care for someone in the same way that Christ
cares for me. This guy is filled up with his
love for other people so much so, he just seems
to be almost unaware of the difficulty of his
own circumstance. Finally, out of his... outward
focus and love, notice he prays for them. So
he takes his concern and he goes, and this I
pray, that your love may abound still more and
more in real knowledge and all discernment. And
then there's a result, so that. Put a little
box around the so that. It's very important.
So he says, Here's what I'm praying. I'm in prison.
My focus isn't on me. It's on God, but it's on
you. And when I'm praying for you, I want you
to know this is what I'm praying. I'm praying
that your love and your relationship would grow
deeper and deeper in the, it's a really powerful
word, in the epigonosco. In other words, in the
experiential knowledge of God and that you would
have all discernment. In other words, that you
would get so close to God in the midst of this
corrupt Roman empire and all the junk coming
at you. So that, why? You could approve the things
that are excellent. In other words, so when the
world's coming at you, you would know this is
right, this is wrong, this is true, this isn't
true. So you would have discernment to know how
to live your life. And then there's a purpose
clause. In order that you can be sincere and
blameless until the day of Christ. Underline
sincere and underline blameless. We'll come back
to this just a little bit later. Having been
filled with the fruit of righteousness, which
comes through Jesus Christ to the glory of God.
So all I want you to see, Paul's circumstances,
I'm guessing, are as bad as anybody's in this
room of any kind. In fact, what we're going to
learn a little bit later is he's sort of right
on the crossroads of, am I going to be executed
or not executed? He doesn't know. And in the
midst, of imprisonment, facing execution, upward
focus. God, I thank you. Outward focus. I'm confident
of this. I remember you. God's for you. I'm praying
for you that you become the kind of followers
of Christ that understand what's wise, what's
unwise, and that your lives would be so transformed.
Outward focus. Now what I want to do is kind
of roll up our sleeves and ask ourselves two
or three questions to help us get, hey, Paul,
I'm glad you can look at it that way. It's pretty
tough for me, right? How do you develop an upward
focus? And I'm going to suggest right from this
passage, number one, it's a choice. It's a choice.
And the choice is gratitude. And the way you
do it is you choose to remember and you thank
God for significant relationships. In the mornings,
our whole staff comes down here and we have a
prayer time. And different pastors, actually
different people on the staff lead it. And we
all sit here and he goes, here's what we're going
to do for the first 20 minutes. I want you to
write on these three by five cards everything
that you can possibly thank God for in 20 minutes.
Just don't stop writing. I filled out five. God,
thank you that you forgave me. God, thank you
for your word. Thank you that your spirit lives
within me. Thank you for Teresa. Thank you for
Eric. Thank you for Jason. Thank you for Ryan.
Thank you, right? God, thank you for this church.
Thank you for the people I get to work with.
God, thank you that, you know, in the midst of
a crazy world, this is where we live. I mean,
it was easy. I had five of these filled front
and back. And I had this weird experience afterwards.
I had a great attitude that day. Just a weird
experience, you know? It's just like, you know,
hey, you know? Why? Here's why. I spent 20 minutes
focusing on what God has provided instead of
my humanness like yours is to always focus on
what is missing. This is Living on the Edge with
Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part
one of Chip's message, Understanding the Power
of Focus, from our series, I Choose Joy. Chip
will be back shortly to share some helpful application
for us to think about. It's safe to say we all
want a little more joy in our lives, right? But
what does that look like? Is it just about finding
happiness or pleasure in something? Will those
feelings really sustain us through the hard knocks
of life? In this eight -part series, Chip explains
why joy that comes from God is more than just
an emotion. Discover how it can change your perspective
on life and profoundly strengthen your faith
in challenging times. To learn more about this
study in Philippians chapter 1, visit livingontheedge
.org or the Chip Ingram app. Well, our Bible
teacher, Chip Ingram, is with me now in studio
to share a quick word with all of you. Thanks,
Dave. You know, we're living in very uncertain
and at times volatile times. The stock market
goes up crazy and then down. We got social issues,
political issues, a lot of division. And then
you have an enemy who has darts of fear and uncertainty
that he brings to people's mind. There's an antidote
to that. Regardless of where you are and what
you've been through or what the people you love
have been through. you can choose joy. You don't
have to wait for it to happen. We're not a victim
of our circumstances, but we need to understand
how do you really experience joy even when all
the external things are challenging? How do you
combat anxiety and depression and you don't measure
up and life's not worth living? Let me encourage
you. I just wrote a brand new book called I Choose
Joy. It's based on Philippians chapter one. And
if you know someone that's hurting, let me encourage
you to get it. Well, we are really excited about
this new book, Chip, which is why we're doing
something special for our listeners this week.
Absolutely, Dave, because we believe so strongly
in the life -changing power of choosing joy.
We want you, the Living on Edge family, to get
this new book before anyone else does at a discounted
price. Dave, could you take a minute and tell
our listeners a bit more of what we're doing
for them and why this is so important? Be glad
to. Well, like Chip said, we want you to truly
experience the joy the Apostle Paul talked about
through every circumstance of life. So to help
you do that, we're giving you, our faithful Living
on the Edge listeners, early access to this new
book at a special price. So visit livingontheedge
.org or call 888 -333 -6003 to take advantage
of this exclusive offer. You'll be glad you did.
Well, before we go, here's Chip to share a final
word. As we wrap up today's program, let me just
ask you, where is your focus today, right now?
I mean, just in general life right now. We talked
about C plus P equals E. Circumstances plus your
perspective equal your experience. And we talked
about our focus can be one of three places. It's
either inward, right? I mean, you know, things
are happening, so you get mad or you complain
or you sink, you get discouraged, you get depressed,
or it's either upward and outward. And we're
going to talk about how to actually go into training
to help our minds and our attitudes, even when
things are difficult, even when people around
us are being less than kind, less than fair.
that our focus can be upward and outward in a
way that we actually choose joy. And we're going
to go through that journey and talk about how
circumstances will change over and over and over.
But what God can give us is the ability to look
upward, to be grateful, to thank him, to see
what we, are you ready? part of the glass that's
half full what we do have instead of focusing
on what we don't have. Hey, it will take some
practice, but let me encourage you, stay with
us for this whole series. You actually can learn
to experience joy regardless of the circumstances
you find yourself in. Looking forward to it,
Chip. Hey, before we close, I want to thank those
who support us financially. Your generosity helps
create programs like this one. But if you haven't
partnered with us, there's never been a better
time. Between now and June 30th, every gift we
receive will be matched dollar for dollar. And
making a donation is easy. Just go to livingontheedge
.org or call 888 -333 -6003. Again, that's 888
-333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge .org. App
listeners, tap Donate. For Chip and everyone
here, thank you in advance for your generosity.
Well, join us next time as Chip continues his
series, I Choose Joy. Until then, I'm Dave Drewy.
Thanks for listening to this edition of Living
on the Edge.