In this crazy, chaotic world, where's your hope?
I mean, when life completely goes sideways and
you get caught off guard by something, what keeps
you grounded and unshaken? Well, today I'm going
to tell you how to get that kind of hope by sharing
the incredible testimony of a good friend whose
faith in the face of dire circumstances deeply
inspired me. Stay with me. You're going to be
encouraged today. Welcome to this edition of
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are an
international discipleship ministry devoted to
helping Christians worldwide live out their faith
for the glory of God and the benefit of all people.
Thanks for joining us as we're in the middle
of Chip's series, I Choose Joy. We hope you've
learned a lot so far from our study in Philippians
chapter 1. And to help others learn as you have,
take a minute after this message and share it
with a friend. You can do that through the Chip
Ingram app or by sending them the free MP3s you'll
find at livingontheedge .org. And thanks for
spreading the word about how programs like this
are impacting you. Well, if you have a Bible,
go to Philippians 1, beginning in verse 18, as
we settle in for Chip's message, Understanding
the Power of Hope. Kevin shared what it's like
to be a young dad with four kids, stage four
lymphoma, battling, wondering the real challenges
of, am I going to live or am I going to die?
And how am I going to go through this? I read
every time on Caring Bridge, has Kevin journaled
through this process? And I kind of followed
him with the ups and the downs and, you know,
this prognosis and then that one and then how
he's feeling. And I wanted to share with you
the four things that I learned. from going through
this journey with Kevin that I hope will be helpful
for you. The first thing I learned was that facing
our mortality is both scary and clarifying. As
I would read his journal, it just reminded me
that I'm going to die. It reminded me of just
life is really short. It reminded me of the battle
and the victory that we went through with cancer
with my wife. Just reminded me, gosh, the second
thing was that very few things in life matter
very much. Just as I would read these journal
entries and, you know, he wasn't worried about
remodeling the kitchen or whether he was gonna
get a raise. You know, he wasn't concerned about,
is he gonna get 49er tickets? His fantasy football
team wasn't really a big issue for him, right?
And the same thing, it just brought back all
those memories that when we went through cancer,
how... projects, demands, what people think,
what they don't think, nothing really matters.
Life is very, very simple when you get really,
really close to death. The third thing is that
as I've listened to Kevin and watched is that
C plus P really does equal E. Our circumstances
plus our perspective determines our experience.
And as you listen, if you read the journals,
if you went through it in real time with him,
there were ups and downs. And he was brutally
honest, brutally honest about fears, brutally
honest about, you know, doubts and struggles.
But also it was an unwavering, I'm going to trust
God. I'm going to, I believe there's a heaven.
I believe the Bible's true. I believe there's
God's character. His spirit lives within me.
There's a certainty. There's a hope. And I'm
going to have an upward focus and an outward
focus. And I'm going to use this for God's purposes.
Those nurses are going to hear and see Christ.
Other patients are going to hear and see Christ.
Not because I've got it in me, but Christ in
me. I watched his life prove that. And finally,
I think the thing I learned from Kevin is that
only an eternal P perspective can produce peace
and joy when facing death. I mean, when you look
at life through just the lens of now is all there
is, I'll tell you what, you cannot sustain it.
In fact, this wall for me is a lot like life,
and these are the circumstances. And you know,
sometimes they're great, but sometimes it's a
brick wall. And you know you've got a marriage
problem here and a singleness and you want to
be married here and cancer biopsy here and you
lose your job over here and you're clinically
depressed over here and you just keep butting
against this wall and you're looking for hope
and you're looking for hope and you lose it and
you lose it and you lose it and you lose it and
after a while you just give up. And you just
start doing stuff that you didn't think you would
ever do. Because hope is the oxygen of the soul.
If you don't have hope, you die. You can go without
food for seven days and water for about three.
You can't go without any hope for probably more
than three or four minutes. We'll do. So what
do you do? Here's what Kevin did. Kevin said,
I can't take it. I don't know what's going to
happen. So I'm going to rise above my circumstances
and I'm going to look at eternity. That which
is seen, temporal circumstances, I can't change.
And it's not a picture half full. It's completely
full. It's heaven waiting. It's Christ. It's
all of its promises. It's a sovereign God. It's
this life is not all there is. And I can look
at that and I cling to that and it's the anchor
of my soul and it gives me the grace and the
perspective and the perseverance to keep going.
It takes an eternal perspective. Here's the question.
How, when life is crashing in, do you develop
that eternal perspective that gives you the kind
of hope that allows you to go through anything?
that allows you not to give up, not to give in,
not to get inwardly focused, not become a victim,
not blame everybody else, not blame God, but
be the kind of person in the midst of, you don't
know if you're gonna live or die and there's
pain and there's children and there's a wife
and there's a concern where nurses wanna come
in and go, I don't know what's going on in this
room, but we'll hang out here. That's the presence
of God. That's the power of God. That's a joy,
not a happiness. That's a reality experienced
in the midst of crushing circumstances. Well,
if you open your notes, we're going to learn
the answer to finding that kind of hope. And
the answer is in a very simple yet profound word.
And it's the key to eternal perspective. And
the key word of the lens you need to look at
is the lens of hope. And the question to ask
yourself when you're really struggling is not
just where's my focus and not just what's my
purpose, but where's my hope? What's my hope
rooted in? And by the way, when we use the word
hope, English word hope has one meaning. The
biblical word hope is a little bit different.
When we use the word hope, we often, you know,
I hope it doesn't rain. I hope the 49ers win.
I hope I get a good job. I hope someday I get
married. We use the word hope in a good way,
but it's almost wishful thinking. We hope for
something positive in the future. It's a good
definition. There's nothing wrong with that kind
of hope. But that's not the word in the Bible.
The word in the Bible for hope is an absolute
certainty that you can bank on that will never
change. Christ's return is the hope. Heaven is
our hope. God's promises are our hope. Jesus
said that I will give you all the grace you need
to get through any situation. It's a hope. In
other words, it's the anchor of your soul. Biblical
hope isn't a possibility. It's a guarantee of
something unseen. The Apostle Paul will later
say, that which is seen is temporal. That which
is unseen is eternal. And it is both a skill
and an act of faith to learn how to look at the
unseen hope that sustains you. We pick up the
story of the Apostle Paul and it is now his third
lesson. The context for those that might be just
joining us, he's in Rome. He's chained to a Praetorian
guard that changes every six hours. It is not
a good situation. He's on trial, and at the end
of the trial, he's either going to be released
and found innocent, or he's going to be found
guilty and be executed. And when we pick up the
story, he's in the situation where, I don't know
what's going to happen. Imagine more than a little
anxiety for most of us. So what's his perspective
in facing death? It's crazy. It's joy. It's joy.
He actually has a joyful attitude facing death.
He has an eternal perspective. Notice in verse
18, it says, yes, and I will continue to rejoice.
The question is why and how could any individual,
unless they're playing just mind games, how could
you have joy? In a terrible situation, you've
been betrayed by your friends. There's political
issues happening in the church. You're humanly
thinking, God, you sent me to go to all the world
and instead here I am in this prison. Little
did he know that all these letters that he would
write would change the course of history. He
didn't know that. What? What was it that allowed
him? To have this amazing attitude in circumstances
that would absolutely crush 99 .9 % of the people.
He gives us two reasons in Philippians chapter
1, verses 19 to 25. Reason number one is that
his deliverance is certain. His deliverance is
certain. Underline the word deliverance. Follow
along as I read. For I know. that this shall
turn out for my deliverance. Well, how? Through
your prayers and the provision of the Spirit
of Jesus Christ. According to my earnest expectation
and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything,
but that with all boldness, Christ, even now
as always, will be exalted in my body. Well,
how? Whether by life or by death. You're listening
to Living on the Edge. We'll get back to our
series I Choose Joy in just a minute. But quickly,
I want to remind you that we're in the middle
of our mid -year match. Thanks to a few close
ministry friends, every gift we receive until
June 30th will be matched dollar for dollar.
For more information about how to partner with
us, go to livingontheedge .org or call us at
888 -333 -6003. Thanks for doing whatever God
leads you to do. Let's rejoin Chip now for the
remainder of his message. Paul is completely
convinced that he's going to be delivered. Now,
I want to do something with you. It's kind of
fun. The Apostle Paul, I really like him because
he has run -on sentences. Because I have run
-on sentences. And the favorite grammatical punctuation
in all of the English language for me is a semicolon.
That's how you put multiple sentences together
and not have the teacher take off. And so I've
written the notes in a way so you can see the
structure of them. But let me give you just his
sentence. And so what I want you to do is, for
I know that this will turn out for my deliverance,
put a line underneath that. Okay, you got it?
And then I want you to skip down. where it says,
according to my earnest expectation, just underline
the word just that. And then I want you to skip
down a little bit farther and underline Christ
will even now as always be exalted in my body.
His simple sentence is, I know that this shall
turn out for my deliverance, that Christ will
even now, as always, be exalted in my body. And
everything else is the whys, the wherefores,
the hows, and all those clauses to explain it.
But they're really important. First of all, put
a box around the first word that says, for I
know. There's two Greek words for know. One is
you know by way of experience. Powerful word.
But that's not this word. The other word is like
you know, like physics. You know that water boils
at such and such degrees or two plus two is four.
That's this word. In other words, there's empirical
facts. Paul says, I have an empirical fact that
doesn't change that I will be delivered. And
put a box around the word deliverance. We get
our word salvation. It means to be delivered
out of. In the Old Testament, you know, when
the Red Sea parted, they were delivered. So he
says, I know for certain I'm going to be delivered
that Christ is going to be exalted. I want you
to note his perspective on this. He says, there's
two reasons why I know I'm going to be delivered.
One is the responsibility of man and the other
is the sovereignty of God. Did you pick it up?
He says, I know I'm going to be delivered through
A, your prayers. and B, the provision of the
Spirit of God. You know, despite anybody's theology
anywhere, the Apostle Paul actually believed
when men and women, ordinary people like us,
would come to God earnestly in faith and claim
his promises, and in our heart at least, and
get down on our knees and intercede for the life
of another person, it actually makes a difference.
He's certain of his deliverance. And for the
provision. Put a circle around the word provision.
It's an interesting word. We get our word. Are
you ready? It's weird. We get our word chorus.
You know, like a singing group. And historically,
it's kind of fun to give you a little background
on this. In the ancient world, if you were a
very, very wealthy person in a smaller town,
then there was entertainment. And so the theater
was very big and they had these outdoor amphitheaters.
And if you were very wealthy, it was expected
that you would bring a theater group, that you
would pay the theater group, that you would rent
the amphitheater. And everything that had to
happen for their costumes, the group, the entrance,
everything so that you could entertain the city.
And it's this word chorus. Over time, it came
to mean whatever it takes to pull this thing
off, all the provision, the money, the time,
the energy, the leadership, everything it takes
to pull something off, that's what this word
became. And Paul says, I'm convinced of my deliverance
because you all are praying and the whatever
it takes that the Spirit of God is going to bring
into my life. But notice, he doesn't think his
deliverance is necessarily out of his circumstances.
He doesn't say that I'm going to be delivered
and I'll be released, that I'm going to be executed,
that God's going to just deliver me out of it.
He says, I'm convinced of my deliverance. That
Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I
live or whether I die. And then notice he says,
according to my earnest expectation. It's another
very interesting word that has a, it's a picture
of someone who blocks everything out and brings
a level of focus. Imagine, if you will, the runner.
And you know what? He's like. Two, three yards,
and everyone's leaning in on the 100 -meter dash,
and he leans forward. The crowd is gone. The
noise is gone. And it's a word that says, Paul's
saying, my eager expectation, my absolute focus.
In other words, I believe in this deliverance.
I believe because of your prayers. I believe
God's going to come through. And I have a laser
-like focus in the promises and the character
of God, and I have a hope. Jesus promised. I
have a hope. Heaven's real. I have a hope. God's
in control. I have a hope. God's goodness says
that whether I live or whether I die, his highest
and best purposes, his hope is in the character,
the promises, and the reality of God's goodness
and that the worst that can happen is he goes
to heaven. And so he says, earnest expectation,
hope. His biggest concern is that he would be
put to shame. But he says, with all boldness
that Christ even now will be exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death. Notice he prayed
that what he would be delivered from is failure
to represent Christ well in the midst of crushing
circumstances. His biggest concern wasn't whether
he lived or died. His biggest concern was Christ's
reputation. Whoa. There's three ways in Scripture
that God delivers us, and we tend to only think
of one. So get your pencil out. This will be
helpful one day in your life. I'm going to give
it God's plan A, God's plan B, God's plan C.
Or actually, it's more probably accurate to say
our plan A, our plan B, and our plan C. Plan
A, when God uses the word deliverance, he delivers
you out of something. He does a miracle. I mean,
I've had times where we had no money. We couldn't
pay the rent. There's no way. I have no resources,
and I get a check in the mail from someone that
I've met once years ago for $1 ,000, and I pay
the rent, and I go, that's a miracle. God delivered
me out of it. It happened again. A missionary
from India actually sent me money during seminary
to pay my bills. Go figure. He delivered me out
of it. I've had times where we have anointed
people with oil, prayed for them, and seen a
brain tumor miraculously go. Delivered them out
of it. Praise God. He still does miracles. But
we've prayed for people, and three weeks later,
they've died. God's in control. He has purposes,
some of which we understand, a lot of them that
we don't. Deliverance number one, he delivers
us out. of the adversity or the difficulty. 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 Hope 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, Chip's back in studio
with me now, and Chip, we've just kicked off
our match season. Over the next month or so,
we'll hear how our ministry impacts lives worldwide
and what our listeners can do to partner with
us in these efforts. Well, that is absolutely
right, Dave. And this study that we're going
to do the entire month of June and part of July
is through the book of Philippians. We're going
to learn from this book that we can choose joy.
We can choose hope. We can choose love. We can
choose peace. And with all the anxiety and uncertainty
and mental health issues and division and the
things that are going on in the world and people's
personal world, Dave, we felt like, of all times,
we really wanted to minister to people to their
heart and to their life. Another thing that we're
going to do is we're going to share some... personal
testimonies as we start this match. We want people
to hear as they have prayed with us, as they're
a part of the team, and as they have given. We
really want them to hear actual stories. And
so let me share one we just got recently. It's
from Carly. She goes, I just wanted to let you
know how God used your message this morning.
Just last night, I was ready to throw in the
towel in my marriage. I've been married to my
husband for eight years. He's a veteran with
PTSD, and he has lots of anger problems. Being
his wife is one of the hardest things emotionally
ever. I feel so alone and so depressed. And I
was crying and just talking to the Lord. And
then this morning, I listened to your podcast
and it was just what I needed. God is with me,
even in the hardest times. That's what I heard
him say through your broadcast. I need to keep
going and not give up. He's in control and he
knows. I know his ways are better than mine.
God is good. I just want those of you who support
the ministry to know. that you're a part of that
marriage being saved. And this happens over and
over and over again. Join me this month as we
learn how to choose joy and love and hope and
peace. And let's keep pressing ahead. Thanks,
Chip. Well, if you feel like God is moving you
to partner with us, now's a great time. Thanks
to a handful of close ministry friends, every
gift we receive between now and June 30th will
be doubled dollar for dollar. To support us,
call 888 -333 -6003 or visit Living on the Edge.
That's livingontheedge .org or call 888 -333
-6003. App listeners, tap donate. Thanks in advance
for doing whatever God leads you to do. We'll
hear again as Chip. As we wrap up today's program,
I think we learned something that is so valuable
and so neglected by us who are followers of Christ.
You know, Paul says, my earnest expectation and
hope. And he's talking about that he's going
to be delivered. But the deliverance isn't that
everything's going to go great. You know, I talked
about the one kind of deliverance where God delivers
us out of things and it's a miracle. And in our
next broadcast, I can't wait to share with you
how he delivers us through things or unto himself.
It's so interesting that heaven was so real.
Eternal life wasn't like some formula or some
vague distant things that happen someday, some
way. And I think that's why I wanted to share
Kevin's story with you. You know, I walked very
closely through that with him. And I'd like to
ask you, when you think about problems and struggles
and what you're facing, and it's so often day
to day, have you faced your mortality? recently.
Have you ever really thought about dying? How
clarifying? Scary, yes, but how clarifying? Have
you realized, you know, when those huge things
happen, how few things really matter? I mean,
things that you're so uptight about that seem
so urgent. I will never forget when my wife had
cancer. And I mean, I remember the day before
I have a book manuscript due and I've got to
travel here and I've got to do that and I'm overwhelmed
and I have all these commitments. And we prayed
and cried sitting on our couch after we heard
that the biopsy was positive and she had cancer.
And I remember 24 hours later, nothing really
mattered. I canceled things. It didn't matter
what people thought. It really didn't matter.
I'm just going to ask you to do something. Could
you step back today and think about if you're
a follower of Christ, heaven is sure. He's preparing
a place for you. It's a real place. Jesus loves
you. He's for you. And he wants you to know that
these circumstances that you're facing, they're
going to come and they're going to go. And next
year, this time, if we're all here, there'll
be new ones. And you can either live on the ups
and downs of the waves of circumstances and people's
responses, or you can have an anchor. You can
have an anchor in your soul. There is a hope
that no one can take away and that you don't
have to be afraid. I learned that from Paul.
I learned that from Kevin, and I learned that
in my journey with Teresa. God wants you to learn
it and believe it today. Heaven's real. It's
your ultimate hope. Trust Him. Great word, Chip.
And since he mentioned that eternal hope we have
as followers of Jesus, let me encourage you to
check out our resources for The Real Heaven.
Whether you get Chip's popular book or the small
group study, you'll walk away with a more accurate
and exciting view of the place God's preparing
for us. So go to livingontheedge .org and search
for The Real Heaven today. Well, be sure to join
us next time as Chip continues his series, I
Choose Joy. Until then, I'm Dave Drewy saying
thanks for listening to this edition of Living
on the Edge.