What does it really mean when the Bible says,
my God will supply all your needs according to
his riches and glory in Christ Jesus? Who is
that promise for? And how can you know whether
he'll really do that for you? That's today. Stay
with me. Thanks for listening to this edition
of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are
an international teaching and discipleship ministry
that motivates Christians to live like Christians.
In this program, Chip will finish up our study
through the book of Philippians as he wraps up
our series, I Choose Peace. Today, he's highlighting
a unique promise God has made to you and me that
can forever change our spiritual walks. So if
you're ready to learn more about that, grab your
Bible and go again to Philippians chapter four
for the insightful conclusion to Chip's message
in Tests of Faith. Let's look at the process.
The principle restated, when you have a need,
plant a seed. When you have a need, plant a seed.
That's this picture. Notice what he says in verse
seven of 2 Corinthians chapter nine. Remember
this, whoever sows sparingly. will also reap
sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also
reap generously. In other words, to a farmer,
if you plant like 15 seeds of wheat, you're gonna
get a little bit of wheat. If you plant 15 ,000
seeds of wheat, you're gonna get what? A lot
of wheat. If you want a lot, plant a lot. It's
not rocket science. But he's gonna make this
a spiritual principle. If you have a need, plant
a seed. And by the way, could I encourage you
that please move this beyond financial implications.
Anybody ever have a need for a friend? You know
what we normally do? Whine, grumble, complain,
have a little pity party. Tell the one person
3 ,000 miles away, I don't have any friends.
I go to church and they seem so friendly. They
have these little name tags. No one said hi in
my name yet. What would happen if instead of...
The law of the world, get a friend, get a friend,
get a friend. You walked in here for five weeks
in a row and said, who could I be a friend to?
What's your name? How are you doing? Are you
new? What would happen if I need more time, if
I gave time? You know, this sounds crazy, but
when I get totally, totally overwhelmed, I've
decided this is true, I'm going to live this
way. Often when I have a to -do list this long,
I just set my alarm or I ask the Lord in my case
to wake me up an extra half hour, hour early,
and I give God an extra half hour or an hour.
And you know what he does? He multiplies the
fruit of the other 23. I cannot tell you how
many times. You need time? Give some time away.
You need a friend? Give some friendship away.
Whatever you need, plant a seed. You need love?
Give some love away. You need more affection?
Be more affectionate with those in your family
and more affectionate with those you care about.
I came across a little parable that sort of points
this out. Let me read it to you. It says, once
there was a man lost in the desert near death
from thirst. He wandered almost aimlessly through
the burning sand for many days, growing weaker
by the moment. At long last, he saw an oasis
in the distance, palm trees indicating that there
was water. He stumbled forward feverishly, fell
beneath the shade of the trees that he finally
might quench his tortured thirst. But then he
noticed something strange about this oasis. Instead
of a pool of water or a spring bubbling up from
the ground, he found a pump. And besides the
pump was two objects, a small jar of water. and
a parchment note. The note explained that the
leather gasket within the pump must be saturated
with water for the pump to work. Within the jar
was just enough water for this purpose. The note
also warned that the reader should not drink
from the jar. Every single drop must be poured
into the opening at the base of the pump to soak
the heat -dried gasket. Then, as the leather
softens and expands, an unlimited supply of sweet
water would be available. The parchment's final
instructions were to refill the jar and the container
for the next traveler. The man faced a dilemma.
He was dying of thirst and he'd found water.
Not much, of course, and likely not enough even
to save his life. But it seemed the height of
folly to pour it away down the base of the pump.
On the other hand, if the note was accurate by
pouring out the small quantity of water, he would
then have all the water. What should he do? Let's
personalize it. Put your mind's eye, you there.
What would you do? It all boils down to one simple
thing, doesn't it? If the note is true, you're
an idiot not to do it. If the note is false,
Probably gonna die anyway. If the note is true,
the smartest, wisest, shrewdest thing you could
ever do is take that which you could consume
immediately and pour it down in order that by
giving, you would receive good measure, pressed
down, shaken together, running over unlimited
supply. That's really what Philippians 4 .19
is teaching. And by the time we get to the end
of this message, you are gonna find yourself
in a dilemma. I always like to warn people. And
when you bring people to a crossroads and say
you're gonna go right, you're gonna go left,
you're gonna come to a point where you're gonna
have to decide, is this true or not? Do I believe
it or not? What I can tell you is, many, many,
many of you will make a decision to go down a
path you've never gone. Many of you will take
a step that you've never taken before. And when
you take that step, you will start experiencing
the kind of stories that I talked about. And
you will have your own quarterback of $1 ,000
or an unexpected tax return or God opening a
door or a promotion or he will do things that
you thought only happened to other people because
guess what? You will set yourself up so that
Philippians 4 .19 is a promise that applies to
you. It does not apply to the average Christian
in America. The average Christian in America,
their priorities are completely out of whack.
5 % of them are not sacrificially at all giving
or giving the first portion of their income.
Now, as you think about that, notice that the
procedure is outlined, and I want you to hear
very carefully, this is not a health and wealth
gospel. There's not a millimeter of room for
trying to cut a deal with God. The giving to
get that you kind of hear sometimes on the radio
or TV in a book, You know, I'll give God 100,
so he'll give me 1 ,000. I'll give him 10 ,000,
he'll give me 100 ,000. I know what I'll do.
I'm gonna play a game. What I really want is
this, so I'm just gonna, I'll tell you what,
the moment you do that, you're disqualified.
In fact, the Apostle Paul goes on to say, give
with the right motive. It's not giving if you're
giving to get. The fact of the matter is that
this is such a principle in the law of harvest.
But a lot of great things happen even as people
pervert this. But notice what he says in verse
7. Each man should give what he has decided in
his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver. If you have your
pen, I want you to underline four phrases. Phrase
number one, what he has decided. Phrase number
two, not reluctantly. Phrase number three, under
compulsion. And phrase number four, loves a cheerful
giver. And what you see there is that motive
is outlined. He says first it needs to be what
he has decided. In other words, you might write
the word thoughtful. Pure motives have to do
with thoughtful giving. I remember when I was
coming up and I didn't grow up in a Christian
home or anything and I would go to church and
I would have my wallet or something. And so if
I was in like a pretty good mood, I gave five
bucks. If I was in like a not very good mood,
I gave a dollar. And if I felt like, you know,
God type happy, I gave 20 and thought I was the
most generous guy in the whole world. I didn't
know anything about the Bible. But it was like,
it was kind of like going to a movie. It was
a good movie, you know, five. Great movie, I
gave you 20. You know, felt really good about
myself. I had no concept of percentages or off
the top or how God has blessed me. And it was
usually emotionally rooted in the moment. God
says, don't give that way. Did you notice that
we already took the offering by design? I don't
want anyone to hear this and say, oh, oh, okay,
I hear you, God, and write some big check. You
can't write a big check. It needs to be thoughtful.
This isn't about our church is doing well financially.
This isn't about any need that we have. This
is all about peace or not. And so your motives,
it needs to be thoughtful. Paul says on the first
day of the week, 1 Corinthians 16, one and two,
on the first day of the week, evaluate how has
God blessed me? What do I have? And set aside
a portion in keeping with his blessing. Second
thing you'll notice that it says that it needs
to be not reluctantly. So it should be, the opposite
is enthusiastically. You want to give enthusiastically.
This isn't like gotta, oughta, shoulda, duty.
You know, I don't want to give because I feel
like there's peer pressure and I'm trying to
please people. I want to give enthusiastically.
Third, it's voluntarily. It's not under compulsion.
You know, this isn't that some guy got up and
rant and raved and showed you pictures of hurting
people all around the world and said, you know,
this will never get done unless you do it. You
know, anytime I feel manipulation when people
talk about money, I just, I get that as a sign
from God. Don't give here. It says right here.
I don't want to give under compulsion. And the
final one is a cheerful giver. Literally, from
the Greek word, we get our word hilarious. The
word miser is the root word for miserable. Miserly,
non -generous people are miserable. They're the
Scrooges of our world. And we all have a little
Scrooge inside of our heart. And God says, I
want you to experience contentment. So what you
have to do is you've lived in a world that says,
get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get,
get, get, more, more, more, more, more, bigger,
bigger, bigger, better, better, better, now,
now, now. And so we got our charge cards masked
up and we got stuff we can't afford and our garages
are filled with stuff that, you know, we don't
use anymore and our closets are filled with more
stuff that we don't use anymore and we become
this consumer and we, and then, and guess what?
And we're still not satisfied. And God says the
law of the harvest is give, give, give. Give
your heart first. Direct your heart through your
finances. Give your talent. Give your time. Give,
care, love. Be generous. Be tender toward God,
tender toward people. And as you give for the
right reason, with the right motive, loving God
and loving others, it will be what? Good measure.
Press down. Shaken together. Running over back
into your lap. In fact, he expands the promise
well beyond any financial consideration. He says,
God will give you everything you need in every
area of your life. Is that wild? 2 Corinthians
9 verses 8 through 11, literally. You wanted
to summarize what he says? God will give you,
key word, everything you need in every area of
your life. Are you ready for a fun exercise?
If you have a pen, I have one in here, you should
bring a pen to church. No, I'm serious. Because
I'm going to do something right now, and if you
don't have a pen, you're going to miss all the
fun. This is going to be fun. Really fun. I'm
going to read the next three verses. And as I
read the next three verses, if you have a pen,
then every time I say the word all, you can circle
it. And every time I say the word every, you
can circle it. And when you get done on your
notes, not the people that don't have a pen,
But on your notes, you're going to see all, all,
all, every, every, every, every. And you're going
to have a little spiritual experience where you're
going to go, whoa, could God really mean this?
You bet he does. Pens up and running. Are we
ready? And God is able to make all grace abound
to you so that in all things, at all times, having
all you need, you will abound in every good work.
He's just told him, I want you to give, give,
give, give, and we're all scared. No, no, no,
no, no. He says, wait a second. God is able to
do what? Give you all grace so that you get all
things at all times for all you need. Does this
sound like finances? What's all things? You got
a need in school? You got a need on the team?
You got a need with the boyfriend? You got a
need relationally, spiritually, emotionally?
He will give you what? All things at all times,
all that you want, does it say? Better underline
need so we remember. As it is written, he scattered
abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness
endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to
the sower and bread for food will supply and
increase the store of your seed and will enlarge
the harvest of your righteousness. This next
line is critical and I'm gonna ask you to underline
about three or four phrases, but here's what
I want you to listen for as I do. He's really
giving a agricultural metaphor. I mean, a farmer
would hear this and go, duh. But he's gonna go
point one, point two, point three, agriculture,
agriculture, agriculture. Then point four, he's
going to twist it and say, what I was really
talking about was spiritual issues, righteousness.
Follow along, underline the phrase. Now he who
supplies the phrase seed to the sower, that's
the original provision to invest. God gives all
of us seed, okay? Think of it as 100, 1 ,000,
10 ,000, for different people, but he gives you
seed. And bread for food. That's today's provision.
So you may get a big bushel of seed. You take
a portion of that seed. You grind it up. You
make bread. That's for today. Third, we'll also
supply and increase your store of seed. What's
the store of seed? A farmer plants the seed.
He harvests all the seed. Part of the seed he
takes over here and he uses for daily food. The
other he stores to do what? Next year he's going
to put it back in the ground. He's going to invest
it, correct? Now notice what he goes. And we'll
enlarge, underline the phrase, the harvest of
your righteousness. The original provision by
God. Some is for today's needs. Some is so that
you can reinvest or give, let it die, so that
it can be multiplied. And when it's multiplied,
when you live with the law of the harvest as
a giver with your time and your talent and your
treasure, what comes back? He enlarges the harvest
of your righteousness. You're listening to Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get back
to today's message in just a minute. But first,
if you're wanting to do a deeper study of Philippians
chapter 4 with Chip, check out his popular book,
I Choose Peace. You'll discover how to willfully
and purposely choose the peace that only God
can offer. Stick around after the broadcast to
learn more. Well, with that, here again is Chip.
And then notice verse 11. You will be made rich
in... Every, that's a word you get to circle.
You will be made rich in every way. So why does
God make people rich emotionally? Why does God
make people rich relationally? Why does God make
people rich financially? So they can get bigger,
bigger, bigger, more, more, more, have, have,
have, acquire, acquire, acquire, impress, impress,
impress. Is that what it says? He will make you
rich in every way so that you will be generous
on. Every occasion and through us, your generosity
will result in thanksgiving to God. Do you see
what he's saying? He doesn't, I like, Randy Alcorn
has a great phrase. He says, God doesn't increase
your income to raise your standard of living.
It's to raise your standard of giving. See, one
of the things I've done is I've just sat down
and at some point you say, here's the line. As
long as I live, however much money God ever,
here's where I live, here's how much money, everything
over that, I'm gonna give away. And I think every
single person needs to draw a line. Otherwise,
the creep will come. And you just start getting
more and more and more and more stuff. But did
you notice? He says, God makes us rich so we
can be generous on every occasion. And then Paul
is writing to a church that he's encouraging
to give, to plant seeds to give. And it was tough
for them like it's tough for us. And then he
says, through us, you're gonna give it to us
and then we're gonna go back to Jerusalem. And
we're going to feed these people that don't have
any food, your Jewish brethren. And they're going
to eat that food. And they're going to say, God,
thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You're
an awesome God. Because God does provide, but
he often provides what? Through his people. I
love the song by, I think it's a Casting Crown
group that we heard earlier. And it talks about,
you know, if we are his body, why aren't his
hands reaching? Why aren't his arms loving? Why
aren't our mouth teaching? See, you know, the
way God loves us, Jesus, when he did it, walked
in the earth, he had a body. Guess what you are?
Guess what? We're his body. And when there's
a need over there, he puts it on my heart and
my attitude and it always the best. But if that
lady needs money for her rent, I was his hands.
And then God provided for me. And as we give,
see, we have a limited pie mentality. Down deep
in our hearts, we think there's just one pie.
And if I gotta get my sliver, and if I give my
sliver away, or if someone messes with my sliver,
there won't be enough for me. And God says, you
don't understand. I'm a God of abundance. I'm
the pie maker. When you give away your slice,
I might give you a whole pie. And if I can find
a handful of people that'll give away pies, man,
I'll give you a truckload of pies. Because God
longs. He's a rewarder of those who diligently
seek him. But he makes us rich in every way so
we can be generous. And so as you turn the page,
I said you will have a decision to make. This
is the only time in all of scripture I can find
where God so wants you to experience his power,
so wants you to experience the reality of supernatural
grace. He's gonna say, here's a tangible, specific
way where you can make a decision and you can
be a giver that will, because the issue is not
money. The issue is, do you believe me? Do you
have faith? Are you willing to believe? Are you
willing to take the water and pour it down the
pump or not? And so he says, I dare you. Literally.
Remember when you were kids? At least we did
it when I was a kid. You know, and you were on
this roof and you weren't supposed to be on the
roof and there was a house pretty close and you
wanted to run real fast on the roof and try and
jump. Our houses were real close from that roof
to that roof. And you know, you're thinking if
you don't make it, you're gonna die. And of course,
some kid turns, he goes. I dare you. You know,
your whole manhood's on the line. Okay. You know,
I'm going to die, Mom. You know, like this. And,
you know, you're thinking, no, this is nuts.
And then he goes, I double dare you. And then
you had to tighten your tennies. Actually, I
kind of hit on my stomach right on the edge,
and I slid down the roof. Didn't get hurt too
badly, but it wasn't very smart. But you know
what God says to you this morning? I dare you.
Test me. Malachi 3, look in the box. God says,
this isn't out there, this is to you. Bring the
whole tithe. Circle the word whole tithe. The
word tithe just means 10%. Bring the whole tithe
into the storehouse. Test me in this, says the
Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open
the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much
blessing that you will not have room enough for
it. Test me. Bring in the first portion. Be a
giver. Find out, is the parchment true or not?
And underneath that, I have a challenge. It says,
I, your name, on my notes it says Chip Ingram.
Do not write Chip Ingram on your notes. Choose
to take God up on his challenge, his promise,
to trust him to meet all my needs. I take this
step by committing the first 10 % of my income
to the Lord for the next 90 days. And you know
what? There's no magical thing here, and this
is not the time to talk about, yes, you know,
Abraham before the law gave 10%. If you study
the Old Testament, you realize that it was a
theocracy, and it was a different time. They
actually gave up 23%. And, you know, Jesus and
Matthew said to the people, you know, hey, you
should keep tithing your herbs and spices, but
don't miss the point of the law and justice and
compassion. You know what? The point is not 10%.
I mean, it's pretty clear here. But what I would
say is I'd pray real hard about signing my name
and take God up on his challenge for 90 days.
Like I said, I've got a file folder about this
thick. I've done this for a number of years.
And I just got stories of a little Chinese girl
came, and it was her second time in church. She
became a Christian. I felt kind of bad. She became
a Christian the week before, and it was her second
time. But she didn't have any baggage, so she
didn't know anything. She gave her first portion.
She came back the next week and said, I had twice
as many customers. Is this how it works? And
I said, well, sometimes, you know, God's really
gracious, especially to new Christians. And I
remember a guy who, you know, was pretty well
off and realized he'd been at 10%, but his income
kept growing and decided, I'm going to give 20
next year. And he became the number one salesman
in a major company. Am I saying all that's going
to happen to you? No. I'm saying if you give.
God will give back in the area and the way that
your heart needs the most. I remember one family
in all those emails wrote and said, Dear Chip,
I want you to know that nothing good at all happened
in our finances as we took the 90 -day challenge.
Our money's just about the same. But because
we took it, we sat down as a couple for the first
time in five years and looked at where our money
was going. We actually sat down and had a budget
and resolved some issues. And I want to tell
you now that What happened was so amazing is
our marriage and our family, we've never had
such peace in our home in all the years that
we've been married. See, treasure, chain, hook
to heart. By the way, for those that are new
and maybe visiting or you've not been here that
long, if for any reason there's any sense that
you sense in your spirit that maybe this is some
sneaky ploy for this church to get money, give
it somewhere else, okay? This is not about our
needs. This is about you. And then there's a
three -by -five card that we put in your notes.
I would encourage you to decide whether you're
gonna do this or not before God. Write your name
on that card and say, Dear God, I'm taking the
Malachi 3 Challenge for 90 days. And stick it
somewhere where you can read it over and pray
and see what He does. As you've listened and
said in your heart of hearts, I want to take
the Malachi 3 Challenge, go to our website. We've
provided a free download that says, I will commit
to the Malachi 3 Challenge. Now, what I want
you to know is that you'll be saying to God,
okay, you dared me. You dared me to trust you
for 90 days with my finances. And Lord, here
I am. I'm going to trust you. And then write
the date down. Make sure you talk with your mate
if you're married. Don't do this off on your
own and not be on the same page. But then I would
encourage you. Okay, Lord, I'm going to do this.
You said you would meet all my needs according
to your riches and glory. For many of you, this
is tithing. You know, you kind of give sporadically,
and for some of you, you don't give at all. This
is a moment of truth, and you realize, if I give
the first 10 % of my income, I'm going to have
to radically prioritize my finances. I'm going
to probably have to make a little budget. But
here's what I want you to know. If you will take
this step, you're going to see God work. I have
a stack of letters and emails over the years
of people that have done this, and God has shown
up in radical ways. And by the way, He doesn't
always show up financially. He often shows up
in ways that are more important to your heart,
your life, and your relationships. But here's
what I want you to do. Don't think, oh, that's
nice. Someday, someway, I ought to do that. This
is the living God calling you to give your heart
to Him, evidenced by your money. God bless you.
Now go for it. Inspiring words, Chip. So if you're
ready to step up and take the Malachi 3 challenge,
go to special offers at livingontheedge.org or
the Chip Ingram app to download this free resource.
Make today the day you commit to trusting God
with your finances for the next 90 days. Again,
to get this free resource, go to specialoffers
on the Chip Ingram app or at livingontheedge
.org. Well, Chip's still with me in studio. And
Chip, you know, we've all experienced seasons
of turmoil and discouragement. So take a quick
minute and talk about a time you struggled to
hold on to peace and maybe give a few final words
of encouragement to those who may really be struggling
right now. Be glad today. For me, and I'm sure
for many of our listeners, when I really think
of a super challenging time that I lost my peace,
it was during the pandemic. The isolation. And
being distanced from family was difficult. But
the bigger problem was I was filling my mind
with how broad is this pandemic and what do we
do and what are the scientists saying? And I
was glued to the television. And I usually am
very, very careful about what I put in my mind.
But during that season, I watched more news and
I took in more negative information. And all
of a sudden, I found myself getting discouraged.
And then I got downright depressed. And as I
got depressed, I realized, wait a minute, Chip,
you wrote a book about peace and you don't have
any right now. Even though I was reading the
Bible in the morning, my diet was like so overwhelmingly
negative. And it's not that we need to shut our
minds off, Dave, but I needed to detox. And so
I went on a media fast. I took a couple passages
that were near and dear to me and I reviewed
them and memorized them. And as I did. I really
begin to experience that peace that dwells within
me by the Holy Spirit. And what I tell people
is that just because you write a book or just
because you know something, that doesn't mean
you're always practicing it. And so what I would
say for those that are struggling with peace,
this book, I Choose Peace, has really helped
me personally, and I think it'll be a great value
to you. Good word, Chip. Well, to learn more
about this practical and insightful resource,
visit livingontheedge .org or call 888 -333 -6003.
If you're desperate to quiet the worries of your
heart and the anxieties of this world and experience
genuine peace, you got to check out this book.
So go to livingontheedge .org or call 888 -333
-6003 to get your copy of I Choose Peace. special
offers. As we close, our mission at Living on
the Edge is to help Christians live like Christians.
And one of the best ways we can continue to do
that is through programs like this. So when you
hear a message that helps you, pass it on to
someone in your life. Now, you can easily do
that through the Chip Ingram app or by forwarding
them the free MP3s that you'll find at livingontheedge
.org. And don't forget to tell them how it made
a difference in your life. Well, thanks for listening
to this edition of Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram. I'm Dave Drewy, and I hope you'll join
us again next time.