How do you know if you really know God or you
just know a lot about God? Today we'll learn
four tests where you can know how deeply and
authentically you actually know God. Stay with
me. Thank you for being with us for this edition
of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip
serves as our Bible teacher for this global teaching
and discipleship ministry, helping Christians
develop an authentic faith. Well, in just a minute,
we'll continue our series, The Real God, as Chip
asks a pretty straightforward question. Is your
perception of God too small? Chip's insights
today really lay the groundwork for what we'll
study the rest of this series. So let's not waste
any more time. Here now is Chip with the second
half of his talk, Seeking God. There's two big
idols that I want to touch on that I think have
infiltrated Bible -believing evangelical Christianity.
The first one is what I would call Happiness
and self -fulfillment. The awesome God that spoke
the galaxies into existence sent God the Son
on a rescue mission to explain him, to redeem
mankind, to forgive us of our sin, to restore
relationship and build a bridge, bring people
to himself, and that he would actually be God
and we would be followers, or the word is disciples,
to take that ministry and mission and he would
be the creator and we're the creatures. And we
would obey Jesus and follow him as his spirit
in the new covenant living inside of us. And
we would be on this mission together to fulfill
God's will. And he would be the focus. That was
the game plan. But somewhere along the line,
we flipped it. And it was, Jesus is my self -help
genie and guru. And there's a Christian way that
if I read the Bible and if I pray, go on a short
-term missions trip, you get extra points if
you give beyond 10%. Go to religious activities
and try and be a little bit more moral than other
people. The promise is you'll have a marriage
that's out of sight with no problems. Your kids
are all going to turn out great. You're going
to be upwardly mobile. They're going to get into
the very best schools. If other people get cancer,
you won't. You're going to have amazing prosperity.
God's going to bless you financially. And Jesus'
role in your life and the formula is that his
goal is to make you happy. Because what really
matters is are you happy? Are you fulfilled?
So much so that if some of the commands of Bible
or some of the challenges in your life threaten
to make you happy, you redo your theology and
we do our theology and say, this couldn't be
God's will because God wants to make me happy.
I remember we did a series at Living on the Edge
called Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships and
became one of our real well -received small groups.
Then a book came out of it. So when you do that,
usually you're on these, like two or three days,
you do these radio kind of talk shows and people
call in and they talk about that stuff. And this
lady said, well, I hear what you're saying. I
hear what you're saying, but I just want you
to know, I believe in God and I love Jesus so
much. You know, Jesus really loves me, but I'm
just, I, we've lost the love in our marriage.
And I said, well, I mean, has your husband committed
some? immoral. Oh, no, no, no. He's okay. But
you know what? I just want you to know that I
know God wants me to be happy. So I'm divorcing
him and I'm divorcing him because I can't see
the next 10 years. These challenges are just
too hard. God wants me to be happy. And, you
know, then I sort of gave her a number of. kind,
clear passages about he certainly, as a byproduct
of obeying him, wants us to have joy and happiness.
But actually, you made a covenant and made a
covenant with God. And, you know, these are pretty
normal times we all go through. But I will tell
you is in the evangelical church, the divorce
rate is no different than outside. And by the
way, I mean, just please, if you're sitting here
going, my wife is divorced. There are biblical
divorces. My wife was an unbeliever, married
a guy. He started selling drugs. He ran away
with another woman. She wanted it to work. And
after two years, and you know, God can redeem
and take things. But the great majority of divorces
in our day are not about that. It's, you know,
irreconcilable differences. It's hard, it's difficult,
it's painful. Hello? And guess what? The second
one is hard and difficult and painful. And the
third one is harder and more difficult and painful.
And honestly, here's the thing. We think that
the whole goal of marriage is self -fulfillment,
redefining. Guess what? It's to make you holy.
The purpose of marriage is that the people could
see the covenant of a man and a woman worked
out in the flesh with the ups and downs and struggles,
and so they could see what Jesus and the church
looks like. It's a testimony. Other than the
body of Christ, it's the most powerful visual
that God has for his relationship with his church.
So as I obey that, yes, there's a byproduct of
joy and connection, but we've turned everything
on its head. And so life really becomes about,
am I happy? Am I self -fulfilled? And then all
of a sudden, we've got this prosperity stuff
everywhere, and we have disillusioned Christians.
Because guess what? You can have your quiet time,
read the Bible, give above 10%, go on a short
-term missions trip, and a drunk driver hits
one of your kids. Or your wife gets cancer. Or
you save and save and save and faithful and serve
and serve and serve and it's a fallen world and
you saved and these are going to be the sunset
years and you're 68 and in great health and someone
gets cancer and is gone in three months and it's
like, what? What happened to the formula, Jesus?
Here's what it is. You owe me, God. You owe me
happiness. You owe me a future. You owe me this.
You know why? Because we're claiming all kind
of promises that aren't in Scripture. When's
the last time you heard a Christian claim this
promise? For all those who desire to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Oh yeah,
that's the plaque in the bathroom. Or how about
Philippians 1? For to you, for to you it has
been granted. not only to believe in him, but
to suffer for his sake. Experience the same conflict
which you see and hear to be in me that I'm presently
suffering. The Apostle Paul, what a joy, right?
See, American Christians, it's like, what? I
sat across the table from a house church undercover
pastor in Hong Kong who came out to do some work
and go to a seminar. And on his last trip out,
his wife was beaten by the police. And she claimed
to be the pastor so he wouldn't get in trouble
and none of the other people. And I mean, she
was beat to a pulp and I'm at the edge of my
seat in my mind thinking, man, I don't know if
I could be very Christian with those police when
I got home, you know. I sting like a butterfly,
you know. And I'm getting mad for this pastor.
And then he gets to the end where I'm thinking,
you know, in my good American Western Christianity,
man, I know it would be sinful to do something
really wrong, but I want to take him out. And
then with tears in his eyes, he looks at me and
goes, can you imagine that our God gave us the
privilege to suffer for him even as he suffered
for us? And I was thinking, embarrassingly, actually,
I didn't say this. That thought never crossed
my mind. It never entered my mind. that we get
to enter into the suffering, that the goal would
be intimacy with God, that the goal would be,
we say it, glory for God, that the goal would
be that God would take the difficulty and the
pain of a difficult marriage or a hurting child
or a physical disability or a downward economy
or the upside down house. And that the real goal
is that God would meet you in ways that your
friends, your neighbors, your family could be.
completely aghast at what holds you up inside
because those circumstances crushed everyone
else. Because see, he's God. He's a kind God,
but it's a fallen world. Where I live, I'm sure
it's not where you live, but I see great Christian
families that you would think that the goal in
life is to have your kids in as many activities
as possible. to be in the car most of the time,
to figure out how not to eat together almost
ever, not tuck your kids in bed and don't teach
them the Bible, but they made the traveling team.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love sports. God paved
my way through school and sports. I've coached
my kids, but we, I've just, I mean, is there
like ESPN 45 channels now or something? I mean,
It has become a cult movement. I mean, we don't
even care about the games anymore. It's just
my fantasy team. Even think of the focus of...
Forgive me, Lord. But the self -focus of it doesn't
even matter what teams play. I just choose people
that I'm coordinating. He got hurt. Nah, take
him off my team. The trivia of life. See, here's
what I want you to know is if we get a... clear
view of the real God, some of the things that
we have slowly, slowly, slowly come accustomed
to and think is normal as Christians would shock
us. And one is the idol of happiness and self
-fulfillment. The other idol, I think, is what
I call the salad bar approach to Christianity.
And the way it goes is something that we're seeing
in Bible -oriented churches now. And it's like,
God had a good day when he gave the Ten Commandments.
Just not a great day. Eight out of ten are good.
Now you get to choose which two you don't like.
In our day, you know this one about adultery
or sexual purity? I think that was very old -fashioned.
It was probably for the community of that time.
And in our more existential, wiser way, I don't
think that really applies today. Oh, this one,
oh no. We don't, oh yes, no. That thing about
greed. Greed is good. He obviously hadn't seen
the movie. We'll cut that one out. And we have
taken the Bible and we've decided selectively
which parts are true, which parts are not true,
instead of it being the authority. And we've
created it around a lifestyle and an American
dream vision. And we have taken a book. remove
the God of authority and the God that is holy
and the God who loves us and the God who wants
our best. And we have basically said, how again
can this? And so when you decide what's true
and what's not true, there's a new God on the
throne and it's you. I mean, it's massive across
America right now. We have tens of thousands
of people flocking to services. where part of
the Bible is taught as though it's some sort
of a positive thinking self -help manual. Instead
of the holy creator of the universe sent his
son and that he's asked us to join him in a mission
to rescue people off this world called the Titanic
that's sinking. And we have the only hope and
that needs to be our priority. And by the way,
By the way, as that's your priority and he is
Lord and as you serve him, he is so kind and
so generous that the byproduct is very, very
often an amazingly deep intimate marriage. The
byproduct is a level of joy regardless of circumstances.
The byproduct is that your kids will see that
and catch the vision and probably follow in your
steps. But it's a byproduct. And so what happens
is when you make the means the end, it becomes
an idol. It's what happened, I believe, with
Abraham. Why would God ask Abraham to give his
son? I mean, you wait 100 years for something,
you think that by 1213, the kid kind of was an
idol? So anytime we worship an idol, two things
happen. The idol can't deliver and we take God
out of the equation in our life. So the whole
point of Abraham giving Isaac was for his good
to free his heart. Isaac can't deliver fulfillment.
Isaac can't fulfill my will. Isaac is a gift.
It's to steward. Children are a gift from the
Lord. And so that moment for him to take Isaac
up was a moment of lordship to believe that he
could trust what? God's word. And Hebrews 11
says what? He went there believing that though
he slay him, he would rise. And you know, we
might as well just start this time off together.
just ask yourself before you hit the pillow,
do I have any Isaacs? And usually they're good
things. It's a good job. It can be a great marriage.
It can be one of your kids. Heck, it can be ministry,
believe me. So what we want to do is we want
to pause and say, okay, Lord, I... I know that
you're not like me. I know that I will reduce
you to manageable terms. And third, God can only
be known as he reveals himself to us. And he
does that in three ways. And these will develop
throughout the whole time. But let me give them
to you. The first way God reveals himself to
us is through nature. Psalm 19, one says, the
heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim
the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour
forth speech. Night after night, they reveal
knowledge. One of the things I do, I just like
to get up early. It's just worked for me. And
so it's always dark. And often when I get up,
you know, that's when I spend time with God and
my warped personality. Sometimes I think of all
the things I've got to do and I start feeling
pressure. And so I usually list the things I'm
thankful for to get my perspective. And then
I'll write a little box in my journal and I'll
put a box and then I'll write and I'll turn the
pressure into a prayer request. And some of them,
sometimes I have like 8, 10, 12 going, oh my
gosh, and that's just today. And then I often
get that second cup of coffee and I'll go outside.
And when I go outside and I just look at all
these stars. And I just look at my little boxes,
all those stars. And I just think, men have been
looking at these for thousands of years. You
hold, you know, every name. This is just the
Milky Way. There's only a billion stars. Only
a billion. And you know all their names. By the
word of your power, you're holding them right
now. Outside the Milky Way, there's between 200
and 300 billion galaxies. I'm going to cast my
care upon you because you care for me. You're
an all -powerful God. And yet, you care about
one little guy in California named Chip. And
you know I feel those pressures. And you're committed
to giving me the grace to either say yes, to
say no, or to do whatever you want me to do.
So I'm going to go back inside. And I'm just
going to remember who I'm really talking to.
And sometimes it's three minutes. Sometimes it's
ten. And then I go back. And I say, okay, Lord,
what do you want me to do? What do you not want
me to do? What could someone else do? And then,
okay, I know these. Okay, I've got to record
this video and prepare me. I need to have a hard
conversation. And it just changes. It just changes.
When's the last time you were out in nature and
saw it? The theologians call it general revelation.
In Romans 1, the apostle Paul would say, we're
all without excuse because from the stars and
the balance of nature and the mystery and the
harmony of nature alone, God's invisible attributes,
his eternal existence and his very character
is revealed. What kind of a God has a bird that
lays an egg here and flies thousands and thousands
of miles way over to here and a year later drops
an egg 12 inches from the same spot? What kind
of a God has GPS into whales that travel in crisscross?
What kind of a God has 600 different kinds of
beetles? He's a God of variety, a God of beauty,
a God of power, a God of love, a God of design.
But you know what? He can just be the God of,
help me get through this. God, I need a parking
spot. Help it to be on sale. Yeah, I mean, go
to some of our prayer meetings. You know, they're
like anatomy meetings. Help Ethel's toe. Help
Bob's shoulder. Help George's ear. Help him clean
out the Alvin Bob. It's a second time through.
If you listen to us pray, you would think, honestly,
what we really feel like is I can only pray about
things I think I can control. And since God is
obviously unaware of all this, what I'm trying
to do is take this awesome, powerful God and
bring him into my little world to get him to
do what I think he ought to do. then listen to
how the Apostle Paul prays. I pray that the eyes
of your heart might be enlightened. I pray that
you might grasp the height and depth and length
and breadth to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge. I pray that God would give you insight
into his will, that you could discern good from
evil in order that you might walk in a manner
worthy of him. I pray that you would understand
the depth of his love for you. How precious of
an inheritance you are to him and the power that
dwells within you. I pray that you might be filled
with the knowledge of his will. I mean, those
prayers in Philippians 1 and Philippians 3 and
Ephesians 3 and Philippians and Colossians. I
mean, I'm not the apostle Paul and you're not
the apostle Paul. But wow, it sure seems like
he's asking not so much about tactical things.
And I don't think it's wrong. I pray for tactical
things. But I think he actually believes that
if people could see God for who he is, if people
could be aligned, if God would reveal himself
and they would be open, they would follow his
will, all those tactical things would probably
get taken care of. The second way he reveals
himself is through his word. John chapter one,
in the beginning was the word and the word was
with God and the word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. Through him, all things were
made and without him, nothing was made that has
been made. And him was life and the life was
a light of the world. I mean, I love, you might
just, in your notes, I think I put Hebrews 1.
It's one of my favorite passages. In times past,
God has spoken to us through the prophets and
the apostles. But in this last days, he's spoken
to us through his son, who is the icon, the exact
image or representation of the father. It's the
picture of if you took a piece of putty and you
took like a silver dollar or something like that,
and if you pressed it into the piece of putty
and then pulled it out real carefully, you have
the exact image, right? That's the word. Jesus
is the exact image. Colossians 2, all the fullness
of the Godhead dwelt in Christ. See, if you really
want to know what God is like, it's Jesus. The
very last night, right? He wants the disciples
to stay on track. And he's talking to them and
he's preparing them. And it's really encouraging
because they're really slow, which gives me a
lot of hope. And he talks to them. Well, you
know the way I go except to Thomas. You know
what? Lord, this is the Ingram translation. I
think you're talking in circles, candidly, Jesus.
I really don't know the way and I don't really
get it. And Jesus said, Thomas, I'm the way.
And the truth and the life, no man comes to the
Father except by me. And then Philip, frustrated,
Lord, it'll be enough. Just show us the Father
and it'll be enough. Philip, how long have I
been with you? If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. You're listening to Living on the
Edge, and Chip will be back in just a minute
to finish today's talk. But quickly, I want to
remind you that this program is only possible
because of the generosity of listeners like you.
So if you'd like to support us, go to livingontheedge
.org. That's livingontheedge .org. And thanks
for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well,
let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his
message. If you want to know how does your image
of God, How does God respond when you really
mess up, when you do something that's willful,
malicious, sinful, shameful, you wish you hadn't
done it and you feel terrible about it and you're
coming to God? How will God treat you exactly
the way he did the woman caught in adultery?
If you want to know how God thinks of you and
how he'll relate to you, when, you know, some
of those times where you feel like, man, I'm
reading the Bible, kind of got the quiet time
going. We gave a little extra money to missions.
I think I'm feeling pretty holy. Then the way
he feels about you is Jesus with the Pharisees.
If you know when your heart is hungry and you
don't know the direction and you wish you knew
what to do and you're messing up but you're making
progress and you say, Lord, would you just help
me? It's how Jesus related to the disciples.
Did you realize he never got mad at them? One,
only issue. All the gospels, only one thing.
Oh, you have little. God's agenda is so simple,
we make it so complicated. Here's his agenda.
Trust me. Trust me in the hard marriage. Trust
me with your kid. Trust me with your money. Trust
me with the decision. I've got a little question
that I write down in hard situations. Question,
what does it look like to trust God in this situation?
Not how do I fix it? Not God, will you do this,
this, this, and that? What's it look like to
trust God in this marriage, in this decision,
in this financial loss, in this hard conversation
coming up? Because here's the thing, without
faith, it's impossible to please him. You can
build a ministry, you can build a business, you
can have a decent looking family without faith.
You just can't please God. The heart of what
it means to be a follower of Jesus. is to trust
him. And you can't trust someone you don't know.
You only trust people that this is their character.
This is their track record. And over and over
and over, all the lessons to the disciples were
what? You can trust my word because when you
see my word, it's always faithful. So many of
the miracles, why did he do them the way he did
them? When he wanted to calm the sea, what'd
he do? He spoke. I mean, he could have done hand
signs. When the little girl was dead, how did
he? He didn't touch her. Little girl, I say to
you, arise, bam, see, come, demon, come out.
If I'm a disciple, what I'm thinking, I'm not
sure about this guy, but whatever he says, you
can trust it. And that's for us. So he reveals
himself through nature, through his word, and
ultimately through Jesus. No man has seen God
at any time. John 1 tells us, the word became
flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory.
Glory is the only one. And then he says to us,
no man has seen God at any time, but he has explained
him. The word is exegeted. Jesus explained the
father. You want to know what God's like? It's
Jesus. That's why I think it's no matter where
we're reading in the Bible, don't go too far
away from the gospels. I've got a buddy, he's
a Bible -aholic. He's my hero when it comes to
the Bible. I've never been around it. We went
overseas together when I was young and he was
the first guy that started memorizing small books
of the Bible. And every time I'm with Glenn,
and he goes, Chip, I just learned something.
What? He says, no matter where you're reading,
you ready for this? What? If you just read just
like three chapters, just three chapters in the
gospel. I mean, can you imagine? Only three chapters.
If you read three chapters every day in the gospels,
you can get through the gospels. 15 times in
a year. Can you imagine 15 times you really see
Jesus? I'm thinking, Glenn, you're still blowing
me away. But what he's saying is, no matter what
we're doing, Jesus is the focus. Jesus is the
focus. Get to know Jesus, you get to know God.
Okay, the big question. And this is the one we'll
impact in our time together. What must I do to
see the real God as he is? What must I do to
see the real God as he is? The answer is seek
him. Seek him. Jeremiah 29, 11. Follow along
as I read. For I know the plans that I have for
you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you
and not to harm you. God's not the force, he's
personal. Plans to give you a hope and a future.
The God that you're talking to wants to give
you hope. deep in your soul and a future. And
he understands. Then you will call on me and
you will come and pray to me and I will listen
to you and you will seek me and you will find
me. What's the condition? When you seek for me
with all your heart. And then all I can say is
it's almost mind boggling. God says, I'll be
found of you. I'll be found of you. This isn't
for superstar Christians. This isn't just for
people who went to Bible school or seminary.
This isn't people who are smarter than the rest
of us. Jesus would make the same statement. Seek
and you'll find, right? Knock and the door will
be opened. Ask, seek, knock. He wants to meet
you, but here's the deal. How? How do you seek
God where you really know him? It's not through
external religiosity. It's not through just intellectual,
cognitive information about him. There is a way
to seek God and the wisest person who ever lived,
Solomon, lines out for us. Notice what he says
in Proverbs 2. I've put it in your notes. My
son, if you will receive my words and treasure
my commandments within you, put a little arrow
and write initiative in God's word. You will
never find a man or woman that knows God deeply
that isn't a man or a woman in this book. Treasure
his commandments. Receive his sayings. Second,
make your ear attentive to wisdom. Incline your
heart to understanding. Put a little arrow and
write teachable attitude. This isn't like, oh,
I would like to understand the outline of the
book of Philippians. Oh, I want to understand
what's the major themes of the Pentateuch. Oh,
I have a reading program. I read three chapters
a day to keep the devil away. No, no, this is
God. I want you to speak to me. This is me. I
got questions. I got issues. I got struggles.
I'm going to open your word. I want you to speak
to me in specific ways because here's the deal.
If you'll speak, I'll obey. That's when God speaks.
I don't want to become a smarter sinner. I'm
going to become a more obedient son or daughter.
So I'm going to read this, and I don't understand
it all, and I may not understand it all, but
I want you to speak to me. I have a teachable
spirit. Incline your heart to understanding.
Third, for if you cry for discernment, lift your
voice for understanding. Put a little arrow and
write passionate prayer. Passionate prayer. It's
the kind of prayer God answers. This isn't, no,
no. Lord, it's good to pray. Our Father who art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. I might've missed a couple. Now I let me
down to sleep. Something about my soul to keep.
Catch you later. I'm getting deep. This is the
kind of prayer when you got a kid in ICU and
the doctor says, I don't know if he's going to
make it. This is the kind of prayer when your
wife or your husband, positive results. It's
cancer and it's serious. How do you pray? No
little foreign prayers. You bury your heart before
God. God, I'm asking you, would you intervene?
Save my boy. God, I'm serious. You know, God,
search my heart. If there's something between
us, let me know. But it's passionate prayer.
It's cry out to God. God wants to hear from you.
This isn't religious people. This is people who
long to know God. Notice it says, if you seek
for her, speaking of this wisdom, this knowledge
of God, as silver in search of her as for hidden
treasure, look at the result. Then. Purpose clause,
you'll discern the fear of the Lord and discover
the knowledge of God. Circle, discover. You won't
get it from a preacher. You won't get it from
a book. You won't get it from someone else. You
will discover you want God to speak to you. And
he wants to speak through his word and he wants
to speak through his spirit. And yes, he speaks
through people. But Solomon is saying, as you
dig in, as you make it a priority, he'll speak.
He wants to speak. Next to the one where it says
seeker for silver, write priority. Priority.
Write first priority. If I told you right now
that, and if you have a really big backyard,
then just limit it to like 30 feet out and across.
If you have a small backyard, this illustration
works. If I told you that in your backyard, While
you were here, a $10 million was buried in your
backyard. We've re -sodded everything. You have
no idea where to look. It's only six feet deep.
You have three days to find it. From the moment
you get home, you have three days. If you don't
find it in three days, it will be returned to
me. Now, you get home. Your three days starts
the moment you hit the driveway. I can't quite
imagine you going, well, you know, that NFL season
has started. I think I'll look for it a little
bit later. But, you know, it's a big game. Cowboys
are playing. Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, love
them. You know, I think it is Sunday afternoon.
You know, naps are really important on Sunday
afternoon. I think I'll take a nap. Or I'll start
tomorrow. I can't start tomorrow because the
kids have a ball game tomorrow. I have the ladies'
luncheon in the afternoon. Gosh, I just... Is
that what you do? You know what? Some of you,
some of you would be buying shovels at Ace Hardware
on the way home. And some of you are high -tech.
Shovels? Are you kidding me? The backhoe will
be delivered at 4 .35 p .m. And then this, you
knock down the fence and this backhoe's digging
up your whole backyard. Your neighbors, what
are you doing, man? You're messing up our yard.
What are you doing? Hey, forget it. I'll buy
you a new backyard in about three days. You wouldn't
care. What if you had, if you would have that
kind of passion for $10 million in your backyard,
what if you had that kind of passion to know
God, that you would receive his commands? That
would incline your heart to understanding. That
you would cry out with passionate prayer and
that you would seek it as for silver and as for
hidden treasure. Then, here's the promise. Then,
not someone else, you will discern. First of
all, the fear of God. You'll learn he ain't your
buddy. He's God. And then in these great words
of Tozer again, the great paradox of the faith
is that you will be afraid and in awe. And yet
because of Jesus, fearful, but not be afraid
to come. And come to the heavenly father who's
eager to be your friend. You're listening to
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and the
message you just heard, Seeking God, is from
our series, The Real God. In just a minute, Chip
will give us some helpful application from today's
talk. But right now, Chip's here in studio to
share a brief word with all of you. Chip? Thanks
so much, Dave. Hey, I want to take just a minute
to ask you something really important. If you've
been impacted by this ministry, would you please
pray about partnering with Living on the Edge
in a new way right now? Nearly everything we
do is dependent on contributions from partners
like you. Our ability to reach people through
radio, online, or our app, sharing and developing
small group resources, providing broadcasts that
are international in Asia and the Middle East
and literally dark places around the globe. Please
pray how you might be able to come alongside
and be a partner to Living on the Edge. to help
us reach people with the truth of God's word.
Thank you in advance for whatever God leads you
to do. Thanks, Chip. As you've heard, God has
called this ministry to help Christians live
like Christians, both here in the U .S. and internationally.
So if you'd like to help us fulfill that mission,
we'd love to have you join the team by becoming
a monthly partner. Set up a regular monthly gift
by visiting livingontheedge .org or by calling
888 -333 -6003. That's 888 -333 -6003 or go to
livingontheedge .org. You see, as we learn today,
it really is possible to see God, to know Him.
Exhaustively? No. Accurately? Yes. How? By the
Spirit of God dwelling in you. The Holy Spirit
enlightened your mind so that you can understand
and see God for who He is. That's why the first
step to seeing God is becoming a believer or
a follower in Christ. And then once you're in
the family, this is so critical, you must get
to know Him. You must see Him accurately. And
we learned today there's three ways that God
reveals Himself. Number one, through nature.
Number two, through his word, the Bible. And
number three, through Jesus. So let me ask you,
are you seeing God clearly? And if your immediate
response is, well, I don't know. Gosh, I'm not
sure. Well, let me ask you this. Are you in the
Bible on a regular basis? I don't mean because
you ought or should or you feel guilty. I mean,
are you in the Bible with a heart that says,
Lord, I want to know you? Holy Spirit, open my
eyes. Let me see your glory and your love and
your holiness and your kindness. Let me see you
as you are. You see, being in the scriptures
is critical. Second, and I'm making a little
challenge here because I think we as evangelicals
often miss this first one, nature. Are you spending
any time, do you plan any time at all to look
for God in nature, to catch his majesty and his
beauty and his holiness. Just the other morning,
I tend to get up a little bit early in the morning
and so it's dark. And I got out and I opened
my car door and I just started to get in and
I glanced up. And when I glanced up, the moon
was, I mean, awesome. And there were all these
stars. And I did something I rarely do. I mean,
it was 30 seconds. I shut the door. I leaned
against my car. And I thought, the God who made
all those stars made me. The God who has the
power to call out the starry host one by one
knows my name, knows what's going to happen today,
and he loves me and has revealed himself to me
through Christ. Can I encourage you? Why don't
you take a walk in nature? If you're near the
ocean, go look at it. Find something beautiful
and remember that God wants to reveal himself
to you. Seek him. That's a really practical step
we can do today. Thanks, Chip. Well, from all
of us here, I'm Dave Drewy, thanking you for
listening to this edition of Living on the Edge,
and I hope you'll join us again next time.