Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Let's face it, hardship and pain are an unavoidable
part of life. Whether you're anxious, suffering
from a health problem, lost your job or lost
a friend, we're all struggling through something
right now. The question is, how do we endure
it? How do we get through the darkest periods
of life? That's today. Stay with me. In a world
that's driven by creature comforts, we do everything
possible to dodge any semblance of pain. After
all, doesn't God want us to be comfortable? I'm
Dave Drewy. Today on Living on the Edge, Chip
Ingram reminds us that comfort isn't God's agenda,
nor is he trying to break us. During our struggles,
God is building spiritual muscle we didn't know
we needed. As we dig into James chapter 1, Chip
identifies three game -changing questions that'll
move us from victim to survivor. Plus, he'll
show us why choosing the right attitude matters
more than you think. Oh, and by the way, later
in today's program, Chip will describe an exciting
match that begins today, one of the biggest in
our history. And it's just in time for Giving
Tuesday, which is tomorrow. Well, more about
that match later. Right now, the message from
Chip Ingram, an attitude to embrace. You know,
we're living in very historic times right now.
For some right now, this is a very difficult
time, but they see a way through. For others,
it's a desperate time. How will we get through
this? The question isn't sometimes, you know,
how do we thrive? Sometimes the question is,
how do we survive? Well, I want to tell you that
there is an art to survival. You know, science
sometimes is very clear. There's a formula, right?
You know, two plus two equals four. Here's the
law of physics. But art means that there's an
answer, there's a way, but it looks different
for different people in different situations.
And you may not know it, but the early church
was birthed at a time much like our own. It wasn't
just difficult, it was desperate. And God gave
them the very first words from the half -brother
of Jesus. His name is James, and it's found in
the book of James. The book was written about
A .D. 46 or 49. So the church is only... 13,
14, 15 years old from the death and resurrection
of Jesus. And what we find is there's a great
persecution that occurred. We learn about it
in Acts chapter 8. Now people are struggling.
They've left homes. They're scattered abroad.
There's economic issues. They've been disinherited.
They've been cut off from family. There's persecution
by the Roman government. And they're wondering,
what do we do? We've believed in this Jesus who
died and rose from the dead. We have eternal
life. But how do we survive this difficulty?
And what's very interesting and so encouraging
is we're going to get the answers. I call it
the art of survival for those who speak English.
There's a little acronym because I think there's
an A attitude that you must have. R, there's
a resource, the most important resource to get
through all of this. And the T is for a theology
or a way of thinking that will give you perspective
in the midst of the most difficult times in all
the world. Before we begin, let's get a little
worldview perspective and say, what does the
Bible say about a fallen world? Right? I mean,
it's a very difficult fallen world. Some of us
are surprised and struggling and wondering why.
Listen carefully to Peter. Peter said, Dear friends,
do not be surprised at the painful trial that
you are suffering, as though something strange
were happening to you. First Peter chapter four,
verse 12. Jesus said the very last night on earth,
these things I've spoken to you that in me, you
may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation.
Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. The
apostle Paul would write in second Timothy chapter
three. Everyone who wants to live a godly life
in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
And evil persons and imposters will keep on going
from bad to worse, deceiving others and being
deceived themselves. So what I want you to know
is some observations before we jump into the
text and learn the actual art of survival. Number
one, trials are inevitable. Difficulty in a fallen
world is absolutely promised. observation is
trials either make us or break us. You know,
it's interesting. There's the word for tragedy
and opportunity is put together. And that word
for tragedy and opportunity that's put together
in Chinese is the word crisis. You know, when
you're in a crisis, whether it's personal, whether
it's a community, whether it's a church, whether
it's a nation. or whether it's global, what emerges
out of this is great, great possibility for tragedy,
but also great opportunity. If you look at the
lives of great Bible characters, of great people
in history, you'll find that when pressure and
difficulty and opposition and persecution, for
some people, they cave in. It destroys their
life. And for others, something happens. It makes
them. There's something that happens in their
character, in their faith, in their trust. The
greatest stories we have in human history, Christian
or not, are people that come through the fire
and are purified. And that's what God wants for
us. The third observation is that victims fail
to move beyond asking why and remain stuck in
their pain. You see, the opposite of a survivor
is a victim. And we need to be very careful.
One, we don't want to diminish how difficult
this is. But you're only a victim if you choose
to be a victim. Victims begin to ask, why? Why
me, Lord? Why now? Why this? And hear me, I understand.
There are such pains some of you are going through.
It's okay to begin with a why question. Why me,
Lord? I mean, I've been through cancer with my
wife in an earlier season. Lord, why did this
happen? She loves God. By God's grace, we made
it through that. I've been through seasons where
I've been betrayed by Christian leaders that
I couldn't believe would do something to me.
I've had health issues. I've had challenges with
my children. I've been in places in the world
where I didn't think I was going to live. So
I think it's okay to pause and say, Lord, why
is this happening? But you can't stay there.
But victims do. They get stuck in their pain.
Why this? Why that? Here's the thing. It never
works. Pragmatically, people who never stop asking
why are stuck in their pain and they become victims
and they get bitter and they get resentful or
they give up. What I would suggest to you is
that God has clear instruction in James chapter
one. verses 1 through 12. And we're going to
look at the first section of it. Follow along
as I read, James, a bondservant of God, of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes who dispersed
abroad. Greetings. So he's saying to them, they're
running for their life. They're going all throughout
the Roman Empire. And he's writing to them and
says, greetings. Christianity is primarily Jewish,
right? I mean, there was the day of Pentecost
and some different things have happened, different
places. But overall, this first 10, 15 years,
these Jewish Christians, their identity is still
as their Messiah. Jesus has come. They are following
him and their world has fallen apart. I mean,
they aren't in a difficult situation. They're
in a desperate situation. And so you might want
to ask, what would God say to them? I mean, if
Jesus walked in the room where you are right
now and you could look him in the eye in his
resurrection body and you could say. Jesus, what
do I do? What do I do with the situation with
my family? What do I do with this ministry? What
do I do with this health issue? What do I do?
I haven't been able to work. What do I do? I
lost my business. What do I do, Lord? I don't
see my way in the future. Here's what he would
say. He said, there's an attitude that you must
begin with. Verse two, consider it all joy, my
brother, when you encounter various trials, knowing.
that the testing of your faith produces endurance
and let endurance have its perfect result, that
you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
I want you to notice first, there's a command.
It says, consider it all joy. We'll look at that
more carefully, but it's a command. It's not
an option. Second, there's a reminder. It says,
knowing, and this word for knowing we'll learn
is knowing by experience, knowing by how God
works in our lives. That faith will produce an
endurance that will do something. And then after
that, he gives a second command. It says, and
then endure. Don't give up. Don't give in. Don't
become a victim. You are more than a conqueror
in Christ. But it starts with this kind of attitude.
We'll hear more from Chip Ingram's message in
just a moment. First, we're inviting you to multiply
your year -end donation through an exciting match
that's active right now. You know, when you give
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Double the impact of your gift at livingontheedge
.org. Don't let this opportunity slip by to double
your gift and even more importantly, to double
your impact. Today, let's multiply God's ministry
through Living on the Edge while there's still
time. Go to livingontheedge .org. From a series
called The Art of Survival in an Age of Chaos,
Chip Ingram is teaching from James chapter 1.
And now what he's going to say is don't ask why,
ask what. Here's what I can tell you, whether
it's in a cancer ward, whether it's when a friend
of mine's house burned down, whether it's when
I was in Indonesia, I mean, literally less than
a week after the tsunami, and I saw things devastated
like never before. There are people who are survivors,
and there are people who are victims. Victims
almost always keep asking, why me? Why now? Why?
Why? Why? And they get crushed. Survivors ask
what questions? They ask three very important
what questions. And the answer to those what
questions are in this text. And here's what I
want you to know. God can and will give you the
power to be a survivor, to conquer. to overcome
whatever you're facing as you begin to obey this
passage by the power of the Holy Spirit sourced
in the Word of God in the context of fellow brothers
and sisters that we're going to go through this
together. The first what question you need to
ask in your world right now is this, what can
I control when my world falls apart? What can
you control? I can't control the economy of your
country or my country. I can't control what certain
leaders decisions they make or what they don't
make. Here's what you can control your attitude.
Notice he says, consider the word means evaluate,
calculate, choose, choose to consider your current
difficult situation as pure. Literally, the word
is unmixed joy. And you say to yourself, how
do I do that? How in the world could I do that?
He says, knowing that you're surrounded by trials.
In fact, this word is only used one other time
in the New Testament. He's saying, I want you
to consider to choose an attitude of peace. pure
joy about these external trials. The other place
it is used is when, if you remember the story
of the Good Samaritan, it says he got surrounded
literally by robbers. God is saying through Jesus,
half -brother James, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, that there are times in life where external
circumstances come around our life and they threaten
to crush and destroy us. And he says in the midst
of that, because you are connected to the all
powerful, all knowing sovereign God, because
his spirit lives inside of you and because you
can know for sure he's going to work this for
your good and bring good out of the worst in
a fallen world. Choose to consider all joy, knowing
something that the testing of your faith is going
to produce something. So the first question you
need to ask and answer is, where's my attitude?
And by the way, don't confuse attitude with feelings.
In difficult situations, I don't feel like counting
it joy. This is not an emotion. This is a choice.
I'm going to choose to look into the face of
this difficulty, and I'm going to choose to count
it all joy as I'm surrounded by overwhelming,
devastating trials, knowing that this is a test
that God wants to take me through. And he's going
to do something in my life. And as he does something
in my life, he'll do something through my life.
But I can't have a pity party at a time like
this. I need to fight the good fight. Greater
is he that is in me than he that is in the world.
God has not given you or me a spirit of... fear,
right? But of power and love and self -discipline.
This is where we put on the full armor of God.
This is where we fight. This is where we grab
hold of the anchor of hope. And we say, I will
not give up. I will not give in. I'm going to
choose moment by moment my attitude. I remember
reading a quote by one of the survivors of the
concentration camps. He later became a world
-renowned psychologist, Viktor Frankl. And he
wrote this after enduring the concentration camps
of which most people died. He said, everything
can be taken from a man, but one thing, the last
of all human freedoms to choose one's attitude
in any given set of circumstance to choose one's
own way. So here's what I want to say to you.
Don't ask why, ask what. First, what question?
What can I control? Second, what question is
what must I do to make it through today? OK,
not tomorrow, not what will happen next month,
not what about my business, not what about the
church, not what about even our country, not
what will happen in the next two years or five
years or 10 years. The moment your mind goes
out that far and you have no idea what's going
to happen and you can't control it, it will keep
sending you downward. The question I need to
ask, you need to ask, what can I do to make it
through today? And the answer is one word, and
I don't like it and you don't like it, but it's
endure. It's persevere. In other words, it is
a choice to say, I won't give in. I won't give
up. I won't become a victim. There's no short
-term fix. I remember reading the story of a
prisoner of war. And he was nine years in a prison
camp of war. And he had a number of his colleagues
were with him. And they asked him because he
made it through after nine years. And the great
majority of them didn't. They died. They gave
in. They struggled. They either died or were
tortured. And in the torture, they gave up information
and then they were killed. And they asked him,
how did you make it? Who made it and who didn't?
He said, I can tell you very quickly, those that
were optimist died. They didn't make it. They
thought, well, by Christmas, I'll get out or
by Easter, I'm going to get out or maybe in nine
months or it can only last a year. And they kept
creating false expectations. And then every time
their expectations failed, you could see them
sink deeper and deeper and deeper in despair.
The only thing you can do and the only thing
I can do is endure today. What do I do to make
it through today? You know what I do? I hang
tough. I don't give up. I don't give in. And
here's the reason. Knowing by way of experience
that tests produce endurance. That what God is
going to do, this word is, it does something
inside of you. The Greek word is hupomeno. It's
to hupo, to be under, meno, pressure or stress.
And for some of you right now, you're under incredible
stress, emotional stress, family stress, financial
stress, ministry stress, the stress of uncertainty.
There's people looking to you. Others of you
have seen people that you love and they have
died. And I know what I'm saying is challenging
and difficult, but you have the spirit of the
living God who, as you choose to count it real
joy, he will give you just what you need, not
for tomorrow, but for today. His grace is sufficient
for you. Power is perfected in weakness. And
so the one thing you can do to make it through
today is choose. I will endure. It's a trite
illustration, but for some of you that love to
do athletics, you've probably at some point in
your time lifted weights, right? You get some
weights and you do some curls, or you get some
big weights and you do it this way. If you meet
someone who's very strong and very muscular,
what most people don't understand is When you
lift weights, the reason you need to do it every
other day, not every day, is that as you lift
weights, what happens is your muscles actually
begin to tear. Tiny fibers are tearing. And then
you don't lift every day because they need time
to heal. And so what happens is you have to take
them beyond their point of what they can do.
And that's why you'll see weightlifters help
each other do those last few reps. Because they
want to just have micro tears. And then what
happens when they grow back? They grow back bigger
and stronger. And you know, your soul, your character,
your ministry, your future, your relationships,
you know how they grow? You know how you become
patient and kind and generous and loving and
forgiving? You have need of endurance. Why? Knowing
the testing of your faith. Could I remind you?
The test, because you're a follower of Jesus,
is for you to come through it. That God will
give you what you need to come through it. The
testing of your faith will produce this endurance,
this ability to hold up. And I know the moment
you think about tomorrow, how will I do it? You
don't know. This is today. And if you start thinking
about out there tomorrow, there's no grace. But
God will give you grace for today. You choose
baby choices. I won't give up today. I'll do
what I can today. I may not have quite enough
food today. I don't see how I'll make it tomorrow.
But as you do that one day at a time, what happens
is you're strengthened. And God will provide
both within and without. Be sure to hold your
place right here because there's much more Chip
Ingram wants to show us. And he's in the studio
today to share an exciting update for us. But
first, I'll remind you that tomorrow is known
across our country as Giving Tuesday. And there's
never been a better time to participate because
Living on the Edge is the recipient of a generous
match, meaning that every dollar that's given
right now has twice the value and twice the impact.
This is especially important because of our commitment
to equipping and encouraging pastors. You see,
when you help the shepherd of a local congregation,
your gift is multiplied through the people he
impacts. The church is growing rapidly in other
parts of the world. God is moving. To address
the needs of this exciting growth, our ministry
has expanded into other countries, where churches
are teeming with new believers who want to learn
more about the Bible. Churches are desperately
in need of pastors in order to provide leadership
for new believers. Did you realize that Living
on the Edge is equipping pastors around the world?
We're training leaders in Southeast Asia, conducting
discipleship programs in Egypt, with expanding
programs in Africa as well. All this is made
possible through people like you who want to
make an impact for the kingdom of God. Chip?
You know, in the Bible, pastors are called shepherds.
And there's a reason for that. Shepherds don't
just show up on Sunday. They're out there each
and every day, protecting God's people, binding
wounds, searching for lost sheep. leading, as
best they can, everyone to green pastures. It's
a noble profession, and it's not easy. In fact,
I've been there. It's exhausting. It's lonely.
You often feel isolated. But what most people
don't realize is shepherds need a shepherd too.
Your pastor is caring for the sheep, but here's
the question. Who cares for him? Living on the
Edge has become that shepherd to more than 500
,000 pastors worldwide. We're the voice in their
ear reminding them you're not alone. We're the
encouragement when they're ready to quit. We're
the biblical teaching that fills their soul so
they have something to give to their congregation.
When you give to the match today, you're not
just supporting one ministry. You're strengthening
the shepherds who's caring for your church. And
when the shepherd is healthy and equipped, are
you ready? The whole flock thrives. December
31st is coming soon. The match is active right
now. And now is the time to respond. You can
respond to Chip right now by going to livingontheedge
.org. On our mobile app, just click the heart
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let's make an impact by giving generously to
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send your donation in the mail, address your
envelope to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007,
Atlanta, Georgia, 30024. You can also call 888
-333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge .org. In
our struggles, God isn't trying to crush us.
He's building muscle. I'm Dave Drewy. Chip Ingram
describes the art of survival Tuesday on Living
on the Edge.