Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
In times and circumstances that are overwhelming
and everything in you wants to give up or to
give in, your number one need is perspective.
Perspective is the antidote to discouragement.
How do you get perspective? That's today. Don't
miss it. Ever feel like giving up? Like the challenges
are too great and the darkness too deep? Well,
you're not alone. Pastors deal with discouragement
too. And as a pastor, Chip Ingram understands
firsthand what it's like when nothing seems to
work, when prayers feel unanswered, circumstances
grow worse, and hope feels distant. But whether
or not you're a church leader, we all face dark
days that tempt us to throw in the towel. Well,
today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram reveals
God's prescription for rising above our challenges
through faith, hope, and love. Before we get
started, remember that Living on the Edge has
just started one of the largest match opportunities
in our 30 -year history. Later in the program,
Chip will describe how you can multiply by two
the size of your year -end gift. But right now,
let's get started with the message from Chip
Ingram, A Theology to Believe. God's going to
take His Word today, and He's going to speak
to that very specific discouragement in your
life and in mine. Discouragement is the number
one destroyer of God's plans for our lives. Just
before we receive God's highest and best, many
of us throw in the towel. You know, I've had
some times and I've counseled so many hundreds
of people right before God is at work. And, you
know, the habit, the addiction, the struggle,
that it has just been a stronghold in your life.
God is working, working, working, working. And
just before he answers and delivers, so many
people give up. Now, what I want to do is I want
to develop three very practical, specific principles
to help you. Slay the dragon of discouragement.
Or as I like to say, hanging tough in tough times
demand first that we get God's perspective on
our circumstances. How do you do that? By looking
at our circumstances through the eyes of faith.
That's exactly what he calls us to do. Look at
your current circumstance. Remember, what is
it that's discouraging you? What is it that's
difficult and painful right now that you just
think, I can't take it. I can't take it. Look
at it through the eyes of faith. What is it that
God's going to do because you're trusting what
you can't see? You're trusting his promises.
You're trusting his character. How do you do
that exactly? Well, you need to understand that
the Lord has you in a position to develop a work
in you. that's primary and even more important
than the work through you. So don't get discouraged
just by faith. I mean, remember I wrote for 20
months, there's a passage in Psalm 25 that God
gave me that said, Chip, I will instruct you
in the way in which you should go. And for 20
months, I'm going, Lord, and you know what he
gave me? Here's what you do today. Here's what
you do today. Here's what you do today. I kept
saying, what about six months? What about six
years? What about 10 years? Lord, I have visionary
gift. I need to know where I'm supposed to go.
And what he said is, I'll show you what you need
to do today. And I'll give you grace to do it
today. And what I didn't realize, I had no idea
that God's purposes for my family, my marriage,
my children, my grandchildren, and the ministry.
They were going to expand and expand and expand.
And when God's going to do something wide through
you, he first has to do something deep in you.
And when God wants to do something deep in you,
he has to remove the pillars and the dependency
of your arrogance and your pride and your trust
in people and wanting the affirmation of others.
And he will strip you in ways for your good because
you're so precious. But it's painful. So in your
discouragement, can you say, if it looks like
I have little, you should boast in your high
position because you are dependent. And I would
love to say, I would love to say it. And after
35 years as a pastor, I would love to tell you
this is true, but it's not. I would love to say
that when things are going well and when they're
easy and when all the relationships are good
and circumstances are wonderful and we have lots
of money, that we just trust God, that we go
to deep levels with the Lord. The fact of the
matter is, all of us, all of us have to have
seasons where God takes the things that we trust
in and he sets them aside so that we have him,
just him. And God's doing that right now. He's
doing it in the world. He's shaking people. He's
shaking communities. He's shaking the church.
He's shaking the world. The question is, will
we listen? Will we humble ourselves and be dependent?
So the first thing we need to do is look at our
circumstances through the lens of faith. The
second thing we need to do is get God's perspective
on our future. And how? By looking at our future
through the lens of hope. See, our hope, if it's
in the now, if it's in what I can see, if it's
in the ministry, if it's how people are responding
to me, if it's in my bank account, if it's in
things going well or not going well, my circumstance,
what do we learn? It goes up and it goes down.
He says, you need to take what you're experiencing
right now, whatever is discouraging you. And
he goes, I want to give you another new set of
glasses. After the glasses of faith, you set
those down. And now you put on the glasses of
hope. Listen to what the Apostle Paul said. Therefore,
we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are
wasting away. Yet inwardly, we're being renewed
day by day for the light and momentary troubles.
are achieving for us an eternal weight that outweighs
them all. So we fix our eyes on not what is seen,
but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporal,
and what is unseen is eternal. He tells him,
I'm telling you this after I've been shipwrecked,
I've been beaten about three times, I've been
left in the sea. I mean, he is viewing all of
his temporal difficulty, pain, circumstances.
through a lens of hope and what God is preparing
for him, not just now, but forever. The third
thing that we need to do is get God's perspective
on our circumstances, God's perspective on our
future, and now God's perspective on our motivation
by looking at our motivation through the lens
of love. Here's the question, and this is different
for all of us, and this is very personal, so
I want you to lean back. I want you to really
think. for a moment before you would immediately
answer, am I willing to enter into the fellowship
of his suffering? Are you willing, like the Apostle
John and the Apostle Peter, to consider a privilege
and a joy to suffer for the sake of Christ? You
see, in the early church, As they were beaten
and taken in by the Sanhedrin, and they went
back there in Acts chapter 2 and 3 and 4 and
told the other believers what happened, they
were filled with joy, being counted worthy to
suffer for the Lord. It's out of loyalty. The
Apostle Paul would say, I want the fellowship
of his suffering. There's something about a love
for the Lord Jesus that when you are suffering
because you refuse to give up, refuse to give
in, that is very, very precious. And what I would
have to admit to you is that sometimes when I've
worked hard, I've tried hard, I've prayed hard,
I've ministered hard, and circumstances don't
get better, and I don't feel better, and candidly,
I'm not very happy, and I wish God would change
things and change them faster. What I have to
admit privately is that my motivation is really
about God working my life out instead of me being
willing to experience whatever I need to experience
for me to express my love to Him. I remember
a number of years ago teaching a seminar. It
was in Hong Kong at the time and I was meeting
with a group of pastors and that evening I had...
dinner with a pastor who happened to be a house
church leader and evangelist. And he was telling
the story and we had helped him with some resources
and helped him with what he was doing in terms
of discipleship. And as he was traveling, doing
evangelism, the church was meeting in his house,
and the Communist Party came. It was a remote
area. And his wife said, no, no, I'm the pastor.
I'm the pastor. None of these people are here.
And she got all the people to leave, and they
took her down to the police station. And for
two days, they beat her to a pulp. And he came
back from his evangelistic trip and found what
was happening. And I'm listening to the story
and in my mind's eye, thinking about my wife.
And as he's telling the story, I'm just thinking,
boy, if someone did that to my wife, I don't
know if I could keep my faith. Boy, I would just,
and I'm having all these emotions and anger and
retribution. And he finishes the story. And when
he gets done with the story, very calmly, he
looks at me and my friend and he says, Can you
imagine that God would count us worthy to get
to suffer for him? And I was too embarrassed
to say the emotions and the thoughts that I had.
But I want to ask you that. These are the times
that we're living in. Is our love going to be
loyal? As we wrap things up, let me help you
evaluate kind of a little bit where you are and
to remind you that you can slay the dragon. of
discouragement. You are not a victim. Victims
have self -pity. Victims look through the lens
of me. Victims look at, are things going well?
Survivors don't. Survivors have an attitude and
we count it all joy, whether we feel like it
or not. Survivors don't know what to do, but
we have God's wisdom and we'll take it one day
at a time. And survivors get a divine perspective,
a theology, a way of thinking about life and
circumstances and the future and our relationship
with the Lord in terms of motivation. And because
of that, here's the deal. You can overcome discouragement,
but you have to fight. So can I ask you, remember
when we began this teaching time, I said, what
person, what circumstance? What specific thing
was really discouraging you? And I ask you to
get it really clear in your mind. Before I go
on and give you some practical tools, where are
you struggling? From what I've shared so far,
what is God saying to you today? What does it
look like for you to look at life, your life,
your sadness, your disappointment, your challenge?
your heartache through the lens of faith, through
the lens of hope, through the lens of love. We'll
hear more from Chip Ingram's message in just
a moment. First, we're inviting you to multiply
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Double the impact of your gift at livingontheedge
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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.
Let me give you a couple handles that I think
will help. Number one, reevaluate your circumstances,
and here's the test. Is my faith in things that
are perishable or in things that are permanent?
Just pause for a moment. Your faith, what are
you trusting in? Are you trusting in things that
are perishable or things that are permanent?
I remember again in China speaking to a pastor
lamb of many years ago. And he was beaten and
tortured and the church grew. And so they put
him in prison and the church grew even more.
And so he got out of prison after many years
and he had almost like a tree house, I remember.
And he had speakers and just hundreds of people
would gather to hear him preach and proclaim
God's word. And the officials came at that time
and said, we are going to kill you. And he smiled
at them. He said, you torture me, the church
grows. You put me in prison, the church grows
bigger. You kill me, the church will explode.
Do you hear it? His faith isn't in what was perishable.
His faith is in what's permanent. I was talking
to one of our partners who does ministry in the
Middle East, and they were growing in their faith,
and as they were ready to go back into their
country, one of the ladies said to the trainer,
before we go back into our country, would you
teach us to die well? She understood what they
were going to do and what they were going to
share, in all probability, is going to cost them
their life. They wanted to die well. I sat across
the table from a young doctor who had a contract
on her life. She was in Yemen, and the church
has exploded in the midst of that civil war,
and she was making her way to another country
to be safe. And she was young, maybe 30, 31,
and she just looked at me and goes, I know I
won't live very long. And she didn't say it with
any sense of self -pity. It was a sense of, this
is my calling in life. There is more to life
than right now. My question is, do you believe
that? Does your behavior, does my behavior declare
that? For those of us in sort of the first world,
I have a very good friend who's gone broke a
couple times and made a lot of money, I guess
probably three times now. And over time, he has
come to actually believe and understand that
money can't make you, money can't break you.
He's looking at life through the lens of faith.
Second is to reevaluate where your focus is.
The test here is my hope determined by the size
of my problems or the certainty of God's promises.
I mean, is your hope or the promises, you know,
those problems are getting smaller or is it these
big promises of God? Where is your hope focused?
The Apostle Paul writing to the Romans and They
have their share of struggles. The Roman Empire
is persecuting Christians. And he says to them,
for everything that was written in the past,
the Old Testament, it instructs us or teaches
us that through, listen carefully, endurance
and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might
have hope. May the God who gives endurance and
encouragement give you a spirit of unity among
yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that
with one heart and one voice you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he quotes a number of Old Testament
passages, about four or five, about the inclusion
of the Gentiles. And then he ends with verse
13 of chapter 15. May the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so
that you may overflow with hope by the power
of the Holy Spirit. In our dependency, I'm going
to challenge you. One of the things that God
wants to do is break down some of our preconceived
ideas and our focus. For then it was Jew or Gentile.
For some of us, it's black and white. For others,
it's different tribes. For some of you in different
countries, though you love Jesus, there is this
division. There's this prejudice. God wants to
take us to this place of dependency that brings
about unity. He says he gives encouragement and
he gives what? Endurance how? Through the scriptures.
Here's the question. Where is your mind going?
Does your mind focus on the problem, the problem,
the problem, the problem? Or are you focused
on the promises, the promises, the promises?
You know, as I shared before, one of the reasons
I memorize scripture, one of the reasons I renew
my mind, one of the reasons I sing and worship
out loud is I want to fill my mind and my heart
with the truth and the promises of God so I can
look at the very challenging. and discouraging
circumstances in a fresh way, God's way. You
see, it's perspective. Finally, we reevaluate
our motivation. And the test is, is your primary
motivation and the motivation of your heart to
love Christ or simply experience relief and get
what you want for you? This is a hard one to
be honest with. But as I shared, I think the
brothers and sisters that I've met around the
world have taught me more about a pure love than
anybody else in the world. Because there's very
little hope for any financial gain or fame or
life getting better. They do what they do. They
experience what they experience. And you all
suffer what you suffer because you love the Lord
Jesus. As I close, when you start to get discouraged,
are you ready? I just want you to remember three
words. That's all you need. Three words. As you
struggle, the art of survival. Word number one
is faith. God is in control. Word number two
is hope. You are his child. He has a place, a
plan, and a promise for you. And the last word
is love. Suffering is a chance and a privilege
for you and for me. to express our love for the
Lord Jesus. Father, these are words of hope and
life, but we confess in our humanity, in our
fallenness, that they're very challenging words
to apply. Lord, thank you for your word that
gives us encouragement. Lord, thank you for Paul
and Peter and John. Lord, thank you for people
in our life. the heroes of today that blaze the
trail, that love you, that live by faith, that
focus on what's unseen rather than what's unseen.
And Lord Jesus, may we be those kind of people.
Thank you that we are not victims, that we're
more than conquerors in Christ. Will you fill
us with perspective and wisdom and hope? And
will you grant us the ability to fight the good
fight, to finish the race, to do all that you've
called us to do. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless
you. Let's keep pressing ahead. Please don't
rush away. Chip Ingram, our Bible teacher, has
prepared personal comments just for our Living
on the Edge family. That's coming up in just
a moment. But first, I'll remind you that Living
on the Edge is the recipient of a generous match,
one of the largest in our 30 -year history, 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 28 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. Well, Living on the Edge comes
alongside these ambitious men of God, and they
crave direction and reassurance. In fact, when
Chip's teaching series, The Art of Survival,
was recorded on video, it spread like wildfire
in parts of the world we never dreamed of reaching.
But God had other plans. Chip? As you listen
to this series, The Art of Survival, you may
not be aware of how it was birthed, how God used
it, and I hope it's been a great encouragement
to you. But I will tell you, pastors are called
to equip the saints, but the question is, who
equips or pastors or loves the pastor? Right
toward the end of COVID, God had this message
birthed in response to body bags coming out of
Egypt, of what was happening in rural communities
as churches were shut down. And literally one
day I filmed it. It was dubbed a week later in
Arabic. And then like a fire that went across
the world in 35 languages, hundreds of thousands
of pastors. And they heard what you've been hearing
the last few days. And then we had them get in
small group to process it. And at the end, the
most common thing we heard was God spoke. I'm
not going to quit the ministry now. And what
I want you to know is I know you have hard times
and challenging times, but your pastor lives
a life that you can't imagine what he's going
through. And when you give to this match, you're
helping pastors all across the United States
and all across the world. Would you be willing
to radically give up something that's common,
a few cups of coffee, a few luxuries here or
there, and make a commitment to this match to
help us help pastors here and all around the
world? They're lonely. It's difficult. It's hard.
And by the grace of God, Living on the Edge is
giving them hope. And you can be a part of that.
Yes, you can be part of this movement of God
by going to Living on the Edge. Having twice
the impact. To send your donation in the mail,
address your... Living on the Edge, P .O. Box
3007, Atlanta, GA 30024 Now you might think your
donation will make little difference. Well, I
can assure you every single dollar will be channeled
into God's work to help pastors and all Christians
discover how to walk more intentionally with
Jesus. Again, write to P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
Georgia 30024. You can also call 888 -333 -6003
or visit livingontheedge .org. Well, I'm Dave
Drew. Join us when Chip Ingram begins our next
series, Discover How to Leave a Legacy That Lasts
Forever, Tuesday on Living on the Edge.