Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Are you facing a big decision? Maybe a big decision
about money? Maybe about work or career? Or more
importantly, maybe a very big decision about
a relationship. How do you make wise choices?
That's today. We're living in upside down times
where our culture brazenly calls evil good and
godly behavior evil. this moral chaos is rooted
in faulty thinking that's been absorbed drop
by drop screen by screen choice by choice today
on living on the edge chip ingram continues his
teaching series called leaving a legacy that
lasts forever in this study he'll explain why
exposing the cultural chaos is the greatest legacy
we might leave our offspring And then just after,
Chip's message will explain how you can leverage
your year -end giving through the match that's
active right now. Until December 31st, every
dollar given to support Living on the Edge is
automatically matched and therefore doubled in
size and impact because of this match. More later,
but right now, the message from Chip Ingram.
We make our choices and then our choices make
us. Some of our good choices have resulted in
a happy marriage, a great job, and deep personal
satisfaction. Some of our poor choices have resulted
in destroying a marriage, losing a job, and suffering
shame and reproach. Few things will determine
the quality and the fulfillment of your life
more than the choices you make, for better or
for worse. I've heard someone say that when you
boil it all down, you will probably make a half
a dozen very major important choices about God,
about future, about relationships, and about
how to deal with some difficult things in your
life that will determine all of your life. You
just basically play out the rest. In fact, let
me give you some time with yourself. I'd like
you to think as fast as you can about the two
best choices you've ever made. Two choices that
you say, some of the richest, deepest blessing.
When I look at my life from where I am now backwards,
I think about, I made a couple choices. These
were good choices. And some of you think back
to a window of time and you chose to make a decision
that was kind of counterculture. and you ended
up in a world and in a job that you were made
for, and you look back, I can't believe I got
to do that, right? So I just want you to mentally
think about what are maybe the top two or three
choices you've made, and some of you just need
to remember you have made some good choices.
Okay, now I want to go to the other side. Just
what's one choice that you've made that if you
could take this one back, you'd take it back?
One choice you made in the past that you just
thought, oh my. I mean, that was dumb. In fact,
that was worse than dumb. That was biblically
unwise. In fact, that choice cost me a lot. And
it could be a choice that cost you a lot of money.
It could be a choice that cost you a relationship.
It could be a choice that in a just quick moment
of time, and it was like it's, you know, it promised
a lot of pleasure, but it really delivered a
lot of pain. Can you think of any? Now, here's
why I want you to get your emotions around that
instead of just your head and your heart. In
like manner, there are few gifts that you will
give to those that are coming behind you, okay?
This whole series is about passing on the things
that matter most. And when you think about that
person you're wanting to help grow spiritually
or that child of yours or that grandchild or
someone in church or someone who's looking to
you and you want to pass on what matters most,
Few things could be a greater gift than you giving
them the skill and the ability to make wise choices.
In fact, I'd go out on a limb and say, to give
people wealth without wisdom is to sentence them
to a life of folly and failure in their future.
And yet, I mean, the research is in. Almost all...
followers of Christ have spent much more time
thinking very carefully about how to transfer
their wealth to their kids and grandkids than
they have their wisdom. And so, you know, it's
not too late, but I mean, if you take time to
make an estate plan and to make a will to think
about how important it is to give them your stuff,
what you want to do is translate your soul. What
are your values? Teach them how to make great.
Great decisions. Great decisions about God. Great
decisions about relationships. Great decisions
about money. Great decisions about how to respond
to adversity. Great decisions about how to resolve
conflict. Make wise, wise decisions about opportunities
that seem too good to be true because they are.
Wise, wise decisions about how to discover who
God made them to be. Wise decisions about if
they're parents, how to parent well. wise decisions
about how to take care of their body. You know,
one of the greatest gifts you could ever impart
to those that you care about the most is the
skill and the knowledge and the ability to make
excellent, wise decisions. And so our transferable
concept is teach them to make wise choices. And
what I'd like to do now is say, I believe There's
a place to start. And if I was gonna just open
the Bible in the middle here and open to Proverbs
like it did, let me read one verse sort of as
a launching point. It's not in your notes. Here's
the wisest man in the world. Past, present, future.
And he says, verse seven, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. Only fools despise
wisdom and discipline. The fear of the Lord.
And the fear of the Lord is reverential awe for
sure. The fear of the Lord is emotional. He is
awesome and powerful and all -knowing and pure.
And you are actually afraid. You're afraid not
to do life his way. The fear of the Lord, both
positively and negatively, part out of admiration
and part out of just actual fear, is to say to
God, I want to do life your way because you have
designed it in a way for my good. And by the
way, you're God, whether it's for my good or
not, you are God and you created me and you say
these things. And I am afraid to do anything
other than what the one who created me and deserves
to have rightfully, anything he wants, he can
have. He made me. And so the fear of the Lord,
and what I would like to suggest is if we're
gonna learn to make wise decisions, we need to
walk through a theology of holiness. And I've
summarized, I didn't put all the verses there,
but I've kind of summarized a theology of holiness.
Now when you hear this word, please do not go
to black robes, lit candles, prune -faced people
chanting in the dark, or people who don't wear
makeup ever, or don't play cards, okay? I'm not
talking about external holiness. Write next to
this in your notes, a theology of holiness, put
a dash, and write the word wholeness, W -H -O
-L -E -N -E -S -S. The root word of holiness
comes from wholeness. It comes from health. The
prerequisite for the universe that a perfect,
holy God has made is for it to be whole and to
be healthy, it must be holy. And the fall is
like cancer. And it's like eating away at the
environment, at the world, at the structure that
God created. And so his holiness is his standard
that provides health. When we live a holy life,
when we follow God's holiness, it not only is
what he expects because of who he is, but it's
also... his way of helping us get health in our
relationships with him and with others and what
makes us whole and complete. And, you know, they
didn't know all the scientific stuff that we
know. And when he gave multiple commands and
it looked like just ceremonial holiness, I mean,
they didn't know about bacteria and they're washing
their hands all the time. They didn't know that
the platelets clot at, what is it, when you circumcise
a child, Purdue did a study that, you know, the
platelets clot the most on that very day. But
all these, standards and all these laws that
God gave his people to be this holy nation were
for their health and for their good, and so they
would reflect him. And so what does it mean?
What is holiness? Let's walk through it. First,
God is high and holy, and the idea of holy means
he's totally other. He's not a bigger, better
category. He's completely different. We are creation
and he is creator. When we look at our little
Milky Way with a couple billion stars and then
try to imagine behind it maybe 200 billion other
galaxies, we are speaking of one who spoke a
word and it came into existence. He is a God
that when people ever get even near his presence,
they fall on their face. He's a God who's unapproachable
light. He is absolute purity. Absolute holiness.
He's the source of all life. And so he's other.
He's not, you know, the old man with the beard
who, you know, nods at his children and he's
not a divine Santa Claus or he's not a cosmic
vending machine. He is holy. God is absolute
truth. John 14, 6, Jesus came, he said, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except by me. God is truth. God's
word defines absolute truth. Might John 17, 17,
the last prayer of Jesus. Sanctify them by your
truth. Your word is truth. And sanctify, that's
our same root word for holist. Set them apart
is the idea. Something special, not something
regular. Theology of holiness includes God's
law or morals is for our protection. When God
lays out these commands, these guardrails, this
is not from a prudish God that is against sex
or someone that has all these rules to frustrate
us in anything that we like to do. You know,
he comes up with a command to say, don't do that.
They're for our protection. They're for our boundaries.
Imagine if you will, okay, this is a little.
word picture. For me, sometimes these things
are abstract. I have this picture, because I've
struggled with all of this a lot. And I didn't
grow up as a Christian. I never read the Bible
growing up. And all I knew was, even when I was
a young Christian, if I liked to do it, I could
find a command that said it. I'm not supposed
to. And I spent probably the first five years
of my Christian life with, I'm on this side and
God's on this side. And there's this big fence.
And all the time he was telling me, Ingram, you
can't do that. You can't do that. I thought he
was against me. And I had a warped view of God.
And what I came to understand is actually he's
on the same side with me. And this fence or this
barrier. of some laws that he gives me are that
he's all wise and all knowing and loving and
he cares about me. And I begin to see those as
guardrails. And so here's the word picture that
I came up to that really helped me want to obey
is imagine, if you will, this little chalet at
the top of a mountain. And there's this windy,
windy, windy road to get up to it. But when you
get up to it, I mean, the refrigerator is stocked.
There's a workout room. The view is absolutely
glorious. All your closest friends are there
and they can stay forever and ever and ever.
I mean, it is life at its very best. And that's
the trail, this quote, abundant life that God
has for us. But you need to go on this trail
and it's windy and it's dangerous. And so all
along the trail, you know, you get near the edge
and there's like a thousand foot drop off. So
he puts these guardrails. And the guardrails
are his laws and his decrees so that when you
bump into him, you realize, oh, don't do that
or you could go over the edge. But if you stay
inside those guardrails of his moral decrees
and laws, he wants you to get to that chalet.
He wants to enjoy you. He wants you to have the
very best. He cares about you. You're the object
of affection. So they're for you. And so, I mean,
especially in those college years and those post
-college years, I mean, I didn't grow up as a
Christian and I learned for 18 years how to relate
to girls. And then I become a Christian right
before I leave for college and there's four girls
for every guy. I mean, ugly guys were getting
good girls where I went to school. I mean, you
didn't even have to try and you could get a girlfriend.
And, you know, this is the early 70s. So, I mean,
everybody's sleeping with everybody. I mean,
I remember, you know, the co -ed dorm thing was
starting to come in and I'd walk out of the bathroom
and the girls were like, whoa, you know, I mean,
just this is wild. And now I got this new Bible
and God telling me, now you need to be sexually
pure. And I'm thinking, boy, you must be very
powerful. You think that can happen? And I made
a commitment to be. But it was always like, you
know, God, I'm missing out. God, I'm missing
out. And then, and I've done a lot of research
in this area. And I've learned, you know, the
most sexually fulfilled people. in all the planet
are highly religious, monogamously married people
that have no other partners, that believe in
God and that he created marriage, and they have
31 % how they measure this, don't ask me, but
they have 31 % better sex than all the rest of
the people. I dare not ask how that happens,
you know. Those people who live together prior
to marriage have a 50 % higher divorce rate.
They have about a 75 % more likelihood of adultery.
Sexually transmitted diseases can lie dormant
for over 10 years before they pop up to let you
know that what you did on a fling back then can
come back and visit you or you can pass it on
to your partner or other people. Now, God knows
all that. And so when God says the marriage bed
is holy and when he says don't have sex outside
of marriage, I mean, I didn't even get to the
spiritual implications. I didn't get to any of
the issues emotionally. I didn't get to the baggage
in the back of your mind when you're making love
with your wife and the pictures of the past can
come up or vice versa. And so all I'm saying
is when God says things like, don't have sex
before marriage. This isn't a prudish God that
doesn't understand that we have hormones. This
is an all -wise, all -loving God going, you don't
want that second -rate stuff with all the baggage,
emotionally, physically, right? I got chalet
sex for you, okay? I want you to be completely
committed, without guilt, free of shame. You'll
still have your struggles, but you know what?
When he has a command about money, You ought
to give here, save here, and do it this way.
Same reasoning. When he has a command about telling
the truth and speaking the truth in love rather
than gossiping, every one of his moral commands,
because he's holy, is for your health. And when
you can ever get your arms around, his commands
are for my good. That's why read Psalm 119. David,
despite his struggles and his failures, his commands
are my delight. I rise in the middle of the night.
I like someone, you know, waiting for the dawn.
I love his word. Why? Because He got it. They
weren't prohibitions. They were the pathway.
They were the guardrails to get the highest and
the best. That's what holiness is about. It's
about wholeness and it's about health and it
reflects God's character. God's ultimate aim
is to make us holy. You know, we quote Romans
8, 28 quickly when life's bad, right? For we
know that God works all things together for the
good, you know, the car wreck and, you know,
the down economy and the struggle with one of
our kids and the tension in our marriage and
circumstances. He works it all for the good.
And we quote 28. Well, verse 29 is the purpose
behind how he takes every situation, every person,
every circumstance, every difficulty that you'll
ever face. And what? Verse 29 says that in order
that he might conform us to the image of his
son. The game plan is to make you like Jesus.
That's what holiness really is, Christ -likeness.
In Ephesians chapter four, we get the picture
of what the church is all about. And in verse
11 through 13, we're told why God gives leaders
in the church. He gave some as apostles, some
as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors
and teachers. Why? For the equipping of the saints,
for the work of service to the building up of
the body of Christ. And then why is the body
of Christ supposed to be built up? Until we all
attain to the unity of the faith of the standard
of the measure of the fullness of Christ. Maturity.
Paul said, my goal in life is to present every
man perfect. It's the same word, teleos, or mature.
You know what that is? That's called being holy.
That's called being Christ -like. That's his
aim for you. Now, a byproduct is as you walk
that way, you'll have great joy. But happiness
has to do with circumstance. Joy is the byproduct
of relationships. And you know what? Your happiness
can go up with the stock market and it can go
down with the stock market. Up with your in love,
down with your heartbroken. God's aim is to make
us holy and to reflect his son. It's a winsome,
pure, not weird, religious out there. You people
are, where are you coming from? Holiness. It
is a holiness that is loving and winsome and
pure and approachable and Christ -like. When
you're holy, you're like Jesus. And that's God's
agenda. The Old Testament roots are we get Exodus
chapter three. Verses five and six, Moses sees
the bush. God says, don't come any closer. Take
off your sandals for the place where you're standing
is, remember, holy ground. Then he said, I am
the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. At this, Moses
hid his face because he was afraid to look at
God. We've lost a generation of people that are
afraid to look at God. We're casual with God.
We think God's gonna wink at stuff. I've got
a lot of friends in, Churches all around the
country, and as we kind of compare notes, I will
tell you the average single person in the average
evangelical church, and I'm just going to throw
a statistics out. It's probably higher than this,
but the average single person in evangelical
churches is sleeping around about 80 % of the
time. And people will just look you in the eye
and say, well, you know, I don't think God really
expects that anymore. I mean, like eight out
of 10 commandments, that's pretty good. Isn't
that like an 80 on a test? And we've, it's, we
have really lost the sense of the awesome holiness
and purity of God. Here we have a situation,
Moses, God says, take off your, why? Nothing
artificial, man. Wherever I am, it is holy. You
find John meets Jesus, right? Revelation chapter
one, bam, he's on his face. Joshua meets the
angel of the Lord. You know, we've lost the sense
of God's transcendence. He is not our buddy.
He is approachable. He's imminent. He's loving.
He's kind. But he's unapproachable light and
purity and holiness. We'll hear more from Chip
Ingram's message in just a moment. First, we're
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From a series called Leaving a Legacy That Lasts
Forever. Again, our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram.
Isaiah caught it in Isaiah chapter 6. Listen
to the verse. In the year that King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord. What was he like? High and exalted,
and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him were seraphs, these special... Angels,
each with six wings. Two, they covered their
faces. And with two, they covered their feet.
And with two, they were flying. And they were
calling out to one another, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is
full of his glory. This is the only time you
ever find God addressed as three different things.
In Hebrew, they don't have, I can't remember
what you call them in English. Like we say, very
good or best or better. They don't have that
in Hebrew. The way you make. A stronger statement,
it's holy, or you go holy, holy, or if you want
to make it holy, holy, holy. It's a majestic,
exponential, it's whoo. And that's what the angels
are doing then, and according to the book of
Revelation, that's what they're doing now, and
there's going to day come where they're going
to keep doing it, and we're going to get in on
it. But that's who God is. And these are perfect,
angelic. beings that are of the higher ups. I
don't understand all cherubs and seraphs and
who knows how all that works, but I'll tell you
what, they are in the very presence of God night
and day. Later we find out they have eyes all
over them and there's all this wisdom and they're
innocent and they're pure and yet in the presence
of God, they hide their face and they cover their
feet and they declare who he is. I will tell
you, you get a glimpse of who God really is.
It changes everything. You know, everyone throws
around that, you know, it's not about us, it's
not about us. It's not about us. It's not about
being in control. It's not about making your
little life work out or my little life work out
and our plans work out and what other people
think. When you see God for who he is, it's just
like, all that stuff goes away. And then at the
sound of their voices, the text goes on, the
door posts and the thresholds, they shook and
the temple was filled with smoke. And this is
what happens when you see God afresh. Woe is
me, I cried, I'm ruined. This is a prophet. This
is the statesman of the day. This is a man who
heard from God. This is a guy that his righteousness,
I'm sure compared to most of ours, his is here
and we're here, but he sees God, I'm ruined.
For I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among
a people of unclean lips. And my eyes have seen
the King, the Lord Almighty. And then we get
this powerful picture of the seraph who flies
with the coal, takes it from the altar, touches
his lips. And you have this process that I think
needs to happen. The old word for it is repentance
and renewal. But it's this process where we get
into the scriptures and in community and in worship,
where we again get a glimpse of who God really
is, which leads to an accurate view of ourselves,
which leads to a realignment of our agenda with
his. And that process is over and over and over
in scripture. And that has to happen with us.
And it's painful. Sitting quietly before God,
worshiping God for who he is versus just asking
and telling and whining and complaining. We can
do all that. But we need to come before God and
worship him for who he is. And remember who he
is. And then ask him to, by his searching light,
pray the prayer that David prayed. Search me,
O God, into my heart. Test me. Examine me. See
if there's anything in me. And you know what?
Then sit quietly. And unless you're living on
a different planet than I am, he'll show you
stuff. And for some of you that are very mature
and walk with the Lord far longer than me, it
probably won't be, you know, outward external
stuff. It'll be that little self -righteous attitude.
It'll be that little judgmental, you know, thing
of how you think about so -and -so. It'll be
about issues like motive. When everyone looks
to you and yet what you know is you play into
the crowd just a little bit too much. You're
liking the praise of men just a little too much.
You've become a little bit of a people pleaser
a little too much. You've allowed your faith
and how you live to be sort of a little badge.
And you know, you're human. And you just need
to get the fiery flame of the holiness of God
to purge you and me purge me and allow him to
do that. And then we recognize with a new level
how unworthy we are. And guess what that does?
The work of Jesus then becomes very precious.
Because you realize without him, you're in big
trouble. And so the cross takes on new meaning.
The biblical profiles are Moses and Stephen.
I like the Hebrews passage where it says, Moses
chose to be mistreated for a time, then live
in a pagan culture and enjoy the pleasures of
Egypt. There's a price tag to be holy. And Stephen,
you have this, you know, when they chose Stephen,
remember Acts chapter six, choose from you men
who are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And
the very first name is Stephen. He's a holy man.
He's filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom.
And then chapter seven, what do we have? We have
Stephen making this defense and they bring these
trumped up charges. And as he's looking up, God
gives him a vision of Jesus next to the throne.
And you have courage when you're holy. And you
have boldness when you're holy. And you know
the word of God because he goes through the entire
history of Israel when you're holy. And then
he gets to the end and you have a forgiving heart.
Father, forgive them. Please don't take this
into account. That's what a holy life looks like.
Not people who dress funny or put praise the
Lord on the back of their cars or have big black
Bibles. Holiness is a quality of life that is
winsome and loving and word -centered and deeply
caring and morally pure. The New Testament command
is 1 Peter 15 and 16, but just as he who called
you is holy, so be holy in your notes where you
circle the word all in all you do. For it is
written, be holy because I'm holy. In all you
do. In what you watch. In what you put into your
mind. In what comes out of your mouth. In what
goes into your mouth. In what you say. In what
you think. Be holy in all that you do. Holiness
is not an option. The scripture says without
holiness no one will see the Lord. Holiness is
not external religious activity. Holiness is
a condition of the heart. A purity of the mind
that expresses itself in a righteous lifestyle.
And then notice the great promise. Blessed are
the pure in heart, because what do they get?
They see God. And you know, at the end of the
day, that's God's heart's desire, and you'll
never get a greater reward. Just see God, know
Him for who He is. And by the way, that's how
transformation occurs. 1 John will tell us, we
don't know exactly what we're gonna be like,
but this is what we know, 1 John 3, 2. When we
see him, we'll be like him. And Paul would say
in 2 Corinthians 3, when he's talking about the
difference between the old and the new covenant,
he goes, but we all with unveiled face, beholding
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed, processed from glory to glory, just
as from the Lord the Spirit. And his point is,
as we get these glimpses of who God really is.
how loving he is, how holy he is, how pure he
is. You know what? And when they have that attitude,
it's not like I get, okay, I can read a chapter
a day to keep the devil away. Or I read five
chapters. I feel really holy today. God, what
do you think? Can I get a little star in the
refrigerator up there? I prayed for 15 .7 minutes.
I fasted for two whole days. Those are all performance
mentalities. I read because I love you. Would
you speak to me? I fasted because I'm not clear
and I don't know what to do and I want to eliminate
the distractions. I get no brownie points. I'm
not better than anyone else. I just need to pull
away from the world because I need to hear your
voice. Will you speak to me? I love you. I want
to sing to God because he's my savior in what
he's done and I forget that. That's what holiness
looks like. And then you begin to pass on and
give to others what God has given to you. On
the application, it says, I, I like you, if you
would be so bold to write your name in there,
commit to learn how to discern good from evil.
That's the heart of becoming holy. See, the problem
is we have a real, real hard time in our day.
You're living in a mirage, in a mirage of lies
and appearances. Paul would pray, we'll look
at it a little bit later in Philippians 1, he
would pray that God would grant them the ability
to discern good from evil. Isaiah in his day
would say the world and the religious leaders,
he would say, you know, what's happened is now
we're calling evil good and good evil. And I
don't know about you, but I see that today everywhere.
So how do you pass this on? And how do you pass
on this view of God, this sense of holiness?
Because if holiness has to do with being whole
and health, and if God, because of the nature
of who he is, demands holiness for the health
of his universe, and when people violate that
holiness, there's consequences because God is
pure. When a parent lets anyone do something
that's harmful for them over and over without
consequences, you don't love them. Proverbs says
the evidence of love and Hebrews 12 says the
evidence of real love is when a parent disciplines.
So when we step outside of God's moral law and
boundaries and he brings consequences, what he's
saying is, I love you. Could you keep doing that?
You're gonna get hurt badly. You're going to
get hit real badly. That attitude is going to
bring pain. That behavior is going to bring pain.
You keep logging on to that site, you're going
to lose affection for your wife. You keep chatting
around and reading those romance novels and creating
this ultra world that you hide in and have this
virtual world. I'll tell you what, it'll ruin
your marriage. You keep letting your kids hang
out with that group, I will tell you, they're
going to land in the ditch. And so he says there's
a standard of holiness, but the standard of holiness
is built out of blocks or bricks of love. to
bring about health and wholeness. So let's talk
about maybe some practical ways. How do we pass
this on so they can make wise decisions? Number
one, encourage them to saturate their mind with
truth. The Bible, great books, videos. You have
in your notes, this is one of my favorite passages,
Romans chapter eight, verses five through eight.
It says, those who live according to the flesh.
Have their minds set on the flesh. But those
who live according to the spirit have their minds
set on what the spirit desires. The mind of sinful
man is death, but the mind controlled by the
spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law,
nor can it do so. And those who are controlled
by the sinful nature of the flesh cannot please
God. All I want you to get is where do you set?
your mind? Where do you set your mind? First
and foremost, we have to model this, but we have
got to pass on to our kids, to those that we're
discipling, to our grandkids, to the groups that
we hang out with. I'll tell you what, I've been
in small groups where the Bible's never opened,
truth is never discussed, but we know a lot about
what's on sale, what sport teams are doing different.
We have a good social time, and I think that
social interaction is great. It just doesn't
transform your life. The great majority, I don't
do counseling per se, and I was kind of joking,
but when I get done speaking at different places,
there's usually a line, a long line of people,
and they come up and tell me stuff. I don't know
why, but I'm thinking, I would never tell anybody
that. And they tell me all kind of really painful,
horrendous, difficult. marriages, homosexual
affairs, drugs, addicts, on and on and on and
on. And many very sincere believers who never
dreamed this could happen to them. And I, despite
what I told you about myself when I first meet
people, I ask God for great compassion and I
listen attentively and I ask questions and I
try to discover what's going on. But I have learned
over the years, I always ask one question. Would
you tell me? I mean, I know you've been a believer
so long. I know you never thought this could
happen to you and, you know, that someone like
you could never have an affair and you're a leader
in the church, et cetera, et cetera. Would you
tell me right now a little bit about your personal
time in God's word? And I can, I know, I almost
know the answer 100 % of the time. And I will
tell you, it goes like this. Well, I used to,
but, well, I go to church regularly. I didn't
ask you if you went to church regularly. Well,
I listen to Christian radio now and they're great,
God bless, you know, some of those guys are okay.
I ask you about your personal time in God's word
where God speaks to you and it's a heart relationship.
You gotta pass that on. The great majority of
Christians do not spend personal time in God's
word and therefore are powerless to break the
bonds of sin and are duped and seduced because
they're not armed with the truth. And we've got
to model that first. And then you've got to pass
that on. And it's got to be passed on not as
a club, you know. Okay, kids, get around the
table right now. It's breakfast time or supper
time. All right. Nathaniel, open Proverbs chapter
1. It's the first day of the month, isn't it?
Read it now. Ethel, shut up. Listen to your brother.
He's reading God's Word. I can tell you where
these kids are going to be at about 18. it will
not be in church. Or much to do with God. But
in winsome ways, early on, I remember my wife,
she has read to all of our kids. They became
readers. And I mean, she read all the Chronicles
of Nardi and then she read other things. And
she read to them even at times where they got
old enough it would have been embarrassing so
we didn't talk about it. You know, especially
the boys. And then I was much more concerned
little by little by little. I met with my kids
and kind of taught them how to spend some time
with God. And Teresa and I would just try and
share the love and what was happening, you know,
in our struggles and our journey, but with God.
So, and I wanted my kids far more to begin to
meet with God on their own than us have sort
of perfunctory family devotions. Although, you
know, we met and did that. And I talk to my kids
now. My one son is a pastor. I said, well, Ryan,
what was it that really clicked for you in terms
of how did God lead you that way? And I'm thinking,
maybe it's one of my great messages, I'm sure,
you know. But this is my kids. He said, well,
that is really pretty easy, you know. I don't
know how many times, you know, when you're a
little kid and you get up and go to the bathroom
and you think it's the middle of the night because
it's like five o 'clock and for you it's the
middle of the night and there's a light on and
mom's on her knees praying or she's sitting in
the chair with a cup of coffee reading God's
word. I just grew up watching you and mom. That's
what mattered. And when we drove in the car and
we were in the back seat and you guys were just,
you know, didn't sound spiritual, just sounded
like kind of what you were doing in life. That's
what they catch. And so you have to create when
they're little and then when they're older. I
will tell you, I didn't pay my kids to do the
chores, remember we talked about? I paid them
for extra stuff. I paid them to read books. You
say, that's bribing them. Absolutely. Did it
on purpose. I mean, when my kids got in high
school and now they're getting all these world
views, James Sires, Windows, okay? Tell you what,
I'll give you 10 bucks to read that and write
me a report on it. Here's a thicker one. I'll
give you 15 bucks to read that one and we'll
discuss it. I mean, hey, they wanted money. I
wanted truth to get in their mind. But you've
got to saturate their mind with truth. Encourage
that. These are the biblical principles to instill
in our families. It's a legacy that will last
forever. You're listening to Living on the Edge
with Bible teacher Chip Ingram. We'll hear a
closing comment from Chip in just a moment. This
practical five -part series concludes next week.
To hear any of Chip's messages from the study
or to order the companion resources to facilitate
personal study or perhaps a small group, give
us a call, 888 -333 -6003 is our number, or go
to livingontheedge .org. Look for Chip's helpful
series called Leaving a Legacy That Lasts Forever,
How to Give Your Kids and Grandkids What Money
Can't Buy. Chip, although we've been on radio
for 30 years, we're finding that young listeners
don't tune in this way. Instead, they're using
new platforms, and they're asking honest, vulnerable
questions. It's our role as parents and grandparents
to bolster their confidence in the credibility
of the Bible. Young adults today are asking questions
their parents never ask. How do I know Christianity
is true with so many other religions? You know,
why does the Bible seem to contradict science?
Or how can I trust a God who allows such suffering?
These aren't rebellious questions. They're honest
questions. And they deserve an honest answer,
a thoughtful answer. Living on the edge doesn't
shy away from the hard stuff. You might remember
our series, Caring Enough to Confront, where
we taught on abortion. Politics, the environment,
LGBTQ, porn, heterosexual sin. I mean, if they
don't hear God's perspective that is winsome
and loving and clear and truthful, how do we
expect them to follow him? We have to give answers.
with a spirit of kindness and love, but we have
to shoot it straight. And by and large, that
has not happened across America. This is where
God is called living on the edge to step in and
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tackle controversial issues in a way that's clear,
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to the heart of young people. When you give to
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How do we teach those we love how to make wise
decisions? Well, I'm Dave Drewy, urging you to
hear Chip Ingram's compelling answer Thursday
on Living on the Edge.