Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Have you ever messed up big time? I mean, the
kind of sin that years later you still cringe
when you think about it. If that's where you
are today, I want you to know you can begin again.
You can be restored. The joy that you once knew
can be yours. God wants to give it to you. Stay
with me and find out how. As Christians, our
strongest testimony to the world is rarely about
our success. It's often our recovery from failure.
Today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram elevates
this scandalous truth. You see, God's dream team
includes liars, adulterers, and betrayers. Yet
they became his most beloved servants. But here's
the challenge. How do we pass this liberating
truth to the next generation? If our kids have
ever felt disqualified by their past or trapped
by secret shame, God's grace will set them free.
And then later in the program, we'll explain
how you can take advantage of the December match,
empowering you to double the size and impact
of your donation to Living on the Edge. But right
now, let's resume our study about leaving a legacy
that lasts forever. Sometimes stories have a
tremendous power. I mean, people give us stories
in movies. If you're a child, sometimes a parent
will at nighttime read a story. And rather than
me tell you what a story says, I'd like to do
something a little different. I'd like to tell
an accurate historical story of a fellow who
is the most powerful man in the world. He had
very, very humble beginnings. He was of a tribe
that was sort of of the lower class and he was
the youngest and he went from being a shepherd
boy to being the most powerful king in the world.
He had everything any man's heart could ever
desire. He had wealth. He had fame. He was an
artist. He was a warrior. He had beautiful women.
Everything that God could ever give a person.
in terms of heart's desire. Probably more than
one beautiful woman is part of his downfall that
we'll talk about later. But I want to tell you
a story of how a very good man who was passionate
and loved God and who never planned to make a
mistake in a weak moment destroyed major portions
of his life. It says in 2 Samuel chapter 11,
it happened in the spring of the year at the
time when kings go out to battle. The David sent
Joab, the servant, and all of Israel, and they
destroyed the people of Ammon, and they besieged
Ravob. But David remained in Jerusalem. Every
other year, he went out to battle. A lot of success.
Things are going great. I probably don't need
to go this year. And then it happened. Notice
it's not planned. And then it happened one evening
that David arose from his bed. walked out on
the roof of the king's house and from the roof
he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very
beautiful to behold. And so David sent and he
inquired about the woman. And someone said, is
this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the
wife of Uriah the Hittite? And then David sent
messengers and he took her and she came to him
and he lay with her for she was cleansed from
her impurity and she returned to her house. And
the woman conceived. So she sent and told David
and said, I am with child. God's man in a weak
moment. Then David sent to Joab saying, send
me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to
David from the battlefield. And when Uriah had
come to him, David asked him how it was going
and how were the people doing and how's the war
prospered. And David said to Uriah, well, go
down to your house and wash your feet. And so
Uriah departed from the king's house and he got
a gift of food from the king that followed him.
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house
with all the servants of his Lord. And he did
not go down to his house. So when they told David
saying, Uriah didn't go down to his house, David
said to Uriah, did you not come home from a journey?
And why didn't you go down to your house? And
he confronts a man with great integrity and loyalty.
And Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and
Judah are dwelling in tents. And my Lord Joab
and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the
open fields. Shall I go down to my house and
eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live
and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.
The contrast. Commitment, loyalty, integrity.
What's fair? What's right? As I read this passage,
I notice the phrases. Then it happened. He saw.
He inquired. He sent. He lay. She conceived.
And then begins the cover -up. And Uriah said
to David, Can't do it. So David tries plan B.
In verse 12, he gets him drunk, sends him down,
even in a drunken stupor, his loyalty is intact.
And then cover -up plan B emerges in verse 14.
In the morning, it happened that David wrote
a letter to Joab, that was the head of his army,
and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. What irony.
And he wrote in the letter saying, Uriah, put
him in the forefront of the hottest battle and
retreat from him that he may be struck down and
die. And so it was that Joab besieged the city
and he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew
valiant men were. And the men of the city came
out and they fought. And some of the servants
of David fell and Uriah the Hittite died also.
Cover -up complete. Skip down to the very bottom,
verse 26. When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah
her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
And when her mourning was over, David sent and
brought her to his house, and she became his
wife and bore him a son. Commentary. But the
thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
A great portion of this book that I hold in my
hands is called the Psalms of the Psalter. It
was the hymnal of the Jewish people. And the
great majority of these words from God to believers
then and now were written by this man. He's a
man that's passionate for God, loved God, humble.
God exalted him. He was the deliverer of the
people from the Philistines and later in greater
and greater and greater battles. And the trajectory
of his entire life changes because one night
he can't sleep. He's not where he's supposed
to be. But it's not planned. It's not malicious.
He just can't sleep. And he's made to do something,
but he's not doing what he's called to do in
this window. And as he can't sleep and he walks
out and he looks over and he's a man like any
man on a business trip or away from home in a
different environment and something catches his
eye and there's something very normal and natural
about the magnetic attraction to a very, very
beautiful woman. And then he takes the next step.
He probably didn't plan on doing anything. He
inquired. I wonder who that is. I mean, not that
I do anything. I just wonder who it is. And then
he gets the feedback. And during that time, the
seeds begin to grow. And then he calls for her.
And still, maybe, you know. And then he lies
with her. And then there's consequences. And
then instead of owning his stuff and realizing
this is a grievous sin. I mean, by the way, you
know, we read this in our 21st century eyes.
The penalty for adultery was to be stoned. This
is serious. And so he. You know, kind of like
the many cover -ups we've seen in the last 20
years. So I'll cover it up. I'll just get the
husband to come home and he'll sleep with his
wife. He'll think the baby's his. But he chose
the wrong guy. The guy's got too much integrity.
And then in the way sin creeps in is that seed
of sin, it was just seeing, then inquiring. then
taking a step, then there's an action, there's
a consequence, then there's a cover up. And all
I want to do is get this under the, you know,
I just want to put this under the rug and it's
a mistake. God, I'm really, really sorry. I'll
never do anything like that again. And he'll
think it's his baby and it'll be over and it
doesn't work. And so he's, this is how sin works.
It's like a cancer that multiplies rapidly and
the cells multiply, multiply, multiply. And he
starts thinking things that he would never do.
And then pretty soon he comes up with a plan.
to kill her husband. And he actually allows other
people to go to the front where it's too dangerous
and this man dies and they play the game and
she mourns. He marries her and thinks, wow. And
then that famous, famous passage in the New Testament,
do not be deceived, your sin will find you out.
And I want to make a couple observations. I don't
know how you've heard this taught before, but
my first observation is he is a good man, a very
good man. Sometimes we hear about people who
make a big mistake and they commit adultery or
embezzlement or they do something really horrendous
that is so counter to everything we know about
them and we're so quick to say, well, everything
they ever taught was wrong and, you know, must
have had this super dark heart. You know, the
fact of the matter, David was a very, very good
man. in a weak moment. And according to scripture,
there's not a person in this room, given the
right circumstances, at a window of time, when
you are vulnerable, that you couldn't do the
same or worse. And by the way, until you come
to that conviction that that could actually happen,
you're even more vulnerable. Second, he's described
as a mighty warrior, a righteous king, and a
man after God's own heart. And by the way, that
is after this event. That's a New Testament quotation,
book of Acts. The spirit of God describing King
David, king, righteous warrior, man after God's
own heart. We get that after this event. Third,
the words murderer and adulterer are added to
the biography of this amazing godly man who is
used by God in ways beyond. anything probably
we can imagine. And here's the point I'd like
to make. We all make big mistakes sometime in
our life. Some of them get found out, some of
them don't, but we know them. The question is,
how do we recover? We've talked about a number
of things, and some of you, when we talked about
teaching them to suffer well or working to the
Lord, Some of you, when it's, you know, teaching
to make wise decisions, some of you have extremely
deep regrets of that picture of kind of water
that's gone over the falls and this feeling that
there's certain things I didn't do or there's
certain things I did do that I so deeply regret
when confronted with that truth. And the temptation
and the enemy's desire is to cover you with condemnation.
It's too late. You blew it. There is no hope.
And the transferable concept you want to teach
those you disciple, the transferable concept
we must pass on to our kids and to our grandkids
and to people that are in our local bodies of
fellowship is this. Teach them to live grace
-filled lives. I want to go over a theology of
grace. It's from the beginning to the end of
scripture. So I want to give you the high marks
very briefly and quickly and then explain maybe
grace that we really get our arms around. What's
it mean to receive grace? What is grace? Grace
is the unmerited and unconditional love of God
toward us. Underline the word unmerited, unconditional.
We don't understand either and you'll never get
it anywhere else from anyone else. At all, like
this. Unmerited means you can't earn it. Unconditional
means you have it when you're bad, you have it
when you're good, you have it when you're up,
you have it when you're down. Grace is the disposition
in the eternal God of wanting to give you what
you do not deserve on the basis of his character
alone, not on your performance or your activity.
Second, grace is free to us, but it's costly
to God. It's absolutely free. Completely removed
from our performance. But it's very costly to
God. Third, the cross is God's greatest act of
grace. We'll develop that. But the greatest act
of grace is the cross where he allowed his son,
fully God, fully man, to die in your place and
my place to pay for, to atone, to be the substitute.
for all the things that you have ever done. or
ever thought, or ever said that violated a holy
God. You are responsible for every one of those.
I'm responsible for every one of mine. And God
said, since you could never live up to that,
I will allow my son, who is absolutely perfect,
to hang between heaven and earth on a wooden
cross. And I will take my just wrath and my judgment
for sin, and I will pour it on my son, who is
an absolutely perfect sacrifice because he is
God, and he is able. to die because he is man.
And in this moment of time, I will cover or atone
for the sins of all men of all times. And whoever
would choose to, with the empty hands of faith,
ask for this gift of substitution and grace,
I will give it to them on the basis of them believing.
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten
son that whosoever would believe. might receive
eternal life. We'll hear more from Chip Ingram's
message in just a moment. First, we're inviting
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livingontheedge .org. From a series called Leaving
a Legacy That Lasts Forever. and our Bible teacher,
Chip Ingram. For salvation is a free gift from
God. It's not of works. Five, grace must be received
by faith. You might jot Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.
For by grace we are saved through faith. And
that's not of yourselves. The idea is not of
your religious or moral attempts of good works.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. And I would like if you would
just to stop for a second because... Something
that I think has, at least I grew up this way
and I've rarely talked without people going,
oh, and it's so deeply embedded in your psyche.
We kind of theologically get to the point where
we understand it. We invite Christ to come into
our life. His spirit enters us. We begin this
new life. But what's so deeply embedded in our
minds is a concept that goes something like this.
God has a big chalkboard in the sky and there's
a line down the middle. And on one side it says
good deeds, and there's a line, and on the other
side it says bad deeds. And for many of us, all
of our lives, implied or actually taught to us,
if your good deeds, you know, every good deed
you get a little mark, and every bad deed you
get a little mark. And the way I grew up thinking
was, you know, when you get to the end of the
game called life, if your bad deeds are more
than your good deeds, you go to the bad place.
And if your good deeds are better than your bad
deeds, you go to the good place. Nothing could
be farther from the truth. If you had 999 ,099
good deeds and one bad deed, you would violate
the holy, perfect perfection of God who can live
with absolutely no sin. If you put it in a scorecard,
it would be something like this. In order to
have a relationship with God the Father, you
need... your test score in every aspect of life
to be a perfect 100. You either have 100 or you
fail. Now maybe the Billy Grahams of the world,
although I'm sure he wouldn't say this, or the
Mother of the Teresa's or some famous missionaries,
maybe they get 92 or 94 and maybe axe murders
get like threes and fours and serial killers
are a minus five. And most of us see ourselves
as like maybe 75 or 80s. But unless you're 100,
you can't have a relationship with God. So being
a good guy, being moral, intellectually believing
in God is not what it means to be quote saved
or have a relationship or be prepared or allowed
to go into heaven. It's by grace you're saved
through faith. Grace, number six, produces gratitude
toward God and love toward others. When you experience
grace, it activates something. Philippians chapter
two says, for it is, it's the grace of God. It's
God who is at work in you, both to will and to
work for his good pleasure. Grace does something
where when you turn in the empty hands of faith
and ask Christ to come into your life, the spirit
of God enters your physical body. You are literally
taken out of the kingdom of darkness and into
the kingdom of light. You're placed into this
supernatural community called the body of Christ
or the church. You're deposited a spiritual gift
to fulfill your Ephesians 2 .10 purpose. Your
mind begins to be renewed. You are sealed with
the spirit so that no one can take you out of
his hands. You have a now power. The penalty
of sin has been broken. The power of sin has
been broken. The spirit of God lives in you to
manifest the presence and the power of the very
life of Christ. And the Christian life, far from
trying to be a good person, is about abiding
in Christ so that this new life can be lived
out through your personality as you depend and
walk by faith in him. And he transforms you from
grace to grace. It is Titus, you might jot this
down, Titus chapter two, 11 and 12. When people
think of grace, one of the fallacies is they
think the opposite of grace is effort. Nothing
could be farther from the truth. Ephesians 4
.2 says we are to make every effort. To become
the kind of followers Christ wants us to become.
It takes effort. It takes energy. Paul say, I
beat my body. I focus. I discipline myself. It
takes great effort to be a follower of Christ
to allow the grace of God to manifest itself
in every area of your thought, your speech, and
your relationships. The opposite of grace is
not effort. The opposite of grace is merit. Merit
has to do with earning something. Put it this
way, a better way. The opposite. of grace is
a performance mentality. The opposite of grace
is when I read my Bible and pray, God loves me.
When I don't read my Bible and pray, he doesn't
love me. The opposite of grace is when I give
financially off the top and when I'm doing good
and I don't have any moral slips, God really
loves me. And boy, I blew it. I watched something
last night or I had a bad thought or I lusted
after that or my money's a mess or now I'm in
debt. No, God doesn't love me anymore. And when
you think that way, then I can't really talk
to God right now. I can't be close to God right
now, but I'm going to get my finances in order
and I'm going to kind of try and work my way
back to being a good boy or a good girl and then
God will accept me again. And that's bad, bad
theology, but many of you and me think that way
and don't live by faith through grace, even though
we're saved that way. And we live this performance
orientation where we live with condemnation and
guilt and are not tapping into the power of God.
The theme of the book of Colossians is very simple.
However you get in relationship with God or saved
is exactly the same way you grow or are sanctified.
Does that make sense? You're saved by faith through
grace. The way you grow is by faith through grace.
So grace produces this gratitude toward God.
It produces a love and a lifestyle and a set
of good works. Verse 10, right? You're saved
not by works, but you are his workmanship. You
are created and there's this new power in life,
this grace that gives you a want to and a will
to have good works of love and kindness and concern
for other people. The Old Testament roots are
all the way in the early part of the Bible. Genesis
3, verse 21. After the sin of Adam and Eve, we
have who takes care, who covers, and he introduces
the concept of the shedding of blood for the
remission of sins. And it says, also for Adam
and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin
and he clothed them. It's a picture of what's
gonna come. Something had to die, blood had to
be spilled, and two people got covered. That's
a good picture of what happens in salvation.
The other passage there is Genesis 6, 8, and
we have this horrendous violence in the world.
Violence to the point, I mean, it was like back
in Noah's day, they had CSI. Do you realize how
obsessed we are with violence? You walk into,
and I don't recommend you do it long, walk into
one of those video stores and look at the top
15 games. And our kids practice killing things
and blowing up. people. The way we train our
troops, because it is so viscerally difficult
to ever get to the point to take a human life.
And there are times in war where that happens.
We train our troops with video games to desensitize
them to human life. So in the crisis of the moment,
they will be able to shoot and protect those
that they're with. I mean, just, I would challenge
you to get a little thing, put it next to your
TV, and every program that has to do with killing
or violence or why did they kill it or, I mean,
it is, it got so bad that God said he was sorry
that he made mankind. But in the midst of that,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Our biblical profiles are David, the adulterer
and the murderer, and Peter, the betrayer. Some
of us, you know, really put David in that boy.
Man, those are really, really terrible. I don't
know that you can do anything worse than what
Peter did. Anybody here been betrayed before?
Anybody here have a mate walk out on you and
sleep with someone else? Run off with someone
else? Anyone have a business partner that, man,
you were doing life together and, you know, $300
,000 you found out later that doesn't exist anymore
and he left town? Anybody start a business, do
a startup, and get a little slow on getting all
the IP and the patent agreements and have someone
steal all your stuff that you thought was your
friend? And anyone ever have a close friend that
you're in a Bible study with, a lady or a guy
in a men's group, only to find out that the most
intimate things you've ever shared, they've gone
and spread around to other people? I don't know
that I've ever been as angry or as hurt as when
I've been betrayed. Now let's put the shoe on
the other foot. Anybody here in a moment of weakness
ever betrayed anybody? Anybody ever talked about
people and you realize, ooh. And then it actually
came back around and you got caught. And I know
my first reaction has always been, oh, I didn't
say that. So I just added a lie to my other sin,
right? I'm trying to help you get emotionally
to where you understand. If you don't go with
me. to where you have done these things. And
some it's pretty quick and some it's hard. You'll
never grasp grace because David was probably
used by God as much or more than anyone in the
Old Testament, even after his sin. And Peter
became the core foundation person for this thing
called the church after he betrayed Christ. And
what the big theme about grace is, Failure is
never, ever final. He's the God of the second
chance, the seventh chance, the seven times 70th
chance. He, out of his grace, extends mercy.
That means he withholds the just judgment penalty
that we deserve. And he is willing and open wherever
you're at, whatever you've done, to forgive and
to cleanse, to restore, to renew. The New Testament
command is in John chapter three, and we so often
quote or put, you know, at the end of the end
zone, verse 16, you know, for God so loved the
world, he gave his only begotten son that whoever
believes in him shouldn't perish, but have everlasting
life. But I love verse 17. For God did not send
his son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
He who believes in him is not condemned. But
he who doesn't believe is condemned already because
he doesn't believe in the name of the only begotten
son of God. People who reject God will be apart
from him forever, not because they have not been
forgiven, but because they will refuse the gift
of the forgiveness that's been purchased for
them. It's stiff -arming God. Jesus' message
was not everyone's all messed up, get with the
program. His message was I didn't come to condemn
you. I came to help you own and come to grips
with the failure and the sin and the using of
people and the abuse and the lying and the deceit
to let you know I will forgive you and cover
you and I want you to know you can have a relationship
with my Father. He loves you. And I'm gonna pay
the highest price that could ever be paid. And
I'm gonna be separated in this moment of historic
time from the Father. The triunity of God for
the first time ever, he would bear the sins of
the world and the Father would turn his head
because he can't look upon sin. And Christ would
bear your sin and my sin in that moment of time,
in that price tag, to cover or atone for your
sin. And that is grace. That's what grace is.
And when we tell God, I know you've forgiven
me but I can't forgive myself, that is an insult.
That is an insult and it is arrogant. Well intended
though it may be, it is arrogant. I had an abortion
and I can't ever forgive myself. I've been through
a divorce, I can't forgive myself. I lied to
so and so, I can't forgive myself. I did this
when I was young and no one knows about it, I
can't forgive myself. God has forgiven you and
he has atoned for it for you to not receive it.
is to tell God that what he has done for you
doesn't measure up to your standard. Whoa, I
didn't realize your standard was higher and better
than his. Wasn't it pride that kept Peter from
saying, Lord, not my feet. And it wasn't the
call to humility where Jesus would say, Peter,
if I don't wash your feet, you don't have any
part in me. Well, then Lord, wash all of me.
Well, what was he saying? It takes huge humility
to admit I have need and allow another to wash
our feet, to cleanse us, to meet our need, to
say that there's dirt here. And it takes great
humility to allow God to do that. The number
one reason people miss heaven is at the core
of it, they are unwilling to humble themselves,
admit their need, and realize I can't do this
on my own. Love the passage in 1 Peter where
he takes it not only from what's done in the
past, but he begins to help us focus toward the
future and orientation. And in verse 13 he says,
therefore prepare your minds for action. Be self
-control. Then I love this, set your hope. Set
your hope fully on the grace to be given you
when Jesus Christ is revealed. You set your hope
on grace. Not if I do this and if I do that,
if I try really hard and if I do this and if
I do that, I set my hope on God's grace. I love
a quote by Tozer in I think his most classic
book, The Knowledge of the Holy. And just listen
to this theological perspective. He says, no
one has ever been saved other than by grace,
from able to the present moment. Since mankind
was banished from the eastward garden none has
ever returned to the divine favor except through
the sheer goodness of God. And wherever grace
is found In any man, it's always been by Jesus
Christ. Grace indeed came by Jesus Christ, but
it did not wait until his birth in the manger
or his death on the cross before it became operative.
Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. The first man in human history
to be reinstated in fellowship with God came
through faith in Christ. In olden times, men
look forward to Christ's redeeming work. In latter
times, they gaze back upon it, but always they
come. And they come by grace through faith. Let
me ask you, how do we pass this radical, radical
concept on in a performance -oriented world to
those we care about most? I think the first step
is for you to write in your name. In my notes,
it says, I, Chip Ingram, choose to believe that
with God, my failure is never final. I choose
to believe. That's not an emotion. I choose to
believe that with God, my failure as a parent
is never final. My failure as a pastor is never
final. My failure as a friend is never final.
My failure morally is never final. My failure
with regard to neglect in the past is never final.
It's powerful. It's grace. Now let's talk about
how do you experience that? Let me give you three
specific ways. First, encourage them, whether
it's a fellow you're discipling, a young woman,
one of your grandkids, encourage them to meditate
on the lives of David and Peter, murderer, adulterer,
and betrayer, who are among God's most beloved
and mightily used servants. Did you ever wonder,
I mean, I mean, some people wonder, is this really
God's word? Can you really trust it? Did God
really write this? And, you know, the many authors
over 1600 years and all the alignment and all
the archaeology and all those are great reasons.
But I got news for you. No man would ever write
such a self -revealing book and allow the heroes
of the story to be so messed up. You don't have
that in any mythology. I mean, think of this.
The deliverer of Egypt, the one who brings us
the 10 commands. Oh yeah, murderer. I kind of
messed up that day. David, the greatest king,
the writer of the Psalms. Oh, adultery, murderer.
Oh boy. The apostle Paul, greatest mind of a
century, wrote 13 books in the New Testament.
Murderer. Why? Rahab, prostitute. James, John.
Anger management issues. The other Judas, he
was a terrorist. I mean, we read it in the Bible
like, you know, he was a terrorist. He was trying
to overthrow the government, get a band of people
to take it over physically and kill people and
take over Rome. He was a terrorist. Matthew,
crook. He was an embezzler. He was a dirty little
crook. Wiping people for their money. This is
God's dream team. And we have the audacity to
say, well, God could never forgive me. I don't
think he could ever use me. Are you kidding?
I remember I had not read the Bible growing up
at all. And I remember, you know, probably after
a year or so and dealing with all the stuff that,
you know, I had to deal with and just sort of
a naive thought. I thought, you know, I've not
killed anybody. I think God could use me. Because
so far, the people that are used the most, they've
all at least killed someone, I'm thinking. And
how much worse could it be than that? And you
know, with your kids, they're going to fail.
Now, does it mean that there's not consequences
for sin? Absolutely not. Does it mean you don't
discipline? Absolutely not. But I will tell you
what, we can pass on, oh, Jesus died for you.
He loves you. He rose from the dead. You need
to put your faith in him because I want to feel
really good about us being in heaven and all
that stuff. And then raise them and your disciples
in a way that basically your love is conditional.
You know, they get good marks on the one side
of the board and bad marks on the other side.
And when they do good, you're affectionate and
caring. And when they don't, you back away. And
part of that is we got to tell stories. We got
to tell the stories of Peter more than walking
on the water. and saying you are the Christ and
talk about what goes in a human heart to betray
the person who loves you the most. What happens
in people who really, really are good people
and love God that they start getting deceived
and then they lie and then they commit sexual
acts and then they cover it up and then they
commit murder and then they go into denial and
then they lie about it and the web that occurs.
And how did God treat people who blew it that
badly? He caused some loving consequences and
he restored and loved and used them. This is
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip is
presenting a practical teaching series called
Leaving a Legacy that Lasts Forever. And it's
a five -part study that concludes on Monday's
program. Don't rush away because Chip has prepared
closing comments for you coming up in just a
moment. But first, if today's message inspired
you to learn more about guiding your children
and grandchildren, I'll suggest that you order
a copy of Chip's practical study guide for families.
It's called Effective Parenting in a Defective
World. And you'll find all the details at livingontheedge
.org. You can also call 888 -333 -6003. Parenting
is not for the faint of heart. In these days,
grandparents often find themselves in roles they
never expected as a guiding light for their grandkids.
Thanks so much, Dave. You know, I hear from grandparents
all the time that are actually heartbroken. Their
grandkids grew up in the church or maybe even
Christian school. They're now in college or they've
graduated, starting their careers, and their
face seems literally fading from the picture.
Or I hear grandparents all the time who say,
I don't get it. They grew up in church, but now
they're living with their boyfriend or girlfriend,
or they've changed their sexual identity. And
I feel hopeless. I'm praying, but I don't know
what to do. I don't know how to have a spiritual
conversation. And then they meet us at Living
on the Edge. And at Living on the Edge, we've
become the bridge. Grandparents are listening.
And we've been teaching them how to engage around
today's questions with biblical answers and finding
ways to really connect, to build a bridge to
their grandkids, to talk their language, and
to really listen. When you support this match,
you're equipping the older generation to pass
the baton of faith to the younger. And honestly,
that's how the church survives. Your gift today,
are you ready? It secures tomorrow's impact.
Because of this match, whatever you give is instantly
doubled, but only during this campaign window.
Will you make the most strategic gift ever? Our
best days aren't behind us. They're ahead, and
you're a part of that story. Living on the Edge
is uniquely postured to help parents, grandparents,
and their families, not only in North America,
but around the world as well. All that's standing
in the way to succeed in this mission are the
resources to do so. Perhaps you've been hearing
that we're celebrating 30 years of God's faithfulness
to Living on the Edge. Remember the first time
you heard Chip's Bible teaching? Well, that moment
was sponsored by someone you'll likely never
meet. It was made possible by someone just like
yourself who has given generously to support
the ministry of Living on the Edge. Maybe today's
the day you'll decide to do for some unsuspecting
listener what a generous stranger did for you.
All that to say, as you feel God nudging you
to respond, please follow his leading. Whatever
amount he places on your heart will be multiplied
by two because of the match. To give right now,
go to livingontheedge .org or call us at 888
-333 -6003. To send a check in the mail, write
to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
Georgia, 30024. Because of the match, your gift
of $100 will become $200. A generous gift of
$250 becomes $500, double the amount, twice the
impact, until we reach the goal. And the deadline
for receiving your match gift is midnight, December
31st. Again, write P .O. Box 3007. Atlanta, Georgia,
30024. You can also call 888 -333 -6003 or visit
livingontheedge .org. Well, I'm Dave Drewy, inviting
you to hear the final message in Chip Ingram's
study about leaving a legacy that lasts forever,
Monday on Living on the Edge.