Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Why is it that some people seem to prosper and
others don't? You know, those people that just
seem God's favor in his hand upon them and their
children and their business and their work. And
even when they go through really difficult times,
they have this almost weird contentment. What's
the common denominator of these people who God
prospers? You want to find out? Stick around.
Imagine you're dying of thirst in the desert.
You find a pump and a note instructing you to
pour out your only jar of water to make it work.
Sounds crazy, right? Yet this is exactly what
God asks of us. Today on Living on the Edge,
Chip Ingram reveals why the most counterintuitive
financial decision you'll ever make is also the
smartest. Let's be clear. God doesn't prosper
us so we can upgrade our lifestyle. He blesses
us so we can upgrade our impact. And as we near
the conclusion of our series about the genius
of generosity, I'm pleased to report that Living
on the Edge has received an outpouring of donations
toward the December match in which your donation
is multiplied by two. And before the deadline
tomorrow, you too can double your gift by going
to livingontheedge .org. But right now, let's
continue Chip's message called God Prosperous
Generous People. I have a little jar here. And
I'd like you to think about this jar as your
life. And all the water inside this jar is all
the time, all the energy, all the talent, all
the money, all the opportunity, your 401K, your
car, your house. It's all that you have. And
we have this ridiculous command of God that says,
give. Pour it out. Trust me. Don't be afraid.
Don't be so tight with your time. Don't be tight
and guarded with your money. Trust me with your
life, and as you give it away, you will never
reflect my son more than as you're generous.
And then all the promises of Scripture are how
smart that is. I want to give you four airtight
facts. about generosity that are absolutely true
that will help you and help me begin to take
the kind of steps that will allow us by faith
to say it's smart, it's wise to pour out our
lives. In fact, Jesus is called, he poured out
his life as a drink offering. Paul would use
the same phrase when he talked about his life
and his love for the Philippian church. So are
you ready? Four facts that I think will give
us faith. Fact number one, God, blesses generous
people. Fact number two is that God provides
clear criteria for becoming or knowing that you're
a generous person. Characteristic number one,
genuine generosity gives the first and the best
to God. Second, genuine generosity is systematic
and regular. Third criteria, genuine generosity
is proportional to our income. Fourth characteristic
of generous people, His genuine generosity is
sacrificial. But only right now, about 2 .8 to
3 % of all the people who claim to be born again
in America are willing to say, I believe you
to the point that I would pour out the first
portion of even my income, let alone my time,
and trust that your supernatural supply will
meet all my needs. And the theory goes, well,
someday when I get enough or someday when things
turn around or when I can get this or get that,
that's not how it works. Out of their deep poverty
and severe trial. That's sacrificial. That's
generosity. The final characteristic of generosity
is not simply the first and the best and not
just systematically or proportional or sacrificial,
but genuine generosity is thoughtful, voluntary,
and worshipful. Genuine generosity isn't just,
you know, hearing a series or having a, I call
it a God moment. And I've had them and I want
to have more. But where you're just compelled
and you give and it sort of does this emotional
thing, you go, wow. See, genuine generosity isn't
just thinking with your heart, it's with your
mind. And it's an act of worship. Notice what
Paul writes later in this same discussion with
this church. He says, I thought it was necessary
to urge you brothers to visit you in advance
and finish the arrangements for the generous
gift that you'd promised. So they said, we want
to help those Jews that are really going through
it and there's a famine. And hey, Paul, last
visit, we're going to help them. And Paul says,
hey, I'm coming to collect the gift. And so he
says, then I'm going to come early and I just
want to warn you and kind of give you a little
heads up so it'll be ready as a generous gift
and not grudgingly. Because Paul knows human
nature. I mean, I don't know about you, but I've
made commitments and I prayed about it and God
showed me. And I made it at a right moment when
I was really in fellowship with God. And then
it came around time to give the gift. And I'm
going, oh, you know, maybe I didn't really hear
God. Maybe we could, right? Don't you all do
this stuff? And so Paul knows that's what's happening.
So he says, hey, let me just, I want it to be
right from the heart. So little heads up, I'll
be there, who knows, a couple weeks. And then
he gives them this thoughtful suggestion. He
says, remember this, as you're sort of weighing
in the balance about being faithful to what you
said. Whoever sows sparingly reaps also sparingly.
And whoever sows generously will reap also generously.
And so it's an agricultural world. He just brings
them back like farmers. He goes, look, you know,
if you put five seeds in the ground, you're going
to have five stalks come up. You put 5 ,000 seeds
in the ground, you have 5 ,000 stalks. And on
each stalk, there'd be hundreds, if not thousands
of other seeds. So if you sow a little, a little
comes back. If you sow a lot. So he's getting,
it's thoughtful. But notice then it's voluntary
and worshipful. He goes, each man should give
what he has decided in his heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves
a cheerful or literally a hilarious giver. It's
thoughtful. It's based on the law of harvest.
It's voluntary. It's not compulsive or manipulative,
and it's worshipful. It brings joy to God's heart.
I don't know if you've ever been to a fundraising
event by a really good Christian organization
before, but if not, I hope you go to one someday.
A number of years ago, I was invited to one,
and the presentations often go like this, and
I've actually given these, so there's no criticism
whatsoever. I thought it was really great. They
showed a film of the great work. I believed in
the work. That's why I went. I had supported
him financially in the past. I think the head
of the organization gave a short but powerful
speech about the impact of the organization.
And I was sitting there just thinking about,
you know, how much stretch, how much risk, how
much could I give? And then a guy came up who
was sort of the emcee, and he was a little slicker
than I liked. You ever been in one of those meetings
where, you know, someone's just a little too,
I don't know what you call it, but just slick?
And so then he came back up and he said, and
now it's that time where we all get to be a part
of. You know, that sort of smiley thing that
makes me a little crazy. He goes, will you please
take the envelopes from the middle and get them
around the table? Like this, you know. And, you
know, now, I don't want anyone to do anything,
but please pull out a pen. Will you, before we
even make any decision, write and fill out your
name. And, you know, and I'm watching everyone
look around like, you know, I'm not, you know,
I want to give, but I'm not so sure about this
deal. No, please, please. And, you know, he created
an atmosphere of peer pressure where you felt
like a dummy if you didn't do what he said. And
he was very good at it. And so we fill it out.
Now, notice there's box number two, box number
three, box number four. Can you give the biggest?
And all of a sudden, a little light went on.
And I like this organization, and I'd given to
them before. And I was sitting there, and I just
realized this guy was trying to manipulate. And
whatever I was going to give, I was going to
give out of compulsion. And I felt guilty about
it. And I looked at everybody else. And I don't
know if it was a Holy Spirit sort of combined
with a little bit of boldness. And I just got
up and excused myself. And I took my envelope,
and I had it in my, it was one of those where
you dress up, so I actually do have a suit. I
wore the suit that time. And I put it in my coat
jacket, and I went into the men's restroom, washed
my hands, pulled out the envelope, tore it in
half, dropped it in the trash, and left. And
I suggest to you that whenever or wherever you
feel like people are trying to manipulate or
there's compulsion or there's agenda to try to
get your money to get you to give to something,
that you might follow that example. Generosity
is a matter from the heart. It's an act of worship.
Money needs to be raised for the kingdom of God,
but it needs to be raised in a way where the
vision is cast, the needs are made known as God
leads, and people's heart alignment with the
integrity of what's going on, and he moves people
by the power of the Holy Spirit, and it is an
act of worship. When God sees people who give
the first and the best, that's regular, systematic,
proportional, sacrificial, and thoughtful, voluntary,
and it's an act of worship. From heaven he says,
this child of mine is generous. And every promise
that we read applies to that person. Fact number
one, God blesses generous people. Fact number
two, God gives us clear criteria to know whether
you're generous or not. Fact number three is
our breakthrough concept. Generosity, breakthrough
concept number three is God prospers me not to
raise my standard of living, but to raise my
standard of giving. I got that from Randy Alcorn.
It's in a little book called The Treasure Principle.
You'll see the notes on the bottom. That's a
great line. God prospers me to raise my standard
of giving, not just my standard of living. When
I was in seminary, I had this kind of unusual
job because I had very few hours and I had to
figure out in very few hours how to support my
family. So I took a number of tests and got a
license to sell a couple things and also some
investments. And so I went in all over and I,
I had about three or four hours a night, and
I could do this three or four nights a week and
make $1 ,000 a month, and that's what I needed
to live on. And so I sold to people that had
low incomes. And then I remember going out to
North Dallas, very exclusive area, and middle
incomes and then very high incomes. And I remember
sitting across the kitchen table from a man.
And, you know, he had the picture of the very
latest Porsche. And he was telling me, now that's
my, you know, that's what I'm going to get. And
it was a huge, beautiful house. And I laid out
the presentation. It was pretty much a no -brainer.
I could take this money and put it over here.
We could invest the difference over here. And
he looked at me and goes, that is really great.
I'd love to do it. I just can't afford it. And
now help me because I grew up kind of naive.
I grew up thinking that if you had like really
nice cars and a really nice house and a really
nice job, you had money. And here's what I learned
in that three years that I did that job. People
who made this little window of money spent just
a little bit more than that window. And then
people who made this amount of money. like three
times that, they spent just a little bit more
than that window. And then I met with people
that had made this kind of money, and you know
what they did? They found out they needed other
things, and the toys got more expensive, and
the trips got more expensive, and the extra this
and that. They spent more. He couldn't afford
it. We'll hear more from Chip Ingram's message
in just a moment. First, we invite you to multiply
your year in support of Living on the Edge through
an exciting match that's active through December
31st. Every gift is matched. Every dollar multiplied
by two. Every investment maximized for kingdom
impact. Double the impact of your gift at livingontheedge
.org. From a series called The Genius of Generosity,
again, our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram. See, the
unconscious assumption that we operate on is
when we are prospered by God and he gives us
more, we just think it means a bigger, nicer,
better. He gives us more. Well, that means bigger,
nicer, better. Now, you should enjoy the bigger,
nicer, better when that's God's will. But listen
to what the Apostle Paul says. He says, God is
able, 2 Corinthians 9, verses 8 and 9, he continues
the story. God is able to make all grace abound
to you. Why? So that in all things, at all times,
having all you need, you can abound in every
good work. In other words, God wants to bless,
bless, bless. In other words, there's a pump.
There's a pump, there's a pump, there's a pump.
As you take these steps and pour it out, all
grace at all times to abound in every good work.
This isn't financial. This is your whole life.
And then notice what he says. As it's written,
he scattered abroad his gifts to the poor. His
righteousness endures forever. Now he, speaking
of God, who gives seed to the sower. And bread
for food will also supply and increase your store
of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your
righteousness. And so he's got this agricultural
picture. God provides the seed, the original,
great, okay. He provides that some of the seed,
what happens after the harvest is you eat it,
turn it into food and bread, and then he gives
you extra abundance, more than you need, so that
you can reinvest it in the next year's harvest.
He says, that's the picture I want you to understand.
When God gives you more than you need, he gives
you more than you need. So if there's people
that have needs over here, God's purposes over
here, he could flow it through you to help them.
Then notice what he says. You will be made rich.
And then underline the next line, will you? In
every way. Not your finances. It may be finances,
but you'll be made rich when you operate this
way. First, regular, voluntary, loving, kind,
from the heart. He says you'll be made rich in
every way. Then put a little box around so that.
God increases or prospers your life to make you
rich in every way so that and read it. What's
it say? So you can be what? Win. So you can be
generous on every occasion. then look at the
spiritual result. Look what happens here. And
through your generosity will result in thanksgiving
to God. Do you see the circle? You take this
step of faith and you say, oh God, you know what?
It's a little hard financially right now. I don't
have very much time right now. Boy, my talent
and treasure, I need to just invest. By faith.
Okay, these instructions, if they're true, it's
great. If they're not, I'm in trouble. By faith,
Lord, here's my first, my best, my regular, my
systematic, from the heart, loving people. God
has not prospered you to raise your standard
of living, but to raise your standard of giving.
Fact number four is the key to becoming habitually
generous and experience habitual happiness. Are
you ready for this? F -A -I. T -H. It's faith,
right? See, at the end of the day, either all
those verses we read in fact number one are true
or false. Your behavior and my behavior along
the criteria is just a very simple test where
you can now know whether you're generous or not.
If you can answer yes to those five things, you're
generous. And as you do that, God will meet your
needs. If you say no, I want you to know that
God is far more interested in your soul than
any of your finances or your time. And one of
the loving things God does to get our attention
and why Jesus talks so much about finances was...
He can really get us praying and thinking and
reevaluating relationships and time and priorities
and who's the Lord of your life when you're under
financial pressure, right? And so at some point
in time, you declare and you say, Lord, I believe.
Help me in my unbelief. Lord, I'm afraid to step
out and trust you. My life's so busy to give
time, to serve, to love. It just is so counterintuitive.
But I'm gonna do it. And then you start to experience
supernatural things. Faith says, refuse to chase
the wind. And this is why a lot of us don't take
the step of faith. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes
2 .11, yet when I surveyed all my hands had done
and what I toiled to achieve. Everything was
meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Nothing
was gained under the sun. This is a man that
had the palaces, the women, the money, anything
his heart desired. And what he says is, if accumulation,
if prestige, if power, if stuff, if things could
bring me security and significance and happiness
and meaning and purpose, I've done it all. But
the people that have the most stuff, The people
that have achieved the highest peaks often find
themselves empty and lonely and discouraged and
a lot like Scrooge. Because at the end of the
day, it's your relationship with God and your
relationship with people that matter. And so
I would say, refuse to chase the wind. Refuse
to live out of control lives. Refuse to work
70 and 80 hours. Just refuse it. What really
matters? And what happens is when you make some
decisions about your finances, pretty soon you've
got to budget your money and budget your time
and make some hard decisions. And you'll see
God provide. Second, on the balancing side is
faith says enjoy God's provision. I think when
people start talking about generosity and the
word stewardship, you start thinking, well, okay,
I'm never going to have anything nice. And I'm
never going to get to enjoy life. And I'll never
go on a good vacation. And anything nice you
have, oh, you know, gosh, I should tell people
that I got this Lexus on sale. And, you know,
that swimming pool, it was just for baptisms.
We really didn't want a swimming pool, you know.
And, you know, that trip, you know, when we went
down, you know, to Mexico and great and took
everyone with us. And it was so fun. It was really
great. Well, it was really a missionary trip
in the Hyatt. There's a lot of up and outers
that we. really want to reach. You know what
the Bible says? Instruct or command those. 1
Timothy 6, 17 to 19. Instruct or command those
that are rich in this present world not to be
conceited or fix their hope on the uncertainty
of riches, but to fix their hope on God. And
underline in your Bible somewhere the next line.
Who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
If your priorities are right and you're a generous
person, you just drive that Lexus and have fun,
okay? If you love a pool and your priorities
are right and he gives you a pool, you know what?
Get in it. Invite your friends. Have some fun.
If you can go on a nice vacation, enjoy it. But
if those things are in your life and those five
things aren't, then the person you're worshiping
is you, not God. And who you're trusting to bring
significance and fulfillment and joy and satisfaction
is a lot of little idols instead of the king
of the universe. And you'll come up empty. And
that's why he says instruct them or command them.
Don't put your stuff there. Don't chase the wind.
But as I give it to you, enjoy it. You just might
find when God finds people he can pass things
through, he often blesses them greatly. And the
closer you get to them, what they'll tell you
is money is the smallest of the blessings. What's
a rich marriage worth? What's a great relationship
with your kids worth? What's a friendship that's
heart -to -heart worth? Faith says God rewards
those who step out and trust him. You want to
please God, being religious, keeping the rules,
even giving, quote, money or time that is sort
of all in the safe zone? Here's what God says,
Hebrews 11, 6. Without faith, it's not hard,
it's impossible to please God. Think of that.
Because see, the highest compliment you ever
give to God is this. Lord, this is very limited.
This is me. But I believe that as I would give
and trust my limited, you, my Father, have unlimited.
I believe it to the point of here's the best
of my time. Here's the best of my money. Here's
the best of my talent. Here's the concern for
this person that doesn't have room in my schedule,
but I'm giving it to them, and I believe that
whatever I need, you'll take care of me. When
God sees that, notice what the end of the verse
says. It's impossible to please God. For those
who come to God must do two things, believe he
exists, and he's a rewarder. of those who diligently
seek him. God wants to bless. He's a blesser.
He's generous. He wants. Here's what he says.
Be smart. You can either live outside of the
resources in that little jar or you can trust
me and you can tap into the unlimited resources
I have for your good and my glory. This is what
Chip Ingram calls the genius of generosity. When
we trust God with our possessions, we tap into
the unlimited resources He set aside for our
good and His glory. At Living on the Edge, we're
trusting God to provide for our needs in 2026,
and we believe He'll answer our prayers through
generous friends like you. For 30 years, Living
on the Edge has built this ministry on the solid
foundation of God's promises, and He's never
failed us. Chip? One of the most famous stories
that Jesus told, it was a story about two builders.
One built on the sand, the other on the rock.
When the storms came, only one home survived.
Here's my question. What are you building your
life on? Good intentions? Positive thinking?
Cultural values that shift with every generation?
Or are you building on the solid rock? of God's
Word. Gratefully, Living on the Edge has amassed
an audience of men and women like you that truly
want to build their house, their life, their
relationships on the solid rock of God's Word.
Living on the Edge exists to help Christians
live like Christians, and that means they build
their lives in a way that lasts. Lives constructed
on biblical truth that won't collapse when the
storms come. And believe me, the storms will
come. And so we provide teaching, resources,
and tools for believers to construct an unshakable
life. When you give to this match, you're helping
people build something that will survive in this
life and echo into eternity. You're investing
in what truly matters. Let's do this together.
Thank you, Chip. Several friends of Living on
the Edge have banded together with this incredible
match opportunity in order to inspire people
like you to give as well. And when you do, your
contribution will be doubled in size, and it'll
have twice the impact because of the match. The
deadline for receiving your support is midnight
tomorrow, December 31st. To give right now, go
to livingontheedge .org or send a check in the
mail to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
Georgia, 30024. Or visit livingontheedge .org.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how generous are you?
I'm Dave Drewy. Join us when Chip Ingram describes
the genius of generosity tomorrow on Living on
the Edge.