This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought
to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast,
you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from
beginning to end. Well, here's Chip Ingram with
his message on how to overcome personal stagnation.
Does your life honestly feel more like an adventure?
Does your life feel more like a rut? See, life
is dynamic. Life is dynamic. It is not static.
You are either growing or dying. It's true physically.
It's true intellectually. It's true relationally.
It's true spiritually. All living things are
either growing and increasing toward maturity
or they are deteriorating toward decay and death.
There is no middle ground. The myth in life is
that we think there is. When we think the status
quo is where we are, We are just sliding backwards
without knowing it. See, growth is exciting.
Do you remember when your kids, those of us that
are married, do you remember when your kids start
growing and they're like, Dad, will you measure
me? Will you measure me? Right? They don't come
and say, oh gosh, Dad, I grew another three inches.
When you grow intellectually, and for some of
us, when you get on that computer and you actually
punch the writing buttons and something comes
up, what happens? Wow, this is neat. When you're
involved in a relationship and you sense it growing
and intimacy coming and you work through issues,
what happens? You're excited. When you begin
to come into a relationship with Christ like
20 to 25 people did last weekend alone, and when
they learn who he is and what's going on, they
get excited. We need to remember, though, that
growth only comes from God. We can get in the
right environment and we can apply ourselves,
but growth, especially... Spiritual growth, it's
supernatural. You can't make it happen. You can
just position yourself where God can do it. It's
not automatic. My experience is it is very difficult.
It doesn't just happen. There are no magic pills.
And the other thing I've realized is that growth
can be stymied, thwarted, stagnated, and retarded.
You know, you can take a plant out of the sunshine
and put it in a closet. What happens? You can
take an arm that is growing well and have it
injured and put it in a cast. What happens? Atrophy.
Some common reasons that I've found that growth
is stymied is sometimes we just don't get motivated.
Other times there's that initial inertia we can't
get through it. For others, there's no sense
of progress. We get discouraged. Sometimes there's
just no inspiration. It just seems like... For
others, we get stuck and we need guidance. For
others, there's a time of change and we don't
know how to get through that period of change.
I don't know what it is, but this is what I know.
I know that everyone in this room finds their
self at some point in time, in some area, morally,
spiritually, relationally, intellectually, or
emotionally, where you get stuck, where you get
stagnated. And when you do, And when I do, then
that area of your life begins to shrink. But
God wants you to grow. So here's my question.
How are you growing today? How are you growing?
How are you growing in your relationship with
God? How are you growing in your relationship
with people? How are you growing in your family
life? And here's the question. Would you like
to learn how to break through those barriers
of personal stagnation, especially in your relationship
with God and people? I want to give you seven
principles from Scripture. There may be 20. There
may be 100. But as I've examined Scripture and
lived life and watched people who grow, it's
obvious that people who grow have at least these
seven things in common. People who grow, number
one, live daily with the end in view. People
who are really growing are motivated. In fact,
this principle is the key to motivation. One
of the great problems with believers is some
believers think that their goal in life is to
get to heaven. People, that's not your goal in
life. That's your destination. Your goal in life
is to become like Christ. Romans 8, 28 says that
God takes every situation, every relationship,
every hardship, every single thing that comes
into your life, and he works it together for
good to those who are called, to those that he
loves. Why? Verse 29, not nearly as often quoted.
Because he is preordained to conform you, to
conform me to the image of his son. God's game
plan is to make you like Jesus. That's the goal.
In fact, notice Jesus' words on the Sermon on
the Mount, Matthew 5, 48. Be perfect, therefore,
as your heavenly Father is perfect. You might
circle that word perfect. Other translations,
it says mature. It means... Fully grown. It means
ripe. The Greek word is teleos. And I only tell
you that because you get the idea of a telescope
or those in philosophy who are familiar with
the teleological argument. It's the idea of something
arriving and coming to its full development.
God is saying, Jesus is saying, be ye perfect.
Come and become all that God designed you to
become. The Apostle Paul will say, that's in
fact why the church is designed. Ephesians 4
.13, he's going to say that these relationships
in the body are all designed in order to help
you and to help me become full grown or mature.
Look at it with me. It says, until we all reach
unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the
Son of God and become, here's our word again,
same word, mature, circle that, attaining to
the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
It's God's goal. And when you lived with the
end in view, That's who you want to become. The
question in life when you get up every morning
is not, what am I going to do today? The question
in life every day when you get up is, who am
I going to become more like today? When you put
that out there, that target on the wall, when
you live with that end in view, you know what
will happen? You'll be motivated. I'm extremely
motivated because do you ever reach it? No, the
Apostle Paul says what? I attain, I strive, not
that I'm already there. You'll spend the rest
of your life until Jesus comes back or you go
meet him. Going after the prize of becoming more
like Christ. Second characteristic of people
who grow is they make a personal commitment to
grow. This is the key to overcoming inertia.
A lot of us don't grow because we feel stuck.
Newton was right. I think most spiritually. And
in the laws of physics, a body at rest tends
to stay at rest until there's an action upon
it. And often what we need in growth is not some
big thing. We just need to get moving. But how
do you break that inertia? I believe the scripture
teaches and that as I observe people, they make
a personal commitment to grow. Notice that Jesus
called for that in Luke 9, 23. He didn't just
teach. He called for specific. commitment to
grow, to follow him. Verse 23 of Luke 9, Then
he, Jesus, said to them all, If anyone would
come after me, he must deny himself, take up
his cross daily, and follow me. Do you hear that?
That means you sign up, I want to grow. Jesus,
I want to follow you. Take up your cross means
you die to your agenda, your goals, what you
think is best, and you say, I'm signing up and
I want to be on your game plan. Notice the reason
being. It's because he loves you, not because
he wants to keep something good from you. For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for me will save it.
Notice his rationale. What good is it for man
to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit
his very self? See, what God knows is this. Is
that you're being bombarded day in and day out
in a fallen world and we all grow up with this
baggage and these agendas. And we think if we
could make a list of these 25 things that would
work out in my life, then we'd be happy. Seeking
our life. I want to be this. I want to be that.
I want to be this. I want to be that. I've got
to have that. If I only have this. And what he's
saying is you need to lose that. Let go. Because
if God in the next 50 years gave you everything
on your list, you would end up with everything
you ever dreamed of and be absolutely an empty
shell. and realize your ladder's against the
wrong wall. But he says, by contrast, the paradox
of life is if you choose to sign up for what's
on his list, and there may be ones that are very
similar, you sign up for what's on his list and
you let go, you will find your life. You will
become all and beyond what you ever dreamed of
becoming. Because what would it gain for you
or for me to have the whole world and yet...
not just your soul spiritually, but notice this
translation. It's a good one. It's your self.
Notice it's a specific point in time. The Apostle
Paul will write in 1 Timothy 4, 7, and 8, have
nothing to do with godless myths and old wives'
tales. Rather, train yourself to be godly. There's
a decision involved. Train yourself. Follow me.
For physical training is of some value, but godliness
has value for all things, holding promise both
for the present life and the life to come. Let
me ask you now, has there ever been a point in
time for all of you since you've become a Christian
where you have driven a stake in the ground and
said, I'm going to grow? I mean, come hell or
high water, come good relationships, bad relationships,
come good circumstances, bad circumstances. I
am going to follow Christ. It's kind of like
what Joshua said. As for me and my house, the
whole world can go a different direction. All
my friends can go a different direction. But
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Have you ever done that? Now, I know what you're
thinking. I've said it for years. I'm not ready
for that. I'm not ready for that. You know what
the misbelief is? The misbelief is that we grow
toward commitment. That's not true. The way you
grow. is you build on commitment. Now, some of
you, many in this room are married, so you said,
I do, before a group of people, right? And you
said, I'm going to stick with this person come
thick or thin. Now, do you know what the thick
and thin is when you signed up for it? Heck no,
you didn't know. In fact, some of you wish you
would have known. But the fact of the matter
is you build on that commitment. You don't build
toward it. You don't live together for 49 years
and say, you know, honey, I think it's going
to work. You build on commitment. How many of
us, when you had your first child, felt like,
we're ready for this. We got this wired. You
know, it's like, and then the second one comes.
You know what you do, though? You don't have
what you need, but you're committed as a parent
to making it. Let me ask you, have you ever done
that? See, that's how you break through that
initial inertia. You make the commitment and
say, I'm going to go for broke. I'm going to
follow Christ. And you think, well, what about,
what about, what about? He'll give you, he'll
show you what to do. But that's, there's people
that have spent their whole Christian life waiting
for when they're more mature, when they're really
ready. You'll wait till Jesus comes and you'll
miss life. Third, people who grow not only live
daily with the end in view, and so it's the key
to motivation. Not only do they make a personal
commitment, which is the key to overcoming inertia.
Third, they value process more than event. And
that's the key to progress. See, what happens
is we think growth happens in these huge spurts.
We think that there's a magic pill. There's a
seminar. There's a book. There's a secret teaching.
There's a second experience. There's something
somewhere, somehow. There's an area of the country,
and if you go visit that area of the country,
you get holy and you get powerful and everything's
going to change. You dream it. That's not the
way life works. So if people who really grow
understand it's the everyday nickel and dime,
tiny little decisions you make, it's the process
that produces real growth. Notice the writing
to the Hebrews written to a group of people that
had stopped growing. They started to grow. They
were Jewish Christians and then the heat turned
up and there was persecution and they were moving
back into legalism and to the law. And the book
of Hebrews is written to this group saying, hey,
Christ is superior to the law. Christ is superior
to the priesthood. Christ is superior to angels.
Christ is superior to Moses. He's saying, hey,
get with the program. It's grace, baby. There's
a new covenant. And he writes to this group of
people, verse 11, and it's sort of a reproach,
a little rebuke. He says in chapter 5 of verse
11, we have much to say about this, talking about
spiritual growth, but it's hard to explain because
you are slow to learn. They're not growing. In
fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers.
You need someone to teach you the elementary
truths of God's word all over again. He goes
on to say, you need milk like babies, not solid
food. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an
infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about
righteousness. Now get the next verse. Notice
how growth occurs and look for the concept of
the process. But solid food is for the mature.
Circle it. That's our word again. Teleos. Solid
food, spiritual food, is for the mature. Now
get this. Who by constant use have trained themselves.
Does that sound like a process? To distinguish
good from evil. Who by constant use, not a big
event. A little here, a little there. Constant
use have trained themselves. The secret to your
future is hidden in your daily routines. Luke
16 .10 says, He that is faithful in a very little
thing will be faithful also in much. He who is
unrighteous in a very little thing. Isn't righteous
all so much. You know people tell me. Oh I really
want to walk with God. God doesn't care about
how I drive. God doesn't care about whether I
talk this way or do that. God doesn't care about
those little decisions. God doesn't care about
this or that. I got news. God cares about that.
Because if you're not faithful in little things.
If I'm not faithful in little things. Why would
he entrust you with more? God wants you to know.
It's the very little things. The tiny attitudes
with people. The tiny disciplines with him. The
little things, a decision here, integrity here,
relationship here, and you build on them. One
Russian philosopher said, a man spends the first
half of his life building habits, and the second
half of his life will be determined by the habits
he or she builds the first half. I'll tell you,
the most profound beyond words impact in my life
in terms of whatever usefulness, God has for
my life now and in the future was not a big event.
It was not the schools that I've been to. It
is not any great spiritual awakening. You know,
the greatest impact when I look back, if someone
said, what's the one thing that has shaped your
life, Chip, more than anything else other than
people? I would say it was a bricklayer with
a high school education shortly after I became
a Christian who came to my dorm room and taught
me how to have a daily quiet time. And I couldn't
get up for the first year or so. And in the next
year, I spent five to seven, maybe ten minutes
with God every morning before I went off to school.
But the discipline of on a daily basis, not big
deal, not mastering the Bible, not memorizing
at all, but on a daily basis reading systematically
through the Bible, meeting with God before I
meet with people. You know, you are what you
eat, and it's true physically, it's true psychologically,
and it's true spiritually. I miss a day, of course,
here and there. But it's kind of, you know, I
miss a meal now and then too, but not many. And
so it's just become a part of my life. You know
what I've learned? Is over the years, I just
get up and I read the Word and I ask God. Sometimes
it's emotional. Sometimes I don't feel much.
But I say, God, I want you to speak to me. And
I want to learn who you are. I want to draw close
to you. And I know that you're more important
than the whole world. And the only way I can
demonstrate that is stop and be with you first.
And then I pray through my day. And then I sit
quietly and I ask him to search my heart and
sometimes jot down some things he makes aware
of. I would feel overwhelmed, but you know what
I know? I'm going to get up tomorrow and I'm
going to meet with God and he's going to show
me what to do next. I don't have a clue. There's
situations as a parent, you know, we've had financial
struggles, we've had marital struggles, we've
had, I've shared most of them. But you know what
the constant has been, the rudder of my life?
God shows up every morning when I do. And you
know, inch by inch over the years, little by
little, That has been the primary shaper of my
heart, my life, my values, and my relationships.
Doesn't happen overnight. Seven keys to personal
growth. The first, live daily with the end in
view. It's the key to motivation. Second, make
a personal commitment. It's the key to overcoming
inertia. Third, value process more than event.
It's the key to progress. So you get discouraged
thinking you're not making progress. You're making
progress. Real growth is slow. Fourth, cultivate
stimulating relationships. It's the key to inspiration.
Growing people arrange their lives and their
schedules. Are you ready? To be around growing
people. To be inspired, to be challenged, to
be stretched. Every time I rub up against people
that are walking with God and they're ahead of
me here and they're making progress there. Every
time I get near them, I want to lean forward
into it. And there's times where there's people
that have huge needs and I feel inadequate. I
don't know, but when I get involved in their
life and I get stimulated and I realize God can
use a regular guy like me. He can use a regular
person like you. Growing people cultivate. I
chose that word carefully. You have to rearrange
your schedule. You cultivate stimulating relationships.
In fact, the Bible commands us to. Hebrews 10,
24 and 25. It says, and let us consider, let
us ponder how we may spur or stimulate one another
on to what? Love and good deeds. Let us not give
up meeting together as some are in the habit
of doing, but encourage, exhort. Get the idea?
One another. All the more as you see the day
approaching, the day of Christ's return. You
got to have a small group. You got to have a
mentor. You got to have a mentoree. There's some
people that can mentor you. You can become close
friends with some of the greatest people in the
world today because of technology. Billy Graham
and I are on a first name basis. I've never met
him. But I'm on page 680 something. I've learned
and been inspired because I'm reading as autobiography.
Every week I listen to three or four messages
of other people around the country. And they
inspire me and they encourage me. And you know,
it's not a hard thing to say, I'm going to read
a half hour before I go to bed instead of watch
TV for an hour before I go to bed. Do you know
what happens when you read a half hour before
you go to bed and you do that 300 days a year?
It transforms your life. But see, you've got
to cultivate with the time that you have. stimulating
relationships. Why? Next verse, Proverbs 13,
20. He who dwells with a wise man will be wise.
She who dwells with a wise woman will be wise,
but the companion of a fool will suffer harm.
I don't know anything about you, but I can tell
this about you and about me right now. Whoever
your closest friends are, whoever you're running
with right now, in five years, you'll be just
like them. So I've just made a decision. I'm
going to run around with people better, smarter,
more holy, more godly, more energetic, more intelligent,
more creative than me. And I'm just praying some
of it's going to rip off. You've got to balance
the positive relationships with the draining
relationships. You need both. Both stimulate.
Fifth, people who grow choose to become progressive
risk takers. It's the key to change. The Bible
says in Hebrews 11, 6, and without faith it's
impossible to please God. Not hard, it's impossible.
Because anyone who comes to Him must believe
two things. First, that He exists. Second, that
He rewards. Do you believe that? God rewards
those who diligently seek Him. God is looking
to bless and to honor your life and to reward
you. He wants to do good in you. He wants to
do good through you. Where there is no risk,
there is no faith. Where there is no faith, there
is no change. Where there is no change, there
is no growth. It is impossible to grow unless
you become a progressive risk taker. Now, I put
that word progressive in there and I put the
word choose for a reason because it doesn't come
easy, does it? Now, some of you have that spirit
and you like change just because you like change.
The rest of the world kind of likes things the
way they are. And change feels very threatening.
But if you want to grow, you must choose to become
a progressive risk taker. You must choose to
move out of your comfort zone relationally and
initiate things that you're uncomfortable with.
You have to choose to move out of your comfort
zone and get involved in ministry beyond what
you think you can handle. You have to choose
to move out of your comfort zone and your time
and your structure and be a little more flexible
than you're comfortable with. You have to choose
to get out of your comfort zone and begin to
do some things financially that will really reveal
where your heart's at. And it's risk. If a personal
quiet time transformed the values, the thinking,
and the relationships that shaped my life in
the area of faith. Learning how to give biblically
was absolutely, without a doubt, the greatest
risk -taking area ever. Now, I didn't grow up
in church. And the churches I grew up in, I didn't
like. And my big suspicion about Christianity
was, all they want is your money, because that's
what it sounded like from those people on TV.
And so I trust Christ and they give me a Bible
and I start reading it. I had a long way to go
in my views. So I'm a Christian three years and
finally I decided I'm going to give $5 a month
to this missionary couple in Japan. And I'm thinking,
they may be the luckiest group in the whole world
to get that from me. I mean, I had a clear philosophy
of giving growing up. You give a quarter in the
bag every time it comes around as a kid. When
you get older, you bump it to a dollar. And if
you're feeling kind of spiritual, you go with
a five. I'm serious. That was my view of giving.
The idea of a percentage, the idea of 10 % of
my gross income, it was like, are these people
nuts? I mean, where does this come from? You
know what I understand? If you don't learn, according
to Jesus, to give your money, your heart, your
time, your relationships, all those are a lot
harder. See, Jesus talked more about money than
heaven and hell combined. Why? He didn't live
in a mansion. He didn't want nor need anyone's
money. What he understood is the link between
money and your heart, money and worship, is inseparable.
And so according to Jesus, you can serve God
or mammon money, but there's no in between. And
so early on for me, I started with $5, and then
I started with like, you know, 5 or 10%. And
now over the years, I willfully put myself in
a place as a team, as a family, to give where
if God doesn't show up this year, Teresa and
I have a major problem. But he's shown up in
ways beyond what I ever dreamed. I'm not starving.
We're among the richest people in the whole world.
And if I didn't spend that money there and give,
you know what? I'd spend it someplace else. And
the fact of the matter is, I could give you a
list of blessings in my life, but here's the
point. I learned to trust. Until you learn to
trust with money, you really believe something
tangible and easy where you can see God show
up? You're going to start to break through lifelong
relational patterns? Probably not. You're going
to take steps of risk into ministry? You're going
to begin to face things and say, I'm going to
be a difference maker in my world? See, it's
just actually the smallest risk you ever take
is learning how to give money. Now, I mean, I
know it's a real taboo subject and all that rest
in church because of so much, you know, poor
teaching. Lack of teaching and abuse. But the
Bible, it's clear. If there's no risk, there's
no faith. And so that's why Jesus said in this
area, Luke 6 .38, Give, and it will be given
unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken
together, running over back into your lap. His
point is, you're not going to out give me. And
I don't want your stuff. I want your heart. So
give and it. Give your time. Give your compassion.
Give your money. Give your love. You know what
happens? It always will come back. Shaken down.
Pressed down. More. But I don't know about you.
That was a toughie for me. And I really had to
trust the people I was giving it to. Because
I'm a skeptic. It's the key to change. Unless
you try something beyond what you can already
do, you will never grow. Have you realized that's
the way life works? You know how God usually
does that in your life? Instead of us willfully
choosing to put ourselves in that position, he
brings in a crisis, doesn't he? He allows a crisis
where you have this capacity and God brings a
crisis or a situation that demands this. And
the distance between what you have and what's
required, you know what you do? You grow. You
can't handle it. Boy, you have a child. You get
laid off work. You have a problem relationship.
And the distance between, what do you do? It's
amazing how my prayer life just perks right up
when crisis occurs. It's amazing how I seek out
stimulating relationships like, what did you
do with this teenage son? Help me, help me. I've
never been through this before, you know? It's
amazing. You will grow. But God says, you don't
have to wait for a crisis. You can do it voluntarily.
Six. People who grow leverage life's hardship.
It's the key to character. Notice what it says
in James 1, verses 2 to 4. Consider it. That
means it's a choice. Pure joy. That's an attitude.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you
face trials of many kinds. Not if, but whenever.
Because you know that the testing of your faith
produces perseverance or endurance. Now notice
what endurance does in your life. Perseverance
or endurance must finish its work so that you
may be, here's our word again, circle it, mature
and complete, lacking in nothing. People who
grow leverage life's hardships. Stagnant people,
when difficulty comes their way, here's their
question. Why me, Lord? People who grow, when
hardship comes into their life, they say, what
do you want to teach me, Lord? See the difference?
Stagnant people blame God, blame other people,
and look outward. Growing people say, a sovereign
God who's good, who loves me, somehow is allowed
something to come into my life that's very hard.
And by his grace, I'm going to, the word here
for endurance is hupomeno, literally to be under
the pressure of. Hupo, under the pressure of.
And God puts something on your back and you can
hardly take it. And it's heavy and you can hardly
take it. 90 % of success in life is not giving
up. You can hardly take it. You can hardly take
it. You can hardly take it. You know when you
can hardly take something and there's weight
on your back? You know what happens after a while?
You athletes know, don't you? What happens? Your
muscles get stronger. After a while, the weight
doesn't change, but you strengthen and you can
take that and put that weight on a backpack and
walk right through life. And we see people doing
it with leukemia. We see people doing it with
shattered lives. We see people who've been rejected
and hurt. And boy, they walk right through life
because they're special. No, they endured. What's
your attitude? Are you leveraging life's hardship?
Are they leveraging you? Notice the final one.
People who grow. Make time for solitude and silence.
It's the key to guidance. Speaking of the life
of our Lord, it says very early in the morning,
literally a great while before dawn, while it
was still dark, Jesus got up, he left the house,
he went off to a solitary place where he prayed.
See, growing people have a very clear sense of
transcendence in worship. If you read the context
in Mark 1, it's the busiest day ever recorded
in the life of our Lord. He's teaching. He's
praying. People are packed in. They're getting
Him from all. Man, I mean, He is just packed.
I don't know about you, but when I have a day
or a week like that, I sort of think, I deserve
a break today. So get out and get away. You know?
But Jesus did. Jesus understood the more pressure
on your life, the more private time, the more
silence, the more solitude you need with the
Father. And so after an exhausting day, a great
while before dawn, and I think I know what he
prayed. I think he prayed, Father, man, this
thing is going too fast. I feel pulled. James
wants this. John wants this. The crowd's in.
There's more needs. I can't handle it. Help me
remember, oh God. Father, being fully God, yes,
but fully man, help me remember what you sent
me to do. Everyone has a wonderful plan for my
life, but I want the plan we came up with. Give
me focus. And you're saying, boy, Chip, you must
have tremendous insight to get all that out of
that verse. No, what I know is that if you read
the context afterwards, Peter, John, James, the
guy say, hey, you were a hit. It's awesome. The
crowd's waiting. You're famous. We're famous.
It's big time. And his answer was. I have need
to go to other towns and to other villages. We
must leave. Grammatically imperative. Must leave.
For I came to preach and to heal and to forgive
sins. You see, you need guidance. And the only
way you get guidance is by stopping life. Busyness
is the enemy's tool for a barren life. And we
must stop. and get guidance. We must stop and
remember what is it that we're put on this earth
to do so that we can come back and say no boldly
to all the world's wonderful plan for our life.
And you're saying, I don't have time to stop.
I say, well, why? Well, because I've got to get
to work. Why are you going to work? Because I've
got to do this because I've got to do that. Well,
why? Well, because I've got to. Says Ahua. You've
never had a sick day at work? You've never had
something happen where life stopped for two days
and you had to go to an emergency room? And I
bet the company just fell apart both days, right?
See, the fact of the matter is we can choose
to stop planning our schedule and hear from God.
I think you need to do it a little every day.
And I think every month or six weeks, you need
a full day to say, Lord, help me remember why
I'm here, where I'm going. If you want to do
a quick review, people who grow, Have some things
in common? People who grow live daily. Wow. With
the end in view. It's the key to motivation.
People who grow make a personal commitment to
grow. Have you made it? It's the key to overcoming
inertia. Third, people who grow value process
more than event. It's the key to progress. Fourth,
people who grow cultivate stimulating relationships.
It's the key to inspiration. Fifth, people who
grow choose to become progressive risk takers.
It's the key to change. People who grow leverage
life's hardships. It's the key to character.
And finally, people who grow make time for solitude
and silence. It's the key to guidance. Want a
game plan for today? First, make a commitment
to grow today. Second, prioritize the area of
your growth. There's a domino principle here.
You can't do all seven of these things. Don't
even try. What one thing is a little light Keep
pulsating in your heart and your mind that says,
I need to address that. And you address that,
and then God will show you. Don't get overwhelmed.
Third, take one specific step this week, even
if it's small, but do something. Take a step
toward God, one specific step this week. Write
it down and tell someone. Growth is exciting.
It's normal. It's fun. It's fantastic. It's difficult.
It's not automatic. And we get stuck. But we
don't have to stay there, do we? This is Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. As we continue
this series on experiencing breakthrough, you
might be realizing you need to build a stronger
spiritual foundation. Well, that's exactly why
we're offering Chip's free online devotional,
Psalms of Hope. Here's what makes this resource
different. Chip doesn't just explain the Psalms
to you. He teaches you how to study them for
yourself. Each day for 10 days, you'll spend
10 minutes learning from Chip, then 10 minutes
applying what you've learned through prayer and
meditation. You'll journey through Psalm 1, Psalm
15, and Psalm 23, passages that speak directly
to finding stability, experiencing God's presence,
and building authentic relationships. This isn't
about adding another obligation to your schedule.
It's about creating a daily rhythm of connecting
with God that can transform your entire life.
And it's completely free, online at livingontheedge
.org. Just search for Psalms of Hope. Now, creating
resources like this takes financial investment.
When you give to Living on the Edge, you're not
just supporting a radio program. You're helping
people around the world discover what it means
to truly walk with God. If this ministry is making
a difference in your life, please consider giving
today. Visit livingontheedge .org to give or
write to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007,
Atlanta, Georgia, 30024. You can also call 888
-333 -6003. Join us again next time for another
insightful Bible lesson here on the Chip Ingram
Sermon Podcast. Today's program is produced and
sponsored by Living on the Edge.