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. Here's Chip Ingram with how
to overcome feelings of futility. What we're
going to talk about today is the difference between
success and significance. To use an old cliche,
there's a very subtle thing that can happen in
every life, and here it is. You can climb a ladder
and work and be very, very, very productive only
to find out that the ladder that you've climbed
is what? Leaning against the wrong wall. Turn
with me if you will. I put some study notes together.
And I think I'd like to begin by asking and answering
the question, what's the difference between a
life of futility and a life of fruitfulness?
And then I want, together with you, to think
through, out loud, what kind of life are you
going to have? What kind of life am I going to
have? Is it going to be one of futility? Are
we going to look back in the rearview mirror
of our lives and say, I worked. I prayed, even.
I thought that once I arrived here, it would
be full, but instead, it's empty. Webster defines
futility as that which easily pours out, hence
untrustworthy. It's an interesting thought, isn't
it? That which fails completely of desired end
or incapable of producing any result as something
trifling or unimportant. Futility simply means
that you give yourself to it but then it comes
up empty. Never forget the... illustration a
guy shared with me. I was a young Christian,
just a couple years. I can't remember where I
was, but I still have the picture in my mind
of the napkin. And the guy pulls out a napkin
and, you know, my dream then was, you know, I
wanted to be a star basketball player and then
I wanted to be a famous coach and then I was
going to teach in grad school and then I was
going to get married and then I was going to
have some great kids and all in the name of God,
of course. And I think he saw through all that.
And he pulled out a napkin and He drew about
six different buckets with the picture from a
source, my life, rainbows. Rainbows going into
these six different buckets. He said, you know,
Chip, everyone has a dream in their life, whether
they verbalize it or not. And they're following
the rainbow into the pot or the bucket of gold.
And he said, we all believe there's certain buckets
that are going to come through for us. And he
was real calm and he pulled out that pen and
he said, you know, some people follow the dream.
And then he drew the little bucket and he wrote
the word fame. And see, they believe if they're
ever famous, then someday, some way, they'll
be a someone. And then he told me the story of
James Dean, Jimi Hendrix. He said, other people,
it's not fame, it's popularity or looks. And
you know, they work real hard and they do everything
they can to look a certain way so people will
like them. And he wrote the word in that bucket
with his pen on the napkin, popularity slash
looks. And then he told me how Marilyn Monroe
died. And I knew how she looked. And then he...
Made another rainbow and he drew a little bucket
and he put a dollar sign on it. And he said,
you know, some people think if they just get
enough money and can own enough things and impress
enough people, then life will come through for
them. And then he quickly told me the tragic
story of Howard Hughes, of some of the last words
of John Paul Getty, that it only takes one more
million. And then he drew another rainbow and
he put a bucket and it said success. And he told
me about the lives of people who were very, very
successful only to come to the end and feel empty.
And then he drew one that surprised me. He said
family. There's some people that secretly believe
that everything's going to change once they get
married. Or once they get married and that doesn't
happen when they have kids. And then the heartache
and the suffering and the tragedy. And then he
drew two more buckets. He said, Chip, we could
draw buckets where people follow rainbows and
every bucket in life is empty except two. There's
only two buckets that if you give your life to
these, they'll always come through for you. And
I'll tell you about those a little later. Got
you, don't I? At least you'll pay attention for
the next ten minutes. What bucket, if someone
asks you, are you pouring your life into? Whether
you decided willfully to do it or just unconsciously
drifting that direction. What's the rainbow that
you're following that you think if I ever get
there and look down inside of it, it'll be filled
with what'll satisfy? See, futility is something
which easily pours out. It's not trustworthy.
It won't come through. Has the idea of vain,
fruitless, ineffective, or useless. I don't know
about you. I don't want to end my life that way.
By contrast, notice the word fruitful. Webster's,
the Latin root. This really surprised me. The
Latin root word is fructus, which means enjoyment.
Did you ever think of that? When you live a fruitful
life, there's enjoyment. It's means of enjoyment.
It means something that's profitable, productive,
producing results or desired ends. It's that
sense of whatever it's giving your life to something
that when you look at it, it counts. It matters.
It's not what other people think. It's following
the rainbow, following the dream, and then looking
into the bucket and the mirror in the bucket
looking back says, you made it. You've done well.
You matter. Your life counted. You are significant.
Now, the reason that these two things are in
such contention is there is usually a very high
price tag to be significant and a very high price
tag to be successful. And the world tells us
that we need to be successful. And God says you
may or may not be successful in the world's eyes,
but significance is what will fill your soul.
One young man wrestling with this issue. decided
to become a missionary. And as he was wrestling
through the issues, a Wheaton grad, and the price
tag of giving up success for significance just
seemed overwhelming. And in Jim Elliott's journal,
he was later killed by the Alka Indians, I believe,
in South America. In his journal, as he was wrestling
with the situation, he wrote these words. He
is no fool to give up. What he cannot keep. To
gain. What he cannot lose. Boy that's a perspective
giver isn't it? In fact look down. Look down
with me. Read it again. He is. She is. No fool
to give up. What you cannot keep. To gain. What
you cannot lose. Question. How in the world.
Can we avoid futility in our lives? How do you
end up finishing your life, looking in the mirror,
then looking at God and saying, you know, I had
a lot of ups and downs, but I finished well.
Now, what I'm going to warn you is, is that the
answer is very simple. I mean, simple to understand,
but it is pretty tough to do. Jesus is going
to give us a very clear. Cut answer. Here's what
he says. You want to avoid a life of futility?
Resolve to refuse to confuse success with significance.
It's basically what he taught. Refuse. See, that's
an act of the will. It's a choice. Refuse to
confuse success with significance. Luke chapter
9, verses 25 and 26, Jesus is speaking. He says,
what good is it for a man to gain the whole world?
That's success. And yet lose or forfeit his very
self. Literally, the word in Greek is psyche.
It has the idea of all your mental capabilities.
It's used in general reference for your spiritual
life, for what really matters. What good is it?
Rhetorical question. What good is it going to
do if you got the fame, you got the popularity,
you got the success, you got the money? You've
got it all. You got the house, you got the condo,
you can ski, you can fly, you can do it all.
You got the body. What good does it do if you
gain the world yet lose? And the word for lose
here is used in this language for a ship full
of precious cargo that is shipwrecked. That's
the picture. What good is it if you have all
that and you lose or you shipwreck your life
and you lose you? In fact, he pushes it to the
next level because he understands that to be
successful, you will have to shrink back from
your relationship. To really be successful in
the world by their standards, you'll have to
shrink back from your relationship with Christ.
Notice verse 26. He says, if anyone is ashamed
of me, if anyone shrinks back from relationship
with me, if anyone shrinks back from identifying
with me, if anyone shrinks back or is ashamed
with friends and workers and neighbors and in
-laws and people that are significant, powerful
people, prestigious people, other, quote, successful
people. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words,
notice his words, his teaching, his truth. Notice
what he says. The son of man will be ashamed
or shrink back of him when he comes in his glory
and in the glory of the father and the holy angels.
See, what we're talking about is a big issue,
big, big issue. It is not politically correct.
To walk with God, to be open about your faith.
And by the way, around here, we know that doesn't
mean, you know, having a seven inch black Bible
on your desk, hitting people over the head with
it, being, you know, narrow, bigoted. No, we're
talking about a winsome, loving, servant, gracious,
relationally open, radical Christian. who communicates
the love and the power of Christ by your words,
who's not ashamed of Jesus, not ashamed of His
Word, openly identifies and understands it'll
bring flack, understands it might mean losing
an account, understands there's some people that
won't understand. See, the price tag of being
significant is going through life God's way.
Augustine, the great theologian, And the early
church wrote, God is always trying to give us
good things, but our hands are too full to receive
them. I just sat down, literally put my feet
up and began to pray. And I said, Lord, what's
the real difference? So I look at your word.
What's the difference between success and significance?
And there's probably many more, but the random
thoughts that came to me as I prayed, success
is about productivity. Significance is about
satisfaction. A lot of people are productive
and not satisfied. Success is about climbing
the ladder. You know, I'm going to make it. Significance
is about which wall the ladder is on. Success
is about what you do, your performance. Significance
is about who you are. Success is about applause,
what other people think. Significance is about
peace. Are you even vaguely aware that all these
people that look so good on the outside, that
we pass in the grocery stores, that buy gourmet
coffee like we do, you know, that have nice stuff,
that go on great vacations, that when you walk
in, see them arm in arm, they look like such
happy couples. You are aware that they're desperately
hurting, that there's major strife, that they
don't know how to be a parent. That they have
dysfunctional relationships and people are abusing
alcohol and there's all kind of hurt and there's
all kind of struggles and they don't relate very
well to their parents. And a lot of what they
drive banks own and they have incredible pressure
and they're spending about 25 % more a month
than they bring in. And it's a facade. And instead
of being intimidated by them, we need to love
and care and move into their life. Because see,
we can have peace. It's a lot better than applause.
Success is about stuff. Significance is about
people. Success is about taking off. Man, I'm
going to make it. Significance is about landing
well. Success is about the now. Man, I got to
do it now. I got to do it now. I got to have
it now. In fact, if I can't get it now, I'll
charge you. And if I can't charge it, I'll refinance.
And they say that. 20 % over above what my house
is worth, and then I'll pay that off, and then
I can start charging it again. And I got to have
the right person now. I got to have the right
stuff now. I got to move up now. And I'll mortgage
my future now. See, all the stuff that you can
get right now can bring you quick, short -term
success. But most of us aren't willing to pay
the price, the kind of stuff that it takes day
after day after day of discipline, of commitment,
of riding out the hard times, those things produce
something called character, endurance. And those
are the kind of things that make you significant.
To be significant, there is always short -term
pain and loss in order for long -term gain. Significance
is about forever. Let me give you a couple resources.
Number one, Halftime by a guy named Bob Buford.
He's a multi -millionaire who has shifted his
focus from the first half of his life of being
successful to being significant. And he tracks
his journey. It's excellent material. Very committed
believer. He's launched and sponsored a number
of Christian organizations. And he shoots it
straight and he's very open and honest. Second
book is by a non -Christian author. But if you
find yourself under pressure, you find yourself
on the fast track. Excellent reading. It's called
The Paradox of Success by John R. O 'Neill. Subtitle,
When Winning at Work Means Losing at Life. He
became extremely successful. He lost his wife.
He lost his family. He lost all that mattered.
And he traces the lies and the misbeliefs. Here's
a secular guy, as far as I know, who has incredible
insight. about how to live a life that'll matter.
Well, I think we've diagnosed the problem. I
know your heart and I know mine. And I know it's
hard, okay? This is one of those sermons where
we are the salmon of God seeking to swim upstream.
And you know what? The current's coming at us.
But in your heart of heart, you want to be significant
and I want to be significant. Now we've identified
the problem. Final question. can you move and
how can I move from a success orientation to
significance? How can we line our thinking and
our lives and our priorities and our time and
our resources in such a way that we land well?
I did a funeral and I buried a significant woman.
She didn't have a lot of money. She didn't win
any beauty contest. She wasn't well -known, wasn't
visible. She came to Christ in this church about
four years ago. And she was a house mother for
abused kids. Kids that are taken out of their
homes because of abuse and tragedy and drugs.
I mean, the kind of kids that no one gives a
rip. I mean, they've had more problems. Some
of these kids have experienced more in the first
six, eight, ten years of life than any adult
should ever, ever experience, ever. And I heard
six -year -olds and eight -year -olds and 10
-year -olds say, Donna made me feel special.
When I didn't think there was any hope in life,
she cared about me. She loved me. Donna was always
there. She has marked. You talk about significance?
She doesn't have any big retirement program.
She hasn't written a book. There are lives that
will be marked with the imprint of Donna Mead
for all eternity because she took what she had
and she focused it on the things that matter
most. Let me give you three clear ways from scripture
to move from a life of success to a life of significance.
Number one, clarify your mission. Clarify your
mission. Answer the basic question, why are you
here? Have you ever thought of that? Do you realize
how important that is? Why are you here? Until
we start and say, why am I on this planet? You
will never have a significant life. Notice, there's
two things that last forever. I told you, the
two buckets. There's two things that as you follow
them and you get to the bucket and look down
inside, instead of it being empty, you can always
know they're full. Number one is God's word because
it's eternal. God says his word will never return
void. And he says that it's eternal. Every time
you invest in God's word, anytime you take it
in, read it, apply it, pass it on, share it with
anyone else, you're investing in something that
will never, never fail. It counts and it lasts.
The second bucket that will always be full are
the souls of men and the souls of women. Every
human being on the face of this planet eternally
matters to God. Anytime you invest in a relationship,
anytime you love a person, pray for a person,
care for a person, provide the needs of a person,
encourage a person, you're marking into something
that's eternal. And by the way, remember, there
is a resurrection coming and everyone gets resurrected.
You're aware of that. Scripture says some to
be with the Lord forever, some to be separated
for all eternity. You need to know your mission.
Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 28. As you
go or go, therefore, make disciples. Of all ethnos,
all people, all people groups, all nations, make
disciples, make followers of me. Baptize them,
identification in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit and all the things
that I've taught you, pass on to them in order
that they could not just learn them, but obey
them, put them into practice. And by the way,
I'll be with you. I know you can't do it on your
own. I'll be with you always. See, in a nutshell,
here's your mission in life. If you're a housewife,
this is your mission. If you're a carpenter,
this is your mission. If you're a businessman,
this is your mission. If you're a musician, this
is your mission. If you're a student, it's your
mission. If you're a woman, it's your mission.
If you're a man, it's your mission. Your mission
is to know Christ and to make him known. That's
why you were placed on this planet. Period. That
will come through your personality, your desires,
your backgrounds. And you can do it in San Jose.
Or you can do it in San Juan. And you can do
it in Brazil or you can do it in New York. And
you can do it by working with your hands and
you can do it by working with your head. Your
mission, your reason for existence is to know
him. And then, out of the overflow of your relationship,
to make him known. Your mission is not to own
a home. Your mission is not to be comfortable.
Your mission is not as important as all your
kids turn out right. Your mission is not you
being happy. Your mission is not to save up enough
money as though you know the future so that your
retirement years will be secure. That's not your
mission. Your mission is not to put up relational
walls to make sure no one gets inside or gets
too close so you don't get hurt again. That's
not your mission. That's a dead end. Your mission
is to know Christ and to make him known. Knowing
Christ, the word, prayer, God's people. Make
him known. Every person you walk by, believers
to be encouraged, unbelievers, the average unbeliever
grew up like me. I never met a real Christian
until I was 18, 17. I mean, I met church people
and I saw a bunch of junk that happened in churches.
I never met a real one. I mean one that lives
out, one whose life and words matched up and
told the same story, one who would listen instead
of talk at me, one who cared, one who lived it
out, one who had a radical lifestyle, one who
said, I'll give up two weeks of vacation and
go to El Salvador or to Mexico, or would stop
in the middle of their busy day and say, I've
got time to talk to you. And I know it's not
politically correct, but let me tell you what
Jesus has done in my life without judging where
you're at in your life. See, you want to be significant
instead of successful? One, first and foremost,
clarify your mission. Secondly, embrace your
mission field. You need to know where you're
going, but you need to know where God wants you
to know Christ and to make him known. We get
this idea that your mission field has got to
be in Africa. I'm telling you, I hope some of
you go, but I'm going to tell you, 99 % of you
probably will never go to Africa. But we think,
well, that's the mission field, and since you're
not going there, if you're like me, you unconsciously
slide into fulfilling the agenda and buying the
commercials and looking to be happy, comfortable,
prosperous, well -off, with a dash of Jesus on
the side. Embrace your mission field. Where are
your greatest spheres of influence? Jesus said
not become salt, become light. What did he say?
You are salt. You are light. You're going to
reveal. You're going to flavor. You're going
to challenge. You're going to change. You're
going to have an impact unless you're under a
bushel, unless you've lost your saltiness. Let
me give you the three areas where it is clear
that you need to sprinkle the salt of Christ,
the love of Christ, and the holiness of God.
First, your home. That's your first mission field.
Deuteronomy 6, 4 to 9 says, Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your strength. These commandments I
give you today are to be upon your hearts. Now
get this, impress them on your children. Talk
about them when you sit at home and when you
walk along the road, when you lie down and when
you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands.
Buy them on your foreheads. Write them on the
door frames of your houses and on your gates.
Do your kids, your family network, see that your
number one concern and mission field is them?
Spend time in the scriptures in your home? Do
they catch you praying sometimes? Oh, sorry mom,
sorry dad. Do they see the integrity that you
talk about and this stuff about God lived out?
in your life, that's your mission field. If it
doesn't work there, don't export it. Some of
us are thinking, God, what do you want me to
do with my life? Start right where you are. Love
your wife. Love your husband. Care about your
kids. Turn the stupid TV off and spend some time
together. Find out who their friends are. Ask
them questions. Go on walks. Put your arms around
them. Don't assume everything's really okay.
Face the hard issues. Be God's man. Be God's
woman. Second field that God wants you to make
an impact in, your sphere of influence. Second
mission field is your work. Do you ever realize
that the great majority of your time is spent
not at home, not at church, not praying and not
reading the Bible? Do you realize that what most
of us do is we get up every day and we put in,
I don't know anybody who works a 40 -hour week,
but God bless you if you figured out how to do
that. Right? Most of us, it's about 55 or 60,
then you're getting kind of revved up. And if
you're under some pressure, some of us do the
70 or 80 hours. Don't do much of that. But it's
life. Now think about, multiply that out over
all the years that you live. Where do you spend
the great bulk of your entire world? It's working,
whether that's at home or whether that's at an
office or a job site. That's where you spend
the great bulk of your life. Do you think that
God has a plan for your life, for your family,
for church, for the spiritual little wedge or
window? And over here, your work life is like,
well, you're on your own. You know, like God
in the morning says, well, hey, have a good day.
I'll catch you later. We live that way. Notice
what the scripture says, Colossians chapter 3,
verses 22 to 25. The application there is to
slaves in this culture. I think we can make it
to ours. Slaves, obey your earthly masters and
everything. Now, basically, they had some terrible
earthly masters. This is a tough command. And
do it, not only when their eye is upon you to
win their favor, but with sincerity of heart
and reverence for the Lord. Now, is the Bible
actually saying that I go to work and I do my
job as though I'm doing it for God? As an act
of worship? With a good attitude? On time? With
excellence? You know, everyone's wearing these
little bands, WWJD. What would Jesus do? I got
one for you. Put that band on your wrist and
get up on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, and if you work on Saturday, Saturday
morning. And say, if Jesus was inside your body
going to your job, how would he do your job?
When would he leave? And what kind of work would
he do? And you know what? Some of us feel like
God could never use me. You start working like
that, with that kind of attitude, you will have
people lined up at your desk saying, one, could
your work come work for me? Or two, what is with
you? And by the way, you will take flack. Because
the work culture is what? The work culture is...
How can you do as little as possible and get
as much as possible? The Christian culture is,
how much do you get to do and do it unto God?
Notice Colossians 3 .23. Whatever you do, work
at it with all your heart as working for the
Lord, not for men. Can you imagine walking in
and someone saying, hey, knock it off here. No,
I'm doing this for God. I don't work for IBM.
I don't work for Hewlett -Packard. I don't work
for Plantronics. You know, I'm doing these dishes.
I'm changing these diapers. I'm landscaping this
lawn. I'm going to do it in such a way that it
honors God. Can you fathom the impact the body
of Christ would have if we work that way? See,
too many of us have bought a car from someone
out of the paper and it has a little fish on
it. And what do we immediately think? Uh -oh.
Are they really telling the truth about this?
See, a lot of people put a Bible on their desk
or they want to tell everyone to come to a Bible
study. They don't show up on time. They don't
do their homework. They're not prepared. You
know what they're doing? They're disgracing the
name of Christ. Martin Luther put it well. He
said, when a milkmaid goes out and milks a cow
and does it as an act of worship unto the Lord,
she is in a more holy state and holy ground than
when a priest or a pastor does not take care
of the Word of God and doing that job in a way
that honors Him. I've got news for you. There
aren't two sets of scales. See, people sometimes,
especially if I travel some, they always get
around to, what do you do? And I'm always a little
uncomfortable. In my mind's eye, I still don't
think of myself as a minister, you know, or like
clergy or even pastor. See, I didn't grow up
around people like that. The bricklayer helped
me. You know what I knew? He was a bricklayer
that was going to make disciples. I think of
myself as a coach. It's just a different team.
I am. I'm just a coach. And when I stand before
God, he doesn't say, oh, this is what I expect
of Chip. And then all these lay people. Baloney.
I'll tell you what he says. Now, the ruler is
going to be a little different because I teach
the word, James tells me. But he's going to evaluate.
What I do is no more spiritual than what you
do. And most of you don't believe that. But you
need to believe it because what you do at work,
that's your sphere of influence. Can you imagine
the impact? And some of you are making it. Some
of you are my heroes. As I put this point down,
you know, a number of people just came to my
mind. I thought, wow. Third, sphere of influence
is your network. Colossians 4, verses 5 and 6,
notice what it says. Be wise in the way you act
toward nonbelievers. making good use of how many
opportunities? Every opportunity you have. Your
speech should always be pleasant and interesting,
and you should know how to give the right answer
to everyone. See, you have a network, and probably
in our day, it's not your neighborhood. It's
probably the other moms or dads on the little
league team or the soccer team. It's probably
the person that, you know, every week, some of
you go to the dry cleaners. Are you building
a relationship with that person? Some of us pick
up coffee at the same place almost every morning,
right? Have you ever thought that this relationship
could begin from where you are and you could
love them and build a relationship into the kingdom?
Some of you have your cars repaired the same
place. Did you realize God has brought that mechanic
into your life for a reason? Some of you play
bridge. Some of you have hobbies. Some of you
crochet. Some of you play softball. What's your
network? We always are thinking, who am I going
to share with, you know, Christ and build this
evangelistic relationship with? Here's the secret.
Help out all the people you already know. I mean,
I've been sharing the Lord with a guy at the
coffee shop for close to seven years. I just
made a major breakthrough after about a year
with the lady at 7 -Eleven. And she saw my Bible,
asked what I did, found out her son's a Christian,
is sharing Christ with her. And now we have 30
to two minute conversations about the scripture.
I have a neighbor that I've been praying for
for eight years. And one day I just had an impulse
from God. He brought a verse to my mind. Let
your light so shine before men that they can
see your good deeds. and glorify your father
in heaven. And just at an impulse, I went over
and cut her grass. She's a single mom. And I'm
thinking, no big deal. I mean, yards here. Where
I grew up, when you cut grass, it was an hour.
You know, here it's 12 minutes, you're done.
And I mean, you would think I was passing out
bags of gold to this lady. She's a sweet lady.
She's a great lady. And I don't know really where
she's at spiritually, but, you know, I live close
to her, but I've never really connected. I came
home last night and there were two cartons of
eggs and two things of jam on our front door
from her saying thanks. What's your network?
It's not some way, someday, somehow, when you,
it's right now where you're at. Let me give you
number three because you need to know how to
do this. There's six steps. I call it everybody
evangelism. You move from success to significance
by one. clarifying your mission. Why am I here?
Two, embrace your mission field. Where are my
spheres of influence? The home, work, my network.
Three, engage in the harvesting process. First
Corinthians three says that we can't make anything
grow. Only God can do it. But some water and
some plant. And we all work together. I know
I have only a handful of relationships where
I build a relationship, I water, I do this, I
do this, I do this. And six months or two years
later, I lead that person to Christ. There's
people I meet that people have been working on
for 20 years and I get to lead them to Christ.
There's other people that I build a relationship
with. You know what? Boy, I sure hope God does
something because I haven't seen anything. But
I'm not discouraged about that anymore. In fact,
I took the gun away from my head. I don't have
to do it. See, I am not and you are not a prosecuting
attorney. You know what we are? Witnesses. You
know what witnesses do? Witnesses step up on
the plate and say, this is what's true of me.
This is what Jesus did in my life. Now, let me
give you a way to get involved in this. Notice
the little chart. I took this out of a book called
The High Impact Church. Linus Morris did this
and he ministers in Europe. Notice there's about
six steps. First, look at your network. Make
contact with the unchurched is your goal. Action
step, establish visibility in the community.
Identify and pray for and contact people in social
networks. It's like helping out with a little
league team. Two, after the network, befriend
people. The goal, build trusting relationships,
like really care about them. The action, build
bridges socially. Show love and care. Look for
divine appointments. Just start serving people.
Step three, identify. Look for a felt need. You
know, it took me eight years. I mean, I must
be like slow of speech, slow of tongue, and way
low on brains. Took me eight years to figure
out a felt need in my neighbor's life was cutting
a lawn, so simple. What are the felt needs of
the people? Going through divorce? Have financial
problems? Struggle with aging parents? Pressure
in their marriage? Here's the action step. Listen
attentively. Show concern. You don't have to
jam Jesus down their throat and give them five
Bible verses. Just listen. You will be a minority.
Just listen. Network, befriend, identify, then
share. Share your story. Action step, look for
receptivity. sensitively share your story. This
takes most of you off the hook. You don't have
to have all the answers. Just, this is what Jesus
did in my life. This is what Jesus did in my
marriage. This is what Jesus did in that relationship,
but I'm still struggling with it. Just share
your story. And then when they ask that real
hard question that's so hard and the reason why
we don't share, here's the answer. I'm going
to tell you in advance. They ask this, what about
da -da -da -da -da, right? The real hard question.
Here's your answer. I don't know. I don't know.
Here's what I know he did for me. But you know
what? The way I've learned is through the New
Testament. And I'd like to give you one if you
want to start reading it. As you have questions,
I'd be glad to talk with you. And that's a good
question. I don't know that one, but I'll go
do some study. Would you like to get a cup of
coffee and talk about it later? You're not under
pressure. You don't have to have all the answers.
Just share your story. Fifth, invite. The goal
is to expose them to the gospel. Action step,
bring an unbelieving friend or a contact to a
weekend service or to a small group. Invite them.
Finally, harvest. Encourage commitment to Christ
and assimilate them in the life of the church.
There's a point in time where people get ready
and you need to cross over the line and say,
would you like to receive Jesus as your Savior?
Would you like to have your sins forgiven? And
I'm always amazed because I have this unbelieving
mind. How many times people would look at me
and say, yes, I would. And you know what kept
them from it? No one's ever asked. 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
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15, and Psalm 23, passages that speak directly
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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
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