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
a message titled, Love Gives. One of God's greatest
joys is to see His children love each other.
Isn't that amazing? The God of heaven, the God
that created the stars, the God who made us,
the God who sent God the son to die in our place.
One of his greatest, greatest joys is when we
love one another. And you know, I know as a parent,
I mean, isn't that true for those of you that
are parents? I had twin boys and Teresa and I
have sons that are twins and Eric and Jason,
and they're five minutes apart. I mean, for the
first 18 years of their life. I mean, at times
they dressed the same. They had, you know, the
same classes, the same room, the same everything.
Did they fight? I mean, fought. I mean, to the
point of, I mean, physical. And I'll never forget
the time we came home from a little getaway a
couple days. And, well, how'd everything go?
Oh, things were great. Things were great. And,
you know, they were kind of. standing kind of
funny against a wall or something. And I didn't
even notice it. And we had a great time. And
years later, you know, when families get together
and adult kids tell you what really happened,
oh dad, we couldn't believe you and mom didn't
even notice that Eric and Jason got in a fight
and Eric went to punch him and he ducked and
he put his fist through the wall and we patched
it and painted it. We were so afraid you would
find out. I remember Teresa saying once, cause
she grew up with two sisters. She said, do you
think they'll ever, ever love each other? I said,
honey, this is kind of normal stuff, yes. I mean,
we have to set boundaries and discipline. But
I just want you to get that God's heart, it breaks
his heart when we fight. It breaks his heart
when we have feelings inside that are resentful
and bitter. And when you have an unresolved relationship
with another believer, another brother, another
sister, maybe you did business with him. Maybe
you were in a small group with him. Maybe it
was in another church. I don't know. But I'm
going to ask you, get your heart open. God wants
to deal with because it matters to God, not just
because it brings him joy, but it's so important.
It's such a priority to him. If we could eavesdrop
the very last night when Jesus was praying in
John 17. I mean, you read that prayer, Father,
Father. Make them one, even as we are one. You
in me and I in you and us in them. Father, I
pray that as I leave, that you would cause there
to be a supernatural unity in order that the
world would know. That's a prayer that only you
can answer in your home. Only I can answer in
my relationships. And not only does God the Father
find joy when we love one another, and God the
Son prays passionately and commands us to love
one another and says the gospel, its validity
is based on whether the world sees us love each
other, the Apostle Paul commands it. In our study
in Philippians chapter two, follow along I'm
reading in the Phillips translation. He says,
now if you experience of Christ, if there's any
encouragement and love means anything to you,
If you've known something of the fellowship of
his spirit and all that it means in kindness
and deep sympathy, and then here's the command,
make my best hope for you or my joy come true.
Live together in harmony. Live together in love
as though you had only one mind and one spirit
before you. So just before you open those notes,
I want you to think about, Is there any relationship
that you don't have harmony that's out of sorts?
And I'm pushing a little bit because we tend
to push these down. Could have been two months
ago, two years ago, could be 20 years ago, could
be, you know, an in -law situation or a brother
or sister you haven't seen in 20 years. God wants
to get a hold of our hearts and our life. And
Philippians chapter two is gonna teach us how
we can choose love and experience it. Now, as
you open your notes, I want you to see the structure
of this passage. First of all, there's a very
clear context. There's conflict without, and
there's conflict within. The conflict without,
you know, there was persecution. There was difficulty.
There was pressure. These Philippian Christians,
just like Paul, I mean, they were getting intimidated.
They were getting persecuted. They were having
struggles and conflicts from the pagan world
and even from some Jewish false teachers. I mean,
not a lot different than what we see happening
more and more and more today is that, you know,
people are intimidating Christians. People are
becoming more afraid as believers. to stand up
and stand strong because of external pressure.
But in this particular church, there's conflict
within. We'll learn more about it in chapter
four when we meet a couple ladies that apparently
had a real conflict that was causing a rift throughout
the whole church. And you and I have both seen
that happen in a small group or in a family or
in Sunday school class. And so then there's a
very, very interesting command. I gave the words,
live in authentic. Christ -empowered unity. Now,
the way he says it is, make my joy complete.
I mean, he said, you've brought me great joy.
You came to Christ. Remember, I was in that Philippian
jail and we had fellowship and you all came to
know the Lord and there's this tremendous movement
happening in this church. He said, so I've received
joy now. Make my joy complete because since Paul
is now in Rome, some things have happened, like
happened in lots of churches and lots of families
and lots of small groups, you know? This person
thinks it ought to be this way. And this person
says, no. And well, you said this to my daughter.
Well, this is how you treated my son. Well, you
know, every time you come, you know, you think
you're the hottest stuff and blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. And there it goes. And so Paul says,
make my joy complete. And he says, I want there
to be authentic Christ empowered unity. In other
words, he says, I don't want just you to, you
know, put up with each other. I don't want it
to be just superficial. From the heart, I want
you to love one another, resolve the conflicts,
forgive one another, care for one another in
a way that Christ has cared for you. Look at
this very, very interesting structure. The structure
here, he says, notice it says there's an if -then.
In Greek, and I won't... get too detailed here,
but there's called conditional clauses. We have
them in English as well. But what I love about
the Greek language, it's so clear. There's like
three or four types of conditional clauses. So
when it says, if, then, if, then, you know for
sure what they're talking about. This is called
a first class condition. And the idea is it's
assumed to be true. And so notice what he says.
He goes, if there's any encouragement in Christ,
if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship
with the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
And you could translate all that since you have
encouragement in Christ, since you have comfort,
since you have fellowship, since you have tenderness
and compassion, then make my joy complete by,
notice, after these four incentives, be of the
same mind, maintaining the same love, united
in spirit, intent on one purpose. It's interesting
here. He's going to tell us that unlike the golden
rule, which is do unto others as you would have
them do unto you. His premise goes a little bit
differently. I call it the platinum rule. Do
unto others as God has already done unto you.
In other words, the entire premise, what happens
in conflicts and struggles and relationships
is we think just horizontal and they did that
and they don't deserve that. And when she apologizes
or when he does that or when one of my kids comes
back and really says, you know, dad, I'm really
sorry and I understood this or I understood that
or, you know, what they said at that last Thanksgiving
or that family reunion, I'll never talk to them
again unless what they need to do. He said, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He said,
here's what I want you to get. The basis of loving
people isn't how they've treated you, good or
bad. The basis of our love is a choice. I choose
love. And here's the basis of the choice. The
basis of the choice is this is how God's loved
you. He has encouraged you. He's come alongside
you. He's forgiven you. been tender, you now
have the fellowship. He has come to take up residence
in you. He sealed you with his spirit. He's adopted
you. He's given you spiritual gifts. A tenderness
and compassion. The word tenderness here is splachna.
It has the idea, it's rooted in the idea of something
deep within the bowels. There's something tender,
deep in the character of God, that you are his
treasure. And then the compassion is an outward
external evidence of an action that you so mattered
that he did something. And what he did was he
chose to go to the cross. He chose to love you
and me when we were his enemies. While we were
yet enemies, Christ died in our place, Paul tells
us in Romans 5, 8. And so, The basis, the incentives,
all four of these incentives, this is how you
have been authentically, deeply, unconditionally
loved. Now, make my joy complete and be unified
authentically from the heart. And now he's going
to show us exactly what biblical unity looks
like. Number one, he says, be like -minded or
of one spirit. Literally, it means think the
same things. And the focus here is on truth.
See, genuine unity is built on truth. It's thinking,
it's content, it's doctrine. These things are
true. So often, and I see it more and more today,
it's unity is sort of like, oh, let's just love
everyone. Don't judge anyone. It's pseudo unity.
I mean, who are we to say anything? Let's just
let this slide. Real unity demands truth. It
demands truth about what the scripture says about
morality. It demands truth about what the scripture
says about sexuality. It demands truth about
doctrine when it talks about the very narrow
way to go to heaven and by what Christ has done
in him alone. But it's truth that's held in agreeable,
winsome, non -defensive, and it's not a way of
pushing it on other people and it's never argumentative,
but it's unwavering. steadfast, striving, battling
for the truth, standing firm, lovingly, kindly,
winsomely, but refusing to move off. He says
unity is rooted in truth. Second, he says maintaining
the same love. He says it's not just about the
truth. This phrase here is have the same love,
mutually love one another the way God has loved
you, honestly, sacrificially. You know, we talk
a lot about Romans 12 here as the profile of
what it is to be a disciple. And in Romans chapter
12, there's a section in the middle about loving
one another. And it says, outdo one another in
honor. Be devoted to one another in brotherly
love. This is the idea. This isn't like some,
yes. well, you know, she's not as spiritual as
I am and I guess they made a mistake. And so,
you know, I'll treat them and I'll forgive them
because, you know, I am superior. He said, no,
this has got to come from the heart. Biblical
unity has to do with a genuine spiritual transformation
that flows from an internal passion and concern
that God gives you because you have received
it. Now you give it third notice. It has the
idea of united in spirit. Literally the phrase.
is like -souled. It means to have a common heart,
not just that you care, a common heart, that
you're real, that you're authentic. No superficiality.
And then the last one here is intent on one purpose.
It's a unity that you say, we're in it together.
We're going to resolve our issues. What God has
done for me, I'm commanded to pass on to you.
Paul, we're going to make your joy complete.
And here's how we're going to do it. We're going
to be one mind. truth. We're going to be one
heart, care for one another. We're going to have
one soul. We're going to connect. And we have
a common purpose, the gospel going forward, people
being loved, the poor being fed, people with
HIV knowing someone cares, the people that are
struggling with sexual identity issues know there's
a church somewhere that cares, that wants to
help. that doesn't condemn, that doesn't bend
on the truth, but actually wants to help people
that are marginalized and struggling. This is
what he's talking about. And it's that kind of
love that turned the world upside down and continues
to turn the world upside down. Family by family,
small group by small group, church by church,
community by community. God has called this church
at this time when it appears that the world is
falling apart and that America is so divided.
God is calling you and he's calling me. Make
my joy complete, my children. I want you to choose
to love. And when you cross your arms and say,
not after what they've done to me, or, you know,
I think those people are crazy and why are these
people doing this? And why are they tweeting
that? And I'm so ticked off. Can you imagine,
honestly? I mean, honestly, can you imagine the
God of heaven looking down upon the creation
that he's made and then looking closely at his
people? The church, I don't mean buildings, people
within the spirit of God, his living. You talk
about someone that ought to be ticked off. And
yet he's patient and kind and gracious. And he's
saying to you, and he's saying to me, this is
a priority. This is a non -negotiable. I'm commanding
you to choose to love one another. Not the golden
rule, the platinum rule. I want you to love other
people the way that I've loved you. Now, I hope
at this point you're saying, okay, I get it.
And those of you that are a little more honest
with yourself could be saying, you know, I can't
do that. And you know what? You'd be right. I
can't either. In fact, God doesn't expect you
to be able to do it. but he's going to tell us
exactly how. So I want you to go back to that
former business associate, that ex -mate, a dad,
a mom, a son, a nephew, an in -law, a current
reality at work, a current, maybe it's not a
huge conflict, but something that keeps rubbing
you the wrong way with a roommate or in your
marriage. And then I want to open the text and
what we're going to learn from God's word, if
you're willing, is that we can choose love and
we can learn how to be a more loving person.
Now, there's no magic pill. If you think that,
you know, in the next, you know, minutes or so,
I'm going to give you some magic pill. Oh, I'm
loving, I'm loving, I love everybody. No, no,
no, no, no. we're going to face some hard things
because what we're going to learn is why we're
unloving, the drastic approach and what we're
going to have to deal with in order to become
loving. And then we're going to start this journey
of choosing love and I'm going to share some
real practical ways that every single person
in this room and every person in the classic
service and every person that's watching online
and every person that ever listens to this ever,
where we can actually go on a journey empowered
by the Spirit of God and become more loving.
Notice the right side of your notes, and it just
asks this question, and we're going to answer
it in just a minute. And the question is, how
to become a more loving person? Choose to declare
war on, write the word, selfishness. Choose,
declare war on selfishness. And as usual, when
I go high -tech here, my iPad is not working,
so I think I'll go with a little bit less technical
one that you all have. Turn to Philippians chapter
2, if you're not already there, and let me read
for you this command. Philippians chapter 2.
We've looked at verses... One and two, follow
along here in chapter two as we read verse three
and four. Do nothing from selfishness or empty
conceit, but in humility of mind, consider others
more important than yourself. Verse four, let
each of you look not only on your own interest,
but also on the interest of others. You may be
looking at this and saying, declare war? Aren't
you getting a little radical here? No, no. We're
born with this innate ability to be selfish.
In fact, let me define selfish ambition here.
Four words. I want my way. That's selfish ambition.
I want my way. You might jot down, it's a me
first mentality. I want to be first in line.
I want the best spot. I want to get on the plane
first. That's one of mine. I want to get to work
first. When I go through the buffet, I want the
best piece of meat. I want the best promotion.
It's me first. I want my needs met in this marriage.
I want my mom and dad to come through for me.
I want my professor to give me what I want when
I want it. It's a me first mentality. I want
to be number one. I'm selfish. Now, it's very
unpopular to admit that. But what is hard to
see in ourselves, isn't it easy to see in others?
I mean, you get out on the freeway, are people
selfish or what? I mean, this isn't like out
there somewhere either. Anybody here tried to
get out of the parking lot here? You know, especially
11 o 'clock service. Now, there are some people,
you know, very Christian, wave you in. And there's
some... Some of you that are still working on
it, let me put it that way. But we're selfish.
But you don't slide out of being selfish. Even
though the living spirit of Christ lives inside
of you and you're born again and you're a part
of the kingdom of God, there's this battle. The
Galatians talks about the spirit wages war against
the flesh. This predisposition toward my way,
my stuff is rooted in your heart and you'll have
it until the day you die. But the Spirit of God
can give you the ability to, in humility, look
at the second half of that text. In humility,
consider others as more important than yourself.
Humility can be a very misunderstood word. So
I came across a very, very interesting article.
I think of humility as not thinking too highly
of yourself, not thinking too lowly of yourself,
but having an accurate, sober self. assessment.
As one person said, humility is not thinking
less of yourself. Humility is just thinking less
about yourself. Beating yourself up, I'm a terrible
person, that's not humility. That's not accurate.
It's just not letting you, it's me not letting
me be the thing and the person I think about
all the time. They're doing science now on the
benefits of virtues, things like forgiveness.
They've done lots of research on gratitude. You
may have read some of that. This is an article
by a professor at George Fox University. It's
called The Science of Humility. It says, researchers
have developed scales to measure intellectual
humility, relational humility, cultural humility,
and some are now working on spiritual humility
as well. As with forgiveness and gratitude, humility
fosters. This is what humility delivers. Are
you ready for this? Humility fosters physical
and mental and relational health. Humble people
are more grateful and forgiving, so they enjoy
the benefits of those virtues. They're also,
humble people are more generous and helpful to
others. Hey, this is a good one. They have better
romantic relationships. For some of you, get
humble right away, okay? They have better romantic
relationships, have less anxiety about death,
and experience less spiritual struggle. Those
parents who are concerned about your kids, people
that are humble perform better at school, show
more compassion to others, and even have better
self -esteem than less humble people. So in other
words, they're doing scientific research. And
what God has commanded, what delights our Father,
and what Christ modeled amazingly, is the genuine
humility. Not putting yourself first, but actually
considering the needs of others. It's what we
call around here, and you'll learn more about
in this series, it's the I am second mentality.
I mean, it just goes completely against everything.
I am second. as I go through the line. I am second
as I drive on the freeway. I am second when I
think about my rights in my marriage. I am second
when I think about the needs with my roommate.
I am second when we're trying to divide something
and see who gets the bigger piece. The article
goes on and says that humility, this is very
important, does not require self -loathing. or
self -belittling, but it calls for us to dial
back our normal tendency, are you ready for this,
to overestimate our abilities and behaviors.
Now, I never do that, and you never do that,
but there's some people out there that overestimate
their abilities and their behaviors, and you
know I'm teasing. I love it. He goes, there's
three characteristics of people that are genuinely
humble. Number one, they have a reasonably accurate
view of themselves. Neither too high or neither
too low. Pretty biblical. Number two is they
care more deeply or have a concern and notice
other people. And then number three is humble
people are teachable. So genuine humility is
rooted in some characteristics and according
to the scientific study, which actually is...
pretty biblical, whether they know it or not,
is that they have a pretty accurate view of themselves.
In other words, I'm not the center of the world.
Are you ready? I'm not the smartest person in
the room. My opinions aren't always the best.
My perspective of what we ought to do or my decision
isn't necessarily better than others, but it
doesn't mean that I don't have good thoughts
and my decisions and my perspective can be very
valid. So they don't think too high. They don't
think too low. The second one is they really
consider the thoughts, the interests, and the
feelings of others. Humble people are sensitive.
Humble people notice the person that when everyone
gets out and walks out of here, humble people
see the people that no one said hi to. Humble
people notice the needs of other people. Genuinely
humble people, I'm always amazed that, you know,
maybe I'll have a passing conversation with someone
and like a week later, two weeks later, like
get a note or get something in the mail. I was
meeting with someone a long time ago and they
watched me fiddle with trying to recharge. You
know, you got all these rechargers and all this
different stuff. Out of the blue, a week later,
I get a package. There's no name. There's no
note. There's no anything. I don't know what
it is. I open the package, and it's one of these
bars that has one, two, three, four, five, where
you can hook in your phone, everything else with
the plug, and you plug the thing in. I use it
every day. Humility. Someone didn't say a word,
saw I had a need, and addressed the need. And
third, and I think this is big, they're teachable.
They realize that they're on the journey too.
How humble are you? For some of your personalities,
I just want to say, please, please don't go to,
oh, I came to church today. I'm a terrible person.
Everything he's talking about, that's me. I'm
an arrogant, terrible person. You know what?
Guess where your focus is at this moment? It's
on you. At the heart of not being humble, is
not thinking lowly of yourself, belittling yourself,
condemning yourself. In fact, the second way
to become more loving is attack the root of the
problem. And then I want you to write in the
word pride. Attack the root of the problem. If
you will, right underneath where you see verse
three, circle the world, empty conceit. Do nothing
from selfish ambition or empty conceit. Selfish
ambition, selfishness is what we do. The root
of the problem is why we do it. That's empty
conceit. Or I love, write this word down. I love
this phrase. It's an old, old, old version of
King James. Vain glory, empty glory. You say,
well, what's vain glory? What's empty conceit?
Well. A good street name is pride, but that's
sort of, it's kind of a big word. Let me give
you some very specific pictures of empty conceit.
Empty conceit is I'm better. I'm more important.
I'm superior. I'm more intelligent. My time matters
more than yours. My life matters more than you.
I have greater value. I have greater worth. Now,
you may not say that outside in your head, but
our behavior, our behavior just screams vain
glory. I like the way I say that, glory, right?
It's this, I'm the center of the world and I
can clothe it with all kinds of Bible verses.
And I can actually, in a Christian way, do image
management to try and project I'm humble. Which
is that the empty conceit, the idea is I want
everyone to have this amazing opinion of me that
I either want for myself or actually think I
have. I made a list because this got very convicting
and I thought, oh boy. I made a list of some
ways that when this happens in me, okay? This
isn't you, this is me. When these things happen
in me, what I know is vain glory, empty conceit,
pride is raising its ugly head. And then I'm
going to talk to you about how to go into training.
And did you notice the violent words I've used?
Declare war, attack. In other words, you got
to get to the root of the problem. This isn't
about, I think I'm going to try and be more loving
and I'll tell someone I forgive. No, this is
heart stuff, root stuff. This is stuff that's
so deeply in your psyche and in your soul and
mind that you have to declare war. I refuse in
light of what God's done for me to be a selfish
person. I'm going to attack the root problem.
And the root problem is in my thinking. I become
the center of things even subtly because in my
thinking, I think I'm better or I want to project
that I'm better. In my thinking, my time and
my money and what I do is more important. It's
lethal. It destroys relationships. It's unloving.
And so when these things happen in my life, what
I know is pride. Defensiveness. Someone makes
a comment to me immediately. It could be my wife.
It can be in a meeting. It could be one of my
kids. It can be someone I don't know very much.
They say something, we're talking about something,
and I hear myself, I'm defensive. Well, why?
Because I've got to guard. I've got to prove.
I've got to protect. Whatever they've said, that
sort of hit a button inside. Second, making excuses.
It's my pride. I didn't do it wrong. I didn't
mess up. It was them. It was late. It was the
traffic. If they would have done this on time,
I would have had it on time. It's, you name it.
In fact, related to that one is when I hear myself
blaming other people, I know that's pride. In
other words, don't look at me and think it's
my fault. See, humility, you know what humility
does? And it actually gains. It actually gains.
the credibility of people. When you actually
make a mistake, when you're actually late, when
you really blow it, when you don't come through,
it's amazing what happens when you say, you know,
hey, I hope you all will, I just apologize. That
was a deadline. I didn't hit it. I could give
you a number of reasons. None of them really
measure up other than I didn't use my time wisely.
I went down some bad paths in terms of how to
solve this problem. I'd like to ask you guys
to forgive me. You know what normally happens?
Everyone in the room knows they do that too.
But so often we blame, we make excuses. In my
marriage for many years, I remember my wife saying
this. She said it in the presence of a counselor,
so it was very unpleasant. Chip, you always have
to have the last word. Does that ring a bell?
You always have to have the last word. And I
had to go into training to realize why. Because
down deep, I've got to be right. I've got to
declare. And it was all about these insecurities
and this pride. I remember evaluating things,
and especially some of you that are... or if
you have some leadership or strategic views of
things, and the challenge is if you're really
pretty good at it. I remember a number of years
ago, it was probably a decade ago, I would hope
it'd be a little bit more, but honestly, probably
about a decade ago, when I realized, when I evaluated
things, I had this subtle view that when I looked
at all the pieces and I aligned all the pieces,
that my view was the truth. My view. In other
words, I've looked at this, I've looked at this,
I've prayed about it, I've got it all together.
My view of this situation is the truth. And boy,
did I find out. Either I didn't read the pieces
right or I didn't have all the pieces. And I
had a couple of experiences where I was so wrong.
And now when I have a conversation where I have
to confront someone and it's really difficult
and it's really tender, I try to always preface
it with something like this. Now I want you to
know that I need to... I need to say a couple
things that will be hard to hear, but here's
what you need to hear first. This is my perspective,
not to be confused with the truth. I don't know
the reality, but what I want you to know and
what I'm responsible, this is my perspective.
I'd like you to take this perspective, and would
you weigh this before God to see what truth is
in it? Do you see the difference? My list is
actually longer. Well, here's one. I was perpetually
late for almost everything for years. You know,
the guy that's dashing onto the plane in the
old years before, you know, there was all that
security or the person who's rushing in and running
out of the parking lot and coming in two minutes
late or five minutes late. I was late, late,
late, late, late. And I tried hard and it really
bugged my wife. And then I had a breakthrough.
My problem was not being late. My problem wasn't
self -will. My problem wasn't discipline. My
problem was grandiosity. And when I saw that
it was so ugly, I changed. Some of you are saying,
so what exactly is grandiosity? Grandiosity is
thinking whatever you're doing is so important.
And if I can say this kindly, we come here on
a weekend. to adore and give our very best to
the creator of the universe and the savior that
died upon a cross to pay for our sin and rose
from the dead and has given us eternal life.
The grandiosity to come in 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes
late. The grandiosity of during a song or during
this time when I'm teaching the very word of
God, you checking your email and having your
phone open. is arrogance. It's just arrogance.
And, you know, please, you know, I always hear
pastors say, I don't want you to feel guilty.
Actually, I want you to feel guilty. If you're
guilty, guilt's a really good thing. If there's
genuine sorrow, you repent and you realize, oh,
I never thought of it that way. I'm not saying
you thought of it intentionally. I'm just telling
you what it is. If this was a U2 concert, this
place would be packed two hours and people would
rush to get in. When you buy tickets to a movie,
you don't go a half hour late. See, we have a
consumer mindset. There is a grandiosity and
an arrogance. And it needs to be changed. And
so notice point number three is choose to practice
humility daily by putting others' needs and interests
ahead of your own. Don't consider just your own
interest, although the passage is clear, take
them into account, but consider the interests
of others as more important than your own. Where
are we going to go to eat? Where would you like
to go to eat? Maybe this person has to get to
work. It's as important or more important than
you. What would happen? What would happen? If
we declared war on selfishness, if we said, I'm
gonna attack the root of this problem, which
is really my own pride, this empty conceit, this
vain glory. And then this week, I'm gonna go
into training and I'm gonna choose very specifically
in little, little things that'll grow into bigger
and bigger things. I'm gonna choose in my money
to be generous. I'm gonna choose in my time to
be generous. And we'll talk about exactly how
very specifically to put that in practice. Ask
yourself, where does my money go? Loving toward
God and others or me? Where does my time go?
Toward God and others or me? Where does my energy
go? Father, I pray now as there are many, many,
many relationships that are fractured. And it
will require only one person to admit at the
heart of it, regardless of the other person,
that pride and selfishness and arrogance is at
the core and a repentance before you. And then
the next steps of asking forgiveness and restitution
and even reconciliation in some cases where it's
possible. So Lord, would you bring to mind in
this room the people that need to get a call?
a lunch, a coffee, a text, a letter, a note of
apology, so that we could love others the way
you've loved us. This is Living on the Edge with
Chip Ingram, and we're in our series called Choosing
Love. If you're ready to turn today's challenge
into lasting change, Chip's newest book, I Choose
Love, gives you the practical roadmap you need.
It doesn't just tell you what to do. It shows
you how to do it. You'll learn to recognize the
subtle ways pride and selfishness sabotage your
relationships. You'll discover practical exercises
to develop genuine humility. And you'll see how
choosing agape love, the sacrificial, others
-focused love of God, transforms even your most
difficult relationships. I Choose Love addresses
the real issues we all face. The tendency to
need the last word. The subtle belief that our
perspective is the truth. The grandiosity that
shows up in small ways like chronic lateness.
Chip gets brutally honest about his own struggles,
and he shows you the path forward. If you're
tired of broken relationships and ready to experience
love that actually works, get your copy of I
Choose Love today. Visit livingontheedge .org.
And friend, this Bible teaching program is reaching
you and countless others because of the faithful
giving of listeners just like you. When you give
to Living on the Edge, you're multiplying this
message of transformative love around the world.
Would you join us? Visit livingontheedge .org
to give or just call us at 888 -333 -6003. Well,
that wraps up today's episode. Don't miss the
next Bible teaching message coming up here on
the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast. Today's program
is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.