WEBVTT 00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:04.559 This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:07.719 to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast, 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:10.560 you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.419 beginning to end. Well, here's Chip with today's 00:00:14.419 --> 00:00:17.519 message, God's Dream for Your Life. I want you 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:21.019 to know that every parent has a dream for your 00:00:21.019 --> 00:00:23.640 child. I want you to think back, if you're a 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:26.640 parent, if not, just listen and think about this 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:30.059 is what your parents were thinking. Every parent, 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.179 I want you to go back to that firstborn. You 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:36.240 didn't have any kids and your wife was pregnant 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:40.159 or you were the wife and you are pregnant. And 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:42.380 you thought about all the things that went through 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:44.320 your mind about what this little boy or what 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:47.020 this little girl might be like and the dreams 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:50.039 and the thoughts and the hopes and the aspirations. 00:00:51.740 --> 00:00:54.299 And what I want to tell you is that God has a 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:56.799 dream for his children. But what we do is we 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.840 get that sort of theological over there and somehow 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:02.920 we think he's more like the transcendent force 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:05.760 out there someday, some way. And there's rules 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:08.719 and standards to live up to. And so for you to 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:12.079 capture the emotion of how God feels, I want 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:15.060 to share a very brief and personal story about 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:17.980 when I understood how deeply God plants desires 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:22.099 and dreams for us, for our kids. It was our firstborn 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:25.109 for Teresa and myself. We were at a banquet. 00:01:26.609 --> 00:01:28.909 Middle of the banquet, Teresa says, Chip, it 00:01:28.909 --> 00:01:32.049 is time. I said, Teresa, let's go. You know, 00:01:32.069 --> 00:01:34.909 you don't know what you're doing. The contractions 00:01:34.909 --> 00:01:37.129 had been about three hours. We go home, get things 00:01:37.129 --> 00:01:40.769 set up. We go to Baylor Hospital. For the next 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:44.609 27 hours, Teresa and I will be together. It's 00:01:44.609 --> 00:01:49.109 a long labor. There's complications. For a number 00:01:49.109 --> 00:01:52.069 of reasons, they can't take the baby. They find 00:01:52.069 --> 00:01:54.129 out something's wrong. They put a monitor on 00:01:54.129 --> 00:01:57.629 this little boy inside of my wife. And I sit 00:01:57.629 --> 00:02:00.909 next to her for 27 hours. And that little monitor, 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:02.750 if you know, a baby's heartbeat goes like this. 00:02:02.930 --> 00:02:04.609 Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, 00:02:04.609 --> 00:02:07.370 beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, right? And then 00:02:07.370 --> 00:02:10.090 she would have a contraction. And it would go 00:02:10.090 --> 00:02:15.189 beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Beep. Then doctors 00:02:15.189 --> 00:02:18.860 and nurses would run in. Beep, beep, beep, beep, 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:20.400 beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:23.919 beep. And we went through that. About three times 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.199 in 27 hours, about every eight hours, we just 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:28.979 stopped and we prayed and we cried and we gave 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:31.680 that little boy back to God. And I thought, we 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.180 may have him, we may not. Then I started thinking 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:36.759 about Teresa and I may not have her. What's going 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:40.680 to happen? And with 27 hours, I had a lot of 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:43.620 time to think about all the dreams I had for 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:45.919 that little boy that came to the surface that 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:49.990 I thought I might lose. And I want you to know 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:53.810 that something deep, deep inside of me was so 00:02:53.810 --> 00:02:57.949 fearful and grieving at what I might lose. And 00:02:57.949 --> 00:03:00.449 then when that little boy was born, 27 hours 00:03:00.449 --> 00:03:05.430 later, that nurse wiped him off. Teresa was wiped 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:09.330 out. I think she said hi. And then they put that 00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:12.009 baby in my arms. And it was one of those places 00:03:12.009 --> 00:03:13.770 where they really thought the dad was important. 00:03:13.770 --> 00:03:17.659 And I got a half hour with my son. And I held 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:20.659 that little baby and I just, I held that baby 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:24.400 with tears streaming down my face thinking I 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:26.680 didn't know if this was going to happen. And 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:28.819 I thought of all the dreams I might have lost. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:31.659 And I still remember it was a linoleum floor 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:34.719 and I had such a sense of gratitude. I remember 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:37.639 getting on my knees on a linoleum floor and holding 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:40.780 that little boy and just crying and thanking 00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:47.699 God. And I want you to know why. Because I'm 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:51.319 made in the image of God and embedded in the 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.659 heart of a father and embedded in the heart of 00:03:54.659 --> 00:03:58.460 a mother is a dream and a desire for your kids 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:02.500 because God made you. And that's how he feels 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:06.270 about you. And for many of us, when our kids 00:04:06.270 --> 00:04:08.250 are small, the dreams, and we're sort of young, 00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:10.409 immature parents, we have dreams like, I hope 00:04:10.409 --> 00:04:12.750 he's a baseball player, or I hope she's musical, 00:04:12.870 --> 00:04:15.270 or it'd be great if she's athletic or artistic. 00:04:15.409 --> 00:04:17.569 And then as you get a little bit older and they 00:04:17.569 --> 00:04:19.829 go through some stages in life, then you will 00:04:19.829 --> 00:04:21.689 hope they get a good job and hope they do well 00:04:21.689 --> 00:04:24.269 in school. And a lot of the dreams are about 00:04:24.269 --> 00:04:27.610 kind of what they do. Then the older you get 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:30.089 and the older they get, you get to where I don't 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:34.540 care what they do. I just want a kid that loves 00:04:34.540 --> 00:04:38.319 me, loves God, tells the truth. Your dreams turn 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.180 into what kind of person will this be? Because 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:45.639 here's what I will tell you. Potentially the 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:48.459 greatest joys you will ever experience on this 00:04:48.459 --> 00:04:51.259 earth will be connected to the relationship with 00:04:51.259 --> 00:04:53.600 your child and the greatest heartache and the 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:57.240 greatest pain you may ever experience is related 00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:00.949 to your children. No one can hurt you as deeply 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:04.750 as your kids. They're part of you. Your heart's 00:05:04.750 --> 00:05:08.009 tied up in them. And if I could get a microphone 00:05:08.009 --> 00:05:10.170 and pass it around here tonight and we could 00:05:10.170 --> 00:05:12.230 tell stories about kids that have made really 00:05:12.230 --> 00:05:14.370 bad decisions or kids that are in addictions 00:05:14.370 --> 00:05:16.889 or kids that don't talk to you anymore or kids 00:05:16.889 --> 00:05:18.949 that, tell you what, how many of us would say, 00:05:19.029 --> 00:05:21.569 I could care less what school they went to, I 00:05:21.569 --> 00:05:24.089 could care less what kind of job, if we had a 00:05:24.089 --> 00:05:28.040 great, loving relationship. and we were friends 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.920 as their adult children, I wouldn't care about 00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:33.899 any of the rest, would we? Because see, at the 00:05:33.899 --> 00:05:35.740 end of the day, the real dream in your heart 00:05:35.740 --> 00:05:39.660 is not about what your kids do. It's about who 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:43.040 they become, and it's about their relation and 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.220 genuine connection to you. And you'll notice 00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:48.399 on your notes, I want you to know this, is that 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:52.459 our Heavenly Father has a dream for every one 00:05:52.459 --> 00:05:55.939 of His children. And God's dream is to make you 00:05:55.939 --> 00:06:01.160 like his, write the word, son. Be ye mature or 00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:05.040 fulfill your design, Matthew 5, verse 48 says. 00:06:05.420 --> 00:06:08.040 Be ye perfect even as your heavenly father is 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:11.180 perfect. In Romans 8, 29, he says God uses every 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:14.420 circumstance, every up, every down, every relationship, 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:17.060 everything we ever go through to conform us to 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:19.459 the image of his son. He says in Ephesians 4 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.470 that the whole purpose of the church is designed 00:06:22.470 --> 00:06:25.370 so that through the relationships that we have 00:06:25.370 --> 00:06:27.970 and the gifts that God places in the body is 00:06:27.970 --> 00:06:30.170 that we would all grow up to the measure of the 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:33.029 stature of the fullness of Christ. You need to 00:06:33.029 --> 00:06:36.990 understand, primarily your life with your Heavenly 00:06:36.990 --> 00:06:39.509 Father is not about what you do, not about what 00:06:39.509 --> 00:06:41.649 you accomplish, not what kind of job you have, 00:06:41.829 --> 00:06:44.189 not how many points you're scoring spiritually. 00:06:44.449 --> 00:06:49.110 His primary dream is the kind of person you become. 00:06:50.829 --> 00:06:54.449 The kind of relationship you have with him. He 00:06:54.449 --> 00:06:58.730 wants you to be a loving, kind, gentle, holy 00:06:58.730 --> 00:07:03.110 person who walks in integrity. He wants to have 00:07:03.110 --> 00:07:06.610 casual conversations and have you talk with him 00:07:06.610 --> 00:07:09.170 when you're driving in the car and when you come 00:07:09.170 --> 00:07:11.350 to the crossroads of big decisions and everyone 00:07:11.350 --> 00:07:14.050 says do this and your heavenly father says do 00:07:14.050 --> 00:07:16.790 that. He wants you to say, Father, I want to 00:07:16.790 --> 00:07:20.410 do it your way. I want to please you. He wants 00:07:20.410 --> 00:07:24.110 intimate, loving, deep relationship with you. 00:07:25.730 --> 00:07:29.089 Unfortunately, in our day, we have a crisis in 00:07:29.089 --> 00:07:32.410 Christianity. Something has happened in the last 00:07:32.410 --> 00:07:35.269 40 to 60 years that is unprecedented, and it's 00:07:35.269 --> 00:07:40.449 awesome, and it's amazing. Literally, more millions 00:07:40.449 --> 00:07:42.990 and millions and tens of millions of people have 00:07:42.990 --> 00:07:45.750 come to Christ in the last 40 to 60 years than 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:48.350 in like the last two or three centuries. The 00:07:48.350 --> 00:07:50.370 gospel's gone around the world like never before. 00:07:50.509 --> 00:07:53.050 More people have authentically said, Lord Jesus, 00:07:53.170 --> 00:07:54.990 I recognize that you're the God of the universe. 00:07:55.149 --> 00:07:57.269 You paid for my sin. You rose from the dead. 00:07:57.689 --> 00:08:00.329 I trust in you. And he comes into their heart. 00:08:02.050 --> 00:08:04.810 But in the words of John Stott, the former great 00:08:04.810 --> 00:08:07.970 statesman who traveled all around the world, 00:08:08.110 --> 00:08:11.449 he said, Christianity has never had growth like 00:08:11.449 --> 00:08:13.730 it's had in the last four or five decades, but 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:17.079 it's about 16 million miles wide. and about a 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:20.120 sixteenth of an inch thick. He said, the greatest 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:23.620 need in Christendom today in every country of 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.120 the world, except where there's persecution or 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.339 focused discipleship, is spiritual maturity. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:33.200 All the Barna reports, all the Gallup reports, 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:37.059 many of our own experiences tell us what? About 00:08:37.059 --> 00:08:39.740 eight out of 10 people who claim the name of 00:08:39.740 --> 00:08:44.080 Christ have very little family resemblance. You 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:47.750 know what I'm saying? I mean, When you're spiritually 00:08:47.750 --> 00:08:50.230 mature, you think like Jesus and you walk like 00:08:50.230 --> 00:08:52.830 Jesus and you love like Jesus and you're selfless 00:08:52.830 --> 00:08:54.929 like Jesus and your priorities and your money 00:08:54.929 --> 00:08:57.090 and your time are just like Jesus living inside 00:08:57.090 --> 00:09:00.190 your body. But for many, many, many, many people, 00:09:00.289 --> 00:09:05.549 the great vast majority, their words and their 00:09:05.549 --> 00:09:08.470 intellectual belief system about Jesus and God 00:09:08.470 --> 00:09:11.009 is over here and their actual lifestyles are 00:09:11.009 --> 00:09:14.070 over here. And that's why there's an awful lot 00:09:14.070 --> 00:09:16.860 of people that are outside of Christ, that look 00:09:16.860 --> 00:09:19.360 at Christianity, and they look at churches, and 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:21.600 they meet people who are genuine followers of 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.480 Christ, and they say, you know something? If 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:26.440 that's it, I don't think I want it. I think it's 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:29.679 the greatest need in the world today is for Christians 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.600 to live like Christians. And here's what's exciting. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.360 It's not guesswork. It's not about trying hard. 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:41.159 It's not about being religious. God gives us 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:44.940 a very clear picture of what his dream is for 00:09:44.940 --> 00:09:48.259 your life in Romans chapter 12. God's dream for 00:09:48.259 --> 00:09:51.320 every child is to become a disciple or a follower, 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.460 and you can write it in a Romans 12 Christian. 00:09:55.139 --> 00:09:57.720 That's his will. Are you ready? His will for 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:00.620 every child of God on the face of the earth, 00:10:00.740 --> 00:10:03.279 regardless of background, nationality, gender, 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:07.480 denomination, God's desire, God's will for every 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:11.110 single follower is that they would become a Romans 00:10:11.110 --> 00:10:14.570 12 Christian. Now, I'm not saying that Romans 00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:17.929 12 is all there is to being a disciple, but here's 00:10:17.929 --> 00:10:21.429 what I'm saying. I'm saying it is the executive 00:10:21.429 --> 00:10:25.330 summary. It's the snapshot. It's like this amazing 00:10:25.330 --> 00:10:28.289 mind that God gave the Apostle Paul. He takes 00:10:28.289 --> 00:10:31.070 all the teachings of Jesus, and for 11 chapters, 00:10:31.110 --> 00:10:33.610 he writes about the work of Christ and the sin 00:10:33.610 --> 00:10:36.110 of mankind, all that God has accomplished, and 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:38.149 how much he loves people. And then in chapter 00:10:38.149 --> 00:10:42.490 12, he stops. and he gives us a snapshot, and 00:10:42.490 --> 00:10:44.710 he gives us this very quick kind of cliff note 00:10:44.710 --> 00:10:47.509 snapshot. It's like some of those people in the 00:10:47.509 --> 00:10:49.769 venture capital world, and someone has a big 00:10:49.769 --> 00:10:53.409 plan, and they got a new product, and you know 00:10:53.409 --> 00:10:55.809 what? It might be 20 or 30 or 50 or 80 pages 00:10:55.809 --> 00:10:58.889 of research, but my experience when I talk with 00:10:58.889 --> 00:11:00.649 those guys is if you can't give me on one or 00:11:00.649 --> 00:11:02.990 two pages the whole game plan, what you want 00:11:02.990 --> 00:11:04.830 to do, how you want to get it done, I won't even 00:11:04.830 --> 00:11:08.750 read it. And the Apostle Paul gives us the executive 00:11:08.750 --> 00:11:11.990 summary of what it means to be truly spiritual. 00:11:12.850 --> 00:11:14.690 What we're gonna learn as we go through it, number 00:11:14.690 --> 00:11:16.610 one, are you ready for this? It's relational. 00:11:17.350 --> 00:11:19.289 Look in your notes. Will you open your notes 00:11:19.289 --> 00:11:22.490 and just look at them completely open? And if 00:11:22.490 --> 00:11:26.029 you have a pen, circle a few keywords just as 00:11:26.029 --> 00:11:27.909 we go through the passage. All we're gonna do 00:11:27.909 --> 00:11:30.110 is give an overview and we'll dig into each of 00:11:30.110 --> 00:11:32.049 these sections, but circle the word. It says 00:11:32.049 --> 00:11:36.149 relationship with God. Circle the word God. Verse 00:11:36.149 --> 00:11:38.490 1 is going to talk about what's the snapshot 00:11:38.490 --> 00:11:41.129 of spiritual maturity, of true spirituality with 00:11:41.129 --> 00:11:43.509 God. Then go down, it says, look, it's the relationship 00:11:43.509 --> 00:11:45.529 with the world. Circle the phrase, the world. 00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:48.230 There's a world system that we're going to learn 00:11:48.230 --> 00:11:51.350 about. A world system that's anti -God, that's 00:11:51.350 --> 00:11:53.710 energized by the enemy of your soul, seeking 00:11:53.710 --> 00:11:56.210 to seduce you away from your love for Christ. 00:11:56.769 --> 00:11:58.370 And then it's going to talk about your relationship 00:11:58.370 --> 00:12:02.009 with yourself. Circle the word yourself. We're 00:12:02.009 --> 00:12:03.549 going to learn a little bit later that God wants 00:12:03.549 --> 00:12:07.029 you to have an accurate, Sober self -assessment. 00:12:07.129 --> 00:12:09.330 Then notice that we talk about relationship on 00:12:09.330 --> 00:12:11.370 the second page, relationship with believers. 00:12:11.549 --> 00:12:14.269 Circle the world believers. There's a way that 00:12:14.269 --> 00:12:18.190 spiritually mature, authentic followers relate 00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:20.490 with other Christians in a way that does amazing 00:12:20.490 --> 00:12:22.950 things in them and amazing things in others. 00:12:23.129 --> 00:12:25.330 And then finally, circle the last one. It's a 00:12:25.330 --> 00:12:28.840 relationship with non -believers. There's a way 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:30.980 that people that love Jesus, where his spirit 00:12:30.980 --> 00:12:33.840 lives inside of you, respond to the harshest, 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:36.320 most difficult, painful evil that comes into 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:40.740 your life. The second thing you learn about a 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:43.980 Romans 12 Christian is that it's practical and 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:47.759 it's measurable. Okay, this isn't just a ooey 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.539 -gooey spiritual feeling. Follow along, if you 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:52.740 will. Notice what it says in verse 1. Therefore, 00:12:52.820 --> 00:12:54.860 I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, 00:12:54.940 --> 00:12:58.279 to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.019 and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act 00:13:01.019 --> 00:13:03.960 of worship. We'll look at this, but this word 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:07.000 for offer is at a point in time. And what he's 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:09.100 going to say is that here's what you can know 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:14.179 practically and measurably. A spiritually mature, 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:18.610 authentic follower is surrendered to God. On 00:13:18.610 --> 00:13:21.909 a certain day, at a certain time, on their spiritual 00:13:21.909 --> 00:13:26.210 journey, a man or a woman or a student has realized 00:13:26.210 --> 00:13:29.169 how great and how powerful God is and that his 00:13:29.169 --> 00:13:31.789 will is good, and you have bowed the knee and 00:13:31.789 --> 00:13:34.269 bowed the heart and said to God, I'm all in. 00:13:34.470 --> 00:13:37.210 I will do whatever you want me to do. Your word 00:13:37.210 --> 00:13:39.330 will be the guide of my life. I want to arrange 00:13:39.330 --> 00:13:41.590 my life, my relationships, and my priorities 00:13:41.590 --> 00:13:46.649 around whatever you say. And that answers one 00:13:46.649 --> 00:13:49.169 of the biggest questions. that you'll ever face 00:13:49.169 --> 00:13:53.149 in your life. And that question is this. How 00:13:53.149 --> 00:13:56.250 do you give God what he wants the most? Have 00:13:56.250 --> 00:13:58.269 you ever thought about that? God is a person. 00:13:58.330 --> 00:14:02.909 He's not some invisible, transcendent, impersonal 00:14:02.909 --> 00:14:07.169 force. He's a person. And if you have a good 00:14:07.169 --> 00:14:10.909 friend, and they have a birthday, don't you ask 00:14:10.909 --> 00:14:13.110 questions like, I wonder what he or she would 00:14:13.110 --> 00:14:15.710 want for their birthday? Or if you're married, 00:14:16.269 --> 00:14:19.450 You say, I wonder what my mate would want the 00:14:19.450 --> 00:14:22.190 most. Or if you're a parent, I wonder how I could 00:14:22.190 --> 00:14:24.929 really help or bless my kids the most. Have you 00:14:24.929 --> 00:14:28.769 ever asked yourself, I wonder what God wants 00:14:28.769 --> 00:14:31.929 the most from me? And you know what you're going 00:14:31.929 --> 00:14:39.289 to learn? He wants you. He wants you. Not your 00:14:39.289 --> 00:14:41.919 religious activity. I mean, there's a place for 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:43.860 Bible study. There's a place for church. There's 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:45.759 a place for prayer. There's a place for all kind 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.399 of things. But you can do all those things and 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:53.059 him not have you. My observation is in most Christians' 00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:56.259 life, there's a missing ingredient. And Romans 00:14:56.259 --> 00:15:02.100 12 not only is relational and practical, it answers 00:15:02.100 --> 00:15:05.159 this big question and it also gives us the missing 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:08.409 ingredient in every relationship. And the missing 00:15:08.409 --> 00:15:12.129 ingredient in most Christians' lives, and you 00:15:12.129 --> 00:15:14.269 just jot this on the side of your notes, is power. 00:15:15.169 --> 00:15:19.809 We're anemic. So many Christians try really, 00:15:19.909 --> 00:15:23.190 really hard. We've had tens of thousands of small 00:15:23.190 --> 00:15:25.450 groups in America and around the world go through 00:15:25.450 --> 00:15:29.950 this material. So I've got like research. And 00:15:29.950 --> 00:15:31.789 there's still one email that I remember reading 00:15:31.789 --> 00:15:36.330 and thinking, wow. Lady said I was at the kitchen 00:15:36.330 --> 00:15:40.379 sink. doing the dishes. And that morning I woke 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:42.539 up and I felt kind of distant from God. I've 00:15:42.539 --> 00:15:45.500 been a Christian about 22 years. And for some 00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:48.840 reason, I just thought about, I wonder if any 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:51.779 friend described me, if they would even use the 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:55.139 word good Christian or someone who really loves 00:15:55.139 --> 00:15:59.139 God with my name. And she said, you know, I've 00:15:59.139 --> 00:16:01.340 tried, failed, tried, failed, tried, failed. 00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:04.740 I know that I'm born again. I've been a Christian 00:16:04.740 --> 00:16:08.899 22 years. I have an alcohol problem that I presently 00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:12.460 have right now. And I have an immorality problem 00:16:12.460 --> 00:16:20.139 and a porn problem. And I don't like me. And 00:16:20.139 --> 00:16:23.879 those thoughts that guilt because of... how I'm 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:25.940 living, we're popping up, and I'm doing the dishes, 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:28.240 and the radio was on, and this message comes 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:30.960 on about becoming a Romans 12 Christian, and 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:33.320 it was the one on surrender. And she said, as 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:35.679 I was doing the dishes, the tears just started 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.379 streaming down my face. And she said, I never 00:16:38.379 --> 00:16:42.019 heard that before. I never understood that before. 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:45.379 And she talked about drying her hands, going 00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:47.940 to her bedroom, kneeling by her bed, and telling 00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:51.120 God, I can't do this. I can't live this life. 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:54.460 I surrender to you. And the rest of that email 00:16:54.460 --> 00:16:57.159 was, that was four and a half months ago. And 00:16:57.159 --> 00:16:59.200 let me tell you what God did in my life since 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:03.980 then. Power. You know, if you've ever been in 00:17:03.980 --> 00:17:05.839 one of those water fights in the backyard and 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.319 someone starts with a squirt gun, right? And 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:09.539 if you're smart, what do you do? You get the 00:17:09.539 --> 00:17:12.680 hose. And so they got one of those guns and you 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:16.400 get the hose. But what does someone really, really 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.019 smart do if you get the hose? They go over here 00:17:20.019 --> 00:17:23.210 and they grab the hose and they... They kink 00:17:23.210 --> 00:17:26.349 it. And when they kink it, how much water comes 00:17:26.349 --> 00:17:31.809 out? None. What I want you to understand is you 00:17:31.809 --> 00:17:34.930 can be a legitimate, sincere, born -again believer 00:17:34.930 --> 00:17:40.089 in Jesus, and if your hose is kinked, if your 00:17:40.089 --> 00:17:42.750 life isn't surrendered, you don't experience 00:17:42.750 --> 00:17:47.410 his power. And so all it becomes is this moralism. 00:17:48.329 --> 00:17:51.289 and attempts to live a life that's absolutely 00:17:51.289 --> 00:17:56.049 impossible. Becoming a Romans 12 Christian begins 00:17:56.049 --> 00:17:58.390 in your relationship with God by being surrendered 00:17:58.390 --> 00:18:01.250 to him. But notice beginning in verse two, it 00:18:01.250 --> 00:18:03.650 says, do not conform any longer to the pattern 00:18:03.650 --> 00:18:06.450 of this world, but be transformed by the renewing 00:18:06.450 --> 00:18:09.009 of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and 00:18:09.009 --> 00:18:11.890 approve what God's will is, that which is good 00:18:11.890 --> 00:18:15.700 and pleasing and perfect. There's a negative 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:17.599 and a positive command, and we're gonna develop 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.019 this and talk about it, but in essence, what 00:18:20.019 --> 00:18:22.759 he says is, with regard to this world system 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:27.180 that tells you that money and stuff and sex and 00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:30.539 power and prestige will deliver on security and 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:33.359 significant and great relationships, he's saying, 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:36.839 you gotta live separate from the world's values. 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:42.039 You can't let it, but notice he doesn't say try 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:44.359 hard to be a good Christian. He says, Let your 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:48.180 mind be transformed. Then you'll test your experience. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:51.119 You know the question, the big question in life 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:54.019 this verse answers? How do you get the very best 00:18:54.019 --> 00:18:58.299 from God? How do you get the very best from God? 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:01.880 Verse one answers, how do you give God what he 00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:05.819 really wants? Verse two says, if God really loves 00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:09.319 me and he died for me and he rose from the dead 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:11.859 and he has a plan for my life, how do you tap 00:19:11.859 --> 00:19:14.900 into that? We'll explain from this verse exactly 00:19:14.900 --> 00:19:18.940 how it works. And the missing ingredient I find 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:21.940 in the great majority of Christians that I talk 00:19:21.940 --> 00:19:26.200 to is not just lack of power because of an unsurrendered 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:31.339 life, but a lack of peace. There's Christians 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:32.960 that can't come in. You got to turn on the TV. 00:19:33.380 --> 00:19:35.680 You got to go to the refrigerator. When you get 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:37.640 in the car, you got to put sound and music on 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:42.119 because absolute, dead, deathly quiet. times 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:47.579 make you very uncomfortable. There are few positions, 00:19:47.660 --> 00:19:50.140 I think, in all the world that are more miserable 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:53.880 than a legitimate, born -again follower of Jesus 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:57.240 in whom the Spirit of God lives, who lives with 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:00.519 one foot in walking with God and the other foot 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.240 in the world system. I happen to be an expert 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:07.619 on this. I've done extensive personal research. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:10.599 I know what it's like to be at Bible study on 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:13.319 Thursday night and hit every bar on Friday night. 00:20:13.420 --> 00:20:16.279 I have been over here where I've, oh, Bible study 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:18.700 and talking about sexual purity and lusted like 00:20:18.700 --> 00:20:20.759 crazy over here and telling God I'll never do 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:23.619 this, this, this or that again. I know, and I 00:20:23.619 --> 00:20:25.619 will tell you, I was the most miserable Christian 00:20:25.619 --> 00:20:29.099 in the world for the first three years. That 00:20:29.099 --> 00:20:32.700 is the place the great majority of believers 00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:38.529 live. And we forfeit God's peace. The guilt and 00:20:38.529 --> 00:20:41.309 the shame of logging on. The guilt and the shame 00:20:41.309 --> 00:20:43.890 of flirting over here. The guilt and the shame 00:20:43.890 --> 00:20:46.769 of all the kind of stuff that you're lured into 00:20:46.769 --> 00:20:50.410 as the world conforms your thinking to a bankrupt 00:20:50.410 --> 00:20:54.349 system that never delivers. See, God loves us 00:20:54.349 --> 00:20:56.289 too much for that. We're gonna learn. Are you 00:20:56.289 --> 00:20:58.509 ready? We're gonna learn how to break that cycle. 00:20:59.029 --> 00:21:01.710 How God's spirit and God's power can help you 00:21:01.710 --> 00:21:03.990 live the kind of life that you long to and that 00:21:03.990 --> 00:21:06.259 he wants for you. And we'll learn that's how 00:21:06.259 --> 00:21:10.200 you get his best. Beginning in verse three and 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:13.279 through eight, we learn that in our relationship 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:18.779 to ourselves, God desires a sober self -assessment. 00:21:20.019 --> 00:21:21.980 Notice the little phrase, for by the grace of 00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:25.420 God. What I want you to hear in all where he 00:21:25.420 --> 00:21:28.420 sort of sets the bar of holiness and righteousness 00:21:28.420 --> 00:21:30.319 and what it means to have true spirituality, 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:32.880 I want you to hear behind it this compassionate 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:36.460 heart of love. For by the grace of God, I say 00:21:36.460 --> 00:21:38.740 to every man among you, don't think more highly 00:21:38.740 --> 00:21:40.759 of yourself than you ought to think, but think 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:43.539 as to have sound or sober judgment as God has 00:21:43.539 --> 00:21:48.039 allotted to each a measure of faith. He talks 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:50.369 about... How you get that and how you're a part 00:21:50.369 --> 00:21:53.250 of a body. And we'll discover that he's deposited 00:21:53.250 --> 00:21:55.569 a supernatural gift. If you look at verses six 00:21:55.569 --> 00:21:58.130 through eight, we'll cover all those later. But 00:21:58.130 --> 00:22:00.430 he wants you in your relationship to yourself 00:22:00.430 --> 00:22:03.750 to look in the physical mirror and to look in 00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:06.289 the spiritual and the relational mirror and say, 00:22:06.309 --> 00:22:12.250 I like that person. God made them. That personality, 00:22:12.430 --> 00:22:16.940 that gifts, that height, that eye color. Those 00:22:16.940 --> 00:22:20.299 struggles, that family background, and the sovereignty 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:23.319 of God. He wants you to have an accurate, sober 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:26.960 view of yourself. In that one verse, that word 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:29.460 sober, think, think, think, four different times. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:33.660 God wants you to see yourself the way he sees 00:22:33.660 --> 00:22:42.619 you. Dearly loved, valuable, precious, forgiven. 00:22:46.180 --> 00:22:50.240 And you know the big question this answers? How 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.880 do you come to grips with the real you? I mean, 00:22:53.900 --> 00:22:56.579 do you realize how much time and energy and money 00:22:56.579 --> 00:23:00.900 and posing and image management we do? Just as 00:23:00.900 --> 00:23:03.700 normal human beings, even as Christians, to try 00:23:03.700 --> 00:23:05.539 and project to all these different people that 00:23:05.539 --> 00:23:07.519 I'm like this and I'm like this and I'm dressed 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:09.400 like that and I'm cool like that and I know this 00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:11.400 and did you know I know so and so and this is 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:13.539 how many people report to me or my son or my 00:23:13.539 --> 00:23:15.519 daughter, they got this on their SAT scores and 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.299 he hit two home runs and I want you to know I 00:23:17.299 --> 00:23:20.599 went to an Ivy League school and this purse, 00:23:20.599 --> 00:23:22.380 it's not a knockoff, it's really real and this 00:23:22.380 --> 00:23:24.960 watch, it really is and I got promoted and yeah, 00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:29.240 yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you spiritualize 00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:31.200 it all and you get into Bible study. Well, according 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:33.019 to so -and -so's commentary, when I was reading 00:23:33.019 --> 00:23:34.640 the Greek text a little bit earlier in preparation 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:39.940 for this, we do it, we do it, we do it, we do 00:23:39.940 --> 00:23:46.279 it. This section will teach you how to come to 00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:48.480 grips with the real you and then it supplies 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.599 the missing ingredient. Verse one supplies the 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:55.640 power when you understand it. Verse two supplies 00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:59.549 the peace. And verse 3 supplies your purpose. 00:24:01.069 --> 00:24:06.930 Because see, God made you specifically. You are 00:24:06.930 --> 00:24:09.730 his workmanship. You're created in Christ Jesus 00:24:09.730 --> 00:24:12.069 unto a good work which before the foundations 00:24:12.069 --> 00:24:15.150 of the earth. So guess what? He's gifted you 00:24:15.150 --> 00:24:18.910 to do something specific. In his sovereignty, 00:24:19.109 --> 00:24:21.710 he has you in relationships that have been difficult 00:24:21.710 --> 00:24:25.470 in some ways and empowering in others. But God 00:24:25.470 --> 00:24:29.079 has a purpose for your life. When you're always 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:32.259 pretending to be someone else or comparing yourself 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:34.880 with someone else and not accepting these are 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:36.740 my strengths, these are my weaknesses, these 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:39.460 are my gifts, this is my background, this produces 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:41.819 some difficulty and dependency, this produces 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:43.960 some great things. Until you get a sober self 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:46.539 -assessment, you end up playing games your whole 00:24:46.539 --> 00:24:50.099 life. You try to fulfill your mom's purpose or 00:24:50.099 --> 00:24:52.240 your dad's purpose or the culture's purpose or 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:54.380 the company's purpose or what other people think. 00:24:54.460 --> 00:24:57.220 Do you know how freeing it is to understand this 00:24:57.220 --> 00:25:01.819 is why I'm here. My purpose is this. And this 00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:03.599 is what I'm good at and this is what I'm not 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:05.720 good at. This is where I need help and this is 00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:08.579 where I need to step out and let God use me. 00:25:09.140 --> 00:25:12.960 It's revolutionary. It's absolutely revolutionary. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:17.539 I have a good friend over in Santa Cruz, and 00:25:17.539 --> 00:25:22.920 he was a fellow entrepreneur. He ran half of 00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:24.759 the United States of one of those really, really 00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:27.799 giant companies and saw that he was kind of losing 00:25:27.799 --> 00:25:29.980 touch with his family and the travel, and so 00:25:29.980 --> 00:25:31.700 he decided that he would start a business of 00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:36.059 his own. So he developed about 26 of these stores 00:25:36.059 --> 00:25:39.680 around, kind of like Joanne's or Michael's, but 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:41.460 he called it by his wife's name, which I thought 00:25:41.460 --> 00:25:44.720 was very nice. and he became a mentor of mine. 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:47.200 I'd spent a lot of time, and he would help me, 00:25:47.299 --> 00:25:50.420 and I was teaching through sort of in the infant 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:52.980 stages of my journey about a sober self -assessment 00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:55.319 and a part of that understanding what your primary 00:25:55.319 --> 00:25:57.799 spiritual gift is, and he went through that. 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:01.920 And you know what? Just people are people, and 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:04.779 in his world, Okay, he was a good business guy. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:07.119 He became very successful. When you're very successful 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:08.859 in business, he made a lot of money. So there 00:26:08.859 --> 00:26:10.920 he was a good leader and blah, blah, blah, blah, 00:26:10.980 --> 00:26:12.140 blah, blah. Because you know what his whole, 00:26:12.259 --> 00:26:15.500 like 25 years of church experience was? Sitting 00:26:15.500 --> 00:26:18.400 on committees in meetings where everyone wanted 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:20.359 to talk about money and then counting money afterwards. 00:26:20.660 --> 00:26:22.519 And if there was ever a capital campaign, Dick, 00:26:22.539 --> 00:26:28.180 you do it. And he said, I hated it all. And we 00:26:28.180 --> 00:26:29.859 went through a journey and he discovered his 00:26:29.859 --> 00:26:32.920 spiritual gift. And he discovered what he likes 00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:35.160 to do is launch things. And what he likes to 00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:37.440 do is equip people. And what he likes to do is 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:40.700 bring together networks. And so he said, you 00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:42.220 know what? I just decided I'm not going to be 00:26:42.220 --> 00:26:45.119 on any more boards. This was a spiritual decision. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:48.220 He said, this is what I'm going to do. And he 00:26:48.220 --> 00:26:49.819 actually was the one that launched Living on 00:26:49.819 --> 00:26:53.660 the Edge. It was his idea. He's the guy who got 00:26:53.660 --> 00:26:56.200 it going. And I can now tell you four, five, 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:58.960 six, seven, eight different ministries he's launched. 00:26:59.099 --> 00:27:02.440 And he just says there's such joy when you figure 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:05.579 out how God made you and you fulfill your purpose. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:11.720 Do you know yours? Do you kind of start to get 00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:13.799 what I'm talking about is so different than, 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:16.779 all right, it's Sunday morning or Saturday night. 00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:18.819 We better go to church. Oh, yeah, this is great. 00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:21.180 we're going to hear about what we ought to do, 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:22.700 and I'm not doing very much of it. I'm going 00:27:22.700 --> 00:27:24.460 to try really hard. It's not really going, so 00:27:24.460 --> 00:27:25.779 I better fake it a little bit better than I'm 00:27:25.779 --> 00:27:27.980 faking it right now. I was really convicted. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.259 Oh, boy, more to do, more to do. They want you 00:27:30.259 --> 00:27:35.220 to do this. Do you realize how so much of Christendom 00:27:35.220 --> 00:27:40.079 is like people got like another job, and often 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:42.880 a job you don't like, and often a job you don't 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.279 like, and you're actually not doing very well 00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:48.799 at? That's not true spirituality. True spirituality 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:52.079 is relational. It's practical. It's measurable. 00:27:52.500 --> 00:27:54.640 It's normal people like us that are surrendered 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:58.279 to God on a day where we actually cross that 00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:00.619 line and then progressively we're separate from 00:28:00.619 --> 00:28:02.740 the world's values and then we develop a sober 00:28:02.740 --> 00:28:06.720 self -assessment. And we start to discover our 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:08.839 purpose and why we're here and it actually gets 00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:11.960 downright exciting. The fourth thing you see 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:14.299 is that it's relationship with believers is it's 00:28:14.299 --> 00:28:22.210 serving in love. True spiritual maturity is love 00:28:22.210 --> 00:28:24.309 must be sincere, and the word literally is without 00:28:24.309 --> 00:28:27.869 a mask or without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil, 00:28:27.910 --> 00:28:29.630 cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another 00:28:29.630 --> 00:28:32.220 in brotherly love. And then the rest of that 00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:34.460 passage, we'll unpack it and it'll talk about 00:28:34.460 --> 00:28:36.200 honoring one another and giving preference to 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:38.420 one another. And it's really about people that 00:28:38.420 --> 00:28:40.819 actually know each other and like each other 00:28:40.819 --> 00:28:43.940 and sacrifice for one another and pray for one 00:28:43.940 --> 00:28:46.079 another and do whatever it takes to help one 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:48.440 another. And it's like doing life in community. 00:28:49.500 --> 00:28:54.420 But you serve in love, but it's real love. It's 00:28:54.420 --> 00:28:57.490 not a... A meeting I go to, it's not okay, you 00:28:57.490 --> 00:28:59.150 know, we made it three out of four times this 00:28:59.150 --> 00:29:00.970 month. I'm feeling really good about that checkbox. 00:29:01.170 --> 00:29:07.170 I read the Bible four times this week. It's so 00:29:07.170 --> 00:29:10.369 different when it's a relationship with this 00:29:10.369 --> 00:29:13.829 God who loves you so much and you open his word 00:29:13.829 --> 00:29:16.269 with a sense of holy trembling that he would 00:29:16.269 --> 00:29:18.970 so love and want to speak to you today and he 00:29:18.970 --> 00:29:20.670 would love to hear what's on your mind and on 00:29:20.670 --> 00:29:24.009 your heart. And actually his spirit lives inside 00:29:24.009 --> 00:29:27.029 of these other people called other fellow Christians. 00:29:27.410 --> 00:29:30.250 And he's deposited gifts in them. And he wants 00:29:30.250 --> 00:29:32.470 to hug you through them. And he wants to love 00:29:32.470 --> 00:29:34.470 you through them. And he wants to hold you accountable 00:29:34.470 --> 00:29:36.529 through them. He wants to encourage you through 00:29:36.529 --> 00:29:38.289 them. And are you ready? He wants you to do that 00:29:38.289 --> 00:29:42.309 right back. And there's this amazing thing in 00:29:42.309 --> 00:29:43.849 the early church. Remember what Jesus said? A 00:29:43.849 --> 00:29:46.619 new commandment I give unto you. To the early 00:29:46.619 --> 00:29:49.440 disciples, John 13, that you love one another, 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:54.880 how? Just as I've loved you. By this, not by 00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:57.900 buildings, not by external morality, by this 00:29:57.900 --> 00:30:00.000 the world will know that the Father has sent 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.940 me by how you love one another. And this section 00:30:06.940 --> 00:30:09.740 of true spirituality from Romans 12 answers the 00:30:09.740 --> 00:30:14.019 question that we all struggle with is, how do 00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:16.960 I experience authentic community? Boy, there's 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:19.819 so many lonely people. I don't mean just being 00:30:19.819 --> 00:30:22.559 in a group. I don't mean just being a member 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:25.460 of something. I mean, how do I experience where 00:30:25.460 --> 00:30:29.259 there's someone or two or three in my life that 00:30:29.259 --> 00:30:32.319 I can unzip my heart and I can risk putting it 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:34.460 out there and I can tell them things and I won't 00:30:34.460 --> 00:30:36.779 be condemned and they'll support me and love 00:30:36.779 --> 00:30:39.099 me. And when I'm going through a horrendous time, 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:41.859 they'll be there for me and they know I'd be 00:30:41.859 --> 00:30:45.180 there for them. You ready? Having some friends 00:30:45.180 --> 00:30:48.079 who would literally, not figuratively, not metaphorically, 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:51.460 friends who would die for you. That's authentic 00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:54.759 community. And I'll tell you what, when you get 00:30:54.759 --> 00:30:56.299 around people that love each other like that, 00:30:56.460 --> 00:31:00.759 it's powerful. You know what's missing in most 00:31:00.759 --> 00:31:04.819 Christians' lives? It's not just power. It's 00:31:04.819 --> 00:31:08.140 not just purpose. You know what's missing in 00:31:08.140 --> 00:31:11.160 most Christians' lives? Experiencing God's presence. 00:31:12.789 --> 00:31:15.470 Somehow it's like we do these things and we hope 00:31:15.470 --> 00:31:18.029 God will do this and like he's out there somewhere, 00:31:18.089 --> 00:31:21.309 somehow, someway. Do you know God's primary plan 00:31:21.309 --> 00:31:24.809 apart from when you read his word or you're talking 00:31:24.809 --> 00:31:27.670 to him or meditating? Do you know his primary 00:31:27.670 --> 00:31:31.349 way to manifest his presence? It's through other 00:31:31.349 --> 00:31:36.089 Christians. I mean, if an angel comes at the 00:31:36.089 --> 00:31:37.609 middle of the night at the foot of your bed tonight, 00:31:37.829 --> 00:31:40.970 go for it. Tell me about it later. And if he 00:31:40.970 --> 00:31:44.559 hugs you and, Fixes you a meal and says, you 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:46.160 know, tell me what's really going on inside because 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:47.640 I really want to hear it because I really care. 00:31:48.339 --> 00:31:53.660 God bless you. But for 99 .9 % of all the rest 00:31:53.660 --> 00:31:56.019 of us, you know how Jesus is going to show up 00:31:56.019 --> 00:31:58.599 in your life? He's going to show up in the body 00:31:58.599 --> 00:32:02.259 of another person. A man or a woman or a fellow 00:32:02.259 --> 00:32:04.579 student where there's kind of this chemistry 00:32:04.579 --> 00:32:08.529 and this safety and this love. And you're devoted 00:32:08.529 --> 00:32:11.349 to one another in brotherly love. And you give 00:32:11.349 --> 00:32:14.430 preference to one another in honor. And you do 00:32:14.430 --> 00:32:18.130 life together. The final portion of becoming 00:32:18.130 --> 00:32:20.609 a Romans 12 Christian isn't just your relationship 00:32:20.609 --> 00:32:22.970 with God or your relationship with the world 00:32:22.970 --> 00:32:26.410 or yourself or believers, but the evil in the 00:32:26.410 --> 00:32:31.099 world. relationships with non -believers that 00:32:31.099 --> 00:32:33.420 are hostile to the gospel, and unfortunately 00:32:33.420 --> 00:32:36.599 sometimes relationships with believers that are 00:32:36.599 --> 00:32:40.559 evil and hostile toward you. But it's supernaturally 00:32:40.559 --> 00:32:44.980 responding to evil with good. Here the Apostle 00:32:44.980 --> 00:32:47.099 Paul, you can hear him just reaching into the 00:32:47.099 --> 00:32:49.279 Sermon on the Mount by the Spirit of God. Bless 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:51.539 those who persecute you. Bless and curse not. 00:32:54.980 --> 00:32:57.240 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave 00:32:57.240 --> 00:32:59.240 room for the wrath of God. Vengeance is mine. 00:32:59.259 --> 00:33:01.559 I will repay. If your enemy's hungry, what do 00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:05.640 you do? Feed him. If your enemy's thirsty, what 00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:09.339 do you do? Give him a drink. Do not be overcome 00:33:09.339 --> 00:33:15.319 with evil. See, we're humans. Evil is going to 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:18.259 come. into all of our lives on your little journey 00:33:18.259 --> 00:33:20.220 on this earth. Some of you had more than others. 00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:21.799 You're going to get ripped off. You're going 00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:23.180 to get betrayed. You're going to have mates walk 00:33:23.180 --> 00:33:24.980 out on you. You're going to have kids say terrible 00:33:24.980 --> 00:33:27.019 things to you. You're going to have people who 00:33:27.019 --> 00:33:29.279 you've loaned them money and they promise to 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:30.859 pay it back. And guess what? They're not going 00:33:30.859 --> 00:33:35.140 to. And there's evil that's sort of systemic. 00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:39.539 You can love God with all your heart. Guess what? 00:33:40.460 --> 00:33:42.200 Christians that love God with all their heart 00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:47.079 get cancer. They get hit by drunk drivers. They 00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:49.779 get swooped into down economies and lose their 00:33:49.779 --> 00:33:52.259 homes. And they've been faithful with their finances. 00:33:53.940 --> 00:33:58.640 Evil is coming your way. So what's true spirituality? 00:33:59.099 --> 00:34:01.940 What I love about what God says, true spirituality 00:34:01.940 --> 00:34:05.480 is how the Spirit of God lives the life of Christ 00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:07.900 out in relationship with my Heavenly Father, 00:34:08.059 --> 00:34:10.320 with the world, with myself, with believers, 00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:12.480 and then with unbelievers when the raw deals 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:18.340 are coming my way. The question it answers is 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:22.159 how do you overcome the evil aimed at you? And 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:26.119 the thing that most Christians, listen carefully, 00:34:26.300 --> 00:34:32.000 most Christians have missing in their life is 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:37.480 perspective. We all could probably take out a 00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:39.889 three by five card or... Get out your mobile 00:34:39.889 --> 00:34:41.829 device and press the little app where it says 00:34:41.829 --> 00:34:43.570 notes and we could probably all list four or 00:34:43.570 --> 00:34:45.869 five people that used to walk with God that don't 00:34:45.869 --> 00:34:50.110 walk with God now. After their mate walked out 00:34:50.110 --> 00:34:53.650 on them. After the car wreck. After they got 00:34:53.650 --> 00:34:59.789 ripped off at work, right? See, there's a reason 00:34:59.789 --> 00:35:03.449 that almost 25 % of the book of Genesis is dedicated 00:35:03.449 --> 00:35:07.780 to the life of Joseph. Because Joseph is a picture 00:35:07.780 --> 00:35:11.000 of true spirituality, of how do you respond at 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:16.340 the evil aimed at you. And it wasn't easy. And 00:35:16.340 --> 00:35:21.800 I mean, he was betrayed, falsely accused, forgotten, 00:35:22.199 --> 00:35:29.619 sold. But that little phrase, the Lord was with 00:35:29.619 --> 00:35:33.139 Joseph. And do you know what Joseph had? Perspective. 00:35:34.260 --> 00:35:37.130 Joseph kind of took, Even though they didn't 00:35:37.130 --> 00:35:39.849 have him in those days, follow it. Joseph took 00:35:39.849 --> 00:35:43.110 the helicopter of spiritual perspective and in 00:35:43.110 --> 00:35:45.289 those days in prison or falsely accused, he just 00:35:45.289 --> 00:35:47.170 kept taking that helicopter up really, really, 00:35:47.170 --> 00:35:49.789 really high and looking at all of it and saying, 00:35:49.849 --> 00:35:52.940 you know something? There's a sovereign God that 00:35:52.940 --> 00:35:55.739 either decreed or allowed this and he loves me 00:35:55.739 --> 00:35:57.699 and I don't know how it's going to work out. 00:35:57.820 --> 00:36:00.840 But if I don't bail out and trust him, he'll 00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:03.619 work it for my good and he'll do in me and through 00:36:03.619 --> 00:36:06.239 me what could never happen. And so I refuse to 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:09.139 be bitter. I refuse to not forgive. I refuse 00:36:09.139 --> 00:36:11.780 to become a victim. I refuse to let the world 00:36:11.780 --> 00:36:14.860 shape me. I will trust my God because I have 00:36:14.860 --> 00:36:18.360 perspective. And he would say to his brothers 00:36:18.360 --> 00:36:21.010 at the very end of the book, You meant it for 00:36:21.010 --> 00:36:24.590 evil, but God meant it for good. If all those 00:36:24.590 --> 00:36:26.869 difficult things wouldn't have happened, he would 00:36:26.869 --> 00:36:28.889 have not been the second most powerful person 00:36:28.889 --> 00:36:31.309 in all the world, and he would have not saved 00:36:31.309 --> 00:36:35.769 the Jewish nation. And God has a game plan, and 00:36:35.769 --> 00:36:38.630 you have a Joseph story to live out. It'll be 00:36:38.630 --> 00:36:40.610 a big one for some, a smaller one for others. 00:36:42.650 --> 00:36:44.469 Are you starting to catch what true spirituality 00:36:44.469 --> 00:36:48.579 is all about? It's about relationships. It's 00:36:48.579 --> 00:36:50.579 measurable. I mean, you can measure. Am I surrendered? 00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:52.420 Am I separate from the world's values? Do I have 00:36:52.420 --> 00:36:55.719 a sober self -assessment? Am I serving in love? 00:36:56.239 --> 00:36:58.780 Am I supernaturally responding to evil with good? 00:37:01.420 --> 00:37:04.739 And then it helps you ask and answer those questions. 00:37:05.860 --> 00:37:07.920 And little by little, as we walk through this 00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:10.679 together, you will begin to experience as you 00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:15.199 trust and obey by faith God's power, God's peace, 00:37:15.500 --> 00:37:20.150 God's purpose. God's presence and God's perspective. 00:37:21.210 --> 00:37:24.269 And that's why I'm so excited. And you know what 00:37:24.269 --> 00:37:26.409 I love about this? Guess whose book we got this 00:37:26.409 --> 00:37:30.449 out of? This text? It's just the Bible. It's 00:37:30.449 --> 00:37:33.929 true. What Jesus said to them, he said to us, 00:37:34.010 --> 00:37:36.510 if you abide in my word, and that word just means 00:37:36.510 --> 00:37:38.449 if you take it in for the purpose of apply it 00:37:38.449 --> 00:37:40.650 by faith, then you'll know the truth and the 00:37:40.650 --> 00:37:43.510 truth will set you free. As you turn over the 00:37:43.510 --> 00:37:45.929 notes, I want to close with this one very important 00:37:45.929 --> 00:37:50.190 perspective. There is a danger on our journey. 00:37:50.309 --> 00:37:53.329 Like every journey, there's dangers. But there's 00:37:53.329 --> 00:37:55.949 a danger on our journey to begin to very subtly 00:37:55.949 --> 00:37:58.769 begin to think that sort of the R12 journey or 00:37:58.769 --> 00:38:02.769 the Romans 12 journey is like a moral code and 00:38:02.769 --> 00:38:05.550 a set of bars to live up to. Okay, I'm gonna 00:38:05.550 --> 00:38:07.929 be surrendered. I'm gonna be separate. Super 00:38:07.929 --> 00:38:10.409 self -assessment. I think I got that down. I'm 00:38:10.409 --> 00:38:12.389 gonna serve in love. And let's see, I can't remember 00:38:12.389 --> 00:38:14.090 the last one. Supernaturally respond to something 00:38:14.090 --> 00:38:18.369 with something. And you can turn it into, The 00:38:18.369 --> 00:38:22.010 very thing we're trying to avoid. And so I want 00:38:22.010 --> 00:38:26.530 to remind you that true spirituality has nothing 00:38:26.530 --> 00:38:30.829 to do with living a good life so that God will 00:38:30.829 --> 00:38:34.389 love you. True spirituality has everything to 00:38:34.389 --> 00:38:37.369 do with beginning to grasp the height and depth 00:38:37.369 --> 00:38:40.250 and length and breadth of how much God has already 00:38:40.250 --> 00:38:44.250 loved you, has demonstrated that love, and you 00:38:44.250 --> 00:38:47.659 living out of the freedom of that love. And so 00:38:47.659 --> 00:38:49.219 I just put the little chart of the entire book 00:38:49.219 --> 00:38:51.559 of Romans. What did he do? Chapters one through 00:38:51.559 --> 00:38:54.500 three, all of us fall short of the glory of God. 00:38:54.860 --> 00:38:57.199 We sugarcoat this. This isn't just being not 00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:00.260 a nice person. We have sinned. We've betrayed 00:39:00.260 --> 00:39:03.599 God. We're people that have committed treason 00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:08.380 and he's holy. And his just wrath is upon us 00:39:08.380 --> 00:39:12.099 for what we have done. And that's the problem. 00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:14.679 In chapters four and five, there's a solution. 00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:19.440 The solution to sin is salvation. Jesus, fully 00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:23.260 man, fully God, lived a perfect life, died upon 00:39:23.260 --> 00:39:26.820 the cross to pay for your sin and rose from the 00:39:26.820 --> 00:39:30.420 dead and offers a free gift to whosoever would 00:39:30.420 --> 00:39:33.679 believe and receive it. Chapter 6 through 8 goes 00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:35.840 on to talk about how this new life is lived. 00:39:35.940 --> 00:39:37.900 And he didn't leave us alone. It wasn't a moral 00:39:37.900 --> 00:39:41.139 code. Try hard. He said, the spirit of the living 00:39:41.139 --> 00:39:43.320 God in the new covenant will take up residence 00:39:43.320 --> 00:39:46.380 inside your mortal body. After he takes you out 00:39:46.380 --> 00:39:47.940 of the kingdom of darkness, he places you in 00:39:47.940 --> 00:39:51.000 the kingdom of light. And his spirit takes up 00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:55.440 residence in the living. presence of Christ and 00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:58.059 the power of Christ by the word of God and the 00:39:58.059 --> 00:40:00.579 community of God's people births. Literally, 00:40:00.579 --> 00:40:03.559 Paul talks about until Christ is formed in you. 00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:07.599 That's called sanctification. And it's a journey. 00:40:07.619 --> 00:40:10.019 And often it's two steps forward and three back 00:40:10.019 --> 00:40:14.059 and then four steps forward. But you grow. And 00:40:14.059 --> 00:40:15.900 then finally he reminded them that God always 00:40:15.900 --> 00:40:19.489 keeps his promises. So chapters 9 through 11, 00:40:19.590 --> 00:40:21.530 his promises to the Jews will be fulfilled, that 00:40:21.530 --> 00:40:24.329 they fumbled the ball in terms of their responsibility 00:40:24.329 --> 00:40:27.130 as a blesser and an instrument of God. And so 00:40:27.130 --> 00:40:28.849 he says, I'm going to take them out of the game 00:40:28.849 --> 00:40:31.570 and I will fulfill everything I made, promises 00:40:31.570 --> 00:40:34.969 to Abraham and to David. But the church is going 00:40:34.969 --> 00:40:38.210 to be my agent of blessing until I call time 00:40:38.210 --> 00:40:41.650 out and bring the very final days of history 00:40:41.650 --> 00:40:46.170 to a close. And after 11 chapters of regardless 00:40:46.170 --> 00:40:49.889 of where you've been, God loves you, died for 00:40:49.889 --> 00:40:52.610 you, puts his spirit inside of you and will keep 00:40:52.610 --> 00:40:55.369 every promise. Therefore, I urge you brothers 00:40:55.369 --> 00:40:59.329 to what? Offer your bodies a living sacrifice. 00:41:00.929 --> 00:41:05.449 Have you ever placed your faith in Christ personally 00:41:05.449 --> 00:41:09.289 to forgive your sin? Because what I've seen over 00:41:09.289 --> 00:41:11.909 and over is People just unconsciously think I'm 00:41:11.909 --> 00:41:14.510 trying hard to be this good person. And it's 00:41:14.510 --> 00:41:16.510 interesting and they begin to experience some 00:41:16.510 --> 00:41:19.110 change. But what sometimes they never realize 00:41:19.110 --> 00:41:21.949 is you need on a certain day at a certain time 00:41:21.949 --> 00:41:27.150 to be born from above or to be born again. And 00:41:27.150 --> 00:41:29.050 that's back in chapter three and the beginning 00:41:29.050 --> 00:41:32.349 of chapter four. And where you come to God on 00:41:32.349 --> 00:41:35.289 a day like today and you just honestly admit, 00:41:35.449 --> 00:41:40.480 God, I need your help. I violated a holy God 00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:45.460 today. I believe your blood paid for my sin and 00:41:45.460 --> 00:41:48.900 your resurrection proved it's true. And on this 00:41:48.900 --> 00:41:52.980 day, I want to ask you to come into my life forever 00:41:52.980 --> 00:41:58.059 to forgive me and to be my father. And if you've 00:41:58.059 --> 00:42:00.579 never done that, that's the smartest, wisest, 00:42:00.579 --> 00:42:05.800 best thing you'll ever do. This is Living on 00:42:05.800 --> 00:42:08.869 the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend, for over 30 00:42:08.869 --> 00:42:11.050 years, Living on the Edge has been committed 00:42:11.050 --> 00:42:13.789 to one mission, helping believers understand 00:42:13.789 --> 00:42:17.210 what it truly means to follow Jesus. Not religious 00:42:17.210 --> 00:42:20.150 activity, not trying harder, but relational, 00:42:20.349 --> 00:42:23.849 practical, measurable Christianity that transforms 00:42:23.849 --> 00:42:28.050 every area of life. Messages like today's exist 00:42:28.050 --> 00:42:30.329 because partners believe this mission matters. 00:42:30.590 --> 00:42:33.449 When you give to Living on the Edge, you're helping 00:42:33.449 --> 00:42:36.610 Christians discover God's power, peace, purpose, 00:42:36.789 --> 00:42:39.889 presence, and perspective. You're investing in 00:42:39.889 --> 00:42:42.349 clear biblical teaching that moves people from 00:42:42.349 --> 00:42:46.130 confusion to clarity, from exhaustion to experiencing 00:42:46.130 --> 00:42:49.230 God's best. Would you join this mission today? 00:42:49.710 --> 00:42:53.809 Give online at livingontheedge .org or call us 00:42:53.809 --> 00:42:59.070 at 888 -333 -6003. You can also mail your gift 00:42:59.070 --> 00:43:03.170 to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta, 00:43:03.369 --> 00:43:08.070 Georgia 30024. Want more content throughout the 00:43:08.070 --> 00:43:11.329 week? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 00:43:11.969 --> 00:43:15.050 Just search for Living on the Edge on Facebook 00:43:15.050 --> 00:43:18.030 and Instagram. And then for all of our video 00:43:18.030 --> 00:43:20.909 content, subscribe to Chip Ingram's YouTube channel 00:43:20.909 --> 00:43:23.789 when you're there. Well, that wraps up today's 00:43:23.789 --> 00:43:26.449 episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching message 00:43:26.449 --> 00:43:29.250 coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast. 00:43:33.160 --> 00:43:35.719 Today's program is produced and sponsored by 00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:36.880 Living on the Edge.