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 with today's
message, God's Dream for Your Life. I want you
to know that every parent has a dream for your
child. I want you to think back, if you're a
parent, if not, just listen and think about this
is what your parents were thinking. Every parent,
I want you to go back to that firstborn. You
didn't have any kids and your wife was pregnant
or you were the wife and you are pregnant. And
you thought about all the things that went through
your mind about what this little boy or what
this little girl might be like and the dreams
and the thoughts and the hopes and the aspirations.
And what I want to tell you is that God has a
dream for his children. But what we do is we
get that sort of theological over there and somehow
we think he's more like the transcendent force
out there someday, some way. And there's rules
and standards to live up to. And so for you to
capture the emotion of how God feels, I want
to share a very brief and personal story about
when I understood how deeply God plants desires
and dreams for us, for our kids. It was our firstborn
for Teresa and myself. We were at a banquet.
Middle of the banquet, Teresa says, Chip, it
is time. I said, Teresa, let's go. You know,
you don't know what you're doing. The contractions
had been about three hours. We go home, get things
set up. We go to Baylor Hospital. For the next
27 hours, Teresa and I will be together. It's
a long labor. There's complications. For a number
of reasons, they can't take the baby. They find
out something's wrong. They put a monitor on
this little boy inside of my wife. And I sit
next to her for 27 hours. And that little monitor,
if you know, a baby's heartbeat goes like this.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, right? And then
she would have a contraction. And it would go
beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Beep. Then doctors
and nurses would run in. Beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep. And we went through that. About three times
in 27 hours, about every eight hours, we just
stopped and we prayed and we cried and we gave
that little boy back to God. And I thought, we
may have him, we may not. Then I started thinking
about Teresa and I may not have her. What's going
to happen? And with 27 hours, I had a lot of
time to think about all the dreams I had for
that little boy that came to the surface that
I thought I might lose. And I want you to know
that something deep, deep inside of me was so
fearful and grieving at what I might lose. And
then when that little boy was born, 27 hours
later, that nurse wiped him off. Teresa was wiped
out. I think she said hi. And then they put that
baby in my arms. And it was one of those places
where they really thought the dad was important.
And I got a half hour with my son. And I held
that little baby and I just, I held that baby
with tears streaming down my face thinking I
didn't know if this was going to happen. And
I thought of all the dreams I might have lost.
And I still remember it was a linoleum floor
and I had such a sense of gratitude. I remember
getting on my knees on a linoleum floor and holding
that little boy and just crying and thanking
God. And I want you to know why. Because I'm
made in the image of God and embedded in the
heart of a father and embedded in the heart of
a mother is a dream and a desire for your kids
because God made you. And that's how he feels
about you. And for many of us, when our kids
are small, the dreams, and we're sort of young,
immature parents, we have dreams like, I hope
he's a baseball player, or I hope she's musical,
or it'd be great if she's athletic or artistic.
And then as you get a little bit older and they
go through some stages in life, then you will
hope they get a good job and hope they do well
in school. And a lot of the dreams are about
kind of what they do. Then the older you get
and the older they get, you get to where I don't
care what they do. I just want a kid that loves
me, loves God, tells the truth. Your dreams turn
into what kind of person will this be? Because
here's what I will tell you. Potentially the
greatest joys you will ever experience on this
earth will be connected to the relationship with
your child and the greatest heartache and the
greatest pain you may ever experience is related
to your children. No one can hurt you as deeply
as your kids. They're part of you. Your heart's
tied up in them. And if I could get a microphone
and pass it around here tonight and we could
tell stories about kids that have made really
bad decisions or kids that are in addictions
or kids that don't talk to you anymore or kids
that, tell you what, how many of us would say,
I could care less what school they went to, I
could care less what kind of job, if we had a
great, loving relationship. and we were friends
as their adult children, I wouldn't care about
any of the rest, would we? Because see, at the
end of the day, the real dream in your heart
is not about what your kids do. It's about who
they become, and it's about their relation and
genuine connection to you. And you'll notice
on your notes, I want you to know this, is that
our Heavenly Father has a dream for every one
of His children. And God's dream is to make you
like his, write the word, son. Be ye mature or
fulfill your design, Matthew 5, verse 48 says.
Be ye perfect even as your heavenly father is
perfect. In Romans 8, 29, he says God uses every
circumstance, every up, every down, every relationship,
everything we ever go through to conform us to
the image of his son. He says in Ephesians 4
that the whole purpose of the church is designed
so that through the relationships that we have
and the gifts that God places in the body is
that we would all grow up to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ. You need to
understand, primarily your life with your Heavenly
Father is not about what you do, not about what
you accomplish, not what kind of job you have,
not how many points you're scoring spiritually.
His primary dream is the kind of person you become.
The kind of relationship you have with him. He
wants you to be a loving, kind, gentle, holy
person who walks in integrity. He wants to have
casual conversations and have you talk with him
when you're driving in the car and when you come
to the crossroads of big decisions and everyone
says do this and your heavenly father says do
that. He wants you to say, Father, I want to
do it your way. I want to please you. He wants
intimate, loving, deep relationship with you.
Unfortunately, in our day, we have a crisis in
Christianity. Something has happened in the last
40 to 60 years that is unprecedented, and it's
awesome, and it's amazing. Literally, more millions
and millions and tens of millions of people have
come to Christ in the last 40 to 60 years than
in like the last two or three centuries. The
gospel's gone around the world like never before.
More people have authentically said, Lord Jesus,
I recognize that you're the God of the universe.
You paid for my sin. You rose from the dead.
I trust in you. And he comes into their heart.
But in the words of John Stott, the former great
statesman who traveled all around the world,
he said, Christianity has never had growth like
it's had in the last four or five decades, but
it's about 16 million miles wide. and about a
sixteenth of an inch thick. He said, the greatest
need in Christendom today in every country of
the world, except where there's persecution or
focused discipleship, is spiritual maturity.
All the Barna reports, all the Gallup reports,
many of our own experiences tell us what? About
eight out of 10 people who claim the name of
Christ have very little family resemblance. You
know what I'm saying? I mean, When you're spiritually
mature, you think like Jesus and you walk like
Jesus and you love like Jesus and you're selfless
like Jesus and your priorities and your money
and your time are just like Jesus living inside
your body. But for many, many, many, many people,
the great vast majority, their words and their
intellectual belief system about Jesus and God
is over here and their actual lifestyles are
over here. And that's why there's an awful lot
of people that are outside of Christ, that look
at Christianity, and they look at churches, and
they meet people who are genuine followers of
Christ, and they say, you know something? If
that's it, I don't think I want it. I think it's
the greatest need in the world today is for Christians
to live like Christians. And here's what's exciting.
It's not guesswork. It's not about trying hard.
It's not about being religious. God gives us
a very clear picture of what his dream is for
your life in Romans chapter 12. God's dream for
every child is to become a disciple or a follower,
and you can write it in a Romans 12 Christian.
That's his will. Are you ready? His will for
every child of God on the face of the earth,
regardless of background, nationality, gender,
denomination, God's desire, God's will for every
single follower is that they would become a Romans
12 Christian. Now, I'm not saying that Romans
12 is all there is to being a disciple, but here's
what I'm saying. I'm saying it is the executive
summary. It's the snapshot. It's like this amazing
mind that God gave the Apostle Paul. He takes
all the teachings of Jesus, and for 11 chapters,
he writes about the work of Christ and the sin
of mankind, all that God has accomplished, and
how much he loves people. And then in chapter
12, he stops. and he gives us a snapshot, and
he gives us this very quick kind of cliff note
snapshot. It's like some of those people in the
venture capital world, and someone has a big
plan, and they got a new product, and you know
what? It might be 20 or 30 or 50 or 80 pages
of research, but my experience when I talk with
those guys is if you can't give me on one or
two pages the whole game plan, what you want
to do, how you want to get it done, I won't even
read it. And the Apostle Paul gives us the executive
summary of what it means to be truly spiritual.
What we're gonna learn as we go through it, number
one, are you ready for this? It's relational.
Look in your notes. Will you open your notes
and just look at them completely open? And if
you have a pen, circle a few keywords just as
we go through the passage. All we're gonna do
is give an overview and we'll dig into each of
these sections, but circle the word. It says
relationship with God. Circle the word God. Verse
1 is going to talk about what's the snapshot
of spiritual maturity, of true spirituality with
God. Then go down, it says, look, it's the relationship
with the world. Circle the phrase, the world.
There's a world system that we're going to learn
about. A world system that's anti -God, that's
energized by the enemy of your soul, seeking
to seduce you away from your love for Christ.
And then it's going to talk about your relationship
with yourself. Circle the word yourself. We're
going to learn a little bit later that God wants
you to have an accurate, Sober self -assessment.
Then notice that we talk about relationship on
the second page, relationship with believers.
Circle the world believers. There's a way that
spiritually mature, authentic followers relate
with other Christians in a way that does amazing
things in them and amazing things in others.
And then finally, circle the last one. It's a
relationship with non -believers. There's a way
that people that love Jesus, where his spirit
lives inside of you, respond to the harshest,
most difficult, painful evil that comes into
your life. The second thing you learn about a
Romans 12 Christian is that it's practical and
it's measurable. Okay, this isn't just a ooey
-gooey spiritual feeling. Follow along, if you
will. Notice what it says in verse 1. Therefore,
I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act
of worship. We'll look at this, but this word
for offer is at a point in time. And what he's
going to say is that here's what you can know
practically and measurably. A spiritually mature,
authentic follower is surrendered to God. On
a certain day, at a certain time, on their spiritual
journey, a man or a woman or a student has realized
how great and how powerful God is and that his
will is good, and you have bowed the knee and
bowed the heart and said to God, I'm all in.
I will do whatever you want me to do. Your word
will be the guide of my life. I want to arrange
my life, my relationships, and my priorities
around whatever you say. And that answers one
of the biggest questions. that you'll ever face
in your life. And that question is this. How
do you give God what he wants the most? Have
you ever thought about that? God is a person.
He's not some invisible, transcendent, impersonal
force. He's a person. And if you have a good
friend, and they have a birthday, don't you ask
questions like, I wonder what he or she would
want for their birthday? Or if you're married,
You say, I wonder what my mate would want the
most. Or if you're a parent, I wonder how I could
really help or bless my kids the most. Have you
ever asked yourself, I wonder what God wants
the most from me? And you know what you're going
to learn? He wants you. He wants you. Not your
religious activity. I mean, there's a place for
Bible study. There's a place for church. There's
a place for prayer. There's a place for all kind
of things. But you can do all those things and
him not have you. My observation is in most Christians'
life, there's a missing ingredient. And Romans
12 not only is relational and practical, it answers
this big question and it also gives us the missing
ingredient in every relationship. And the missing
ingredient in most Christians' lives, and you
just jot this on the side of your notes, is power.
We're anemic. So many Christians try really,
really hard. We've had tens of thousands of small
groups in America and around the world go through
this material. So I've got like research. And
there's still one email that I remember reading
and thinking, wow. Lady said I was at the kitchen
sink. doing the dishes. And that morning I woke
up and I felt kind of distant from God. I've
been a Christian about 22 years. And for some
reason, I just thought about, I wonder if any
friend described me, if they would even use the
word good Christian or someone who really loves
God with my name. And she said, you know, I've
tried, failed, tried, failed, tried, failed.
I know that I'm born again. I've been a Christian
22 years. I have an alcohol problem that I presently
have right now. And I have an immorality problem
and a porn problem. And I don't like me. And
those thoughts that guilt because of... how I'm
living, we're popping up, and I'm doing the dishes,
and the radio was on, and this message comes
on about becoming a Romans 12 Christian, and
it was the one on surrender. And she said, as
I was doing the dishes, the tears just started
streaming down my face. And she said, I never
heard that before. I never understood that before.
And she talked about drying her hands, going
to her bedroom, kneeling by her bed, and telling
God, I can't do this. I can't live this life.
I surrender to you. And the rest of that email
was, that was four and a half months ago. And
let me tell you what God did in my life since
then. Power. You know, if you've ever been in
one of those water fights in the backyard and
someone starts with a squirt gun, right? And
if you're smart, what do you do? You get the
hose. And so they got one of those guns and you
get the hose. But what does someone really, really
smart do if you get the hose? They go over here
and they grab the hose and they... They kink
it. And when they kink it, how much water comes
out? None. What I want you to understand is you
can be a legitimate, sincere, born -again believer
in Jesus, and if your hose is kinked, if your
life isn't surrendered, you don't experience
his power. And so all it becomes is this moralism.
and attempts to live a life that's absolutely
impossible. Becoming a Romans 12 Christian begins
in your relationship with God by being surrendered
to him. But notice beginning in verse two, it
says, do not conform any longer to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and
approve what God's will is, that which is good
and pleasing and perfect. There's a negative
and a positive command, and we're gonna develop
this and talk about it, but in essence, what
he says is, with regard to this world system
that tells you that money and stuff and sex and
power and prestige will deliver on security and
significant and great relationships, he's saying,
you gotta live separate from the world's values.
You can't let it, but notice he doesn't say try
hard to be a good Christian. He says, Let your
mind be transformed. Then you'll test your experience.
You know the question, the big question in life
this verse answers? How do you get the very best
from God? How do you get the very best from God?
Verse one answers, how do you give God what he
really wants? Verse two says, if God really loves
me and he died for me and he rose from the dead
and he has a plan for my life, how do you tap
into that? We'll explain from this verse exactly
how it works. And the missing ingredient I find
in the great majority of Christians that I talk
to is not just lack of power because of an unsurrendered
life, but a lack of peace. There's Christians
that can't come in. You got to turn on the TV.
You got to go to the refrigerator. When you get
in the car, you got to put sound and music on
because absolute, dead, deathly quiet. times
make you very uncomfortable. There are few positions,
I think, in all the world that are more miserable
than a legitimate, born -again follower of Jesus
in whom the Spirit of God lives, who lives with
one foot in walking with God and the other foot
in the world system. I happen to be an expert
on this. I've done extensive personal research.
I know what it's like to be at Bible study on
Thursday night and hit every bar on Friday night.
I have been over here where I've, oh, Bible study
and talking about sexual purity and lusted like
crazy over here and telling God I'll never do
this, this, this or that again. I know, and I
will tell you, I was the most miserable Christian
in the world for the first three years. That
is the place the great majority of believers
live. And we forfeit God's peace. The guilt and
the shame of logging on. The guilt and the shame
of flirting over here. The guilt and the shame
of all the kind of stuff that you're lured into
as the world conforms your thinking to a bankrupt
system that never delivers. See, God loves us
too much for that. We're gonna learn. Are you
ready? We're gonna learn how to break that cycle.
How God's spirit and God's power can help you
live the kind of life that you long to and that
he wants for you. And we'll learn that's how
you get his best. Beginning in verse three and
through eight, we learn that in our relationship
to ourselves, God desires a sober self -assessment.
Notice the little phrase, for by the grace of
God. What I want you to hear in all where he
sort of sets the bar of holiness and righteousness
and what it means to have true spirituality,
I want you to hear behind it this compassionate
heart of love. For by the grace of God, I say
to every man among you, don't think more highly
of yourself than you ought to think, but think
as to have sound or sober judgment as God has
allotted to each a measure of faith. He talks
about... How you get that and how you're a part
of a body. And we'll discover that he's deposited
a supernatural gift. If you look at verses six
through eight, we'll cover all those later. But
he wants you in your relationship to yourself
to look in the physical mirror and to look in
the spiritual and the relational mirror and say,
I like that person. God made them. That personality,
that gifts, that height, that eye color. Those
struggles, that family background, and the sovereignty
of God. He wants you to have an accurate, sober
view of yourself. In that one verse, that word
sober, think, think, think, four different times.
God wants you to see yourself the way he sees
you. Dearly loved, valuable, precious, forgiven.
And you know the big question this answers? How
do you come to grips with the real you? I mean,
do you realize how much time and energy and money
and posing and image management we do? Just as
normal human beings, even as Christians, to try
and project to all these different people that
I'm like this and I'm like this and I'm dressed
like that and I'm cool like that and I know this
and did you know I know so and so and this is
how many people report to me or my son or my
daughter, they got this on their SAT scores and
he hit two home runs and I want you to know I
went to an Ivy League school and this purse,
it's not a knockoff, it's really real and this
watch, it really is and I got promoted and yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you spiritualize
it all and you get into Bible study. Well, according
to so -and -so's commentary, when I was reading
the Greek text a little bit earlier in preparation
for this, we do it, we do it, we do it, we do
it. This section will teach you how to come to
grips with the real you and then it supplies
the missing ingredient. Verse one supplies the
power when you understand it. Verse two supplies
the peace. And verse 3 supplies your purpose.
Because see, God made you specifically. You are
his workmanship. You're created in Christ Jesus
unto a good work which before the foundations
of the earth. So guess what? He's gifted you
to do something specific. In his sovereignty,
he has you in relationships that have been difficult
in some ways and empowering in others. But God
has a purpose for your life. When you're always
pretending to be someone else or comparing yourself
with someone else and not accepting these are
my strengths, these are my weaknesses, these
are my gifts, this is my background, this produces
some difficulty and dependency, this produces
some great things. Until you get a sober self
-assessment, you end up playing games your whole
life. You try to fulfill your mom's purpose or
your dad's purpose or the culture's purpose or
the company's purpose or what other people think.
Do you know how freeing it is to understand this
is why I'm here. My purpose is this. And this
is what I'm good at and this is what I'm not
good at. This is where I need help and this is
where I need to step out and let God use me.
It's revolutionary. It's absolutely revolutionary.
I have a good friend over in Santa Cruz, and
he was a fellow entrepreneur. He ran half of
the United States of one of those really, really
giant companies and saw that he was kind of losing
touch with his family and the travel, and so
he decided that he would start a business of
his own. So he developed about 26 of these stores
around, kind of like Joanne's or Michael's, but
he called it by his wife's name, which I thought
was very nice. and he became a mentor of mine.
I'd spent a lot of time, and he would help me,
and I was teaching through sort of in the infant
stages of my journey about a sober self -assessment
and a part of that understanding what your primary
spiritual gift is, and he went through that.
And you know what? Just people are people, and
in his world, Okay, he was a good business guy.
He became very successful. When you're very successful
in business, he made a lot of money. So there
he was a good leader and blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. Because you know what his whole,
like 25 years of church experience was? Sitting
on committees in meetings where everyone wanted
to talk about money and then counting money afterwards.
And if there was ever a capital campaign, Dick,
you do it. And he said, I hated it all. And we
went through a journey and he discovered his
spiritual gift. And he discovered what he likes
to do is launch things. And what he likes to
do is equip people. And what he likes to do is
bring together networks. And so he said, you
know what? I just decided I'm not going to be
on any more boards. This was a spiritual decision.
He said, this is what I'm going to do. And he
actually was the one that launched Living on
the Edge. It was his idea. He's the guy who got
it going. And I can now tell you four, five,
six, seven, eight different ministries he's launched.
And he just says there's such joy when you figure
out how God made you and you fulfill your purpose.
Do you know yours? Do you kind of start to get
what I'm talking about is so different than,
all right, it's Sunday morning or Saturday night.
We better go to church. Oh, yeah, this is great.
we're going to hear about what we ought to do,
and I'm not doing very much of it. I'm going
to try really hard. It's not really going, so
I better fake it a little bit better than I'm
faking it right now. I was really convicted.
Oh, boy, more to do, more to do. They want you
to do this. Do you realize how so much of Christendom
is like people got like another job, and often
a job you don't like, and often a job you don't
like, and you're actually not doing very well
at? That's not true spirituality. True spirituality
is relational. It's practical. It's measurable.
It's normal people like us that are surrendered
to God on a day where we actually cross that
line and then progressively we're separate from
the world's values and then we develop a sober
self -assessment. And we start to discover our
purpose and why we're here and it actually gets
downright exciting. The fourth thing you see
is that it's relationship with believers is it's
serving in love. True spiritual maturity is love
must be sincere, and the word literally is without
a mask or without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil,
cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another
in brotherly love. And then the rest of that
passage, we'll unpack it and it'll talk about
honoring one another and giving preference to
one another. And it's really about people that
actually know each other and like each other
and sacrifice for one another and pray for one
another and do whatever it takes to help one
another. And it's like doing life in community.
But you serve in love, but it's real love. It's
not a... A meeting I go to, it's not okay, you
know, we made it three out of four times this
month. I'm feeling really good about that checkbox.
I read the Bible four times this week. It's so
different when it's a relationship with this
God who loves you so much and you open his word
with a sense of holy trembling that he would
so love and want to speak to you today and he
would love to hear what's on your mind and on
your heart. And actually his spirit lives inside
of these other people called other fellow Christians.
And he's deposited gifts in them. And he wants
to hug you through them. And he wants to love
you through them. And he wants to hold you accountable
through them. He wants to encourage you through
them. And are you ready? He wants you to do that
right back. And there's this amazing thing in
the early church. Remember what Jesus said? A
new commandment I give unto you. To the early
disciples, John 13, that you love one another,
how? Just as I've loved you. By this, not by
buildings, not by external morality, by this
the world will know that the Father has sent
me by how you love one another. And this section
of true spirituality from Romans 12 answers the
question that we all struggle with is, how do
I experience authentic community? Boy, there's
so many lonely people. I don't mean just being
in a group. I don't mean just being a member
of something. I mean, how do I experience where
there's someone or two or three in my life that
I can unzip my heart and I can risk putting it
out there and I can tell them things and I won't
be condemned and they'll support me and love
me. And when I'm going through a horrendous time,
they'll be there for me and they know I'd be
there for them. You ready? Having some friends
who would literally, not figuratively, not metaphorically,
friends who would die for you. That's authentic
community. And I'll tell you what, when you get
around people that love each other like that,
it's powerful. You know what's missing in most
Christians' lives? It's not just power. It's
not just purpose. You know what's missing in
most Christians' lives? Experiencing God's presence.
Somehow it's like we do these things and we hope
God will do this and like he's out there somewhere,
somehow, someway. Do you know God's primary plan
apart from when you read his word or you're talking
to him or meditating? Do you know his primary
way to manifest his presence? It's through other
Christians. I mean, if an angel comes at the
middle of the night at the foot of your bed tonight,
go for it. Tell me about it later. And if he
hugs you and, Fixes you a meal and says, you
know, tell me what's really going on inside because
I really want to hear it because I really care.
God bless you. But for 99 .9 % of all the rest
of us, you know how Jesus is going to show up
in your life? He's going to show up in the body
of another person. A man or a woman or a fellow
student where there's kind of this chemistry
and this safety and this love. And you're devoted
to one another in brotherly love. And you give
preference to one another in honor. And you do
life together. The final portion of becoming
a Romans 12 Christian isn't just your relationship
with God or your relationship with the world
or yourself or believers, but the evil in the
world. relationships with non -believers that
are hostile to the gospel, and unfortunately
sometimes relationships with believers that are
evil and hostile toward you. But it's supernaturally
responding to evil with good. Here the Apostle
Paul, you can hear him just reaching into the
Sermon on the Mount by the Spirit of God. Bless
those who persecute you. Bless and curse not.
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave
room for the wrath of God. Vengeance is mine.
I will repay. If your enemy's hungry, what do
you do? Feed him. If your enemy's thirsty, what
do you do? Give him a drink. Do not be overcome
with evil. See, we're humans. Evil is going to
come. into all of our lives on your little journey
on this earth. Some of you had more than others.
You're going to get ripped off. You're going
to get betrayed. You're going to have mates walk
out on you. You're going to have kids say terrible
things to you. You're going to have people who
you've loaned them money and they promise to
pay it back. And guess what? They're not going
to. And there's evil that's sort of systemic.
You can love God with all your heart. Guess what?
Christians that love God with all their heart
get cancer. They get hit by drunk drivers. They
get swooped into down economies and lose their
homes. And they've been faithful with their finances.
Evil is coming your way. So what's true spirituality?
What I love about what God says, true spirituality
is how the Spirit of God lives the life of Christ
out in relationship with my Heavenly Father,
with the world, with myself, with believers,
and then with unbelievers when the raw deals
are coming my way. The question it answers is
how do you overcome the evil aimed at you? And
the thing that most Christians, listen carefully,
most Christians have missing in their life is
perspective. We all could probably take out a
three by five card or... Get out your mobile
device and press the little app where it says
notes and we could probably all list four or
five people that used to walk with God that don't
walk with God now. After their mate walked out
on them. After the car wreck. After they got
ripped off at work, right? See, there's a reason
that almost 25 % of the book of Genesis is dedicated
to the life of Joseph. Because Joseph is a picture
of true spirituality, of how do you respond at
the evil aimed at you. And it wasn't easy. And
I mean, he was betrayed, falsely accused, forgotten,
sold. But that little phrase, the Lord was with
Joseph. And do you know what Joseph had? Perspective.
Joseph kind of took, Even though they didn't
have him in those days, follow it. Joseph took
the helicopter of spiritual perspective and in
those days in prison or falsely accused, he just
kept taking that helicopter up really, really,
really high and looking at all of it and saying,
you know something? There's a sovereign God that
either decreed or allowed this and he loves me
and I don't know how it's going to work out.
But if I don't bail out and trust him, he'll
work it for my good and he'll do in me and through
me what could never happen. And so I refuse to
be bitter. I refuse to not forgive. I refuse
to become a victim. I refuse to let the world
shape me. I will trust my God because I have
perspective. And he would say to his brothers
at the very end of the book, You meant it for
evil, but God meant it for good. If all those
difficult things wouldn't have happened, he would
have not been the second most powerful person
in all the world, and he would have not saved
the Jewish nation. And God has a game plan, and
you have a Joseph story to live out. It'll be
a big one for some, a smaller one for others.
Are you starting to catch what true spirituality
is all about? It's about relationships. It's
measurable. I mean, you can measure. Am I surrendered?
Am I separate from the world's values? Do I have
a sober self -assessment? Am I serving in love?
Am I supernaturally responding to evil with good?
And then it helps you ask and answer those questions.
And little by little, as we walk through this
together, you will begin to experience as you
trust and obey by faith God's power, God's peace,
God's purpose. God's presence and God's perspective.
And that's why I'm so excited. And you know what
I love about this? Guess whose book we got this
out of? This text? It's just the Bible. It's
true. What Jesus said to them, he said to us,
if you abide in my word, and that word just means
if you take it in for the purpose of apply it
by faith, then you'll know the truth and the
truth will set you free. As you turn over the
notes, I want to close with this one very important
perspective. There is a danger on our journey.
Like every journey, there's dangers. But there's
a danger on our journey to begin to very subtly
begin to think that sort of the R12 journey or
the Romans 12 journey is like a moral code and
a set of bars to live up to. Okay, I'm gonna
be surrendered. I'm gonna be separate. Super
self -assessment. I think I got that down. I'm
gonna serve in love. And let's see, I can't remember
the last one. Supernaturally respond to something
with something. And you can turn it into, The
very thing we're trying to avoid. And so I want
to remind you that true spirituality has nothing
to do with living a good life so that God will
love you. True spirituality has everything to
do with beginning to grasp the height and depth
and length and breadth of how much God has already
loved you, has demonstrated that love, and you
living out of the freedom of that love. And so
I just put the little chart of the entire book
of Romans. What did he do? Chapters one through
three, all of us fall short of the glory of God.
We sugarcoat this. This isn't just being not
a nice person. We have sinned. We've betrayed
God. We're people that have committed treason
and he's holy. And his just wrath is upon us
for what we have done. And that's the problem.
In chapters four and five, there's a solution.
The solution to sin is salvation. Jesus, fully
man, fully God, lived a perfect life, died upon
the cross to pay for your sin and rose from the
dead and offers a free gift to whosoever would
believe and receive it. Chapter 6 through 8 goes
on to talk about how this new life is lived.
And he didn't leave us alone. It wasn't a moral
code. Try hard. He said, the spirit of the living
God in the new covenant will take up residence
inside your mortal body. After he takes you out
of the kingdom of darkness, he places you in
the kingdom of light. And his spirit takes up
residence in the living. presence of Christ and
the power of Christ by the word of God and the
community of God's people births. Literally,
Paul talks about until Christ is formed in you.
That's called sanctification. And it's a journey.
And often it's two steps forward and three back
and then four steps forward. But you grow. And
then finally he reminded them that God always
keeps his promises. So chapters 9 through 11,
his promises to the Jews will be fulfilled, that
they fumbled the ball in terms of their responsibility
as a blesser and an instrument of God. And so
he says, I'm going to take them out of the game
and I will fulfill everything I made, promises
to Abraham and to David. But the church is going
to be my agent of blessing until I call time
out and bring the very final days of history
to a close. And after 11 chapters of regardless
of where you've been, God loves you, died for
you, puts his spirit inside of you and will keep
every promise. Therefore, I urge you brothers
to what? Offer your bodies a living sacrifice.
Have you ever placed your faith in Christ personally
to forgive your sin? Because what I've seen over
and over is People just unconsciously think I'm
trying hard to be this good person. And it's
interesting and they begin to experience some
change. But what sometimes they never realize
is you need on a certain day at a certain time
to be born from above or to be born again. And
that's back in chapter three and the beginning
of chapter four. And where you come to God on
a day like today and you just honestly admit,
God, I need your help. I violated a holy God
today. I believe your blood paid for my sin and
your resurrection proved it's true. And on this
day, I want to ask you to come into my life forever
to forgive me and to be my father. And if you've
never done that, that's the smartest, wisest,
best thing you'll ever do. This is Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend, for over 30
years, Living on the Edge has been committed
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when you're there. Well, that wraps up today's
episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching message
coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast.
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