This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought
to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast,
you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from
beginning to end. Well, here's Chip Ingram with
today's message, How to Give God What He Wants
the Most. If I ask you kind of over a cup of
coffee, where did your spiritual journey really
begin as an adult? What would you tell me? Where
were you? What were the circumstances? For me,
it was the night I graduated from high school.
After being with some friends at a party, I realized
I was a workaholic. I had academic success. My
dream of a basketball scholarship was in hand.
I was all league in baseball. I had a really
pretty girlfriend. And I sat alone and empty.
And just wondering, what in the world am I here
for? My little formula of success will make you
happy didn't pan out. I remember that night sitting
on my bed, looking out my bedroom window. It
was a very starry night, I remember. And I started
asking the real questions that adults ask. Why
am I here? Is there a God? What's my purpose
in life? Is there more to life than just setting
goals and achieving them? And that night, although
I had a lot of childhood prayers of, you know,
get me out of this jam and please help so -and
-so, and I prayed what I think was my first adult
prayer. And I remember looking at the stars and
I said, God, if you exist, Reveal yourself to
me in a way that I can understand. And then I
figure everybody wants something, and I remember
praying, God, what do you want from me? If you
exist, what do you really want from me? And that's
gonna be the question we're gonna ask and answer
today on our journey toward true spirituality.
How do we give God what he wants the most? If
you pull out your teaching handout, We're going
to walk through this journey, and this journey
is going to take us to a point of a very, very
important decision. When you ask the big questions
of life, they come back at you in a way where
there's big decisions, decisions about future
and priority and relationships. I mean, way more
important than jobs and money and details. And
so I want to introduce you to... A book that
I read, it was by a Harvard, actually Yale, excuse
me, they use it at Harvard Business School, but
by a Yale law professor called Risk, Reason,
and the Decision -Making Process. And it's a
series of true stories. that are case studies,
and they read the case study, then they get in
small groups, and they talk about, okay, what
were the risks involved in making this decision?
What reasons did people make this decision? And
what would you do? And so they sort of peel it
out, give a case study, let the groups talk a
little bit, and then give them more information.
So let me actually, I've got a couple case studies
here, because here's the deal. The goal was to
teach them to make skillful, wise decisions.
And we're going to be talking about a very, very
important decision. And there was just some great
insight about making great decisions. So case
study number one. They're brief, but they're
kind of fun. A 32 -year -old engineer named John
loves to go to estate sales to look for antique
furniture and other potentially valuable items.
One weekend, he goes to an estate sale in the
southern part of the United States. All the items
in this particular house are being sold together
for a single price. Visitors are welcome to make
a bid, and John learns that the winning bid will
be about $95 ,000. The house is old and disrepair,
probably built during the Civil War period. John,
a self -confessed geek and history buff, recognizes
a collection of rifles that seem to be from that
time frame. He then goes downstairs to a damp
basement using a small pocket flashlight, finds
an old rollertop desk, And going through the
desk, he discovers a false drawer. And in the
false drawer is a small leather pouch that contains
22 very rare pure gold coins minted by the Confederate
Army during the Civil War. They could be worth
millions of dollars, he believes. John has to
make a decision. What should he do? He has $10
,000 in savings. If he can sell his car, his
house, and everything he owns, he believes he
can come up with the $95 ,000 and make the winning
bid. What would you do? Students at Harvard's
business school and MIT and other universities
discuss this. So face value, what would you do?
Think about that. Case study number two. Sheila,
a 20 -something college art teacher at a community
college, was traveling in Europe over the summer.
She had even started a small collection on her
limited salary. And while in a small village
in southern France, well off the beaten path,
Sheila went to an auction where the locals had
all donated family art to be sold to help finance
the construction of a much -needed school. One
painting topped the list and was said to be a
rare but highly valued copy of Picasso's work.
It was deemed as a non -original because the
signature at the bottom was different from all
of his other works. Sheila, however, wrote her
master's thesis on Picasso and was aware that
in the first year of his work, he did not sign
his name, but only put his initials there. She
looked and studied the painting carefully and
came to the conclusion that she actually was
in the presence of a priceless piece of art.
It was believed there were only two or three
of these paintings in existence anywhere in the
world. If this were so, Sheila was standing before
something worth a very great deal of money. The
$25 ,000 asking price was a joke with regard
to what it was worth, but it was a bigger joke
with her income. What Sheila would have to do
would sell her Volkswagen Jetta, sell her entire
art collection, and withdraw her entire savings
of $600. What should Sheila do? What would you
tell her? Now, you'll notice on your notes I
did little observations or questions to ponder.
And here's, you know, when you get something
like this, you ask, okay, what are the risks?
The risk is that if the coins are phony and John
does that, he loses everything. And the risk
for Sheila is if it's not a Picasso, she's going
to lose everything. The potential rewards are,
and by the way, later in the study, you know,
they have a second page that the teacher brings
out. The coins are real, and they're worth about
$30 to $40 million. The Picasso was real and
was worth about $100 million. So the rewards
were super if, in fact, it was true, but the
cost and the risk was very high if it's not.
So with that information, what would you do and
why? Now, I want to give you three principles
that flow out of these case studies. Here's where
the meat is for you and me. In every big decision,
and I mean big, important, life -altering decisions
especially, the number one thing you need is
just write this word down, truth. Truth. The
issue here is the validity of the find. If the
coins are legit, if they're true, if it's a Picasso,
if it's true, and for you. When you're trying
to figure out what you should do with your life
and the relationships that you're in, you need
to first and foremost say, what's true? Second,
write the word knowledge there under your kind
of observations. See, Sheila had knowledge that
other people didn't have. She had done some work.
She'd done some study. She was prepared to take
advantage of a situation because she knew things
that other people didn't know. John, the same
way. He's a computer geek. He's a history buff.
When he saw the rifles, he saw the house. All
those things gave him insider's knowledge about
what he was really looking at. And after truth
and knowledge, the last thing, just write the
word faith. These are the three keys to making
great decisions. What's true? Do you have the
inside knowledge? And then faith is literally
the courage to pull the trigger. You know, it's
one thing for John to say, hey, I believe this.
This is true. I've done some evaluation. And
then can you hear John? You're like going back
and talking to his wife. Hey, honey, we're going
to empty our savings account, sell the house,
sell the cars, everything that we have, because
I just found these gold coins. And even if he's
absolutely convinced, Because I've watched this
happen a lot. You know there's things you're
convinced of that you really believe are true.
Your logic tells you it's true. At times even
the Bible tells you it's true. At times the research
in history even says it's true. But when you
look at the weight of the risk, there's a great
deal of people that never have the faith or the
courage to pull the trigger and act on what they
absolutely believe is true. And so they don't
make good decisions, or they make no decisions,
which is really a decision of itself. Turn the
page, if you will, because these two remind me
of a case study by Jesus that teaches us also
about risk, reason, and the decision -making
process. When Jesus is teaching this, it's out
of Matthew chapter 13, verses 44 and 45. By this
time, his popularity is growing. And people he
has deemed to be the king of the universe, the
Messiah. And he's saying that I'm the king over
a kingdom, and all a kingdom is is the rights
and the power and the authority that someone
has to rule. And he was teaching a completely
new way of life. Completely different from the
religious time. Completely different. He was
loving and he was kind and he was holy and he
was radical. And everywhere he went, there was
either a riot or revival. And there was something
fascinating and powerful. And he did things that
no one else had ever done. He raised people from
the dead and he spoke about God and he revealed
the Father. And people were following him. But
as they began to follow him, it forced them into
very big decisions. Big decisions about the way
they used to think. Big decisions about other
relationships. Big decisions about their time
or their money or their future. And so he gives
them two similes or pictures, parables. He makes
them up. He says, the kingdom of heaven, in other
words, following me and how life works with me
as the king of your life, is like a treasure
hidden in the field, which a man found, then
he hid again, And from joy over it, he goes and
sells all that he has, and he buys that field.
Now, that's a very short sermon, but there's
a lot in there. And just in case, very common
in Jewish teaching, parallelism, they'll give
you a truth, and just to make sure you get it,
maybe give you exactly the same truth with a
different picture. So look at verse 45. Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking
fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great
value, of exquisite value, of over -the -top
priceless value is the idea, he went and sold
all the pearls that he had and he bought it.
So if you have a pen, pull it out. Let's go up
to verse 44. I want you to see something. Underline
the two words treasure hidden and then the two
words man found and then the two words hid again.
And then the two words, from joy. And then the
two words, sells all. And then the phrase, buys
the field. And if we were doing a little Bible
study together, I would say there's four observations
we could make that are very, very simple, but
unveil what Jesus is saying. A man, number one,
finds a treasure. The man, after finding the
treasure, sees how much worth it is. He hides
it again. Number three, he has an emotional response.
He is absolutely exhilarated and joyful that
he has come into all this money. And then number
four, in order to get that field, he sells everything
he has, so when he owns the field, he'll get
the treasure inside. Now, here's what you need
to understand. Jesus isn't talking about money
and treasure. He's making a very profound spiritual
point and principle about decision -making. And
what he's saying is this. He's saying there's
certain things that we can see and certain things
we can't see. And the kingdom of God and following
me is akin to, and this would be in their day,
it would make sense because this actually could
happen in their day. They didn't have 401Ks.
And so you would take your treasure and you would
hide it, dig it someplace on your land, and the
goal is you would tell your relatives, your sons
or daughters, where it is, but sometimes... People,
you know, they aren't ready quite to hear it,
and they die before they tell anyone. So it could
be on a piece of land for two or three or four
generations. And so the people realize that this
story is really plausible. And so he says, here's
a man who is in a field, maybe he's walking with
a stick, and he hears something, and he opens
it up, and there's a little chest, and there's
a fortune in it. And he covers it back up and
he is just exhilarated with what he's just found.
So he recklessly with abandon sells everything
he has that's not worth very much to get something
that's worth a whole lot. Same picture with the
pearl. Here's the thesis. Jesus is saying when
you understand who he is and how life really
works and what really, really matters now and
forever. and you get the treasure of what it
is to have relationship with him and the plan
that he has for you on this earth, you would,
with reckless abandon and joy, forsake all else
to get that. Put another way, his thesis is,
total commitment is the channel through which
God's biggest and best blessings flow. Did you
realize that? I mean, total commitment, he sold
all that he had. Motive, joy. Above the word
in your notes where it says total commitment,
would you write the word surrender and put a
box around it? Surrender, total commitment. I
mean, it was all or nothing in order to gain
that land with the treasure inside. Now, notice
Webster defines total commitment for us because
sometimes... That word means different things
to different people. He says it's the alignment
of one's motives, resources, priorities, and
goals to fulfill a specific mission, accomplish
a specific task, or follow a specific person.
In the words of Texas Hold 'em, it's you're all
in. Total commitment, surrender. This is very
counterintuitive. Jesus is this. amazing teacher
calling people to a life. And he says, the values
are upside down than the world that you live
in. And the way to gain is to give. And the way
to life is to die. And he says, I have a plan,
and in following me, there is a treasure that's
unspeakable. It's unspeakable for the now. It'll
transform you. It'll transform every relationship.
It has the promise of eternity. It has the forgiveness
of your sin. It has focus and purpose and answers
all the big questions of life. And this treasure
I want to give you, but here's the entrance to
the decision. Surrender. Surrender is the channel
to which God's best and biggest blessings flow.
Now, you'll notice at the very bottom I put a
spiritual insight. Because when you talk like
I have just been talking about total commitment,
and if you really begin to play it out in your
mind, and you start thinking about, you know,
the story about John and Sheila, that's really
nice. And, you know, you kind of think of the
$100 million that Sheila has, and you think about
the $30 or $40 million that John got out of the
deal because they had inside knowledge and had
the courage to pull the trigger. Both dead. By
the way, before I go on, is there no compassion
in this room? I notice. Does anyone just have
a twinge and feel sort of sorry for Sheila? She
gave up her Volkswagen Jetta. I mean, every piece
of art that she picked up over those years, don't
you think they were on her teacher's salary and
emotional? And John, if he's been to these estate
sales, when he's sold everything he has, don't
you think there's a couple antiques? from other
sales that really meant a lot to him? I mean,
his wife loses her home? You're a really hard
-hearted group. So you actually are saying you
think that $30 or $40 million is worth doing
that? Of course you do. Now, Jesus told these
two parables. to get into their world in such
a way that they would get a new set of glasses.
Because when you talk to people that want to
follow God about total commitment, it's like,
well, I know pastors are supposed to be totally
committed and maybe missionaries, and there's
always like a 98 -year -old lady who really prays
like 37 hours a day, and there's only 24 hours,
and we know she's totally committed. But, I mean,
for most of us, like, we're just like regular
Christians, and that sounds really scary. And,
you know, I really want to love God. I'm glad
I'm going to heaven. I'm glad Jesus forgave my
sins. And, you know, I would like to be a good
person. In fact, I think I'm a little bit better
person than most people. But total commitment
sounds, like, scary. Like, I mean, lock, stock,
barrel. I mean, God has the say on my time, my
money, my future, my family. And so what most
of us do is we see the lens of total commitment
negatively. In fact, notice I put it on your
notes. We see total commitment as sacrificial.
We see it as self -denial. We see it as noble.
We think people that are totally committed are
martyrs. Have you ever met someone who said,
I have renounced all for Jesus? I've met some
people like that, and I have not liked to be
around them very long because they've renounced
all, and somewhere in there, they think they're
way better than you and me. Here's what I want
to tell you. When Jesus taught about surrender
or total commitment, it is the channel to get
God's very best in your life. But he said it's
for joy. His motivation is positive. It's wise.
It's logical. It's shrewd. It's not so much renouncing
as it is a reevaluation. Is $95 ,000 as valuable
as $30 to $40 million? This isn't rockin' science.
Now, when we look at it like that, it's easy.
But when you look at the treasure that God has,
it gets a little more difficult because you can't
see it. Just as Jesus made up parables to help
people in their world understand what's going
on, I took the liberty to make those two parables
up. Please do not feel betrayed. I mean, if I
would have come out here, okay, are you ready?
If I would have come out here and said, total
commitment, surrender is the channel through
which God's biggest and best blessings flow.
Now, are you totally committed or not? You going
to step up or not? You going to get with the
program? I mean, all your defenses would be what?
And you would have totally missed the point.
I've actually taught that in my early days as
a pastor. You know, where's the few, the proud,
the Christian Marines? Come on. And I was one
of those religious jerks. That thought I was
better than anyone because I'm committed. I totally
missed the point. I didn't understand God's grace.
But you know, all of you who were kind of leaning
forward thinking, here's the only thing you thought
about Sheila and John. I wish I were them. Right?
I wish I were them. And you know what? Sheila,
does anyone would say that, oh, Sheila and John
were noble. They were martyrs. She gave up her
Jetta. Right? They made a big sacrifice. Where's
your focus? Your focus is like mine. Sacrifice,
my lands, 30, 40 million. The focus was on what
they got. And that was Jesus' point. And that's
his message to you. Remember, this is about how
to give God what he wants the most. And I told
you it involves a decision. And before our time
is over together, We're going to have a very
sober and holy moment where I'm not only going
to explain exactly how to give God what he wants
the most, but it will require a big step of faith,
total commitment, and surrender. And what you'll
have to start asking is, is how I hang on to
things and my view and what I want versus what
he can provide, which one of those am I going
to trust? It reminds me of a story I heard many
years ago, and it was a story of a little girl
that went on vacation with her family. And it
was by the seashore, and they had one of those
cottages, you know, that's right there, and you
walk out the door, and the sand is there, and
you could walk on the beach and had a little
pier, and at the end of the pier was a fishing
boat with a very old man. It was in a very small
town in New England, and the little girl... Five
or six years old, cute pigtails, the whole bit.
You know how they are at that age. And she would
walk down to the pier and walk down, and there
was an old, old fisherman who was just known
in the town as the mean one. He was just mean.
He was old. He was bitter. His friends had died.
He'd had a hard life. And so he just shut everybody
out. But there's something about a little five
- or six -year -old girl, you know. Hi. Hi. Well,
after day one, day two, day three, day four,
his heart starts to melt. And no one's ever treated
him nice. And every day she would get shells
and give him shells. And she'd sit at the end
of the pier with her feet dangling. And pretty
soon he's given her a little fishing line. And
in their seven -day vacation, a bond occurred.
And he realized no one in the whole world cares
about me and I'm going to die very soon. He was
in his late 80s. And this little girl does. And
unbeknownst to others, he had a little pouch
of over the years of fishing. he found a number
of shells and pearls. And the thing that he noticed
about this little girl, she would dangle her
feet over, but she would always clutch. She had
these little, you know, plastic beads that you
get like at Walmart or Target or the CVS pharmacy.
You know, you're on vacation, kids always want
something. You know, $1 .99, you're all set.
And so he noticed how much she liked him. So
he took his pearls and stayed up most of the
night, drilled holes in them, took a piece of
fishing line. and made a necklace, he thought,
I'm going to give it to this little six -year
-old girl. And so the next day, she came to say
goodbye. And the station wagon is all packed.
And parents are 100 yards away. And OK, honey,
get ready. Yes, you can go say goodbye. She runs
down to say goodbye. And he says, come here,
honey. I have a present for you. And she walks
up to him. And they've been very close. And he
says, give me those plastic beads off your neck.
And then he hung out, glistening in the sun.
Real pearls. Now, the problem with being five
or six years old and you're very immature, you
don't know what's worth what. All you know is
what you're comfortable with. All you know is
what feels right. And so he took another step
and he said, here, I have these. These are real
pearls. Now, take those off so I can put them
on. And the little girl stepped back, grabbed
her necklace, and ran 100 yards, jumped in the
station wagon, said, I want to go. That man tried
to take my pearls. And I want to tell you about
eight out of every nine Christians that really
do sincerely love God cling to plastic pearls
and are not receiving anything close in their
life experience, their relationships or their
eternal impact, what God has chosen and destined
for you to have. Because when he says, give me
you, put me first in your time, put me first
in your future, put me first in your decisions,
put me first in your family, put me first in
your work, put me first in your money, I want
you to trust me wholly because I have pearls,
not stuff. And if you don't believe he's good,
if you don't know the heart of the Father, then
you just stay around him long enough not to feel
too guilty and semi -hope you go to heaven and
you cling on to the plastic, temporal, non -treasure.
But when you meet the people that get more and
more pearls, you realize it just weighs them
down instead it gives them life. Total commitment,
surrender is the conduit. It's the channel to
which God's best and biggest blessings flow.
And so what I want to do in the remainder of
our time, I want to define very specifically
what total commitment looks like. We are not
leading up to some emotional moment. We're leading
up to a wise decision where you're going to weigh
the risk and the logic of saying to God in a
few minutes, I surrender all to you. I would
sign a blank check made out to you. I would say
to you, from this day forward, I'm all in. I
may be a little fearful, but I'm all in. But
in order to do that, you know, what's that look
like? The answer is in Romans chapter 12, verse
1. And after 11 chapters of treasure, of what
God has done, of how much he loves you, of his
sovereignty, his goodness, his forgiveness. His
power, his spirit living within you, his gifts,
all the plans that he has for you. In chapter
12, your response to that is, therefore, I urge
you, brothers, sisters, fellow family members,
the Apostle Paul writes, in view of God's mercy,
offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and
pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of
worship. Notice the structure. There's a command,
there's a motivation, and there's a reason. I'd
like you, if you will, put a box around the word
offer, put a box around living sacrifice, and
then put a little box around the word holy. And
then I want you to put a squiggly line under
spiritual act of worship. The command is to offer
your body to God. And this isn't metaphorical.
This is like your physical body, your eyes, your
head, your hands, all that you are. And the word
offer here is in a tense in the Greek language
that's punctiliar. And what that means is on
a certain day at a certain time. This passage
is not explaining how to have your sins forgiven.
This passage is not explaining what it means
to be in God's family. Salvation occurs at the
end of chapter 3, 4, and right in chapter 5,
the work of Christ by grace. You receive the
free gift by faith. Chapter 12 is saying, how
do normal Christians follow Jesus out of gratitude?
And God says, are you ready? This is what I want.
I want you on a certain day at a certain time
to say to me, all I am, all I have is yours.
That's what it means to offer. I will tell you
that tens of thousands of people in America and
around the world do not understand the channel
through which God's best and biggest blessings
flow. The average Christian somehow thinks, I
received Jesus. He's my savior. It's really real.
I read the Bible some. I'm really trying hard
to be a good Christian, but it's not going that
well. The power for the Christian life comes
in this moment of offering where, remember how
your garden hose when you're having the water
battle gets cranked? The way to uncrank it is
when you say, it's the channel, it's the conduit.
Lord, Now, it requires faith. It requires believing
in an invisible treasure that you can't see,
but it's a historical living God who's walked
upon the earth and died in your place and rose
and sits at the right hand of God and says to
you, there's an unspeakable treasure who for
joy says to you, let me give you the best. My
first two and a half years as a Christian, I
didn't know. I got to where I was pretty undisciplined,
so I'd never read the Bible. I trusted Christ
the summer after my high school senior year.
I went off to college, and it took me three or
four, five, six months to get where I could read
the Bible maybe three or four times a week. But
God spoke to me. It was exciting. And then I
went to a little Bible study, and there was God's
presence and loving people, and there was part
of it that was just amazing. But then, you know,
I wanted the basketball team to like me, and
there were all these girls. Yay for God, chip.
God, chip. And, you know, Thursday night, oh,
I've experienced God's presence. And Friday and
Saturday night, you know, wee hours of the morning,
God, I'm sorry, I'll never do that. I was a schizophrenic.
Had all these hidden things in my life. And the
joy of my salvation was creeping, creeping down
as I had... Sort of this salad bar spirituality,
you know? God on my terms, I obey 8 .5 of the
commands. 85%, doesn't that pass? No, Chip. And
I remember going to a conference where what I
just shared was taught. It was the life of Abraham.
And the man, it was just 30 or 40 people in a
little room at a conference, and he walked us
through God's school of faith, and he got to
chapter 22 where God says to his son, his only
son, Abraham, take your son, your only son, whom
you love, and take him on this mountain and sacrifice
him to me. And Abraham gets up early. He's been
with God over, he's 100 years old now. And we
learn later that he, He's learned that when God
says something, you can bank on it. And although
it seems so illogical, so irrational, he did
it. And he got the knife up and he was ready
to come down. And God said, stop. Now I know
that you are loyal to me because you gave your
son, your only son, whom you love. And prior
to that time, God had made some promises to Abraham
about his descendants and about the future that
were about this big. And after that moment of
surrender, read in chapter 22, God expands, expands,
expands, says, no, Abraham, this is what I'm
going to do now. Because Abraham, I never wanted
your boy. I would never want to sacrifice. What
I wanted was your heart. And that boy became
an idol. And anytime there's anything in front
of God's relationship with you, and you have
an idol, you will destroy the idol, the idol
will destroy you, and that will destroy your
relationship with God. And those are the beads.
Those are the plastic pearls, and they can be
work, and they can be family, they can be a relationship,
it can be money, it can be ego, it can be your
body. All of us have Isaacs. And unless a grain
of wheat fall into the earth and die, it remains
by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears forth
much fruit. That's Jesus. So I need to take my
idols. In my case, it was basketball and my girlfriend.
And it was like, God, I'll do whatever you want.
Don't mess with basketball and don't mess with
my girlfriend. And at the back of that little
30 or 40 people, I remember. I made the most
transformational decision of my life apart from
receiving Christ as my Savior. And with fear
and trembling, I got on my knees and I said,
God, I am scared to death because I'm afraid
that you're going to either make me single the
rest of my life or worse, I'll marry some ugly
person. I'm just telling you, okay? Like I'm
20 years old. What do I know? And then I said,
and God, you know, I've just been playing hoop
my whole life, and just when I get the ball in
the middle on the break, I just love this game.
But if you, you're God. I mean, please don't
take that away, but it's an idol. And I want
you to know that I'm all in. I don't know what
it looks like, but I will do life. And I'm sure
I'll mess up later, but I will do life your way
moving forward. Whatever your word says, if it
says it, I'm making a pre -decision. I may mess
up, but I'm going to come back to this moment.
I surrender my heart, my goals, my future, my
money, my dreams. I want to do life your way.
That's what it means to offer your body. And
then notice it's not just one big emotional experience.
What's the next box? It's living sacrifice, right?
Many of you in this room will make that step
today. Many in this room have already taken that
step. But it's you offer your body as a living
sacrifice. So the living sacrifice, you know,
is a lot like marriage. You know, in 1978, I
said to Teresa, I surrender to you, nobody else
but you. And she said, I surrender to you. And
we said, let's do this together forever, no matter
what. But I've had to renew that commitment almost
every day. And there's times we needed marriage
counseling. We've had hard times with some of
our kids. We've had health issues. We've had
cancer. We've had all kind of problems. But no
matter what, because we said, boom, we commit
to one another no matter what. It was that commitment
that's kept us together. And it's been the channel
of God's biggest and best blessings. I've got
a great wife. I've got a loyal wife. I've got
the best friend I've ever had. I've got a relationship
I never saw in my family growing up. I never
dreamed. Has it been easy? No. It's been great.
And then God, what's he do? He's got such a sense
of humor. I give away basketball. And, you know,
it took me a while. So, you know, I pulled my
quad completely out. Missed most of that year.
Then I got injured again. And then they changed
coaches. And finally it was okay. I'm good. By
my senior year, I'll do it your way. Surrender.
And God turns around after I graduated and I
played in every country in South America. And
I was just a little NAIA. That's like Division
III little school. And then once I surrendered,
God said, you know, he got me on this team and
I'm playing against Olympic teams all over South
America and later with an Australian team throughout
all the Orient. See, the issue is not He wants
to take something good away. The issue is any
good thing that stands between you and him that's
an idol will destroy your relationship with him.
And by the way, it'll destroy your relationship
with the idol. So it's a living sacrifice. You
make the commitment, but then it's daily renewing
and living. And it's holy. That's the last word.
It's holy. You can't come and not deal with your
stuff. There's some of you, you're sitting here
at this moment, you're thinking, if I surrender,
this relationship with this rotten guy or this
girl that I know isn't God's will, but I sure
love her, God would say, you know it's not right.
For some of you, you're realizing, we probably,
living together is not an option if I surrender.
For others of you, you're going, oh my gosh,
you know, my priorities are so out of whack,
I'm a workaholic, or my finances are a mess.
See, it's holy. No blemish sheep. He's just saying,
you come as you are, but there's this commitment
to say, God, I'm not playing games. I'm going
to do life your way. And then I'm going to bring
all of me. And that's not only the good stuff,
but you're going to come and say, I'm bringing
my fears of rejection. I'm bringing my fears
of the future. I'm bringing my fears of what
you might do. I trust that you're a good God.
In fact, notice the motivation. The motivation
is not get with the program. It's the mercy of
God. The mercy of God. He's looking back on the
last 11 chapters, but he's saying, God's asking
for all of you, but what's he done? He's loved
you. He's forgiving you. He's paid for your sin.
He's caused the spirit to come into your body.
He's taken you from the kingdom of darkness and
put you in the kingdom of light. He's adopted
you as a daughter or as a son. He has a purpose
for your life. He's creating a place at this
very moment in heaven for you. He's laid down
his life. He says, can't you trust me? This is
like someone who you've given a million dollars
and they come to you and they say, hey, you think
I could borrow 20 bucks? He goes, I don't know.
I don't know if you'd pay it back. And you go,
what do you mean I don't know if you'd pay it
back? I gave you a million dollars. Yeah, well,
I don't know. See, that's, you start to get the
kingdom logic. How could you not to a God? who
has demonstrated why you were his enemy and I
was his enemy, laid down his life, how can we
not believe that he's good, that he's compassionate,
that he's kind? See, this is not a get with the
program, be a superstar or a Christian Marine.
This is a let your father love you. Let's remove
the barriers. And the final reason is your spiritual
act, of worship. In other words, what God really
wants. I mean, we started out with a question
that leads to a decision. The question is, how
do you give God what he wants the most? Are you
ready for this? It gets real simple. God wants
you. All of you. Every aspect of you. See, you
can read the Bible, you can pray, you can come
to church, you can give some money, you can go
on a missions trip, you can try and be a good
moral person. You can do all kind of things.
There was a group in the New Testament that did
all that and more. And Jesus said the harshest
things that ever came out of his mouth about
those religious people because their hearts weren't
his. They were in control and they used their
religion and they thought they were better than
other people. They weren't tender, they weren't
broken, they weren't loving. Left to ourselves,
we are a people who will create some little grid
or model about how we're okay with God because
we're doing this, this, this, this, and this
as we gain and keep control. And your control
always is shown by where your money goes, where
your time goes, where your energy goes, and what
you dream about. And when he has your heart in
those areas, I'll tell you what, those things
get transformed. And then, are you ready? You
discover why you're here. You discover what your
purpose is. You discover there really is more
to life than setting goals and accomplishing
them. You experience the treasure both now and
the promise forever. He wants you. As you turn
to the back page, I wanted to just give you two
pictures that have been very helpful to me. One
is a blank check. And I want to tell you, please
do not hear, everything will be easy and wonderful
and great. In fact, many of you will be tested.
Abraham didn't take a rubber knife up there.
It may get worse before it gets better. The Holy
Spirit would say, well, how's it working for
you your way? And today, Pay to the order of
Jesus Christ, and there's a date, and you'll
write today's date. And then you'll sign your
name. And there'll be a sense of fear in your
heart, but it'll be a step of faith. And you'll
say, I'm all in, God. You can cash this. You
can cash this with my future. You cash this with
my relationships. You cash this with my finances.
You cash with my career. You cash it with my
geography. I will do whatever you want me to
do. I believe you're that good and that kind.
And I actually believe that you could pick out
what's better for me than I could pick out for
me. Do you see how arrogant it is when we say
to God, oh, I want your forgiveness and your
salvation, but I'll run my life. Because I'm
way smarter than you. I mean, you created the
universe, but look at me. So I really want you
to think risk, reason, the decision -making process.
What it means to fill out the check, I came across
a small excerpt of a, of a prayer by a lady named
Ruth Myers. And just lean back. You can even
shut your eyes. When you think about what it
means for you to sign this check in just a moment,
think of a prayer that might go something like
this. Lord, I'm yours. Whatever the cost may
be, your will be done in my life. I realize that
I'm not on earth to do my own thing or to seek
my own fulfillment or my own glory. I'm not here
to indulge my desires or increase my possessions
or to impress people. to be popular or to prove
I'm somebody important or to promote myself.
I'm not even here to be relevant and successful
by human standards. I am here on this earth to
please you. And so now I offer myself to you
for you are worthy. All that I am or hope to
be, I owe to you. I am yours by creation and
I am yours by the purchase price of your son
on the cross that paid for my sin. And so right
now, I give you my body and each of its members,
my entire inner being. I give you my mind, my
emotional life, my will, my loved ones, my marriage
or my hope for marriage. I give you right now
my abilities and my gifts, my strengths and my
weaknesses, my health and my status, whether
it be high or low. I give you my possessions,
my past, my present, and my future. And I even
give you when you want to bring me home to be
with you. I'm here to love you and to obey you
and to glorify you. You ready to take that step?
It'll be the greatest decision you ever, ever
make. And for some of you that are a little bored,
if you play lots of video games, watch a lot
of TV, have to go to a lot of movies, find yourself
shopping or eating a lot, you know what those
are? That's symptoms of a life. of boredom. That's
a symptom of nothing of genuine purpose and focus.
That's a symptom of medicating yourself with
plastic pearl beads. And I had a little struggle
growing up long before I was a Christian. I like
adventure. I like excitement. I like risk. And
so someone early introduced me to cards. I played
cards Friday night, gambled. And then I was fascinated
with horse racing. So by my senior year, Tuesday
and Friday nights, I played the horses. And I
just can't tell you the thrill that it is to
put down $2 your very first bet and win $103
Quinella. I thought, what an easy way to make
money. And so that sent me on a journey where
I found myself about a year and a half later,
literally in the boy's bathroom. I put my feet
up on the commode so they couldn't see me. And
when the three linemen on the football team that
I owed a few hundred dollars to were coming to
collect in a very inappropriate way to my body,
I decided to quit gambling. I wasn't a Christian,
wasn't anything spiritual to it. It was like,
this is nuts. And I got a problem. But I have
to tell you, when I turn on the old TV, and the
World Poker Texas Hold 'em is on, I just have
to check it out. And here's what I love, because
there's a great principle. You know, it's the
final table. They got all these stacks, millions
of dollars. The pot's worth, you know, $14 .7
million. Two Loho cards, those. Risk, mm, these
are good cards. Reason, evaluating everything
I've seen this guy do in response. Action, faith.
You could probably finish it with me, right?
I'm all in. And then what happens? Electricity
happens. The game completely changes. Then he
steps up. He starts walking around. Why? Here's
why. Because something's going to happen. There's
no... until you get to the point where you say,
I'm all in. He's either going to get a bracelet
and multiple millions of dollars, or he's going
to lose. And I want to tell you that the God
of the universe brought you in this room on this
day for you to say to him, I'm all in. And when
you do, you will begin to experience power and
excitement and challenge and purpose like you've
never known. Because just like in Texas, hold
them. The game never really gets interesting
until you're all in. And my sad observation is
the great majority of Christians that I know
are just trying to be nice people, trying to
get a little bit better mobility for their family,
trying to figure out how to balance all the demands,
be a little bit more polite than most people.
Read your Bible now and then and come to church
and put a little salve on the guilt of your soul.
And your heavenly father, I think, with tears
in his eyes, say, why won't you taste the treasure?
Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
But those that come must believe that he is and
that he's a rewarder. of those who diligently
seek you. Father, as we bow our heads and you
are working deeply and powerfully inside the
hearts and minds of the people in this room,
I pray that you would grant faith and courage
to sign the check, not just the perfunctory action
of doing it in just a moment, but the signing
of the check from their heart, even with the
fear and concern, and say, God, I'm yours. All
I am, all I have, all I hope to be, you deal.
Lord, I pray for those that know that there's
real hard decisions that need to be made, that
you give them the courage to mentally make that,
to tell you in their heart right now what they're
gonna do and find a trusted friend that they
can share that with. Lord, for those that this
is the first time, God, I pray for supernatural
grace. For those that have made this commitment
before, as they sign it, could you help them
reaffirm and be reminded this is what the Christian
life's all about? And then finally, Lord, for
those that in their heart of hearts just say,
in integrity, I couldn't sign that. I've got
to deal with something. I've got to resolve a
couple things. Lord, would you help them to be
honest with themselves and honest with you and
get help? We love you. Help us to want more of
you. Help us to turn in our plastic pearls for
the real thing. Amen. This is Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram. Friend, for over 30 years,
Living on the Edge has been committed to one
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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.
Today's program is produced and sponsored by
Living on the Edge.