WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 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, 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.539 you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from 00:00:10.539 --> 00:00:14.019 beginning to end. Well, here's Chip Ingram with 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:16.600 today's message, How to Come to Grips with the 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:19.579 Real You. Well, there's not a lot of things that 00:00:19.579 --> 00:00:22.879 psychologists and theologians agree on 100%. 00:00:23.850 --> 00:00:27.649 But psychologists and theologians all agree that 00:00:27.649 --> 00:00:29.890 from the time we're very small, actually until 00:00:29.890 --> 00:00:34.109 the day we die, we begin to consciously or unconsciously 00:00:34.109 --> 00:00:37.770 try to ask and answer three questions. Question 00:00:37.770 --> 00:00:41.789 number one, who am I? Question number two, where 00:00:41.789 --> 00:00:44.509 do I belong? And question number three, what 00:00:44.509 --> 00:00:47.329 am I supposed to do? I mean, these are the issues 00:00:47.329 --> 00:00:50.469 about identity, about security and significance. 00:00:53.740 --> 00:00:56.420 becoming a Romans 12 Christian, your true spirituality. 00:00:57.100 --> 00:00:59.179 And at the end of the day, we can call it all 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:01.740 kind of different things, but Jesus made it very 00:01:01.740 --> 00:01:04.579 clear. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:06.620 with all your soul, with all your mind, with 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:09.760 all your strength, and love your neighbor like 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:12.859 yourself. And in Romans chapter 12, it just gives 00:01:12.859 --> 00:01:16.140 us a snapshot of what an authentic follower of 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:18.879 Jesus looks like in everyday life. And so in 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:20.760 terms of loving God, he says, how do you love 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:23.439 God? What does God want the most? He wants you 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.620 and me, all that we are, all that we have, surrendered 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:29.480 to him. And then realizing that it's a battle 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:32.280 and the world system wants to seduce our heart 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:35.000 away from our Savior, he wants us to be separate 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.239 from the world's values. Well, now we're going 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:39.620 to move from verse 1 and verse 2 to verse 3 through 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:42.560 8. And here what we're going to learn is, how 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:46.040 do you come to grips with the real you? You cannot 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:49.420 and I cannot love other people if you don't love 00:01:49.420 --> 00:01:52.060 you. I mean that not narcissistically. I mean 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:55.879 in a very healthy way. How do you look in the 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:57.760 mirror, not just physically, but in the mirror 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.519 of your soul, come to grips with who you really 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:04.000 are, and say, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:08.199 I matter. God has a plan for me. I'm not too 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:10.939 short. I'm not too tall. I have the right personality. 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:14.419 I have the right gifts. I don't need to be like 00:02:14.419 --> 00:02:18.599 anyone else. Here's the fact of the matter. Most 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:22.719 of us, Most people on all the earth spend the 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.800 great majority of their time and energy trying 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:29.259 to be like someone else or wishing they were 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:32.719 someone else. And so we dress like someone else. 00:02:32.740 --> 00:02:35.659 We act like someone else. We have all these different 00:02:35.659 --> 00:02:38.199 models and we spend all of our energy and time 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.300 trying to be a copy of something that's not nearly 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:45.659 as attractive as the one unique person out of 00:02:45.659 --> 00:02:49.360 the almost 7 billion people on this planet. that 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:53.620 have a unique DNA that's yours. And you're made 00:02:53.620 --> 00:02:57.180 exactly like you were made by the creator of 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:01.280 all of life because he's got a plan for you and 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.539 he's gifted you and he wants to do something 00:03:03.539 --> 00:03:06.780 great in you and then something significant through 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:09.039 you. So we're going to roll up our sleeves and 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.060 we're going to ask and answer the question, how 00:03:11.060 --> 00:03:13.080 do you come to grips with the real you? So open 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:15.280 your teaching notes, if you will, and let's jump 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.979 into those three questions. Question number one, 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:21.979 who am I? You know, when you're real small, you 00:03:21.979 --> 00:03:25.060 say, well, like in my family, I learned early. 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:28.280 It's family. Who am I? I'm an Ingram. My dad 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:30.379 made it very clear that that name was important, 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.419 so you better not go out and do anything that 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:35.159 would embarrass the Ingram name. You get a little 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:37.460 older, and they say, who are you? And we often 00:03:37.460 --> 00:03:39.379 give our profession or our work. Well, I'm a 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:41.659 scientist. I'm a software engineer. I'm a stay 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:43.539 -at -home mom. I'm a construction worker. I'm 00:03:43.539 --> 00:03:45.979 an electrician. And so who I am, my identity 00:03:45.979 --> 00:03:48.819 is around what I do. As we get a little bit older 00:03:48.819 --> 00:03:51.840 or as life changes often, then it's about our 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.500 passion. Well, I'm a mom. I'm a surfer. I'm an 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:59.439 artist. But it all goes back to from the time 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:03.139 you're small to those late teens to early adulthood, 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.860 then especially a little shift in midlife. What's 00:04:06.860 --> 00:04:09.740 our identity? You're always asking this question. 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:12.039 And by the way, for those of you who are parents, 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.770 so are your kids. The second big question we're 00:04:14.770 --> 00:04:16.889 always asking are, where do I belong? And this 00:04:16.889 --> 00:04:20.050 is about security. And so remember in school 00:04:20.050 --> 00:04:23.230 when there were cliques? Isn't it weird? I mean, 00:04:23.310 --> 00:04:26.269 every school, you got the athletes, you got the 00:04:26.269 --> 00:04:28.110 nerds, you got the cool group, you got the in 00:04:28.110 --> 00:04:30.790 group, you got the really out group. And then 00:04:30.790 --> 00:04:34.050 there's clubs, so you join different clubs. Then 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:36.430 sometimes our, where I belong, it's my ethnicity, 00:04:36.709 --> 00:04:41.069 the people that look like me. Or sometimes it's 00:04:41.069 --> 00:04:45.470 around where we belong. I'm an IBMer. I'm an 00:04:45.470 --> 00:04:51.850 HPer. I'm a Googler, right? You know? Other times 00:04:51.850 --> 00:04:54.629 where I belong is, well, I belong to this country 00:04:54.629 --> 00:05:00.670 club. And people like me go here. Or I belong 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:03.750 to this gang because I wear my pants down here 00:05:03.750 --> 00:05:07.680 and I got some bling. Or I belong because in 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:09.660 some gangs you have to kill someone to get in. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.639 And then I've got a tear tattoo right here to 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:15.139 prove that I'm in that. You need to understand 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:18.980 that the same dynamics when you're small or later, 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:22.600 and every one of those is every person is made 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:25.319 by the God of the universe to need to belong, 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:30.620 to need to understand who you really are. And 00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:33.019 we go about it in some ways sometimes that are 00:05:33.019 --> 00:05:37.060 very dysfunctional. In fact, sometimes very dangerous. 00:05:38.660 --> 00:05:40.819 Third question we're asking is, why am I here? 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:44.519 What am I supposed to do? I mean, it's fundamental. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.100 It's so fundamental and so overwhelming, sometimes 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:50.160 we blow past this one. I mean, when's the last 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:53.620 time you actually stopped and said, why am I 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:57.899 on this planet? What is the meaning of life for 00:05:57.899 --> 00:06:04.170 me? See, we left to me and you left to you. That's 00:06:04.170 --> 00:06:05.889 sort of like, well, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's, 00:06:05.889 --> 00:06:07.269 I'm sure, I mean, it's the most important question 00:06:07.269 --> 00:06:09.290 in life. So I'll get around to that. But I got 00:06:09.290 --> 00:06:11.529 a lot of voicemails, you know, and a lot of emails. 00:06:11.769 --> 00:06:13.430 And, you know, there's work and there's kids. 00:06:13.509 --> 00:06:15.350 I got to drop people off. And by the way, I got 00:06:15.350 --> 00:06:17.050 to get in. I got to get these good test scores. 00:06:17.089 --> 00:06:20.089 And I need to, and it's amazing how many people 00:06:20.089 --> 00:06:24.170 blow through life, fulfilling all kinds of duties, 00:06:24.370 --> 00:06:26.730 responding to all kinds of demands that really 00:06:26.730 --> 00:06:30.250 are about identity and security. And you wake 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:32.329 up 30, 40, 50 years later and you realize your 00:06:32.329 --> 00:06:34.689 whole life has been a grind. Your whole life 00:06:34.689 --> 00:06:36.189 has been for something that's going to happen 00:06:36.189 --> 00:06:38.910 someday, some way out there. And you've never 00:06:38.910 --> 00:06:42.430 stopped to ask, what am I supposed to do with 00:06:42.430 --> 00:06:46.370 my life? A big part of the whole midlife crisis 00:06:46.370 --> 00:06:49.790 is people looking in the rearview mirror and 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:52.449 going, I've not only not asked that question 00:06:52.449 --> 00:06:55.790 when I start thinking about it very deeply, I 00:06:55.790 --> 00:06:58.389 don't like the answer. Because I not only don't 00:06:58.389 --> 00:07:01.589 know, But I haven't given much energy or time 00:07:01.589 --> 00:07:04.290 or track record to what I think probably matters 00:07:04.290 --> 00:07:08.069 most. Now, before you get too down on yourself, 00:07:08.350 --> 00:07:11.709 right? Because honestly, those are big, aren't 00:07:11.709 --> 00:07:14.610 they? Those are so big. Isn't it interesting? 00:07:14.709 --> 00:07:17.170 The biggest issues in life you can sort of shove 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:20.470 down because they're so hard to answer. It's 00:07:20.470 --> 00:07:22.750 like, well, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, who here 00:07:22.750 --> 00:07:26.129 would say, who am I really and where do I belong 00:07:26.129 --> 00:07:27.629 and what am I supposed to do? Come on, Chip, 00:07:27.670 --> 00:07:31.980 would you get to something serious? Right? There's 00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:35.279 no bigger questions than that. And yet, the great 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:37.160 majority of people have not thought deeply or 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:40.279 could give you good, clear answers to that. But 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:44.040 let me tell you why. Let me explain why those 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:46.040 are so hard to answer. Turn in your notes to 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:49.240 page two. Something happened. Something happened 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:51.480 to our first parents that we've inherited from 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:55.939 them that make these three questions very hard 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:59.980 to answer. It's why the world has such a pull 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:03.439 on us. It's why we settle for lots of superficial 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.180 answers to those things, knowing down deep in 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.879 our soul they don't really satisfy. The passage 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:14.579 is Genesis chapter 3. The context is the cosmic 00:08:14.579 --> 00:08:18.009 coup has occurred. The most loving being, the 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:20.850 most generous being, the giver of all life, the 00:08:20.850 --> 00:08:23.730 creator of the universe, Yahweh God, has created 00:08:23.730 --> 00:08:26.829 mankind and told them that all that I have and 00:08:26.829 --> 00:08:29.189 everything's available, there's only one small 00:08:29.189 --> 00:08:34.210 limitation, don't eat from that tree. And our 00:08:34.210 --> 00:08:36.409 parents, first by deception, then by an act of 00:08:36.409 --> 00:08:38.490 the will, it was a coup, it was a rebellion. 00:08:39.149 --> 00:08:41.590 And sin entered the world. The theologians call 00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:45.600 it the fall of man. And we pick up the story 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:49.440 and we find out what happened. And as we pick 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.240 up the story, you'll discover why for you and 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:53.940 me, it's really hard to answer those questions 00:08:53.940 --> 00:08:58.179 well. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:00.539 in the garden in the cool of the day. And the 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:03.820 man and his wife hid themselves from the presence 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:06.220 of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 00:09:06.860 --> 00:09:09.779 It's the first time this has ever happened. They 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:12.220 ran to meet him. They lived in a perfect environment. 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:15.340 They were naked emotionally. They were naked 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:17.500 spiritually. They were naked physically. Some 00:09:17.500 --> 00:09:19.600 theologians think there was radiation of light 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:21.919 that came out from them before the fall even. 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:24.899 There was absolute, complete intimacy with God, 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.139 intimacy and vulnerability with one another, 00:09:27.340 --> 00:09:31.360 unconditional acceptance. Life was perfect. And 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:33.200 now they hear God coming, and for the first time, 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.440 they hide. Then the Lord God called to the man 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.340 and said to him, where are you? By the way, this 00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:40.100 is not an informational question. This is diagnostic. 00:09:40.139 --> 00:09:43.279 God knew where he was. He's going to ask a series 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:47.059 of questions to help Adam discover where he's 00:09:47.059 --> 00:09:51.639 really at. Adam said, I heard the sound of you 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:54.759 in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:57.320 so I hid myself. If you've got a pen, will you 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:00.460 pull it out and circle afraid, naked, and hid? 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.559 That'll come back later. You're going to find 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:05.940 there's a relational pattern in that that you 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:10.320 have and I have and every human being has. And 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.299 God said, who told you that you were naked? Have 00:10:12.299 --> 00:10:14.059 you eaten from the tree of which I've commanded 00:10:14.059 --> 00:10:17.340 you not to eat? And so he's going to answer God. 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:20.019 And it's very interesting. If you happen to be 00:10:20.019 --> 00:10:23.799 his wife, this is not a good moment. What you're 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.559 going to learn is you can't trust this guy. For 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:28.179 the first time ever, what you're going to learn 00:10:28.179 --> 00:10:30.360 when the pressure comes, what he's going to do 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.679 instead of own his stuff and be a man, he's going 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:37.379 to be passive and he's going to blame you. And 00:10:37.379 --> 00:10:41.299 so Eve is. probably standing there, knowing the 00:10:41.299 --> 00:10:43.600 whole story, and she's going to hear her husband 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.720 say to God, the woman that you gave me to be 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:50.139 with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate 00:10:50.139 --> 00:10:53.720 it. Translation, it's not my fault, it's her 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:56.120 fault, and by the way, you're the one who gave 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:58.620 her to me, so let's do the math. Not me, it's 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:02.539 her, it's your fault, really, God. And so God 00:11:02.539 --> 00:11:05.679 moves on with the progression of diagnostic questions. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.710 Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is 00:11:08.710 --> 00:11:11.230 this that you have done? And the woman, being 00:11:11.230 --> 00:11:15.690 a very quick study, says, the serpent deceived 00:11:15.690 --> 00:11:18.470 me and I ate. In other words, it's not my fault 00:11:18.470 --> 00:11:21.070 either. It's the serpent's fault. And who made 00:11:21.070 --> 00:11:23.570 this garden? And who made serpents? And you know 00:11:23.570 --> 00:11:28.370 what? All the problems in life are God's. Isn't 00:11:28.370 --> 00:11:31.730 it interesting a lot hasn't changed? When there's 00:11:31.730 --> 00:11:34.399 a tragedy, When there's a difficulty, when something 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:36.700 happens in the world, isn't it interesting as 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:38.899 human beings, what I always hear is, how could 00:11:38.899 --> 00:11:42.139 God let this happen? How come every single day, 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:44.360 how could God let me breathe? How could God give 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:46.279 me this? I mean, we don't like list every good 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:48.159 thing that he's ever done, but anything goes 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:53.019 wrong, I'll tell you what, right? Three obstacles 00:11:53.019 --> 00:11:55.500 you'll see in this passage about why it's so 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:58.519 hard to come to grips with the real you. First 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:02.450 is fear rooted in shame. Notice he says, I was 00:12:02.450 --> 00:12:09.409 afraid. Well, why? I was afraid because now for 00:12:09.409 --> 00:12:12.870 the first time ever, Adam realizes he's naked. 00:12:14.110 --> 00:12:16.929 And don't, of course it's physical, but well, 00:12:16.950 --> 00:12:19.850 well beyond. What he realizes is he's exposed. 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:24.570 What he realizes when he meets the eyes of someone 00:12:24.570 --> 00:12:27.070 who sees absolutely perfect through everything, 00:12:27.190 --> 00:12:31.659 he doesn't measure up. There's a self -consciousness 00:12:31.659 --> 00:12:36.580 that has occurred. And can I tell you that this 00:12:36.580 --> 00:12:40.480 is how we relate to God often? And this is how 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:44.740 we relate to one another? It is that the primary 00:12:44.740 --> 00:12:47.559 means of relating to other human beings and God 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:54.679 is fear. And it's rooted in shame. See, I mean... 00:12:54.909 --> 00:12:57.570 if we get all the superficial sophistication 00:12:57.570 --> 00:13:00.830 and all the pop psychology out of the way, if 00:13:00.830 --> 00:13:04.610 I could remove every ounce of veneer from your 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:07.370 life and mine and all the image management and 00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:09.330 all the ways you kind of frame things and all 00:13:09.330 --> 00:13:11.789 the levels of denial that you have, down deep 00:13:11.789 --> 00:13:14.230 in your heart and your soul, if someone knew 00:13:14.230 --> 00:13:17.889 all of you, I mean all of you, the thoughts, 00:13:17.889 --> 00:13:21.110 the envy, the motives, the things that you've 00:13:21.110 --> 00:13:25.120 thought, let alone the things you've done, down 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:27.419 deep in your heart, you're pretty convinced you'd 00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:32.679 be rejected. And so we relate to one another 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.379 in fear and spend an inordinate amount of energy 00:13:35.379 --> 00:13:40.980 posing and image managing. And since we're not 00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:43.740 sure who we really are, we want to be liked by 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:47.220 other people, so I call them personality holograms. 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:50.139 because of your background and your gifts and 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:52.299 the part of the country you grew up in and all 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:55.000 these factors, somewhere along the world, you 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:58.059 learn people in certain groups like this, and 00:13:58.059 --> 00:14:00.879 so you learn to act like that and dress like 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.320 that and need to drive that, and your kids need 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:05.460 to go to this school, and you have all these 00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:07.980 things that somehow, someway, if all that is 00:14:07.980 --> 00:14:10.440 lined up, because you get affirmation from that, 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:12.360 you get approval from that, you're admired by 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:15.500 people. Here's the problem. What you know is 00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:17.799 this hologram that you're projecting of this 00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:20.240 person that has it kind of together and is loving 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:23.600 and is kind and is a good whatever. You know 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.440 down deep in your soul that really doesn't represent 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:27.539 all of you, let alone a lot of the real you. 00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:31.379 And even when people love the hologram, you don't 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:35.100 get love because you know that's not you. And 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:36.799 that's why we find some of the people that are 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:39.899 most beautiful and the most successful. And we 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:41.700 find him doing things that we scratch our head 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:43.799 and say, how could someone that has all the things 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:47.139 we all long for kill themselves or destroy their 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:49.519 life with an addiction? It's that discrepancy 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:54.559 in their soul. It's fear rooted in shame. Notice 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.960 the second thing that happens in this. Not only 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.220 did they say I was afraid, he says hiding rooted 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:02.639 in insecurity. See, when you're naked, you feel 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:06.399 insecure. You feel inadequate. And so you hide. 00:15:06.809 --> 00:15:09.470 Not only were you afraid, but I hide the real 00:15:09.470 --> 00:15:12.190 me from you and you hide the real you from others 00:15:12.190 --> 00:15:16.049 and from God. Isn't it amazing when you don't 00:15:16.049 --> 00:15:19.169 feel like praying, especially if you down deep 00:15:19.169 --> 00:15:21.769 feel, you know, sort of that low grade guilt 00:15:21.769 --> 00:15:24.610 in your soul. Maybe it's not like really big 00:15:24.610 --> 00:15:27.429 sins, but sort of the little ones start adding 00:15:27.429 --> 00:15:29.529 up and you just don't feel very motivated to 00:15:29.529 --> 00:15:32.049 pray. I don't know about you, but what I realize 00:15:32.049 --> 00:15:34.669 is I don't want to go talk to God right now because 00:15:34.669 --> 00:15:38.850 I know how this is going to go. Right? He's going 00:15:38.850 --> 00:15:41.490 to cause me to be honest, expose me for who I 00:15:41.490 --> 00:15:44.129 am, and I don't like that. And so I play this 00:15:44.129 --> 00:15:46.269 game like, well, if I don't really talk to him 00:15:46.269 --> 00:15:48.009 very deeply right now, he doesn't really know. 00:15:49.830 --> 00:15:51.529 But don't you do that with your mates, those 00:15:51.529 --> 00:15:52.710 of you that are married? Don't you do it with 00:15:52.710 --> 00:15:54.450 your roommates? Don't you do that with your best 00:15:54.450 --> 00:15:58.889 friends? Don't we play that game? We have fear 00:15:58.889 --> 00:16:00.850 that's rooted in shame, and then we hide in our 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:04.000 insecurity. And can I tell you something? Here's 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.259 a great little message to learn. This is a freedom 00:16:06.259 --> 00:16:11.419 message for me. Everyone on the earth is desperately 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:17.019 insecure. Desperately insecure. And if you're 00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:19.039 saying, oh, no, I don't know if I really buy 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:20.919 that one. Well, let me tell you a little story 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:24.399 that was a liberating one for me. The first place 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.159 that I had the privilege of pastoring, I was 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:28.899 28 years old. It was a, instead of a mega church, 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:30.919 it was a mini church. It's out in the country, 00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:33.559 about 30 miles outside of Dallas. That whole 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:36.279 town was about 3 ,000 people. And then outside 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:38.720 the town was this little white building and we 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:42.019 had 35 people. And so it was my very first pastorate 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:43.700 and I didn't know what I was doing, but this 00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:47.399 was, you know, the place God called me to. And 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.600 I thought it was like a rural church because 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:51.679 people had pickup trucks and guns in the back 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:55.480 and they all had their ranches and horses. But 00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:57.519 after about two months there, when I started 00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:59.960 visiting the people in their homes, not only 00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:02.500 did their homes have the Southern Living magazine, 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:05.519 you know, like on the coffee table, their homes 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:07.990 were Southern Living magazine. And, you know, 00:17:08.029 --> 00:17:10.329 there's only 35 people, but this guy owned the 00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:13.849 Honda dealership, the Yamaha dealership, apartments 00:17:13.849 --> 00:17:18.170 in downtown Austin, and oil and gas. And this 00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:21.390 guy owned, not worked at, he owned an insurance 00:17:21.390 --> 00:17:23.109 company. I don't know how you do that, but someone 00:17:23.109 --> 00:17:25.329 has to own them, I guess. And this guy over here 00:17:25.329 --> 00:17:28.490 had one of the major CPA firms downtown. And 00:17:28.490 --> 00:17:30.690 all of a sudden, I realized from my very middle 00:17:30.690 --> 00:17:34.430 class, my dad through the depression roots, kind 00:17:34.430 --> 00:17:36.509 of, you know, both parents, school teachers, 00:17:37.250 --> 00:17:40.309 All of a sudden, I realize I'm pastoring 35 people, 00:17:40.410 --> 00:17:42.430 but they're mega wealthy. At least they're mega 00:17:42.430 --> 00:17:45.369 wealthy from where I came from. And I'm intimidated 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:48.690 to death. Have you ever been around someone that 00:17:48.690 --> 00:17:51.170 makes you feel really insecure? And I would say 00:17:51.170 --> 00:17:53.250 things, and I would feel small, and I would think 00:17:53.250 --> 00:17:55.329 I'm dumb, and I don't know about that, and I 00:17:55.329 --> 00:17:56.769 know they're smarter than me, and they've got 00:17:56.769 --> 00:17:58.789 all this stuff. Well, Chip, we're not going to 00:17:58.789 --> 00:18:00.950 be in church because we're going to go out of 00:18:00.950 --> 00:18:03.369 town. It's skiing season, so we're going to Vail. 00:18:05.100 --> 00:18:07.680 Oh, wow, that's in Colorado. To our cottage. 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:09.779 And then we're going to go to our condo in Corpus 00:18:09.779 --> 00:18:15.480 Christi. And it was like. And I mean, for the 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:17.799 first year and a half, I was, I literally, I 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:20.339 remember being awake. I mean, not sleeping at 00:18:20.339 --> 00:18:23.059 all. The first full six or seven nights before 00:18:23.059 --> 00:18:25.019 the first message, once I found out who these 00:18:25.019 --> 00:18:26.980 people were, because I was so uptight about what 00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:31.319 they thought of me. And then God put a book in 00:18:31.319 --> 00:18:34.920 my hands by. Swiss psychologist, Christian psychologist 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.180 named Paul Tournier. You don't even have to read 00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:38.880 the book. It's probably out of print. It was 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.759 translated from French into English. Paul Tournier, 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.220 the title of the book is The Strong and the Weak. 00:18:44.730 --> 00:18:46.970 And he had counseled people for 30 or 40 years, 00:18:47.109 --> 00:18:49.609 and the thesis of the book is real simple. Everyone 00:18:49.609 --> 00:18:51.630 on the face of the earth is desperately insecure. 00:18:52.069 --> 00:18:54.890 Some people express their insecurity with strong 00:18:54.890 --> 00:18:57.730 reactions. They power up. They tell you who they 00:18:57.730 --> 00:19:00.250 are, where they've been. They dress flashy. They 00:19:00.250 --> 00:19:01.930 tell you how many people report to them, how 00:19:01.930 --> 00:19:03.589 many letters behind their name, what their kid's 00:19:03.589 --> 00:19:06.029 SAT scores are. You start to cross them, and 00:19:06.029 --> 00:19:07.730 they get angry, and they power up, and all of 00:19:07.730 --> 00:19:09.269 a sudden, you feel small, and you back away. 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:12.279 And people that are desperately insecure that 00:19:12.279 --> 00:19:15.079 power up, guess what they do? They power up with 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:17.920 strong reactions to create distance because down 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:20.359 inside they're a scared little boy or a scared 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:23.460 little girl just like everybody else. And they 00:19:23.460 --> 00:19:26.099 hide behind it. They just have different fig 00:19:26.099 --> 00:19:28.240 leaves than other people. And over here you have 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.900 people who have weak reactions. And they have 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:32.539 weak reactions and they stare at their feet a 00:19:32.539 --> 00:19:34.619 lot. And, you know, I can't do anything and I'm 00:19:34.619 --> 00:19:37.539 unworthy. I had a very terrible experience. I've 00:19:37.539 --> 00:19:39.460 been through a lot and you probably can understand 00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:41.319 it. And when you first meet them, you try to 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:43.279 help them. Then you try to help them and then 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:44.920 you meet them. And then they have this recorder. 00:19:45.480 --> 00:19:47.619 I'm a victim. I'm a victim. I'm a victim. Life's 00:19:47.619 --> 00:19:49.920 terrible. I'm unworthy. I'm a terrible person. 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:52.400 No one would ever love me. And after like five 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.180 meetings, you go, you know what? You might be 00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:58.839 right. Right? I mean, you know what I mean? And 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:00.619 so what they've done is they don't really want 00:20:00.619 --> 00:20:03.339 help. They want sympathy and attention. But when 00:20:03.339 --> 00:20:05.900 they act like that, it creates distance. It's 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:07.940 a self -fulfilling prophecy. They figure a way 00:20:07.940 --> 00:20:10.400 to act in ways where people say, I won't get 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:15.000 close to you. It works. But there's not a nickel's 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:16.859 worth of difference between the two, the strong 00:20:16.859 --> 00:20:19.599 reaction and the weak reaction. Well, I was around 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:21.339 mostly people that were powering up and I was 00:20:21.339 --> 00:20:24.019 scared to death. And I read that book and it 00:20:24.019 --> 00:20:25.799 was literally like, you know, you know, in those 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:29.119 cartoons where bing, a light bulb goes off, bing, 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:31.579 a light bulb went off. And I still remember the 00:20:31.579 --> 00:20:33.220 first time I meet this guy for breakfast and 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:35.599 he starts telling me about this and I'm investing 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:37.779 in that and I'm going to do that. And I just 00:20:37.779 --> 00:20:39.880 kind of leaned back and I thought, man, this 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:43.420 guy's desperately insecure. And then I got to 00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:45.240 know his marriage and his problems and started 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:48.230 counseling some of his kids. And I still remember 00:20:48.230 --> 00:20:50.410 thinking, man, these people are as messed up 00:20:50.410 --> 00:20:54.529 as me. In fact, I think money can make you even 00:20:54.529 --> 00:20:58.029 more messed up than me. And I just decided, you 00:20:58.029 --> 00:20:59.910 know what? I'm going to stop pretending. And 00:20:59.910 --> 00:21:02.849 I took my mask off at a new level and befriended 00:21:02.849 --> 00:21:06.789 them. And I watched God do a miracle. He did 00:21:06.789 --> 00:21:10.130 a miracle in them, but he did a bigger miracle 00:21:10.130 --> 00:21:13.029 in me. And it was like that early journey. You 00:21:13.029 --> 00:21:16.089 know what? Just sort of my new radar became for 00:21:16.089 --> 00:21:18.970 years and years and years, everyone's desperately 00:21:18.970 --> 00:21:22.750 insecure. And you cover it one way, I cover it 00:21:22.750 --> 00:21:25.549 one way. Some people cover it with, you know, 00:21:25.569 --> 00:21:27.369 what they've done and their performance and their 00:21:27.369 --> 00:21:30.910 success and other people with their story that 00:21:30.910 --> 00:21:34.470 they tell. But you know what? It's called the 00:21:34.470 --> 00:21:39.829 fall. And you relate and I relate by hiding. 00:21:40.750 --> 00:21:47.200 And we hide. Because we're insecure. The third 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:50.140 relational implication of why it's so hard to 00:21:50.140 --> 00:21:53.200 answer these questions is blaming rooted in denial. 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:57.059 The man says, it's the woman. The woman says, 00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:00.259 it's the serpent. But ultimately, they both, 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:06.319 they blame God. Now here's, before we go on, 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:09.440 because we're going to talk about Romans chapter 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:13.470 12, verses 3 through 8. is actually going to 00:22:13.470 --> 00:22:16.470 help you discover. I mean, the tipping point 00:22:16.470 --> 00:22:19.910 of discovering who you are, where you belong, 00:22:20.210 --> 00:22:23.369 and what you're supposed to do. Verse three will 00:22:23.369 --> 00:22:25.109 tell us in just a minute who you are. Verses 00:22:25.109 --> 00:22:27.049 four and five will say where you belong. And 00:22:27.049 --> 00:22:28.509 verses six through eight will be the beginning 00:22:28.509 --> 00:22:31.509 of you getting really clear on your role and 00:22:31.509 --> 00:22:34.049 what you're supposed to do. But I want to tell 00:22:34.049 --> 00:22:35.789 you kind of a follow -up story because it's one 00:22:35.789 --> 00:22:37.470 thing to say, okay, everyone's desperately insecure. 00:22:37.589 --> 00:22:40.769 What do you do with that? It must have been 10, 00:22:40.910 --> 00:22:44.470 15 years later, and I'm on this journey. In fact, 00:22:44.549 --> 00:22:46.869 on a three -by -five card I wrote shortly after 00:22:46.869 --> 00:22:50.230 that, just my desire cards to renew my mind. 00:22:50.269 --> 00:22:54.009 Lord, I long to be more authentic in every relationship 00:22:54.009 --> 00:22:59.170 by your power and your grace. And I was invited 00:22:59.170 --> 00:23:01.609 to, I found out later, a very exclusive dinner. 00:23:01.710 --> 00:23:03.430 It's called the National Religious Broadcasters. 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:06.029 And they had probably the top maybe 20 or 30 00:23:06.029 --> 00:23:08.569 communicators in America with their wives. And 00:23:08.569 --> 00:23:11.769 these people put on this dinner. And I had no 00:23:11.769 --> 00:23:13.930 idea, you know, like we're on 10 stations or 00:23:13.930 --> 00:23:15.890 I don't know. It was not like, I mean, it was 00:23:15.890 --> 00:23:18.230 like Chuck Swindoll's on every station has written 00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:21.250 25 or 30 books. And he's sort of the voice of 00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:23.779 America and still going strong. And so I come 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:26.119 to this dinner with my wife. It is like, it made 00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:29.460 when I was intimidated before seem like, you 00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:32.579 know, just baby steps. And so of all things, 00:23:32.660 --> 00:23:34.900 there's, you know, they go around and they have 00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:37.619 a little nameplate and, you know, and so I sit 00:23:37.619 --> 00:23:40.660 down and the nameplate next to me is Chuck Swindoll. 00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:46.670 And I'm going, oh. No. And so, you know, I have 00:23:46.670 --> 00:23:48.309 time and I'm sitting there and I, you know, for 00:23:48.309 --> 00:23:50.529 me too, I'm from California and you know, I got 00:23:50.529 --> 00:23:52.849 a tie on and a coat and I'm totally uncomfortable 00:23:52.849 --> 00:23:55.009 just in how I'm dressed. And you know, it's real 00:23:55.009 --> 00:23:57.930 fancy and it's in real fancy place. And you know, 00:23:57.930 --> 00:23:59.470 he sits down, I sit down and I'm sitting there 00:23:59.470 --> 00:24:01.069 thinking, what am I going to do? Cause I mean, 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:03.549 I'm, I'm, I'm not thinking I'm insecure. I'm 00:24:03.549 --> 00:24:06.309 feeling very insecure. And so I go through my 00:24:06.309 --> 00:24:08.890 mind about like, how should I do this? Maybe 00:24:08.890 --> 00:24:11.230 I'll take the, Hey Chuck, how's it going, man? 00:24:12.310 --> 00:24:15.549 Nah, I don't think that'll work. How about the 00:24:15.549 --> 00:24:18.569 real, excuse me, Dr. Swindoll, how's the ministry 00:24:18.569 --> 00:24:20.470 going? Nah, I don't think that'll work. I mean, 00:24:20.490 --> 00:24:22.650 literally, you know, don't you all do this? Like, 00:24:22.690 --> 00:24:24.849 what am I going to do in this situation? And 00:24:24.849 --> 00:24:27.589 I remembered this. Everyone's desperately insecure. 00:24:28.069 --> 00:24:30.589 I can't really believe he is, but I'm thinking 00:24:30.589 --> 00:24:34.849 the Bible's true. So I just thought, I'm going 00:24:34.849 --> 00:24:37.430 to keep applying what I've been learning. And 00:24:37.430 --> 00:24:40.319 I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, said, 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:44.259 excuse me, Mr. Swindoll, this is my first time 00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:46.960 here. And I just have to tell you, I'm way over 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:50.539 my head. This is very intimidating. We're not 00:24:50.539 --> 00:24:53.720 on very many stations. I don't not only know 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:55.519 how to act, I don't know how to do this whole 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:58.559 broadcasting thing. Could you give me a couple 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:02.539 tips? And I'll never forget, he pulled back his 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:04.799 chair, put his arm around me like this. We got 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:07.660 back. Chip, call me Chuck. And for the next half 00:25:07.660 --> 00:25:10.359 hour, he began to explain the journey. And then 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:12.119 for the next six or seven years, I went to that 00:25:12.119 --> 00:25:14.599 dinner. Chip, come here. And he would kind of 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:16.000 say, well, tell me what's happening. And then 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:21.519 he would coach me. And why? I could have posed. 00:25:22.059 --> 00:25:28.210 I could have said, do you understand? one station. 00:25:28.269 --> 00:25:29.930 We're on seven stations now. What do you think? 00:25:30.430 --> 00:25:32.170 Oh yeah, worldwide. Well, that's pretty good, 00:25:32.210 --> 00:25:35.069 you know. But do you understand what happens 00:25:35.069 --> 00:25:37.410 when you take off your mask and you're just real 00:25:37.410 --> 00:25:39.390 and you're honest with where you're really at? 00:25:39.509 --> 00:25:41.430 Do you know what it is? You know who's coming 00:25:41.430 --> 00:25:45.150 out? The most attractive person on the planet 00:25:45.150 --> 00:25:50.630 that God made, the real you. Now look in your 00:25:50.630 --> 00:25:52.450 notes because here's what I want. I want to take 00:25:52.450 --> 00:25:55.390 you on a journey. to the beginning points of 00:25:55.390 --> 00:25:58.829 discovering who you really are, where you really 00:25:58.829 --> 00:26:01.910 belong, and then what you're supposed to do. 00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:06.670 God's answer to the dysfunctional pattern of 00:26:06.670 --> 00:26:11.109 hiding and shame and fear and denial is this. 00:26:11.369 --> 00:26:13.809 Who are you, verse 3, for by the grace of God 00:26:13.809 --> 00:26:16.130 given to me, I say to everyone among you, do 00:26:16.130 --> 00:26:18.509 not think of yourself more highly than you ought 00:26:18.509 --> 00:26:21.240 to think. but rather think of yourself with sober 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:23.460 judgment in accordance with the measure of faith 00:26:23.460 --> 00:26:26.079 God has given you. If you have that pen, pull 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:29.200 it out, underline the word think. Then when you 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.640 get to then you ought, underline the word ought, 00:26:32.859 --> 00:26:35.759 but rather think, underline the word think, and 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:38.359 then underline sober judgment. So you have think, 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:42.130 ought, think, and sober judgment. You underlined 00:26:42.130 --> 00:26:43.710 ought because in the original language, it's 00:26:43.710 --> 00:26:45.650 how you ought to think. But as they translated 00:26:45.650 --> 00:26:48.670 it for just a smoother reading, they omitted 00:26:48.670 --> 00:26:52.490 that word. The same root word, think, think, 00:26:52.589 --> 00:26:54.809 think, and sober judgment is all the same root 00:26:54.809 --> 00:26:56.910 word. The word sober judgment gives us the best 00:26:56.910 --> 00:27:01.009 idea. It's don't think of yourself like someone 00:27:01.009 --> 00:27:04.130 who's drunk. When a person's drunk, what do they 00:27:04.130 --> 00:27:07.690 do? There's an external influence that gets inside 00:27:07.690 --> 00:27:09.670 of them that cause them to look at life in a 00:27:09.670 --> 00:27:12.299 way that's not accurate. So he says, don't be 00:27:12.299 --> 00:27:14.140 drunk by the world system. Don't be drunk by 00:27:14.140 --> 00:27:15.819 what everybody would think. Don't be drunk by 00:27:15.819 --> 00:27:17.880 what your family tells you. You need to have 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:22.380 a sober self -assessment. You need to think accurately 00:27:22.380 --> 00:27:25.519 about yourself. That's the first command. You 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:28.559 need to come to the point where physically, relationally, 00:27:28.599 --> 00:27:31.440 spiritually, emotionally, your soul, you can 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:34.599 look in the actual mirror and say, I'm fearfully 00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:37.640 and wonderfully made. And come to the point where 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:40.700 these are my strengths. These are my weaknesses 00:27:40.700 --> 00:27:44.400 God given. This is how he's given me, but where 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:47.140 you think accurately about yourself. Notice, 00:27:47.180 --> 00:27:53.119 don't think too highly of yourself. Don't think 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:57.000 too lowly of yourself, but to think of a sober 00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:59.519 or accurate judgment. And then this little phrase, 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:02.299 notice it says, according to the measure of faith 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:05.339 that God's given you. Newell, in his commentary 00:28:05.339 --> 00:28:08.160 on Romans, really puts it well. He says faith 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:11.339 in this situation is not a subjective faith. 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:13.220 In other words, it's not faith in Christ, it's 00:28:13.220 --> 00:28:16.259 the faith. He says it's a standard by which we're 00:28:16.259 --> 00:28:19.490 to evaluate ourselves. This objective faith is 00:28:19.490 --> 00:28:22.670 the biblical view of ourself. It's who you are 00:28:22.670 --> 00:28:25.730 in Christ. It's how God has gifted you. It's 00:28:25.730 --> 00:28:28.069 understanding his plan for you. It's like the 00:28:28.069 --> 00:28:31.009 first three chapters of Ephesians. It's you need 00:28:31.009 --> 00:28:34.549 to see yourself as loved, adopted, sealed by 00:28:34.549 --> 00:28:37.529 the Spirit. You have a purpose. You're his workmanship. 00:28:39.609 --> 00:28:44.230 Everything you need, you possess in Christ. You're 00:28:44.230 --> 00:28:47.829 a son. You're a daughter. You're forgiven. You're 00:28:47.829 --> 00:28:51.470 loved. That's who you are. Most of us don't think 00:28:51.470 --> 00:28:54.369 that way about ourselves. That's why the world 00:28:54.369 --> 00:28:58.029 has such pools on us. I'll be accepted. I'll 00:28:58.029 --> 00:29:00.569 be significant if I look like that or if I act 00:29:00.569 --> 00:29:02.329 like that or if I make so much money or if people 00:29:02.329 --> 00:29:05.009 think this or if my kids do that. And it's a 00:29:05.009 --> 00:29:08.769 losing proposition. First and foremost, we need 00:29:08.769 --> 00:29:10.769 to think accurately about ourselves because this 00:29:10.769 --> 00:29:14.490 is who God says that we are. We all know people 00:29:14.490 --> 00:29:17.240 think too highly of themselves, right? It's called 00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:20.119 arrogance or pride. And, you know, they kind 00:29:20.119 --> 00:29:25.940 of strut in. Have you seen my new shoes? You 00:29:25.940 --> 00:29:27.660 know, I was at Nordstrom's the other day. Or, 00:29:27.819 --> 00:29:31.039 you know, I just hate it when it's just, it's 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:34.619 so busy this time of year in Cabo. You know? 00:29:36.180 --> 00:29:38.660 The Lexus dealership gave me such a hard time. 00:29:38.740 --> 00:29:41.740 I am just absolutely frustrated with, you know, 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:42.960 I think I'm going to go with the Bentley next 00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:46.789 time. Now, it doesn't take long for us, and by 00:29:46.789 --> 00:29:49.130 the way, those are our mild, funny illustrations. 00:29:49.710 --> 00:29:51.890 Believe me, we figured out how to do that spiritually 00:29:51.890 --> 00:29:55.569 with verses and posing just as well. But that 00:29:55.569 --> 00:29:56.809 would be too convicting, so I didn't want to 00:29:56.809 --> 00:29:59.769 go there. But we've all been around people that, 00:29:59.789 --> 00:30:02.230 right, the superiority, and everything in you 00:30:02.230 --> 00:30:04.250 goes, I don't want to be around that person. 00:30:05.049 --> 00:30:08.109 They think too highly of themselves. See, actually, 00:30:08.470 --> 00:30:10.509 they're a scared little boy or a scared little 00:30:10.509 --> 00:30:12.589 girl that's afraid you won't like them, and they've 00:30:12.589 --> 00:30:15.960 learned. That's how to hide. And then there's 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:18.039 other people that, you know, they think too lowly 00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:21.799 of themselves. God could never use me. I'm worthless. 00:30:22.059 --> 00:30:23.759 I don't have any gifts. I know the Bible says 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:25.319 there's gifts, but I know, you know, like the 00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:26.920 whole human race, and he got to me and goes, 00:30:26.980 --> 00:30:30.160 oh, I ran out. I don't have any gifts. I don't 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:32.200 have any value. If you knew where I came from, 00:30:32.220 --> 00:30:36.059 there's no hope for me. Now, get this. If you 00:30:36.059 --> 00:30:38.920 think too highly of yourself or too lowly of 00:30:38.920 --> 00:30:42.570 yourself, who are you thinking about? You. See, 00:30:42.570 --> 00:30:44.450 humility isn't thinking too high or too low. 00:30:45.329 --> 00:30:48.150 Humility isn't thinking of yourself at all. The 00:30:48.150 --> 00:30:50.329 Apostle Paul would say, consider others as more 00:30:50.329 --> 00:30:53.150 important than yourself. It reminds me, I haven't 00:30:53.150 --> 00:30:55.089 done a lot of this, but if you've ever gone bowling, 00:30:55.250 --> 00:30:57.730 sometimes I go bowling, not very often, like 00:30:57.730 --> 00:30:59.849 once every three or four years, and those guys 00:30:59.849 --> 00:31:01.930 on TV, they make it curve. So, you know, I'm 00:31:01.930 --> 00:31:03.529 going to try and make it curve. And I've done 00:31:03.529 --> 00:31:05.490 research on this. I can curve it into the left 00:31:05.490 --> 00:31:09.339 gutter. And just this is an experiment. How many 00:31:09.339 --> 00:31:11.579 pins if you curve it into the left gutter do 00:31:11.579 --> 00:31:15.720 you get? Zero. Well, then I try and overcompensate 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:18.039 and I try and throw to the right. And if it goes 00:31:18.039 --> 00:31:19.779 in the right gutter, how many pins do you get? 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:23.180 See, it doesn't matter if you think too high 00:31:23.180 --> 00:31:27.460 or if you think too low. You miss. Those are 00:31:27.460 --> 00:31:31.759 gutter balls. God commands. By the way, this 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:35.359 is a command. He commands you and he commands 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:39.549 me to think. accurately, clearly, biblically 00:31:39.549 --> 00:31:45.369 about who you really are. It starts with understanding 00:31:45.369 --> 00:31:47.789 that command and then it takes a journey and 00:31:47.789 --> 00:31:50.069 a process of renewing your mind because people 00:31:50.069 --> 00:31:52.849 and the media and the world has been telling 00:31:52.849 --> 00:31:55.750 you who you are your whole life and you got to 00:31:55.750 --> 00:31:58.410 break out of that. And you say, well, why is 00:31:58.410 --> 00:32:01.369 that so important? Because if you don't understand 00:32:01.369 --> 00:32:03.789 who you are, you'll never understand where you 00:32:03.789 --> 00:32:07.140 belong. Notice the very next verse, verses four 00:32:07.140 --> 00:32:10.539 and five. It says, just as each of us has one 00:32:10.539 --> 00:32:12.900 body, speaking of the physical body, and many 00:32:12.900 --> 00:32:15.000 members like eyes and hands and feet, et cetera, 00:32:15.140 --> 00:32:17.539 and these members do not all have the same function, 00:32:17.700 --> 00:32:23.019 so in Christ we are many, form one body, and 00:32:23.019 --> 00:32:26.160 each member belongs to all the others. Now in 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:27.980 your notes, right above just as, I want you to 00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:31.940 write the word for, F -O -R. There's a little 00:32:31.940 --> 00:32:34.559 preposition in Greek that when it comes, it means 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:38.000 reason. And again, to smooth out translation 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:41.720 sometimes, just as sounds good. But the reason, 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:46.359 he's saying the reason you must understand who 00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:50.359 you are and think accurately about you is for, 00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:53.380 just as the human body has many parts and all 00:32:53.380 --> 00:32:56.680 don't have the same function, so we who are many 00:32:56.680 --> 00:33:01.190 are one body in Christ and you fit. And if you 00:33:01.190 --> 00:33:03.089 didn't know you were an I, you wouldn't know 00:33:03.089 --> 00:33:06.009 where you fit. If you don't have a sober self 00:33:06.009 --> 00:33:07.950 -assessment of you, you don't know where you 00:33:07.950 --> 00:33:11.450 fit. If you ask the average person, what are 00:33:11.450 --> 00:33:15.609 your top three strengths? What are your top three 00:33:15.609 --> 00:33:19.069 weaknesses? Oh, three, I got nine. But here's 00:33:19.069 --> 00:33:21.029 what he's saying. Imagine these fingers coming 00:33:21.029 --> 00:33:24.509 out like this are your strengths. God gives you 00:33:24.509 --> 00:33:28.960 strengths. that build your confidence and allow 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:30.779 you to understand you have a unique contribution 00:33:30.779 --> 00:33:33.839 to help other people. Now, we live in a world 00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:35.779 where we're not even supposed to have any weaknesses, 00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:40.960 and so we sort of avoid, lie, deny, pretend. 00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:46.059 But God gave you weaknesses to create dependency 00:33:46.059 --> 00:33:49.039 and humility so there's interdependency, so other 00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:52.259 people's strengths... Meet your weaknesses so 00:33:52.259 --> 00:33:54.680 they do for you and in you what you couldn't 00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:56.799 do. So you need people. You know what that creates? 00:33:57.740 --> 00:34:00.700 Interdependency or humility. And it creates beauty. 00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:05.019 Your assignment is I want you to really think 00:34:05.019 --> 00:34:06.500 and pray about what are your top three strengths? 00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:10.820 Not what people think, what you think. What's 00:34:10.820 --> 00:34:13.460 God say? Maybe go to a few close people that 00:34:13.460 --> 00:34:16.159 know you well that'll be honest. Some of us want 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:17.679 to write strengths because we think it would 00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:20.809 make us a somebody. But what are your strengths? 00:34:20.909 --> 00:34:23.230 That's a journey. And then actually write down, 00:34:23.289 --> 00:34:24.690 what do you think your top three weaknesses are? 00:34:25.690 --> 00:34:27.829 And when you get those, what you understand is, 00:34:27.909 --> 00:34:30.190 instead of all this energy of covering them and 00:34:30.190 --> 00:34:32.969 acting like you don't have them, you just realize 00:34:32.969 --> 00:34:35.750 those are invitations by the God who made you 00:34:35.750 --> 00:34:38.369 to let people come into your life and love you 00:34:38.369 --> 00:34:43.590 in ways that you desperately needed. I had two 00:34:43.590 --> 00:34:46.489 kids in college at one time, two kids in Christian 00:34:46.489 --> 00:34:50.130 schools. And at that little window of time, I 00:34:50.130 --> 00:34:52.409 remember reading the paper, Santa Cruz was the 00:34:52.409 --> 00:34:54.789 most expensive place to live in America, more 00:34:54.789 --> 00:34:57.730 than Manhattan, more than San Francisco. And 00:34:57.730 --> 00:35:00.829 it was just crazy. And just trying to make it 00:35:00.829 --> 00:35:05.150 was just very difficult. And so when something 00:35:05.150 --> 00:35:07.570 broke down in our house, calling the repairman 00:35:07.570 --> 00:35:09.309 wasn't an option. I didn't have any money to 00:35:09.309 --> 00:35:12.349 call the repairman. And there was an elder in 00:35:12.349 --> 00:35:14.650 our church, a very godly man, a retired school 00:35:14.650 --> 00:35:17.360 teacher, but he was a shop teacher. He could 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:20.760 fix anything. And so when the dryer would go 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:23.360 out, and we bought a really older home that had 00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:25.579 lots of repair, and when it rained, the rain 00:35:25.579 --> 00:35:27.239 came in through one window, and every time the 00:35:27.239 --> 00:35:29.340 dishwasher, I didn't know why my wife had upset 00:35:29.340 --> 00:35:30.880 her so much, but we just put a towel under the 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:32.760 dishwasher so it would catch the water, take 00:35:32.760 --> 00:35:34.320 out the dishes. It seemed to work fine to me, 00:35:34.380 --> 00:35:36.119 but she really didn't think that was a good plan. 00:35:37.420 --> 00:35:40.260 And so Dick would come over, and on my day off, 00:35:40.340 --> 00:35:43.300 about 60 % of my day offs, Dick and I, that's 00:35:43.300 --> 00:35:44.719 what I called it, Dick and I would fix things. 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:47.659 Which meant I drove to Home Depot with Dick, 00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:51.500 I bought the parts, and then I would kneel down 00:35:51.500 --> 00:35:54.619 next to Dick and hand him the tools and ask a 00:35:54.619 --> 00:35:56.659 few questions. And finally he said, Chip, you're 00:35:56.659 --> 00:35:58.539 never going to understand this anyway, but it's 00:35:58.539 --> 00:36:03.440 okay. I learned more about being a man of God. 00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:06.500 He had grown kids, he was about 20 years older 00:36:06.500 --> 00:36:09.739 than me, about how to be a dad and how to be 00:36:09.739 --> 00:36:13.159 a pastor from Dick than probably anybody in that 00:36:13.159 --> 00:36:18.610 church. Why? Because I had a need. I mean, I 00:36:18.610 --> 00:36:24.449 can't fix anything. I mean, I literally, I can't 00:36:24.449 --> 00:36:28.090 fix anything. I mean, the iPad came out. I can 00:36:28.090 --> 00:36:30.250 hardly get around an iPad. I'm so untechnical. 00:36:30.349 --> 00:36:32.309 And I mean, you can fall off a truck and use 00:36:32.309 --> 00:36:39.289 one of those. But that need created a relationship. 00:36:40.909 --> 00:36:43.610 What would happen if you came to grips with the 00:36:43.610 --> 00:36:47.010 real you, took off your mask of projection and 00:36:47.010 --> 00:36:49.809 holograms, and recognized that God would want 00:36:49.809 --> 00:36:52.309 to bring people into your life? And what if you 00:36:52.309 --> 00:36:54.349 would take away your false humility and realize 00:36:54.349 --> 00:36:56.989 some of you are really good at some things? Instead 00:36:56.989 --> 00:36:58.190 of going, well, you know, I don't want to say 00:36:58.190 --> 00:36:59.630 anything like I'm good at that because they might 00:36:59.630 --> 00:37:01.809 think I'm trying to, they might think you're 00:37:01.809 --> 00:37:04.670 just trying to love them. I'll tell you what, 00:37:04.789 --> 00:37:08.789 it's God's design. It's powerful. It's beautiful. 00:37:09.530 --> 00:37:14.630 It's amazing. What I just described can't happen 00:37:14.630 --> 00:37:17.869 unless you're relationally connected and people 00:37:17.869 --> 00:37:22.110 know you and you open up and you take those baby 00:37:22.110 --> 00:37:25.449 steps of trust. Being in a small group will not 00:37:25.449 --> 00:37:28.869 make you deep in relationship, but it's the container 00:37:28.869 --> 00:37:32.650 in which happens most often where you really 00:37:32.650 --> 00:37:35.730 share your life and your heart. And so who are 00:37:35.730 --> 00:37:38.280 you? You need to think accurately about yourself 00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:41.340 the way God sees you. Why? Because you have a 00:37:41.340 --> 00:37:44.679 role to fulfill. You have a role to fulfill. 00:37:45.159 --> 00:37:48.019 And you can't know what that role is unless you 00:37:48.019 --> 00:37:51.090 know who you really are. And third, then you 00:37:51.090 --> 00:37:53.190 say, well, what role is it? Where do I fit? Show 00:37:53.190 --> 00:37:56.090 me, God. He's going to say, I've deposited in 00:37:56.090 --> 00:37:58.650 you a primary spiritual gift. Are you ready? 00:37:58.710 --> 00:38:01.510 A primary spiritual gift so that you can know. 00:38:01.590 --> 00:38:03.409 You can do a lot of different things, but I want 00:38:03.409 --> 00:38:05.550 you to take the lion's share of your energy in 00:38:05.550 --> 00:38:07.630 the body of Christ and focus here. Look what 00:38:07.630 --> 00:38:10.150 he says in verses 6 through 8. What are you supposed 00:38:10.150 --> 00:38:12.469 to do? He says we have different gifts according 00:38:12.469 --> 00:38:15.170 to what? According to the grace given to us. 00:38:15.389 --> 00:38:17.769 So what they are for given by God, there's no 00:38:17.769 --> 00:38:20.309 room for pride. Then he says, if a man's gift 00:38:20.309 --> 00:38:22.349 is prophecy, let him use it in the proportion 00:38:22.349 --> 00:38:24.750 of his faith. If it's serving in his service, 00:38:24.829 --> 00:38:26.929 if it's teaching in his teaching, if it's encouraging 00:38:26.929 --> 00:38:29.769 or counseling, let him encourage. If it's giving 00:38:29.769 --> 00:38:31.789 or contributing to the needs of others, let him 00:38:31.789 --> 00:38:34.349 give generously. If it's leadership, let him 00:38:34.349 --> 00:38:37.449 do it diligently. If it's showing mercy, let 00:38:37.449 --> 00:38:42.050 him do it cheerfully. We could go through and 00:38:42.050 --> 00:38:43.929 we have a, on the back of your notes, there's 00:38:43.929 --> 00:38:45.849 your divine design and we can help you learn 00:38:45.849 --> 00:38:48.030 and discover what those gifts are and discover 00:38:48.030 --> 00:38:50.530 what yours are. The point of this passage is 00:38:50.530 --> 00:38:54.449 not explaining the gifts. What's the point? If 00:38:54.449 --> 00:38:57.309 you're gifted to teach, no trick question, what 00:38:57.309 --> 00:39:00.389 are you supposed to do? Teach. If you're gifted 00:39:00.389 --> 00:39:01.969 to counsel and encourage, what are you supposed 00:39:01.969 --> 00:39:09.230 to do? Counsel and encourage. Come on. If you're 00:39:09.230 --> 00:39:12.489 gifted to lead, do it. diligently, right? The 00:39:12.489 --> 00:39:15.090 point is, there's a lot of things you could do. 00:39:15.929 --> 00:39:18.349 You are gifted and you have a unique something 00:39:18.349 --> 00:39:21.269 to bring to the body of Christ. This is how you 00:39:21.269 --> 00:39:23.789 make a matrix of where to spend your time and 00:39:23.789 --> 00:39:26.329 life and energy and priorities. You don't have 00:39:26.329 --> 00:39:28.150 to be on every committee and help everything 00:39:28.150 --> 00:39:29.909 in the community and everything everywhere all 00:39:29.909 --> 00:39:32.210 the time. You need to have a matrix. These are 00:39:32.210 --> 00:39:33.789 my strengths. These are my weaknesses. Primary 00:39:33.789 --> 00:39:35.889 spiritual gift. These are my priorities. This 00:39:35.889 --> 00:39:38.030 is the season of life that I'm in. Okay, Lord, 00:39:38.170 --> 00:39:41.750 line me up. And when you do that, you discover 00:39:41.750 --> 00:39:44.250 more and more who you are. And you will discover 00:39:44.250 --> 00:39:48.030 that you deeply belong. And you'll be doing what 00:39:48.030 --> 00:39:50.989 he made you to do. And so the practice here, 00:39:51.070 --> 00:39:53.809 put very simply, is to discover and deploy your 00:39:53.809 --> 00:39:57.650 spiritual gifts. Discover and deploy your spiritual 00:39:57.650 --> 00:40:01.610 gifts. You answer these questions by thinking 00:40:01.610 --> 00:40:04.690 accurately about yourself, getting relationally 00:40:04.690 --> 00:40:07.369 connected, discovering and deploying your spiritual 00:40:07.369 --> 00:40:10.380 gifts. And as you turn to the last page, I just 00:40:10.380 --> 00:40:12.559 want to remind you. Sometimes, you know, you 00:40:12.559 --> 00:40:14.780 can dig down into these questions. I just want 00:40:14.780 --> 00:40:17.340 to remind you. Remember what Jesus said? True 00:40:17.340 --> 00:40:21.000 spirituality. Don't get caught up in the R's 00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:23.159 or, you know, surrender to God, separate from 00:40:23.159 --> 00:40:25.179 the world, sober self -assessment. Those are 00:40:25.179 --> 00:40:28.539 great. But all those are what? Those are just 00:40:28.539 --> 00:40:32.480 a profile so that you love God with all your 00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:35.639 heart, soul, mind, and strength. You love others 00:40:35.639 --> 00:40:37.880 as the way you're learning to begin to appreciate 00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:44.780 and love you. And you'll never love you until 00:40:44.780 --> 00:40:49.019 you begin to remember and grasp how God sees 00:40:49.019 --> 00:40:53.000 you. Not how you see yourself. Not how your mom 00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:56.000 saw you. Not how your dad who wasn't around did 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:58.800 or didn't see you. Not how your peers see you. 00:40:58.940 --> 00:41:00.920 And so there's three things I want you never 00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:04.340 to forget, okay? You can look up the verses. 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:06.139 These are ones if I was you, I would memorize. 00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:10.199 In fact, I have. I want you to never, ever forget 00:41:10.199 --> 00:41:13.519 who you really are. God uniquely created you. 00:41:13.579 --> 00:41:19.000 You are eternally valuable. You are fearfully 00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:22.619 and wonderfully made. This passage will go on 00:41:22.619 --> 00:41:25.739 and talk about when you were in your mother's 00:41:25.739 --> 00:41:29.079 womb, you were being fashioned. in the embryo 00:41:29.079 --> 00:41:30.760 by the creator of the world because he had a 00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:33.400 plan for you and he made you special just the 00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:36.039 way you are and he not only loves you, are you 00:41:36.039 --> 00:41:40.780 ready for this? God likes you. I meet people 00:41:40.780 --> 00:41:42.119 all the time that are convinced, oh, I think 00:41:42.119 --> 00:41:43.699 God loves me. I just don't think he likes me. 00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:51.000 He's proud of you. He sings over you. The second 00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:53.179 thing, never forget, is that God placed you in 00:41:53.179 --> 00:41:55.679 his family. You are unconditionally accepted. 00:41:57.110 --> 00:42:02.050 Ephesians 3, Paul prays, I pray that you might 00:42:02.050 --> 00:42:04.349 grasp beyond understanding the height and depth 00:42:04.349 --> 00:42:06.889 and length and breadth and know the love of Christ. 00:42:07.829 --> 00:42:11.260 He loves you. He loves you regardless of where 00:42:11.260 --> 00:42:13.139 you've been. He's regardless of what's happened 00:42:13.139 --> 00:42:15.440 to you. He loves you even no matter what's happened 00:42:15.440 --> 00:42:19.139 because of Christ's work on the cross, his death 00:42:19.139 --> 00:42:21.840 that paid and covered your sin. If you're a follower 00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:24.360 of Jesus, he's redeemed you and he loves you 00:42:24.360 --> 00:42:26.559 and he takes your sins as far as the east is 00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:28.840 from the west. You're the object of his affection. 00:42:29.260 --> 00:42:33.119 If no one else cares about you, he does. And 00:42:33.119 --> 00:42:35.539 third, never forget that God gifted you to fulfill 00:42:35.539 --> 00:42:38.639 his purpose. You are irreplaceably significant. 00:42:40.460 --> 00:42:43.400 You're significant. You're his workmanship created 00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:47.099 in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2 .10 says, unto a 00:42:47.099 --> 00:42:51.659 good work that no one can uniquely do just like 00:42:51.659 --> 00:42:55.860 you. When you think accurately about yourself 00:42:55.860 --> 00:42:59.519 and it is hard work, it'll change you. It'll 00:42:59.519 --> 00:43:01.440 change your marriage. If you're a parent, it'll 00:43:01.440 --> 00:43:03.440 change your parenting. These are the kind of 00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:05.559 things that you do with your kids. These are 00:43:05.559 --> 00:43:07.139 the kind of things with all the pressures that 00:43:07.139 --> 00:43:09.659 you renew their mind, that you at bedtime and 00:43:09.659 --> 00:43:11.559 sit around the table. These are the kind of things 00:43:11.559 --> 00:43:13.340 you do with a roommate realizing that you need 00:43:13.340 --> 00:43:15.639 to be the right person, not find the right person. 00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:18.039 And when you get an accurate view of yourself, 00:43:18.260 --> 00:43:22.980 you're the most beautiful, attractive, winsome 00:43:22.980 --> 00:43:27.059 person on the face of the earth because there's 00:43:27.059 --> 00:43:32.519 no one like you. This is Living on the Edge with 00:43:32.519 --> 00:43:35.579 Chip Ingram. Friend, for over 30 years, Living 00:43:35.579 --> 00:43:37.880 on the Edge has been committed to one mission, 00:43:38.019 --> 00:43:40.900 helping believers understand what it truly means 00:43:40.900 --> 00:43:44.219 to follow Jesus. Not religious activity, not 00:43:44.219 --> 00:43:47.699 trying harder, but relational, practical, measurable 00:43:47.699 --> 00:43:51.559 Christianity that transforms every area of life. 00:43:52.010 --> 00:43:54.889 Messages like today's exist because partners 00:43:54.889 --> 00:43:57.809 believe this mission matters. When you give to 00:43:57.809 --> 00:43:59.869 Living on the Edge, you're helping Christians 00:43:59.869 --> 00:44:03.190 discover God's power, peace, purpose, presence, 00:44:03.389 --> 00:44:06.489 and perspective. You're investing in clear biblical 00:44:06.489 --> 00:44:09.409 teaching that moves people from confusion to 00:44:09.409 --> 00:44:12.670 clarity, from exhaustion to experiencing God's 00:44:12.670 --> 00:44:16.289 best. Would you join this mission today? Give 00:44:16.289 --> 00:44:19.869 online at livingontheedge .org or call us at 00:44:19.869 --> 00:44:24.989 888 - 333 -6003. You can also mail your gift 00:44:24.989 --> 00:44:29.110 to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta, 00:44:29.329 --> 00:44:33.769 Georgia, 30024. Want more content throughout 00:44:33.769 --> 00:44:37.050 the week? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and 00:44:37.050 --> 00:44:40.570 YouTube. Just search for Living on the Edge on 00:44:40.570 --> 00:44:43.670 Facebook and Instagram. And then for all of our 00:44:43.670 --> 00:44:46.309 video content, subscribe to Chip Ingram's YouTube 00:44:46.309 --> 00:44:49.349 channel when you're there. Well, that wraps up 00:44:49.349 --> 00:44:51.989 today's episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching 00:44:51.989 --> 00:44:54.909 message coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon 00:44:54.909 --> 00:45:01.269 Podcast. Today's program is produced and sponsored 00:45:01.269 --> 00:45:02.809 by Living on the Edge.