In this crazy, chaotic world, where's your hope?
I mean, when life completely goes sideways and you get caught off guard by something, what keeps you grounded and unshaken? Well, today I'm going to tell you how to get that kind of hope by sharing the incredible testimony of a good friend whose faith in the face of dire circumstances deeply inspired me. Stay with me. You're going to be encouraged today. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are an international discipleship ministry devoted to helping Christians worldwide live out their faith for the glory of God and the benefit of all people. Thanks for joining us as we're in the middle of Chip's series, I Choose Joy. We hope you've learned a lot so far from our study in Philippians Chapter 1, and to help others learn as you have, take a minute after this message and share it with a friend.
You can do that through the Chip Ingram app or by sending them the free MP3s you'll find at LivingOnTheEdge.org. And thanks for spreading the word about how programs like this are impacting you. Well, if you have a Bible, go to Philippians Chapter 1, beginning in verse 18, as we settle in for Chip's message, Understanding the Power of Hope. Kevin shared what it's like to be a young dad with four kids, stage four lymphoma, and battling, wondering the real challenges of, am I going to live or am I going to die?
And how am I going to go through this? I read every time on Caring Bridge has Kevin journaled through this process. And I kind of followed him with the ups and the downs and, you know, this prognosis and then that one and then how he's feeling.
And I wanted to share with you the four things that I learned from going through this journey with Kevin that I hope will be helpful for you. The first thing I learned was that facing our mortality is both scary and clarifying. As I would read his journal, it just reminded me that I'm going to die. It reminded me of just life is really short.
It reminded me of the battle and the victory that we went through with cancer with my wife. It just reminded me, gosh, the second thing was that very few things in life matter very much. Just as I would read these journal entries and, you know, he wasn't worried about remodeling the kitchen or whether he was going to get a raise. You know, he wasn't concerned about, is he going to get 49er tickets?
His fantasy football team wasn't really a big issue for him, right? And the same thing, it just brought back all those memories that when we went through cancer, how projects, demands, what people think, what they don't think. Nothing really matters. Life is very, very simple when you get really, really close to death. The third thing is that as I've listened to Kevin and watched is that C plus P really does equal E. Our circumstances plus our perspective determines our experience. And as you listen, if you read the journals, if you went through it in real time with him, there were ups and downs and he was brutally honest. Brutally honest about fears, brutally honest about, you know, doubts and struggles, but also it was an unwavering, I'm going to trust God. I'm going to, I believe there's a heaven. I believe the Bible's true. I believe there's God's character. His spirit lives within me. There's a certainty.
There's a hope. And I'm going to have an upward focus and an outward focus. And I'm going to use this for God's purposes. Those nurses are going to hear and see Christ.
Other patients are going to hear and see Christ. Not because I've got it in me, but Christ in me. I watched his life prove that. And finally, I think the thing I learned from Kevin is that only an eternal P perspective can produce peace and joy when facing death. I mean, when you look at life through just the lens of now is all there is, I'll tell you what, you cannot sustain it. In fact, this wall for me is a lot like life. And these are the circumstances. And, you know, sometimes they're great, but sometimes it's a brick wall and you got a marriage problem here and a singleness. And you want to be married here and cancer biopsy here and you lose your job over here and you're clinically depressed over here. And you just keep butting against this wall and you're looking for hope and you're looking for hope and you lose it and you lose it and you lose it and you lose it. And after a while, you just give up and you just start doing stuff that you didn't think you would ever do, because hope is the oxygen of the soul. If you don't have hope, you die. You can go without food for seven days and water for about three.
You can't go without any hope for probably more than three or four minutes. Will do. So what do you do? Here's what Kevin did. Kevin said, I can't take it. I don't know what's going to happen. So I'm going to rise above my circumstances and I'm going to look at eternity.
That which has seen temporal circumstances, I can't change. And it's not a picture half full. It's completely full. It's heaven waiting. It's Christ.
It's all of its promises. It's a sovereign God. It's this life is not all there is. And I can look at that and I cling to that and it's the anchor of my soul and it gives me the grace and the perspective and the perseverance to keep going. It takes an eternal perspective.
Here's the question. How, when life is crashing in, do you develop that eternal perspective that gives you the kind of hope that allows you to go through anything, that allows you not to give up, not to give in, not to get inwardly focused, not become a victim, not blame everybody else, not blame God, but be the kind of person in the midst of you don't know if you're going to live or die and there's pain and there's children and there's a wife and there's a concern where nurses want to come in and go, I don't know what's going on in this room, but we'll hang out here. That's the presence of God. That's the power of God.
That's a joy, not a happiness. That's a reality experienced in the midst of crushing circumstances. Well, if you open your notes, we're going to learn the answer to finding that kind of hope. And the answer is in a very simple yet profound word, and it's the key to eternal perspective. And the key word of the lens you need to look at is the lens of hope and the question to ask yourself when you're really struggling is not just where's my focus and not just what's my purpose, but where's my hope? What's my hope rooted in? And by the way, when we use the word hope, English word hope has one meaning. The biblical word hope is a little bit different. When we use the word hope, we often, you know, I hope it doesn't rain.
I hope the 49ers win. I hope I get a good job. I hope someday I get married. We use the word hope in a good way, but it's almost wishful thinking. We hope for something positive in the future.
It's a good definition. There's nothing wrong with that kind of hope, but that's not the word in the Bible. The word in the Bible for hope is an absolute certainty that you can bank on that will never change. Christ's return is the hope. Heaven is our hope. God's promises are hope.
Jesus said that I will give you all the grace you need to get through any situation. It's a hope. In other words, it's the anchor of your soul.
Biblical hope isn't a possibility. It's a guarantee of something unseen. The Apostle Paul will later say, that which is seen is temporal. That which is unseen is eternal.
And it is both a skill and an act of faith to learn how to look at the unseen hope that sustains you. We pick up the story of the Apostle Paul, and it is now his third lesson. The context for those that might be just joining us, he's in Rome. He's chained to a Praetorian guard that changes every six hours. It is not a good situation. He's on trial, and at the end of the trial, he's either going to be released and found innocent, or he's going to be found guilty and be executed. And when we pick up the story, he's in the situation where, I don't know what's going to happen. Imagine more than a little anxiety for most of us. So what's his perspective in facing death?
It's crazy. It's joy. It's joy. He actually has a joyful attitude facing death.
He has an eternal perspective. Notice in verse 18 it says, yes, and I will continue to rejoice. The question is, why and how could any individual, unless they're playing just mind games, how could you have joy in a terrible situation?
You've been betrayed by your friends. There's political issues happening in the church. You're humanly thinking, God, you sent me to go to all the world, and instead, here I am in this prison. Little did he know that all these letters that he would write would change the course of history. He didn't know that. What was it that allowed him to have this amazing attitude in circumstances that would absolutely crush 99.9% of the people? He gives us two reasons in Philippians chapter one, verses 19 to 25. Reason number one is that his deliverance is certain. His deliverance is certain. Underline the word deliverance.
Follow along as I read. For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance. Well, how? Through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. According to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ, even now as always, will be exalted in my body. Well, how? Whether by life or by death.
You're listening to Living on the Edge. We'll get back to our series, I Choose Joy, in just a minute. But quickly, I want to remind you that we're in the middle of our mid-year match. Thanks to a few close ministry friends, every gift we receive until June 30th will be matched dollar for dollar.
For more information about how to partner with us, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his message.
Paul is completely convinced that he's going to be delivered. Now, I want to do something with you. It's kind of fun. The apostle Paul, I really like him because he has run-on sentences. Because I have run-on sentences. And the favorite grammatical punctuation in all of the English language for me is a semicolon. That's how you put multiple sentences together and not have the teacher take off. And so I've written the notes in a way so you can see the structure of them. But let me give you just his sentence. And so what I want you to do is, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance, put a line underneath that.
Okay, you got it? And then I want you to skip down where it says, according to my inner expectation, just underline the word just that. And then I want you to skip down a little bit farther and underline Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body. His simple sentence is, I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance. That Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body. And everything else is the whys, the wherefores, the howls, and all those clauses to explain it.
But they're really important. First of all, put a box around the first where it says, for I know. There's two Greek words for know.
One is you know by way of experience. Powerful word, but that's not this word. The other word is like you know, like physics.
You know that water boils at such and such degrees or two plus two is four. That's this word. In other words, there's empirical facts. Paul says, I have an empirical fact that doesn't change that I will be delivered. And put a box around the word deliverance. We get our word salvation. It means to be delivered out of. In the Old Testament, you know when the Red Sea parted, they were delivered. So he says, I know for certain I'm going to be delivered that Christ is going to be exalted. I want you to note his perspective on this. He says there's two reasons why I know I'm going to be delivered. One is the responsibility of man and the other is the sovereignty of God.
Did you pick it up? He says I know I'm going to be delivered through A, your prayers and B, the provision of the Spirit of God. You know, despite anybody's theology anywhere, the apostle Paul actually believed when men and women, ordinary people like us, would come to God earnestly in faith and claim his promises and in our heart at least and get down on our knees and intercede for the life of another person, it actually makes a difference. He's certain of his deliverance. And for the provision, put a circle around the word provision. It's an interesting word. We get our word, are you ready?
It's weird. We get our word chorus. You know, like a singing group. And historically, it's kind of fun to give you a little background on this because in the ancient world, if you were a very, very wealthy person in a smaller town, then there was entertainment. And so the theater was very big and they had these outdoor amphitheaters.
And if you were very wealthy, it was expected that you would bring a theater group, that you would pay the theater group, that you would rent the amphitheater, and everything that had to happen for their costumes, the group, the entrance, everything, so that you could entertain the city. And it's this word chorus. Over time, it came to mean whatever it takes to pull this thing off, all the provision, the money, the time, the energy, the leadership, everything it takes to pull something off, that's what this word became. And Paul says, I'm convinced of my deliverance because you all are praying and the whatever it takes that the Spirit of God is going to bring into my life, but notice he doesn't think his deliverance is necessarily out of his circumstances. He doesn't say that I'm going to be delivered and I'll be released, that I'm going to be executed, that God's going to just deliver me out of it. He says, I'm convinced of my deliverance that Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or whether I die. And then notice he says, according to my earnest expectation. It's another very interesting word that has a, it's a picture of someone who blocks everything out and brings a level of focus. Imagine, if you will, the runner, and you know what?
He's like two, three yards and everyone's leaning in on the 100 meter dash and he leans forward. The crowd is gone, the noise is gone, and it's a word that says, Paul's saying my eager expectation, my absolute focus. In other words, I believe in this deliverance, I believe because of your prayers, I believe God's going to come through, and I have a laser-like focus in the promises and the character of God, and I have a hope. Jesus promised, I have a hope, heaven's real. I have a hope, God's in control.
I have a hope, God's goodness says that whether I live or whether I die, his highest and best purposes, his hope is in the character, the promises, and the reality of God's goodness and that the worst that can happen is he goes to heaven. And so he says earnest expectation, hope, his biggest concern is that he would be put to shame. But he says with all boldness that Christ even now will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Notice he prayed that what he would be delivered from is failure to represent Christ well in the midst of crushing circumstances. His biggest concern wasn't whether he lived or died. His biggest concern was Christ's reputation. Whoa. There's three ways in Scripture that God delivers us, and we tend to only think of one, so get your pencil out.
This will be helpful one day in your life. I'm going to give it God's plan A, God's plan B, God's plan C, or actually it's more probably accurate to say our plan A, our plan B, and our plan C. Plan A, when God uses the word deliverance, he delivers you out of something. He does a miracle. I mean, I've had times where we had no money, we couldn't pay the rent, there's no way, I have no resources, and I get a check in the mail from someone that I met once years ago for $1,000, and I pay the rent, and I go, that's a miracle. God delivered me out of it. It happened again. A missionary from India actually sent me money during seminary to pay my bills.
Go figure. He delivered me out of it. I've had times where we have anointed people with oil, prayed for them, and seen a brain tumor miraculously go, delivered them out of it. Praise God, he still does miracles. But we've prayed for people, and three weeks later they've died. God's in control. He has purposes, some of which we understand, a lot of them that we don't. Deliverance, number one, he delivers us out of the adversity or the difficulty. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Understanding the Power of Hope, from our series, I Choose Joy. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. It's safe to say we all want a little more joy in our lives, right?
But what does that look like? Is it just about finding happiness or pleasure in something? Will those feelings really sustain us through the hard knocks of life? In this eight-part series, Chip explains why joy that comes from God is more than just an emotion. Discover how it can change your perspective on life and profoundly strengthen your faith in challenging times. To learn more about this study in Philippians chapter 1, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org or the Chip Ingram app.
Well, Chip's back in studio with me now, and Chip, we've just kicked off our match season. Over the next month or so, we'll hear how our ministry impacts lives worldwide and what our listeners can do to partner with us in these efforts. Well, that is absolutely right, Dave, and this study that we're going to do the entire month of June and part of July is through the book of Philippians.
We're going to learn from this book that we can choose joy, we can choose hope, we can choose love, we can choose peace. And with all the anxiety and uncertainty and mental health issues and division and the things that are going on in the world and people's personal world, Dave, we felt like of all times we really wanted to minister to people to their heart and to their life. Another thing that we're going to do is we're going to share some personal testimonies as we start this match. We want people to hear as they have prayed with us, as they're a part of the team, and as they have given. We really want them to hear actual stories. And so let me share one we just got recently. It's from Carly.
She goes, I just wanted to let you know how God used your message this morning. Just last night, I was ready to throw in the towel in my marriage. I've been married to my husband for eight years.
He's a veteran with PTSD, and he has lots of anger problems. Being his wife is one of the hardest things emotionally ever. I feel so alone and so depressed. And I was crying and just talking to the Lord. And then this morning, I listened to your podcast and it was just what I needed. God is with me, even in the hardest times. That's what I heard him say through your broadcast.
I need to keep going and not give up. He's in control and he knows. I know his ways are better than mine. God is good. I just want those of you who support the ministry to know that you're a part of that marriage being saved.
And this happens over and over and over again. Join me this month as we learn how to choose joy and love and hope and peace. And let's keep pressing ahead.
Thanks, Chip. Well, if you feel like God is moving you to partner with us, now's a great time. Thanks to a handful of close ministry friends, every gift we receive between now and June 30th will be doubled dollar for dollar. To support us, call 888-333-6003 or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org.
That's LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003. Have listeners tap donate. Thanks in advance for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, here again is Chip. As we wrap up today's program, I think we learned something that is so valuable and so neglected by us who are followers of Christ. You know, Paul says, my earnest expectation and hope and he's talking about that he's going to be delivered. But the deliverance isn't that everything's going to go great. You know, I talked about the one kind of deliverance where God delivers us out of things and it's a miracle and in our next broadcast, I can't wait to share with you how he delivers us through things or unto himself. But it's so interesting that heaven was so real. Eternal life wasn't like some formula or some vague distant things that happen someday some way and I think that's why I wanted to share Kevin's story with you. You know, I walked very closely through that with him and I'd like to ask you when you think about problems and struggles and what you're facing and it's so often day to day, have you faced your mortality recently?
Have you ever really thought about dying? How clarifying? Scary, yes.
But how clarifying? Have you realized, you know, when those huge things happen, how few things really matter? I mean, things that you're so uptight about that seem so urgent. I will never forget when my wife had cancer and I mean, I remember the day before, I have a book manuscript due and I've got to travel here and I've got to do that and I'm overwhelmed and I have all these commitments and we prayed and cried sitting on our couch after we heard that the biopsy was positive and she had cancer and I remember 24 hours later, nothing really mattered. I canceled things, it didn't matter.
What people thought, it really didn't matter. I'm just going to ask you to do something. Could you step back today and think about if you're a follower of Christ, heaven is sure. He's preparing a place for you.
It's a real place. Jesus loves you, He's for you. And He wants you to know that these circumstances that you're facing, they're going to come and they're going to go and next year this time, if we're all here, there'll be new ones and you can either live on the ups and downs of the waves of circumstances and people's responses or you can have an anchor. You can have an anchor in your soul. There is a hope that no one can take away and that you don't have to be afraid. I learned that from Paul, I learned that from Kevin and I learned that in my journey with Teresa.
God wants you to learn it and believe it today. Heaven's real. It's your ultimate hope.
Trust Him. Great word, Chip. And since he mentioned that eternal hope we have as followers of Jesus, let me encourage you to check out our resources for The Real Heaven. Whether you get Chip's popular book or the small group study, you'll walk away with a more accurate and exciting view of the place God's preparing for us. So go to LivingOnTheEdge.org and search for The Real Heaven today. Well, be sure to join us next time as Chip continues his series, I Choose Joy. Until then, I'm Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge. .
