Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. How do you get God's best for your life? You know, you see some believers and you sense, boy, they're in the right relationship. They make wise decisions about money. They're getting God's best.
I want that. How does it work? Today, I will give you four biblical principles that will help you discover how you can get God's best for your life. Stay with us. Holiness is a word that intimidates most of us.
It's an unachievable virtue, or so it seems. What if everything you've been told about holiness is wrong? What if God's call to holy living isn't about following a list of don'ts, but about discovering the pathway to extraordinary joy, fulfilling relationships, and a life that truly works? On today's edition of Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram dismantles our misconceptions about holiness and reveals it for what it really is, wholeness, health, and the key to experiencing God's absolute best. Far from being otherworldly or strange, holy living makes us winsome, loving, pure, and unmistakably Christ-like, the kind of person others are drawn to.
And after Chip's message, we'll explain how you can participate in the time-limited match that's active a short while longer. Every dollar you give will be matched and therefore doubled through December 31st. But right now, the message from Chip Ingram about leaving a legacy that lasts forever. Number one, encourage them to saturate their mind with truth. The Bible, great books, videos.
All I want you to get is, where do you set your mind? Where do you set your mind? First and foremost, we have to model this, and then you've got to pass that on. And it's got to be passed on not as a club. You know, okay, kids, get around the table right now.
It's breakfast time or supper time. All right. Nathaniel, open Proverbs chapter one. It's the first day of the month, isn't it? Read it now.
Ethel, shut up. Listen to your brother. He's reading God's word. I can tell you where these kids are gonna be at about 18. It will not be in church.
Or much to do with God. And I talk to my kids now. My one son is a pastor. I said, well, Ryan, what? What?
was it that really clicked for you in terms of how did God lead you that way? And I'm thinking, maybe it's one of my great messages, I'm sure, you know. But this is my kids. He said, well, that is really pretty easy, you know. I don't know how many times, you know, when you're a little kid and you get up and go to the bathroom and you think it's the middle of the night because it's like 5 o'clock and for you it's the middle of the night and there's a light on and mom's on her knees praying or she's sitting in the chair with a cup of coffee reading God's word and I just grew up watching you and mom, that's what mattered.
And so you have to create when they're little and then when they're older, saturate their mind with truth. Encourage that. The second is encourage them to hang out regularly with wise, godly people. Proverbs 13 20, he who dwells with wise men will be wise, but the companion of a fool will suffer harm. There's a great line.
I got this from the vice president of a guy that I work with and his wife was there and we were talking about the influence of kids and you're always worried about who they hang out with and she just turned to all of us and said, well, I'll tell you, you show me your friends, I'll show you your future. I mean, I don't know where she, I wrote that down. I've been using it since and when I can remember to give her credit, I do, like now. But I mean, it's true. Think of who you're investing in.
You need, if you have control, you need to be very careful about who they hang out with.
Some guys I've had the opportunity to help and disciple. I've really talked about, hey brother, I got news for you. I love you, I care for you, we're playing hoop, you're a new Christian, you're making progress.
Now tell me again about what you came out of. It was new age and cocaine, right?
Okay, and you used to smoke this stuff and sell it. Yeah, okay. And you're telling me you're struggling, right?
Okay, why are you struggling?
Now tell me who you're hanging out with. Two other dealers.
Now help me with this. I mean, I'm in Santa Cruz, California. I mean, this is normal. Help me with this. You think you're not gonna do that, hanging out with them?
Well, they're my friends, and I wanna lead them to Christ. Hey, you lead people to Christ on neutral turf. You know what? You don't go over there, and they probably are gonna come to church, but let's find some neutral places where let's have them hang out, and you can influence them instead of them influence you. More than one time, when my kids, I said, you can't play with those two kids anymore.
But dad, dad, no, you can't play with them. They can come to our house and hang out, but you're not going to their house. No one's home. I know what happens. You're just not going to do it.
Well, you did. Yeah, of course.
Some of us need to be, those of you that have smaller children or teenagers, it's okay to be the bad person. It's okay. I don't love you anymore. Let them slam the door. Who are you to tell me who I can be friends with?
Your parent. That's who. I don't love you.
Now, here's what I hear. And I've got a number of cases. You know, it's anecdotal. But here's what I hear.
Well, if we set those boundaries too tight, then they'll rebel. Especially in the area of teenagers dating unbelievers. And I hear, oh, we can't do that because we've got to be real careful. I got news for you. Their heart gets connected to an unbeliever that's not walking with God.
They're going to go down the tubes.
So draw the line lovingly and catch it early. And I know there's a handful of success stories where that gal or that girl finally came to Christ and all the rest? Let me tell you, I got 100 other stories for every success story you can give me. The number one thing that causes young people to fall and fall away from their faith, and when they go to college, the reason they change their morals is not they really change their theology, but they have to change their theology to adapt their lifestyle. And when your emotions kick in and you fall in love and you get to have sex I mean let see do I really believe in God and the Bible and some of this old stuff or this Hmm that a no And we can figure out why I mean, the statistics are alarming of the percentage of all of our, quote, young Christian youth who go away to school, about 10 to 12 percent keep their faith five years later.
And I've had some deep, deep conflict with my children in that journey. and I was a really, really bad guy and it wasn't always pretty and I didn't always do it right. But I will tell you, that is a non-negotiable. You're the parent. With that said, you're having lots of fun investing in their life and doing lots of great things that other parents don't do with them.
Because you can, the bridge of truth is relationship. And the more relationship you have, the more love, the more deposits, the more truth that they can hold. Because at the end of the day, they don't want to disappoint you. They really don't, but it's in a tug of war at times. Third, model for them how to ask God for discernment and wisdom.
It's really important for those you're trying to help that you don't become like the answer man or the answer woman. And well, what should I do about this? And you know more than me.
Well, can you tell me? And you say, well, da-da-da-da, do this, or do that. Model form, you know what? Here's a passage in James chapter one, verse five, okay? If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach.
But let him, when he asks, let him ask in faith, for the one who doubts is like a double-minded man who's tossed here and there by the waves. Don't let that person expect to receive anything from the Lord. And then you explain to him. Wisdom is doing life God's way according to his design. He'll always show you what to do.
I mean, the Bible doesn't tell you what state to live in. The Bible doesn't tell you what vocation. The Bible doesn't say you need to go to a Christian school or a non-Christian school. You need wisdom from God. And so what you want to model for them is, I don't have the answer to that, but God makes a promise.
And if we had time to develop that whole text, the thesis of that text of not ever doubting, it's not that you ever have doubts about God. Everyone has doubts. It's this, we get our word schizophrenic. It's a double-minded person. When you pray, God, will you show me your will so I can consider it as one of the options?
God says no. Did you catch that? Let me just go over a little slower.
Some of you went. When you pray, and you don't do it like this intentionally, but it's what we do. God, I really want to know what your will is about this relationship. And then when I know your will, I'll decide whether I'll take it or not. Guess what?
God says, you know what? I don't answer those kind of prayers. but what he says is God I don't know about what to do about this relationship I don't know what to do about this money situation I don't know what to do about this marriage crisis I don't know what to do about this wayward son or wayward daughter God I don't know about my calling whether I should get out of this work and go to that work here's the promise of James 1 5 if I will come and say God I want you to know that I've signed my name on the bottom of the check and I've turned it like this and put it under the throne room of heaven I will do, no matter what it is, whatever you tell me, you fill in the top and I'll do it. He says 100% of the time, I'll fill in the top. You need to, and now, how is he gonna show you?
It might be through a person, through the scripture, as you pray, wise counsel, but he promises he will show you what to do. 90% of the will of God is being really willing to do whatever God says. Most of us, myself completely included, I kind of want to get God lined up to get him to do what I want because I think I know what's best it's that surrender to be willing to do it and you have to model that this is where when they you know don't say stuff like my kids when they were hitting the mid-teens it'd be something like hey you know I want to do this or that or go to this movie or do that and I would think you know that's that's not good but I'm going to keep making every decision and we're going to be in trouble. And so I would often say, well, would you do me a favor? Yeah.
I said, pray about it for 24 hours. And just really think it through. Do you believe God wants you to go to that?
Well, dad, you know, I know. Hey, don't argue with me. If, you know, just talk to God about it. I'm just asking you. And again, you take that responsibility instead of the power trip.
I said no. What you want to do is start helping them. You know, I want to buy this. I want to go here. I want to do that.
And if you're not sure, but down deep in your heart, you think, you know, it's probably not a very good thing, but it won't kill them whatever they do. I always wanted to give them a lot more rope and say, why don't you pray about it? We'll hear more from Chip Ingram's message in just a moment. First, we're inviting you to multiply your year-end donation through an exciting match that's active right now. Because of the match, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar in the month of December.
And when you support this match, you're not funding yesterday's methods. You're investing in a discipleship strategy that actually reaches the smartphone generation right where they are. Will you give to the next generation? Double the impact of your gift at livingontheedge.org. From a series called Leaving a Legacy That Lasts Forever.
Again, our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram. And by the way, this parental thing we have of wanting to protect our kids from pain is not real smart. What you want to do is not protect them from small pain so it hurts really badly. You know, like, gosh, I just spent $25 on this wacky thing and it looks sear dumb and now I wore it to school and it wasn't even cool and I blew 25 bucks. Good.
Or, you know, I decided to go on this thing and man, everyone did this terrible stuff and I wish I would have never there. And good. See, if you always tell them what to do and you always keep them inside your bounds, then what happens is they can't wait to get away to go try some stuff So you want to develop them hearing God voice You want to model for them how to get wisdom how to discern Another practical thing with your kids is, you know that little clicker when you're watching something? As much as I'll talk a little bit later about limiting media, my kids, it was like, I believe every moment is a teachable moment. And you don't go overboard.
But I mean, okay, you're watching the Super Bowl, right? And so these commercials come on. And I mean, they've spent, what, how many zillion dollars to create this commercial? They're paying $1.5 million for 30 seconds. And there's a girl that she's got it cut down to here and pushed up to there and pulled down to here.
And another guy that's been on steroids. And he's got his chorus light and this, that, and this, that. And the music comes on, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And they stop, okay, before we watch the rest of the game. What was the message of that?
Okay, where are they coming at us and why? What are they selling to us? What do you think?
Okay, why do you think she's dressed that way?
Okay, why does he have that? What's the message? And what are you doing? You're helping them discern good from evil. And then you watch this real soaky movie and it makes you cry and it's really good and it's really warm and there's no sex in it and there's no violence in it.
The only problem is in this movie, the person that you identify with is married to this not very nice person. And so this person married to the not very nice person falls in love with someone else and they have an affair and there's music and they're going out and da-da-da-da-da-da-da and we're all crying and thinking, oh, I'm glad she finally found love in her life and it was a popular movie and everyone loves it. And you stop the thing. And you say, wait a second. Wait a second.
I got sucked in just like you, but what did she do? I mean, we all love her and she was the pretty one and the music was really playing and all the violins and her life was so hard before. Right? You know.
Okay, let's rewind. It's called adultery.
So how does that play out in real life? Let's go through some families in the church where someone committed adultery. Let's remember what that looked like. Let's remember what it did to the, do you understand what I'm saying? That's what you do.
So it's not a classroom. It's every moment of it.
Now, by the way, don't stop at every commercial.
Some of your kids are going, hey, you know, get out of here, but you get it. Finally, teach them to monitor their exposure to the media. Teach them to monitor their exposure to the media. Romans 12, 2, we touched on it earlier. Do not be conformed to this world, this present world system, not the physical world.
It's the cosmos. It's the world system. And 1 John tells us what it's made of, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The way to help your kids is this is like Fortune, Cosmo, and People Magazine.
Okay, that's the world. If you can have her body like that, Cosmo or 17 or what else, then, or, you know, Muscle Magazine, Men's Fitness, You can get tight abs, baby, in six seconds a day, you know, and with the right drugs. Or people, if you can just be famous, right? The whole goal is to be an American idol. I'm going to be famous.
I want people to know me. I will say ridiculous things on TV. I will go on reality shows and make a complete fool of myself doing things with a camera that I would never do privately, even in my own home. But I have to because I'm on TV. And isn't that like the epitome of all of life?
I'm famous now. No, you're an idiot now. But your kids, your grandkids, the people you're discipling are getting boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. They're bombarded. And so when they go to buy something, what is it?
You know, the clothes are that way. The media is that way. The magazines are that way. You will never be whole and healthy instead of being deceived and seduced unless you say, stop allowing yourself to be molded by this world system.
So you gotta put a real barrier in media in how much you watch and what you watch. My kids heard it a zillion times and the people I've had an opportunity to help disciple. What you allow to go into your mind is the most important decision you make every day. Way more than what goes into your mouth. Like my wife is really healthy.
You know, this is organic and you know, this doesn't have any pesticides and you know, I mean, we're really into eating good, healthy things. But boy, you gotta put healthy stuff in your brain. You are the product of your thought life. You understand that. As a man thinks, as a woman thinks in his heart, so you become.
You watch enough TV, you rent enough videos, you glance through enough magazines, it will create desires that you can never fulfill and you'll never be satisfied and you'll get sucked in and the lure riding and bam. and so, and by the way, when you live this kind of life, this is where people will start thinking you're weird, because we're living a day where, according to Barna, I don't know how accurate, but according to Barna, about one out of every 10 or one out of every 12 people who say, I'm a Christian, I'm born again, I've prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Savior, about one out of every 10 or 12 are living the life. the others have either a mental or now I'm not saying they're not believers I don't know I'm just saying that they may have the living spirit of the living God living in them but their external behavior their values their honesty their commitment to marriage their lifestyle their speech their priorities and their values are exactly the same as their non-christian friends because you are what you eat. And if you don't believe me, this is a mature group, so I will go way out on the limb. For you younger ones who want a mild challenge, go on a three-day media fast.
Okay? No rent, no TV, don't get on surf the internet, media fast. Get in the car, no talk radio. You know, you can positive music, teaching, okay? Three days, no TV, no media.
You'll get antsy.
Some of you will find you have an addiction. because when you walk in you turn it on Some of you are like me that when I do watch TV and as soon as a commercial comes I bored so I can watch four shows at one time To relax of course And then I'm exhausted when I'm done. I mean, I have to be this game, this game, this game, Ohio State's doing this, this, and part of this movie, this, you know, like, because, you go on a three-day media fast. And I will tell you, you will be, one, you'll have all this time you didn't think you had. go on a 10 day media fast for some of you you'll try it'll be scary because you can't do it go on a 10 day media fast then sit down and watch just general prime time TV you will be shocked that's how desensitized we've become you'll be shocked at what comes out of people's mouth you'll be shocked at the sexual innuendo you'll be shocked and you'll see stuff that you've grown accustomed to in terms of you know, how people are dressed and different things that will stir your flesh that you don't, doesn't even register now.
And it's the classic, what's the illustration that you put the frog in the water and if you heat it up real slowly, it won't jump out. We've got a whole generation that ain't jumping out. And here's the sadness. Then we reap the consequences. Even though it's not a willful, volitional, I hate God's sin, you just reap the consequences of an unwhole and unholy life.
Because holiness is the demand of God to keep his universe healthy.
So there's consequences when I put junk in my mouth, junk in my head. It creates a set of desires. And so limiting the video games, the violence, the sexuality. I mean, you are just going to be a spiritual salmon swimming upstream with your fellow friends and other people thinking you are wired.
Now, is this never watched TV? Of course not. This is really asking yourself, is this good, honorable, right, praiseworthy? Is this in a Philippians 4, 8 criteria? Does this draw me closer to God or pull me farther away.
And by the way, for me, sometimes it's just good stuff. I just have a limit. After about two hours of TV, even a great game, I love sports. I just find I get spiritually desensitized.
So I just, you know, and I'm different than you. I don't know, maybe some of you can take a lot more than me. But if you take seriously what goes into your mind and then substitute it, you will see dramatic life change. Dramatic life change. What's the message?
Living holy lives is how we get God's best. Holy living allows you to experience God's best for your life. Let's move holiness out of this idea of the otherworldly dark robes, something weird, and let's move it into becoming whole, healthy, pure, winsome, loving, and receiving that life that God has in every relationship and every area of your life. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip is presenting a practical teaching series called Leaving a Legacy That Lasts Forever.
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Here's the reality. The next generation isn't going to discover faith by accidentally walking into a church building. They're going to encounter it on a podcast during a morning run or on YouTube video at midnight when they can't sleep or a Bible study app while they're waiting for the barista to make their coffee. Living on the Edge meets young people in the digital spaces where they actually live. We're creating content that's searchable, shareable, and here's the key, accessible 24-7.
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How do we teach our kids and grandkids about the glories of grace?
Well, I'm Dave Druey. Chip Ingram describes Grace-Filled Living Friday on Living on the Edge.
