Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Newlyweds, a promotion, a new house, a new car, a new baby. New things are great, aren't they? I love them, don't you? But eventually the shine comes off and life falls into the same old routine.
Are you tired of new things getting old? Would you like something that lasts, that gives purpose and life and meaning? That's what we're going to talk about today. Without risk, there's no faith. Without faith, there's no change.
Without change, there's no growth. Most Christians play it safe, staying comfortably stuck in their spiritual rut. But God rewards those who step out in faith. I'm Dave Druy, and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram reveals why becoming a progressive risk-taker is essential for spiritual growth. In our series called Experience Breakthrough, we're learning how to stop feeling confined by life's biggest barriers.
Today, CHIP is giving us the key principles of growth, including the one that makes most of us uncomfortable, taking risks.
Well, here's Chip Ingram with his message on how to overcome personal stagnation. Would you like to learn how how to break through. those barriers of personal stagnation. Especially in your relationship with God and people. I want to give you seven principles.
From scripture, there may be 20, there may be 100. But as I've examined scripture and lived life and watched people who grow. It's obvious that people who grow have at least these seven things in common. People who grow, number one, live daily with the end in view. People who are really growing are motivated.
In fact, this principle is the key to motivation. Second characteristic of people who grow is they make a personal commitment to grow. This is the key to overcoming inertia. A lot of us don't grow because we feel stuck. And often what we need in growth is not some big thing.
We just need to get moving. Third. They value process more than event. And that's the key to progress. See, what happens is we think growth happens in these huge spurts.
We think that there's a magic pill, there's a seminar, there's a book, there's a secret teaching. There's something somewhere somehow. There's an area of the country, and if you go visit that area of the country, you get holy and you get powerful, and everything's gonna change. You dream. That's not the way life works.
So, if people who really grow understand it's the everyday tiny little decisions you make. It's the process that produces real growth. Seven keys to personal growth. The first, live daily with the end in view, it's the key to motivation. Second, make a personal commitment.
It's the key to overcoming inertia. Third, value process more than event, it's the key to progress.
So you get discouraged thinking you're not making progress. You're making progress. Real growth is slow. Fourth. Cultivate stimulating relationships.
It's the key to inspiration. Growing people. Arrange their lives and their schedules. Are you ready? To be around growing people.
To be inspired, to be challenged, to be stretched. Every time I rub up against people that are walking with God and are, you know, they're ahead of me here and they're making progress there. Every time I get near them, I just, I want to lean forward into it. And there's times where there's people that have huge needs, and I feel inadequate, and I don't know, but when I get involved in their life and I get stimulated, and I realize God can use a regular guy like me, He can use a regular person like you. You cultivate stimulating relationships.
In fact, the Bible commands us to. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. It says, And let us consider, let us ponder. How we may spur or stimulate one another on to what? Love and good deeds.
Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. But encourage, exhort, get the idea? One another, all the more as you see the day approaching, the day of Christ's return. You gotta have a small group. You gotta have a mentor.
You gotta have a mentoree. There's some people that can mentor you. You can become close friends with some of the greatest people in the world today because of technology. Billy Graham and I are on a first name basis. I've never met him.
But I'm on page 680 something. I've learned and been inspired because I'm reading his autobiography. Every week I listen to three or four messages of other people around the country, and they inspire me and they encourage me. And you know, it's not a hard thing to say, I'm going to read a half hour before I go to bed instead of watch TV for an hour before I go to bed. Do you know what happens when you read a half hour before you go to bed and you do that 300 days a year?
transforms your life. But see, you've got to cultivate with the time that you have. stimulating relationships. Why?
Next verse, Proverbs 13:20. He who dwells with a wise man will be wise. She who dwells with a wise woman will be wise, but the companion of a fool will suffer harm. I don't know anything about you, but I can tell this about you and about me right now. Whoever your closest friends are, whoever you're running with right now, in five years, you'll be just like them.
So, I've just made a decision. I'm going to run around with people better, smarter, more holy, more godly, more energetic, more intelligent, more creative than me. And I'm just praying some of it's going to rip off. You got to balance the positive relationships with the draining relationships. You need both.
Both stimulate. Fifth, People who grow choose to become Progressive risk takers. It's the key to change. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6, and without faith it's impossible to please God. Not hard, it's impossible.
Because anyone who comes to him must believe two things. First, that he exists. Second, that he rewards. Do you believe that? God rewards those who diligently seek Him.
God is looking to bless and to honor your life and to reward you. He wants to do good in you. He wants to do good through you. Where there is no risk, there is no faith. Where there is no faith, there is no change.
where there is no change. There is no growth. It is impossible. To grow unless you become a progressive risk taker.
Now, I put that word progressive in there. And I put the word choose for a reason, because it doesn't come easy, does it?
Now, some of you have that spirit and you like change just because you like change. The rest of the world. Kind of likes things the way they are. And change feels very threatening.
Okay. But if you want to grow, you must choose to become A progressive risk-taker. You must choose to move out of your comfort zone relationally and initiate things that you're uncomfortable with. You have to choose to move out of your comfort zone and get involved in ministry beyond what you think you can handle. You have to choose to move out of your comfort zone and your time and your structure and be a little more flexible than you're comfortable with.
You have to choose to get out of your comfort zone and begin to do some things financially. That will really reveal where your heart's at. And it's risk. If a personal quiet time transformed the values, the thinking, and the relationships and shaped my life in the area of faith. Learning how to give biblically.
Was absolutely, without a doubt, the greatest risk-taking. area ever.
Now I didn't grow up in church. And the churches I grew up in, I didn't like. And my big suspicion about Christianity was. All they want is your money, because that's what it sounded like from those people on T V. And so I trust Christ and they give me a Bible and I start reading it.
I had a long way to go in my views.
So I'm a Christian three years, and finally, I decided I'm going to give $5 a month. To this missionary couple in Japan, and I'm thinking, they may be the luckiest group in the whole world to get that from me. I mean, I had a clear philosophy of giving growing up. You give a quarter in the bag every time it comes around. As a kid.
When you get older, you bump it to a dollar. And if you're feeling kind of spiritual, you go with a five. I'm serious, that was my view of giving. The idea of a percentage. The I uh the idea of 10% of my gross income, it was like.
Are these people that? I mean, where does this come from? You know what I understand? If you don't learn, According to Jesus, to give your money. Your heart, your time, your relationships, all those are a lot harder.
You're listening to Living on the Edge. More from Chip Ingram in just a moment. But first, if today's teaching is resonating with you, don't keep it to yourself. You can easily share this message with friends and family by visiting livingonthege.org. There, you'll find not only today's program, but an entire collection of biblical resources designed to help you experience breakthrough in every area of life.
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Well, let's continue with Chip's message. Did Jesus talk more about money than heaven and hell combined? Why?
He didn't live in a mansion. He didn't want nor need anyone's money. What he understood is the link between money and your heart, money and worship, is inseparable. And so according to Jesus, you can serve God or mammon money, but there's no in between. And so early on for me, I started with $5, and then I started with like, you know, five or 10%.
And now over the years, I willfully put myself in a place as a team, as a family. to give where if God doesn't show up this year, Teresa and I have a major problem. But he's shown up in ways beyond what I ever dreamed. I'm not starving. We're among the richest people in the whole world.
And if I didn't spend that money there and give, you know what? I'd spend it someplace else. And the fact of the matter is, I could give you a list of blessings in my life, but here's the point: I learned to trust. Until you learn to trust with money, You really believe something tangible and easy where you can see God show up, you're going to start to break through lifelong relational patterns? Probably not.
You're going to take steps of risk into ministry? You're going to begin to face things and say, I'm going to be a difference maker in my world. See, it's just. Actually, the smallest risk you ever take is learning how to give money. No, I mean I know it's a real taboo subject and all that rest in the church because of so much you know, poor teaching and lack of teaching and abuse.
But the Bible, it's clear. If there's no risk. There's no faith. And so that's why Jesus said in this area, Luke 6:38, give and it'll be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, back into your lap.
His point is: you're not going to outgive me, and I don't want your stuff. I want your heart.
So give and it. Give your time, give your compassion, give your money, give your love. You know what happens? It always will come back. Shaken down, pressed down, more.
But I don't know about you. That was a toughie for me. And I really had to trust the people I was giving it to. Because I'm a skeptic. It's the key to change.
Unless you try something beyond What you can already do. You will never grow. Have you realized that's the way life works? You know how God usually does that in your life? Instead of us willfully choosing to put ourselves in that position, he brings in a crisis, doesn't he?
He allows a crisis where you have this. Capacity and God brings a crisis or a situation that demands this. And the distance between what you have and what's required, you know what you do? You grow. You can't handle it.
Boy, you have a child. You get laid off work. You have a problem relationship, and the distance between, what do you do? It's amazing how my prayer life just perks right up when crisis occurs. It's amazing how I seek out stimulating relationships.
Like, what did you do with this teenage son? Help me, help me. I've never been through this before. You know? It's amazing, you will grow.
But God says you don't have to wait for a crisis. You can do it voluntarily. Six People who grow leverage life's hardship. It's the key to character. Notice what it says in James 1.
Versus two to four. Consider it. That means it's a choice. Pure joy, that's an attitude. Consider it pure joy, my brothers.
Whenever you face trials of many kinds, not if, but whenever. Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance or endurance.
Now, notice what endurance does in your life. Perseverance or endurance must finish its work so that you may be, here's our word again, circle it, mature and complete, lacking in nothing. People who grow leverage life's hardships. Stagnant people, when difficulty comes their way, here's their question: Why me, Lord? People who grow when hardship comes into their life, they say, What do you want to teach me, Lord?
See the difference? Stagnant people blame God, blame other people, and look outward. Growing people say, a sovereign God who's good, who loves me, somehow has allowed something to come into my life. It's very hard. And by His grace.
I'm going to, the word here for endurance is hupo meno, literally to be under the pressure of. Hupo, under the pressure of. And God puts something on your back, and you can hardly take it. And it's heavy, and you can hardly take it. 90% of success in life is not giving up.
You can hardly take it. You can hardly take it. You can hardly take it. You know when you can hardly take something and there's weight on your back, you know what happens after a while? You athletes know, don't you, what happens?
Your muscles get stronger. After a while, the weight doesn't change, but you strengthen, and you can take that and put that weight on a backpack and walk right through life. And we see people doing it with leukemia. We see people doing it with shattered lives. We see people who've been rejected and hurt.
And boy, they walk right through life because they're special. No, they endured. What's your attitude? Are you leveraging life's hardship? Are they leveraging You.
Notice the final one. People who grow. Make time for solitude. And silence. It's the key to guidance.
Speaking of the life of our Lord. It says, very early in the morning, literally a great while before dawn, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, he left the house, he went off to a solitary place where he prayed. See, growing people have a very clear sense of transcendence and worship. If you read the context in Mark 1, it's the busiest day ever recorded in the life of our Lord. He's teaching, he's praying.
People are packed in, they're getting him from all. Man, I mean, he is just packed. I don't know about you, but when I have a day or a week like that, I sort of think I deserve a break today.
So get out and get away, you know? But Jesus did. Jesus understood the more pressure on your life, the more private time, the more silence, the more solitude you need with the Father. And so, after an exhausting day, a great while before dawn, and I think I know what he prayed. I think he prayed, Father, man, this thing is going too fast.
I feel pulled. James wants this, John wants this. The crowd's in, there's more needs. I can't handle it. Help me remember, oh God.
Father, being fully God, yes, but fully man, help me remember what you sent me to do. Everyone has a wonderful plan for my life, but I want the plan we came up with. Give me focus. And you're saying, boy, Chip, he must have tremendous insight to get all that out of that verse. No, what I know is that if you read the context afterwards, Peter, John, James, the guy said, Hey, you were a hit, it's awesome.
The crowd's waiting, you're famous, we're famous, it's big time. And his answer was, I have need to go to other towns and to other villages. We must leave. grammatically imperative. Must leave.
For I came. to preach. and to heal. and to forgive sins. You see, you need guidance.
And the only way you get guidance is by stopping life. Busyness is the enemy's tool for a barren life. And we must stop. and get guidance. We must stop and remember what it is that we're put on this earth to do.
So that we can come back and say no boldly to all the world's wonderful plan for our life. And you're saying, I don't have time to stop. I say, well, why?
Well, because I got to get work. Why are you going to work? Because I got to do this, because I got to do that.
Well, why?
Well, because I got it. Sezahua. Yeah. You've never had a sick day at work? You've never had something happen where life stopped for two days and you had to go to an emergency room?
And I bet the company just fell apart all both days, right? See, the fact of the matter is we can choose to stop. planning our schedule. and hear from God. I think you need to do it a little every day.
And I think every month or six weeks you need a full day. To say, Lord, help me remember why I'm here, where I'm going. If you want to do a quick review, people who grow, have some things in common. People who grow live daily, wow, with the end in view. It's the key to motivation.
People who grow make a personal commitment to grow. Have you made it? It's the key to overcoming inertia. Third, people who grow value process more than a vet. It's the key to progress.
Fourth, people who grow cultivate stimulating relationships. It's the key to inspiration. Fifth, people who grow choose to become progressive risk takers. It's the key to change. People who grow leverage life's hardships.
It's the key to character. And finally, people who grow make time for solitude and silence. It's the key to guidance. Want a game plan for today? First, make a commitment to grow today.
Second. Prioritize the area of your growth. There's a domino principle here. You can't do all seven of these things. Don't even try.
What one thing is a little light keep pulsating in your heart and your mind that says, I need to address that. And you address that, and then God will show you. Don't get overwhelmed. Third, Take one specific step this week, even if it's small. But do something.
Take a step toward God, one specific step this week. Write it down and tell someone. Growth is exciting, it's normal, it's fun, it's fantastic, it's difficult, it's not automatic. and we get stuck. But we don't have to stay there, do we?
This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we're in our series called Experience Breakthrough. Today, Chip completed his seven principles for spiritual growth, challenging us to become progressive risk takers, leverage life's hardships, and make time for solitude and silence. Chip will be back with a final challenge in just a moment. You know, that last principle really resonates: making time for solitude and silence. In our packed schedules, it's the first thing to go, but Jesus modeled it.
After his busiest days, he carved out time alone with the Father. Not because he was tired, but because he knew that's where guidance comes from. If you're ready to build that kind of intentional time with God into your life, let me recommend Chip's free online devotional, Psalms of Hope. It's specifically designed to help you develop a sustainable rhythm of meeting with God daily. Chip will walk you through Psalm 1, Psalm 15, and Psalm 23, showing you how to study scripture in a way that brings real transformation.
You can find Psalms of Hope completely free at livingontheedge.org. Search for Psalms of Hope and begin today. Creating resources like this requires financial investment. When you support Living on the Edge, you're making it possible for people around the world to access biblical teaching that actually changes lives. Your gift, whatever the amount, multiplies as it reaches listeners who desperately need hope and direction.
Give today by going online to livingontheedge.org or write to LivingOnthege P.O. Box 3007 Atlanta, Georgia 30024. You can also call 888-333-6003. And by the way, be sure to take these Bible messages with you wherever you go by subscribing to the Living on the Edge podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms.
Well, now here's Chip with one final thought. As we ended today's message, I really challenged you to take a step. I mean, get committed to say, I am going to be a growing person. You know, all of life revolves around a few times where you make a very specific commitment. And then you play those commitments out.
And your life changes. God wants you to change. He has grace to give you. But my concern was, as we finish today's lesson together, was you're thinking, oh, you went so fast. You went so fast.
I didn't get them all down and I'm not sure exactly which one. As you were talking, a light went off inside, but you just went too fast.
So here's what I want to do: I want to walk through those seven keys to personal growth. And as I do, if you can jot them down, great. But if not, I'm much more concerned that you say, Holy Spirit, as He goes through these seven things, will you show me which one, just one, that you want me to focus on and come up with a game plan by your leading to become the man or the woman that you want me to be? Are you ready? Seven keys to personal growth.
Number one, live daily with the end in mind. Who do you really want to be? What kind of person? Growth point number two, make a personal commitment to grow. You drive a stake in the ground.
You say, I'm going to deny myself, and I'm going And I'm going to follow Christ. I am going to be the man or the woman He wants me to be. And you know the implications, don't you? Have you ever done that? Growth Key number three, value process more than event.
Remember, we talked about he was faithful in a very little thing, is faithful in also in much? You see, the secret to your future is hidden not in a big emotional event, It's hidden in daily little routines. It's it's the little things. Number four. Cultivate stimulating relationships.
You know, some of you, you just need to get your head up out of the sand and say, who's some exciting people to be around? Ask, you know, buy lunch, buy them breakfast, get a cup of coffee. When you get around stimulating people, you'll grow. Number five, choose to become progressive risk takers. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
You got to get out of your comfort zone. Take a little step, then take a bigger step. Remember what I said? If you're not dreaming great big dreams, then you're not dreaming big enough. Number six, leverage life's hardships.
You know, the question isn't about if. It's just a question about when. Hurts and pain and struggles come into all of our lives. Are you asking the question, why me? Or are you really asking God, what do you want me to learn?
And you ask him honestly, he'll show you and he'll grow you. And finally, point number seven in terms of a key to growth is make time for solitude and silence. If you don't meet with God daily, I challenge you before God: start now. Set that clock 15 minutes earlier, get up and meet with the God who loves you. He'll grow you.
and you'll love it. How do we break free from feelings of inferiority? I'm Dave Drewy, inviting you to discover the answer tomorrow on Living on the Edge Chip Ingram Brew. Uh Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
