How to Get God's Best for Your Life

This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast. Brought to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast, you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from beginning to end.

Now, here's Chip Ingram with today's message: How to Get God's Best for Your Life. Have you ever wondered why there are so many decisions. and so few disciples. Here's what I mean by that. I mean, what I know historically, right now, in the next 24 hours, tens of thousands of people all across the world will make decisions to follow Christ.

They'll get it where you realize I've sinned before a holy God. Christ died in my place, He rose from the dead. And you place your faith in him, and he takes you from the kingdom of darkness. to the kingdom of light. But I'm guessing that we all have either a short or long list of friends, and for many of us, I've certainly been there myself, where.

That's a reality. His Spirit came into your life. You began to make some progress. You started to grow. But then things kinda got not so good.

And the great majority, at least statistically, of people that genuinely know and love God. Who are followers of Christ, their life. isn't quite matching up. I got an email from a lady that it's a picture of this, and it's interesting. She said, thank you for your message this morning.

On Romans 12.1. Then now listen to her story and see how much you can identify with. I came to Christ when I was 13, but I've gone through a lot of hard times throughout my college, and my relationship with God has been up and down ever since. Lately I've been feeling lethargic and distant from God. I woke up this morning and I asked myself this question.

If I died today, would people Say That I was a Christian. That I was a messenger of God or Would they even say or know that I followed God at all?

Well, I happen to turn on your program. And as I, in my inner life, have struggled both with alcoholism and immorality. Um I heard what it meant. to go all in. Bold letters.

I decided to give all myself to God and completely surrender to Him.

So thank you. And God bless.

Now that email is Sort of, there's some really wonderful, neat parts, but isn't it? Isn't it kind of sad that someone would come to a saving knowledge at 13? And have the next. Plus or minus 20 years described by up. and down Distant lethargic Looking for The satisfaction that only God can give, and for reasons maybe she didn't understand, finds herself.

Relying on alcohol and then multiple sexual relationships. only to discover, oh. God has a good plan. God wants to give me the best. And for many people, they didn't know.

It does require a moment where you say to him, I'm going to trust you. And here's what Romans 12:1 said. Therefore, I urge you, my brothers, in view of God's mercy, remember 11 chapters? Of his love for you, offer your body a living and holy sacrifice, well pleasing to God. This is your spiritual service.

In other words, that's what God really wants. But here's the question. It's one thing to give God what He really wants. Second question is How do you get the very best from God? And it's interesting, that's verse 2.

He's going to say, and do not be conformed any longer to this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that your life, in other words, your lifestyle, what you actually experience, would be the good.

well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

So, I'm going to ask you to open your teaching handout. And what I want you to do is know that we're going to ask and answer the question that I think is one of the most important for any Christian: how do you get the very best from God? What you're going to see, the structure of this passage, there's a negative command. Stop literally allowing the world to conform you to its mold. Then there's a positive command.

but be transformed. By the renewing of your mind, and then there's this purpose clause. There's a reason. Why?

So that you personally, not someone out there, so you could experience the good.

well-pleasing, perfect will of God.

So, you got your study out. Let me do a little Bible study. It's a bit more technical than normal, but I think it's worthwhile. The negative command is do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. And the main verb is do not be conformed.

It's grammatically in what's called the passive voice. And I'll be technical just for a minute. The passive voice means, in Greek, it means that the subject is being acted upon. The active voice would be the subject is doing something. The subject is being acted upon.

The imperative simply means that it's a command, and the present tense means the subject that is being acted upon, it's happening continuously. And so what I did is I took that and gave you sort of the Chip Ingram translation from that grammar to just fill it out a bit. Literally, the Apostle Paul is saying, stop allowing yourselves to be molded by the influence and pressures of this present world system. It's really what he's saying.

Now, by the way, when he says world system or the values of this world, he's not talking about the world, the geographical world. He's talking about a system of values, a mindset, a worldview that's energized by the enemy of your soul. Whose goal is to kill and to steal and destroy, to mess your life up, to ruin your relationships, to separate you from God, to make you be emotionally depressed, to cause you to physically go in areas that will ruin your life. I mean, the whole goal of the world system. is to destroy you.

And so the Apostle Paul says, stop allowing this system. The set of values That's antithetical to everything God wants for your life, stop allowing it to squeeze you into its mold.

So, grammatically, he's telling us this is currently happening in the church at Rome. And we know it's happening right in our lives. I mean, imagine a little boy, a little girl, or a young woman, or an older man. You hear about Jesus the Messiah, you come to Christ, you live in Rome, there's an emperor, there's the gladiators, there's idols everywhere, there's brothels everywhere, you can have any kind of sex with any person, anytime, anywhere. It's a violent Culture, 80% of the entire People group are slaves that are treated as less than human beings.

Women don't even make it. They're just a piece of property. Babies are killed because of gender with no thought. He says, stop allowing the values of this present world in Rome. And now, today, in America or wherever you are in the world, to squeeze you into its mold.

Now, sometimes, this is really exciting for me, sometimes there'll be a phrase in Scripture. And someplace else in Scripture, it'll define it very clearly.

So, the application very clearly is that we are to be separate from the world's values. If you want to understand How to give God what he wants the most? We need to be surrendered to God. But when you want to understand how to get God's best, we need to be separate. From the world's values.

And then in 1 John 2, 15 through 17, I've put the text right in your notes. He will literally define and explain what are the world's values and how it works. Follow along as I read. Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, The love of the Father is not in him.

And now he's going to define.

So, what's the world? For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. And the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but it's from the world. And then notice this commentary. The world is passing away and its lusts or passions.

But the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Now, if you have a pen, I'd like you to pull it out, and every time you see the word love, why don't you circle it? Heehoo. loves the world. If anyone loves the world, The love of the Father. Because what I want you to understand is sometimes, at least historically in the church, when people have talked about the world system or the world's values or worldliness, it somehow gets translated into: here's a list of things you can't do, or here's another list you can't do, or it's all these external things.

I want you to understand. The values that he describes and the powers that pull at your flesh and mine. are far deeper. It's about relationship. It's about where is your love, where are your affections?

And he says the world system has three components. You notice I put it in bold: there's the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh is merely the passion to feel. It's this desire we have for pleasure. And that pleasure can come out in sex, it can come out in food.

And by the way, all these desires are legitimate. But what the enemy wants to do is create a world system to deliver legitimate needs in illegitimate ways to destroy your life. The lust of the eyes is the passion to have. Or to possess. I gotta have that.

The boastful pride of life is The the passion to be, it has to do with position. I gotta be a somebody. And so In summary, the world system seeks to seduce us from our love for Christ. by pleasure, possessions, and position.

Some people put it this way: the world is really about sex. Salary and status. Or I heard an older missionary, this is like, you know, I was in another country. And it said, young men, we were all young men playing basketball in South America. And he says, guys, it's all about girls.

Gold. and glory. And he said, those are the things, you know, girls, you can flip that around and figure it out. Here's what I want you to get. There is a system that comes on almost every commercial.

every billboard, in every magazine. where you work. That tells you that if you could possess that, if you get this position, if your kids get in this school, if you can have these things that security and significance and meaning and happiness and purpose, it's all for you. In fact, every time you walk out of the checkout stand, it screams the world system. Because here you are, you got your little groceries, and you're at the local grocery store, and you know, they got all the magazines, and this magazine number one is either Cosmo or Men's Health.

And if you're a guy, you look more at Cosmo than you do men's health. And all the girls, literally, they're all the same from the neck down when you look at the cover Cosmo.

Some of you will get that a little bit later. And it just says, sex, man, if you have that. Or part of us look at men's health and say, man, if I had abs. If I had abs like that, man, the women would love me.

Okay. And the girls don't know whether I should look at Cosmo and I'm supposed to look like that, and I wonder how many surgeries that would require. or how many time in the work? In the workout room. And so we're just told, I mean we're just told, your body.

You gotta be attractive and sexual and beautiful and And there's whole industries, multi-billion dollar industries. I mean, all you're trying to do is buy some groceries. And it says, you don't look like this. You ought to look like this. And some of us look at all that and realize, you know, I may never get there.

And so then it's People Magazine. That's the next one on the rack. And if I could be famous like them. I mean, it's just like... How in the world did we go from actors and scripts and drama and thinking and entertainment to 80% of everything reality shows?

Everyone wants their own reality shows. We've got people who do illegal things to create false stories to try and create their own reality school. Why?

If people knew me, fame, glory. Then I'd be a somebody. And as you kind of get the yogurt and the bread and the milk across, and you know, you've been to Cosmo and men's health.

Now here you are, and you're thinking, my lands, you know, I don't, People magazine, those sure are pretty people. And if you check the pictures, and she's with so-and-so, she used to be so-and-so, now she was with so-and-so, and she's pregnant. Oh, she's got the baby bump, and the names and faces change, and you know, right? Yeah. And as you get a little older, some of you are going, oh, they forget that.

And it's, well, there's Forbes and there's Fortune. If you had that man Right? And here's a And so money Sex Power Position, and then we create worlds so that our kids can get money. Power, sex, and position.

So we work like crazy, don't see one another, spend most of our time staring at screens. Have relationships that don't work, work hours that are insane, be in the gym for long hours to become and look like someone so someone will love us. And all the while The people that have the most money With the sexiest bodies, with the largest houses. Who've won the lotto? Or are the celebrities?

When we look carefully at their life, We see the highest percentage of depression. Divorce. Suicide In emptiness, it's like this crazy picture of everyone following the great rainbow for the pot of gold with possessions and power and position. And those that have it would come out and say, it's empty. It's empty.

And I can tell you, whether it's in South Africa or Korea or Hong Kong or Indonesia or the Silicon Valley or Nebraska. The great majority of Christians are not experiencing God's best. And they're not experiencing God's best because their heart has been seduced away from their Savior, and we've bought the lies that these things will fulfill. And they don't. And God brought you into this room on this day to say to you.

I want to give you the best.

So, negative, stop allowing yourself to be molded by the world.

So, get aware. But that's not enough. Turn the page. Second, he's going to say: start allowing yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Notice the positive command.

He says, be transformed. Remember, I think it's about ninth-grade biology, metamorphosis, right? Meta, the Greek word weth, morph is to change. Remember, and I know there's a very technical word because people always correct me, but I call them green caterpillars, and I know it's technically not a caterpillar. But you know the little caterpillar that puts it in cocoon and then this beautiful butterfly comes out?

What do we call that process ninth grade biology? Meta? It's changed from the inside out. This is what God's saying. Don't allow the world, the externals, to squeeze you and their values into this false belief and system of lies that lead to death, but allow yourself, by the transformation of your mind, to be changed from the inside out.

Then notice the grammar, it's exactly the same. It's in the passive voice.

Well, what does that mean? It means, so in other words, God has to you can't change yourself. But it's a command.

So God says, there's a part that you have. that you cooperate with me, but I'm the one who does the changing. And then notice it's in the present tense.

So notice a translation here of this command is But allow God to completely change your inward thinking and outward behavior, how? By cooperating wholeheartedly moment by moment with the Spirit's renewing process. It's supernatural. It's not self-effort and trying hard. Here's a model and a picture like Jesus.

I'm going to try and be kind, try and be loving. No, no, it's a internal. It's supernatural. It's the Spirit of God. Taking the word of God, renewing your mind in the context of community of real-life relationships where the very personality of Jesus and His character, where you're loving, and kind, and peaceful, and gentle.

And generous. and other centered And have self-discipline and the fruit of the Spirit, which is really the life of Christ. progressively becomes more how you think and how you act. It's not trying hard to be like Jesus. It's allowing the Jesus living in you by the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out.

And so the application is really, I put it in the form of a question: are you shaped more? By the world or by the word. I think I know the answer for most of us, but I thought Why don't we adopt let let's let this one just rest for a second, ready?

So before we just go on. Let me just ask you, okay? Ready? If I just put a little stick man on a line and an arrow this direction, an arrow this direction. And on this side, would be The words influence in my life, truth, God's word, God's people.

You're the little stick man or stick woman. And this is the world. Which one is having the most influence? The world is saying, get, get, get, accumulate, accumulate, impress, impress, impress. The word is saying Give, give, give Be authentic.

Love. Care. The world is saying, it's how you look. The word is saying it's who you are. The world is saying, you don't measure up unless you have.

The word is saying you already measure up. and your value. Isn't how you care. The word comes to you and the beauty of nature. Primarily the Bible, the Word of God, and out of the relationships of other believers where Jesus lives inside of them, all those things wooing you and drawing you.

to allow Christ be formed in you. And the world comes at you in smartphones, computer. Netflix. Billboards Romance novels. I'm relationships where people kind of look at you and say, unless you have this, unless you look like that, unless you can do this, unless you can form that, you don't really measure up.

and you're in the battle of your life. External forces like this saying to you, conform, conform, conform. And an internal supernatural power is saying, be transformed, be transformed. And I don't say this, this is not like, oh, I want everyone to feel guilty for like 30 seconds. I just want you to look at the little stick man in your mind and say, is the input of God's Word and God's people and those things influencing your time, your priorities, and your focus?

Or is it more the world?

Now nationwide It's pretty obvious. About eight. To nine out of ten Christians, it's more this. Can you imagine in heaven how God must feel? about that lady and about us of a 13-year-old girl.

that comes to know Jesus and His love and He's got this amazing plan for her. But she hears that unless you sleep with your boyfriend, you don't measure up, and so she does. And she feels guilty because when the spirit lives in you, there's this battle. And she did it to be loved, and well then she feels bad about it, and so to get it to sleep at night, she starts drinking a little bit, and she wants to be a part of things, so she hangs with the crowd. And down deep inside of her soul, she has this lack of peace.

And then finally she just realizes I've spent 20 years with the Spirit of God living inside me. And I've never gotten God's best. I wonder how many Christians sitting in this room today are living right there today. Because boy, I'll tell you, I've been there.

So Application. And the goal of application is There's movement. God is going to nudge you about taking some steps to what? Saying no to the world and beginning, maybe some baby steps to say yes to Him changing you. Notice um Jesus, when he was facing this, You know, it's interesting, you think this isn't new.

If you take the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and if we could take a video camera, Back to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve, and you study the passage very carefully. Adam and Eve are, how are they tempted? Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. Take the video camera out of time. Go over to Jesus with Satan, Matthew chapter 4, and he's being tempted.

And you, three temptations. How is he tempted? Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. How did he win? They lost, he won.

Why?

It is written It is written. It is written. Each time from memory, he reached back into Deuteronomy and Beli came, bam! He knocked it out with the truth. And so in Matthew 4:4, it says, He answered Satan and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

You cannot experience God's best for your life. without making this truth a part of your experience on a very regular basis. You don't have the power. I don't have the power. You must take the raw material of God's written word and get it into your mind and share it with other people so the Spirit of God can take the written word and make it the living word and change you and change your desires in ways that you can understand.

It's supernatural. In fact, the Apostle Paul would say, it's not only supernatural, but it's a process. There's not like you can just turn a switch and now I'm like Jesus, you know? What's he say? In 2 Corinthians 3:18, I put the passage there.

But we all, speaking of the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant, Between the law when it was given in Sinai and now with the Spirit living in us, but we all with unveiled faces beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. Notice the tense of this verb. Are being transformed. How? From glory to glory, just as from the Lord.

The Spirit. He sang Moses When he was up on the mountain with God, See, you become like whoever you hang out with. And after 40 days hanging out with God, he just glowed. He just radiated with the glory of God. And so when he came down, people couldn't take it, so he put a veil over his face so he could talk to him.

And then, in his hypocrisy, when it started to fade, he kept the veil on because he wanted people to think he still had it. None of us ever do that, of course. We don't do any image management or any of those sort of things, but Moses did. And Paul says, you know, we with an unveiled face. Beholding is in a mirror, it's not direct, but we get these reflections and snapshots and moments where Jesus reveals Himself and a passage comes out of the Word, and you're in a Bible study, and someone speaks a word or accepts you in a way that you've never been accepted, and you are vulnerable, or you're supported, or someone in love.

actually rebukes you. And calls you on the carpet for something that in your heart you've known, and you realize that open rebuke is better than love concealed, and you find a safe place, and God changes you. But it's from glory to glory. That's like four steps forward, two steps backward. We're all in process And notice who brings about the change?

From the Lord, the Spirit. And so here's the key. What I want you to get. Review. Stop allowing the world to conform you.

Start being transformed. Here's what I want to camp on. How? What's your part? We said we can't change ourselves.

Allow yourself to be transformed. How? Here's our part: the renewing of our mind. Mind renewal, I think, has three key components. The first component of mind renewal is renewing your mind as a continual refocus of the Romans 12.1 perspective.

Colossians 3 says, set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. It's a worldview, it's a mindset that has eternity in mind, that has Christ in mind, about what matters in mind. See, when you come to that moment where you say, God, I'm all in, I will do whatever, it's authentic, it's real, it's sincere. You make great decisions in that moment, but then there's Monday morning. Right?

And that was two football games and an argument with your roommate or your wife or with your husband and a kid who treated you dirty and a boss who wasn't very nice ago. And a different person shows up after that, right? And so you renew your mind to keep that focus, and all of us have different issues that we face that keep us conformed to the world. Let me give you an example. Um As I grew up in my home, my family of origin, I have one, you have one.

The enemy uses the world in some ways in my life different than yours. There's people that can walk into a bar, love friends, have no problem, never think about this, this, that. Man, my dad was an alcoholic. Alcohol shaped our home. There's some people that you're not performance-oriented at all.

Man, you are just balanced and laid back, and you go to work, you shut it off, no problem. You're not a people pleaser. You know, you're just so healthy relationally and emotionally. And I envy you. And so I realized that I was a workaholic, that I was insecure, that I was always trying to please people, and then after I got married, that I was very insensitive to my wife.

Other than that, as a Christian, I was really doing well. No, I'm dead serious. I mean, I didn't have a porn addiction. I wasn't putting cocaine up my nose.

Okay, but I'm saying those were real. And when I started reading the Bible some, and I wanted to follow Jesus, and I kept trying hard. I tried hard not to be a workaholic. I tried not to be insecure. I tried to be more sensitive to my wife.

On my best days, and I'm pretty disciplined, willpower. I could only keep that up for about two weeks. Because I didn't understand. Transformation isn't about just trying hard. It's Renewing your mind.

And so I wrote down on some cards the truth. And now I prayed, I asked God, does it mean there's not self-effort? Of course, I had to make effort, but for example, I thought, am I going to be insecure my whole life or am I going to get my mind renewed? And so I wrote down this on a card. I read it in the morning, the night, put it in my pocket, read it multiple times a day.

I'd like to be more authentic in every aspect of my life. You know, I was trying to please everyone, and I am what I am by the grace of God. And his grace didn't prove vain toward me, but I labored more than all of them, yet not me, but Christ in me. You know, when you keep reading over, I'd like to be more authentic. In every relationship, you know what happens that gets in your mind?

You catch yourself when you're posing. You catch yourself image managing. And God begins to birth. Where you say, you know, I think I'm just going to like who God made me. Got a long way to go.

transformation. My people pleasing. I mean, anybody here ever struggled with like everyone asks you to do this, and you either feel guilty if you don't, or you're trying to do everything, you're multitasking, and you're up early, and you're back late, and you know. I wrote this on a card. I want to stop caring what others think and apply myself and my schedule to what will make me the best I can be to honor God the most.

I want to grow free of the invisible expectations that I allow to hinder my joy, my freedom, my schedule from pursuing the best. These invisible like I had this gun to my head Still strugglesome. But if you live your life to please people, It'll kill you. But it's the world.

So you refocus. Uh my next one was on um My workaholism. I just thought working a lot, performing, getting stuff done, I got approval. And so that was how I did everything. I even did the ministry like that.

And so I wrote on this card, I read it over. I want to learn. This is almost sick to have to learn this. I want to learn to take time and schedule in enjoyable, fun, refreshing activities without feeling guilty. about them or caring what other people think.

Anybody here feel like you should have more margin, that you're not enjoying life enough, that it's work, work, work, and yeah, you're going to do that later, but you're just so focused and so geared. And you pick up your kids, and you're on your phone, and everybody's kind of an interruption. My final one, what I'm telling you, I just kept reading this over. What happened was I I just found putting it in my schedule. Pretty soon I didn't feel guilty about having fun.

Pretty soon I found out I had fun and enriching relationships and when I came to work, it didn't take as much time. And it was like, wow, this must be a part of God's plan. Finally, with my wife, I realized I was insensitive. And so I wrote on this card, my desire is to love Teresa sacrificially and in a way that makes sense to her each and every day. And so I just kept reading that over, and a weird thing happened.

I started seeing little times on this day and on Sunday night and on this day where I could be more sacrificial.

Now, believe me, from glory to glory and with plenty of relapses. But are you seeing how it works? You seeing how you refocus, your mind gets renewed? Second thing is I want to tell you it's a battle. Renewing your mind always involves a battle.

The spiritual life, the battle for your soul, primarily is happening between your ears. The Apostle Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 10, 4, and 5: the weapons of our warfare, listen to that language. He's in a battle for his soul. The weapons of our warfare are divinely powerful for the pulling down of strongholds and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. People pleasing.

Workaholism. Having, possessing, working like crazy, accumulating, impressing, image management. Addictions. The weapons of our warfare. He's talking about the power of the word of God.

Community, fasting, prayer. I mean, the world's powerful. There's a battle. And it's for your soul. There's a reason why the second most Optimal time for couples or divorced is about between 20 and 25 years.

Because she buys the lie that it's me and the kids and all that I do for them. And he buys the lie that someday, some way, if I can work, work, work, do, do, do, do. And then they wake up 20 to 25 years, they don't know each other. They've not shared anything. He feels middle-aged and like he doesn't have it anymore.

And what makes him feel like he might have it is some young, good-looking chick is interested, he's got some money, can pay his way, try and make it happen. And he's does stuff either online or actual in the office. And she starts realizing, you know, I don't look the way I used to look, and I don't feel very attractive. And she signs up and gets a personal trainer, and now she's going to go at it again, and they don't have anything. And they both bought a lie.

And they used to teach a Sunday school class, and they've been married 30 years, and their kids now are young adults who grew up in that home, and mom and dad divorced, and they're going, What in the world? I guess this Jesus stuff isn't true. That's reality, people. That's for some of you, that's your experience. The third thing you need to remember is that renewing your mind is supernatural, it's a work of the Spirit.

Reviewing cards, reading the Bible, doing this, doing that. I got news for you. The Spirit of God has to take the Word of God and do something in you. All of these things are about a heart-love relationship with Him. Romans 8 says: the mind set on the flesh is death.

The mind set on the spirit is life. and peace. And so in summary, let me just tell you. For me, for you, for every believer, you are what you eat. Period.

You are what you eat physically, and you are what you eat spiritually and intellectually. You tell me how much time on your phone, how much time in video games, how many movies you watch, and the messages in those movies, time, what are you putting into your mind over against how much truth. How much of God's Word, how much renewing relationships, and you know what? Plug, plug, plug, plug, it's pretty easy, I can tell you. Your lifestyle.

Because you are what you eat.

So my question is, what's your diet? Are you getting God's best?

Now, let me walk through now and give you some very practical, specific ways to renew your mind because it's one thing, those are the principles, that's the truth. Here's some practical methods for renewing your mind. To say no to the world. Say yes to God. First, hearing God's Word.

Romans 10, 17 says, Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. You have to, on a regular basis, you must hear God's word. It births faith. One way to do that is, this is a novel idea for some of you, come to church regularly. I mean, I'm not down on you.

I just, first three years I was a Christian, if I made it twice a month, I'm high-fiving myself. Way to go, Chip. I never did that before. Second is use your time in the car wisely. Hear God's word.

My seminary training hasn't stopped. Second, read God's Word. Revelation 1:3 says, Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near. And in your notes, if you don't know much about the Bible and need some structure and a plan, first 15 years at least I was a Christian, I read the Daily Walk Bible. And I just tell you, it was just like, okay, here's the structure, here's what it means, here's an overview, but you dig in for yourself.

Or go on the internet. There's enough reading plans. You just log on on the App Store Bible, believe me. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman that need not be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. And you'll notice I had this a little bit later, but this is a little tool to help you study.

And take this really well. God wants the best for you.

Some of us have been so trained we eat all processed food. Can you imagine if you ate just only processed food instead of the kind of organic, real good stuff? Or the picture that comes to my mind is some of that, even some of that processed cheese? And you take it out of that plastic and you think, hmm, I don't know where this has been.

Well, it's a good start, right? But processed spiritual food is like there's a little book, and it's a good little book, and it has two or three verses, and then someone who's studied a lot tells you a little inspiring story and tells you a little something about those two or three little verses and says, and now here's what you might do. And you read for like, it takes almost three minutes to read these little things, and then you go, oh, Jesus, Jesus, help me, help me really follow you. I've really renewed my mind.

Now, I spent, you know, 40 minutes in the Wall Street Journal. But now I spent my four or five minutes, what I know is what someone else thinks of that passage.

Okay. The little card is how you can study God's Word on your own. I learned this from a missionary about 30 years ago, I think it was Brazil, it's called the 2 Pro App Method, and that's just an acronym. And I'm not going to go through it all other than just to say: if you would choose a New Testament book, the book of John, the book of Mark, one of the small ones, and just read a paragraph or maybe two, and the P, pray, God, please help me. The second P, preview it, read it quickly just to get a feel.

It's all written on here. And then the R is read it slowly, methodically. Then the O is read it one more time and underline maybe words that are alike, the thoughts that you have. The A then is that what application from this paragraph is God showing me? Then, realizing since I don't have the power to do it, you pray again.

God, will you help me to? It says be generous in this passage, so will you help me be generous in some way specifically today? And then the T is tell someone. It's just a very simple way to study. Here's what I can tell you.

Processed food is helpful, and if you're just beginning, that's fine. When you are tempted sexually, when you want to break out of habit patterns, when there's addictions, when there's a crisis in your marriage, when you got a kid who's going through a terrible time and you're trying to cling on to God, you have to have Him speak directly from His Word to you because that's where convictions come from. It's great that those people who wrote those little devotionals, that's what they believe. What do you believe? And what do you believe under pressure?

It's birthed in study. The next is memorization. Notice it says Psalm 119, 9:11. How can a young man, a young woman, Keep your way pure. By guarding it or keeping it according to your word, your word I've treasured or hid in my heart.

that I might not sin against thee. I don't know if there's any greater return in the Christian life. Than memorizing scripture, or one that's probably more neglected. I can tell you a brief little story. I was in a school, and I think I've shared it, where there was like four girls to every guy.

And I've started to grow, so now I've been a Christian like three years, and so I'm reading the Bible like three or four mornings a week. I'm starting to go to church, which is really radical for me. And I'm making progress in a number of areas, but not in one in particular. My roommate is going to go to this Christian summer something where, you know, it's a parachurch organization that they go there for training and they get a job and share Christ and learn all good stuff. And I didn't want any part of that.

But before he could go, he had to memorize these 60 verses. It was called the topical memory system put out by a group called the Navigators. And I'm just I've always been very competitive. along with being insecure. And so he left the room one day, and I just thought, because he was going to memorize one or two verses a week, and he had it planned out 30 weeks.

I just thought, you chump.

So, my goal, secretly, he leaves. I literally copied all the verses down on these little cards. In fact, I still. These little cars, I still have them. And I got these 60 verses down, and then I had an amazing gift.

I had a psychology professor that was about 99 years old who'd been tenured for like 40 years. Because he couldn't get a job anywhere. And so he would drone on and on.

So I would put my psychology book up an hour every day. I memorized one verse the first day.

So I decided I'm going to, 60 days, I'm going to be done. And I'm going to have them perfect. Because here was the goal. I was going to say, okay, hey, Bob, how's it going with that thing that your training program going to? Yeah, watch you go ahead and start and list the verses.

And I was just going to go, bang, bam, bam, bam, bam, 60 in a row. You know, ha ha. Come on. Is that sick or what? I mean, you know, memorizing God's word to impress someone out of your ego and your pride.

Well, okay. To show that God can use anybody, even in our nuttiness, it's day 21. And I mean, I'm like getting into this. I can still remember hearing my cleats when I was running the baseball practice like this, you know, putting it at the back. Day 21, I walk around the corner, and there's a very beautiful young co-ed involved in the ministry.

And what men will tell you, if they're honest, is that we struggle deeply with lust. And I was struggling very deeply. The external things were changing, but my eyes were going everywhere, and my mind was going all kind of places. And when you lust for A girl that's not a Christian, you feel guilty. When you lust for a very godly girl, you feel really guilty.

And so, oh no, this is her. And so we turned around the corner, we started to talk, and we had a little conversation. We got done, and I remember walking away, I got about four steps. I didn't last. I didn't know the correlation.

I had no idea. I didn't know about mind renewal. I didn't know how to change. All I knew was following Jesus is really hard, and a lot of it's not working very well for me.

Some things undeniably are radically changing, but some other things I just feel I was stuck forever. Day 21, I'd memorize 21 verses, word perfect. And what I didn't understand was the supernatural work, God had taken the written word, made it the living word, and changed my want-tos and my attitudes. And I, with my eyes, looked at his sister in Christ in the eye, and a new relationship with women completely changed my life. When I got to 60 verses, it was like a drug.

I couldn't stop. Then I started memorizing chapters. And then I put my own topics together. And for the next five years, probably more than anything else. I memorized God's Word.

And I will tell you, all I can tell you is how I looked at the world was completely different. completely different. And there was a level of peace and joy. I remember I'd have a question, I'd be praying, and as I was praying, God would bring a verse. Oh, that's the answer.

Or I'd be in a conversation, and I wouldn't know what to say, or what's going on, and God would bring a verse. And all of a sudden, I realized. We have the mind of Christ. The Bible says that we have the mind of Christ. But most of us don't know what his mind is.

But it's in his word. The final thing he says is that you meditate. See, this isn't like you do all these little things and become a little religious robot that drives other people crazy. I mean, there's some people like that. This isn't about how many verses or how In the word meditate here, it's the idea of ruminating.

It's a picture of a cow has four stomachs. It's a cow chews on some truth, swallows it, regurgitates it. Swallows it, regurgitates it. This is reading, and God speaks you through a verse, and you write it on a card, and you stick it in your pocket. And then, as you're driving to work, you try and see if you can remember it.

Or so you're at a light, and you're at a, you know, you're at a doctor's office, and you just bring it up. And something happens. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, that you should meditate on it day and night, in order that what?

So you can obey it. For then you'll have you'll be prosperous and have good success. And so on the back I put a few tools that I think would be very helpful to you. Can I just close with this? Why, why, why?

Why do this? I mean, if you're listening, you're thinking to yourself, you mean I'm going to limit my games and limit my movies and limit this and limit that and limit that and limit that and say no to some stuff that's just a part of my life and start saying yes to God's word and do some things probably some of you have never ever done. Why would I do that?

So that you could get the best from God.

So that you could experience and taste what he wants normally for every person. is good. He's good. means winsome, beautiful, attractive. richly satisfying will.

Well pleasing, well pleasing to him and well pleasing to you Perfect. There's a will that's according to a specific design just for you that when you fulfill it, you explode with joy, live with peace. How does that happen? I won't be conformed to this world. Yes, I'll be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

So that Would you like that? As I close, here's two questions. Because you could feel overwhelmed. I don't want that. What one thing Do you sense God as saying you need to say no to?

What's going into your mind, or what relationship, or what's one thing that woos your heart away from God? And just say, first step. No. And what one thing of all the, you know, hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, meditating. Because we're all in different places.

What one thing? Do you sense God would want you to take a baby step? and begin to renew your mind. Lord, I pray that you'd show every single person. Right now.

What they need to say no to. That is drawing their heart away from your deep, abiding, amazing love. And Lord, what you want them to say yes to. In order to enjoy and experience your grace, your goodness. Will you please do that, Lord?

And then will you birth faith in people right now? Would you even give them the idea of what one person could they share this with? and ask him in a couple days, will you give me a call? Will you text me? And I'll tell you how I'm doing.

Oh God, what would happen? if hundreds and then thousands of people started to experience You're good.

well-pleasing and perfect will. That's our prayer. In Jesus' name. Amen. This is Living on the Edge Chip Ingramram.

Friend, for over 30 years, Living on the Edge has been committed to one mission: helping believers understand what it truly means to follow Jesus. not religious activity, not trying harder, but relational, practical, measurable Christianity that transforms every area of life. Messages like today's exist because partners believe this mission matters. When you give to Living on the Edge, you're helping Christians discover God's power, peace, purpose, presence, and perspective. You're investing in clear biblical teaching that moves people from confusion to clarity, from exhaustion to experiencing God's best.

Would you join this mission to day? Give online at livingonthege. org or call us at triple eight three three three six zero zero three. You can also mail your gift to Living on the Edge, PO Box three thousand seven, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero zero two four. Want more content throughout the week?

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just search for Living on the Edge on Facebook and Instagram. And then for all of our video content, subscribe to Chip Ingram's YouTube channel when you're there.

Well, that wraps up today's episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching message coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh