Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Do you find yourself living in fear and anxiety like the world is getting worse and worse all the time and wonder, God, where are you? Today will answer that question. Stay with me.
Something changes in you when evil surprises you. The world felt manageable, and then it didn't. In 2 Timothy, Paul was in prison. His young pastor was wavering. The culture was growing darker.
And what he gave Timothy wasn't a pep talk, it was a framework. a way of seeing what's happening that changes everything about how you respond to it. I'm Dave Druy, and today on Living on the Edge, we're continuing our series called You Can Make Disciples.
Now open your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter 3, starting in verse 1, as we join Chip Ingram with his message titled, Be Prepared, Don't Be Surprised. And so Paul warns of an increase in wickedness in the last days and we'll talk about the last days. Yeah, let me just read verses. One through About five. But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come.
That word difficult can also mean dangerous. For people Will be lovers of self and lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanders, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving. irreconcilable, malicious gossips. without self-control. Brutal haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they've denied its power.
Avoid Such people as these So let's ask and answer two questions. And then let's dig in and talk about what are the implications. Question number one should be: are we in the last days? Right? When Jesus came, And revealed himself as the Son of God and the Messiah and the Savior of the world, biblically speaking, that's when the last days begin.
We are in the last days. And so I think when you open this chapter and he says, Mark this, Timothy, in the last days, evil things are going to come. And then he starts to lay them out. He's saying, in the last days, beginning now, these are the kind of things you're going to see. And the inference here is: as we get closer and closer, these kind of things will intensify and become more and more the norm instead of the exception.
Does that make sense? What Timothy needed to know was the things that he was seeing that were so overwhelming and so wicked. were what Jesus said would happen. And now he wants to sort of help him get on the positive side of things. You'll notice In the next section, I just entitled this, Don't Be Afraid, Keep Pressing Ahead, verses 10 through 17.
Verse 10.
Now you. He's contrasting him with these People that are going down very bad pass.
Now you followed my teaching. Conduct. Purpose. Faith. Patience.
Love. Perseverance. Persecutions and suffering, such as happened to me in Antioch. At Iconium and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and out of them all. What's the punchline?
The Lord rescued me. I would encourage you. to remember past progress. And you start looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back. And you would have a story.
that God has rescued you out of things in the past. He's not idle. And by the way, I know I'm a broken record. If you keep watching a lot of news, you will live in fear. because the news is made and geared to be sensational.
It's to get your attention and to keep you watching. But if you get on and watch your news feeds and you scroll, and every time that thing goes off, oh, can you hear it? There's another shooting, and what about this, and what about that? When's the last time someone said, I'd just like to declare that in the last 10 minutes there were about 27.5 million acts of kindness of people who cared for one another. I got an email from a friend who works in the Global South, and he gave the statistics of the number of people.
In the last two or three years that have come to Christ in the global south, it's more of all the people that have come to Christ in all of church history. You don't get any good news. God's working in amazing ways here and all around the world. There's young people that are on fire for God. They're not all just a bunch of slackards.
But you know what? It's not going to make. It's not going to make the news. And we have, by and large, a church that is living out of fear. And um Perfect love.
casts out fear, according to the Bible. And the second thing, he says, look, persecution is normal. Um Look at verse 12. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Contrast, but evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse.
Deceiving, and here's what to remember, and being deceived.
Some of the most terrible things that are happening in our world are happening by people. who absolutely believe with all their heart they're bringing good. and making things better. And if you don't get that. You'll either think they're stupid, bigoted, anti-intellectual like they think we are.
and you'll never get to know them or listen to where they're coming from. But does anybody remember a guy named Saul? Just, you know. Remember him? Remember when remember his testimony?
He says, God was gracious to me because out of ignorance, Saul was absolutely committed, knew the Bible inside and out, was actually committed to crushing this movement called the Way. Christians. Why? to honor God. The most dangerous people in the world.
Are people with religious zeal believing they're doing what they're doing? For God. We had a um A pastor was with us a couple weeks ago, and this is so fresh. And we heard his testimony. In fact, we got it on film.
He was a. He's with ISIS. And uh was being trained as an assassin. And he finished his training and got his target and was on his way to finish the job. And he had a I can't even describe it, but he had this intervention moment where God spoke to him.
And it's too long a story to tell, but in that moment, he responded to that, which resulted in him coming to Christ. And how many people personally has he led to the Lord? Thousands. I mean, and it was like 19,000 and something. And someone said, well, how do you know?
He said, because I was the one who baptized them. Don't be ashamed. Be bold. Be strong. Be strong in what?
Be strong in grace. And There's a connection and the things that you have heard. Entrust to Faithful men, faithful women, faithful children, faithful grandchildren, neighbors, friends, people at church, don't just keep going to meetings. Where do we want to go? Let's be intentional.
Let's walk through this together. Let's be difference makers. In our little sphere, that's all you have to do. You don't have to be famous, you don't have to be big, you don't have to be smarter, you don't have to be more educated, you just have to be willing. And he's going to get to the end and he's going to show you and me how it actually happens.
And so he says to Timothy, giving a little more encouragement here, he says, verse. 14. You, however, I love that. Continue in the things that you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you've learned them. And from childhood, you've known the what?
Sacred writings, which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith. Which is in Christ Jesus. And then this classic verse: all scripture. is inspired or God-breathed. And it's beneficial for teaching.
What's true and what's right. for rebuking, correcting when things are wrong. for correction, not only It's wrong, but how to get back on track? And for training in righteousness, how to make it habitually a part of your life? Why?
So that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. It's powerful. It's powerful. God's Word is powerful. We have done some research at Living on the Edge, and we Partnered and got some information from the American Bible Society.
And you might be shocked, but can I tell you, the average Christian does not read the Bible. It gets worse. We commissioned a study because we were ministering to pastors. all evangelicals, but from about 45 or 50 different backgrounds or denominations. And in our survey, Only 21% of pastors.
ever open their Bible except for sermon preparation. The reason we're investing so much in pastors Anemic pastors produce Sick sheep. You know what Paul knew? There's a lot of pressure for a pastor like Timothy. There's a lot of pressure for pastors today all over the world and here.
There's a lot of pressure for people like you who have a lot on your plate. We'll be right back with more from Chip Ingram here on Living on the Edge. If you want to see Chip teach, not just hear him, the Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram YouTube channel has the full video experience, complete series, on-screen message notes, and content you won't get to see anywhere else. It's a great way to share a message with someone who prefers video.
So check it out today by searching for Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram on YouTube. And be sure to hit subscribe.
Now back to the message. I want to tell you a story and if you identify with it. It was the last church I pastored and one of my jobs always was what's the next pipeline for the next elders? And I had a process where They didn't know I was doing this, but I went to the staff and I went to our present elders and just tell me who are people that are actually leading. They're real leaders in our church.
And then I would just call them privately or stop them in the hall and say, hey, I wonder if you'd be willing to. Kind of meet with me every other week for about three months. I'm just pulling a group of guys together. I've been told that you're one of our leaders, you're doing this and this and these ministries, and you know, the elders told me or the staff, and I'd just like to get to know you. And if there's any way I could be helping your life, that would be wonderful.
And usually they all said yes. And so I always started it the same way, and I had a Sort of techniques behind why I was doing what I was doing. I told, we'll start at 4, we'll be done at 5:30. And in the moment four started, I said, okay, guys. Tell you what I'd like to do is whatever's on your heart.
I'd like you to first, let's thank God. And then any issues that are going on in your life you'd like to pray about. And they don't know each other. I said, are you ready? And they're looking at me.
Yeah, let's pray. And I said, you know, rather than that how everyone prays maybe once and then we move on, I'm going to set my phone for 15 minutes.
So you can pray once, twice. We can pray conversationally. It's on the dot 4 o'clock. We start praying. Guess what happens if you're late?
You're walking into a room with a bunch of people praying and you go, oh my gosh. And then, you know, the first round of praying is like, oh, Lord, you know, normal. And then it gets a little bit more honest, a little bit more honest. And then I have a a thing that I take them through. And my first question is, Just tell me look Your story.
Just give me a sense of you, your life, your journey, family, where you work, and they go around, and we're getting to know each other. And then I ask this question: tell me your relationship with God's Word. What? Yeah, tell me your relationship with God's Word. Because, according to Jesus in the parable of the soils, your relationship to the word.
Reveals and determines your relationship with the Lord. No exceptions. The parable of the soils was the kingdom. the secrets and the mysteries of the kingdom. And God's truth goes forth and it lands on four kinds of hearts, and there's four different responses.
Only one produces fruit. But if there's no even truth going in. And so, I mean, these are leaders.
So the first one is a doctor. He says, well, um I pulls out his phone and he goes, my life's really busy and I got three kids and the practice is really heavy and so I open you version and I read the verse of the day. That's it. I mean, I had to sort of, you know, I don't want to be judgmental, so it's like... you know, very calm.
Oh, okay. What and I try and think about that verse.
Okay, great.
Next. Uh You know, I'm really running a really big company, and it's really important. I usually leave a little bit before six, and I work out. And sometimes, you know, I try to listen a little bit to the Bible maybe when I'm a thing, but I I'm not very disciplined at that. But I mean, it's I mean, it's the Silicon Valley man, and you can't imagine the pressure.
And then I get home about 8.30 and I try to at least tuck my kids in bed.
Okay, next. Um You know, I don't know exactly why you asked me, but I'm not only not reading the Bible, my marriage is in trouble and I'm not sure it's going to make it. And so he talks for a while and next And so they we got near the end of that one, and they know me, and you know, I knew of them, so they know I'm very direct. And so I had to ask them a question about your dreams and your future and your kids, and et cetera, like this. And I said as calmly as I could.
I said, men, it's a real privilege, and I appreciate what you're doing and serving in the church. I want to make a comment, and this is going to be very, very important. Because I talk a different way with people out like this than I do with leaders. I said, I want... To each one of you to know that the dreams and the hopes that you shared, your current trajectory, I will tell you for certain, they will not happen in your life.
And you will have heartache and pain and family breakup and a life that is not what you expect. And I can guarantee that. Because none of you are in the scriptures. I came home and I said, Teresa. I'm shutting the group down.
I'm not going back. And he said, Why? I said, These are our leaders. I'm the pastor of the church. I actually know who's teaching most of the time, and this is what we're producing.
There is no life too busy. Man can't live by bread alone, but only by the Word of God. The Word of God is living and active and sharper than the two-edged sword and pierces to the division of soul and spirit and joint and marrow. and reveals the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Thy word was found, and I ate, and it came for me, the joy and the delight of my soul.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for. It's the equipper, it's the changer, it's the power. God takes the written word, makes it the living word, develops convictions, and transforms your life. It's the renewing of your mind. And so I thought I was pretty tough on him.
And Teresa said, Don't stop the group, Chip. You're just emotional. I said, You're right.
So I went back, and I'm thinking, this is going to get better. I mean, I I hit him pretty hard. But you my my my deal is, if you're a leader, if you can't You can't take it and hit hard. Go do something else. Man, this is the kingdom of God.
These are people's souls. We're not trying to run a company. We're trying to go public. This is forever stuff. You take this seriously.
So, you know, they all got together and we had good fellowship. And by the way, they were all great guys, and they all had great leaderships. Guys, you know, before we get started, you know, we had our prayer time. Could you share with me your relationship with the Word of God? And um I said, we're going to learn.
to get into the Bible together. in a way that you can understand it and practice it. And I had a couple resources that I felt have always helped me, and I got those guys together. And the one guy, and I say this because I mean, he got in the Bible. And God spoke to him.
Pretty soon his wife's coming to me goes, what did you do? I said, it's not me. I got a new husband. I mean, he comes home, we eat as a family. In fact, Okay, you got to get this sort of over top.
He's having a Bible study, he and these other men, at 9 o'clock, five nights a week. Thinking that might be a little over the top. The guy that used to get up and work out started to get into God's word. About six weeks later, he said, you know. It's an amazing thing to eat dinner with your family.
I'm tucking my kids in bed. Um The friction of my marriage is gone. The guy whose marriage was falling apart. really struggled and these guys got around him. He goes, Well, he was a football star and Finally, I said, You know, are you willing to put in to be the man of God that you did to become the football star?
play in these pro leagues. And then he did. That guy is the boldest Christian I think I know. Mark my word, we are in the last days, and all those things that you read in there are going to happen more and more and more. And there's going to be a group of people that will live by faith, and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the.
And they're going to be promise-centered people. that God's gonna use to do the greatest things that have ever happened on the face of the earth. or they'll be problem-centered people. that will live in fear and anxiety, and they'll find some group to blame or some other person, and they'll sit around whining in coffee shops talking about how terrible everything is and who's wrong and who's bad. instead of being an instrument of righteousness equipped for every good work.
So what I want you to know is that persecution is normal. Buckle your chin strap. Understand this is what happens to warriors for Jesus in the midst of a fallen world. The world has changed. It's not coming back.
The morality of the America that you know is not coming back. Wow. Strangers in exile. Oh my gosh, it almost sounds biblical.
So, live in such a way. in such harmony. Never give evil for evil. but give good for evil, right? 1 Peter 3.
In order that the Lord might bless you. and prosper you. and have the kind of life that men and women would ask you. in this corrupt world. about the hope that's in you.
and you could respond with reverence. and grace and kindness. about Jesus. And that's what Paul's telling them. And I don't know about you, but I think we're living in a day that is more and more parallel to that day.
than it was the last century. And so what we got to do is we got to, you know, we got to delete the old software, we need to delete the old expectations, we need to just get in the computer of our mind and it ought to be this way and this and this and that and delete and delete and we need to reprogram. Power is God's word. It's a very evil world. God is going to equip me.
God's going to protect me. He wants to use me right where I am. In my network with my family, and I'm going to sow righteousness. Because if you sew to the flesh, corruption. When you sow to the Spirit, righteousness, life.
Grace. Goodbye. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And a message titled, Be Prepared, Don't Be Surprised. We're nearing the end of a study called You Can Make Disciples, and there's more from Chip coming up in a moment.
Missed any part of this series? Catch up anytime on the Living on the Edge podcast. Every episode is there, ready when you are. And for Chip's complete unedited messages, the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast has every sermon in full wherever you listen. Chip's story about those church leaders and their relationship with God's Word is the kind of thing that's hard to shake.
The antidote Paul gives in 2 Timothy isn't complicated, it's the Word doing what only the Word can do. Chip's book, Yes, You Really Can Change, gives you the clear breakdown of how Scripture actually reshapes a life, not behavior management, but the real thing. And because this series is all about discipleship, every purchase comes with an extra copy to hand to someone you know, someone to share it with. We want to equip you to invest in the people around you. Just go to livingontheedge.org/slash offers and look for the book, Yes, You Really Can Change.
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Well, now here's Chip with some closing thoughts. Thanks, Dave. As we close today's program, could I encourage you to get your Bible? And read 2 Timothy 3. I mean, read it very, very quickly.
And you'll read 20 different things that the Apostle Paul will say, don't be surprised, we are living in the last days now. In fact, the last days started when Jesus came. And then notice at the very end of the chapter, the antidote to all the things that are happening for you as a follower of Jesus Christ is the power of God's Word that's breathed out, that is profitable for teaching, training, redirecting your life, and empowering you to do all that God wants you to do. Here's my question for you to day. What is your relationship with the Word of God?
Is it precious? Are you in it daily? Are you listening to it? Are you reading it? And most importantly, when God prompts through His Word, do you obey it?
If you will obey quickly, you will begin to experience God in a new and powerful way. The world certainly is a challenge, but God has given us all we need through His Word and His people to live it out faithfully. Keep pressing ahead. Don't get discouraged. I'm your host, Dave Druy.
The Apostle Paul's final charge to Timothy is one of the most direct passages in Scripture.
Next time, Chippinggram opens 2 Timothy 4 and asks, what does it actually cost to stay faithful? Don't miss it here on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
